If you have been asked to put live captions or live translation into next year's budget, the first question is usually "how much?" This article walks through what drives the cost, so you can build a request that matches how your meetings actually run.
Start with your meeting calendar
The biggest factor in the cost of live captions is simple: how many hours of meetings you caption. Before you ask any vendor for a number, pull together a rough picture of your year.
- Which bodies meet in public. City council or board of supervisors, planning commission, and any committees or advisory boards you want to include.
- How often each one meets. Regular meetings, plus a reasonable allowance for special meetings and study sessions.
- How long meetings usually run. Look at recent recordings or minutes. Budget for the long nights, not just the average.
Multiply it out and you have an estimate of annual meeting hours. That one number does most of the work in a quote.
Languages are the second lever
The other main factor is how many languages you translate into. SentraCaptions supports 75 languages, and you choose up to 8 for each meeting. Not every meeting needs the same set.
A practical approach is to decide on a core set of languages for your main body and a smaller set, or English only, for others. Your language choices may line up with the "applicable languages" your agency identifies for agenda translation under SB 707, though that is a decision for your agency. For help choosing, see Choosing translation languages for your meetings.
Costs you may not need to budget for
Some line items that show up with other approaches don't apply here. When you compare options, it helps to list them explicitly.
- Hardware. SentraCaptions is added as one more destination on the encoder you already stream with (Pearl, OBS, vMix and others), over RTMP or SRT. There is no new caption hardware to buy or maintain.
- Per-viewer fees. There are no per-viewer fees. Whether a handful of residents follow along on their phones or a full chamber does, the cost doesn't change.
- Apps or licenses for residents. Residents scan a QR code and read along on a phone page. No app, no sign-in.
- Paused time. When captions are paused for recess or closed session, nothing is captioned, translated, stored or billed. You aren't paying for the time the room is empty.
Prepay or buy as you go
SentraCaptions pricing is not published as a rate card. Instead, you get a quote based on your hours of meetings and number of languages. Pricing is extremely competitive, and you can either buy minutes as you need them or prepay.
Which option fits depends on how your agency budgets:
- Buying as you need them can suit a pilot, a single body, or a year when you're not sure how many meetings you'll caption.
- Prepaying can suit agencies that prefer a fixed amount in the adopted budget and a simple purchase process.
Either way, the quote starts from the same two inputs: hours and languages.
Other things to account for
A good budget request covers more than the vendor line. Think about these before you submit:
- Staff time to set up. Adding a stream destination to your encoder, building the glossary of local names, and placing the chamber screen. This is usually a one-time effort.
- A screen in the chamber or lobby. The chamber screen is a full-screen web display. Many agencies already have a TV or monitor that can show it.
- Audio. Captions are only as good as the audio they hear. If your chamber audio has known problems, fixing them may be worth including. See Chamber audio tips for better captions.
- CART for accommodation requests. Automatic captions don't replace CART in every situation. If a deaf resident requests CART as an accommodation, your agency should consider that request. It is reasonable to keep a separate allowance for it. See Automatic captions and CART: when each makes sense.
How to frame the request
Council members and finance staff tend to ask the same questions. A short memo that answers them up front makes approval easier.
- What it does. Live captions about one second after speech, live translation into the languages you choose, a chamber screen, and a phone page residents reach with a QR code.
- Why now. SB 707 does not itself require live captions, but captions and live translation are a practical way to support its language-access and participation goals. The ADA Title II web rule also sets compliance dates in 2027 and 2028 for web content. Check with your city attorney or county counsel about how these apply to your agency.
- What drives the cost. Meeting hours and number of languages, with no hardware and no per-viewer fees.
- How you'll control it. Pausing during recess and closed session, choosing languages per meeting, and deciding which bodies to caption.
If your agency uses CivicCA for agendas and meetings, captioning can start when the meeting starts and pause automatically for recess and closed session, which helps keep billed time close to actual meeting time.
Next steps
Gather your meeting hours and a draft list of languages, then ask for a quote.
- Pricing: how quotes work
- Features: everything included
- CivicCA: how it works with CivicCA
- 12 questions to ask a live captioning vendor
- Contact us for a quote