With so many rewards and cash-back sites out there, it can be hard to tell which ones are worth your time. Owned by the online rewards powerhouse Prodege, Tada joins the many other rewards sites the company operates, including Swagbucks and InboxDollars.
Most of Prodege’s sites offer similar earning opportunities and rewards programs, so what sets Tada apart from the others? And most importantly, is there any reason to sign up?
To find out, we crunched the numbers on…
- How its cash-back rates compare to other sites.
- How its pay rate for surveys compare to other sites.
- How its money-makers compare to other sites.
In this Tada review, we’ll take an in-depth look at what types of rewards are available, how much you can expect to earn, and answer the big question: is Tada worth your time?
Tada is a legit cash-back and rewards site owned and operated by the biggest company in the online rewards industry. However, our research suggests that it consistently offers slightly below-average payout rates for cash-back, surveys and "money maker" offers.
- Offers a $10 sign-up bonus (when you meet certain criteria).
- Offers cash-back at nearly 3,000 stores, which is on the higher end.
- Has many different gift cards to choose from and allows cash-out via PayPal.
- Must spend $25 within 30 days to earn the sign-up bonus.
- Cash-back payout rates are consistently lower than alternatives like Swagbucks and Rakuten.
- Has a relatively high $10 minimum withdrawal amount.
Tada Basics
Tada started out as a shop-by-catalog business (called ShopAtHome) way back in 1986, and eventually shifted gears to become a coupon and cash-back portal.
It was acquired by Prodege in August of 2017.
Why would Prodege acquire a site so similar to others it already owns?
Most people who leverage rewards sites do a little bit of research, signing up for a few different options to see which one works best for them. What these consumers might not realize is that often, the same company operates more than one platform in order to cast a wide net.
Additionally, Prodege purchased not only Tada’s website, but also its user base. Should it decide to merge Tada with Swagbucks or one of its other sites in the future, those are users who can be rolled into the other platform.
How Tada Works
With cash-back shopping, paid trial offers and the like, Tada’s offerings are virtually identical to those you’ll find on Swagbucks, InboxDollars and MyPoints.
Tada offers a $10 sign-up bonus, but you’ll have to spend at least $25 via the cash-back portal (travel purchases excluded) within 30 days of signing up — as well as receive a minimum of 25 cents cash-back for that purchase — in order to receive it.
Our Take
Tada is a legitimate rewards website that offers a respectable cash-back rewards system.
Rewards are redeemable for a wide variety of free gift cards, so you’re not limited to certain retailers you may not shop at on a regular basis.
With all that said, it’s hard to justify choosing Tada over more popular — and more rewarding — options, including Prodge’s own sites like Swagbucks and MyPoints.
In our research (detailed throughout this review), we were only able to find a few instances where Tada trumped these sites.
Depending on what types of opportunities and rewards you’re looking for, we’d recommend more popular sites such as Swagbucks, Rakuten or TopCashback.
These sites will offer you more for your time and money spent.
Ways to Earn
Since Tada operates mainly as a cash-back site, you’ll gain the most rewards from spending money at specific stores.
Let’s take a closer look at how you can maximize your earnings on Tada.
Cash-Back Online Shopping
Once you navigate to Tada, you can click on the “All Stores” button to see what cash-back offers you can take advantage of.
Stores are listed in alphabetical order, along with the number of coupons available. You’ll also see the amount of cash-back you can receive. Note that not all stores listed have a cash-back offer to claim.
You can also search for specific stores rather than navigating to the list.
Most cash-back offers stand at a few percentage points, but some offer anywhere from 10% to 15%.
