Comparison shopping engines (CSEs) give ecommerce merchants the opportunity to attract new customers, increase sales, and go head-to-head against the competition.
In this guide, we’ll explore some of the best platforms available and show how to get your products listed on theseonline selling sites.But first—
What are price comparison engines?
Comparison shopping engines (CSEs) are tools that allow shoppers to compare pricing, shipping options, and provided services from multiple retailers on a single webpage, and identify the merchant that offers the best deal.
For ecommerce merchants, price comparison shopping engines are an opportunity to put your products in front of very interested buyers. These aren’t people glancing at a virtual storefront like a window shopper at the mall, but rather, price comparison website users have already made the decision to buy and are simply looking for the lowest price. With their high intent to purchase, comparison shoppers often are an ideal audience for promoting your products.
30 Best Price Comparison Engines and Apps
- Google Shopping
- PriceGrabber
- Shopping.com
- Shopzilla
- Become
- Pronto
- Bizrate
- Camelcamelcamel
- ShopMania
- BuyVia
- ShopSavvy
- Yahoo Shopping
- Pricepirates
- MyShopping Datafeed
- Idealo
- Pricerunner
- SkinFlint
- Shopbot
- Pricebat
- Paylessdeal
- Getprice
- PriceSpy
- Price Comparison and Affiliate by Arrow
- Prisync
- PriceMole
- Compare It!
- Product Compare
- Compare Products by Omega
- SmartFeed Product Feed Manager
- Lengow
The top 30 price comparison websites and apps
1. Google Shopping
Google Shoppingis probably the largest and best-known comparison shopping engine. Products submitted to Google Shopping will also be displayed in standard Google search results and are integrated withGoogle Ads, the pay-per-click platform.
Google also launched abeta benchmarking toolfor product prices on Shopping ads. This tool displays three specific metrics to help you see where you stack up against the competition:
- Average product price:the average price of a product when your ad showed or when your ad was competitive in an auction.
- Benchmark product price: the average click-weighted price for a product across all businesses that advertise that product with Shopping ads
- Benchmark product price difference:the percentage difference between your product’s average product price and the benchmark product price
Learn more:Shopping Ads on Google: What Every New Seller Ought to Know
2. PriceGrabber
PriceGrabberis owned byConnexity.Listing your products on this platform grants you access to Connexity’s retail performance marketing network, which provides hands-on help with campaign setup and maintenance. Plus, there are no long-term contracts or sign-up fees, so you can pull a product at any time if it’s not generating any revenue.
When you list your products on PriceGrabber, you’ll also be listed on Yahoo Shopping, which is a nice bonus.
3. Shopping.com
Shopping.comis part of eBay's family of companies and another great channel for putting your products in front of prospective buyers. This price comparison engine also offers versions for France, Germany, the U.K., and Italy.
4. Shopzilla
With millions of monthly visitors and a pedigree dating back to 1996,Shopzillais one of the best choices for ecommerce merchants looking for someextra sales.This comparison shopping engine lists tens of millions of products, so the selection is wide but competition might be tough.
Like PriceGrabber, Shopzilla is a Connexity company, so you get access to its full advertising network.
5. Become
Becomeis another leader in the CSE space, allowing thrifty shoppers to compare prices, read or write product reviews, and simply search for the best possible online shopping deals and lowest prices.
6. Pronto
With tens of millions of product listings sorted into various retail verticals, and millions of visitors monthly,Prontocertainly merits consideration for any retailer’s CSE campaigns.
7. Bizrate
In addition to showing product and price comparisons,Bizrateallows customers to set price alerts for products they’re interested in. Bizrate is also a Connexity company, so merchants get those added benefits.
8. Camelcamelcamel
Camelcamelcameltracks Amazon product price history over time, so shoppers can see historic pricing and trends. It’s also got abrowser extensionwith the option to add email or Twitter alerts for price drops. Consumers can browse by category or conduct a search for specific products to compare prices.
Camelcamelcamel offers versions of its price comparison tool for the U.S., Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, and the U.K.
9. ShopMania
Available in more than30 countriesand with millions of monthly users,ShopManiais a price comparison tool that runs on a pay-per-click model. Consumers browse the categories or conduct a search on the website and you pay each time someone clicks on your product. ShopMania also works withFacebook selling.
