Conference interpreting cost calculator
Price a simultaneous interpreting job the way it is actually staffed - by booth, not by hour. Teams, ISO booths, receivers, technician and relay chains, with every rate editable to match your own.
Quote
Booths
| Line | Low | High |
|---|---|---|
| Total incl. 15% contingency | - | - |
Defaults are published market benchmarks for conference-grade simultaneous work, not a quote. Replace them with your own rate card and the maths holds.
How the numbers are built
Conference interpreting is not priced per hour or per word. It is priced per booth per day, and almost every costly surprise on a quote comes from one of four rules.
Two interpreters per booth, not one
Simultaneous interpreting is among the most cognitively demanding professional tasks there is, and interpreters rotate every 20 to 30 minutes. AIIC treats a minimum of two interpreters per language booth as a professional standard rather than a preference for any session running longer than an hour. On multi-day events the guidance rises to three per booth so the team can sustain the load across consecutive days. The calculator applies two by default and three once the event runs past a single day.
Booths are a separate line, and the venue can delete it
Mobile booths must meet ISO 4043; permanent installed booths meet ISO 2603. Interpreters, particularly AIIC members, can decline to work in non-compliant booths, because poor sound insulation causes fatigue and degrades output. If the venue already has built-in booths, that rental disappears from the quote - worth checking before pricing anything else.
Receivers scale with delegates, not languages
Booths scale with languages. Receivers scale with the audience, charged per unit per day, and should be ordered above confirmed headcount to absorb walk-ins, flat batteries and units that wander off.
Relay adds a booth rather than saving one
When no interpreter covers a pair directly, one booth interprets into a pivot language and the others work from that output. It solves a staffing problem and creates a cost one: an extra link in the chain and additional latency for the audience at the end of it.
Common questions
Why is a half-day almost the same price as a full day?
Most agencies enforce half-day minimums, and an interpreter who blocks a morning has usually lost the afternoon too. Below roughly four hours the saving is real but modest; below one hour, the two-interpreter rule may relax, which is the only point where the cost structure genuinely changes shape.
Does remote interpreting remove the equipment cost?
It removes booths, receivers and the on-site technician, and replaces them with a platform fee that varies enough between providers that guessing on your behalf would be dishonest. The interpreter team requirement does not change - remote simultaneous interpreting still needs a rotating pair.
What is not in this estimate?
Preparation and glossary work, chief interpreter coordination on multi-booth events, overtime beyond the contracted day, cancellation fees, and recording or transcript deliverables. Each is a normal line on a real quote.