Cremation Glossary: Key Terms in Plain English
Every page on this site uses the same words in the same way. This glossary collects the twelve terms that matter most when a family is comparing cremation prices, reading a price list, or signing paperwork, and defines each one the way our guides use it. If a funeral home uses a word differently, ask them to explain it in writing before you agree to anything.
The prices mentioned inside a few definitions are the same researched 2026 figures used across the site, drawn from the dataset described on our methodology page. The definitions themselves do not change when prices are updated, because the words mean the same thing at every provider.
Cremation options and the process
Alternative container
The simple, rigid, combustible container the body is placed in for cremation, made of materials such as cardboard, fiberboard, or unfinished wood.
Alternative container is the term the FTC Funeral Rule uses for what this site also calls a cremation container. Federal law gives you the right to use one instead of a casket for cremation, and providers must offer one. At many dedicated providers the container costs under $100 and is included in the quoted price.
Cremation with service
Cremation combined with a funeral service, such as a viewing or a ceremony, usually held at the funeral home before the cremation takes place.
A service adds staff time, use of the funeral home rooms, and often a rental casket to the same basic cremation process. The NFDA 2024 General Price List Study put the national median for a funeral with viewing and cremation at $6,280. Families can also hold the service after the cremation instead, with the ashes present.
Crematory
The facility where a cremation takes place, in a chamber where high heat reduces the body to bone fragments, which are then processed into ashes.
A funeral home may run its own crematory or work with a separate one nearby, which is why crematory ownership is one of the things that move prices between providers. The crematory fee, often $250 to $600, pays for the cremation itself and is sometimes listed separately from the rest of the price.
Direct cremation
Cremation that happens soon after death, without a viewing, visitation, or ceremony beforehand.
The provider handles transport, paperwork, and the cremation itself, then returns the remains to the family, who can hold a memorial in their own time. Direct cremation is the simplest and cheapest form of cremation, and it is the arrangement most of the price tables on this site are built on. Researched data puts the national average at $2,195.
Scattering
Spreading the ashes over a place that mattered to the person who died, on land or in water.
Rules vary by place. Scattering on your own land is usually fine, other private land needs the owner permission, and parks, beaches, and public land often have their own rules, with some requiring permission or setting areas aside. Always check with the local authority first, choose a quiet time, and scatter away from paths and water sources used by others.
Urn
The container for the cremated remains, in materials such as wood, ceramic, or metal.
A basic temporary container is normally included in the cremation price and is suitable for storage, burial, or scattering. A decorative urn costs extra, from about $50 upward. The usual sizing guide is about 1 cubic inch of urn space for each pound of body weight before cremation, and smaller keepsake urns hold only a portion of the ashes.
Prices, rules and paperwork
Cremation rate
The share of deaths in a year that end in cremation rather than burial.
The NFDA put the United States cremation rate at about 63% in 2025. Rates vary widely by state, and the pattern matters for prices: states with high cremation rates tend to have more dedicated providers competing for families, and that competition pulls prices down.
Death certificate
The official legal record of a death, completed and signed, usually by a doctor or a medical examiner.
The provider usually files the death certificate and then obtains the cremation permit, so a delay with a signature can slow the whole arrangement. Families order certified copies for legal and financial paperwork; copies often cost $10 to $25 each, depending on the state, and they usually cost extra on top of the cremation price.
FTC Funeral Rule
The federal rule that governs funeral pricing in the United States, issued by the Federal Trade Commission and found at 16 CFR Part 453.
The Funeral Rule gives every family the same core rights: price information over the phone, an itemized General Price List to keep, the right to choose only the goods and services you want, and the right to use an alternative container instead of a casket. Providers must follow it whether or not a family knows to ask.
General Price List
The itemized list of the goods and services a funeral home offers, with the price of each one, often shortened to GPL.
Under the FTC Funeral Rule, providers must give the General Price List to anyone who asks, in person or by phone, and it is yours to take home. It is the single most useful document for comparing providers fairly, because it prices the same items the same way at every funeral home.
Pre-need
Paying in advance for your own funeral or cremation arrangements, also called a prepaid plan.
A prepaid plan is bought in advance and is sometimes paid in instalments. It can lock in a price, but it carries risk, so check four things before signing: whether the plan can transfer if you move, what refund applies if you cancel, which prices are guaranteed and which can rise, and what happens if the provider cannot perform the service.
Transit permit
The permit that allows a provider to transport the person who has died, for example to a crematory or across a state line.
The transit permit is part of the legal paperwork arranged before a cremation, alongside the completed death certificate and the cremation permit. Families rarely handle it directly: the provider arranges the permits as part of the paperwork included in the quoted price, and a missing or delayed permit can hold up transport.
Using these terms when you compare prices
When you call a provider, the two documents that matter are the General Price List and the written statement of the items you selected. Use the terms on this page to ask precise questions: what the basic services fee covers, whether the crematory fee is included, and which container the price assumes. Our cost calculator and the state price tables use the same definitions, so an estimate here can be checked line by line against a real price list.