13 Price Tracking Tools for Finding the Best Deal

Thanks to dynamic pricing technology, many prices now fluctuate from moment to moment. For example, the price of identical hotel rooms and airline seats can vary by hundreds of dollars over time. Given the flux of prices, it's hard to know what the best deal actually is. Price tracking tools help you find the best price by monitoring specific products on Amazon and other ecommerce sites and sending out email or text alerts when prices change.

CamelCamelCamel lets you set price alerts for products on Amazon. You don't need to register or give your email address to benefit from the site's tracking capabilities; it generates a unique URL where you check for changes. If you do register, price alerts for tracked products can be sent to your email or Twitter account or show up in an RSS feed. There are also Chrome, Firefox, and Safari extensions that display historic price charts.

Many hotel chains offer a discounted rate if you prepay, but there's no guarantee that the price won't move lower after you put the room on your credit card. Dream Cheaper tracks the price of a room you reserve (but don't pay for), and automatically cancels and rebooks if the price drops. It charges 20 percent of the difference, so you pay only if you get a better price.

The Tracktor is a bare-bones price tracker for Amazon products. Users can search for a product based on its name, a URL, or the Amazon Standard Identification Number. The Tracktor displays historical price data, including lowest and highest prices for both new and used items. You can browse through products currently trending on Tracktor, view the most tracked products, or pick a category and browse through recent price drops based on a price or percentage change.

While PriceGrabber is primarily a comparison shopping tool, it also allows you to create a price alert for products and be notified when your target price is hit. You can track prices across multiple retailers and use filters to customize which retailers to track and to focus on new or used products. There’s also an Android app for mobile tracking.

An Amazon-only price tracker, Keepa distinguishes itself with several valuable features. You can import and track items on an Amazon wish list. You can also browse recent price drops based on a time frame, product categories, and the size of the drop. The historic price charts feature Amazon and third-party prices, and you can send alerts to your email, Twitter feed, and Facebook timeline. To use it, shoppers must create an account.

Slickdeals is primarily a deals forum where users post and discuss deals, but the site also has a price tracking tool. Users with a free account can track products based on specific URLs. Users can also set alerts and be notified whenever certain terms or items are mentioned in the deal forums. Free Android and iOS apps are also available.

Many tracking tools alert you when a price drops so you can make a purchase. Slice's price drop feature flips things around and tracks prices after you've made a purchase. The app scans your email for receipts and tracks prices at major online retailers, including Best Buy, Newegg, Nordstrom, and Staples. It notifies you if the item's price drops and if you're eligible for a refund of the difference.

PC Part Picker has a narrow focus: helping users build desktop computers. You can search through individual parts to create a complete machine, browse through completed builds shared by other users while selecting components for your own list, and review building guides. You can see price history charts and set price alerts for the items on your list. Rebates and coupon codes are also highlighted.

Like Slice, Paribus tracks receipts in shoppers’ email. If there is a price drop shortly after a purchase, Paribus negotiates a refund based on its participating stores’ price-matching policies.

EZ Price Alerts tracks prices of products found on Amazon. It lets shoppers set price alerts for products and see their price history. No registration is required and several Amazon regions are supported, including the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and others.

Nozzama is a free service that lets shoppers track the prices of their favorite products on Amazon. After entering the URL of an Amazon product and an email address, they receive email notifications once the price drops.

PriceJump by Savings.com uses real-time information on millions of products to find the lowest prices. PriceJump checks the prices of Amazon products vs. the prices of the products elsewhere. The service is available as web version, Apple iOS application, and as browser extensions for Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox.

PricePirates can be used as a desktop program for Windows and Mac, or with mobile apps. It allows shoppers to track prices on Amazon, eBay, and other shopping sites. Shoppers enter a product name and run a search for it. The products can be added to a watchlist and users then receive updates once the price of the product drops.