You upload the invoices
PDFs from distributors, wholesalers, and specialty vendors—not a shared AP queue with three approvals.
About CostBeacon
Built for operators who buy from suppliers themselves
CostBeacon exists so you can see when unit costs move on the invoices you already get—before menu prices, quotes, or margins quietly absorb the hit.
30-day free trial · No credit card required
Supplier invoice · INV-48721
- Item
- Organic Sunflower Oil 5L
- Qty
- 12
- Unit cost
- $23.40
Matched item comparison
Unit-cost change- Previous
- $21.60
- Current
- $23.40
- Change
- +$1.80 · +8.33%
Why we exist
Invoices already know what changed
Most small businesses do not lack data. They have PDFs, email attachments, and paper piles. What they lack is time to re-key every line and compare it to last month. Price creep hides in pack sizes, freight lines, and familiar SKUs until someone notices too late.
We built CostBeacon for that gap: upload the bill, extract the lines, and surface what moved—with the source invoice still one click away.
Who it is for
Owners and buyers doing procurement themselves
If you run a restaurant, shop, trade crew, or any business with recurring supplier bills, you are the buyer and the decision-maker. CostBeacon is for that person—not a BI analyst.
How it works
Three steps from PDF to a decision
No spreadsheet rebuild. No waiting for month-end books to tell you what already happened.
Upload an invoice
Drop a PDF, scan, or photo. Assign the supplier and submit.
Extract every line
CostBeacon reads unit costs, quantities, and product names into a catalog you can reuse.
Review what moved
Alerts and results show which lines changed versus your history—so you decide next.
Operator-first
Your invoices stay in your workspace
CostBeacon is built around team workspaces: your supplier bills and product history stay under your account. We focus on helping you review costs—not selling your invoice data as a product.
Want the control details? See Security. Have a fit question? Contact us. Ready to try? Start with one real invoice.
Upload an invoice free
Start with one supplier PDF. CostBeacon extracts the lines and shows what moved.
Upload an invoice free30-day free trial · No credit card required