Coupon and promo code tools to find the best deals can help you save money online with very little effort, giving you cash back and automatic discounts on your purchases.
We’re big fans of the Capital One Shopping browser extension. It’s a free, easy-to-use browser plug-in that automatically helps you save money while you shop online in the form of shopping credits that can be redeemed for gift cards. Earn a percentage off through shopping credits at thousands of partnered websites, save money through online coupon codes, price drop notifications on watchlist items and more with this powerful savings tool.
Overview: Best coupon apps and discount tools
- Our Pick: Capital One Shopping
- Best for shopping on Amazon: PayPal Honey
- Best for deal sharing community: Slickdeals
- consider more than one tool for deals with others that are also great for saving
Capital One Shopping
Capital One Shopping is a browser extension that every online shopper should have in their toolbar. Not only is it 100% free, but it only takes a few moments to install. And the best part is that it does all of the heavy lifting for you, from finding savings to alerting you when prices drop.
Capital One Shopping is one of the best free web browser extension and mobile app tools that automatically helps you find great deals and applies coupons and promo codes when you shop online to save you money.
You can also earn shopping rewards credits at participating retailers redeemable for cash value gift cards.
- Always 100% free to use
- Gets you the best deal available
- Easy to earn free gift cards as you shop
- Requires sharing your data
Once you install the extension, all you have to do is shop at your favorite stores and Capital One Shopping will search through thousands of other merchants to help you find a great price. If they find a better deal somewhere else, they will alert you and lead you directly to it. And if you are worried about missing out on coupon codes, don’t be. Capital One Shopping finds coupons from around the web and tries them automatically.
On top of the deals that Capital One Shopping finds for you, users can also earn credits to use towards purchases on popular sites. You can even go beyond the browser extension and download the app. On the app, you can easily scan product barcodes, or search for products themselves, and find out if there is a better price somewhere else. There’s also a watchlist that sends you an instant notification any time the item’s price drops, helping you stay on budget.
Note you don’t have to be a Capital One credit card customer to use this and save. So, if you haven’t made Capital One Shopping a part of your online shopping routine, it is time to take the plunge!
» MORE: Sign up free for Capital One Shopping or read our full Capital One Shopping review.
PayPal Honey
PayPal Honey, like Capital One Shopping, is a coupon app and browser extension that searches for the best coupon codes and automatically applies them to your online shopping cart so you can earn cash back.
Popular name in the finance world, PayPal, announced they were acquiring Honey for 4 billion in 2019. Since called PayPal Honey, it offers savings at thousands of retailers like Sephora, Target and Amazon. PayPal Honey is especially useful for purchasing and finding deals on Amazon with an Amazon price comparison tool and visible price history to ensure you’re getting some of the best prices.
Speaking of Amazon, it’s one of the 800+ stores (along with Walmart, Macy’s, Ulta) that PayPal Honey allows you to add items to a Droplist with. PayPal Honey will then notify you instantly if they detect a price drop so you can double-back and jump on it. You won’t miss sales with a Droplist.
PayPal Honey also you up to their free rewards program, PayPal Rewards, which lets you earn points on your eligible purchases when using the app or browser extension. Activate rewards and potentially save both with PayPal Honey while also earning rewards with PayPal rewards.
» MORE: Add Paypal Honey for free.
Slickdeals
Slickdeals is one of our favorite tools for deals and discounts because it’s community-driven.
If you find a deal while scouring the web, you can also post a deal on the website for others to enjoy. This type of social sharing isn’t done by most sites, and it allows you to find hidden gems for massive savings. This goes into the Slickdeals forums, which provide a fun way to share money-saving tips and deals with other users
Slickdeals also makes it incredibly easy to set up Deal Alerts. You can customize an alert to be sent to you, so you don’t miss out on big savings. For example, if you know you need a new laptop, you can set up an alert to be sent to you the moment Slickdeals finds a new discount offer on laptops. You can also personalize your front page on slickdeals to be more customized to what you’re interested in. This is a huge time-saver, so you’re not browsing through page after page, looking at products and services that don’t interest you.
We’ve also found slickdeals to have the most extensive variety of offers. You’ll find discount offers on groceries, video games, health and beauty, apparel, financial products and services, travel, and much more. You’ll also find the most popular deals (through votes and usage) immediately visible on the right-hand side of the page. Overall—this is our hands-down, go-to site for cash back and online deals.
» MORE: See deals on Slickdeals.
Also great
There’s an ever-increasing number of coupon apps and discount tools targeting the market share of people that shop online. These work off commissions and site advertising, which you’re likely aware of, but that also means there’s an incentive to provide you with a valuable service that can save you money and earn you cashback both by rewards and with coupons. You earn, they earn.
You don’t have to operate exclusively with one tool to save, so while we recommend the above, check out these also great options.
Earny
Earny is one of best cash back apps and free browser extension that can remove that frustration for you by securing you refunds on items where the price has dropped.
