What Does Outsourced Data Entry Cost?
By CodexierPublished 5 min read
Data entry looks like the simplest thing to outsource: someone types what is on a document into a system. Yet quotes vary widely, and the cheapest one often turns out to be the most expensive once errors are counted. The price is driven by three things: the pricing model, how accurate the result must be, and how messy the source material is. This guide explains each, shows how to run a pilot and when automation beats people.
Hourly vs per-record pricing
| Model | Suits | Risk |
|---|---|---|
| Per hour | Mixed tasks, clean-up work, unclear volumes | You carry the risk of slow work; ask for time reports per task |
| Per record or document | Invoices, orders, forms, product data with known structure | Supplier may rush; accuracy terms become essential |
| Monthly fixed fee | Steady ongoing volume within a range | Paying for capacity you do not use in quiet months |
Our current prices for back-office work are on the pricing page. Whichever supplier you use, ask what is included: quality checks, questions back to you and corrections.
Accuracy and quality checks
Accuracy costs money, and the right level depends on what the data is used for. A marketing list with a few typos in company names is an annoyance. A supplier invoice with a wrong bank giro number or amount is a real loss. Decide which fields are critical and require a stricter check on those, rather than paying for maximum accuracy on everything.
- Spot checks: a reviewer checks a sample of records each batch. Cheapest, catches systematic errors.
- Validation rules: formats checked automatically, such as organisation numbers, dates, postcodes and totals that must add up.
- Double entry: two people enter critical fields independently and differences are resolved. Most accurate, roughly doubles the effort.
- Agree how errors are reported, who corrects them and at whose cost.
Source quality and its cost
The single biggest cost driver is what the person has to read. A clean PDF export from a system can be entered, or better, imported, quickly. A phone photo of a crumpled receipt, a handwritten form or a scanned document in three different layouts takes far longer and produces more questions. Before asking for quotes, sort your material into these groups and estimate the share of each. Improving the source, such as a digital form instead of paper or supplier invoices by e-invoice instead of PDF, often saves more than any negotiation on price.
Running a pilot batch
- Pick a representative sample, including difficult documents, not just the clean ones.
- Write a short instruction: fields, formats, what to do when something is unclear, and a few worked examples.
- Agree the price for the pilot and the accuracy you expect.
- Check every record in the pilot yourself, or a large sample, and count errors by field.
- Review the supplier's questions. Many questions mean the instruction needs work, not that the supplier is weak.
- Calculate cost per correct record and compare with doing it in-house or automating.
Personal data in the material means the supplier is a data processor under GDPR. Sign a data processing agreement before the pilot, check where the work is done, and make sure access to your systems is personal and removable. The guide to outsourcing admin in Sweden, the EU or offshore covers the trade-offs.
When automation is cheaper
Manual entry makes sense for low volumes, varied documents and one-off clean-up jobs. Automation wins when volumes are high and the structure repeats. Supplier invoices are the classic case: e-invoices via Peppol or invoice interpretation in Fortnox or Visma remove most of the typing, and a person only reviews exceptions. The same goes for orders from a webshop or leads from a form, which should flow through an integration rather than be retyped.
People
Low volume, varied documents, judgement calls, clean-up of old data.
Automation plus review
High volume, repeating structure, data already digital somewhere.
Fix the source
Replace paper with forms, PDFs with e-invoices and retyping with integrations.
When you should not buy from us: a one-off job of a few hours is usually quicker to do in-house. For recurring volumes, our data entry and back-office service starts with a pilot, and prices are on the pricing page. If you are unsure whether people or automation fits, book a call.
Frequently asked questions
Why do data entry quotes vary so much?
Suppliers price different things: some include quality checks and corrections, some only typing. They also assume different source quality and accuracy. Ask each for cost per correct record on your pilot batch, and the comparison becomes fair.
Is offshore data entry safe under GDPR?
It can be, but transfers outside the EU need a legal mechanism, such as standard contractual clauses, and an assessment of the destination country. Many Swedish companies choose EU-based suppliers for personal data to keep it simpler.
How big should a pilot batch be?
Large enough to include every document type and a few difficult cases, and small enough to check thoroughly. For most small businesses that is a few days of normal volume.
Can AI do our data entry?
For structured documents such as invoices and forms, AI extraction with human review works well and gets cheaper per document as volume grows. For handwriting, poor scans or data needing judgement, people are still more reliable.
Price your data entry on real documents
Book a short call and describe what you need entered, how much and from what kind of source. We suggest a pilot, or tell you if automation is the better route.
Book a free 15-minute call