How price tracking works

A price tracker inverts deal-hunting. Instead of you searching for discounts on things you might want, it watches the things you’ve already decided you want and speaks only when something meaningful happens.

Here’s what happens under the hood — using Driig as the example, since that’s what we built.

Step 1 — say it once

You type the product once (“Sony WH-1000XM5”, “Burton Custom 158W”). The tracker finds listings for it across retailers and matches them to the exact variant you chose — size, color, configuration — so a different spec’s discount never masquerades as yours.

Step 2 — background monitoring

From then on, the checking happens server-side on a schedule. You don’t keep tabs open and don’t re-search. Each check compares the current price and stock against the last known state; changes are written into a permanent history.

Step 3 — history turns prices into evidence

A single price is a fact; a history is a judgment tool. The chart shows the typical price, the real floor (all-time low), and whether today’s number is an outlier or a Tuesday. This is the context that strikethrough prices are designed to deny you.

Step 4 — alerts with a significance filter

Naive trackers email on every change, which trains you to ignore them. Driig fires on meaningful events only: all-time lows, significant drops versus the recent typical price, back-in-stock after a real outage, a new seller appearing, or your own target price being crossed. A cooldown prevents floods, and a weekly digest covers the quiet weeks so you know the loop is alive.

Frequently asked questions

Is price tracking free?

Driig’s free tier tracks 3 products with full history and email alerts. Paid tiers raise the limits and add local-availability features.

Why not just browse deal sites?

Deal sites surface what’s discounted, not what you need — they optimize for impulse. A tracker watches your list, which is how you end up spending less rather than more.