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These days, pretty much everybody has a smartphone. And while some of us may feel the need to use them less, there are some ways you may not be using your smartphone that could be earning you some extra cash. Using this apps is not going to replace a part-time job or pay for all your groceries, but if you take a few minutes when you’re shopping to see how you can use them, then you might be able to earn back a percentage of your monthly grocery budget. It’s worth downloading the ones that you feel like might be worthwhile and then seeing if you actually use them. I’m a huge fan especially of Ibotta and Checkout51!
If you want some more guidance, check out our video on How to Use Couponing Apps.
Top 10 Receipt Scanning Apps
Ibotta:
Hopefully if you’ve been following Southern Savers for a while, you already know about Ibotta. If you don’t, the basic gist is that you can get money back when you buy certain items. Head to the store, buy the item, and scan your receipt into the app. (Note: Some stores like Kroger and Publix allow you to link your loyalty card or phone number to the app, so there is no need to scan a receipt. The rebate will just show up in your account usually in about 24-48 hours.)
If you’re a couponer who regularly buys brand name products, Ibotta is definitely worth your time! Our ad match-ups for all the stores will show you when Ibotta rebates are available. Once you start getting cash back, you’ll need to earn $20 before you can cash out your earnings.
Fetch Rewards:
Fetch Rewards is a receipt scanning app that just asks you to scan any receipt for a grocery, drugstore, or big box store. There are a few specific offers and bonuses regularly that give you anywhere from 250-2,000 points. A normal receipt, once you start using the app regularly, is worth about 25 points on average. Once you start racking up points, 3,000 points is equal to $3 and you can start redeeming them for gift cards (my favorite is Amazon!).
Enter code N0REC (that’s a zero) before you scan your first receipt and you’ll get 2,000 bonus points!
Checkout51:
Checkout51 is similar to Ibotta in that you add offers to your account for certain products. Then, once you buy the items, you scan your receipts and get the rebates. Checkout51 is different than Ibotta in that not all offers are tied to particular stores. You can cash out your account once you reach $20.
This is one app that does not allow paper coupons to used on top of their offers. About 95% of the offers will state they can’t be used with other coupons.
SavingStar:
Like Ibotta and Checkout51, SavingStar lets you activate rebates for certain products and then redeem the rebates by scanning your receipts. Some items will only qualify if you buy them at certain stores, but many don’t require you to buy them at a certain store. You can cash out when you reach $20 in savings.
This is the only mobile app that once you activate an offer it stays in your account until the offer expires (even if they run out of the offer for others to activate it is still yours to use). To save the most you want to get in the habit of loading any and every offer you think you might use just so you have it saved for later!
Receipt Hog:
Recepit Hog is another receipt scanning app in which you earn coins for uploading receipts and occasionally taking surveys. Within signing up, I was able to quickly earn almost 300 coins through completing certain actions and playing the “slot” machine. You earn about 10-15 coins for smaller receipts, and uploading receipts lets you pull the slot machine and potentially earn more coins. You need 1,000 coins to get your first payout, which is worth about $5.
Receipt Pal:
Receipt Pal only deals with receipts, and each receipt is worth about 100 points. Once you earn 2,200 points, you can cash out for a $5 Amazon gift card. If you go to several stores a week and keep remembering to upload them, this one can pay off pretty quickly!
You can also link your email and earn extra points when you get email receipts to online stores.
Shopkick:
Shopkick isn’t just about scanning receipts, but you can earn “kicks” that way. You can also earn kicks by walking into stores, scanning items, and watching videos in the app. The value of 250 kicks is about $1 in gift cards. You’ll need 500 kicks before you can start to get rewards.
Makeena: Android | Apple
Makeena mostly deals with organic and natural products. You add offers, scan your receipts, and then earn rewards. You can cash out your earnings through PayPal or Venmo once you have earned $20.
GetUpSide: Android | Apple
A new way to save on gas, GetUpSide allows you to link a credit or debit card and get cash back on gas purchases all over the country. Save up to 15¢ off per gallon as participating stations. They are not in all areas yet, but it’s worth seeing what stations are in your city, plus checking when you are on the road!
Use code JENNY8792 when you sign up and you’ll get an additional 15¢ per gallon back on your first fill up!
TruNow: Android | Apple
TruNow focuses mostly on gas and helps you find the lowest gas prices as well as lets you receive an average of 2% back on gas purchases when you scan your receipts. You must take a picture of your receipt, and then you earn points. 100 points equals $1. You can then pay for gas with your points or cash them out with PayPal.
Having trouble keeping them all straight? I made a handy cheat sheet that you can print if you want to stay on top of the differences between all these apps.
Download the cheat sheet printable!
