Here are the best cash back apps that will save you money. Get rewarded for purchases you’re already making with these rewards mobile apps. Today, I’ll go over the apps that I find the best value in and show you how earning cash back on your purchases is a great way to make some extra money.
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Cash Back Apps Overview
You probably got here by searching: “What are the best cash back apps?” or “Are cashback apps are legit?” on Google.
There are tons of ways to make some extra money online, but most of them involve so much time completing boring tasks and activities. It’s not for everyone.
Enter cash back apps.
Cash back apps are one of the few available ways to earn cash by doing something you do anyway: shopping. Everyone needs to buy food, gas, and clothes. Maybe you’re heading to Home Depot for a renovation project or going to eat at a restaurant with friends.
No matter where you are in life, you’re buying stuff, even if it’s just the basics. When you think about how much you spend each month, earning as low as 1% of that through cash back would really add up over the course of a year – and many apps offer far more than 1%.
Even better, you can also combine these apps with conventional coupons and discounts to supercharge your savings. So without further ado, here are the best cash back apps to save more of your hard earned money – right from the palm of your hand!
11 Best Cash Back Apps for 2023
- Rakuten: Best Overall Cash Back App 🏆
- Ibotta: Best for Groceries
- Shopkick: Best for Scanning Bar Codes
- TopCashback: Best for Shopping Online
- Upside: Best for Gas
- Mr. Rebates: Best for Referrals
- Seated: Best for Restaurants
- Fluz: Best for Gift Card Purchases
- Dosh: Best for Targeted Shopping
- Fetch: Best for Shopping Receipts
- Ritual: Best for Ordering Food
1. Rakuten
🏆 Best Overall Cash Back App
>> Sign up for Rakuten using this link to get a $30 cash back bonus when you spend at least $30 at any store!
There are many cash back shopping sites, but by far the most popular one is Rakuten. I’ve been using Rakuten since 2002 (when it was known as Ebates) and consider it the best overall cash back shopping portal available.
When you make a purchase through Rakuten, they receive a commission from the retailer, and they share a portion of that commission with you in the form of cash back.
All you need to do is use the Rakuten website or mobile app to click-through to the store you want to shop at. Once you make a purchase, Rakuten will pay you a percentage of your total amount spent.
The amount of cash back you receive ranges from 1% to as high as 25%, depending on the store you’re ordering from (Rakuten partners with over 3,500 stores).
For example, right now Rakuten is offering 10% cash back at Nike.
So you log on to your Rakuten account, click on the Nike link to transfer to Nike.com, and make a $150 sneaker purchase. In this scenario, you’d get $15 in cash back deposited into your Rakuten account.
Your cash back balance is paid out every three months as long as your balance is at least $5.01. You can cash out via PayPal or have a physical check sent to your mailing address.
I’ve made over $3,000 just for shopping for things I already planned on buying. It’s free money and completely legit.
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2. Ibotta
🏆 Best for Groceries
Ibotta is a free mobile app that gives you cash back on things you buy every day at your favorite stores.
To earn real cash back, all you have to do is use the Ibotta app when you shop and provide proof of purchase by taking a picture of your receipt.
You’ll also save money because Ibotta offers exclusive coupons and savings just for users. They have a ton of offers whether you’re buying groceries, shopping for clothes, or ordering online.
Get Started: Download Ibotta ($5 welcome bonus when you use referral code MONEYNINJA and scan any receipt)
3. Shopkick
🏆 Best for Scanning Bar Codes
Shopkick is a mobile app that rewards you for the shopping you already do, no matter how you do it. The app pays you reward points, which they call “kicks”, that you can redeem for gift cards at popular stores. Earn kicks by:
- walking into a partner store
- scanning barcodes of select products
- scanning receipts from a partner store
- making a purchase with a linked card
>> Get Started: Enter invite code NINJAFIVE when you download Shopkick and get a $5 bonus when you scan 5 barcodes within the first 14 days of account opening.
4. TopCashback
🏆 Best for Cash Back Offers
TopCashback is another cash back website that lets you earn money back for shopping at over 4,400 retailers, including from stores like Apple, Best Buy, Home Depot, eBay, and Walmart.
What’s interesting about TopCashback is they give all commissions they receive from stores back to their users.
That’s not a typo. If Amazon pays TopCashback a 5% commission for your purchase, you get the entire 5% as cash back. It’s currently the only cash back site that does that. They generate revenue through ads by charging brands for front-page exposure.
Due to this, I find that TopBackback often offers the most attractive cash back rates compared to other shopping portals.
