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Guide · Churches and schools

How to give live translated captions of your sermon to every listener's phone (2026)

By Blink Brief · Updated  · How pages are made

Send the pastor's microphone from the soundboard into a computer running a church translation service, put its QR code on the screen, and each listener opens the sermon in their own language in their phone's browser. Paid plans start at $5 per hour per language, or about $20 to $25 a month for 4 to 6 hours, and most services let you test for free first.

Short answer

  • Setup: soundboard → USB audio interface → booth computer → translation service → QR code → listeners' phones.
  • Cost: pay as you go at $5 per hour per language (Glossa, LiveSunday), or monthly plans from $20 (CaptionKit, Wordcast).
  • Before you pay: CaptionKit and Glossa give 4 free hours, SermonBridge has a free plan for any church (1 language), and LiveSunday and Logia give 2 free hours.

Church live translation options: volunteer interpreters, FM receivers, and AI captions

Option How it works Trade-off
Volunteer interpreter beside the listeners A bilingual member whispers the sermon, or interprets in a side room Free, but needs the same fluent volunteer every week, and one person covers one language
Interpreter with FM or infrared receivers The interpreter speaks into a transmitter; listeners wear a receiver and headphones Hardware to buy, charge, hand out, and collect, on top of the volunteer
Interpreter to phones The interpreter speaks into an app such as LiveVoice; listeners hear it on their own phones No receivers, but still a volunteer per language; LiveVoice prices by number of listeners
AI captions to phones A service transcribes and translates the soundboard feed; listeners scan a QR code and read, or listen to a synthetic voice No volunteer and many languages at once; machine translation can stumble on names and unclear audio
AI captions on the main screen The same service's caption page shown in ProPresenter or OBS Reaches people without phones, but everyone sees the same language on the big screen

How the setup works: soundboard audio, QR code, and smartphones

  1. Soundboard feed. Send the pastor's microphone to a spare output on the soundboard. A cable feed beats a microphone in the room: Wordcast says "plugging into the soundboard gives the cleanest results".
  2. Audio interface. A small USB audio interface carries that output into the booth computer. Sotonis lists one "from $66" on its setup page.
  3. Booth computer. The translation service runs in its browser page or desktop app and reads the interface as its input. Some services also accept a phone as the microphone, or an RTMP stream from OBS.
  4. QR code. The service gives you a code for the session. Show it on the screen before the sermon and print it on cards at the welcome desk.
  5. Phones. Listeners scan it with the camera, pick a language, and read along. Most services open in the phone's browser with no app; LiveVoice "strongly" recommends its app on phones.
  6. Audio, optional. On plans with voice translation, listeners plug in headphones and hear a synthetic voice in their language.

Listeners use their own mobile data or your guest Wi-Fi, so post the Wi-Fi name and password next to the QR code.

ProPresenter live translated captions for a Korean or Spanish sermon

ProPresenter shows the captions; a translation service makes them. Several services give you a caption web page to lay over your slides:

  • ChurchTranslator: "Paste one URL into ProPresenter's Web function".
  • CaptionKit: "Add them to ProPresenter, OBS, vMix, FreeShow or Worship Extreme like any web page".
  • LiveSunday: a "transparent browser overlay URL" for OBS Studio, ProPresenter, vMix, EasyWorship, or MediaShout.
  • Glossa: "A browser source or embed page drops translated text into ProPresenter, OBS, vMix and more".

For a Korean church with English-speaking members, or the other way round, Sotonis is built for "Worship interpretation for Korean churches": you pick any two of its 82 languages, and from its Basic plan ($149/month) it switches between them automatically. It drives the stage screen over HDMI instead of through ProPresenter. For a Spanish sermon, every service in this guide names Spanish among its languages.

Church live translation software pricing (2026)

Check how each service counts hours. A 1-hour service in 3 languages is 3 hours at Glossa, SermonBridge, and Logia, but 1 hour at ChurchTranslator, which counts "by the clock, not per language".

