Prices on your site or not? When transparency wins clients and when it scares them off

A visitor lands on your site in the evening, on their phone, between two other tabs. They've already read about you, they liked the look of it, and now they're after one thing: the price. If they find nothing, they won't write to ask. They close the page and open the next Google result — the one where the price is right there.

That's the real stake behind "should I put prices on my site or not?" It isn't a matter of taste. It's about what you do with the person who's ready to buy but doesn't want to make a phone call just to learn a number.

Why so many hide the price (and why the logic wobbles)

The reasons we hear most are real, but none of them fully holds up:

• "I want to talk to the client first." In fact, most visitors don't want to talk. They want to figure it out on their own and call you only once they've decided.
• "The price depends on the project." True for many services. But "it depends" doesn't mean you can't give a starting point.
• "I don't want my competitor to see my rates." They already know them. They pose as a client, ask for a quote, and have them in 30 seconds. The only one you keep in the dark is the real customer.
• "If they see the price, they'll get scared off." Sometimes, yes. But whoever gets scared off by the price wasn't going to buy anyway. Meanwhile you've worn out ten good-fit people to avoid one conversation with a bad-fit one.

The rule we work by: anything standing between a visitor and one more action has to go. A hidden price is exactly that kind of obstacle.

When transparency brings clients

Show the price, at least a ballpark, when:

• You sell something with clear limits — a haircut, a menu, an accounting package, a subscription. People compare on price regardless; be the one who gives them the answer.
• You have an entry price you're not ashamed of. An honest "from" filters out time-wasters and draws in the person who can afford it.
• Your competitors all hide the price. Then your transparency becomes the reason you get the call, not them.
• You want fewer "how much does it cost?" emails. Every one of those is work. A price on the site answers everyone at once.

We put our prices on the site for exactly this reason. We're not ashamed of them, and they spare us conversations that wouldn't lead anywhere:

The person who sees this table and still writes to us is someone who has already made peace with the order of magnitude. The conversation starts from "what do you want," not from "how much."

When it's fine not to show it (without losing the client)

There are legitimate cases where a fixed price on the site actually gets in your way:

• Large, custom-built projects, where the same service costs anywhere from 2,000 to 20,000 euros depending on scope. A wrong number either scares people off or undervalues you.
• Prices negotiated by volume — B2B, annual contracts, different rates per client.
• Markets where the price is regulated or shifts often and a stale number on the site makes you look sloppy.

But "I don't show it" doesn't mean "I say nothing." Even then, give the visitor a reference point:

• An honest "from," even a wide one.
• A range ("projects of this kind start at X and go up to Y").
• 3 packages with what each includes, even if the final price is set in conversation.
• A concrete example — "a client with similar needs paid around X."

The worst thing you can do is an empty "Price on request" button. That's precisely the wall the person who was ready to buy runs into.

The compromise that works almost every time

If you're unsure, don't pick "all" or "nothing." Pick the middle: a visible starting price ("from X") plus a short explanation of what pushes the price up. The visitor leaves with an order of magnitude in their head and the sense that you're someone who hides nothing. The rest gets sorted in a conversation.

If you want the full picture on budgets, we have a separate guide on how much a website costs.

Conclusion

A hidden price doesn't protect your margin. Most often, it filters out the good clients and keeps in the ones who had the time to call and push anyway. Transparency, even partial, does the reverse: it wears out the time-wasters and calls in the serious buyer.

Want a second pair of eyes on your site, to work out together whether a visible price would bring you more requests or fewer? We'll build you a free page demo, with the price laid out the way we think works for you. Write to us on WhatsApp: wa.me/40750257140.