There are more cash-back apps and loyalty programs than ever these days. They offer a way to save on just about any kind of purchase. Extreme couponing is out – way out. It’s all digital now. Or at least mostly digital, since 2020 when digital coupons began to overtake print ones. Apps like Ibotta have fueled this digital takeover.
If you don’t know about Ibotta, it’s a free rewards app that pays you cash back for grocery shopping.
We’ll explain how Ibotta works and other apps like Ibotta that will pay you cash for groceries.
skip down to see the best apps like Ibotta
About Ibotta
Ibotta is a free and easy-to-use app. Download it for free. Then add the retailers you shop for and the offers (coupons and deals) you want to your digital in-app wallet. After your grocery store visit, you can scan your receipt (just snap a pic) and earn cash-back rewards redeemable for PayPal cash, Amazon gift cards, or Venmo.
Ibotta is a bit like couponing in reverse. Instead of presenting a paper coupon at the register and getting $1.00 taken off your total, with Ibotta, you select a digital deal in the app (i.e., save $1.00 on two boxes of Cheerios). Then after you make the purchase, you scan the receipt and are paid $1.00 for redeeming the savings as a cash-back offer.
There are thousands of available deals at hundreds of national, regional, and local grocery stores and supermarkets — this includes Target, Walmart, convenience stores, and gas stations.
But Ibotta isn’t the only app offering in-store grocery cash rebates. There are dozens of other receipt-scanning apps you can also use.
This article will explain the top apps like Ibotta — that can help you save money and earn money at the store.
11 Apps Like Ibotta
Here are the top shopping apps and rewards programs similar to Ibotta:
- Rakuten
- Shopkick
- Fetch
- Receipt Pal
- Tada
- Krazy Coupon Lady
- Receipt Hog
- Checkout51
- Dosh
- Target Circle
- Flipp
1. Rakuten 
Rakuten, formerly known as Ebates, is a popular cash-back savings app that makes it easy for shoppers to earn rewards for shopping online.
App users earn cash back at over 3,500 featured stores and have claimed over $2 billion in cash rewards (that’s a billion with 9 zeros).
Ways to Earn Cash Back:
- Shop online. Visit the shopping portal of 3,500+ featured merchants and select your store. The visit will be tracked and associated cash-back rewards will be applied to your account
- Use the browser extension. You can add it to your browser. It supports Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and Microsoft Edge. Then when you shop online, the extension will automatically notify you if you’re on a featured merchant site. Rakuten will alert you to what the cash-back amount is and ask if you would like to use the offer.
- Earn cash back for in-store shopping. Add your debit or credit card to the app, link the stores where you shop, and then pay with your linked card. The deals include home improvement, retail, restaurants, travel, sporting events, and more.
Referral Program:
Beyond shopping, you can earn money by inviting your friends to join. The app boasts one of the best referral programs anywhere. Earn $30 for each friend you refer, earning unlimited bonuses. Invite one friend and get $30, or invite 10 friends and get $300.
Cashing Out:
Cash out your earnings once you’ve reached at least $5.01 in earnings. Payment options include PayPal or a Big Fat Check in the mail.
2. Shopkick 
Shopkick is a fun, engaging, and versatile way to earn “kicks” or points for visiting shops.
Ways to Earn Cash Back:
You don’t have to spend any money to earn kicks. You can earn kicks for checking into stores (you must turn on the GPS locator feature), scanning featured product barcodes, purchasing featured products, or scanning your receipts.
For many, Shopkick gamifies the shopping experience and pays you for exercising. It’s possible to earn kicks walking around a shopping mall and checking into featured stores. This includes grocery stores like Food Lion, Publix, Walmart, Target, Aldi, Kroger, and Safeway.
Referral Program:
You can also earn kicks for referring your friends. The referral bonus varies over time (based on different promotions), but typically it’s around 500 kicks for friends who join through your invite link and earn at least 10 kicks within the first 14 days.
Cashing Out:
Once you have at least 500 kicks (worth $2 USD) you can cash out. Redeem your kicks for PayPal cash or gift cards to popular stores like Best Buy, Sephora, Amazon, or Starbucks.
3. Fetch 
Fetch is a popular grocery rewards app that will pay you for scanning your receipts. Earn points for purchasing products from hundreds of featured brands, including P&G, Kellogg, Unilever, and General Mills.