Service Entry price Free to try Hours counted
Glossa$5/hour/language, or $99/month for 25 hours4 hoursPer language; silence and songs don't count
CaptionKit$20/month: 4 hours, 2 text languages4 hoursSpeaking hours, plus a price per language
Wordcast$20/month billed yearly, or $25 monthly: 6 hours1 hour a month; 7-day trialNot published
Logia$24.99/month: 5 translation hours2 hours, 1 languagePer language
LiveVoice$30/month for 10 listeners, plus AI at $0.52/minute/languageTest plan, up to 3 participantsAI billed per minute per language
ChurchTranslator$39/month: 6 hours, 2 languages4 hours or 14 daysBy the clock
LiveSunday$5/hour, 1 language; Pro $59/month for 12 hours2 hoursNot published
SermonBridge$59/month; hour packs from $19 for 5 hoursFree plan for any church: 1 languagePer language
Sotonis$59/month: 6 hours3 hours a month, limited-time promotionAdding a language "doesn't raise the price"
WordlyAbout $1,500 for a 10-hour packageOnline demo; trial through salesPackage hours, used within 12 months

Prices checked on 1 November 2026, in US dollars, on each vendor's own page. Languages, audio input, and listener apps for all 10 are in church translation apps compared.

Example: one 1-hour service every Sunday in Spanish and Korean is 2 language-hours a week. At Glossa's pay-as-you-go rate that is $10 a Sunday, or $40 for a month of 4 Sundays.

Step by step: your first Sunday with live translation

Two weeks before

  1. Ask who needs which language. A line on the connect card or a word with the families is enough to pick the first 1 or 2.
  2. Open a free trial. Pick a service whose free hours cover a test and one real Sunday.
  3. Wire the feed. Send only the speaking microphones to the output for the computer, not the band, then connect the audio interface to the booth computer.

The week before

  1. Test with last week's sermon. Play the recording through the board and read the captions on 2 phones per language.
  2. Fix the words it misses. Note the names of your pastors, your church, and local places; add them if the service has a term list.
  3. Ask one bilingual member to read along and mark what comes out wrong.

On Sunday

  1. Start the session 10 minutes early and check the input level while the pastor tests the microphone.
  2. Show the QR code on the screen before the sermon, and put printed cards at the welcome desk.
  3. Announce it once in each language: "Scan this code to read the sermon in your language."
  4. Stop the session after the sermon if your plan counts every hour the session runs.

After

  1. Ask 3 listeners what they couldn't follow, and compare the hours used with your plan.

Start free today: live captions on your screen

The free Live Captions tool shows the sermon as large captions on a screen, in the language being spoken. Pick the spoken language, press Start captions, and put the page on the projector; it works in Chrome and Edge, with no sign-up. It doesn't translate, so use it for members who are hard of hearing and for listeners who follow your language better by reading than by ear.

Our product · in development

Blink Captions sends each listener the sermon in their own language by QR code. Planned price $5 per hour per language, or $99/month.

Join the early list

Questions

How much does live sermon translation cost?

From $5 per hour per language on pay-as-you-go plans, or $20 to $59 a month for entry plans of about 4 to 6 hours. Larger plans run to $499 a month at Glossa and ChurchTranslator.

Do listeners need to install an app?

Usually not. Glossa, SermonBridge, LiveSunday, ChurchTranslator, Logia, Sotonis, Wordcast, and Wordly open in the phone's browser from a QR code or link. CaptionKit offers the browser or free iOS and Android apps. LiveVoice recommends its app on phones.

Can listeners hear the translation instead of reading it?

On some plans. CaptionKit charges $2.50 per language per hour for audio translation, LiveSunday includes voice on its Advanced plan, and Sotonis includes voice on every plan.

Do worship songs use up translation hours?

At Glossa, no: "Silence, songs & music don't count". Most other services don't say, so stop the session or mute the feed during songs.

Sources

Prices checked on 1 November 2026.

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