Cost and price
NAATI translation cost in Australia
Two different costs share that name. One is what a translator pays NAATI for the credential, an expense of theirs and never yours. The other is the price of the work on your document: $39.99 to translate a page, with $59.99 more on each page you want prepared by a NAATI-certified translator.
Which cost do you mean?
The certification fee and the translation price are different things
One is a professional fee paid by a person. The other is a price for work on your document.
What a translator pays NAATI
A translator who wants NAATI certification pays NAATI for it. That is a cost of entering the profession, with no connection to the length or the language of your document, and it never appears on a customer’s invoice.
What a customer pays
Your cost is measured in pages of your own document. Two choices move the total: whether you add NAATI certification, and how quickly you need it back. Not the language, not the document type. The order page shows each part as you go, and our overview of NAATI translation in Australia covers what the certified version actually is.
Why the two get confused. The credential belongs to a person, so the fee belongs to a person as well — NAATI certifies individual translators and interpreters, and no company holds a certification of its own. We never describe ourselves as NAATI endorsed. With the NAATI option, what you buy from us is the work of a translator who holds the credential: what a NAATI certified translation is.
The price
What a NAATI certified translation costs, line by line
| Part of the price | Amount | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Translation, per page | $39.99 | One page into English, following the layout of the original as closely as it can. No statement, no stamp. |
| NAATI certification, per page | $59.99 | Charged per page, not per order. It pays for a NAATI-certified translator to certify the translation in their own name and stamp each page, normally with the NAATI digital stamp, which carries a QR code for anyone checking. On a digital stamp the words “Digitally Authenticated by NAATI” take the place of a handwritten signature. |
| Normal delivery | Included | The PDF by email within 3 days, counted in calendar days from payment. We do not deliver on Sundays: a delivery that would fall on a Sunday arrives on the Monday. |
| Urgent delivery | $49 | Added once, whatever the page count, for 12–24 hours. |
| ASAP delivery | $99 | Added once, for within 4 hours, where the language can be staffed that quickly. |
We add nothing at checkout. The figure on screen is the full price, in Australian dollars. If you pay from overseas, the Stripe payment page may show that total already converted into your own currency, with a Stripe conversion fee of 2 to 4 per cent built into the rate; you can switch to Australian dollars on that page before you pay. Your bank may also charge its own fee. The order form stops at four pages; a longer document is priced by email before anything is paid. The three speeds are explained in how long a translation takes.
The unit
What counts as a page
The unit is a side of paper, and you can count it yourself before you order.
Turn the document over and count the sides that carry something a reader needs: writing, a stamp, a seal. Each of those is one page on the invoice. How much is printed there changes nothing — a crowded side and a half-empty one are billed alike — so a certificate with nothing but a registry stamp on the reverse still counts as two. Our terms say the same.
A licence is the case people query most. The order form sets two pages for you, and the second is not a formality: everything a reader wants to confirm about what you may drive is printed on the reverse, in codes that stay meaningless until somebody writes them out. See why a licence translation must show both sides and the driver licence translation page.
Three worked examples
What three ordinary jobs come to
A one-page certificate
A birth certificate printed on one side is a single page: $39.99 to translate it, and $59.99 on top if it is to be certified. Normal delivery is included, so that is the whole cost.
A driver licence, both sides
Two pages, set for you on the order form. Prepared by a NAATI-certified translator, the card comes to $199.96. The Standard option covers the same two sides at $39.99 each.
A four-page transcript
Four sides, so four times $39.99, plus four times $59.99 where the assessing authority asked for certification. See academic transcript translation.
Speed is priced once, not per page. A four-page job pays the same $49 or $99 surcharge as a one-page job.
Comparing quotes
How do I find the cheapest NAATI translator?
Check first whether the Free Translating Service covers you, since it costs nothing if you qualify. Otherwise, compare quotes on the same terms: the same unit, the same certification and the same page count. A low quote may be per word, or leave out the statement and stamp.
The unit is not the same
One quote is per page, the next per word, the third per document. A per-word rate looks small until a dense page is counted. Ask each of them what one page means before you set the figures side by side.
Certification may be extra, or absent
A translation with no statement and no stamp is a different product from one carrying both, and a low headline figure often means the first.
You may not be told who signs it
A certification statement names a person and shows their credential. If nobody is named, nothing can be checked afterwards. The translator behind ours can be: how to check a NAATI stamp and the translator.
Compare like with like, then decide. Get the office’s own wording first, write down what it asks for, and price only the quotes that meet it — the same unit, the same certification, the same page count. Both our options sit side by side on the services page, and whether you need a NAATI translation at all is worth settling before you weigh prices.
Before you pay anyone
The route that costs nothing, if you qualify
Start with the Free Translating Service, which TIS National operates on behalf of the Department of Home Affairs. Its page sets the entitlement out: “Permanent residents and eligible visa holders can get up to 10 personal documents translated into English for free.” Where that fits you, and the document is one of your ten, do not buy from us.