Ways to Earn Cash Back:
With Fetch, you can earn points for purchasing a featured product anywhere. On Ibotta and other cash back apps, you must purchase an eligible item at a particular store, but with Fetch Rewards there are no store-specific restrictions.
Fetch does have fewer available offers than Ibotta, however, its deals are solid. And many people use Fetch Rewards in addition to other loyalty card programs.
Referral Program:
You can also earn points for inviting friends to join the program. Typically it’s around 2,000 points ($2 USD) for each friend who signs up and scans their first receipt.
Cashing Out:
Every 1,000 points is equal to $1 USD. Once you reach at least 3,000 points, you can cash out for a gift card to a popular retailer like CVS, Target, or Amazon. Or you can instead choose to donate your cash earnings to UNICEF, Red Cross, or other featured nonprofits.
4. Receipt Pal 
Receipt Pal is a simple, intuitive rewards program and app that will pay you for submitting your receipts. You can enter your receipts through the app or by email.
Ways to Earn Cash Back:
Users earn 100 points for every four receipts. Initially, you’re capped at 20 receipts per week (or 500 points). Over time, the limit will get raised.
You can cash out your Receipt Pal points for gift cards or prepaid credit cards.
You can cash out your points when you want, but with Receipt Pal your patience pays off. Literally. If you can hold off cashing in your earnings until you’ve accrued a higher balance, they’ll be worth more. More points can be used to purchase higher-value gift cards at cheaper rates and your points could be worth almost twice as much.
5. Tada 
Tada is a relatively new cash-back and coupon app. It pays users cash-back rewards for purchasing gas (fuel at gas stations), groceries, or shopping at their favorite stores online or brick-and-mortar.
The Tada app works on both Android and iOS apps and also functions as a browser extension for Chrome.
Developed by Prodege — the same company behind Swagbucks — the Tada app shares many similarities. Tada features the same cash-back rewards (for the same stores and products) for online purchases and photos of your grocery receipts.
Ways to Earn Cash Back:
The feature to turn any receipt into cash (ta-da!) is called Magic Receipts. Prodege uses Magic Receipts functionality in all of its shopping apps: Swagbucks, MyPoints, Upromise, InboxDollars, and Tada. This prevents you from uploading your grocery receipts to multiple Prodege apps, but you could still scan your receipts to Tada and the Ibotta app if you wanted to.
Referral Program:
The Tada app does have a few unique features though that the other Prodege apps lack. You can earn new member welcome bonuses of up to $15 using Tada. Additionally, Tada will pay you a $1 cash-back rebate on fuel purchases when you submit your gas receipt.
There is also a $10 bonus for online shopping at featured stores.
Cashing Out:
Tada earnings can be cashed out for a prepaid Mastercard, free gift cards to popular stores, or a deposit to your PayPal account. The minimum payout is generally set at $10 but for your first cash redemption, the minimum payout may be set higher.
6. Krazy Coupon Lady 
Known as a popular coupon blog, The Krazy Coupon Lady also makes our list of the best money-saving apps. You can download the Krazy Coupon Lady app (KCL) in Google Play or iTunes.
Ways to Save:
While KCL doesn’t pay you cash rebates, it offers some serious savings in a very slick interface that is perfect for new digital couponers. And their insider tips to save money at stores are legendary.
In the app, select your favorite stores, build a shopping list, and save any deals that KCL alerts you to. Dozens of new deals, promo codes, and coupons are added every single day.
KCL will also alert you to the best time to make a purchase so you know if you’re truly getting a deal. For example, Carter’s and Gap brands are always on sale. You’re never really sure if this week’s sale is better than last week’s, or even what the promotion was a month ago. KCL will track it for you and let you know whether or not you should pull the trigger or wait.
There’s no need to take a picture of your receipt because there are no earnings to redeem. Your reward is the extra cash you’re saving with every shopping trip.
Get Started with The Krazy Coupon Lady
7. Receipt Hog 
Receipt Hog is a popular receipt-scanning app that will pay you cash back for purchasing groceries, supermarket goods, apparel, meals, and other items at participating stores and restaurants.
Ways to Earn Cash Back:
There is no scanning barcodes involved. You just need to submit a photo of your receipt. Receipt Hog will then scan the app for eligible merchants, which can include McDonald’s, Walgreens, Tom Thumb, Safeway, Dollar General, or Total Wine.
You’ll earn coins for each receipt. The number of coins you earn depends on your level within the app.