Earny helps you make sure you’re not leaving money on the table. It helps get up to 20% cash back when you’re online shopping and claim refunds if prices drop after you buy via their Price Protection. Earny offers a guarantee that if an item’s price drops after you buy something you will be refunded for the difference with a price adjustment. This protection applies to a number of popular stores, like Best Buy, Costco, Macy’s, Nike, Walmart, Home Deposit and more. That same up to 20% applies when you activate as you shop.
Like others on this list, there’s also a watchlist with Earny to help keep an eye on items you may want to buy. After you add items to your watchlist, you can immediately see the price history of the item and gauge the likelihood that the price will drop in the future before buying. If you can wait, just leave the item in your watchlist and when the price drops, you’ll get an alert. Earny also offers numerous features that enhance purchasing from Amazon.
» MORE: Save with Earny or read our full Earny review.
The Camelizer
You’ve probably heard of CamelCamelCamel if you’ve ever searched for deals on Amazon. The Camelizer is the free extension of that that can be downloaded or added to your browser, so more than just a really cool name.
The Camelizer offers instant access to price charts for Amazon, so you can track how an item’s price has moved historically — so you can see is it a sale that’s really ordinary price or a sale sale. You can do this directly from the product page on Amazon. You can also add items to your Amazon watchlist directly from your browser.
This app currently works in a number of countries Amazon operates in, including the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.
» MORE: Download The Camelizer.
Rakuten Cash Back Button
Earn cash back and apply coupons with just one click with the Rakuten Cash Back Button from shopping rewards website, Rakuten.
There are over 3,500 stores where this browser extension can find you deals and apply you coupons to earn cash back on your purchases. Some shopping options include Chewy, Nike, eBay, Disney and Sephora. Rakuten has offers with a wide-degree of cash back from a wide selection of rotating retailers, so you can compare retailers and adjust your shopping behavior as needed.
Using the app to make money fast is a pretty easy process: add Rakuten’s Cash Back Button, shop as always and click ‘activate cash back’ if it’s offered and just like that the coupon will be applied with the new price visible. Offers are also visible directly in Google search results to save you even more time.
» MORE Get the Rakuten Cash Back Button.
Ibotta
With Ibotta, you can get up to 30% cash back every time you shop at thousands of top retailers using the mobile coupon app or browser extension.
The Ibotta app displays a relevant button showing you much cash back you’ll earn as you’re shopping at popular retailers, like Sam’s Club, Walmart, Best Buy and Kohl’s. After activating and making the relevant purchase the cash back will display in your account usually within 24 hours.
You can also shop in-store and save with Ibotta if you utilize their receipt submission feature to save money on your grocery bill. Choose a retailer, add offers for products you plan to buy or are thinking about buying, and hit the store. After you check out, submit a photo of your receipt in the app to get cash back on all qualifying purchases. The cash back will work the same as though you purchased an item online.
Ibotta lets you redeem cash back once you reach a minimum of $20 as a deposit into your bank account, account with PayPal or for gift cards.
» MORE: Check out Ibotta.
Hip2Save
Hip2Save began as a blog from a mom who wanted to help friends and family save money. Fast forward ten years and it’s one of the most popular online deals sites in existence to find coupon codes, cash back offers, and more.
Hip2Save has many of the same features that the other online deal sites do, but it has many features that make it unique enough to be your go-to deals platform. First, you can become a Hip2Save Insider, which allows you to create your own profile so you can earn badges and get deals that are unique to you. Why waste time going through offers that don’t matter (like kids stuff if you don’t have kids) when you can tailor it specifically to your needs?
This can be in the form of the deals you see on the website to the newsletter offers you receive. And once you’re an Insider, anything you do on the site will earn you points that you can redeem for entries into exclusive contests and giveaways through Hip2Save.
For those of you glued to your phone, Hip2Save offers mobile apps like most other sites, but one thing we loved was the ability to receive text alerts for the hottest deals posted on the website. It’s filtered down so you won’t get bombarded with constant offers for everything—just the absolute best ones.
Finally, Hip2Save has a massive database of printable coupons. For those of you who like to shop in-store and use paper coupons, this is a win-win.
» MORE: Check out Hip2Save.
Groupon
Groupon now focuses on businesses that give people what they want—instead of shaking down desperate businesses on the brink of failure to give out deals. You get a discount because other people are buying the same deal and see details like how much time is left to purchase. These offers can help you save money off the cost of eating out.
Groupon was founded in 2008, which was during one of the most significant recessions our country has ever seen. Thus, it was timely. Andrew Mason, the founder, wanted to create a website that would allow people to get discounts by buying products and services as a group. But as Hillary Dixler Canavan of Eater writes, the company went through some bad times from 2011 to 2013. People stopped using Groupon the way they should have. Businesses began to avoid partnering with them. Early in 2013, Andrew Mason was fired as CEO. It took a few years, but Groupon has made a comeback in a big way.
