If you don’t use coupon apps, you’re leaving money on the table.
Everyone is a fan of saving money. For some of us, there are times when saving a few bucks here, and there becomes a matter of making ends meet. When you have tightened your expenditures you may still find that you need additional savings.
One of the aspects that many find hardest to cut costs down on is groceries. Luckily, there is a slew of great coupon apps that will help you find ways to cut down on your food/toiletry shopping expenses or get some of your payments down. Additionally, some will even help you find severely discounted deals for activities and events.
And here are 15 of the best coupon apps that will help you save big on your shopping.
Top Coupon Apps Featured in This Roundup:
- Coupons.com: Best for All Type of Shopping
- Ibotta: Best for Groceries
- Honey: Best for Great Discounts
- Shopkick: Best for Rewards
- RetailMeNot: Best for Online Promo Codes
- Checkout 51: Best for Gas Rewards and Grocery Cash Back
- Walmart: Best for Walmart Shoppers
- Target: Best for Target Shoppers
- Dosh: Best for Cash Back
- GoodRx: Best for Prescription Drugs
- ShopSavvy: Best for Price Comparison
- Groupon: Best for Dining and Experiences
- Flipp: Best to Find the Best Deals
- Receipt Hog: Best to Save on Your Receipts
- CouponCabin: Best for Online and In-stores Coupons
Coupons.com
Rather than sorting through your weekly coupon mailing and trimming out the coupons, you may need, now you can simply rely on the Coupons.com app from your favorite app store to provide you with the listing of everything you may need.
The easily intuitive app lets you attach it to your PayPal account, choose one or a few favorite stores, create your shopping list, and see which items have coupons available. Just add the coupons to your list and mark off the items as you purchase them.
Once you have checked out of the store, simply take a picture of your receipt with the app and submit it. Your savings will be processed and the money will be deposited right into your PayPal account. It doesn’t get much easier than that.
Ibotta
Ibotta is an alternative to Coupons.com, and while generally similar, it does claim to offer the most coupon-based discounts of any app of its type.
You simply scan your receipt after you shop, and Ibotta analyzes your purchases, linking you up to any available savings.
Ibotta lets you redeem certain offers up to three times on the same receipt and most of the offers reset every couple of days, meaning you can purchase the item again two days later and get the discount with the Ibotta app all over again.
The cash you get in return for your savings is deposited right into your PayPal account. You do need to accrue up to $20 to be able to withdraw the money.
However, Ibotta gives you $10 just for joining and an impressive $5 when you refer a friend to the app as well. Between the savings you can accrue, you will be reaching $20 and seeing it arrive in PayPal in no time.
Honey
The Honey app is a handy tool that works in tandem with your browser to help you find the best prices for products you are looking to buy online.
It is available on all of the major browsers including Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari, Edge, and Opera. When you have added the Honey extension to your browser, you can continue shopping much in the same way that you usually would.
When you are ready to check out, go over to your cart, but before completing the purchase, click the Honey icon on your browser and click the Apply Coupons structure.
Honey will inform you whether a coupon is available or not. If any coupons are found, the amount of money you saved will end up displaying on the screen. You will be prompted to “Continue to Checkout” to complete your purchase as you normally would.
Honey works with a wide range of online markets including Amazon, Overstock, Expedia, Groupon, Hotels.com, J Crew, and many others. You have the option to register with Honey.
The additional benefit of doing so is that some of the online markets have partnered up with Honey so that when you use it, the purchase will get you back a percentage of the commission Honey receives from the site.
As a nice little bonus, if you shop on Amazon and your product is found by Honey to be available elsewhere for less, a small icon will appear next to the product to indicate that it is cheaper at another retailer and will show you how much money you can save.
One thing to note about Honey is that it doesn’t always find every available coupon offer, though there is a good chance that it will find it in most situations.
This may feel like a waste of time to some, but the nice thing is, nothing is stopping you from pairing the use of Honey with other similar coupon shopping extensions to refine your discount search.