- Runt: 10 coins per receipt
- Piglet: 15 coins per receipt
- Hog: 25 coins per receipt
You advance through these levels as you submit more and more receipts and increase your coin earnings.
Each week, you can submit up to 20 receipts but not no more than 3 receipts from the same store per day. (You could upload 3 receipts one day and then 3 receipts the next day though.) Depending on your level, you could earn up to 200 to 500 coins each week.
Cashing Out:
You can cash out:
- 1,000 coins for a $5 reward
- 1,800 coins for a $10 reward
- 3,200 coins for a $20 reward
- 4,500 coins for a $30 reward
The more coins you rack up, the more valuable they become. You could cash out after a few weeks, but you’ll earn more if you hoard them over 9-12 weeks for at least a $30 payout.
Payout options include PayPal (which you can transfer directly to your bank account), Amazon, or Visa card. Your Amazon or Visa reward is emailed to you as an eGift card with an electronic code.
In addition to earning coins for receipts, there are monthly drawings to win 5,000 coins. You can also unlock additional bonuses based on your activity level, like short, paid surveys or extra coins.
8. Checkout51 
Checkout51 is a free app that will pay you cash for claiming supermarket offers and then taking a purchase of the receipt. Submit the receipt through a couple of taps within the mobile app.
New grocery offers (i.eSave $1 on Tide Pods) go live every Thursday at 12 a.m. and expire the following Wednesday at 11:59 p.m.
Ways to Earn Cash Back:
Select the offers you want to earn cash back for. Shop for and purchase the items. Then take a picture of your receipt and earn the associated reward. Featured deals can pay $0.25 to $1.50.
For many offers, you can claim them multiple times before they expire. Just make sure to read the offer terms and conditions. You may be capped to claiming an offer no more than once per transaction (receipt) per day, or no more than twice over the weekly rewards period.
You can even claim cash back for online supermarket orders that are delivered to your doorstep. In order to get credit for this order, you must have a receipt or itemized packing slip that shows the date, item descriptions and prices, store name, and total order amount.
Not all stores include these sales slips. Safeway generally always does, but Amazon and Target don’t. (And yes, your driver probably keeps them to cash them in. Another solid perk to being an Instacart or Shipt driver.)
You can add any grocery loyalty cards you have to your Checkout51 account, like Price Chopper, Albertsons for U, Walmart+, Target, or Hy-Vee. After you’ve added your loyalty card, you won’t need to submit your receipts. With your linked card, the app can identify qualifying purchases.
Referral Program:
You can also earn referral bonuses for friends to sign up for Checkout51 using your link. Get $5 when a friend signs up and uploads a qualifying receipt. Your friend will also get a reward.
Cashing Out:
It’s easy to cash out on Checkout51, but the minimum balance needed is relatively high compared to other apps. You need at least $20 in earnings to request payment. Right now, Checkout51 does not offer gift card rewards but you can cash out via check or PayPal deposit.
9. Dosh 
Dosh pays you cash for making purchases at featured stores when you use your linked credit or debit card. As your card is linked, the cash back is automatically rewarded. There’s no need to scan receipts, clip coupons, or use promo codes. Dosh is easy and intuitive, making it one of the best cash-back apps to rack up reward points.
Ways to Earn Cash Back:
It’s not just grocery shopping with Dosh. You can earn points for dining out at thousands of restaurants or for shopping online or in-store at thousands of popular stores.
And in addition to linking your card to Dosh, you can also download the app and link it to your Venmo wallet.
All you need to do is shop or dine out as usual. The cash-back rewards you earn get automatically deposited into your Dosh account. Cha-ching.
Referral Program:
You can also earn rewards for referring friends. Get $5 for each new referral who joins and links a card.
Cashing Out:
Once your balance reaches a minimum of $15, you can cash out via direct deposit to your bank account, PayPal, Venmo, or by making a donation to a charity of your choice. (Note: many other sources incorrectly state that the payout minimum is $25, but that was lowered to $15 in 2022.)
10. Target Circle 
Target Circle (originally Target Cartwheel) is the retailer’s loyalty program and app savings platform all in one. It offers you a way to earn a 1% cash-back rebate on your Target purchases.
Ways to Earn Cash Back:
You can earn 1% cash back for just about anything Target sells — even Apple, LEGO, or other high-end brands — but some goods like adult beverages, prescription drugs, or gift cards are ineligible.
