If you are looking for the best cashback apps that will earn you the most rewards on your purchases, look no further.
Finding rebate apps is easy. A quick google search or a search on the app stores will return plenty of options right away.
The challenge is to decide the best cashback apps that will save you even more money without changing any of your spending habits.
To achieve such a goal, you can learn how the cashback app rewards you for purchases, which has better offers and when is the best time to use each one.
To maximize rewards, you can use multiple cashback apps and take advantage of multiple offers to stack rewards and cash back.
So in today’s post, I am going to share the top cashback apps you should install on your phone today.
Related: Top 10 Money Earning Apps for 2021
This post may contain affiliate links. See our disclosure page for more information.
Best Cashback Apps for 2021
The best cashback apps should be easy to use and help turn your regular shopping into a fun activity.
They should also be flexible in that they offer multiple ways to earn rewards.
Some of the best rewards apps reward you with cashback at brick-and-mortar stores while others allow you to earn cashback online, and some even both.
Unlike coupons that save you money at the time of purchase, you use cashback apps to make purchases and pay in full. You will get reimbursed once the app approved your receipts.
The amount you earned in rebates is added up over several purchases so the payout isn’t immediate.
Once you’ve earned a certain amount, you’ll have the option to cash out via Paypal or a gift card to your favorite store.
Top Cashback Apps for Shopping & Groceries
If you’re looking for a list of the best cashback apps, here’s what I recommend.
With these free apps, you can save money on groceries, at restaurants, household items, clothing, toiletries, hotel stays and everything in between.
Most of these apps offer a free signup bonus from $5 to $20.
However, to qualify for the bonus, you’ll often need to make a minimum purchase, usually $20 or more, through the app in your first 30 days of membership.
Since this offer is available for new members only, consider joining them once you’re ready to make your regular purchase that exceeds the minimum amount required.
Also, be sure to read the rest of the post to learn more about why they make it into my list of best cashback apps.
Rakuten (Formerly Ebates)
Formerly known as Ebates, the company was acquired by Rakuten in 2014 and they officially changed the name to Rakuten in 2019.
The site has more than 10 million users and has paid out more than $1 billion in cashback rewards so you know they are legit.
The trick to maximizing your cashback with Rakuten is to use them for purchases you need to make anyway.
So if you know what you want to buy, Rakuten will show you which stores are selling that item and how much cashback you would receive from each store.
In addition to the cashback rewards, you can also save money with their daily deals, coupons and promo codes.
You may want to install their browser extension for Chrome or Firefox to get notified when a retailer website you’re visiting offers cashback.
As a member, you’ll continue to enjoy up to 40% off in the form of cash back at over 2000 online stores and 30 brick and mortar retailers.
Rakuten offers a generous $10 sign-up bonus for new members. In addition, when your friend sign-up through your affiliate link, you’ll get $25 and they’ll get $10.
Rakuten will pay out your cashback every three months as long as your balance is at least $5. You can choose to be paid via check or PayPal.
With an ever-growing list of stores, Rakuten is one of the easiest ways to save money on purchases you already make.
Sign up with Rakuten now and get $10 bonus
Shopkick
Shopkick is an Android and iPhone app that rewards you with free gift cards for purchases you normally make at the stores you already visit!
For example, if you shop at Target, Walmart or Best Buy, just open the app when you’re in stores to earn rewards.
To get started, download their app for:
You can earn a reward, called Kicks, by accomplishing daily challenges.
Think of it like a game which may require you to walk into a nearby store or go on a product scavenger hunt.
There are several ways to earn rewards and sometimes you don’t even have to make any purchase at all.
Here are a few examples:
- Walking into stores and earn kicks at the entrance – no purchase necessary
- Scanning barcodes of select products – no purchase necessary
- Visiting online stores – no purchase necessary
- Viewing online products – no purchase necessary
- Watching videos – no purchase necessary
- Purchasing with linked card – requires purchase
- Purchasing and submit receipt – requires purchase
- Making online purchases from the comfort of your couch.
Most rewards are worth 250 kicks which equals $1.
You can cash out once you’ve earned 500 kicks and redeem them for free gift cards to your favorite stores like Amazon, Target, Sephora, Starbucks and more.
The best thing about Shopkick is you’ll have the free gift cards instantly delivered to your phone.
Ibotta
Ibotta is a free mobile app that rewards you with cash rebate when you take a photo of your receipt and upload it to Ibotta.
It’s one of the best cashback apps for groceries on the market.
With over 500,000 retailers on board, it offers one of the widest selections of deals you can find anywhere.
Simply download the app and save on everything from groceries to household essentials to dining out and to hotels stays.