- Cost: Free
- Platform: Desktop app
Shopkick
Shopkick is a phone app that operates on a point earning system. The points (referred to as kicks) are tallied up and translated into gift cards based on the amount earned. The point system roughly translates to $1 saved for every 250 points.
Shopkick allows you several ways to accrue these points.
- The first is to simply enable Bluetooth when you walk into a store. You can then go into the “Kicks Nearby” option under the “Earn” tab in the app, select your store, find the listed product you want, and scan it with your phone’s camera.
- When you link your credit (or debit) card to Shopkick, when you purchase at a participating retailer, the applied savings will be applied to your Shopkick account in the form of points within 48 hours.
- If using a debit card, make sure you run it as credit for the app to work correctly. If you check out the app for any listed sales before you shop, you can then scan your receipt as proof of purchase to get points for the products you bought.
- To make it even simpler, use Shopkick at a participating online retailer, and you will receive points for your purchases. As a bonus, the app allows you to watch short ads to earn “kicks” as well.
RetailMeNot
RetailMeNot is a handy app where you can scan for daily sales at your preferred stores. You can either search the listings by store or you can check out “today’s hot deals” to see what is available on sale.
- The retailer listed next to the deal will let you know if the coupon is for in-store only or an online purchase.
- Those that are designated for online use will generally provide a coupon code or a promo code.
The In-Store coupons can be shown at checkout to the retailers directly. There will be more online coupon deals than in-store ones.
RetailMeNot shows you deals at over 50,000 stores, so there is a very good chance that you will identify a deal you are happy with by using it as an app or as an online extension.
If shopping online, you can use the coupon codes by simply copying and pasting them into the promo code field to apply the discount to your purchase.
Checkout 51
Checkout 51 app is one that allows you to browse through a list of discounted grocery items and select those that you are interested in purchasing.
The list is updated weekly (at midnight on Thursdays) with the deals good until midnight on Thursday the following week.
During that time, you can shop as you normally do and upload your receipts to the app. Once processed the savings will be transferred into your Checkout 51 account.
With Checkout 51 you must purchase the items that have applicable coupons exactly. A comparable item or an item of a different size that is available will not qualify for money back.
The nice thing about Checkout 51 is you can purchase multiple items several times. While each offer applies to one purchase, you can use the plus sign next to the product in the app to bump it up to the maximum allowable purchase amount and receive a reward on several instances of the product.
You can receive your savings once you have accrued $20 worth of them. One of the outdated aspects of Checkout 51 is that they will not deposit it into an online cash wallet (like PayPal) for you. Rather, they send you a check which you will get within 2 to 3 weeks of the cashout request.
Walmart
Walmart is typically known for its more generous price offerings in-store, but that does not mean they do not also engage in the coupon game.
With the Walmart Savings Catcher app, you can scan your Walmart receipt, and the price you paid for your items is compared to the item’s cost at other retail outlets.
If any item is found to cost less at another store, the app figures the difference and gives you that money back.
The money will be redeemed in the form of a Walmart gift card so that you can, of course, come back to Walmart for more of your shopping needs.
It is also important to know that the app has some limitations. You are limited to uploading only 7 receipts per week, which for most people will be way more than enough.
That means that if you make a couple of smaller purchases a few times a week, it may not be worth trying to recoup those savings.
However, when you have done a large weekly shopping, that would be a great time to scan your receipt through the app.
The other catch is only some particular categories will qualify for the sales. Don’t expect too many discounts on entertainment products (movies, video games, gaming systems, etc.) but you certainly can get a few bucks back on groceries, consumables, and health/beauty items.
Target
The savings for Target are two-pronged. Signing up for the store’s REDcard gets you an automatic savings of 5% on the grand total of your purchase.
This means that regardless of what you purchased if you use the REDCard at checkout (available as a debit and a credit option) if you made a $100 purchase, you will only pay $95.
