Black Friday price tracker guide (2026): how to tell a real deal

Last updated: October 20, 2026

Disclosure: PricePing makes this guide, and PricePing is one of the trackers in it. The plan works with any price tracker. Facts about other tools and the Which? study come from their own pages (see Sources).

The short answer

Black Friday 2026 is Friday, November 27, with Cyber Monday on November 30. Start tracking the products you want now, so that by then you know their real price and can ignore the crossed-out one. Use Keepa or camelcamelcamel for Amazon (free, with years of history), Google’s Track price for products in Google Shopping, and a tracker that takes any link, such as PricePing, the iPhone price tracker app, for everything else.

Why price history matters on Black Friday

A Black Friday label tells you a price is on offer, not that it is low. When the UK consumer group Which? tracked Black Friday deals from eight big home and tech retailers, it found that 92% of them were the same price or cheaper at other times of the year (published November 2024). Its examples included a hair dryer advertised at 62% off a price the store had not charged in the previous 12 months.

You can’t check a store’s whole year on the day. You can check your own record, if you start it now.

The plan, step by step

Make your list now. Write down the handful of things you actually plan to buy in November. A short list of real purchases beats browsing deal pages on the day.
Start tracking each product today. Add every item to a price tracker now, weeks before Black Friday, so you have a record of its normal price. For Amazon, look the product up on Keepa or camelcamelcamel too, which keep years of history.
Note the lowest price before the sales. By mid-November you will know each product's usual price and its lowest point so far. That number, not the store's crossed-out price, is what a deal has to beat.
Set a target-price alert. Set an alert below the lowest price you have seen, or at the price you decided you would pay. Early Black Friday sales start before the day itself, and an alert catches them.
On the day, compare against your history. When a deal appears, check it against the price history, not the 'was' price. If the product was the same price or cheaper in October, it is not a Black Friday deal.
Keep watching after you buy. Prices can fall again during Cyber Monday or the December sales. Check the store's returns and price-adjustment policy before you buy, so you know what you can do if the price drops later.

Key dates for 2026

Thursday, November 26: US Thanksgiving. Many stores are already running sales.
Friday, November 27: Black Friday.
Monday, November 30: Cyber Monday.

Stores outside the US, including in the UAE and the rest of the Gulf, run their own November sales around the same weeks, sometimes under other names. The method is the same: know the price before the sale.

Which tracker to use for what

Amazon: Keepa or camelcamelcamel. Both are free and show years of Amazon price history, so you can see last year’s Black Friday price as well as this autumn’s.
Products in Google Shopping (US, Canada, Australia, Japan, India): Google’s Track price. Tap Track price on the product card and set a target; Google sends a push notification through the Google app and an email when it drops.
Many stores, one list, on iPhone: PricePing. Share each product page to it from Safari or the store’s app, choose Below a price or % drop, and get a push notification when a check finds it. It has read prices from Amazon, Nike, Zara, Uniqlo, Lululemon, Allbirds, Gymshark, Gorman, Noon, Namshi and many other stores.

PricePing’s US prices: Personal (20 products) $4.99/month or $39.99/year; Power (50) $7.99/month or $59.99/year. 7-day free trial on monthly plans. US prices. The App Store shows your local price.

Spotting an inflated “was” price

The “was” price is not in your history. If you have tracked a product since October and never saw the crossed-out price, the discount is measured from a number nobody paid recently.
The “deal” equals the normal price. A flat line in your price history with a sale badge on top is not a drop.
The price rose in early November. A rise a few weeks before the sale, then a “discount” back to the old price, shows up plainly in a price chart.

PricePing’s limits, honestly

It is a subscription with no free tier. Monthly plans start with a 7-day free trial; yearly plans don’t have one.
It is iPhone only for now. Android is in testing.
Price history starts when you add a product. It can’t show what the price was last year.
Prices are checked at least once a day, not every second, so alerts are not instant.

Questions

When is Black Friday 2026?

Black Friday 2026 is Friday, November 27, the day after US Thanksgiving (Thursday, November 26). Cyber Monday is November 30, 2026. Many stores start their sales earlier in November.

When should I start tracking prices for Black Friday?

Now. A price tracker can only compare a Black Friday price with prices it has already recorded, so the more weeks of history you have before November 27, the easier it is to tell a real deal from a relabelled one.

Are Black Friday deals real?

Some are, many are not. In a study published in November 2024, the UK consumer group Which? found that 92% of the Black Friday deals it analysed, from eight big home and tech retailers, were the same price or cheaper at other times of the year. Price history is how you tell which kind you are looking at.

What is the best Black Friday price tracker?

For Amazon, Keepa and camelcamelcamel are free and have years of price history. For products in Google Shopping in the US, Canada, Australia, Japan or India, Google's Track price is free. To track many stores in one list on iPhone, PricePing, the iPhone price tracker app, works with almost any online store.

Can PricePing show last year's Black Friday price?

No. PricePing's price history starts on the day you add a product. Add products now to have several weeks of history by Black Friday.

More guides: how to get notified when something goes on sale, how to get notified when a price drops, a price tracker for any website, a wishlist app that tracks prices, price tracking in the UAE and the Amazon price tracker app guide. Sold out? See how to get a back-in-stock alert. Comparing apps? See the best price tracker app for iPhone, the Keepa alternative, the camelcamelcamel alternative, PricePing vs Keepa, PricePing vs camelcamelcamel and PricePing vs PayPal Honey. All guides are in PricePing guides.

Sources

Try PricePing on iPhone. Share a product link from almost any store and get a ping when the price drops. Monthly plans start with a 7-day free trial.