My Top 5 Cash Back Apps! 💰

These are my top 5 apps for getting easy cash back. I only pick the best and easiest apps to use. If it’s super complicated or requires me to buy stuff I usually wouldn’t then it’s not for me. No searching for deals and clipping coupons. Most of the time you can just set it up and forget about the. There is absolutely no catch to using any of these apps. They simply are promoting their partnered retailers with hopes you shop at their stores or buy their online offers. Using all these apps together I can usually get an extra $50-$100 every month! Who doesn’t want that?

Update: I recently got some cash back from one of these apps for a purchase I made for work with a company credit card. So, if you’re a person who has a lot of work related expenses, then using these apps with your company card is like getting super free money! You can link your company card and earn money in your personal account for things that your company pays for.

1. Drop

*** UPDATE ON DROP *** (12/15/21) : IT’S GOOD AGAIN!

Limited Time only (Dec 2021): GET $15 just for signing up and linking your card! You will also get $15 for every person you refer too!

12/15/21 Update: It’s a little different now, but it is very easy to use again. Once you link your card you become a “Premium Member” and this will actually earn you $1 a month in points for free. Every week, you activate all your offers at once with one button click and they last the whole week. Drop will send you a notification so you now when to do it. The premium offers are really good and they are for commonly used retailers like Amazon, Target, Starbucks, McDonald’s, etc. Becoming a premium member will also let you play mini games for earning points like snake and basketball. You also get to play the bonus spin game once a week.

Another improvement is that you can now cashout with Bitcoin. You can even earn interest (about 4% APY) on your Bitcoin by keeping it in the in-app wallet.

Here’s a free points breakdown estimate for a year. You get to play two games of basketball a day and you get to play one game of snake every five offers you do (just buying something on amazon counts as an offer). I get about 5 games of snake a month. The free spin every week I almost always get the 2000 bonus points ($2) for completing an offer. You also get $1 every month for being a premium member. I usually get 150 points per basketball game and 200 points per snake game (you could do better though).

• Premium Free $1/month = $12/year
• 2 basketball mini games every day = $0.15. × 2 × 365 = $109.50/year
• ~5 snake games a month = $0.20 × 5 × 12 = $12/year
• Bonus spins every week = $2 × 52 = $104/year
• Total = $12 + $109.50 + $12 + $104 = about $237.5/year = about $20/month
• So you could make about $20 a month for doing almost nothing

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Drop is the app that I have been using for the longest and for my money has the fastest and easiest system for generating rewards. You get points for shopping at certain retailers or signing up for offers through the app. The points can be exchanged for gift cards. They have tons of gift cards, including Amazon gift cards which are basically as good as cash nowadays.

When you first sign up for the app you pick 5 retailers that are your “Power Offers” (choose wisely because you cannot change these once you pick!). Shopping at these places with credit cards that are linked to your account is the main way to get points. The great thing is that the Power Offers list has a lot of places that you were probably just going to shop at anyways like Target, Walmart, Trader Joe’s, Safeway, 7-Eleven, Uber, and much more! I add every single credit card I have and just let the points roll in. I probably average about $10-15 in points a month this way.

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The second-best way to get points in Drop is to sign up for services/offers through the app. A lot of them are super easy and give a lot of points. Like, I got $30 in points for signing up for DraftKings and depositing a few dollars or $50 worth for signing up for a Sofi investing account and depositing $100. You can just take the money out of these accounts once you get your points in Drop! There’s lots of offers available so take a look and there might be some you were going to sign up for anyways. They’ve also recently added offers for downloading apps! For instance, you can get $12 for just downloading Final Fantasy and playing to a certain level.

Another thing! My wife and I have a joint credit card and she also has the Drop app so we get rewards on the same purchases! Definitely sign up your spouse if you can, you can refer them and get $5 each too. Every friend you refer will also get you $5!

Click here to download and use my code kpctl on sign-up to get a free $5!

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2. Dosh

Dosh is the third app that I use to generate completely passive cash. It works pretty much the same as Pei. I just link all the credit cards I want and if I happen to go to any of the retailers listed in the app then I get cash back. I don’t get as much money as I do from Pei or Drop, but it’s still free money. The main thing I get cash back from in this app is gas stations like Chevron, but there are also some other common places like Pizza Hut, Staples, Denny’s, Forever 21, and lots of local retailers. You can also book hotels and shop online through the app to get cash back.

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In fact, I recently purchased a hotel through the app and I think it’s one of the best features about Dosh in particular. There are tons of hotels available and the prices are comparable to other travel sites, but the cash back deals can be huge! I bought a 4 star hotel for $180 a night and got $22.90 back plus a $10 bonus for my first hotel booking. Lots of 3 and 4 star hotels gave a good percentage of the booking price back — even more than $100 cash back in some cases!

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Each friend you refer will earn you $5 as well! Click here to download and get a free $5 when you sign-up!

