Need to know
- Price trackers are digital tools that monitor and compare product prices across different shopping websites
- We've compared popular price trackers on their features and accuracy
- Trackers can be useful for comparing prices and staying up-to-date on discounts, but their data can also be outdated and they won't necessarily find you the best deal
Price trackers such as CamelCamelCamel, Zyft, Honey and BuyWisely pitch themselves as useful budgeting tools for tackling the cost of living.
But can these emerging websites, apps and browser extensions actually be relied upon to find a bargain?
To find out, we looked at whether they display accurate prices and if you can rely on their trending data to spot a true discount.
Plus, while you're collecting information from them, what info are they collecting from you? We investigate.
On this page:
- What are price trackers?
- How do you use price trackers?
- Popular price trackers compared
- The problems with popular price trackers
- Do price trackers collect your data?
What are price trackers?
Price trackers are digital tools that let you see a product's current price at a particular retailer and compare it with the previous price at the same retailer.
The makers of these tools say this ability to see what a product cost in the past (often via a line graph) lets you "see when a deal is genuine".
In addition to this historical data, many tracking platforms also show you rates for the same product at other retailers, so you can see who has the best price.
A key difference between price trackers is how many retailers they monitor. Larger services like Zyft use AI to track prices at over 50,000 sellers, while smaller platforms like Price Hipster only show results from 250.
Others such as CamelCamelCamel and PayPal's Honey platform only monitor products sold via Amazon.
Extra features and account options
In addition to price trends and comparisons, some more sophisticated trackers display extra information, such as stock levels for an item at different retailers, or feature options to include second-hand products in comparisons.
It's worth noting tracking services usually don't show you shipping or delivery costs or take account of any discounts you might get if you're part of a retailer's membership program.
You can access most features without creating an account on a price tracker's platform, but some allow signed-up members to set price alerts for particular products and retailers. You will then receive a notification if the price drops on a favoured item.
How do you use price trackers?
Some trackers use a graph to show how the price of a product has changed over time. Image: BuyWisely
Most popular trackers are available as an extension that you can add to your web browser, promising to "go shopping with you" as you scroll through different retailer's websites. Once you've added these extensions, the trackers will appear as icons on your toolbar when you visit the website of a retailer that they monitor.
Often they'll expand automatically to show you the historical price data for a product you're looking at, as well as current prices at different outlets. If this doesn't happen, you may have to click on the tracker's icon on the screen or in your list of extensions to view this information.
These extensions are best accessed via a desktop computer or laptop, but some trackers like Zyft are available as an app you can download onto your smartphone. They can then be enabled to pop up when you're using your device to shop online, but usually only if you're using the Safari web browser.
Zyft's app also has a feature that lets you access its data when you use your device's camera to scan the barcode of a product in-store.
Search engine sites
Other trackers, such as Price Hipster and staticICE, don't use web browser extensions, but require you to visit their websites to access their price data.
These pages appear similar to a search engine, where you can type a product into the search bar to see results across different retailers.
Of the trackers we looked at, those only accessible via this sort of search engine interface tended to compare fewer sellers than the extension-based services.
How do they make money?
Price trackers earn money by doing deals with certain retailers whose products and prices they track. These usually don't come at any direct additional cost to the user.
Many trackers have agreements with retailers that see them receive a commission if you buy a product that you accessed via the tracker.
Trackers often include direct links to retailers' websites when showing the competing prices for a product being offered by different sellers.
Some trackers tell you when these are 'affiliate links' that earn the tracker's operator a commission when you use them to make a purchase, while others only identify their affiliate partners in their terms and conditions.
Most list prices in ascending order, but BuyWisely prioritised results from Amazon at the top of the page, irrespective of price
When comparing offers from different retailers, most trackers we analysed list prices in ascending order in their browser extensions. But one service (BuyWisely) prioritised results from Amazon at the top of the page, irrespective of price.
Finally, some trackers also host advertising on their websites to earn money.
It's worth noting that among popular price-tracking platforms, some are well-established businesses or subsidiaries of bigger companies, while others claim to be small-scale projects that don't exist to turn a profit.
Popular price trackers compared
To see if these platforms live up to their bill-slashing promises, CHOICE ran two exercises to test the accuracy and performance of several popular price trackers.
Zyft vs BuyWisely vs Price Hipster
Over two weeks in February this year, we used Zyft, BuyWisely and Price Hipster to monitor the prices of three different products at particular retailers: a robot vacuum cleaner and dishwasher (both sold by The Good Guys) and a printer sold by Bunnings.
Zyft and BuyWisely have their own browser extensions, so we used these on Google Chrome to check these trackers' performance. Price Hipster doesn't, so we used its search engine interface and cross-checked prices with retailer sites.
Every weekday, we compared what each tracker said a product's price was against the retailer websites to see if the trackers were up to date.