To start earning money, simply check the app before you shop for relevant offers from participating store.
After your purchase, take a photo of your receipt and upload it to Ibotta to redeem the offer.
Ibotta will match the receipt with the deals and reward you with cashback in your account. Your cashback will be deposited into your Ibotta account within 48 hours.
Other ways to earn cashback with Ibotta are by linking your store loyalty card and shopping through one of their mobile partner’s apps.
You can cash out your earnings balance via PayPal, Venmo or a gift card of your favorite store once it reached $20.
When you refer your friends to sign up, Ibotta will pay you $5 and your friend get $10 free!
Download the Ibotta app here and enjoy a $10 welcome bonus when you redeem an offer.
Swagbucks
In addition to cashback, Swagbucks mobile pays you for taking surveys, playing games, watching videos, searching the Internet and for doing other simple tasks.
Performing those tasks will earn you points called SB which is equivalent to $10 in value for every 1000 SB points.
When your points balance reaches 2,500 or $25, you can withdraw them via Paypal cash or redeem for gift cards from popular retailers like Amazon, Starbucks, Walmart and more.
Swagbucks has eight different apps for iPhone and two for Android along with opportunities to earn from their website directly and via a browser extension.
They partner with many popular stores where you can shop to earn cashback. The shopping is easily done using the browser or mobile app.
With so many options, you can easily optimize your online activities to earn the most points.
Click here to get a $10 signup bonus.
Note that to earn the bonus, you’ll need to spend at least $25 at a participating store within 30 days of registration.
Swagbucks accept users from other countries besides the U.S. So if you are looking for the best cashback apps for international users, this could be for you.
TopCashBack
TopCashback was established in the UK in 2005 and was launched in the US in 2011. Currently, they have over 8 million members worldwide.
Here’s how they work.
Like other cashback sites, TopCashback receives a referral commission for driving traffic and sales to a store’s website.
But unlike other cashback sites, they give this entire commission rate back to you as a cashback rebate.
Instead of taking a cut from the commission rate, TopCashback made money through separate banners or newsletter advertising, bonuses if they hit sales target and deals with their member stores.
The more members they have, the higher the commission rate and the better the coupons they’re able to negotiate on your behalf.
As soon as this commission is paid to them, you can request payment straight into your bank, or via Paypal or Amazon vouchers.
With no minimum payout threshold, you can cash out your earnings as many times a year as you want.
You can shop at over 4,400 stores including Groupon, Walmart, Best Buy, eBay, GiftCards.com, Restaurant.com, Bloomingdale’s and many more including lots of travel sites.
Their TopGiftCards program allows you to earn cash back on the value of that gift card.
For example, if you bought a gift card with $20 credit on it for a brand offering 5% cashback, you would get $1 cashback tracked back to your account.
All you need to do is visit the TopGiftcard shop, select the gift card you want, and complete the steps to purchase it. You’ll then receive your chosen gift card immediately via email.
They also offer a big selection of coupons, offering extra instant money-off discounts and free shipping, to use in conjunction with earning cashback.
MyPoints
MyPoints has been around longer than most GPT (Get Paid To) sites.
They have been rewarding members since 1996 and has paid out over $236 million in gift cards and PayPal cash to their members.
It is similar to Swagbucks where it rewards you with points for shopping, answering surveys, reading emails, watching videos print coupons and various other online activities.
MyPoints partners with over 2,000 top retailers and will give you up to 40% cashback on your purchase depending on which stores you buy at.
You can earn $5 immediately when you take 5 surveys.
MyPoints offers a $10 sign-up bonus to new members. To qualify, you’ll have to make a purchase of $20 or more through them within 30 days of signing up.
Honey
If you’ve been searching for online coupons to get the best deal, with Honey, that could be a thing of the past.
So how does Honey works exactly?
Instead of installing cashback app, you install the free Honey browser extension then shop like you normally would.
Honey works in the background and finds working coupon codes. Then it automatically applies the best deal to your cart giving you instant savings during checkout.
That way, you can be sure you are paying the lowest possible price for whatever you’re buying.
Currently Honey supports over 4,000 shopping sites in the US, Canada, Australia, UK and several other countries.
In addition to the money you save from the coupons, you’ll also earn a percentage back in Honey Gold. The reward is a randomized amount and varies from site to site.
Once you accumulate 1000 Gold, U.S. members can redeem Honey Gold for a $10 gift card at Amazon, Walmart, eBay, Groupon and more.
Click here to get $5 just for signing up. You’ll also earn $5 for each friend that you refer.
Dosh
Instead of paying you with points or gift cards as rewards, Dosh will pay you in real cash.
