Documentation

Learn how to use DiffScout to monitor competitor prices automatically. No coding required.

New to DiffScout? Start with our Quick Start guide to add your first price monitor in under 2 minutes.

Quick Start

Step 1: Create an account

Sign up for a free 7-day trial. No credit card required. You'll get access to all features immediately.

Step 2: Add a URL to monitor

Click "New Monitor" in your dashboard and paste any pricing page URL. DiffScout works with:

  • E-commerce product pages (Amazon, Shopify, eBay)
  • SaaS pricing pages (Stripe, HubSpot, any competitor)
  • Marketplace listings
  • Any page with visible pricing

Step 3: Configure check frequency

Set how often DiffScout checks each monitor for price changes:

  • Hourly — Best for fast-moving markets or flash sales
  • Daily — Good balance for most e-commerce monitoring
  • Weekly — For stable pricing pages that rarely change

Step 4: Get notified when prices change

DiffScout sends you alerts when prices change. You can receive notifications via email or webhook (for integrations with Zapier, Slack, or your own systems).

How Price Extraction Works

DiffScout uses AI vision to extract prices from any webpage. Unlike traditional scrapers that rely on CSS selectors, our AI reads the page visually—just like a human would.

What we extract:

  • Product name — The exact title from the page
  • Current price — The main displayed price
  • Original price — Crossed-out "was" prices for sales
  • Stock status — In stock, out of stock, or limited availability
  • Variants — Different sizes, colors, or tiers with their prices

Confidence scores:

Every extraction includes a confidence score (high, medium, or low) so you know how reliable the data is. Screenshots are saved for every check so you can verify the extraction.

Webhooks

Get notified instantly when prices change by setting up a webhook. DiffScout will POST JSON to your endpoint whenever a price change is detected.

Setting up a webhook

  1. Open any monitor in your dashboard
  2. Click "Edit" to open settings
  3. Enter your webhook URL in the "Webhook URL" field
  4. Save changes

Webhook payload

When a price changes, we'll send a POST request with this JSON payload:

{
  "event": "price_change",
  "timestamp": "2025-01-12T10:30:00.000Z",
  "monitor": {
    "id": 123,
    "name": "Competitor Pricing",
    "url": "https://competitor.com/pricing"
  },
  "changes": [
    {
      "tier": "Pro",
      "oldPrice": "$29/mo",
      "newPrice": "$39/mo",
      "changeType": "increased"
    }
  ]
}

Change types

  • increased — Price went up
  • decreased — Price went down
  • added — New tier appeared
  • removed — Tier was removed
  • changed — Non-numeric price changed

Integration ideas

  • Connect to Zapier or Make to trigger workflows
  • Post to a Slack channel via Slack's incoming webhooks
  • Update your own database or pricing system
  • Send custom notifications via Twilio, Discord, or Telegram

Monitoring Shopify Stores

DiffScout works great with Shopify stores. Here's how to get the best results:

Product pages

Copy the full product URL (e.g., store.com/products/blue-widget). We'll extract the product name, price, sale price, and variant options.

Collection pages

For tracking multiple products, monitor the collection page. We'll extract all visible prices and alert you when any product in the collection changes.

Handling variants

If a product has size/color variants with different prices, we'll capture all of them. You can use the "Tab to Click" feature if you need to select a specific variant before extraction.

Frequently Asked Questions

How accurate is the price extraction?

Every extraction includes a confidence score (high, medium, low). We also save a screenshot of each check so you can verify the data. Our AI works best on standard e-commerce and SaaS pricing pages.

Can you monitor pages behind a login?

Not currently. We can only monitor publicly accessible pages. Support for authenticated pages is on our roadmap.

How often do you check prices?

Depends on your plan and settings. Pro users get daily checks, Business users can set up to 4x daily, and Scale/Enterprise can request hourly checks for critical monitors.

Will websites block DiffScout?

We use a real browser to render pages, just like you would. We're not scraping HTML or using bots that are easily detected. Most websites work without issues.

Can I export my data?

CSV export from your dashboard is coming soon. Contact us if you need bulk data export.

Need Help?

We're here to help you get the most out of DiffScout.

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