We also analysed the price graphs provided by BuyWisely and Price Hipster to indicate a product's previous movements and compared these against our own observations.
Zyft doesn't use graphs, instead it just shows the cheapest and most expensive prices an item has had in the past (and not in all cases).
CamelCamelCamel vs Honey
CamelCamelCamel and Honey only work on Amazon in Australia, so we used the same methodology to test these trackers' accuracy on the popular global shopping site.
We used both platforms' Google Chrome extensions to monitor the prices of a robot vacuum cleaner being sold by Ecovacs on their site and a printer and smartphone sold by Amazon itself.
We didn't include staticICE in our exercise, as it describes itself as focusing on computing and tech products and we wanted to examine trackers that could be used when shopping for a broad range of products.
It's worth noting that social media influencers have recently accused Honey of directing commissions away from deserving affiliate partners in its coupon aggregation business. Parent company PayPal denied the allegations in a statement to the ABC.
Best price tracker for following price trends – BuyWisely
BuyWisely provided the most user-friendly and up-to-date desktop browser price-tracking interface of the platforms we used.
Its interactive line graph gave a clear representation of a product's price movements, and hovering a computer mouse over the graph indicated when different prices were recorded.
This rendering was more informative than Zyft's tool, which was only available for some products and only showed the cheapest and most expensive prices recorded for a product, with no indication of when these occurred.
Sometimes when prices changed on a retailer's site, we found the trackers were slow to display updated costs and continued to show the old price for a day or two.
While BuyWisely's tracking tool occasionally suffered from these lags, its delays were shorter than those of Price Hipster.
Best price tracker for comparing retailers – Zyft
What Zyft lacks in tracking visuals, it makes up for in the number of retailers and products it can track.
The platform monitors items from over 50,000 retailers, the most of all the services we looked at.
Its ability to show how much you could save at other sellers, and option to include refurbished items, also made it useful for surveying the current state of the market for a product.
We also found its price figures were more likely to be up to date than those of BuyWisely and Price Hipster.
Best price tracker for Amazon – CamelCamelCamel
When comparing the two Amazon-only trackers, CamelCamelCamel (which is affiliated with Amazon) came out on top.
While both trackers were up to date with their price indicators, CamelCamelCamel consistently provided a more detailed overview of a product's previous movements.
It was also able to compare sellers – if the product you're tracking is sold by Amazon itself and a third-party, it will display these competing offers when graphing a product's price history.
Honey, whose primary business is not price-tracking, but rather surfacing discount codes, didn't compare the options we were looking at with other offers.
Its graph of an item's price history was also less detailed than Camel's.
The problems with popular price trackers
Outdated prices
Several trackers admit in their terms and conditions that the prices they show may be inaccurate and we found this to be true.
When a retailer changed the price of an item we were tracking, some platforms would continue to display the old price for several days.
This isn't surprising, considering information provided by the trackers themselves showed they weren't always going back to check a retailer's price every day, meaning they could potentially fail to show you a product's latest going rate.
Missing deals
While many trackers monitored prices at a large range of retailers, the ones we analysed didn't surface results from every seller out there.
This means that while most monitor major brands, they may potentially miss bargain offers from retailers they don't cover.
Of course, price is only one factor you should be considering when purchasing a new appliance. While a tracking tool can help you compare deals, it can't tell you how well a product will perform or whether the retailer will deliver a good experience. This is where CHOICE can help: see our rundown of the best and worst appliance stores and stay across our latest reviews for independent expert information on the best retailers and products.
Do price trackers collect your data?
The price trackers we used can collect your personal information when you use their services and may share this information with others.
Many services explain that this data collection is to support the legitimate operation of the business, i.e to allow the tracker to do what you expect it to.
According to their privacy policies, trackers may collect details about how you use them and what you view on their platforms, in order to display products that may appeal to you (remember, some trackers run advertising).
Some may also collect information on your location and the device you're using.
The price trackers we used can collect your personal information when you use their services and may share this information with others
Considering their affiliate-based business models, it follows that they can also track your activity across different websites so that purchases can be attributed to them.
As mentioned previously, you have the option of creating an account with some tracking platforms in order to get access to other features such as price drop alerts – these services will collect your email address and other login information to support this process.
Some trackers give you the option of signing in via your account on a separate social media platform like Facebook. If you elect to do this, the tracker may also collect information about your profile on that platform.
Some services we examined said they may share the information they collect with third-parties in order to support or analyse their operations.
We're on your side
For more than 60 years, we've been making a difference for Australian consumers. In that time, we've never taken ads or sponsorship.
Instead we're funded by members who value expert reviews and independent product testing.
With no self-interest behind our advice, you don't just buy smarter, you get the answers that you need.
You know without hesitation what's safe for you and your family.
And you'll never be alone when something goes wrong or a business treats you unfairly.
Learn more about CHOICE membership today
Stock images: Getty, unless otherwise stated.
