Ibotta is an interesting app that rewards you for your shopping habits. Users select offers on the app for items they plan on buying, go shopping, snap a picture of the receipt, and get paid for all the offers on the receipt.
It’s great because you get to earn a little bit of cash for shopping you would’ve done anyways. It’s kind of like a delayed discount.
Despite it’s simplicity and ease of stacking some extra pocket money on your everyday purchases, Ibotta isn’t perfect. Every app will have areas will they shine and other areas where they fall short.
Plus, even if it were perfect, it’s not going to have an offer for every item at every store on the planet.
Thus, you might want to get another shopping rewards app or two to cover your bases. That way, if Ibotta doesn’t have an offer, one of your other apps may have the cashback opportunity you’re looking for
Try one or two of these 13 apps like Ibotta to maximize the rewards you earn for shopping.
13 Apps Like Ibotta You Should Try Out
Most of all of the cash back and reward apps may look the same on the surface, but many of them have different deals and some features that we think you should know about. Because of this, here are some of the ibotta competitors that we think you should make room for.
1.) Dosh
Dosh essentially turns whatever card you use with it into a cashback credit card. Dosh users don’t earn points, coupons, or any other “money substitutes” that add a layer of complexity; cold, hard cash is the only think Dosh gives you.
As far as earning goes, all you do is link your card and spend at one of their thousands of retail partners. Dosh will then track when you make purchases at qualifying businesses either in-store or online and pay you according to the cash back offer they have.
For your convenience, you can see nearby in-store and online offers as well as their cash back percentages.
When you’re ready to cash out, Dosh lets you transfer to your bank account, PayPal, or donate to charity.
Dosh only has a mobile app, but to be fair, you don’t need much beyond a clean and simple mobile app (for both iOS and Android) to provide a way for shoppers to earn money on their purchases.
2.) Shopkick
Shopkick is an amazing cashback shopping app if you spend a lot of time at the grocery store. Users can earn points, called kicks, by completing all sorts of shopping tasks.
Obviously, you can earn points by shopping in-store and online for Shopkick offers to earn points. To get your points for shopping in-store, you have to either submit a picture of the receipt in the Shopkick app (similar to how Ibotta works) or make a purchase with a linked card, depending on the offer.
When you shop online, you just have to click through links to Shopkick’s online partners in the app or on the website to earn the points.
Shopping in-store and online might be the most lucrative earning method, but there are other ways for both methods of shopping you should look out for to maximize your points.
Aside from buying items in-store, Shopkick will reward you for scanning barcodes on select items by using your phone. In some cases, users can earn points simply by walking into a store and checking in on the app!
As for online (aside from the shopping, of course), you can also watch videos about new products. They even start you off with a few kicks for watching some Shopkick tutorial videos.
Once you’ve accumulated enough kicks, you can redeem them for gift cards to tons of major retailers. If you don’t want a gift card, you can cash out for PayPal credit or even donate to charity.
Do be aware that each reward is paid out in different amounts, thus requiring different amounts of kicks. For example, PayPal requires you to earn a thousand-ish more kicks for it’s $10 minimum payout than a $5 Amazon gift card.
Speaking of your rewards, stacking the Shopkick cashback method adds up quick. Shopkick claims most users earn a gift card within their first week!
3.) Checkout 51
With Checkout 51, you can save on the brands you love. It’s very simple and works a lot like Ibotta: you buy groceries, submit your receipts, and earn your cash back.
If you’re shopping online, you can also submit a picture of the label on your package, a great feature for those of you who do all their shopping from the couch.
Once you hit $20, you can cash out. Unfortunately, they only pay by paper check, but that’s the only real downside of Checkout 51.
Checkout 51 has a fully functioning website as well as mobile apps for iOS and Android, so you can rack up the cash back no matter which device you shop with.
4.) SavingStar
SavingStar helps you save money on your groceries at its many partner stores through claiming deals either on its site or in its app. You get to choose which stores you shop at; SavingStar then remembers these stores so you can rack up the cash back.
There are two “types” of stores on SavingsStar: automatic and receipt. Earning at automatic stores is straightforward; you add the store to your account, enter your loyalty card information, then go shopping.
Receipt stores work like Ibotta; you activate the rebates at the stores you’ll be shopping at, snap a photo of your receipt once you purchase those items, and they’ll credit you upon receipt acceptance.
SavingStar has a few special offers, too:
- One or Many Offers – Provide you larger rewards for meeting big spending goals.
- Always On Program – Sign up once (and only once), and you can earn rebates every time you spend on that particular brand/item for the rest of your time on SavingStar.
- Healthy Offers – Earn special rebates on fresh produce.
You can cash out your earnings via direct deposit to your bank account, PayPal, or by donating your earnings to charity.
5.) Coupon Sherpa
Coupon Sherpa is an app with electronic coupons and promo codes on all sorts of deals. You don’t earn cashback; rather (and arguably better to some people), you save the money up front with these coupons.