It’s a mobile-only app that tracks your spending and pays you cash back on purchases you make at stores and restaurants.
All you have to do is link your credit and debit cards to Dosh. Each time you make a purchase using the linked cards, Dosh gets you cashback.
As you can see, earning money with Dosh is completely passive as it identifies the purchase at participating merchants automatically and then credits your Dosh account immediately.
That means you don’t have to look for deals, scan receipts or enter coupon codes to save money.
Some people say Dosh works great if you want to double-dip.
For example, you can earn cashback from Rakuten while also using your linked card with Dosh on a purchase from a store that is partnered with Dosh.
Dosh pays you $5 when a friend you refer signs up and links a verified card.
Finally, you can cash out your cash earnings through PayPal or your bank account.
Checkout 51
Checkout51 is one of the rebate apps like Ibotta where you browse specific offers and shop, and then upload your receipts to earn cashback.
But unlike other apps that reward you to scan receipts, you don’t have to go to specific stores and shop.
Just browse the specific items they have on offer, add to your shopping list and tap redeem and check of the items you purchased on your receipt.
After making your selections, use the app’s built-in camera feature to take clear, readable photos of your receipt.
When your receipt is approved, they will credit your account with cashback. You can cash out when you hit $20 via Paypal or check in the mail.
Checkout 51 updates their offers once a week on Thursday mornings. That said, your selections may not be as big as with other apps.
The best thing about Checkout51 is that some offers may be claimed multiple times. This means you can buy more than one of each item in a single transaction and claim a rebate for each.
Also, you can earn Checkout 51 cashback in combination with any other coupon, i.e. you can stack offers unless otherwise stated.
Can You Use Multiple Rebate Apps to Stack Rewards?
Sure you can.
There are no rules preventing you from installing and using multiple cashback apps together.
But if stacking deals or double-dipping on cashback is the goal, unfortunately, that may not always work.
You see, most cash back apps piggyback on top of the store’s affiliate program in order to track the cash rewards on each transaction.
Affiliate programs are arrangements in which an online merchant pays affiliate websites, in this case. the cashback apps, a commission to send them traffic.
Typically, for the same offer, the store will only credit the last cashback app you clicked from in order to get to the store.
But what if you use coupons you found elsewhere to buy the item?
You can try stacking two different discounts together but this may not always work too.
Since both offers are reimbursed by the same company, merchants do not want to pay out both for the coupon and for the cashback rebate.
How to Stack Cash Back Rewards Then?
If you use apps like Ibotta, sometimes you can deal stack by applying any in-store coupons or promo codes to your purchase first. Then you can still get your cashback.
If you can’t stack, consider paying the purchase using discounted store gift cards if you can.
For example, you can buy these discounted gift cards from Raise.com via Rakuten and earn a 1% cash back from Rakuten on any purchase at Raise.com.
That way, your cashback app will still earn you cashback on your purchase paid using the discounted gift card.
You can also use a cash rewards credit card to enjoy cashback rewards from both the credit card and cashback app.
For example, to stack rewards for shopping at Amazon, use the Amazon Prime credit card to earn 5% cashback on top of the Rakuten discount.
To gain more reward, you can use the free Paribus app to track shipments on your Amazon purchase and get a refund if the shipment is late.
Best Cash Back Apps That Offer the Best Deal
Cashback offerings can vary day to day and new offers are made available every day.
With so many cash back options on the market, how do you know which one offers the best deals?
Well, you would have to manually check each cashback apps in order to determine which one offered the highest amount of cashback.
Fortunately, sites like Cashback Monitor make comparing deals much easier.
The site lists the cashback rate from almost all the shopping portals and cashback apps allowing you to do a quick comparison and pick the best deal for the item you want to buy.
You may want to install the browser extension if available as it will notify you if you’re on a website with a deal.
That way, you can take advantage of any deal without having to go to the cashback website to shop.
Conclusion
While most rebate apps out there can save you money and give you cashback on your purchases, each of these tools offers a different experience.
The best cashback apps for you are those that cater to your shopping needs.
You may find certain apps have better deals on the products you normally buy while others require more commitment than usual.
In any case, make sure you don’t suddenly start spending money just for the sake of saving as these cashback apps can hurt your budget more than they help.
Using any one of these best cashback apps is a great way to pocket extra cash. While it may not seem like a huge amount at first, it definitely adds up.
As you use several of these apps together, you’ll get a feel for which ones work best in your situation. Only then you can decide the best cashback apps for you!
Now it’s your turn.
Do you have your favorite cashback apps or websites you use? Let us know in the comments below.