To advertise your products on ShopMania, your business must:
- Be a fully functional ecommerce store
- Be legally registered and operating
- Have easy-to-find contact details
- Use the official language and currency of the country where you operate and the ShopMania country you’ve chosen
10. BuyVia
BuyViais accessible via web browser or mobile app. Like most price comparison tools on this list, BuyVia allows online shoppers to browse products or conduct a search for something in particular and gives them the option to scan barcodes and set alerts for price drops. In addition to price comparison, BuyVia has coupons and promo codes to help shoppers get the best price.
11. ShopSavvy
ShopSavvyis a price comparison app for your smartphone. Shoppers can either search a keyword or UPC code or scan bar codes. ShopSavvy will show product prices for the same or similar items online or at other local retailers. It can also tell shoppers which stores have the most units in stock, and features a price match tool to help them get the best deal without seeking out the item elsewhere.
12. Yahoo Shopping
Yahoo Shopping’s price tracker is a price alert tool for online shoppers. Consumers create a wishlist with products they want to track price history for and Yahoo will monitor price changes over time. Yahoo Shopping also features deals for various products and discounts.
13. Pricepirates
Germany-based price comparison toolPricepiratesalso offers versions for the U.S., Austria, Switzerland, and the U.K. Consumers can scan top sellers and products by category or enter a specific search query for the item they’re interested in. Results are typically from eBay or Amazon. Pricepirates also has mobile apps for iOS and Android.
14. MyShopping Datafeed
MyShopping Datafeedis a CSE available to Australia-based Shopify stores. The Shopify app is free and lists your products alongside more than 11 million others. Stores of all sizes, even merchants with more than 1,000 products, can use this app.
15. Idealo
Idealois a German CSE with a companion Shopify app. When you connect theIdealo Shopify appso it can generate a CSV file or data feed of all your products, it will then list those products on its site, according to the data you have in the backend of Shopify.
16. Pricerunner
Pricerunner’s free-to-use price comparison engine allows shoppers to compare prices from retailers all over the UK. Pricerunner is available for use in the UK, Sweden, Denmark and Norway.
17. SkinFlint
Skinflintis a price comparison engine that’s especially popular with drop-shippers based in the UK and EU. With Skinflint, shoppers and retailers can search for and compare products fromwholesale retailersthroughout Europe.
18. Shopbot
Shopbotis a price comparison website that allows shoppers to search and compare products from multiple retailers. Shopbot also has an extensiveblogthat includes buyer’s guides, product reviews, and advice on what to look for when purchasing specific products.
Shopbot is available for shoppers in Canada, New Zealand, and Australia.
19. Pricebat
PriceBatis a Canadian price comparison website with a focus on computer accessories and other electronics. For retailers in need of office supplies, PriceBat is a great tool for finding the best deals on printers, ink cartridges, laptops, and a whole lot more.
20. Paylessdeal
Paylessdeal澳大利亚是一个价格比较网站available to shoppers in Australia, the US, the UK, and India. With Paylessdeal, shoppers can compare prices from products in a wide variety of categories, like auto parts, jewelry, children’s toys, computer accessories, and more.
21. Getprice
Getpricelists and compares products from Australian retailers, with city-specific filters for Australian retailers who want to save on shipping times by purchasing locally. Getprice boasts more than 3.5 million products from over 1,200 retailers across Australia.
22. PriceSpy
PriceSpy’s price comparison platform boasts a wide variety of products from retailers all over the UK. PriceSpy’s comprehensive search allows you to filter for specific brands and categories. Shoppers can even view the pricing history for some products, allowing them to see if the current price is lower or higher than it was previously.
The top price comparison apps in the Shopify Store
TheShopify App Storeoffers a variety of price comparisonShopify apps, each with different features. While some connect with your store and list products on CSEs, others add product comparison features directly to your website.
23. Price Comparison and Affiliate by Arrow
ThePrice Comparison and Affiliateapp by Arrow pulls in competitor pricing and displays it on your Shopify site, letting you promote how low your prices are and how expensive the items are elsewhere. Though you don’t want users to click away from your site, this app is unique in that those click-throughs turn into earnedaffiliatesales—so it’s not a complete loss.