On top of that, Target’s handy Cartwheel app offers the latest available coupon deals that you can use. Check out the available offers you are interested in and add them to the app’s Target app’s “wallet” section.
You will receive a special barcode that you will use at the time of checkout for the coupons to be applied to the products you purchased.
The coupons remain good to use until they expire. Once they are no longer available they will just come off your list.
The offers will rotate weekly, monthly, or quarterly depending on the product in question so you can always check for new offers on your favorite products.
Dosh
Dosh is a popular mobile app that acts much like the other apps of its nature, with one notable difference. It takes the hassle of you doing the work onto itself.
Instead of you choosing things you are interested in saving on, seeking out coupons, and scanning codes and coupons at checkout, Dosh simply monitors where you dine, shop, visit or make online purchases.
It partners with a good variety of merchants including Target, Microsoft, Holiday Inn, and many others.
Essentially, you are going to be doing all the things you already normally do. And if Dosh detects that there are applicable savings, it will process them for you with no effort on your behalf.
You don’t even have to wait for a check to show up with your savings. You can just link Dosh up with your PayPal account, or your bank account and the money will be sent over to you quickly.
Obviously, there are a few concerns as well.
- First is the fact that Dosh constantly monitors what you do and where you go. Not everyone is comfortable with this type of surveillance.
- Linking up your bank account for those who do not use PayPal is another point of concern.
- You also cannot use the same card to connect to Dosh if you use it to connect to other apps such as Yelp’s Cash Back program. Dosh is only available in the U.S.
GoodRx
Prescription medications can be expensive and sometimes are not covered by insurance carriers. GoodRx allows users to find discounts on their prescription medications around the United States.
Consumers can compare the prices for their prescriptions at their nearby pharmacies and then print coupons to bring with them to help them save money on the purchase.
This works because many pharmacies partner with insurance companies that can provide discounts to those who either don’t have insurance or have insurance plans that do not cover the particular prescription.
Consumers can search for medications online, get any pertinent information like the directions of use and potential side effects. GoodRx also provides discounts on pet medications.
While at times you can save up to 80% on your medications it is good to be aware that the coupons will not always be accepted. Sometimes GoodRx will not find the cheapest available price available either.
Some of the pharmacies that offer the discount that makes them worthwhile are not near enough to make it reasonable to go there, and not all medications are covered. Controlled substances, for example, are never discounted through GoodRx.
ShopSavvy
This app is a nice, smooth-running barcode and QR scanner that consumers use to find the lowest price this item is available for.
Items on ShopSavvy can also be searched without a barcode scan by manually typing product details into the search feature.
You will be provided a list of retailers who carry the item, and how much it currently costs so that you can choose the least expensive location to make the purchase.
It also allows you to create a favorites list of items, and this list can be shared through social media channels with friends and family online.
ShopSavvy also allows you to set up price alerts if a product you are interested in has a discount available for it.
You will be notified of the price drop when this happens so that you don’t unintentionally miss out on a good deal.
ShopSavvy connects to thousands of retailers so you are sure to find a lot of options that are available for good deals in your area.
Groupon
The beauty of the Groupon platform is that it incentivizes purchases for consumers, helping both the business and seller promote a product immediately. This increases customer engagement while being a cost-effective option for happy customers getting a bargain offer.
Groupon has a website and an app that allows sellers to deeply discount their products and services, often by over 50% of the price. The offers are time-sensitive and often are applied only when a certain number of customers participate.
For example, Groupon may offer a 75% discount on an activity, but only as long as at least 4 people participate. Sometimes businesses have excess inventory or there are additional tickets left for the day to a theme park or an event like a play or a concert.
However, businesses should be cautious when using Groupon as well. Their offer may be so good, that they will experience a customer surge that could overwhelm them, and run them out of inventory.
This can put them in an awkward position with customers expecting the product or service to still be available.
Groupon keeps half of the profits you make. So if you discount your service by 50%, you are really only getting 25% of the price. If this ramps up a business anyway, then it is worth it.
