ECM.DEV · Assessments

Localisation Cost Estimator

A diagnostic for content operations leaders in multilingual, multichannel environments — surfacing the five cost layers that traditional calculators miss, and the AI-native operating model that could reshape them.

Research preview · v0.2 — based on public benchmarks and ECM.dev estimates, refined quarterly from user feedback

Estimated annual localisation cost

€341,404

$371,092

Confidence band ±30% (€238,983 to €443,826)

Six-layer breakdown

Translation

Production

Channel adaptation

System & governance

AI Operations

Friction

1. Translation€119,90035.1%

Blended human + MT post-edit + AI translation across your language portfolio.Source: CSA Research 2024, Slator 2024 Pricing Survey, Nimdzi 2024 benchmarks

2. Production€62,04818.2%

Project management, LQA, in-country review, DTP, multimedia adaptation.Source: CSA + Slator + Nimdzi + ECM.dev estimate (interpolated by AI maturity)

3. Channel adaptation€25,0297.3%

Cost uplift to finish translated content for each delivery channel (video, UI, voice, etc.).Source: Slator Media/Product Loc 2024 + ECM.dev estimate

4. System & governance€38,39211.2%

TMS, connectors, glossary, vendor management, internal review.Source: Slator TMS pricing 2024 + CSA vendor-mgmt survey + ECM.dev estimate

5. AI Operations€35,43310.4%

LLM API spend, prompt library, eval infra, AI governance, human-in-the-loop review, regulated compliance uplift.Source: Published LLM API pricing (May 2025) + ECM.dev estimate

6. Friction€60,60317.8%

Rework, version drift, missed reuse, duplicate AI spend. The cost of a bad operating system.Source: ECM.dev estimate. Derived from your input signals.

AI-native comparison

Current maturity: L2

Target maturity: L3

Current state

1. Translation

2. Production

3. Channel adaptation

4. System & governance

5. AI Operations

6. Friction

€341,404

One maturity level up

1. Translation

2. Production

3. Channel adaptation

4. System & governance

5. AI Operations

6. Friction

€228,651

Potential annual recovery€112,754

An estimated €60,603 of your annual spend — about 17.8%— is being absorbed by friction and uncoordinated AI spend. Your AI investment isn't translating to bottom-line savings because the operating model around AI is still the legacy one. ECM.dev redesigns the operating system, not just the tools.

Talk to an ECM.dev architect →

Model version v0.2. Coefficients sourced from public benchmarks (CSA, Slator, Nimdzi, published LLM API pricing) and ECM.dev estimates — see methodology.

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