(MONEY Magazine) – Back when you used real-live travel agents, you felt confident that your agent had unearthed the best deal. The Internet was supposed to make you feel just as confident booking the trip yourself. The opposite has happened: You know deals are out there, but finding them is daunting. According to Web tracker JupiterResearch, most travelers scan only three to five sites, never knowing if they could've paid less by checking one more. A new breed of search engine, which scours all the sites you would, and more, can help. None have a monopoly on deals, but all of them increase your chances of finding a rate to write home about. To see which ones find the best deals, we searched various itineraries on multiple days over the course of a week. Here's a sampling.

NOTES: Searches conducted on Oct. 14. Dates for Dallas-Seattle trip were Dec. 4-11. Dates for Chicago-L.A. were Dec. 4-6. SOURCES: Websites.