Top 10 Cash Back Apps To Save You Money On Everything

Top 10 Cash Back Apps To Save You Money On Everything

Affiliate links are included in this post and Drugstore Divas may make a small commission if you use them.

This list is in alphabetical order, just to make it easier to search, not in order of how much we like the app.

I also included invite codes, where available. Those are my personal codes. You’ll get a special welcome bonus reward if you use them. Sometimes I’ll get a thank you reward if you use them; other times I won’t.

Checkout 51

Checkout 51 is definitely my least favorite cash back app because it doesn’t have as many offers as the others. It does, however, have the same $20 cash out threshold as the others, so it does take quite a bit of time to get your money back.

But, it’s easy to use, so that’s why it’s on the list.

Check through the app and look for any items you want to buy. Click those offers to add them to your account. Purchase those items, upload your receipt, and you’ll get the cash back in your account.

New offers are updated every Thursday and you have until Wednesday to buy them and upload your receipt via the mobile app to get credit. But, be sure to double check that the offers are available before heading to the store and before checking out. There’s a limit across everyone who uses the mobile app, and once the amount of redemptions are gone, they’re gone.

With Ibotta, another cash back app, you get a grace period between when the offer is out of redemptions and when you can redeem it. Sometimes, users can’t clam the offer because it has been claimed too many times, but if you already claimed it, you can still redeem it.

Checkout 51 isn’t like that. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. Even if it was there when you walked in the store. And Checkout 51 will not give you the offer if that happens (Ibotta will as a courtesy), so that’s another reason why Checkout 51 isn’t one of my favorites.

Coupons.com (soon to be Shopmium)

Coupons.com is the easiest cash back app, as far as apps requiring specific purchases go.

Open the Coupons.com app and search through the offers. Select them to activate the cash back offers. Purchase those items at any retailer.

Take a picture of your receipt via the Coupons.com app. Any matched offers will show up in a list. Choose the offer that matches the items you bought. You’ll then need to scan the barcode (so make sure to do this before you eat any items and throw away any packaging).

The cash back will be in your PayPal account almost instantly. I’m serious. It’s really fast. I scan my items and receipt before leaving the store and often have the cash back before I start driving home.

Coupon.com is merging with Shopmium soon, so the Coupons.com app will be twilighted eventually. Shopmium works the same way as Coupons.com, although I’m not sure if the cash back will still be sent with lightning speed. We’ll update this once the transition is done and let you know.

Fetch

Fetch is my absolute favorite app on the list because it’s just so incredibly easy.

Open the Fetch rewards app, snap a photo of any receipt from any store, and you get points. Once you have enough points, you can redeem them for free gift cards for your favorite stores, like Amazon, Bath And Body Works, and more.

You can’t cash out for real cash like you can for some of the other apps, but if you’re already spending money on household essentials at Amazon like we do (we always order our vitamins there), it’s not bad.

There are also bonus offers in Fetch where you will get additional rewards points for purchasing certain products. Sometimes it’s 100% of your purchase price back in points, sometimes it’s a set amount per dollar spent, and sometimes it’s a set amount when you purchase the item.

But wait, there’s more. Every day, with your first receipt photo, you get a spin. You can win between 5 and 100,000 bonus points on that spin. I’ve actually won 10,000 in extra points ($10) before, so it’s a great way to get extra free money.

Invite code: If you use the code 5JXPJ you’ll get bonus points for signing up.

Ibotta

Ibotta is a really great app to help you save on you’re grocery shopping.

Download the Ibotta app and you’ll see specific stores listed: grocery stores like Food Lion, gas stations like Circle K, convenience stores likes 7-Eleven, and also options like any liquor store.

When you click on a store, you’ll see specific offers that are available at that store. Those tell you what specific items you have to buy and how much money you’ll get back if you do buy them. You have to select the offer in order to get the cash back.

Go to the store, purchase the item, then upload the receipt via the redemption portion of Ibotta. Depending on the store, the cash back will be in your app immediately or within 72 hours.

Some stores, like Dollar General, require you to link your store loyalty cards to Ibotta to get cash back. Make sure you either scan your store loyalty card or enter the phone number that matches the linked card at checkout to get your offers.

Ibotta does also have bonus offers where you get extra money for buying a certain number of products during a specific timeframe. Sometimes these bonuses are really easy to hit and are a nice way to get some extra cash back. And sometimes, these bonuses are really difficult to hit (because you need to buy a large number of items in a small amount of time), so we suggest skipping the bonus that time.

Once you hit $20, you can cash out to PayPal or your bank account. You can also choose to buy gift cards with your cash back.

If you shop online, Ibotta also has an option to choose various online stores and get a percentage of your purchase price back in cash.

If you shop online at a store like Walgreens, you’ll get 1% of your online purchases back. But, you won’t qualify for any specific item offers. Those are valid on in-store purchases only. So if there’s an item offer, you’ll want to shop in store instead.

Invite code: If you use the code s3qjga you’ll get a $5 or $10 bonus for signing up.

