How do price alerts for electronic components work?

You give the tool a manufacturer part number and a target price. On a schedule the tool searches that part again, finds the lowest price on offer, and notifies you when that price is at or below your target. In Circuit Sherpa the schedule is once a day, the comparison uses the lowest single-unit price across every offer the search returns from Digi-Key, Mouser and the Nexar network, and the notification is an email (plus a push notification in the iOS app).

How often does Circuit Sherpa check my price alerts?

Once a day, from a scheduled job that runs at 09:00 UTC. Each active alert is re-searched live, its current best price is recorded, and if that price is at or below your target the email is sent. The check runs on Pro and Team plans; the free plan does not include alerts.

Why did my alert fire on a price I cannot actually order at?

The alert compares the lowest single-unit price across all offers found. That is deliberate: it is the most conservative signal that the market for the part has moved. It does not check stock at your build quantity or the minimum order quantity of the offer. When an alert fires, open the part and look at the price breaks and MOQ at your quantity before ordering.

Does an alert keep firing every day once the price is below target?

No. An alert fires once, then is marked as triggered and is no longer checked. If you want to keep watching the part, delete the triggered alert and create a new one at a lower target. If the email fails to send, the alert is left untriggered so the next daily run retries it instead of silently losing it.

How many price alerts can I have?

Up to 20 active alerts on Pro and Team. Triggered alerts do not count toward the limit once you delete them. The cap keeps the daily check fast for everyone; if you need to watch more than 20 parts, watch the lines that dominate your BOM cost and re-price the rest with a BOM upload.

How do I pick a good target price?

Look at the part's recent best price on its Circuit Sherpa part page or in your BOM history, then set the target a meaningful step below it, such as the next price-break tier's unit price or the price at which the line stops being your most expensive one. A target just under the current price fires on noise; a target far below it never fires.

Guide

Price alerts for electronic components: how to get notified when a part hits your target price

A component price alert is a standing instruction: watch this part number, and tell me when it can be had at or below this price. Done by hand it means re-searching a distributor every few days and remembering what you saw last time. This guide explains what an alert actually compares, how Circuit Sherpa's daily check is built, and how to choose targets that fire when it matters.

What an alert is comparing

A distributor does not publish one price for a part. It publishes an offer per packaging option, each with a ladder of price breaks and sometimes a minimum order quantity. So “the price of this part” has to be defined before it can be compared with a target. Circuit Sherpa defines it as the lowest single-unit price across every offer its search returns for that manufacturer part number, from Digi-Key and Mouser directly and from the Nexar network when configured, ignoring offers with no price.

That is a market signal, not an order quote. A single-unit price can drop because a cut-tape offer appeared at a distributor that had only reels, without changing what you would pay at 1,000 pieces. Treat a fired alert as “go look now”, then read the price breaks and MOQ at your quantity, exactly as described in the BOM pricing guide.

How Circuit Sherpa's daily check works

You create an alert from a part with a target price greater than zero. Pro and Team accounts can hold up to 20 active alerts.
A scheduled job runs once a day at 09:00 UTC and loads every alert that has not yet triggered.
For each alert it runs a live search for the part number, takes the lowest single-unit price across all offers with a price, and stores it as the alert's current price with a timestamp, so the alert always shows when it was last checked and what it saw.
If that price is at or below the target, it sends the email first and only then marks the alert as triggered. If the send fails, the alert stays active and is retried the next day; a failed send is never recorded as a success.
If you use the Circuit Sherpa iOS app and have allowed notifications, a push notification is sent as well. A push failure is logged and does not prevent the email.

The job itself is a separate scheduled worker that calls the alert checker with a shared secret. It is built to fail loudly: an authentication or runtime error surfaces as an errored run rather than as a quiet day with no emails. That matters because a silent scheduler looks identical to a market where nothing moved.

Choosing a target that is worth an email

Anchor on a price break. If the 100-piece tier is what makes a line affordable, set the target at that tier's unit price. The alert fires when a single unit is that cheap, which usually means the whole ladder shifted.
Anchor on your BOM. Use BOM history to find the price at which a line stops being the most expensive on the board, and set the target there.
Do not set it just under today's price. Prices wobble with exchange rates and distributor promotions; a target within a few percent fires on noise.
Watch what dominates cost. With 20 alerts, cover the lines that make up most of the build cost. Re-price the rest by uploading the BOM again before each build.

Limits to know before relying on it

Daily, not real time. A price that drops and recovers within a day is not seen.
Single-unit price, not price at your quantity, and no stock or MOQ check. Verify before ordering.
Digi-Key, Mouser and the Nexar network only. A better price at LCSC or a distributor outside those sources will not trigger an alert.
One shot. A triggered alert is not re-armed; create a new one to keep watching.
Email is sent from Circuit Sherpa's transactional address. Add it to your safe senders if your mail filter is strict.

Alerts are on Pro ($29 a month) and Team ($99 a month). The free plan lets you search 10 parts a day so you can confirm the live prices before paying for the watch. See the pricing page for the full plan list, or how Circuit Sherpa compares with Octopart and Findchips.

Frequently asked questions

How do price alerts for electronic components work?: You give the tool a manufacturer part number and a target price. On a schedule the tool searches that part again, finds the lowest price on offer, and notifies you when that price is at or below your target. In Circuit Sherpa the schedule is once a day, the comparison uses the lowest single-unit price across every offer the search returns from Digi-Key, Mouser and the Nexar network, and the notification is an email (plus a push notification in the iOS app).
How often does Circuit Sherpa check my price alerts?: Once a day, from a scheduled job that runs at 09:00 UTC. Each active alert is re-searched live, its current best price is recorded, and if that price is at or below your target the email is sent. The check runs on Pro and Team plans; the free plan does not include alerts.
Why did my alert fire on a price I cannot actually order at?: The alert compares the lowest single-unit price across all offers found. That is deliberate: it is the most conservative signal that the market for the part has moved. It does not check stock at your build quantity or the minimum order quantity of the offer. When an alert fires, open the part and look at the price breaks and MOQ at your quantity before ordering.
Does an alert keep firing every day once the price is below target?: No. An alert fires once, then is marked as triggered and is no longer checked. If you want to keep watching the part, delete the triggered alert and create a new one at a lower target. If the email fails to send, the alert is left untriggered so the next daily run retries it instead of silently losing it.
How many price alerts can I have?: Up to 20 active alerts on Pro and Team. Triggered alerts do not count toward the limit once you delete them. The cap keeps the daily check fast for everyone; if you need to watch more than 20 parts, watch the lines that dominate your BOM cost and re-price the rest with a BOM upload.
How do I pick a good target price?: Look at the part's recent best price on its Circuit Sherpa part page or in your BOM history, then set the target a meaningful step below it, such as the next price-break tier's unit price or the price at which the line stops being your most expensive one. A target just under the current price fires on noise; a target far below it never fires.

Try it on your own part numbers

The free plan gives you 10 searches a day with live Digi-Key and Mouser pricing, no credit card. BOM upload and price alerts are on Pro ($29/month) and Team ($99/month).

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Last reviewed for accuracy on 2026-09-16. Statements about other products describe them as publicly documented on that date; if something here is out of date, email [email protected] and we will fix it.