There are three distinct cases you could fit into, but this is not an “it depends” answer, as it should be pretty clear where you fit in.
Case A: You offer the lowest prices on the market
- for some reason, very few competitors can undercut you and that is unlikely to change soon
= it’s a good idea to publish your fees
Case B: You offer among the highest prices on the market
- you want clients to self-select and only contact you if their “purse” is as serious as they are
= it’s a good idea to show your fees off
Case C: You are neither of the above cases, your work is at neither pricing extremes
- You want and need the flexibility of experimenting with your fees, or simply the projects are too different to be quoted in advance
= it’s not a good idea to reveal your fees before talking to the prospective client
I hope that clears it up.
There are a couple of “big tips” to add here:
- if you want to be included in other people’s projects or tenders, do publish your fees
- if you don’t give out information about your price in advance, people are going to guess using “tangibility” markers: references, website, physical location, shoes/watches/cars/furniture shown in photographs, etc. Be mindful of those, and if you can’t make them reflect your level of quality, think about publishing a ballpark range of pricing, or at least some old case studies with pricing included.