Methodology · Price Index
Price Index: how we track and verify prices
We track the published price of 3,954 products and tools across 501 categories. Tracking began June 2026; since then we have recorded 13 verified price changes — 5 cuts and 8 increases — in an append-only log. Every figure is sourced to the seller's own page and dated.
- Hardware products tracked
- 2,486
- Software tools tracked
- 1,468
- Categories
- 501
- Tracking since
- June 2026
- Recorded price changes
- 13
- Cuts vs. increases
- 5 ↓ / 8 ↑
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 vendor's own page. Every price comes from the seller's or maker's own published page — never a reseller, marketplace listing or third-party aggregator that can drift.
- 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prusa Core One HW | 3D Printers | $1199 | $1299 | ↑8% | |
| Ge Profile Phc06ly HW | Air Conditioners | $340 | $329 | ↓3% | |
| Nimbata SW | Call Tracking | $35/mo | $39/mo | ↑11% | |
| Callrail SW | Call Tracking | $50/mo | $45/mo | ↓10% | |
| Calendly SW | Online Booking | $10/mo | $12/mo | ↑20% | |
| Creality Ender 3 V3 HW | 3D Printers | $399 | $420 | ↑5% | |
| Glossgenius SW | Online Booking | $24/mo | $28/mo | ↑17% | |
| Creality K1 HW | 3D Printers | $599 | $389 | ↓35% | |
| Elegoo Neptune 4 Pro HW | 3D Printers | $279 | $229 | ↓18% | |
| Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra HW | 3D Printers | $524 | $593.99 | ↑13% | |
| Sovol Sv08 HW | 3D Printers | $599 | $549 | ↓8% | |
| Insta360 Go 3s HW | Action Cameras | $350 | $353.99 | ↑1% | |
| Picktime SW | Online Booking | $2.25/mo | $3/mo | ↑33% |
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 — info@autofract.com.
Spotted a stale or wrong price? Email info@autofract.com — corrections are free and logged.