>> Open a TopCashback account using this link to get a $25 welcome bonus once you earn $10 in cashback from any eligible store.
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5. Upside
🏆 Best For Gas
The best cash back app for gas is Upside that lets you earn up to 25¢ in cash back for every gallon of gas you purchase.
It’s a legit app that pays you for filling up your car at over 30,000 participating gas stations, including from brands like Exxon, Mobil, BP, Shell, Speedway, and Valero.
While Upside is most known for gas rebates, it has recently expanded to let users earn cash back at restaurants and grocery stores.
I’ve been using Upside since 2019 (known back then as GetUpside) and have earned thousands of dollars of cash back since.
It’s extremely popular with people who drive a lot, such as truck drivers, Uber/Lyft/DoorDash gig workers, and Instacart shoppers.
>> Download Upside and get an extra 30¢/gal cash back bonus on your first fill-up with Upside referral code NINJA30)
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6. Mr. Rebates
🏆 Best For Referrals
Mr. Rebates (formerly Ebates) is my other go-to cash back shopping site. Like Rakuten and TopCashBack, Mr. Rebates allows you to earn money back on your online shopping.
Shop at your favorite retailers and earn a percentage of cash back on your purchase. Mr. Rebates partners with popular store brands such as Dell, Nike, Lowe’s, Sephora, and Staples.
In my experience, you can expect the cash back to hit your account within 1-2 business days of making an eligible purchase. You can withdraw your earnings via PayPal or check 90 days after the cash back is posted[1].
The 90-day waiting period is designed to account for returns or any other actions that may adjust the cash back you’ve earned. Although it’s not ideal, I believe Mr. Rebates is definitely worth the wait. Personally, I’ve received over 2,500 in cash back from this shopping portal.
One of the greatest features of Mr. Rebates is its lifetime referral system. For every friend you refer, you’ll get a bonus equal to 20% of their rebates.
For instance, if you refer a friend who purchases a $750 Galaxy S23 phone at Samsung.com through Mr. Rebates, and Samsung is offering 5% cash back, your friend would earn $37.50 in rebates while you’d earn $7.50 (which is 20% of $37.50) simply for referring your friend.
What’s even better is that there’s no cut-off date or no time limit for the referral program. As long as your friends continue to earn cash back, you’ll continue to earn referral bonuses.
Overall, I rank Mr. Rebates as the best referral program among cash back shopping sites.
Get Started: Sign-Up for Mr. Rebates ($5 bonus)
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7. Seated
🏆 Best For Restaurants
Seated is hands down the most generous restaurant reservation app out there. The app lets you earn up to 40% of your total dining bill back in rewards – how amazing is that?
I’m a huge fan and use it all the time when I’m dining out in Boston. If Seated was available in more cities (it’s available in Boston, New York City, Chicago, Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Dallas, and Washington, D.C. at this time), it would definitely take the #1 spot on my list of best cash back apps.
To start earning rewards, just make a reservation (sometimes walk-ins is an option too) at your favorite restaurant, enjoy your meal, and pay your bill using any payment method you prefer.
Once you have your final receipt, just snap a picture of it using the Seated app – that’s really it! Seated will then review your receipt and deposit the rewards promised when you made the reservation.
You can redeem your rewards on a 1:1 basis for gift cards from more than 30 popular brands, including Amazon, Uber, Starbucks, Target, Airbnb, Nordstrom, Delta Airlines, and more.
Let me give you an example of how amazing Seated is. When I managed a team of five, I took them out to eat at Savin Bar and Kitchen in Dorchester, MA, which was offering 33% in rewards at the time.
Our bill came out to $650, and with Seated, I earned $215 back in rewards! I redeemed them for Airbnb gift cards and got a free night’s stay in Tenerife. Awesome right?
It’s safe to say that Seated is so generous that earning a lot is not that hard. Whether it’s a date night, corporate dinner event, or night out with friends, be sure to use Seated and get rewarded for your dining experiences.
Get Started: Download Seated ($10 sign-up bonus for using promo code JOHN1445)
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8. Fluz
🏆 Best for Gift Card Purchases
Fluz lets users buy gift cards for exact amounts from popular retails. Say goodbye to gift cards with annoying leftover balances – buy the amount you need at a discount.
That’s because Fluz gives you cashback on your gift card purchases. Plus, sign up with our link or use referral code MONEY35 to get a $5 welcome bonus and 35% cashback bonus on your first three gift card orders.
Get Started: Download Fluz (35% cashback on your first 3 purchases + $5 welcome bonus when you enter the code MONEY35 during sign-up)
9. Dosh
🏆 Best For Targeted Shopping
Dosh is a cashback app that gives you automatic cashback at thousands of places when you shop, dine, or book hotels. You can earn up to 10% cash back at retailers and restaurants and up to 40% cash back at hotels that Dosh partners with.
