Supplier Price List Change Detector
Old price list
Click or drop a CSV or Excel file
New price list
Click or drop a CSV or Excel file
Accepted formats: CSV, Excel (.xlsx, .xls)
When your supplier sends a new price list, spotting every change manually is slow and error-prone. This tool compares your old and new price list files side by side and shows every price increase, decrease, new item, and removed item - sorted by the largest percentage increase at the top. Upload CSV or Excel files, confirm which columns to compare, and get a full change report in seconds. Set an alert threshold to flag the increases that hurt most. Download the results as CSV to share with your team or attach to a buying review.
How to use this tool
- 1Upload your old price list file and your new price list file. Accepted formats: CSV, Excel (.xlsx, .xls).
- 2The tool reads both files and auto-detects the item name column and the price column. Confirm or adjust the column mapping using the dropdowns.
- 3Set an alert threshold (default 5%) - items with a price increase above this percentage will be highlighted in red.
- 4Click 'Compare prices'. The results table shows all changes sorted by largest increase first.
- 5Use the filter buttons to view only increases, decreases, new items, or removed items. Click 'Export CSV' to download the full change report.
Example
Old list: February CSV with 80 ingredients. New list: March CSV from the same supplier. After comparison: 12 items increased (tomatoes +18%, avocados +22%), 3 items decreased, 2 new SKUs added, 1 item removed. Alert threshold set to 10% - the 5 items above this are highlighted red.
Old Excel: Spring wholesale price sheet with 200 SKUs. New Excel: Summer update. Key column: SKU, Price column: Wholesale Price. Results: 34 increases averaging 7.4%, 8 decreases, 22 new styles added. Export CSV shared with the buying team for renegotiation.
Common use cases
- Restaurant owners comparing ingredient cost sheets from their food suppliers each month
- Retail buyers reviewing seasonal price list updates from clothing, electronics, or hardware suppliers
- Procurement managers auditing a supplier's annual price increase across hundreds of SKUs
- Small business owners checking whether a supplier quietly raised prices on a specific product category
- Cafe or bar managers comparing drink and ingredient price lists when switching distributors
- Operations teams preparing for a supplier negotiation by identifying the largest cost increases
Common mistakes
- Using different column names across the two files - if the old file has 'Item Name' and the new file has 'Product', the auto-detection may pick different columns. Use the column dropdowns to align them manually.
- Uploading files with different key column values - if the item name is spelled differently between lists (e.g. 'Tomato 500g' vs 'Tomatoes 500g'), the tool will list them as a removed and added item rather than a price change. Standardise spelling in your supplier files for best results.
- Setting the threshold to 0% - every price change will be highlighted red, making it hard to focus on what matters. Use a threshold that reflects your actual margin sensitivity (typically 3-10%).
- Comparing files from different suppliers - the key column must match the same item identifiers across both files. Comparing lists from two different suppliers will produce meaningless results.
Frequently asked questions
What file formats are supported?
CSV files (.csv) and Excel files (.xlsx, .xls) are supported. The tool reads the first sheet of Excel workbooks. For CSV, any standard delimiter format with a header row is accepted.
Are my files uploaded to a server?
No. Both files are processed entirely in your browser. Your price data never leaves your device. Excel parsing uses the SheetJS library running locally; CSV parsing uses Papa Parse.
How does the tool match items between the two files?
The tool uses the column you select as the key column (typically item name or SKU) to match rows. It treats two rows as the same item when their key column value is identical (case-insensitive). If an item appears in the new list but not the old, it is marked as 'New'. If it appears in the old list but not the new, it is marked as 'Removed'.
Can I compare files with different column names?
Yes. After uploading, you choose which column in each file contains the item name and the price. The columns do not need to have the same name across the two files. The values in those columns must be comparable - the same item must appear with the same name or SKU in both files.
What does the alert threshold do?
Items with a price increase above the threshold percentage are highlighted in red and counted in the alert summary. This helps you focus on the changes that have the biggest impact on your costs. The default is 5% but you can set it to any value.
Can I download the results?
Yes. Click 'Export CSV' to download the full comparison as a CSV file. The export respects the current filter, so if you are viewing only increases, only those rows are exported.
What if my price column contains currency symbols or commas?
The tool strips common currency symbols and commas before parsing prices (e.g. $1,200.00 is read as 1200). If prices are in a format the tool cannot parse, they will show as a dash. In that case, clean the price column in your spreadsheet first (remove currency symbols, use numbers only).
Related tools
Last updated