Unlike the old way of clipping coupons from newspapers and presenting them at the checkout counter, apps are now one of the major ways of saving money when going out on groceries.
These apps do a lot of things for the consumer, like offering discounts, providing coupons, or converting your purchases to cashback.
Taking advantage of these apps can earn you hundreds to thousands of dollars!
Stay with me as I introduce the best apps to use whenever you go grocery shopping.
I will also discuss their pros and cons, how to get them, and all other details that will help you decide if they fit you well. Read on!
1. Ibotta ($10 Bonus)
What I Like
- Completely free
- Over 2,000 participating retailers
- Multiple payout options
What I Don’t Like
- Requires effort to search for cashback offers
- Need at least $20 for cashout
- Still need to take photos of the receipts
Want to be one of the 50 million users who save an average of about $256 yearly on your shopping? Then you need to keep Ibotta handy!
As a completely free cashback app, Ibotta’s user-friendly interface, bonuses and referral rewards, and more than 2,000 participating retailers make shopping a better experience for you.
For in-store shopping, you can also link your store loyalty account to Ibotta to automatically detect purchases.
This is an advantage for shoppers like me who sometimes forget to scan receipts after shopping — a necessary process to get your cashback!
For online shopping, you can avail of the deals through Ibotta’s browser extension or through the app itself.
Once you reach $20 worth of cashback, you can conveniently cash out through your PayPal or bank account or avail yourself of a gift card from one of Ibotta’s retailers.
2. Checkout 51 (All-Around Savings)
What I Like
- Completely free
- Most offers are not store-specific
- Loyalty cards can be linked
What I Don’t Like
- Offers are available for a limited period
- Loading of receipts follows a weekly deadline
- Limited options for payout
Like Ibotta, Checkout 51 is an app that earns you more cashback as you shop more. An advantage of Checkout 51 is that aside from groceries, you can also earn rewards as you gas up!
You get to select offers first on the app, then proceed to shop in-store or online.
After checking out, you must upload a photo of the receipt to verify your purchase.
What I love personally about Checkout 51 is that the deals are not store-specific. Fulfill an offer by going to any grocery store, drug store, or convenience store nearest your area!
Earn enough to reach $20, and you can already cash out via paper check, PayPal, or electronic gift card.
3. Instacart (Grocery Delivery Service)
What I Like
- Wide range — available throughout the United States and Canada
- Can do same-day delivery
- Have partnerships with several huge grocery store chains
What I Don’t Like
- Need Instacart+ to remove delivery fees and reduce service fees
- Items cost more than in-store purchases
- Not available in some rural areas
Grocery delivery services, like Instacart, are very popular because of the convenience they offer.
They also became a safer option for bringing food to your home, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
One of the best aspects of Instacart is its scope. It has partnerships with about 40,000 grocery stores, and you can use it all over the United States and even in Canada!
Downloading the app is free, as well as the first delivery, so long as your items are above $35.
However, you need to subscribe to Instacart+ to continue enjoying free delivery and reduced service fees.
When you use Instacart, you save on gas because you don’t physically travel to the grocery store, and you also save on time you can convert to be more productive!
- Best for: Meal delivery
- Available on: iOS and Android
- Price: Free to download and for the first delivery worth over $35; Instacart+ is $99/year
4. Capital One Shopping ($10 Bonus)
What I Like
- Completely free
- Partnered with over 30,000 retailers
- Generous with coupon codes
What I Don’t Like
- Lacks cashback redemption option
- Gift card options are also limited
- “Best price” feature is not always accurate
If you are not too fond of searching for coupons but still want to save on your shopping spree, let Capital One Shopping do all the work for you!
Capital One Shopping is a completely free tool that you need to install on your browser or mobile app.
Once done, it helps you save money through these three ways:
- It automatically searches for online coupons and promo codes.
- It compares prices with various retailers.
- It earns you shopping credits.
With over 30,000 partner retail stores, you will never run out of options, and the best thing about the app is that it assists you in landing the best deal without breaking a sweat!
However, take note that your credits can only be redeemed for gift cards from participating retailers and can not be converted to cashback.
5. Dosh (Automatic Rewards)
What I Like
- Rewards are mostly automatic
- Multiple payout methods
- Also earns cashback for hotel bookings
What I Don’t Like
- Does not work for those using cash
- Can only link Visa, Mastercard, and American Express cards
- Low referral rate at only 10%
Unlike other cashback apps that need you to upload receipts, Dosh automatically takes care of earning your rewards for you.
You must first link your debit or credit card to your Dosh app, and then you earn rewards automatically by using these cards for grocery and retail shopping, as well as dining!
You can even earn points when you book with any of its 600,000 partner hotels globally!
You also only need to reach $15 for you to cash out through your PayPal or Venmo accounts.
On the other hand, if you are fond of making cash purchases, then this app will not work for you since you can only earn rewards by linking your cards.