The table below shows how Tada’s cash-back rewards compare to Prodege’s sites at a small group of retailers. Keep in mind that rates change all the time (this data was collected on July 22nd, 2021).
| Tada | InboxDollars | MyPoints | Swagbucks | |
| Best Buy | 1% | 1% | ~1.5% | 2% |
| Gap | 3% | 3% | ~1.5% | 3% |
| Macy’s | 4% | 4% | ~2.5% | 4% |
| Nike | 3% | 3% | ~1.5% | 3% |
| Sephora | 2.5% | 2% | ~1.0% | 2% |
As you can see, Tada only outperforms the competition when it comes to shopping at Sephora, and only by half of a percent. At other retailers, the site either meets the highest percentage or falls short.
As we mentioned above, this is a small sample from a single moment in time. However, it illustrates the general trend that Tada usually offers lower rates than its cousins.
How does Tada compare to other, non-Prodege sites?
The table below shows how it stacks up at the same set of retailers. (This data was also collected on July 22nd, 2021.)
| Tada | BeFrugal | Rakuten | TopCashback | |
| Best Buy | 1% | 2% | 1% | 4% |
| Gap | 3% | 6% | 2% | 8% |
| Macy’s | 4% | 6% | 6% | 10% |
| Nike | 5% | 5% | 10% | 10% |
| Sephora | 2.5% | 7% | 6% | 4% |
Among this group, Tada never had the highest cash-back rate.
Taking the two datasets together, Tada only had the best cash-back rate in 1 out 10 examples (and that was only by 0.5%).
Further, we would also note the significant difference between Tada’s rates and the best available rates: in 60% of the cases we examined, you could get at least twice as much cash-back by choosing a platform other than Tada.
Offers
The most lucrative earning opportunities on rewards sites are what we call “money makers” — deals where you pay some amount of money upfront, but get more back in rewards than you spend.
In this instance, the offers found on Tada embody the typical purchase and sign-up bonuses found on such sites as MyPoints, Swagbucks and InboxDollars — but those sites have a wider selection of deals.
One way to get the most out of the Offers section is to use it when you want to try out a new service. The whole marketing idea behind these offers is to get you to become a customer that spends more money beyond a single purchase.
For example, if you’ve wanted to try a food delivery service or a pet subscription box, Tada can offer you rewards beyond what the retailer already includes in the new customer packaging.
To give you an idea of what earning potential you have with the Offers section, take a look at a few of the deals available across Prodege’s suite of sites. This data was collected on February 1st, 2021.
| Tada | InboxDollars | MyPoints | Swagbucks | |
| Aspiration Bank | $10 for depositing $10 | $40 for depositing $10 | ~$40 for depositing $10 | $40 for depositing $10 |
| Bluehost | $60 for paid sign-up | Not available | Not available | $54 for paid sign-up |
| Chime Bank | Not available | $150 for first direct deposit | ~$150 for first direct deposit | $150 for first direct deposit |
| Sierra Club | Not available | $50 for a $15 donation | ~$60 for $15 donation | $60 for $15 donation |
| Stash | $45 for depositing $5 | $30 for depositing $5 | ~$45 for depositing $5 | $45 for depositing $5 |
Tada has the best offer on just one out of these five examples.
On top of that, it bested Swagbucks by a measly $6 for signing up on Bluehost. On the other hand, 2/5 offers were not even available on the platform.
So once again, there’s a clear takeaway: Tada occasionally offers a better deal, but not consistently enough to warrant usage.
Coupons
Tada allows you to earn rewards for printing and using paper coupons, which are provided via coupons.com. They’re the same offers you find on other sites around the web.
As noted in the screenshot above, you’ll earn 1 cent per coupon printed (up to 50 per day), and 10 cents per coupon redeemed (with no limit).
Related: How to save money at the grocery store.
Tada Extension
Plenty of cash-back sites offer some sort of plugin or extension that looks over your shoulder as you shop online. With Tada, that’s called the Tada Extension.
We suggest staying cautious with plugins because not all of them are created equal.
Given Tada’s track record when it comes to rewards, we’re not sure the Savings Button will actually give you the best savings available. And with no bonus for installing it, there’s little motivation to even mess with adding it to your browser.
