Pricing

$5 per hour, per language someone is listening to

PewTranslate has one price and no plans to compare. You pay $5 for every hour of preaching that is translated into a language, and only into languages someone is actually listening to.

There is no subscription and no per-listener fee. You keep a prepaid balance, and each service is deducted from it when the stream stops. Every new account starts with $20 of free credit, no card required.

Try it free with $20 credit See how it works

What exactly is billed

Speech, not stream time. The meter counts the duration of the sentences that were recognised and translated. Long pauses, silence and time before the sermon starts are not counted.
Only languages with an active listener. A language is translated, and billed, only while at least one phone has it selected and playing. Offering more languages costs nothing until someone uses them.
Per language, rounded up to the minute. Each language's speech time for a service is rounded up to the next whole minute, at $5 per hour (about 8 cents per minute).
Unlimited listeners. Ten people listening in Spanish cost the same as one.
Failed translations are free. If a sentence cannot be translated, listeners get the original text and that sentence is not billed.

Worship songs: if the microphone picks up sung lyrics, they may be recognised as speech and counted. Muting the translation feed during music, or starting the stream at the sermon, avoids that.

Worked examples

Service	Billable speech	Languages listened	Cost
Short devotion	15 minutes	1	$1.25
Typical sermon	40 minutes	2	$6.66
One-hour sermon	60 minutes	3	$15.00
Conference session	90 minutes	5	$37.50

The free $20 credit covers 4 hours of speech in one language, or two hours in two languages: enough to try PewTranslate for a few Sundays before deciding.

How the balance works

Your balance is shown on the dashboard and in Account → Subscription, which also lists your top-ups. Account → Usage breaks down translated time by month.
Add credit from the Account page in steps of $20, $50, $100 or $200.
A stream cannot start when the balance is empty, and a running stream stops if the balance runs out, so you can never be charged more than you have added.
Each service's report shows its billable duration and exact cost, so the treasurer can match every charge to a date.

How it compares

Most churches weigh live translation against two familiar options. We compare them honestly, including where they are the better choice:

Volunteer or paid interpreters: the best quality for one language, but hard to staff every week and for several languages at once.
Headset interpretation systems: they work without phones or internet, but need receivers and still need an interpreter.

For a budgeting worksheet that covers all the options, see what church interpretation costs.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a monthly fee?

No. You only pay for translated speech, from a prepaid balance.

Do we pay for languages nobody uses?

No. A language is only translated and billed while at least one listener has it selected and playing.

How many people can listen?

There is no listener limit, and the price does not depend on the number of listeners.

What happens when our credit runs out mid-service?

The stream stops and the operator sees a message. You can top up and start the stream again.