How to Track Price Drops on Any Website

The problem with manual price checking

You've found something you want to buy — a laptop, a pair of shoes, a kitchen gadget — but the price is a little higher than you'd like. So you bookmark the page and tell yourself you'll check back later.

A week goes by. You forget. When you finally remember to check, the price already dropped to its lowest point three days ago and bounced back up.

Sound familiar? This happens to everyone. The core problem is simple: you can't be expected to manually check a product page every day. You have better things to do.

The solution is automatic price monitoring. A tool watches the page for you and pings you the moment the price changes.

How automatic price tracking works

Price tracking tools work by periodically loading a webpage, extracting the price, and comparing it to the last known value. When the number changes, you get notified.

The tricky part is extracting just the price from a page full of other content — reviews, ratings, "you might also like" sections, ads, and promotional banners. If you monitor the entire page, you'll get flooded with false alerts every time anything changes.

That's why element-level tracking matters. Instead of watching the whole page, you point the tool at the specific element that contains the price.

Setting up price tracking with Site Spy

Site Spy lets you click on any element on a webpage and monitor just that element. Here's how to set it up for price tracking.

Step 1: Install Site Spy

Get the free extension for Chrome or Firefox.

Step 2: Navigate to the product page

Go to the product you want to track — on Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart, Etsy, or literally any website with a price on it.

Step 3: Pick the price element

Click the Site Spy icon and select "Pick Element". Your cursor turns into a visual selector. Hover over the price on the page — you'll see it highlighted. Click to select it.

Site Spy generates a stable CSS selector that targets exactly that element. This means it will only track the price, ignoring everything else on the page.

Step 4: Set the check interval

Choose how often Site Spy should check for changes:

• Hourly (free plan) — catches most price changes within the same day
• Every 10 minutes (Starter, €4/mo) — for flash sales and competitive pricing
• Every minute (Pro, €8/mo) — for time-critical deals

For most product tracking, hourly checks are plenty. Prices rarely change multiple times per hour.

Step 5: Wait for a notification

When the price changes, you'll get a browser push notification (and an email if you're on the Starter or Pro plan). Click through to see exactly what changed — the old price and the new price, highlighted in a visual diff.

Works on any website

Unlike dedicated price trackers that only support specific retailers, Site Spy works on any website with a price on it:

• Amazon — track any product listing
• Best Buy, Walmart, Target — works on all major retailers
• Airline and hotel sites — monitor travel prices
• Small e-commerce shops — Shopify stores, indie retailers, anything
• Services and subscriptions — SaaS pricing pages, insurance quotes
• International sites — works regardless of language or currency

Because Site Spy tracks the actual DOM element (not a database of known retailers), it works everywhere a price is displayed on a webpage.

Advanced tips

Track multiple variants

Want to track the price of a product in multiple sizes or colors? Add each variant URL as a separate watch. Tag them all with the same tag (e.g., "shoes") to keep them grouped.

Monitor "out of stock" status

You can use element picking to track not just prices but availability badges too. Select the "In Stock" or "Add to Cart" element. When it changes to "Out of Stock" (or back), you'll be notified.

Use the web dashboard for a birds-eye view

Your Site Spy dashboard shows all your watches in one place — including change history. You can see a timeline of every price change over time, which is useful for spotting patterns (e.g., prices that drop every Tuesday).

Compare snapshots

The timeline view lets you compare any two snapshots side by side. This is useful when a price changes multiple times — you can see the full progression, not just the latest change.

Why not use a dedicated price tracker?

Dedicated tools like CamelCamelCamel or Keepa work well for Amazon specifically. But they have limitations:

• Amazon only — most don't support other retailers
• No element picking — they track the "official" price, not sale prices, lightning deals, or third-party seller prices
• Limited history — some only show aggregate data, not exact change timestamps
• No visual diffs — they tell you the price changed, but don't show you what the page looked like before and after

Site Spy complements these tools by working on any website and giving you visual diffs that show exactly what changed in context.

Get started free

Track up to 5 product prices for free with hourly checks. No credit card required.

Install for Chrome · Install for Firefox · Open the Web Dashboard