Methodology · Price Index
Price Index: how we track and verify prices
We track the published price of 7,296 products and tools across 787 categories. Tracking began June 2026; since then we have recorded 2,217 verified price changes — 1,220 cuts and 989 increases — in an append-only log. Every figure is sourced to the public page it was captured from — the seller's or maker's own wherever they publish the number, otherwise the named public source — and dated.
- Hardware products tracked
- 5,803
- Software tools tracked
- 1,493
- Categories
- 787
- Tracking since
- June 2026
- Recorded price changes
- 2,217
- Cuts vs. increases
- 1,220 ↓ / 989 ↑
How we verify — our process
We call it sourced, dated, corroborated, logged. The same five steps run on every product and every tool, every cycle:
- Source from the page that publishes the figure. Every price comes from the public page it was captured from — the seller's or maker's own wherever they publish the number, otherwise the named public source. The host travels with the figure in the source URL, so which one it was is on the record rather than assumed.
- Record the exact URL and access date. We store the source URL and the date we read it. A dated, linked figure is what separates a fact of record from an undated claim.
- Corroborate where a second source exists. Where a second authoritative source publishes the same figure, we capture it too, so the value carries provenance depth, not a single point of failure.
- Snapshot into an append-only change-log. Each cycle we compare today's price to the last recorded one and write a new dated point only when a price first appears or actually moves. The log is append-only — history is never rewritten.
- Publish corrections openly. Anyone can flag an error; fixes are free and logged publicly. Accuracy is never paywalled and never affected by payment.
Recent recorded price changes
| Date | Item | Category | Was | Now | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reencle Prime HW | Electric Composters | $549 | $479 | ↓13% | |
| Charvel Pro Mod Dk24 Hh HW | Electric Guitars | $1049.99 | $1079.99 | ↑3% | |
| Lowrance Elite Fs 9 HW | Fish Finders | $1099 | $1119.99 | ↑2% | |
| Smoothskin Pure Fit HW | IPL Hair Removal | $349 | $199 | ↓43% | |
| Typhur Instaprobe HW | Meat Thermometers | $59 | $49.95 | ↓15% | |
| Marshall Monitor Iii ANC HW | Over Ear Headphones | $379.99 | $249.99 | ↓34% | |
| Bugaboo Fox 5 Renew HW | Strollers | $1344.95 | $1351.95 | ↑1% | |
| Gskyer 80mm Az HW | Telescopes | $227.81 | $225.1 | ↓1% | |
| Babysense Pro Split Screen HW | Baby Monitors | $179.99 | $229.99 | ↑28% | |
| Segway Navimow I105 HW | Robot Lawn Mowers | $799 | $669 | ↓16% | |
| Ecovacs Winbot W2s Omni HW | Robot Window Cleaners | $599.99 | $441 | ↓26% | |
| Ringconn Gen 2 Air HW | Smart Rings | $238 | $179 | ↓25% | |
| Victrola Stream Carbon HW | Turntables | $999.99 | $799.99 | ↓20% | |
| Typhur Dome 2 HW | Air Fryers | $399.99 | $299.95 | ↓25% |
Use the data
The change-log is free to read and free to download under CC BY 4.0:
- Price-history change-log — the full append-only series (NDJSON).
- All data endpoints — datasets, CSV/JSON exports, schema.
- Audit ledger — the tamper-evident hash-chain; verify the data was never rewritten.
- Citation receipts — dated records of where this data was cited.
- Corrections log — every fix we have published.
- How we make money — why ordering can never be bought.
Cite this dataset
The full dataset is deposited on Zenodo with a permanent DOI, so it can be cited in research, journalism and reference managers. The DOI always resolves to the latest version:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20721846
The Front Desk Review (2026). Software, subscription and consumer-electronics facts: a sourced, dated pricing & specs dataset. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20721846
Writers and data desks: every figure on this site is free to quote with a link back to its sourced, dated page. Questions, a custom cut of the data, or the full press/data kit — [email protected].
Spotted a stale or wrong price? Email [email protected] — corrections are free and logged.