Short answer: in October 2026, agencies that publish their prices charge between $0.06 and $0.16 per word for product descriptions and similar copy. For a typical 150-word description, that works out to roughly $9 to $24 per product. On Fiverr, the median starting package in the product description category was $40, and that usually covers a small batch of 1 to 5 products. The length you order matters more than the rate.
That's the quick version. The rest of this post shows where those numbers come from and how to turn a per-word price into what you actually care about: the bill for your whole catalog.
Why product description prices are so hard to compare
Ask five writers for a quote and you'll get five different units. One agency sells word packages. Another prices by shop size. A freelancer sells a "basic gig" for three products. A platform charges per word plus a monthly fee.
None of that tells you what 400 products will cost. So we did the boring part. We took the prices each service publishes on its own website, checked them on 26 October 2026, and converted them into price per product and price per catalog.
Published prices, checked 26 October 2026
| Service | Published price | What the price covers | |---|---|---| | WordAgents | $0.08 per word ($400 for 5,000 words, $800 for 10,000). Trial: 300 words for $14. Premium: $0.15 per word | Product description packages, native English writers, unlimited revisions | | Vettted | $0.10 per word (200 words), $0.09 (500 words), $0.08 (1,000 words) | Product description packages, unlimited revisions | | Contentellect | $0.10 per word (5 to 50 products), $0.09 (55 to 100), $0.08 (110+) | Based on an average of 500 words per product, with an account manager who edits every piece | | Verblio | $0.16 per word for 100% human content. $0.06 per word for AI plus human, plus a $49.50 monthly platform fee | General content pricing (blog and website content), not a product description package | | Fiverr (product description category) | Median starting price $40 across 37 well-reviewed gigs, middle half $20 to $100 | Starting packages, usually 1 to 5 products. Figures from GigBuyerGuide, checked 29 September 2026 |
Prices change, so treat this as a snapshot. Sources are linked at the end of the post.
What that means per product
Per-word rates only become useful once you know how long your descriptions should be. Here's the same table at three common lengths.
| Rate | 100 words | 150 words | 300 words | 500 words | |---|---|---|---|---| | $0.06 per word | $6 | $9 | $18 | $30 | | $0.08 per word | $8 | $12 | $24 | $40 | | $0.10 per word | $10 | $15 | $30 | $50 | | $0.16 per word | $16 | $24 | $48 | $80 |
Notice what happens at 500 words. Contentellect's large shop rate is the cheapest in the table, but because its packages assume an average of 500 words per product, a description comes to about $40. A 150-word description at the "more expensive" $0.10 rate costs $15. Length moves the price far more than the rate does.
What that means for a whole catalog
Now scale it up. Here's a 500-product catalog at 150 words per product, which is 75,000 words.
| Rate | Cost for 500 products | |---|---| | $0.06 per word | $4,500 (plus the monthly platform fee on Verblio's hybrid plan) | | $0.08 per word | $6,000 | | $0.10 per word | $7,500 | | $0.16 per word | $12,000 |
These are list prices. Most agencies say they'll quote a custom rate for big orders, and Contentellect states it directly in its FAQ. If you have hundreds of products, always ask.
Fiverr is harder to put in a catalog table, because gigs are priced per package, not per word. GigBuyerGuide's advice is sensible: ask sellers for a price per product at your catalog size and a five-product sample batch before you commit. Also remember Fiverr's service fee. According to the same guide, a $40 order comes to $45.70 at checkout before tax.
How long should your descriptions be?
This is the decision that shapes your budget, so make it before you ask for quotes.
- Simple, low-price items (phone cases, socks, spare parts): a clear title, a few bullets and two or three sentences. Around 80 to 150 words is usually plenty.
- Mid-range products people compare (shoes, small appliances, skincare): 150 to 300 words that answer the questions a shopper would ask a sales assistant.
- Expensive or complex products (furniture, espresso machines, tools): longer copy with setup, care and use, sometimes with an FAQ block.
Paying for 500 words on a phone case doesn't make it sell better. It just makes the page longer. Write to what the buyer needs to know, and spend the extra budget where it actually changes a decision.
What pushes the price up (or down)
The rate on a pricing page is only part of the story. These are the things that change the real cost:
- Research. If writers have to dig up specs themselves, it takes longer. Sending a spreadsheet with materials, sizes and key features saves money.
- Editing. Some services edit every piece, others only spot-check. On a large catalog, an editor on every description is what keeps product 400 sounding like product 4.
- Revisions. Unlimited revisions sound great, but a clear brief and a small test batch save more time than any revision policy.
- Format. Delivery in a spreadsheet that matches your shop's import columns saves hours of copy and paste. Ask for it up front.
- Human or AI. Verblio's own pricing shows the gap: its 100% human rate is almost three times its AI plus human rate. Whether that's worth it depends on how much you care about your copy sounding different from everyone else's.
How to get an accurate quote
Before you contact anyone, have these ready:
- Number of products, grouped by type
- Target length for each group
- Your source material (supplier text, spec sheet or links)
- Two or three existing descriptions you like
- Your platform and the format you want back
- Your deadline
With that, any writer or agency can give you a real price per product instead of a guess. And ask for a paid test batch of 10 to 20 products first. It's the cheapest way to find out if the quality holds.
The short version
Don't compare rates. Compare the price per product at the length you actually need. Decide your target length first, ask every service to quote your real catalog, and test with a small batch before you order the rest. You can read more about how we handle big catalogs in our post on writing product descriptions at scale, or see everything we write on our services page.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to write one product description?
At published 2026 agency rates of $0.06 to $0.16 per word, a 150-word description costs about $9 to $24. Longer descriptions cost proportionally more, so a 500-word description at $0.08 per word is $40.
Is it cheaper to pay per word or per product?
Neither is cheaper by default. Per-word pricing is easier to compare between services. Per-product pricing is easier to budget. Ask for both and check that the word count per product is clear.
Do agencies give discounts for large catalogs?
Many do. Published packages often get cheaper per word as the order grows, and most agencies offer custom pricing for hundreds of products.
How much do product descriptions cost on Fiverr?
In GigBuyerGuide's check of 37 well-reviewed gigs on 29 September 2026, the median starting price was $40, with the middle half between $20 and $100. A starting package usually covers 1 to 5 products, and Fiverr adds a service fee at checkout.
Should I just use AI instead?
AI can draft fast, but someone still has to check every description for accuracy and make sure hundreds of pages don't read the same. If you go that route, budget for that editing time.