We’ve tested dozens of cash-back apps and websites to find the best options based on average cash-back rates, the number of partner stores, ease of use and cash-out options.
Our top picks are:
- Best overall: Rakuten
- Great discounts: Capital One Shopping
- Best for Amazon gift cards: Kudos
- Best for groceries: Ibotta
- Best for gas: Upside
- Best general rewards platform: Swagbucks
- Best for receipt scanning: Fetch
- Best for maximum cash-back: TopCashback
Note: The user review data listed below was collected on September 16, 2024. We update this article regularly throughout the year to keep the numbers current.
#1. Rakuten (Best Overall)
Why we like it: Rakuten combines excellent cash-back rates, limited-time offers that can reach up to 20% on major brands, an easy-to-use interface, and reliable transaction tracking (so you never have to wonder if you’ve been properly credited after a purchase).
| iOS rating: | 4.8/5 with 360,068 reviews. |
| Android rating: | 3.5/5 with 72,436 reviews. |
| Our rating: | 4.5/5 |
| Signup bonus: | $10 when you spend at least $25 within 90 days of joining. |
| Payment: | $5 minimum, paid quarterly via PayPal, paper check or AmEx points. |
| Learn more: | Rakuten review |
Rakuten offers up to 15% cash-back at more than 3,500 online retailers. A significant advantage of the platform is its limited-time deals, often timed around shopping holidays like Black Friday and Memorial Day, when cash-back rates across many retailers increase significantly. This sets Rakuten apart from most other cash-back sites, which tend to maintain standard rates year-round.
While it won’t always offer the highest cash-back rate, its rates are consistently competitive.
Our managing editor uses Rakuten for most of his online purchases and has earned over $1,100 in just under four years:
One Rakuten feature I benefit from is that you can get paid in the form of American Express Membership Reward points. Since travel websites typically value these points at 2 cents each, you’re essentially earning double rewards on each transaction.
#2. Capital One Shopping (Great Targeted Discounts)
Why we like it: Capital One Shopping combines competitive reward rates with a sold automatic coupon code tool. However, what truly sets it apart are its targeted deals — offers that sometimes appear a day or two after browsing a site. These targeted discounts can far surpass what you’d typically get from other cash-back apps.
| iOS rating: | 4.9/5 with 684,992 reviews. |
| Android rating: | 4.8/5 with 49,764 reviews. |
| Our rating: | 4.8/5 |
| Signup bonus: | None. |
| Payment: | You earn “Shopping Credits” that can be redeemed for gift cards. |
| Learn more: | Capital One Shopping review |
Capital One Shopping is a free app and browser extension with multiple money-saving features. You don’t need to be a Capital One checking or credit customer to use it.
Here’s are some of the platform’s key features:
- Shopping Credits, which are a percentage of each qualifying transaction awarded as points that can be exchanged for gift cards. (Shopping Credits are essentially cash-back, although the company does not use that term.)
- Exclusive Deals, which are targeted discounts for products you’ve viewed based on your browsing history. (I’ve personally taken advantage of these to get as high as 27% cash-back when checking out at Saks 5th Avenue. )
- Automated coupon codes. Capital One Shopping combines publicly available discount codes with crowd-sourced codes from other app users to try and find the one that will give you the highest discount among available tested offers.
- Real-time price comparison tool, which alerts you when it finds a better deal for a product you’re about to buy. (This feature works especially well when shopping on Amazon, as you’ll see a price comparison box right on the product page.)
The website and app aren’t quite as simple to navigate as Rakuten’s, and the payment process (earning points that you can exchange for gift cards) is less convenient than being automatically paid in cash.
However, with its target deals, I’ve found it a good one-two combo with Rakuten, when I’m patient enough to wait around a day or to see if any targeted offers appear from Capital One Shopping.
Some tips I’ve found helpful to get targeted deals:
- Install the free browser extension and let it monitor your browsing. Then wait 24 hours before making a purchase. You’ll sometimes receive targeted offers by email for the stores you viewed.
- If you’re concerned about privacy, use a separate browser profile specifically for shopping with the extension.
- Deals are found in two places: the emails they send you and by scrolling down on the Capital One Shopping homepage (not using the search bar).
