Deal Seeker
We review the top 10 best coupon and discount code apps from both iOS (iPhone) and Android. Why pay for something at regular price if there is a way to get it at a discounted rate? The end of World War 2 brought about a golden age of consumerism with the rise of the baby boomers. However, times have been shifting recently, and that golden age is showing signs of slowdown. Studies suggest that millennials, in particular, are earning less than previous generations.
This means that we have to start learning how to spend wisely for the upcoming years. Whether you’re an employee or an entrepreneur, it’s smart to save up money that can be used to make practical investments, such as property or stocks. When it comes to many of our everyday purchases, there are actually a lot of ways to make regular, recurring costs more efficient. By saving money on daily purchases and investing those savings on things that will bring about returns, you’ll be richer in the end!
Thanks to mobile technology, discount coupons are available anytime, anywhere. Special apps from Google Play or the App Store are designed to help you find discounts no matter where you are. Here’s a list of some of the best coupon & discount mobile apps out there:
DealNerd is a treasure trove of deals for the modern-day stylish techie and definitely a great place to find awesome deals.. The site offers huge savings on products of brands like Vimeo, Xero, Grasshopper, F-Secure, Trend Micro, 99 Designs, and Shoeboxed. They also offer discounts on style and lifestyle brands such as Athleta, Warby Parker, and Blue Apron. Sign up on their website today and get 5 great deals emailed to you every week!
Checkout 51 is a deal app that focuses more on grocery savings. No more need to flip through bulky coupon booklets while you do groceries. No need to argue with the cashier for coupon disputes, either. Their deals are updated weekly, every Thursday.
The app is simple to use. Simply buy products from any grocery, take a photo of the receipt, and earn your cash back. Every $20 savings that you make will be mailed to you in a check. Save on Walmart, Target, Safeway, Walgreens, Costco, Whole Foods, and more with Checkout 51.
You can also sort offers by store so you can find the coupons to use on your neighborhood grocery. Not only will you end up saving on typical grocery items like Coke, Gatorade, and bread; you’ll also be able to save up on household items such as Tide, Glade, and Pampers. As a bonus, the app is available in Spanish for those who are more comfortable speaking that language!
iBotta is another platform that focuses on cash backs. Cash backs are actually much easier to use than promo codes because there is no need to remember anything; just make purchases and cash backs are automatically added back to you! iBotta is a strong contender in this space as it has helped customers earn over $220M in cash backs.
You can compile the cash back rebates that you want to use before shopping, and then redeem them once you make purchases. After this, iBotta gives you the cash back via PayPal, Venmo, or even through gift cards. The service has a strong network of over 750,000 locations that include grocery stores, restaurants, and retail stores.
iBotta’s major partners are retail heavyweights like Walmart, Target, eBay, Best Buy, Bed Bath & Beyond, Trader Joe’s, and Whole Foods. They also have strong partnerships with apps such as Uber, Jet.com, Groupon, and Hotel.com. You’ll get a welcome bonus of $20 and $30 for each friend referral, so why not give iBotta a shot today?
RetailMeNot was named as the #1 Shopping App by People’s Voice Webby Awards 2015. It is basically a huge resource for discount codes for online shopping, coupons for restaurants, and even printable coupons that can be used for in-store shopping. The site is a treasure trove for deals on everything from pizza, such as Dominos and Papa Johns, to grocery items. Be prepared to spend time and browse a robust catalog of discounts on fashion items, beauty products, flights, and even car rentals with the RetailMeNot mobile app!
Most major retailers such as Amazon, Target, JCPenney, and Kohl’s are covered in their deals. RetailMeNot is best for retail shopping on the go because its features ensure that you never miss offers and deals from over 50,000 retailers. The app has a savings map which alerts you to offers in your area. There are also regular alerts that notify you of deals that you like. They also have a ‘scan’ feature that makes redeeming coupon barcodes with your phone easy. You can’t go wrong with RetailMeNot because it has a lot of great reviews from people whom they’ve helped save money through the years.
As its namesake suggests, Ebates is a deal app that focuses mainly on cash back based offers. Their cash back offers span a very wide range of products such as electronics, clothing, cosmetics, fashion, travel, and so much more. Ebates wll allow you to save at over 2,000 online and physical retail stores like eBay, Groupon, Kohl’s, Sepora, Macy’s, Michael Kors, and Neiman Marcus.