Another point of improvement for Dosh is its low payout for its referral program. They only give out $10 for every successful referral compared to the $20 to $30 offer from competitors.
6. Mealime (Meal Planning Made Easy)
What I Like
- Highly customizable
- Shopping list is auto-generated and organized from chosen recipes
- Recipes have excellent diversity and are crafted by dietitians
What I Don’t Like
- Importing recipes from the web is not a seamless task
- Shopping list categories and stores are not customizable
- Lacks inventory list, freezer management, and saved meal plans
Are you fond of meal deliveries? How about healthy options for your current diet? Mealime combines the best of these two aspects into one very useful app.
With more than 4.5 million users, Mealime can customize your diet for you, with the option to avoid 12 allergens and about 124 disliked ingredients.
As you build your meal plan with recipes developed by dietitians, Mealime makes things even easier by generating a shopping list for you and sending your list to a grocery store app, or you can shop from the list.
With Mealime, you get simple, no-frills, and healthy meal planning that is fit for your preferred taste.
The best thing about this is that you get to save money because you get all these services for free!
Meanwhile, the paid version of the app is just $2.99 a month and gives you access to more exclusive recipes, advanced nutritional information, and recipe personalization.
7. Fetch Rewards (Earn Points for Gift Cards)
What I Like
- Completely free
- No need to pre-select deals prior to shopping
- Excellent customer service support
What I Don’t Like
- Cannot link to store loyalty cards
- Redemption is only through gift cards
- Rewards expire if no receipt is scanned for 90 days
Fetch Rewards, or simply Fetch, is a completely free app that earns you points as you do your normal grocery and retail shopping.
If you have a referral code from a current user, you can use that code to sign in and earn a bonus of $2. It will also give the user 2,000 bonus points.
With over 300 brand partners, you get extra points when you shop for their products.
Different brands earn you different points. You just need to make sure to remember to scan the receipts to add the points to your account.
Once you reach at least 3,000 points, you can already exchange them for gift cards from well-known brands like Walmart, Apple, and Hulu.
This will save you a lot of money as you shop using your gift cards at your favorite store. In fact, using Fetch is also mentioned in one of our articles on how to save more money on groceries.
Meanwhile, if you want to do a special deed, you can redeem these points for donations to selected major nonprofit organizations.
8. Cozi Family Organizer (Surprisingly Simple Family Organizer)
What I Like
- Calendar keeps family appointments and activities organized and can be synced with iCal and Google Calendar
- You have the option to add in other family members
- Shared password keeps things simple
What I Don’t Like
- Free version has a lot of advertisements
- Lacks an in-app communication or chat system
- Does not have a virtual vault to store important documents
With the hustle and bustle of daily family life, we all need a little assistance when it comes to organizing everything that is going on in our families.
The Cozi app promises to make family life simpler since its inception in 2006.
Here are some of the things the app does for its 20 million users:
- Track all daily members’ activities and share them with everyone.
- Manage school and office events, doctor and dentist appointments, vacations, and more!
- Provides automatic notifications and agenda emails to all family members.
- Share grocery, shopping, school supplies, to-do lists, and more!
- Manages travel plans.
With this app, every member of the family stays on top of things and reminds everyone what events or tasks need to be prioritized for the family.
Cozi Gold, the app’s premium version, is $29.99 a year and gets rid of the ads.
It also adds a lot of features, such as calendar search and change notifications options, a shopping mode, and a family address book.
9. Rakuten (10% Cashback Bonus)
What I Like
- Completely free
- Thousands of partner retailers
- Need to accumulate only $5 for payout
What I Don’t Like
- Offers do not track correctly occasionally
- Payouts are only allowed quarterly
- Lower cashback rates compared to competitors
Rakuten, previously known as Ebates, is a free-to-use app that takes pride in its 20 million users, who have earned about $3.2 billion in total cashback since 1999 through their 3,500 retail store partners!
Signing up through the mobile apps or through the browser now can earn you a 10% cashback bonus for all your purchases made in your first seven days.
With Rakuten, you need to do some searching first before you shop, whether online or in-store, since you need to activate offers first.
When you shop in-store, though, you need to link your Rakuten account to your credit or debit card to track your purchases.
However, with this app, you need to wait every quarter to cash out your earnings, which should reach a minimum of $5.
10. Swagbucks (Earn Extra Cash and Gift Cards)
What I Like
- Tasks can be done online or through mobile phone
- Wide variety of activities for earning points
- Easy to accomplish projects
What I Don’t Like
- Many of the projects earn low points
- Other activities require you to spend first before you earn
- Still need to qualify to participate in some surveys
Swagbucks is an entertaining app that allows you to earn money while being entertained.
As you do fun tasks or projects, you can earn points and convert them to gift cards or extra money through PayPal.
