Photo : Getty Images

Figuring out the best time to buy something requires constant watch over ever-fluctuating online prices, and some knowledge of how prices have changed in the past. Luckily, you don’t have to figure it all out yourself—there are great tools to help you do it. We’ve compiled five of the best that will let you know when it’s time to strike.


Graphic : camelcamelcamel.com


CamelCamelCamel is one of our favorite ways to get discounts and track prices on Amazon products. You can install the browser extension (Chrome and Firefox) to get access to the site’s features without leaving Amazon, or you can just copy and paste an Amazon link or product name at the web site. CamelCamelCamel shows you how the price of the item has gone up or down over time, how prices have changed through Amazon directly and the fluctuations from third-party sellers who list new and used items on Amazon.

If you sign up for a free account, you can set up alerts so the site can notify you by email when the price of an item drops below a certain amount, if you can get it used for a given price, or if it’s at an all-time low and now is a good time to buy. You can even see previous historic highs and lows, and try to map out the best time to strike.



Graphic : joinhoney.com


The Honey extension, which is available on Chrome, compares prices from a whole bunch of retailers, including Amazon. You can create a Droplist, which notifies you if the prices drops for an item on your list, if you’re willing to wait for a deal. Honey also finds promo codes and applies them to your card automatically when you’re shopping on a retailer’s website. Honey is available on Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge and Opera.



Honey users can also collect Honey Gold, a percentage back from online purchases made at more than 4,500 stores. Gold can be traded for gift cards to stores like Amazon, Groupon, Macy’s and more.


Graphic : slickdeals.net


SlickDeals is well known for bringing you up-to-the-minute discounts, coupons, and other deals from around the web, but their web-based price tracker is also great for watching prices on just about any item on Amazon, and on a ton of other popular shopping sites, like Newegg, Gamestop, Chwey, Home Depot, and others.

The service doesn’t give you detailed price history like some of the others in the roundup, but it will track the price of your item from when you create an alert going forward, and send you an email if the price drops below a threshold that you set. You can also return to the price tracker at any time, log in to your account, and see all of your tracked items on the same screen.


Graphic : Wikibuy.com


Wikibuy, run by Capital One, compares prices from other sellers when you shop on Amazon. The extension will notify you if a product you are looking at is cheaper somewhere else, and offers a summary of pricing history, estimated delivery time, and total price including tax and shipping. If you can apply a coupon, it’ll add that too. When the price drops for a product you’ve viewed, Wikibuy will notify you. The extension is available for Chrome, Firefox, Edge and Safari, and an iOS app allows you to scan barcodes and search products to do price comparisons from your phone.



When you shop, you can earn credits for your purchases at some websites, like Walmart and eBay, that Wikibuy has partnered with. You can trade that credit for gift cards, or put it toward purchases through Wikibuy’s site.


Graphic : cheapshark.com


While most of the others in the roundup focus on products like electronics, apparel, household goods and appliances, CheapShark snuck into the nominations as a great option for gamers looking to save money on video games. CheapShark combines all of the great places to get discounts on games in one place, one easily searchable directory and database of current prices, from sites including Steam, GoG, Green Man Gaming, GameStop, Amazon, and more. Of course, it’s limited to video games, but you can search a game name not just to see how much it’ll cost you to buy, but even if you can buy it at all—and which retailer has it available. If you want, you can even filter by games currently on sale at their selected stores.



When you search for a specific game, CheapShark does tell you what the cheapest-ever price was, when it hit that price, and gives you the choice to either go ahead and buy it from your choice of retailer, or to sign up for a price notification if it drops again.


This post was originally published on 3/22/15 and was updated on 9/18/2019 to provide updated information.