The way it works is pretty easy. First, you sign up for a free shopping account where you get a $10 bonus for your first shopping purchase! From here, you can select cash back rewards of up to 40% from a catalog of over 10,000 coupons! You also get cash back rewards when you shop at their partner stores. The cash back rewards are then given to you either via check or PayPal.
Ebates also features the top coupons every week to make sure that you get updated deals. Some of their partners, such as Booking.com, Dell, Dyson, AT&T, Nike, and Hotels.com even offer double cash back promos from time to time. Ebates has appeared on the New York times, CNN, and The Wall Street Journal so you can be sure that they are very trustworthy.
SlickDeals is the largest deal-sharing community on the web. The service is used by millions of people to get discounts from stores like Kohl’s, Walmart, and Macy’s. All the popular deals are consolidated at the front page so you know which items are in-demand. All the discounts & coupons are regularly monitored by the SlickDeals team, and the very best are hand-picked to become part of the site’s ‘featured deals’ section.
The best part of SlickDeals is their forum, where people can discuss and help each other find the best deals and discounts out there. Forum members can also do product reviews and even exchange feedback, if they wish.
Like a lot of the other services in this list, SlickDeals also has a deal alert feature that pushes notifications to your phone depending on the things that you like. Daily coupon updates means that the site has no expired deals. SlickDeals is more geared towards men, with offers involving credit cards and electronics, but there’s still definitely a lot here for women too.
The Coupons App is focused mainly on coupons, as its name suggests. They bring you coupons for stores, restaurants, and gas stations straight to your fingertips. In fact, they deliver daily updated cash saving coupons to your phone every day!
This means that you don’t need to print coupons anymore because it’s so convenient. Notifications are delivered to you based on your favorite stores. You can even check gas prices with the app, and if you’re lucky, save even more money with coupons!
Finally, The Coupons App also has weekly giveaways and contests for its users. You can add expiry dates to your calendar so you know which coupons to use by when. Make sure you share coupons with your friends, so that everyone is a winner!
Another coupons app that will help you save hundreds of dollars with free, paperless grocery coupons. Shop at Walmart, Target, Safeway, Costco, Dollar General, and even your favorite grocery store to enjoy discounts from Coupons.com. Their nearby alerts feature will let you know offers in the area while you drive around town. Saving money will be effortless, because Coupons.com will allow you to put away the scissors and use your phone to manage shopping coupons without the need for a printer.
It works by linking your Coupons.com account with your store’s loyalty card. After the link is made, all you have to do to manage coupons is to add them to your card. They have cash back offers via PayPal too. Their deals will allow you to save on a lot of brands such as Tide, Bounty, Cheetos, General Mills, Campbell’s, Dole, Kraft, Pantene, Crest, M&M’s, Betty Crocker, and so much more.
You can still earn at stores with no loyalty cards by sending a pic of the receipt. Coupons.com won the Appy Award for Marketing, Branding, and Advertising on May 2017. They also won the Best Designed Mobile App Award from Best Mobile App Awards on April of the same year.
SnipSnap is quite different from all the other apps in this list. There are times when you’d have deals on newspapers or magazines that you won’t be able to find in apps. This is where SnipSnap comes in.
SnipSnap allows you to take a picture of any printed offer, and convert all the elements such as text, images, and barcodes into a mobile-optimized format. You no longer have to bring the coupons that you; simply snap them with the app and present it to the cashier as you would do with a physical coupon.
It also has a ‘discover’ feature that will allow you to see what your friends have snapped. Featured coupons are available from their massive database. Finally, they have coupon expiration and nearby deals reminders, like most of the apps in this list.
Another deal app focused on helping you save on your groceries. SavingStar’s deals are much bigger than regular grocery coupons, and start with at least $5 worth of discounts on any given offer. They also have a ‘healthy offer of the week’ for fruits and veggies that health buffs will surely love!
SavingStar works by linking with supermarket and drugstore loyalty cards. They are partners with over 100 chains such as Walmart, Target, Safeway, Albertsons, Kroger, CVS, and Walgreens. The service is very trustworthy, and has been featured in The Wall Street Journal and Time Magazine.
