Struggling with this lately. I know what I offer is good and clients are happy. Results are there but every time I have to put a number on it my brain freezes.

I've tried hourly, tried project-based and tried value pricing but still second-guess myself every time.

How do you guys figure out what to charge?

Do you have a formula or just go with gut feel?

My pricing page with 3 tiers outperformed single-price by 45%. Middle tier got 60% of selections. Anchoring works.

@xJamesQ mentioned this in another thread so I want to just post his quote here. I think it could help. I think this is the best approach personally and have done simular myself.

On 6/29/2026 at 9:29 AM, xJamesQ said:

Figure out what you want to earn an hour. This will be your baseline. You then add anything that costs you money into the equation. So if you use paid programs, more expensive internet, etc. you add this to the hourly fee. So you make sure everything is accounted for plus you get what you desire per hour.

If you ever think you are charging too much or too little, check your home location on Google and search for what your service costs in your specific area.

You never want to go with what you "feel" is correct as you will end up very likely overselling the value of your service or product, or underselling it.

You can compare with other people and sites, see what they charge and work out a way to undersell them but not by too much.

It took me awhile to price my products. I found that if I did it too cheap, people would view them as cheap. So I found a good range but have since had to increase prices due to costs. Everything is getting more expensive!

On 7/23/2026 at 8:42 AM, dougchimes said:

I found that if I did it too cheap, people would view them as cheap.

It is a balancing act. They always say to never sell yourself short but you can't over-hype yourself either or your product or service will end up being a let down.