SDS Studio™
Key takeaways
- Published consultant prices for a new EU SDS range from about €80 to €400 per document, depending on complexity and speed.
- Each extra language costs about €20 to €200 more, depending on whether the consultant or a translation agency does it.
- Licensed SDS software typically costs about €900 to €1,600 per user and year, often plus language modules, and needs an in-house expert.
- General AI chatbots are cheap, but their output is not a compliant SDS without expert rework.
- SDS Studio™ costs €59 + VAT per SDS (Hungary: 19 900 HUF + VAT) for every product and language, with no subscription.
First, count the right unit
Companies usually ask what an SDS costs per product. The practical unit is smaller: one product, in one language, for one target country. A cleaner sold in Germany, Austria and Hungary usually means three documents, because Sections 1.4, 8, 13 and 15 follow the target country. Compare every offer on this unit, otherwise the cheapest quote is often the most expensive one.
EU price levels in 2026
The ranges below come from price lists that EU consultants, translation agencies and software vendors publish on their websites (checked in November 2026, net prices). Individual quotes can be higher, especially for complex products, short deadlines or missing data.
| Option | New SDS | Each extra language | Updates |
|---|---|---|---|
| SDS consultant | €80 to €400 per SDS | €20 to €50 (same consultant) | New quote, or about €200 to €450 per month for 50 to 200 maintained SDSs |
| Translation agency | Not offered | About €140 to €200 per SDS (€0.14 to €0.20 per word) | New translation each time |
| Licensed SDS software | Included, done by your team | Language modules, about €600 to €700 each | Included while the licence runs, about €900 to €1,600 per user and year |
| Online SDS service per document | About €150 to €200 per SDS | Usually priced per SDS | Per revised SDS |
| General AI chatbot | Subscription, about €0 to €25 per month | Same | Same, plus expert rework |
| SDS Studio™ | €59 per SDS | €59 per SDS and language | €59 per revised SDS |
Consultants: expertise you pay per document
A consultant collects your composition data, classifies the mixture and writes the SDS. Simple mixtures with few ingredients sit at the lower end of the range; express service, many components or missing raw material data push the price towards €300 to €400. Turnaround is usually days to weeks.
Consultants remain the right choice for new substances without data, test planning, borderline classifications or disputes with authorities. For routine authoring, translation and updates the price per document adds up quickly.
Translation agencies: cheap words, missing law
A typical SDS has about 1,200 words, so translation agencies charge roughly €140 to €200 per language. The result is a translated text, not a new country edition: Section 8 still lists the source country's exposure limits, Section 15 its national laws and Section 1.4 its emergency number, unless a specialist rewrites them. H, EUH and P statements must also use the official wording of each language.
SDS software: licence plus your own expert
Licensed authoring software is usually sold per user and year, often with extra modules for languages or regions. It pays off for large, steady portfolios with an in-house regulatory expert. For a company with a few products or irregular volumes, the fixed annual cost and the training time often exceed the cost of the documents themselves.
AI chatbots: low price, high risk
ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini can explain regulations and draft text, but they estimate rather than calculate CLP classification, paraphrase official phrases and often use the wrong country's data. The subscription is cheap; the expert time to check and correct every section is not. Our guide ChatGPT vs professional SDS software lists the seven typical errors.
Worked example: 5 products, 3 languages, first year
A manufacturer sells 5 mixtures in Germany, France and Poland. That is 5 × 3 = 15 SDSs.
| Option | Calculation | Total |
|---|---|---|
| SDS consultant | 5 new SDSs × €80 to €400, plus 10 languages × €20 to €200 | about €600 to €4,000 |
| Licensed SDS software | 1 user licence plus language modules, plus your expert's time | about €1,500 to €3,000, plus internal time |
| General AI chatbot | Subscription plus expert rework of all 15 documents | low fee, high internal time, compliance risk |
| SDS Studio™ | 15 × €59 | €885 |
Next year, if two products change composition, the update in SDS Studio™ is 2 × 3 = 6 SDSs, or €354 + VAT, with no fee in between.
SDS Studio™: the per-SDS model
SDS Studio™ combines a CLP rule engine, official H, EUH and P texts in every language, harmonised Annex VI data and target-country rules for Sections 1.4, 8, 13 and 15. You upload a composition or an existing SDS, check the result and download the PDF. In our recorded demo an SDS update took about 5 minutes and a translation about 8 minutes of processing.
- Free first project: each company can create, update or translate one SDS and preview the PDF without a card.
- Pay to download: the finished PDF is unlocked with one payment of €59 + VAT.
- No surprise charges: for paid SDSs the card is only reserved when generation starts. It is charged, and the invoice is issued, only after a successful PDF. If generation fails, the reservation is released.
- No subscription: no monthly fee, no minimum term, the same price for every SDS and every language.
Frequently asked questions
How much does an SDS cost in the EU in 2026?
Published consultant prices range from about €80 to €400 per new SDS, plus about €20 to €200 per extra language. SDS Studio™ costs €59 + VAT per SDS and language.
Why are translations so expensive?
Each language is a separate SDS for a target country, with its own exposure limits, laws and emergency number, not just translated text.
Is there a monthly fee for SDS Studio?
No. SDS Studio™ has no subscription; you pay €59 + VAT per finished SDS.
Can Hungarian companies pay in forints?
Yes. Hungarian companies can pay 19 900 HUF + VAT per SDS instead of €59 + VAT.
What does the free trial include?
One full project per company, with PDF preview. Download is unlocked with a single payment.