#3. Kudos (Best for Amazon Gift Cards)
Why we like it: Kudos pays users 100% of the affiliate commissions it earns from merchants, in the form of Amazon gift cards. Unlike most cash-back sites — which keep a portion of those commissions as revenue — Kudos generates its income through credit card approvals.
| iOS rating: | 4.8/5 with 7,698 reviews. |
| Android rating: | N/A |
| Our rating: | 4.8/5 |
| Signup bonus: | $20 after spending $30. |
| Payment: | Amazon gift cards. |
| Learn more: | Kudos review. |
Kudos launched in 2024 and, in 2025, transitioned to offering 100% of the affiliate commissions they earn from merchants directly to their users.
The reason they can offer this is because their business model is entirely different from other cash-back platforms. Instead of keeping a portion of the cash-back for themselves, Kudos generates revenue through credit card referrals.
When you sign up for Kudos, you can optionally sync your credit cards. Kudos will then tell you which credit card to use at specific retailers for maximum rewards. It also analyzes your purchases to recommend credit cards that could offer higher cash-back rates, earning commissions from applications.
This is why Kudos offers 100% of the cash-back rate to you — which is often among the highest available at the time.
All of this is optional, though. If you prefer to simply use Kudos as a cash-back site without syncing your credit cards, that option is available. It’s a great choice if you enjoy earning high cash-back rates, redeemable as Amazon gift cards (currently their only redemption option).
#4. Ibotta (Best for Groceries)
Why we like it: Ibotta has cash-back offers at most major supermarkets, as well as “any brand” offers that work on generic items like bread, bananas and milk. It’s easily the best cash-back app to use for in-store grocery shopping.
| iOS rating: | 4.8/5 with 1,845,383 reviews. |
| Android rating: | 4.5/5 with 696,524 reviews. |
| Our rating: | 4.5/5 |
| Signup bonus: | $5 after redeeming an offer and uploading your first receipt. |
| Payment: | $20 minimum to cash-out via gift cards, Venmo deposit or PayPal deposit. |
| Learn more: | Ibotta review |
To get cash-back through Ibotta, you have to activate offers before shopping, purchase the specified items, and then scan your receipt. For some stores, you can add your loyalty card and skip the receipt-scanning requirement.
Because this is a three-step process, using Ibotta takes more effort than some of the other apps on this list. However, it’s the only cash-back app that works in-store at most major supermarkets (Publix, Kroger, Walmart, and Safeway are just a few of the participating stores), making it the best choice when your goal is to save money on groceries.
To earn the $5 bonus, join using this link or enter the referral code frltllp when signing up. You’ll get the $5 credit after redeeming your first offer and submitting the associated receipt.
#5. Upside (Best for Gas)
Why we like it: Upside has the best cash-back offers for gas, typically enabling you to save between 5 and 30 cents per gallon (and even more in limited cases). It also has the widest selection of restaurant cash-back offers of any app on this list, with rates ranging from 5% to 25%.
| iOS ratings: | 4.8/5 with 583,549 reviews. |
| Android ratings: | 4.6/5 with 391,754 reviews. |
| Our rating: | 4.3/5 |
| Signup bonus: | No bonus, but new-user promo codes are available. |
| Payment: | No minimum to cash-out via gift cards, PayPal or bank deposit. |
| Learn more: | Upside review |
Upside only pays cash-back at gas stations and restaurants (it doesn’t have an online shopping portal), but it offers the most locations and best rates within those two categories.
Earning cash-back with Upside is a four-step process:
- After signing up, you have to manually enter the details for one or more payment cards.
- When you’re ready to buy gas or go to a restaurant, open the app and claim an offer before making a purchase.
- Pay for your purchase with a linked card within four hours of claiming the offer.
- Upload a photo of your receipt (not always necessary, but sometimes you’re prompted, even if you’re using a linked card).
If you’re a first-time user, make sure to take advantage of Upside’s new member discount codes. For example, entering the code AFF25 will get you an additional 25 cents off per gallon on your first fill-up. (We scored 88 cents cash-back per gallon by using this code.)