3. Ibotta

*** UPDATE ON IBOTTA *** (12/15/21) : I LOVE IBOTTA!

12/15/21 Update: Ok, Ibotta is actually amazing. The free offers alone make this app worth it. They always add new ones so always check the app for new freebies. There is even a page where you can see all the free items (see the last screenshot further down). However, now their “Pay with Ibotta” feature is gone. The main way to earn is to buy grocery items.

I’ve also made a video using Ibotta and getting some freebies:

The next app I use for cash back is Ibotta. This app is a little different than the other ones I mentioned before, and it has a lot of different angles. It’s mostly about buying certain products at stores and getting cash back if you upload your receipt, however some retailers let your link your loyalty card in the Ibotta app, so you don’t need to upload receipts. Kind of like a coupon after the fact. I don’t really like uploading receipts, having to search for offers, or do other extra steps to earn cash back, but I make an exception for this app sometimes. I make the exception because some of the offers are really easy, like upload any receipt and get a dollar (pretty much a free dollar if I remember to do it) or because some of the deals give pretty big cash back. Like the toothpaste I always buy is on here sometimes and it gives $1.50 back. This app also has big deals of beer, wine, and spirits so if you are going to a party or something check the app real quick and see what drinks are available.

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Getting the offers is great but I think an even bigger benefit of using this app is being able to shop in-store (or online) through the app. Shopping online works much like you’d expect and there are comparable deals on other apps and websites. However, shopping through the app in-store is more rewarding. It works like this: before you pay during checkout at a participating store, under “Pay with Ibotta” select your store. When you are in the checkout line, enter the amount of your purchase and then instantly it charges your linked credit card and gives you a gift card barcode to scan at the register (I recommend trying this in a self-checkout register first to get the hang of it). After paying through the app, you collect whatever the cash back offer was! Normally this wouldn’t sounds like something I would do, but it is really easy and works seamlessly. I like to use this at stores that give bigger cash back offers for paying through the app or that don’t have cash back offers in other apps. Some places to name a few: Home Depot, Lowe’s, Autozone, Petco, CVS, Express, Gap, theaters, restaurants, and much more! I’ve see clothing stores like Gap and Express give big cash back rewards like 7-9%! Restaurants like Chile’s, IHOP, Applebee’s, and Yardhouse, give nice discounts like 5-6%! Some places give as much as 10% cash back! Ibotta is definitely a nice app to have handy. You will also get $5 for every friend you invite, plus a $25 bonus if you sign-up 5 friends.

Click here to download and get $5 for free when you sign up!

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4. Rakuten (Formerly Ebates)

Rakuten (formerly Ebates) is an app that I would suggest looking at. It doesn’t provide passive cash back like the other apps above but what it does have is big cash back offers for shopping through the app and big referral bonuses. I would say, anytime you are going to make a relatively large purchase, see if there is a deal in this app. The referral bonus that I mentioned is $25 for you and the person if they spend $25 through the app. If there was something you were going to buy, you could refer your spouse and have them buy it through the app and you both could collectively get $50 plus whatever cash back. Rakuten is another good tool to have in your cash back utility belt.

Update: Rakuten recently release a card-linked cashback service like how Drop and Pei work. They’ve mainly been advertising it as cash back for dining at restaurants, but they might add other retail stores too. Definitely be sure to link your cards in the Rakuten app to earn more passive cash!

Click here to download and get $25 if you spend $25!

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5. Pei

*** UPDATE ON PEI *** (12/27/21) : PEI WILL BE DISCONTINUED ON 12/31/21!

12/15/21 Update: They got rid of the passive offers, so now you have to activate the offer before you use it. It takes more work and you forget a lot of time, but it is still usable. I’ve still managed to somehow make about $70 since the change. However, worse than that is that the app has become really buggy lately and the payouts are taking a long time. I had to move it down to #5 on the list. I am still leaving my original review below. Maybe they’ll return to their former glory.

Pei is the best app for earning passive money. All you need to do is link your cards, as many as you want, and just shop at places as you normally would. There are SO MANY places that give extra cash back. Like Target, Walmart, Starbucks, Chipotle, 7-Eleven, Trader Joe’s, Supercuts, Uber, Lyft, McDonald’s, and lots of local spots. I’m only listing a small number of places that I can remember, but it almost seems like every other place I go gets me cash back. Another cool thing is that you can either exchange your points straight up cash or Bitcoin! As of writing this article I have only been using Pei for about 2 weeks and I’ve already racked up $15! (UPDATE: as of 6/24/20, I have earned about $140 on Pei) Totally passive income, I don’t even look at it at all! Every friend you invite will net you $5 as well!

Click here to download and use my code xxok78 on sign-up to get $5 for free!

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Bonus Idea: One thing I like to do with all of the cash back dollars is invest them into the stock market. It’s fun to see the money you’ve saved grow into even more. Check out my other article to see 4 apps that can get you free stocks!