What does the "checked" date next to a price mean?

It is the date somebody actually opened the vendor's pricing page and confirmed that number, not the date the page was published or last touched.

We only move that date forward when the price has genuinely been re-checked against the source. It never advances automatically, and there is no "updated today" stamp that regenerates on every page render.

The practical use is simple. If the date is recent, the price is probably still right. If it is old, treat it as a starting point and click through to the vendor before making a decision. Pricing pages change constantly, and no comparison site can promise otherwise.

Tool profiles carry the same kind of date on the profile itself, which tells you when the whole page was last verified rather than just the price.