From the consumer end, customers end up getting great deals for shows, theme parks, home services, specialty products, and a whole variety of otherwise pricey purchases for bargain prices.
Consumers can link their Groupon account to their credit card and begin taking advantage of some amazing deals.
Flipp
Flipp is a virtual coupon clipper app that helps shoppers on a budget. It allows users to search for geographically convenient sales at over 300 retail stores and then, “clip” them for later use.
This allows savvy shoppers to get the products at the locations near them where they are available at the lowest price.
Users also have the option of searching the store by name. While this method does not allow for geographical searches, the stores and products that will be found will be within a roughly 50-mile radius of the querying party.
Using the app is very simple. It requires you to enter your zip code to allow your position to be identified and prompt you with the best and most relevant store deals.
Flipp also provides expiration dates for the ads and zooming functionality for those who want to examine the products or the details closer.
You can even use a sliding scale to narrow down the discounts based on the percentage they are discounted by. The users can just tap on their desired coupons and select to clip them.
The clipping gets stored off on a “clipped” page which can be saved for later use. It will also indicate that the coupon has expired.
Receipt Hog
Receipt Hog is an app similar in nature to Ibotta, but while Ibotta scans your receipts and grants you cash which you can withdraw at a $20 threshold, Receipt Hog gives you “coins”, all adding up to an exchangeable monetary value.
When you shop, enter the Receipt Hog app and you will be prompted to take a picture of your receipt.
After it is analyzed, qualified products will get you a certain amount of coins. For every thousand coins, you earn $5 in PayPal or in Amazon gift cards.
Those products that are not eligible for “coins” through the app will still allow users to play a “spin the wheel” game of chance to be able to get more coins to their account.
However, don’t expect to get a lot of points all at once. Receipt Hog limits you to just 100 points a week. So it will take you some time to get to the 1000 points that you need to get your first redemptive reward.
While it is inferior to other apps of its type in this way, it does allow shoppers more product options to get discounts on.
The other advantage of Receipt Hog is that you are not as limited to what you buy as with other apps of this type.
While Ibotta relegates you to earn rewards only on specific items, Receipt Hog’s ‘coin” strategy allows you to ‘earn’ for whatever you buy by getting some number of coins or a chance to play for coins.
The cash-out limit of $5 is also lower than most apps like this which require a higher withdrawal threshold.
CouponCabin
Couponcabin is a website that provides clippable online coupons as well as ones that can be printed.
The company boasts the claim that you can get discounts on anything you purchase through them. With certain online partners, you can get 20% cashback offers on selected products.
You can increase your savings by stacking the cashback offers and the coupon codes, then leveraging the combination for greater discounts.
Couponcabin does not provide a sign-up bonus, but it is free to use. You can also earn $2 for downloading its “Sidekick” browser extension.
The program earns money through its associations with many online marketers who pay to have their stores or online marketplaces listed on Couponcabin. So to take advantage of the discounts, shopping needs to be done through their platform to work.
When you purchase through Couponcabin, the seller you bought from pays Couponcabin a 6% fee. They take a cut from that and share the rest with the consumer.
If you made a $100 purchase from Amazon, Amazon will pay Couponcabin $6, who in turn will then share $4 of those with you. This will happen regardless of any other coupon deal factored into the purchase.
Customers will not get paid immediately through Couponcabin. After the purchase is made, Couponcabin will wait until the return period has expired.
Once the purchase has been verified and the sale is “final,” your earnings stop being marked as “pending” and can withdraw funds to PayPal or e-gift cards once the $10 threshold is reached.
Wrap Up
As you can see, there are plenty of coupon apps out there that can help you find money-saving deals on basically anything you want to buy.
With the help of these apps, you could save hundreds of dollars. And they are all free and easy to use to find the best coupons for your shopping needs.
So before your next shopping trip or you buy something online, it’d be crazy to not check some of these apps.
Please let us know which one is your favorite coupon app, and if it’s not on our list, do let us know so we can check it out.
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