Proofreading cost, per word, page and hour

Rates from two published sources

Two sources publish proofreading rates in enough detail to budget with. The first is the EFA 2026 Rate Chart, built from a survey of more than 1,100 members about the rates they charged in 2025. Each figure is a range of median rates, and the EFA says plainly that it does not set rates. Here are its proofreading rows for the kinds of books most of our readers write, with fiction for contrast.

Source: EFA 2026 Rate Chart, Proofreading section, checked October 21, 2026. A page is 250 words. Per 1,000 words is the per-word rate times 1,000.

The second source is Reedsy, a marketplace for freelance editors. Its guide to editing costs (updated February 9, 2026) puts proofreading at $0.014 to $0.021 a word and gives $1,600 as the cost of a final proof on an 80,000-word book. Its page on proofreading rates (updated March 10, 2026) reports an average of $0.020 a word, or $20 per 1,000 words, across the last 24 months of quotes on its marketplace, with most rates between 1 and 5 cents.

The two sources agree at about 2 cents a word. The EFA's nonfiction range runs higher, up to 3 cents, while Reedsy's figures cover every genre, including fiction, which the EFA chart shows is the cheapest to proofread. For a nonfiction book, budget with the EFA range and treat 2 cents as a fair price, not a red flag.

What your length costs

Proofreading is priced by length, so the word count drives the bill. Here is the arithmetic for three common nonfiction lengths.

Our arithmetic from the EFA 2026 Rate Chart and Reedsy's published per-word figures. Reedsy's own 80,000-word example is $1,600.

Every 10,000 words adds $200 to $300 at EFA nonfiction rates. That is a small number next to a developmental edit, which the EFA puts at 4 to 5 cents a word. Cutting a chapter saves far more there than here. For every pass priced side by side, see book editing costs by type.

Hourly and per-page quotes

Some proofreaders bill by the hour. To compare an hourly quote with a per-word one, the EFA's guide for new authors gives the method: divide your word count by 250 to get manuscript pages (it calls 250 words "the industry standard"), then divide the hourly rate by the pages finished an hour to get a rate per page.

For a 60,000-word nonfiction book that is 240 manuscript pages. At the EFA's pace of 7 to 12 pages an hour, the job takes 20 to 34 hours. At $40 to $55 an hour, that comes to about $800 to $1,890. The same method gives about $530 to $1,260 for 40,000 words and $1,070 to $2,510 for 80,000.

The hourly range is wider than the per-word one because it multiplies two uncertain numbers: the rate and the pace. A clean, simple text moves at the top of the pace range; a book full of tables, notes and figures moves at the bottom. If a proofreader prefers hourly billing, ask for an estimate of hours and a cap.

What a proofread includes, and what it does not

The EFA's service definitions describe proofreading as "among the last stages of getting a manuscript ready for publication," where "proofreaders check for typographical errors and formatting mistakes." Its guide for new authors adds that proofreaders also check typesetting elements such as chapter title styles, running heads, page makeup and ebook page flow.

In practice a proofreader looks for:

• Typos, repeated or missing words, and errors the copy edit missed.
• Errors introduced in layout: bad line and page breaks, a heading alone at the bottom of a page, a missing line.
• Consistency between the table of contents, chapter titles, running heads and page numbers.
• Captions, cross-references and notes that point to the right place.

What it does not include is editing. The EFA's guide is direct about it: "proofreading is not considered editing. If you're looking for someone to review and correct grammar and punctuation, you're seeking a copyeditor." A copy edit costs 3 to 4 cents a word for nonfiction at EFA rates, against 2 to 3 for a proofread, because it does more. If your manuscript has never been copy edited, a proofreader cannot fix that at proofreading prices, and a good one will tell you so.

Reedsy quotes an editor on its cost guide making the same point from the other side: authors often buy both because they think the two are the same thing, and you should not pay for two stages if you need only one. The question to ask is which one you need. A self-edited draft needs a copy edit. A copy-edited, laid-out book needs a proofread.

When to buy it

Last. The EFA's guide says proofreading "comes after your manuscript has been fully edited," and its definition describes it as a review of the proof, the document meant to be printed. The order is:

1. Developmental edit, if you buy one, and your revision.
2. Copy edit, and your answers to its queries.
3. Interior layout. The formatting guide covers what that costs.
4. Proofread of the laid-out pages, then the designer makes the corrections.
5. A printed proof copy, which you check yourself before release.

Two timing mistakes cost money. Proofreading the manuscript before layout misses every error that layout introduces, so you need another check later anyway. And making big text changes after the proofread means new errors nobody has read. Book the proofreader when the layout is close to final, and agree in advance how many rounds of corrections are included.

If you publish on Amazon KDP, a printed proof is cheap: KDP charges proof copies at the book's print cost, $3.40 for a 200-page black-ink paperback, plus shipping (see printing costs and author copies). It does not replace a proofreader, but it catches what screens hide.

How to check a proofreader

The EFA's guidance for hiring applies here, with one difference: a proofread is small enough to test.

• Ask for a sample. The EFA's guide says copyediting and line editing "may be reasonably evaluated with a sample edit," and a proofread is easier still. Its testing guidelines say an unpaid test should be no more than five 250-word pages and about an hour of work. Send every candidate the same pages so you can compare them.
• Use your own pages. Send a few typeset pages from your own book, not a made-up test. Count what each candidate catches and whether the marks are clear enough for your designer to apply.
• Name your style guide. The EFA recommends that tests state the preferred style guide. Give the proofreader your copy editor's style sheet so they do not "correct" choices that were made on purpose.
• Ask how they mark up. Comments on a PDF, a list of corrections by page and line, or marked-up paper. Your designer has to be able to use it.
• Ask for references from authors of similar books, as the EFA advises for any editor.
• Get the scope in writing: the price and how it is calculated, the number of pages or words, the number of rounds, and the date.

To find candidates, the EFA runs a free job list and member directory; job listings must state a rate. Reedsy and other marketplaces list proofreaders with reviews.

To see a proofread in the context of a whole budget, open the calculator with a 60,000-word book and change the other lines to match your plans. Scribe Media, which makes this site, sells publishing with "professional editing and design" included, at $4,833 a month for six months, $29,000 in total (scribemedia.com/pricing). If you only need a proofread, a freelancer at the rates above is the better fit.