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The moment it happens

Compare the top products before you buy

Name a product type and get a table of the top five options with prices, ratings, pros and cons.

Runs
The moment it happens
Apps
SerpApi
AI
Yes, uses the built-in AI allowance
Access
API key

Send this to your assistant

Create a ClickRuntime automation: when I send a product type like 'standing desk' to this link, search Google Shopping and reviews, and email me a comparison table of the top 5 with price, rating, pros and cons.

Paste it into your assistant. It tells you what it will send or change before it runs live.

First time? Adding ClickRuntime to your assistant takes about two minutes.

Why use it

Why teams use this automation

Choosing between project management tools, standing desks or CRMs usually means a dozen browser tabs: review sites, vendor pricing pages, forum threads, a shopping listing that may or may not be current. An hour later you have three half-remembered prices and an unclear sense of which option fits. Teams repeat this for every purchase, and a decision that should take ten minutes of reading takes an afternoon, or gets made on whichever vendor had the most polished page.

When you send a product or tool category, the automation searches Google's shopping and web results through SerpApi, pulls out each candidate's name, price and rating, and asks ClickRuntime's built-in AI to write a comparison with pros and cons. A short email carries the comparison. It runs the moment you submit the request. Small business owners, buyers and anyone doing quick vendor research use it to get a shortlist fast.

What you get out of it

  • A shortlist in minutes, not an afternoon

    You receive candidates with prices and ratings side by side, so you can drop clear mismatches immediately. The time saved on a single purchase often covers hours of someone's salary.

  • Prices from live search results

    Shopping results reflect what sellers list today, so you are not working from a comparison article written last year. Spotting that one option costs half as much can change the whole decision.

  • Pros and cons written in one voice

    The AI summarizes strengths and weaknesses for every option in the same format. That makes differences easy to see, where reading each vendor's own marketing makes everything sound the same.

  • Fewer purchases you regret

    Seeing ratings and common complaints before buying helps avoid the product with a good price and a pattern of failures. A returned item or a switched tool costs more than the research would have.

  • Research you can forward

    The email is a ready-made summary to share with a partner or manager who needs to approve the spend. That replaces a chat message with five links and no explanation.

How it works

What happens, step by step

  1. When you send a product type, such as standing desk, to your personal ClickRuntime link, the automation starts straight away.

  2. ClickRuntime searches Google Shopping for prices and ratings, and Google for review articles.

  3. AI picks the top five options and builds a table with each one's name, price, rating, pros and cons.

  4. The comparison is emailed to you.

Before it runs live

  • Connect SerpApi
  • Paste your automation's link into the other app's webhook settings

What you get

RunsThe moment it happens
Compare the top products before you buyjust nowSucceeded
Email · Top 5 standing desk comparedNorthwind Lift Pro | $429 | 4.7 | quiet motor, 10-yr warranty | heavy Acme Rise 2 | $299 | 4.4 | cheap, quick setup | wobbles at full height

Build your own

Need it to work differently?

This template is a starting point. Copy the prompt and change it, or describe a different automation from scratch, with your own conditions, more apps or an AI step. Your assistant writes it, tests it and runs it on ClickRuntime.
  • Your own rules

    Conditions, thresholds, filters and exceptions, written the way you'd explain them to a colleague.

  • Any number of apps

    One automation can read from one app and update several others. Over 248 apps are ready, and anything with an API works too.

  • AI where it helps

    Summaries, classification, extraction and drafts use ClickRuntime's built-in AI, with no extra key.

  • On a schedule or on each event

    Runs as often as every 5 minutes, or the moment an app sends an event, and keeps track of what it already handled.

Changes you can ask for

  • Act only on the items that match your own rules, and skip the rest
  • Change what the AI looks for, or how it writes the result
  • Add another app, for example also send it to Slack
  • Combine it with other SerpApi steps into one automation

Under the hood

The code that runs this automation

This is the Python script that runs each time the automation starts. Your AI assistant writes it for you when you send the prompt, and you allow each step in your assistant. To change how the automation works, describe the change to your assistant and it updates the script for you. For every function it can use, see the script reference.
compare_products_or_tools.pyexample
from clickruntime import on_event, credentials, http, ai, notify

@on_event
def handle(event):
    product = (event.json or {}).get("product", "").strip()
    key = credentials.secret("SERPAPI_KEY")
    shop = http.get("https://serpapi.com/search.json",
                    params={"engine": "google_shopping", "q": product, "api_key": key}).json()
    items = [f"{r['title']} | {r.get('price')} | rating {r.get('rating', '-')} ({r.get('reviews', 0)} reviews)"
             for r in shop.get("shopping_results", [])[:10]]
    web = http.get("https://serpapi.com/search.json",
                   params={"engine": "google", "q": f"best {product} review", "api_key": key}).json()
    reviews = [f"{r['title']}: {r.get('snippet', '')}" for r in web.get("organic_results", [])[:6]]
    table = ai.generate(
        f"Product type: {product}\n\nShopping results:\n" + "\n".join(items)
        + "\n\nReview snippets:\n" + "\n".join(reviews),
        system="Pick the top 5 and write a plain-text table: name, price, rating, pros, cons.",
        max_output_tokens=900,
    ).text
    notify.email_me(f"Top 5 {product} compared", table)
    return {"candidates": len(items)}

FAQ

Common questions

Where do the prices come from?
They come from Google search results retrieved through SerpApi, mainly shopping listings and snippets from web results. Prices can differ by region and change quickly, so confirm the final price on the seller's page before buying.
Does it work for software and services, or only physical products?
Both. For physical products the shopping results provide prices and ratings. For software, the web results provide pricing pages and review snippets, so the comparison is based on what pages say publicly, which may omit custom enterprise pricing.
Can I ask for a comparison with my own criteria?
Yes. Include criteria in your request, such as budget under $300, works with Mac, or must offer an API. The AI is instructed to weigh options against those points and to say which options fail them.
What permissions does it need?
API key. Nothing else in your accounts is used.
Does it need AI?
Yes. It uses ClickRuntime's built-in AI, so you don't need an OpenAI or Anthropic key. Every plan includes a monthly AI allowance.
How many runs does it use?
One run for each event the app sends.
Can I change how it works?
Yes. Describe the change to your AI assistant, for example a different schedule, channel or filter. It updates the automation, tests it and tells you what changed.

Set up “Compare the top products before you buy” from your assistant

Copy the prompt above, or connect your assistant first. Free plan, no credit card.