#6. Swagbucks (Best Online Rewards Platform)
Why we like it: Swagbucks offers multiple ways to make money, including cash-back for online shopping, receipt scanning, paid surveys, paid trial offers and more. Because there are so many different ways to earn, it’s the best platform we’ve found for making money online quickly.
| iOS rating: | 4.4/5 with 135,739 reviews. |
| Android rating: | 4.5/5 with 296,742reviews. |
| Our rating: | 4.8/5 |
| Signup bonus: | $10 for spending $25 within 30 days of joining (must use this link). |
| Payment: | No minimum to cash-out, but most gift cards start at $5. |
| Learn more: | Swagbucks review |
Swagbucks has good cash-back rates at most major online retailers, though they’re not always the absolute best available. In our opinion, what makes the app worth considering is the fact that it offers more than 20 ways to earn money, including lucrative signup bonuses and trial offers that regularly pay between $50 and $100.
In one test we conducted, we earned $240 in rewards in one hour. In fact, one The Ways To Wealth team member has earned a total of $856 by completing these types of offers, as shown in the screenshot below:
You can read our in-depth Swagbucks review for a comprehensive look at how the site works, but the articles below offer quick tips for getting the most out of the platform:
- The best ways to earn money on Swagbucks
- The best Swagbucks hacks and tips
- The best current Swagbucks promo codes
#7. Fetch (Best for Receipt Scanning)
Why we like it: Fetch pays you for uploading any receipt from any store. You won’t earn much (just a few cents per receipt), but you get bonus points when your receipt lists specific items, and you don’t have to pre-activate these offers. Because of this, points can add up surprisingly quickly.
| iOS rating: | 4.8/5 with 5,936,189 reviews. |
| Android rating: | 4.7/5 with 1,263,852 reviews0 |
| Our rating: | 4.1/5 |
| Signup bonus: | $3 when you enter the code FETCH300 during the signup process. |
| Payment: | Redeem points for gift cards, sweepstakes entries, Fetch merchandise and more. |
| Learn more: | Fetch app review |
To evaluate Fetch for our in-depth review, we conducted both a short-term test and a long-term test:
- Shot-term: We earned $6.52 by uploading 15 receipts over a two week period, but most of those points came from bonus offers.
- Long-term: A different tester earned $14.45 by uploading 252 receipts over a 10-month period, with only about 10% of those points coming from bonus offers.
In other words, while the main benefit of Fetch is that you can upload any receipt from any store with any products on it, how much money you’ll ultimately earn depends largely upon whether you buy products the pay bonus points.
Here’s the good news: You can stack receipt-scanning apps. For example, you can upload the same receipts to Fetch and iBotta.
#8. TopCashback (Best For Maximum Earnings)
Why we like it: TopCashback consistently offers the best rates available at almost every online retailer, and it has no minimum cash-out amount. Despite that, it only ranks #8 on this list because of its clunky (and slow) website and app, which makes it somewhat inconvenient to use. Still, it’s hard to beat if your goal is to get the absolute maximum possible savings when shopping online.
| iOS rating: | 4.7/5 with 13,991 reviews. |
| Android rating: | 3.9/5 with 1,940 reviews. |
| Our rating: | 4.6/5 |
| Signup bonus: | No signup bonus. |
| Payment: | No minimum to cash-out via PayPal, bank deposit or Amazon gift card. |
| Learn more: | TopCashback review |
When we tested TopCashback for our in-depth review, we found that it pays 2.6% more on average than the other apps on this list.
But as noted above, the big downside is that the website and app have not been updated in years and don’t provide a high-quality user experience. Additionally, during our testing, we had a slightly higher-than-average number of transactions fail to credit properly.
Pro tip: If you really want to max out your cash-back, use our cash-back calculator to instantly see how much you can save on a given purchase by mixing different rebates and rewards.
Final Thoughts: Cash-Back Apps Put Money Back Into Your Bank Account
If you’re anything like me, you shop online all the time. And if that’s the case, using a cash-back app or website is a no-brainer. They’re free to join, take just seconds to use, and can help you save at most major online retailers.
Apps like Rakuten and Capital One Shopping are great for online purchases, and that’s where you’ll rack up the most savings. But don’t overlook the ability of a grocery rebate app like Ibotta to help you save on everyday purchases. Saving a few dollars on every shopping trip might not seem like much, but it adds up over time.
*Capital One Shopping compensates us when you sign up for the service using the links provided.