24. Prisync
Prisyncis a backend tool that lets Shopify store owners spy on competitor pricing. Adjust your own pricing strategy accordingly or use the app’s dynamic pricing feature to automatically change yours based on the competitive landscape. You can also see stock availability, set email notifications, and export data in Excel.
25. PriceMole
Similar to Prisync,PriceMole跟踪竞争对手价格告知你的策略。It also tracks stock levels, has dynamic pricing, and includes email alerts.
26. Compare It!
Compare It!displays a pop-up on your site that shows product comparisons for your own products. The pop-up is customizable, so you can change the colors, fields, and labels to match yourecommerce color palette.You can also move around where the pop-up is displayed on the page so you don’t distract from the shopping experience.
27. Product Compare
Like Compare It!,Product Comparelets you stack up your own products against each other. Product Compare also makes these lists shareable, so shoppers can send them to friends and family for their opinions. It also aids in product discovery, suggesting similar products to compare.
28. Compare Products by Omega
TheCompare Products by Omegaapp is similar to Compare It! and Product Compare in that it helps customers put your products side by side to choose which is the best for them. Each product page has a detailed chart depicting price, ratings, stock level, and variants.
29. SmartFeed Product Feed Manager
SmartFeed Product Feed Managergets your products listed on CSEs and third-party marketplaces to increase visibility and sales. The app will get your products on sites like Amazon, Walmart, Jet, Rakuten, and Wish. You can also upgrade to get distributor management features, streamlining the order fulfillment process.
30. Lengow
Another Shopify app to list your products on third-party CSEs and marketplaces isLengow.Lengow also incorporatessocial media selling, affiliate platforms, and ad retargeting. The tool comes with analytics reporting so you can optimize product listings to increase sales.
Getting products listed on price comparison websites
Most CSEs require retailers to submit a formatted product feed. This feed must meet a CSE-defined specification and should be updated frequently. The CSE uses scripts to parse and ingest the data from the feed, displaying the included information on results pages as appropriate.
Shopify merchants have several apps available that make submitting product feeds to CSEs easier and in some cases, automatic. Regardless of how a feed is created, smart merchants will work to optimize descriptions and product prices to get the most sales possible.
Grow your business with price comparison sites
If you have a competitive price point and a quality product to boot, price comparison engines are an effective customer acquisition tool.
Whether you compare your own products to one another or put them up against the competition, CSEs can be a great way to ease buyer hesitation and instill confidence in their purchase.
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Illustration by George WylesolPrice comparison FAQ
How do price comparison sites work?
On the consumer side, price comparison sites work much like a search engine—the difference being price comparison engines will show products side-by-side and how they stack up against one another in terms of pricing. Typical search engines generally serve up straightforward results without sorting by price or showing comparisons.
On the business side, each price comparison site is a little different. Essentially, you pay a certain fee, submit the required content (product photos, URL, price, description, etc.), and list your products. Your products will then show up for relevant searches along with comparable products, ranked by price.
This is helpful for informing yourpricing strategy.你也不想定价much above similar products, but you need to make sure you charge enough to turn a profit.
What’s the best price comparison site?
The best price comparison site really boils down to yourecommerce strategy.Different retailers need different things. What are you selling? Who are you selling to? Where do those shoppers look to compare prices? And what specific features are they looking for in that product?
You also have budget considerations. While CSEs aren’t the most transparent or straightforward with pricing information, you can test a few and see which generates a better ROI. Then you can focus your efforts there.
Are there websites that compare prices?
- Google Shopping
- PriceGrabber
- Shopping.com
- Shopzilla
- Become
- Pronto
- Bizrate
- Camelcamelcamel
- ShopMania
- BuyVia
- ShopSavvy
- Yahoo Shopping
- Pricepirates
- MyShopping Datafeed
- Idealo
- Pricerunner
- SkinFlint
- Shopbot
- Pricebat
- Paylessdeal
- Getprice
- PriceSpy
What are some things to consider when comparing prices?
When comparing prices of products, make sure to take into account where the product is being shipped from, as well as the brand, material, and quality of the product.