Two limits matter. On length, TIS National’s own words: “Most translations are provided in an extract summary format of up to 100 words”. Enough to carry the facts off a short certificate, and nowhere near enough for a record running to pages of subjects and marks. And it is generous rather than quick: “Within 30 calendar days following the application’s approval, the completed translation will be available to download.” Four eligibility tests must all hold at once, listed on our page on the Free Translating Service; citizens, tourists and working holiday visa holders fall outside it. Where an order from us would be the wrong purchase, we say so in when we will tell you not to order.
Source: TIS National, About the Free Translating Service (checked 13 September 2026)
Common questions
Questions people ask about the price
No. That figure is NAATI’s charge to a translator who wants to be certified, not a price for translating a document. It is paid by the practitioner and appears nowhere on a customer’s invoice. Your own bill is counted in pages: $39.99 to translate one, and $59.99 more on any page you want certified.
No — the rate is per page and does not fall as the order grows. Four pages is the ceiling on the order form, and a longer file is quoted by email first, built from the same figures. What a larger order does spread is the delivery surcharge, charged once per order rather than per page.
Three steps, in order. Check whether the Free Translating Service covers you before paying anyone. Ask the office whether it wants a certified translation or simply an English version — where certification is not asked for, Standard at $39.99 a page is the whole cost. Then order early, since Normal delivery is included.
Tell us as soon as you notice. Getting the count right is up to you. Nothing is recalculated after delivery: if the document has more pages than you paid for, we come back to you before work starts, and the order waits until you pay for the extra pages or agree a revised quote with us and pay it; the delivery window starts again once that payment is confirmed. If you would rather not go ahead, we refund you in full, and if the document has fewer pages than you paid for, we refund the difference. To get the count right first time, photograph the document first and count sides rather than sheets.
Online, and you pay at checkout, before any work starts. On the order page you upload a photo or PDF of each page, choose the NAATI certified option and a delivery speed, and pay the total on screen through Stripe. A NAATI-certified translator prepares the translation, and it arrives by email as a PDF. If you change your mind before translation work has started, email us and we cancel and refund the order in full. A document over four pages is quoted by email first, and the quote stays open for seven days.
No. We engage the translator, so the total you pay at checkout covers the translation, the $59.99 a page for certification and any faster delivery you chose. The translator does not bill you, and the certification statement and stamp are part of that certification charge, not an extra. The translator’s name is on the certification statement in your PDF, so you can check the credential you paid for against NAATI’s public records.
Not here. The price is per page and set before you pay, so the time spent on your document never reaches your bill: a handwritten page is $39.99, the same as a printed one, plus $59.99 if you add certification. The only charge tied to time is one you choose. Urgent at $49 or ASAP at $99 buys an earlier delivery window, not extra hours of work, and Normal delivery is included.
Only if it has more sides. Each side carrying text, a stamp or a seal is one page, at $39.99 plus $59.99 with certification, so a one-sided full certificate costs the same as a one-sided short-form one. The costly mistake is translating the wrong version. Home Affairs’ subclass 820 partner visa page says: “Provide a birth certificate showing the names of both parents.” A short-form certificate without them can mean paying for a second translation, so ask the office which version it wants before you order. Birth certificate translation quotes what each process asks for.
No. The translation price is the same across Australia, because you order online and the translation arrives by email as a PDF, with nothing posted. A driver licence prepared by a NAATI-certified translator is $199.96 in Victoria as anywhere else; VicRoads’ own wording for a conversion is quoted on licence translation for Victoria. Where you are changes whether we can help, not the price: we cannot take a New South Wales licence transfer, or any licence use in the Northern Territory.
Yes, a visit fee of A$80 on top of the translation, and visits are offered only in Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Logan. We photograph your documents with you, hand them straight back and place the order together at the normal on-screen price, and the translation still arrives by email as a PDF. The fee is paid by card when we confirm the time, and refunded in full if you cancel at least two hours ahead. Everywhere else, ordering is online only. To book, email or text us your suburb and two times that suit you; the details are on the contact page.
Not for our mistakes. If you find an error, email us your order number and we correct and re-issue the translation at no charge. Check what the office asks for first, such as a certified translation rather than Standard, or an original hard copy. Your rights under the Australian Consumer Law apply either way.
Not for the same document. The translation carries no expiry date of its own, and you own it and may use it for any lawful purpose, so the same PDF can go to every office that needs it. We keep your finished translation on file and re-send it free on request, so a lost email costs nothing. A new order is needed when the document itself changes: an original that has been reissued or amended, or a more recently issued one that an office has asked for.
NAATI stopped issuing accreditation in 2018, so a form that asks for a “NAATI accredited translator” today means one who holds current NAATI certification. That is who prepares the certified option: a NAATI-certified translator for your language direction — a Certified Translator or Certified Advanced Translator, or a Recognised Practising Translator where NAATI does not test the language. Their practitioner number is on the translation and you can check it in NAATI’s online directory.
Check first whether the Free Translating Service covers you, since it costs nothing if you qualify. Otherwise, compare quotes on the same terms: the same unit, the same certification and the same page count. A low quote may be per word, or leave out the statement and stamp.