A Facebook Marketplace monitor that keeps watching after you stop

A Facebook Marketplace monitor is a search that never stops. You describe the item once, and the monitor keeps re-running the search for as long as it takes, days or weeks, and notifies you when a listing matches. Refreshing by hand works for an afternoon; monitoring is for the things worth waiting for: the Herman Miller Aeron under $200, the Milwaukee M18 kit, the Weber Genesis someone is finally giving up. Deal Scanner is a monitor for Facebook Marketplace, OfferUp and Craigslist on iPhone and Android, $3.99 a month, cancel anytime, with no Facebook login.

Monitoring is a different habit from refreshing

Refreshing is you, awake, holding the phone. It catches what is posted while you are looking and misses everything else. A monitor is a standing order: this item, this town, this radius, this price range, until I say stop. It catches the listing posted at 6:40 a.m. on a Tuesday, and because it has watched the search for weeks, it also knows what a normal price looks like, which is how Deal Scanner's Deal Score works.

Facebook's own saved-search notifications are a monitor of sorts: no published schedule, hours to days late in our use, no low price limit, prone to turning themselves off, and Facebook only. Our setup guide covers them. The page you are on is about doing it properly.

What a good monitor records

• When it found each listing. Not when it was posted, which the marketplace controls, but when the monitor saw it. Deal Scanner shows "Found 2h ago" on every alert.
• What the price usually is. A monitor that has watched a search for a while can say whether $180 is normal or a steal. Deal Scanner scores clear bargains against the typical price for that item near you, measured from what your search has seen.
• What it filtered out. A relevance check drops most accessories and lookalikes, so a monitor for "PS5" is not a monitor for controllers.
• Where you are willing to go. A radius from your town, not the marketplace's idea of nearby.

How Deal Scanner monitors

1. Set the search. The item, your town, how far you would drive, a low and high price.
2. Leave it. Deal Scanner re-runs the search on Facebook Marketplace, OfferUp and Craigslist around the clock from its own servers. The app can be closed. Your phone does nothing until there is something to show.
3. Get buzzed. The alert carries the listing, the price, the marketplace, when we found it, and a Deal Score when it is a clear bargain.
4. Pause or change it anytime. Searches can be paused and edited in the Searches tab. Quiet hours and a daily digest keep the buzzing to the hours you want.

Casual holds 3 searches for $3.99 a month, Hunter 6 for $9.99, Pro 12 for $19.99. All three marketplaces on every plan, same speed. Cancel anytime.

Other Facebook Marketplace monitors

Read from each company's site on October 26, 2026; the full table is on Best Facebook Marketplace alert apps, compared.

• Flipify: per-search pricing ($5 a month at a 10-minute check, $10 at 1 minute), eight marketplaces including eBay and Mercari.
• Outpost Alerts: Facebook only, $14.99 to $79 a month by number of searches and check interval, no Facebook login.
• Crawlbench: Facebook only, team pricing from $39, alerts to Telegram, Slack and Discord.
• Free desktop programs: they watch only while a computer stays on and awake; when it sleeps, the monitor stops, which is the opposite of what a monitor is for.
• Marketplace Monitor: a Google Play app that appears in other lists; we could not find a site of its own with prices to read, so it is not in our table.

FAQ

What is a Facebook Marketplace monitor?

A search that keeps running on its own and alerts you when a listing matches. Deal Scanner monitors Facebook Marketplace, OfferUp and Craigslist from one search, with a price range, a radius, a relevance filter and a Deal Score.

How long can a monitor run?

As long as you leave it on. Deal Scanner searches run until you pause or delete them, and the longer one runs, the better its typical-price baseline for the Deal Score.

Does monitoring need my Facebook account?

Not with Deal Scanner. It monitors from its own servers and never asks for a login to any marketplace. Some other tools log in as you; ask before you sign up.

Will a monitor drain my battery or data?

No. The monitoring runs on Deal Scanner's servers, not on your phone. The app only wakes to show a notification.

Can I monitor OfferUp and Craigslist too?

Yes, from the same search. See OfferUp alerts and Craigslist alerts.

Sources checked

Facebook Help Center on Marketplace notifications; each competitor's own site as listed on the comparison. Checked October 26, 2026.