If your pricing can be communicated honestly and usefully, publishing at least a starting price or realistic range can build trust and improve lead quality. If every project genuinely varies too much for a public figure to mean anything, explain how pricing works instead.
I generally lean toward more transparency.
Not because every service should have a fixed price.
Because the customer is already wondering what it costs.
Refusing to acknowledge the question does not make it disappear.
Why businesses hide prices
There are legitimate reasons.
The scope may vary dramatically.
A professional service may require diagnosis before the provider understands the work.
A construction project cannot be priced from one line on a webpage.
A complex software build could range from thousands to hundreds of thousands.
In those situations, one public figure may be misleading.
But there are also less convincing reasons.
Some businesses hide pricing because they want the lead before revealing the number.
They believe the sales conversation gives them a better chance to justify the cost.
That can work.
It can also create unnecessary friction for customers who simply want to know whether the service is remotely within budget.
Gavin's take
I am suspicious of the idea that every service price must be hidden until a sales call. Sometimes that is genuinely necessary because the scope varies too much. Sometimes it is simply inherited sales practice. If a business can give a customer a truthful starting point without misleading them, I think that usually improves the buying experience.
Starting prices are often a useful middle ground
You do not need to choose between:
€495 exactly
and:
Contact us for a bespoke quotation.
A starting price can set expectations.
"Projects start from..."
"Typical projects range from..."
"Most clients invest between..."
Those are useful when the business has a recognisable minimum scope but final costs still vary.
It gives the customer a reference point without pretending every job is identical.
Pricing qualifies the lead
This is one of the strongest commercial arguments.
Suppose your service normally starts at €2,000.
A visitor with a €200 budget may leave after seeing the price.
That is not necessarily a lost lead.
It may be ten minutes of both people's time saved.
Meanwhile, somebody with a realistic budget can contact you with more confidence because they already understand the ballpark.
Good lead generation is not only about increasing the number of enquiries.
It is also about improving the fit. That is a conversion decision as much as a pricing decision; website conversion is about helping the right visitor take the right next step.
That connects directly to how websites generate leads.
Price can build trust
Customers are used to web businesses hiding information behind forms and sales calls.
Publishing pricing can therefore become part of the brand.
It says:
I am comfortable telling you roughly what this costs.
That does not automatically make the service cheaper.
Premium businesses can publish prices too.
Transparency and low price are not the same thing.
Will competitors see my prices?
Yes.
They probably already have a reasonable idea.
A competitor can also request a quote or ask a customer.
I would not design the buying experience around hiding information from competitors if the result is making life harder for real prospects.
There are situations where pricing strategy is commercially sensitive.
For many small-business services, that concern is overstated.
What if competitors undercut me?
Then the website needs to explain why the service is not interchangeable.
If the only reason to choose you is that customers have not yet discovered someone cheaper, hiding the price does not solve the positioning problem.
A strong site should explain the quality, scope, experience and difference.
Price becomes one part of the decision.
Not the entire decision.
Could showing prices scare people away?
Yes.
That can be useful.
If somebody thinks a professional custom website should cost €100, seeing a realistic starting price may end the journey.
I would rather that happen on the website than after several emails.
The right customer may have the opposite reaction:
That's roughly what I expected. I can contact him.
That reduces uncertainty.
Exact price, range or starting price?
Choose the format that matches the service.
An exact price works when the product or scope is genuinely standardised.
A starting price works when there is a clear minimum but optional complexity.
A range works when most jobs fall into a reasonably predictable band.
"Quote required" is appropriate when the variation is too large for anything else to be honest.
The pricing model should reflect reality.
Do not publish a suspiciously low "from" figure that almost nobody can actually buy.
That is not transparency.
What I'd do
Where an exact figure would be dishonest, I would publish a useful range or starting price and explain the main variables. “From €X, with final price depending on A, B and C” gives the customer something real to work with. “Contact us for a quote” gives them no information at all unless the service genuinely cannot be bounded.
Explain what changes the price
This is particularly useful for service businesses.
If cost increases with:
number of pages;
content complexity;
e-commerce;
custom integrations;
photography;
migration;
or bespoke functionality,
say so.
Customers do not need the full estimating model.
They do benefit from understanding why one project costs more than another.
This is one reason the Built by Gavin pricing guides spend so much time explaining scope rather than only publishing numbers.
Should you put prices on the homepage?
Sometimes.
If transparent pricing is a meaningful differentiator, a starting figure can work well near the top of the customer journey.
Otherwise, the Services page may be the better place.
There is no rule that pricing must always be hidden until the visitor clicks three times.
The question is where it helps the decision.
Gavin’s perspective
Built by Gavin publishes pricing deliberately
I publish starting prices because Built by Gavin is aimed at small businesses.
Budget matters.
I want somebody to be able to understand the rough commercial proposition before making contact.
That also reinforces the wider positioning:
custom website;
sensible price;
low unnecessary ongoing costs;
no mystery invoice. The same transparency principle matters when comparing hidden website costs.
You can see Built by Gavin pricing directly.
I think that is more useful than making every potential client request a quote for a straightforward starting scope.
When I would keep pricing private
If I were selling a project where every engagement was genuinely very different, I would not manufacture a fixed price simply for the sake of transparency.
I would instead explain the pricing process.
What affects the quote?
What does the minimum engagement look like?
What information do you need before quoting?
How quickly will the client receive a figure?
That still reduces uncertainty.
"Contact for pricing" does not need to mean "we refuse to tell you anything".
The relationship with value
There is a risk in making a Services page read like a price list.
The customer still needs to understand why the service is worth the price.
Show the outcome.
Show the work.
Explain what is included.
Then show the cost.
Price is easier to evaluate when the customer understands what they are buying.
That is why a good Services page matters.
The bottom line
Put prices on your website when the information can be honest and useful.
Use exact prices, starting prices or ranges depending on the service.
If public pricing genuinely cannot be meaningful, explain how the quote is calculated and what affects it.
Do not hide price by default simply because that is how the industry has always sold.
Customers appreciate knowing what they are walking into.
Prefer knowing the price before the sales call?
You can see my website pricing here.
If your project does not fit the standard scopes, tell me what you need and I can explain what would actually affect the quote.
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