Groupon offers more than just products, though. You can get similar deals and coupons for food, travel, and local services. You can even get coupon codes from major retailers like Amazon and Target. Groupon also formed a partnership with parking app ParkWhiz to help you find discounts on parking.
Living Social is another site nearly identical for Groupon that was a rival Groupon purchased in 2016.
» MORE: Check out Groupon.
The competition
These are some other names in the space, some super popular, that you may have heard of.
RetailMeNot
Odds are, you’ve heard of RetailMeNot. Many know this website because they searched for “[Product/Service] + promo code” on Google.
RetailMeNot is one of the top discount tools to find promo codes that users can nab for free (and provide feedback on), but they also have a robust cash back program that most overlook. By signing up for a free account, you can earn cash back on places you’re already shopping.
RetailMeNot also has a DealFinder—which is a browser plugin that detects where you’re shopping and will pull up cash back offers and promo codes during checkout.
Frugaa
Frugaa’s website may look like it’s from the mid-90s, but it doesn’t function like that. According to their website, they have over 40,000 coupon codes available, over 8,000 free shipping offers, and the average user saves a whopping $25 each time they use Frugaa.
Like most of these sites, you can search by merchant or category to find the discounts you’re interested in. What’s unique about Frugaa, though is their Savings Calculator found on the home page. You can filter your search by a particular category or merchant, then define what your spending budget is. Frugaa will then filter out the most suitable deals for you. So, if you’re in the market for a new crib, for instance, you can select the “Baby and Kids” category and choose a budget (i.e., $300) and find deals that are most relevant right away.
Brad’s Deals
Brad’s Deals is a great looking site that doesn’t shove offers in your face. It has a clean, accessible layout that allows you to find the best prices on products and services. Like many deal sites, Brad’s Deals finds the best prices for you. But, they have a few things that other places don’t, like shopping guides.
It’s like choosing a category on other deal sites, but it gives you more direction. For example, this shopping guide helps you find the best TV on any budget by filtering out the top deals and doing a quick write-up on each of the TVs they feature. Instead of just blasting you with a link that gives you 10% off at Best Buy, they are more thoughtful, and directive in helping you make the most educated purchase.
DealNews
DealNews is a big deals site with a ton of offers. One thing I really like about DealNews is that you don’t have to register for an account, so kind of like Slickdeals. That’s one less username and password I have to think about (and fewer email offers!). If you do want to register, though, you can. You’ll get deal notifications, be able to join discussions on offers, and save offers to your desktop or mobile app.
DealNews is straightforward and allows you to select the deal most applicable to what you need—whether by category or merchant—and make the purchase right away. They tend to not mess around with cash back or offers that require coupon codes. They just find the best deals on products and services.
How we picked the best coupon apps and discount tools
To find the best coupon apps and discount tools, we looked at what retailers were offered, ease of use, the selection of coupons and deals, and reputation as places to save. These are offerings we use, have used, or have researched and considered using at one time or another.
Who are the best coupon apps and discount tools for?
The best coupon apps and discount tools are for anyone who shops online through their computer, mobile device, or tablet. That’s more than 263 million Americans according to Stastista, which is 80% of the population and projected to continue to climb.
Coupon apps and free shopping extensions, like the ones we discuss in this article, can automatically save online and in-person shoppers cash back, rewards, and direct to the best deals and limited-time offerings.
Summary
It’s not hard to find good promo codes online, and it doesn’t even take that long anymore. You’re not waiting for the Sunday newspaper to clip coupons to hand to the cashier anymore.
There are a ton of options, but the apps and tools we include above are some of the absolute best in our opinion. We highly recommend Capital One Shopping, but others on the list also offer something completely unique to help you save.
Frequently asked questions
What’s a browser extension?
A browser extension is software application that adds custom features and functionality to your Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari or other browser. Shopping extensions, like the ones featured above, can help you find the best deals and save money.
How do shopping extensions work?
Shopping extensions provide discounts and/or allow you to compare prices across multiple retailers. This is by applying a coupon at checkout, sometimes automatically, or providing. They’re able to do this via app or shopping extension because you provide them access to read and edit content as it appears to you. That’s how a price is able to appear marked down on your end.
Are shopping extensions safe?
Yes, reputable shopping extensions are safe. You can protect yourself when using a shopping extension by doing your research and not providing access to a company that isn’t reputable or well-reviewed. You can read through the relevant privacy policy and also even turn off app access or extension access as needed.
How do you earn cash back?
Most of these tools for savings highlight a cash back button you need to activate if it’s relevant to the retailer. Others add them automatically as you surf from page to page. There are also options to submit receipts for rewards and cash back so you can still shop in person. You’ll earn with rewards, credit, or cash back as you shop or with coupons you’ll automatically save on total before you pay.