This episode explores Discount Bandit, a self-hosted price tracking solution designed to automate online shopping savings. Unlike browser extensions that collect user data, Discount Bandit allows users to run the software on their own infrastructure, ensuring privacy and control over purchase intentions. The tool supports a wide range of online stores, including major retailers and custom sites, and tracks price history, stock availability, and even includes custom costs like shipping and import taxes for accurate budgeting. Discount Bandit offers a granular notification system, allowing users to set multiple alerts for a single product based on different criteria. For seamless alerts, it integrates with services like Telegram and ntfi.esh for instant push notifications. Installation is simplified through Docker or bundled environments like XAMPP, significantly lowering the technical barrier for users. The project’s active open-source community on GitHub and Discord provides support for updates and troubleshooting. Ultimately, Discount Bandit empowers consumers to shift from being data collection targets to agents of their own automation, demonstrating how accessible open-source tools can transform tedious manual processes into efficient, automated solutions.
