kq quote ./app --show-every-line

itemized.

Three things we localize — interface strings, help-center articles, onboarding emails — into three languages. Below is every line that can appear on one of our invoices, what it costs, and what it doesn’t cover. If it isn’t on this page, we don’t sell it.

get a fixed quote

or call (845) 494-1180 — quotes cost nothing and come back inside one business day

sample invoice

Kelp & Quill · invoice draftproject: settings + onboarding · locale: es-419

Sample invoice for one Spanish base package
base package, 4,820 words$1,140.00
second native readincluded
overflow report · 6 stringsincluded
glossary + style sheetincluded
register call · ustedincluded
rushnot asked for
machine pre-translationnone used
total$1,140.00

50% at kickoff · 50% on delivery · Visa, Mastercard, Amex or ACH

02base package

what one language costs, line by line.

Same package on every job. The only thing that changes between columns is the language — and, for Japanese, the price. We’d rather show you why than bury it in a “custom quote.”

Base package contents and prices per language
line item spanishes-419 or es-ES portuguesept-BR japaneseja-JP all threeside by side
Translator who uses your product first included included included included
Second native reader, no English in view included included included included
Register decided once, up front tú or usted você です・ます level all three, documented
ICU plural, gender and {placeholder} checks included included included included
Overflow report with shorter options included included included included
Glossary + style sheet you keep yours yours yours one shared file
Revision round inside 30 days 1 1 1 1 per language
Source words included 5,000 5,000 5,000 5,000 each
Base turnaround 7 business days 7 business days 7 business days still 7
Per word past 5,000 $0.19 $0.20 $0.29 same rates
from $1,140 $1,190 $1,760 $3,690
Request a quote quote es quote pt-BR quote ja quote all

Why Japanese costs $620 more: fewer reviewers can judge politeness register and dense UI layout in the same pass, and that pass takes longer. That’s the entire reason — there’s no “complexity surcharge” hiding in it.

Not in any column: right-to-left languages, legal documents, slogan transcreation. Ask and we’ll refer you to someone who does them well — we won’t stretch to fake it.

03three surfaces

the three places a translation quietly breaks.

A base package can mix these freely — the 5,000 words can be all UI, all help center, or some of each. The price stays the same. What changes is what we check, and what we’ll hand you back.

Printed interface strings with Spanish translations and circled character counts beside a phone showing a Spanish settings screen
ui.strings

interface strings

The words customers touch a hundred times a day. We sign up, click every screen we can reach, then translate with that context in our heads — not a spreadsheet of orphaned keys.

you send
en.json, .po, .xliff, .strings or .arb, plus a staging login
you get
same keys, same format, plus the overflow report

the trade-offNo staging login? We still deliver, but expect more questions and a few strings we have to guess at. We’ll mark which ones.

in the base package, from
$1,140
quote strings →
help.center

help-center articles

An article that says “click Upgrade” above a screenshot of an English button is worse than no translation. We work with your screenshots open and list every image that still gives the game away.

you send
Zendesk, Intercom or Help Scout export, or Markdown
you get
articles in the same structure, plus a re-shoot list
updates
diffed — you pay for changed words only

the trade-offWe don’t re-shoot screenshots ourselves. Your team has the staging data; we’d only be guessing at it, and you’d pay for the guess.

in the base package, from
$1,140
quote articles →
Hands holding a phone with a Japanese onboarding inbox next to a notebook of politeness-register notes
email.onboarding

onboarding emails

Your first week of email does more selling than your pricing page. Subject lines get rewritten to the length each inbox actually shows, preheaders checked, and the register set once and held.

you send
HTML, or an export from Customer.io, Loops or HubSpot
you get
bodies, subjects and preheaders per locale

the trade-offWe don’t load them into your ESP. Shipping is your job; getting the words right is ours. We do flag merge tags that break word order.

in the base package, from
$1,140
quote emails →

04à la carte

the à la carte list.

For when a whole package is too much, or you need one specific thing done right. Priced per language unless it says otherwise. Same two native readers wherever words get written.

  • the pilot

    from $295

    Up to 1,000 words, both native reads, no glossary. For teams who want to see our work before committing to a package. Reasonable. $295 es, $310 pt-BR, $460 ja.

    start a pilot →
  • help-center diff

    per word · $90 min

    Your English articles changed; we compare against the last translated version and redo only what moved, at the per-word rate. Small batches carry a $90 minimum per language.

    send the changes →
  • screenshot qa in staging

    $385 / flow

    We walk one flow — up to 30 screens — in your localized staging build and log every clipped, untranslated or wrong-locale string, each with a screenshot and a fix.

    book a qa pass →
  • app store listing

    $265

    Title, subtitle, description and keyword field for the App Store or Google Play — written to the character limits, not translated past them and trimmed with a cleaver.

    quote a listing →
  • glossary build only

    $640

    No translation — just the terminology decisions and a style sheet. For teams with in-house translators who keep arguing about whether “workspace” gets translated at all.

    settle the glossary →
  • register call

    $160

    Forty-five minutes to decide tú or usted, você, or keigo level for your brand, plus a one-page decision memo. free in every base package

    book the call →
  • rush

    +22%

    Five business days or fewer, on any package or extra. We squeeze translation time. We do not squeeze the second read — that’s the part you’re paying for.

    call about a deadline →
  • changes after 30 days

    per changed word

    New copy on your side after the revision window gets quoted at the per-word rate before anyone starts. Our mistakes, found any time, get fixed without a line item.

    send the edits →

05the week

what seven business days actually buys.

Every base package runs on this calendar. It isn’t padded, and it isn’t a minimum we’ll quietly blow through. If something moves, you hear it from us the day it moves.

day 1

the kickoff call

Thirty minutes with whoever wrote the English. Then the translator signs up and clicks around.

days 2–4

translation

First draft in your own file format. Questions go into one shared doc you can answer in a batch — not a drip of emails at 6pm. Glossary decisions get written down as they’re made, so the second job starts from them.

day 5

the cold read

A second native speaker reads only the translation. If it sounds translated, it goes back.

day 6

fixes + checks

Plurals, placeholders, character limits. The overflow report gets written.

day 7

delivery

Files back as a pull request or a zip, with the glossary and our notes.

Rush (+22%) compresses days 2–4. It never touches day 5 — skipping the cold read is how “translated” turns into “sounds translated.”

Buying all three languages? They run in parallel with separate readers, so the bundle still lands on day 7, not day 21.

not sure which lines you need? send the file.

Attach your en.json or a link to your help center. Within one business day you’ll get the line items we’d actually bill you for — and the ones you can skip.