In fact, if you have it installed with other similar extensions, you may find your earnings can be affected. Tracking is the main way you receive cash-back for using these extensions, and using more than one can interfere with that process (resulting in no-cash back at all).
As noted above, we think Capital One Shopping is a better option. In addition to promo codes and coupons, it will even compare prices on Amazon (and some other sites), letting you know if a better deal is available elsewhere.
Getting Paid
Cashing out on Tada requires a minimum of $10.
Rewards come in the form of gift cards, many of which are from major retailers. Tada states the gift cards will be mailed or emailed to you within 60 days after you redeem your cash-back.
As far as gift card selection goes, Tada does offer options from a wide range of retailers. There were 78 gift cards listed on the Rewards page when we visited it.
You can redeem your cash-back for free gift cards from Amazon, Best Buy, Home Depot, Kohl’s, Olive Garden, Panera and many more.
For those with a PayPal account, you can also redeem cash back through PayPal rewards. Beyond having an account with PayPal, you’ll also need to make sure your email address matches the one you used to sign up on Tada, and the first and last name should match as well.
See also: Ways to get free PayPal money.
Reputation
Like most rewards sites, Tada has its fair share of good and bad reviews. Using sites like Trustpilot can be a good way to sift out the angry customers from those who actually experienced bad customer service.
The Tada branding is new, so it’s best to look at the reviews for its previous iteration: ShopAtHome enjoyed a 4.7 out of 5 star rating on Trustpilot. Of the 884 reviews of the site, about 83% of them were positive.
ViewPoints is another website that hosts reviews of ShopAtHome. One reviewer noted they received over $200 in cash-back and have always had a hassle-free experience.
We also found reviews of ShopAtHome on SiteJabber. Of the 183 reviews, the average rating was just above 3/5 stars. Again, the reviews were mixed between those who cried “Scam!” and those who found some value from the site.
Discontinued Features
After Tada was rebranded from ShopAtHome in 2021, a few notable features were discontinued.
These include:
- Dining Deals: Allowed you to earn passive cash-back by linking one or more payment cards and using them at partnered restaurants.
- In-Store Cash-Back: Allowed you to activate offers and earn rewards when shopping in brick-and-mortar retailers.
- Paid Surveys: Allowed you to earn rewards by completing market research studies.
- Referral Bonus: Allowed you to earn $5 for referring friends to the service.
Note: All of these features can still be found on Tada’s sister site, Swagbucks.
Tada FAQ
As a general rule, no. That’s not particularly surprising, because Amazon typically does not partner with cash-back sites, except for purchases of Amazon-branded items (like Echo and Kindle devices). Here’s a rundown of some other ways to save money on Amazon, and a list of the best ways to get free Amazon gift cards.
Users of Tada must be 13 years of age or older; if 18 years old or under, they must create an account under parental supervision.
Yes, Tada has both an Android app and an iOS app.
Tada Review Summary: Is There Any Reason to Use This Site?
Using a cash-back portal is one the best ways to get free money, and Tada provides legitimate value to those looking for cash-back opportunities. However, the data we collected shows that Tada pales in comparison to the other cash-back sites that Prodege also runs, as well as other competitors in the marketplace.
Given that, we think there’s little benefit to choosing Tada over a site like Swagbucks (which offers a wide range of ways to earn) or TopCashback (which consistently offers the best return for online shopping).
As a result, this did not make our list of the best cash-back apps.
If you’re looking for a cash-back portal, it’s because you want to keep as much extra money in your bank account as possible. And it’s that’s the case, you’re better off with a different platform.
Learn More:
- BeFrugal Review
- InboxDollars Review
- MyPoints Review
- Rakuten Review
- Swagbucks Review
- TopCashback Review
I redeemed 25.00 but have not gotten any email or mailed certificate and now my account has been deactivated? What is this all about? Am I being scammed?
Sorry to hear Cathy. Overall, we’ve had decent experience with Prodege’s (Tada’s parent company) customer service. Have you reached out?