This app is great if you often forget your coupons at home. Just flip open the app in the checkout line, find applicable coupons, and show them to the cashier to save.
Being a digital service, Coupon Sherpa has plenty of online coupons as well. Helps keep all your savings opportunities in one place.
6.) Snap By Groupon
Groupon, the ever-popular couponing site, launched their own grocery shopping rewards service called Snap that has both a website and mobile app. Like Ibotta, you select the deals you want then snap a photo fo your receipt to earn your cash back for those deals.
They update their list of deals every week, so there’s always something new to check out.
Once you hit $20 in earnings, you can cash them out for money.
If you combine Snap with Groupon’s traditional coupon voucher, you can save some serious money on more than just your groceries.
7.) ShopSavvy
Ever find an item you really want, but it’s just a bit out of your budget? Did you spend hours looking for that same item for a lower price to no avail?
ShopSavvy is a price comparison tool that can save you from doing all that. Just scan the item with your phone, and ShopSavvy alerts you to a better deal elsewhere if it finds one.
They also show user reviews for items so you can be sure you want to follow through with your purchase.
ShopSavvy doesn’t technically award you cash back like Ibotta nor does it give you discounts/coupons like other apps.
But what it does do is find you the best deal in town in a fraction of the time it’d take you to do so. And as you know, time is money!
Plus, there’s some thing to be said for the peace of mind that comes with knowing you didn’t miss out on a lower price at a different store.
8.) Krazy Coupon Lady
Krazy Coupon Lady might sound like a couponing/frugality blog (and it even looks like one), but it’s actually a massive coupons site with deals and coupons for everything you might need.
You can browse the savings by store, coupon, or deal. They even have a section full of tips and tricks for couponing successfully.
Krazy Coupon Lady also has a “brag” system where you can snap a picture of your purchase that you save money on using coupons and share it with the site’s community. Braggers get entered into weekly drawings for various prizes.
9.) Receipt Hog
Receipt Hog rewards its users with points for snapping and submitting pictures of their purchases. Their list of places you can shop at is enormous, so there’re bound to be offers for you on the app.
Plus, each receipt you submit earns you an entry into Receipt Hog’s monthly drawing. Each lucky monthly winner of this drawing earns 5,000 points, so get shopping!
But that’s just the main attraction. Receipt Hog takes a page out of Swagbucks’s book and lets users take surveys to complement their point earnings from shopping. There’s also the “Hog Slots” slot machine where you can win more prizes.
10.) Fetch Rewards
Fetch Rewards gives you points for submitting your receipts in a similar fashion to Ibotta. However, you can buy the item from wherever you want; Fetch will be able to identify the item and reward you accordingly.
Every 1,000 points earns you $1. You can cash out at 3,000 points, or $3.
As for what you can cash out your points for, Fetch offers gift cards to several retailers. Alternatively, you can donate your rewards to charity.
11.) Swagbucks
You’ve heard all the Swagbucks rage: earning points for all sorts of activities, from taking surveys to playing games to browsing the internet. Among these earning methods is online shopping.
Just click through their various offers in their “shop” tab, make your purchase, and Swagbucks will reward you with points, aptly called “Swagbucks”.
They’ve also got larger items that pay out thousands of Swagbucks for purchasing or signing up through Swagbuck’s link.
Swagbucks gives you $5 for signing up for their site, a nice head start to your cash back shopping experience. Make sure to check out our Swagbucks review for a more detailed overview of the app.
12.) Rakuten
Rakuten’s one of the Internet’s largest cashback sites. They earn a commission on each purchase made through their links, then pass some of that commission onto you in the form of cash back.
They’ve got online cash back offers ranging from 1% up to 10% and beyond. Everyday, they have several “double cash back” stores, which double their normal cash back rate.
Every store has it’s exclusions, but you may as well shop through Rakuten anyways because you’re likely to earn some automatic cash back on your purchases.
Rakuten’s got in-store offers too. When you get to the checkout line, just select the offer, pull up the QR code, and the cashier will scan it; Rakuten then credits your account within a couple days.
13.) Paribus
Paribus has a unique way of rewarding you for your shopping; instead of offering cash back on certain items or activities, they look for price drops on any items you buy and reward you the difference.
Users sign up by giving Paribus their email. Paribus then monitors their email inbox and scans any electronic receipts or confirmation emails the user receives. If it detects a price drop on the item you bought shortly after you bought it, it will credit you the difference and negotiate with the company to get the money back.
You can profit off late deliveries, too. Paribus tracks your orders from online retailers like Amazon; if something arrives later than intended, Paribus works to get you financial compensation for the late arrival.
As a nice bonus feature, Paribus can also tell you how long you have to return an item you purchased if it’s returnable. Tracking several return windows is a headache, so it’s great they do it for you.
The best part? You don’t have to do anything at all, aside from having electronic receipts and confirmation emails sent to your inbox. Paribus does the work, you save a few bucks completely passively.