I love that I don’t have to clip coupons or scan receipts with Dosh. Once you connect a credit card or debit card to it, the app will automatically give you cash back if you purchase something with one of their partners.
On a typical day, I get my morning coffee from Dunkin’ and earn 4% back with Dosh. Then, I take a short Uber to my office that earns 50¢ cashback per ride as an existing rider. If I order office supplies at Staples or Office Depot/OfficeMax, that’s another 2% I get back in cash.
Get Started: Join with the Dosh code JOHNP159 and get a $1 bonus when you link a credit/debit card and complete one transaction.
10. Fetch
🏆 Best for Shopping Receipts
Earn cash back and rewards just by scanning your shopping receipts with Fetch (formerly Fetch Rewards).
You’re not limited with just grocery stores – you can earn rewards from any other stores at well, including convenience stores, drug stores, pharmacies, and liquor outlets. Simply scan all your receipts and earn!
The app also has a bonuses and special offers where you can get rewards faster by purchasing products from partnered brands. You can also earn extra points every day that you scan a receipt by spinning the Daily Reward wheel, which awards between 5 to 10,000 points.
Get Started: Download Fetch (1,000 points bonus for using new user code 9EFD5C)
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11. Ritual
🏆 Best for Ordering Food
If you’re not in one of the cities that Seated is available in, then the Ritual app may be the answer. It’s available in 43 major cities:
- Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Brisbane, Calgary, Charlotte, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Edmonton, Fort Worth, Halifax, Hamilton, Hong Kong, Houston, Indianapolis, London, Los Angeles, Melbourne, Miami, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Montréal, New Orleans, New York, Ottawa, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Portland, Salt Lake City, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, St. Louis, Sydney, Toronto, Vancouver, Washington DC, Waterloo
Ritual is a “social-ordering” app that allows users to place an order for a meal and have it ready to be picked up at a local restaurant. Not only will you skip the line and save time, you’ll also earn cash back points on each order.
While ordering food on your app in not new, what’s unique with Ritual is that it allows you to “piggyback” on other orders that are being placed around the time same time during the work week. That way, one person can head to the restaurant and bring back all the office’s orders at once.
Get Started: Download Ritual ($6 off your first order with referral code JOHN94703)
The Bottom Line
I hope you enjoyed reading this and see why those are the best cash back apps available.
Much like my post on the best receipt rewards apps, there are plenty of ways to make or save money by using something right on your phone.
But with so many other cash back apps out there, it’s impossible to cover all of them.
I’m open to revising this list as time goes on, so I do have a couple of questions to all The Money Ninja readers out there.
What am I missing? What should be included in future lists of the best cash back apps?
Let me know in the comments section below!
I’m so excited to have GetUpside!! I love the fact that I can get cashback above and beyond other savings I stack with it.
hi. I signed up for mr rebates using the link from this site but it didnt give me the 5$5 bonus. should I reach out to them or is there another step i need to complete here?
sorry, just meant to type $5 once.
Hi Dawn!
If you used the link, your $5 bonus is there – Mr. Rebates requires you to make a purchase (at any store through them) before it awards the sign-up bonus 🙂
Nice article 🙂 What i do to save money is to make money 🙂 and i use Honeygain for it. So, it makes me around $30 per month just by leaving this app running on my devices background. Basically what it does it just sells my unused internet traffic. Plus, you can always use extra $5 coupon secret5 to add some extra earnings.
Thanks for bringing up Honeygain! Nice to see it making people money in the background.
I think I’ve heard of it vaguely, but this is only a desktop app right? Are there apps for Apple or Android?
Honey is owned by Paypal now. Honey has generous gift card offers for several stores that can save you instantly instead of cash back when you check out. One example is sephora. You should check it out.
Thanks Kaung for the recommendation. I’m familiar with Honey, but didn’t realize it was acquired by PayPal – read the news on Google after you posted this.
What about Ibotta and Dosh?
Both of them have their uses, but doesn’t belong on this list for various reasons.
Ibotta you may have a case for, but Dosh started charging a monthly fee for inactivity.
I loved using iBotta, until they took away the $14.50 I had earned with their $3.99 account maintenance fees. I’m still annoyed about it.
Maintenance fees are annoying. I actually didn’t even realize Ibotta had them, but I see they assess a $3.99 fee if you don’t use your account for six months. That’s a good amount of time in my opinion, but still annoying nonetheless.