Given all the groceries, pet supplies, clothing, and apparel a household buys, these 1% cash-back rebates can add up quickly. Last fall, I had a staggering amount that I cashed out to buy toys and seasonal gifts for Christmas.
Cashing Out:
It’s easy to redeem your Target cash-back rewards. There are two different ways:
- On Target.com
- In the Target app
Earnings cannot be redeemed for Target same-day delivery purchases (a service offered through Shipt).
Similarly, the 1% cash back reward is made only for purchases made directly in Target stores, on the Target website, or on the Target app. Purchases delivered via Shipt are ineligible. Additionally, Target Redcard holders already receive a 5% everyday discount and are ineligible for the additional 1% rebate.
Beyond the 1% cash-back rebate, Target Circle offers these additional benefits:
- Exclusive deals, like saving an extra 10% to 30% off featured categories or BOGO promotions.
- Free gift card promotions. Common deals are to buy $20 worth of goods in a featured category and get a free Target gift card. Deals for spending $50 to get up to $15 or for spending $100 to get up to $30 are not uncommon.
- Easier returns. If you lose your Target receipt, the store can track your record and issue a credit or refund.
- Free birthday gift. Save 5% off a one-time order (one purchase transaction). The offer is valid for up to 30 days after your birthday.
- Feature partner deals. A number of premium brands like Apple Fitness+, Apple Arcade, Apple Music, and Ulta Beauty offer exclusive savings.
Get Started with Target Circle
11. Flipp 
The Flipp app is a different twist from the other receipt-scanning and cash-back apps on our list. It offers you an easy way to spot deals and save big money at over 2,000 featured stores.
Ways to Save:
Within one platform, you can browse the weekly flyers, digital circulars, and current deals for all your favorite stores.
Additionally, Flipp has some intuitive money-saving and time-saving features:
- Add all your store loyalty cards to your Flipp app.
- Clip store app coupons digitally and add them to your Flipp wallet.
- Automatic deal detection. Add items to your shopping list. Add what you need and Flipp will tell you what store has it cheapest or when there’s a promotion.
- Shop with friends. This is a great option for couples and roommates. Invite others to see your list, add items, and collaborate with you.
Flipp is well-designed for life with roommates (who aren’t total slouches about chipping in) and shoppers who want the confidence of knowing they are getting the best deal, whether it’s a television set or a 6-pack of tube socks.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does everyone get the same Ibotta deals?
No. Not all Ibotta users get the same deals. User-specific promotions may be tied to a specific store, geographical area, or one specific store location (i.e., the Maple Crest Walmart on Highway 65). New users may get better deals as they start out to encourage them to use and get accustomed to the app as they learn how Ibotta works.
Can you have more than one Ibotta?
No. Ibotta states that a single user is allowed to have one Ibotta account, and specifically states that, “A second account cannot be created for reasons such as: adding a referral code, getting better offers, or referring yourself for a bonus.”
Ibotta’s answer is vague about whether or not two family members in the same household may have two separate accounts. As a general rule of thumb, a receipt should be scanned one time for only one account to Ibotta. You should not scan a receipt to your account and your spouse’s account to get the same reward twice — this could get you banned.
For specific questions about multiple accounts, Ibotta advises you to contact them directly.
Can you have Ibotta and Fetch?
Yes! You can have Ibotta and Fetch — and other cash-back apps too. This is a great way to stack your rewards.
If you do link your store loyalty card (i.e., Giant Flexible Rewards), you may not be able to claim the same deal (i.e., save $0.50 on Nivea) in both the Ibotta app and the non-Ibotta app. With your store loyalty card linked, retailers can track how and where an offer is redeemed.
That said, I’ve found that these Ibotta-type apps tend to each have a diverse range of offerings by different brands and stores. It does limit your availability to stack savings on the exact same item, but does offer you more savings overall. Ibotta may have 12 offers you want to redeem and Coupons.com (formerly SavingStar) may have another 8 different ones. By using both, you can get rewards on 20 deals altogether — or even more, if you were to use all of the apps on our list.
Bottom Line
There are a lot of great apps like Ibotta that make it easy and fun to save money on groceries and other shopping — and earn cash back for it too.
The top apps we’ve shared on our list all bring a little something different to the table, whether it’s total earning potential, effortless savings, or prize options.
If you aren’t using Ibotta yet, we recommend you try Ibotta first and then look at another app. And if you are already using Ibotta, go ahead and try a couple more apps featured on our list. You could try all of them, but we don’t recommend using all of them at once.
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