Track supplier price changes over time, not just once

One comparison shows what changed between two lists. Saving every round as you receive it builds something more useful: a browsable record of how a supplier's pricing has actually moved, round by round.

Start comparing

What "tracking" means here

This is not automated monitoring. CostRift doesn't watch a supplier portal, scrape a pricing page, or alert you when something changes on its own — no such capability exists. Tracking means something more direct: each time you receive a new price list, you compare it and save the result. Do that consistently, and the saved snapshots accumulate into a history you can look back on — not a single before-and-after, but the whole sequence.

Why one comparison isn't the same as a history

A single comparison answers a narrow question well: what changed between this old list and this new one. It can't tell you whether that was a one-off adjustment or the fourth increase in a row, because it only ever sees two points. A history built from several saved rounds shows the pattern — whether a supplier's pricing moves occasionally, every quarter, or not at all — which changes how you read the next increase when it arrives.

How to build the history

Compare a supplier's previous and current price list, as usual.
Sign in and choose Save to History to store this round as a snapshot for that supplier, with its effective date.
The next time that supplier sends a new list, add it and compare against the most recent saved snapshot.
Save that round too. Each saved snapshot joins a browsable list for the supplier — not just the latest one, the whole sequence.
Open a supplier's history at any time to see every snapshot you've saved, in order, by effective date.

A small worked example

Four saved rounds for one item from one supplier, over a year. Values are illustrative.

Saved round	Cost	Note
Round 1 — Jan	10.00	Baseline
Round 2 — Apr	10.00	Unchanged
Round 3 — Jul	11.20	+12% vs. Round 2
Round 4 — Oct	11.90	+6.25% vs. Round 3

Seen as a single comparison, Round 4 against Round 3 is a 6.25% increase. Seen as a history, it's the second increase in three rounds after a flat period — a different, more useful signal for deciding how to respond.

Frequently asked questions

Does CostRift automatically check for new supplier price lists?

No. CostRift does not monitor supplier portals, scrape pricing, or watch for updates on its own. Tracking here means you save each price list as you receive it — the value builds from doing that consistently, not from automation that doesn't exist.

How is tracking different from a single comparison?

A single comparison answers one question: what changed between this specific old list and this specific new one. A tracked history is the accumulation of several of those comparisons over time, saved as snapshots — it's what lets you see whether a supplier raises prices occasionally or every round, not just what happened once.

Do I need an account to track price changes over time?

Comparing doesn't require one, but saving a snapshot to build a history does. Signing in is what turns a one-off comparison into part of an ongoing record.

Can I see all the snapshots I've saved for one supplier?

Yes. Each saved snapshot for a supplier appears in that supplier's history, in order by effective date, so you can open any past round, not only the most recent one.

What exactly gets saved — the file, or just the numbers?

The structured rows from the comparison, not the original file. Your raw CSV or XLSX is read and compared in your browser and is never uploaded; only the matched items and costs are stored when you choose to save.

For the mechanics of a single before-and-after comparison, see supplier price list comparison. When an increase shows up, see responding to a supplier price increase for the margin math and the decision that follows.

Start building your supplier's history

Compare your first two price lists, then save the result — the next round is what turns it into a history.