Here are some of the entertaining ways you can earn Swagbucks (SB) points:
- Answering paid surveys
- Watching videos
- Completing tasks online
- Shopping online
- Searching the Internet
- Testing new products
- Playing games
You just need to select tasks that can earn you more Swagbucks points with less time and effort.
I personally save money for groceries with Swagbucks by exchanging my points for Amazon or Walmart gift cards.
Pro Tip: Accomplish Swagbuck’s daily poll to earn 1 SB in a few seconds. Just answer a single multiple-choice question and get paid quickly!
- Best for: Earning gift cards and extra money in your free time
- Available on: iOS and Android
- Price: Free
11. Shopwell (Better Food Choices)
What I Like
- Easy to adjust diet settings
- Provides suggestions on products that are good matches
- Includes alerts for food allergies and food goals
What I Don’t Like
- Information on the home screen is rarely updated
- No instructions on how to use many of the features
- Some missions are unclear
For those who are serious about improving their eating habits, Shopwell is a reliable partner in this journey.
As you download the app, it will help you know your dietary habits, including your food preferences, dietary goals, and any health conditions you are presently managing.
Once done with the registrations, Shopwell will create personalized food scores for you using an algorithm developed by a professional team of registered dietitians, statisticians, and engineers.
As you scan food barcodes, the app will score the items red, yellow, or green based on how they match your plan. If you score low, it will recommend healthier alternatives.
This helps you save money by focusing your budget on what you exactly need to stay healthy!
12. Flashfood (Up to 50% Off or More!)
What I Like
- Very high discount rates
- Advocacy helps reduce food wastes
- Offers $5 referral credit
What I Don’t Like
- Only a limited selection of items is available at any given time
- You may need to wait in line at customer service counters for pick-up
- Does not accept refund requests through the app
If you want really huge discounts on food items, and I’m talking as high as 50% and above, try downloading Flashfood on your Apple or Android devices.
The catch is that these items are nearing their best-before dates.
Now, if this does not bother you and you can consume these items right away, then you can also help the environment by reducing food waste and carbon footprint.
At a certain time, I was able to get some Schneider’s bacon for only $2.44, which is 55% off its regular price of $5,44.
I was also able to purchase some Monk’s cinnamon bread for only $1.60, a big dip from its usual $3.99 tag.
As you create an account in Flashfood, you need to go to “payments” first, where you need to link your credit card.
After selecting the store near your area where you wish to shop, browse the deals and place your order.
The items will need to be picked up at the customer service area of your selected store.
13. Flipp (All-In-One Shopping Tool)
What I Like
- Wide range of over 2,000 stores
- Allows you to do a lot of functions, from creating shopping lists to searching for the lowest-priced items
- Intuitive and user-friendly
What I Don’t Like
- Options for other items outside of groceries are limited
- Only works in the United States and Canada
- Does not sync with other major apps like Google Shopping List/Alexa
When it comes to providing the best experience in saving money, Flipp delivers on this promise on a regular basis.
Flipp is a virtual shopping assistant that does it all for you with the following features:
- It goes through 2000 ads weekly to select deals based on your shopping list and location.
- Once you create a shopping list, it will generate all available and related discounts, coupons, and loyalty offers.
- It provides an instant list of all the trending deals available in nearby stores.
- You can manually search saving options for a specific store, item, or brand.
- It allows you to quickly find and load all the relevant digital coupons to your store loyalty cards.
On top of all this, I find the app easy to learn. Due to its automation features, it saves you not just money but time as well.
Further, if you have a shopping buddy, Flipp has a feature that allows you to share your grocery list with your partner so you can divide and conquer your grocery tasks.
How Do These Grocery-Saving Apps Work?
With all the advantages these money-saving grocery apps offer, you might be questioning their credibility, especially since most of them are completely free to download.
How do these apps survive when they are giving coupons and discounts like crazy?
Do not worry. Most of these legitimate apps do not just survive – they thrive through a system called affiliate marketing.
As they promote the stores, products, and brands, they gain commissions and credits from the sales they generate.
What you get is these apps’ way of sharing those commissions with you. The more you shop, the more sales you generate for the products and stores, the more they can share, and the more you save!
How to Get Started
Understandably, having so many choices for these money-saving apps may confuse you as to what to bring along with you as you do your groceries.
To start, since most of these are free, there is no harm in downloading multiple apps on your Apple or Android devices or even on your desktop.
In terms of priority, though, I suggest that you match your shopping habits with the app that best fits those.
For example, if you love using gift cards, Capitol One Shopping or Fetch may be right up your alley. If you are into healthy or environmental choices, Mealime, Shopwell, or Flashfood may work for you.
Experimenting with these apps will not cost you anything at all, so enjoy the process and enjoy your savings!
Have you decided so far what grocery app will best help you with your savings goals?
We are excited to hear your thoughts and ideas in the comments below. Feel free to ask any questions about these apps, too!