Makeena

If you shop for a lot of organic products, Makeena is for you.

The majority of the offers in the cash back app are out of my price range, organic products that I only buy when there’s another offer on another app that I can use at the same time.

Makeena also offers lots of offers on organic produce. Some items are more common than others, like organic broccoli versus organic jackfruit. 

I buy fresh produce for our recipes all the time, but I never think to check Makeena first to look for any cash back offers.

But, that’s also because some of the offers and brands are locked for casual users. You have to purchase that brand regularly in order to see the offers, it seems. So, because it’s not as user friendly as some of the others, it’s a little bit off my radar. But if you regularly shop at Whole Foods (because this app is filled with offers for products stocked there), definitely check it out.

Rakuten Rewards (formerly eBates)

One of the original cash back sites was eBates. You would sign into eBates, search a particular store, make a purchase, and you would get a percentage of your total back in your account. Once you hit $5, you could transfer your money to your bank account of request a “big fat check,” as it was called, to be mailed to you. Yes. It was a physical check.

A few years ago, eBates was purchased by Rakuten and the name was changed. I don’t know why because despite the zillions of commercials that aired during the transfer, I still don’t quite know how to say Rakuten.

The concept is the same. Search stores via the Rakuten app, purchase items, get cash back.

I do feel like there are apps out there that offer a larger percentage back, so I personally use those. But, the minimum amount to cash out is easier to achieve with Rakuten. So if you don’t do much online shopping, Rakuten may be better for you.

And, if you don’t do much shopping on your phone, Rakuten might be best for you too because it has a free browser extension that will show you cash back offers when you’re shopping on your computer.

Shopkick

Shopkick is another cash back app that focuses on specific products, but it’s a little different than the others because you can receive points without actually purchasing anything.

Head into a grocery or specific chain store, like Hallmark, and open the Shopkick app. You’ll receive points just for walking in to specific stores.

Each store will have a list of items that qualify for points. You can earn points by just scanning the barcodes of those products while you’re in store.

If you purchase the item, you can get additional points by taking a photo of your receipt via the Shopkick app. 

Those points can be redeemed for gift cards or money sent to your PayPal account.

If you’re a new user, download the app and enter the code DRUGSTORE in the invite code field to earn $5 worth of points as a sign-up bonus. To earn it, you just have to earn 10 points within the first two weeks after downloading it. But, that’s literally just walking into Walmart and opening the app, so it’s easy money.

If you want more details, check out our full Shopkick review.

Start

Start is a hybrid of Microsoft Start and the search engine Bing. They combined forces to make an app that rewards you for shopping and for searching the Internet. Both options are in the same app, but they are very separate and unique.

Let’s talk about the cash back portion first.

Open the app and take a photo of any receipt from the last 13 days (the app says 14 days, but my 14 day old receipts always come up as invalid). You’ll get at least 1 cent per receipt scanned.

If you purchase specific products, you can get additional cash back. But — and this is a big but — I have never once been credited for these purchases. They will show up as pending sometimes, but once the pending period is over, they always are denied. So, don’t rely on that part (like you can with Ibotta, Fetch, etc.).

I have, however, received the two cent bonuses for shopping at specific stores or for generic offers (like $.02 back when you buy bread).

If you scan six receipts within a 14 day period, you can open a bonus box for up to $50 in cash back.

When you hit $10 in cash back, you can cash out via PayPal.

Now, real quick about the search and earn portion. You earn points for searching via Bing, answering polls, taking quizzes, and more. Once you hit 6,500 points, you can redeem them for a $5 gift card to stores like Amazon, Burger King, and more.

The cash back and points aren’t transferable between the two. You can also just focus on one of the two portions of the app. You don’t have to use both.

TopCashBack

TopCashBack is a great app if you do a lot of online shopping because you can earn cash back on many of those purchases.

Before you shop, you’ll need to open the app. Search the store you’re going to shop at and you’ll see an Earn Cash Back button. Click it. Doing so will record your trip and open the store’s website in a new tab. 

Add all your items to your cart and checkout. You’ll get a percentage of your total back in your account.

Once you hit $20, you can cash out to PayPal.

There are a few apps like this (there is even another on this list), but I prefer TopCashBack over the others. I always feel like it gives the highest percentage of cash back when compared to the other apps.

Upside (formerly Get Upside)

Upside is such an easy way to get money back on your gas purchases.

Head to the gas station, open the app, and check in at the gas station. Pay with the credit card linked in your account and your cash back will be added to your Upside account. Then, cash out. It’s that easy.

When you open the app, you’ll see how much money you can get back per gallon of gas. It varies per gas station and not all gas stations participate. If I need gas, and there are two gas stations across the street from each other that are the same price, I’ll pick the one giving more cash back.

You can also use Upside to get cash back at participating restaurants and grocery stores too, so that’s a great way to save some money.

Speaking of gas, be sure to check out our post How To Save On Gas On Your Next Road Trip for more ways to save.

Invite code: If you use the code YJEBC you’ll get extra cash back the first time you use the app.