In the past couple of years, cash-back apps have grown in popularity, and they’ve allowed millions of people across the globe to save money on their daily shopping.
From groceries to clothing, the majority of these apps apply to most of your purchases, and best of all, every single one of them is free to download and use.
The craze really kicked into 2nd gear when DollarSprout first launched in 2015, leading many to tinker with the possibilities the app offers, and after extended use, these shopping helpers can help you save hundreds of dollars every month.
After gaining a larger following, the app analyzed everything its competitors offer and implemented the best things about it into their own business.
With this, DollarSprout rewards came to be, giving people the ability to receive a certain amount of cashback while also rewarding them for the shopping they’ve done.
Naturally, there are still other ways you can make use of these applications, and if DollarSprout didn’t work for you, dozens of other options are at your disposal.
Among them, you’ll find Rakuten, Ibotta, and Fetch, each of them with its own benefits and advantages over the other, and you should choose the one that best fits your spending profile.
DollarSprout Rewards
This is a variation on the original app, this time implemented on your desktop as an extension for the browser of your choice, which will present you with all the discounts you can use at qualifying websites.
Another benefit of it is that it’s incredibly easy to use, and all you’ve got to do to get started is press the activate button in your browser’s extensions settings, from that point on the process is automated.
DollarSproud Rewards is particularly helpful for people who do most of their shopping on their PC rather than their phone, and due to the rewards being formatted as cash instead of points, it’s much more user-friendly.
Unfortunately, the extension is yet to be implemented for Amazon, although the same can be said for any other cash-back app on the market.
Due to how many people use their phones nowadays, the app will soon become available on smartphones as well, allowing you to gather rewards on the go!
Rakuten
Previously known as Ebates, this app will give you cash back on any purchases you make at participating stores or online retailers.
Additionally, it’s available on your PC and smartphone, making it accessible to most users, and you can even use Rakuten’s online portal to see all the deals you can get in one place.
The app works much like all the rest of the cashback apps do, and you can use their official website to look for merchants that are featured that week/month to get the most out of their money.
If you choose to include the web extension, Rakuten will automatically apply promo codes and discounts to the purchases you make, allowing you not to worry about any discounts you may have missed out on.
Similarly to DollarSprout, the interface is user-friendly and the least tech-savvy person can use it with ease.
If you spend $30 within the first 3 months of using the app, Rakuten will reward you with an extra $30 to spend on purchases from qualifying merchants.
Ibotta
Ibotta was the leading app on the market at one time, and they’ve chosen to expand the services they offer by giving their users the ability to save money at retailers like Target, Petco, and Walmart too.
You can also link your card to the app, and you’ll begin receiving rewards directly from it if you’re making regular purchases at some of their participating retail stores.
Even if you choose to pay with cash, you can still upload the receipt and gain benefits from your purchase, as long as you selected the offers advertised on the app before completing it.
An additional benefit of Ibotta is that you can see exactly how much you’ll be getting in return instead of having to calculate the percentages on your own.
On top of this, you can choose whether the payout will be in the form of a redeemable gift card or in cash if you’re looking to save for something else that month.
Fetch
This app, on the other hand, doesn’t have automatic rewards, and you can only gain them by scanning the receipts of purchases you made at participating stores.
However, the upside is that they’re partnered with a much greater amount of brands, meaning you’ll have more opportunities to receive a certain amount of money back.
The reason for such an expansive inventory is that Fetch also gives these brands insight into the shopping habits of consumers while also incentivizing them to buy more products.
You can even receive cash back for any receipt from any store or restaurant, even if they’re not a participating brand, and it even works with e-mailed receipts!