It’s likely that you do some form of shopping nearly every single day. You buy gas for your car. Get a coffee at Caribou. Pick up some groceries. Get lunch at work. Since it takes spending money to get through the week, why not earn some of that money back? How? By using apps that pay you to scan grocery receipts.
In this article, we’re sharing the best apps that will pay you for scanning receipts. Read on for detailed information about each one.
Table of Contents
Top Apps That Pay You to Scan Receipts
Some of these apps pay you to scan grocery receipts. Others pay you to scan grocery receipts and other receipts as well.
Get the details on each app and download the ones that best fit in line with your shopping habits.
1. Ibotta
Ibotta has been giving cash back on everyday purchases since 2012. In fact, the company has paid out over $1 billion in cash back to date.
The Ibotta app lets you get cashback for both online purchases and in-store purchases at over 1500 partner stores and brands. Here’s how each method works.
Online Purchases
When you’re shopping on your PC, simply add the Ibotta browser extension to your Chrome browser.
Then log in with your Ibotta email address. The browser extension will automatically pop up when you’re on a partner store website.
Activate the extension and earn cashback on your purchases.
You can earn cash for shopping at partner stores if you’re on your smartphone or another mobile device too.
All you have to do is download the Ibotta app. When you shop at a partner store through your device, the app will automatically credit you for your purchase.
In-Store Purchases
Ibotta lets you earn cashback when you’re shopping in-store as well. Just start by downloading the mobile app on your phone or another device.
From there, Ibotta works much like many of the other best coupon apps work. You find deals you want to save on and then buy the item that’s featured.
You can scan grocery receipts by taking pictures of them through the app. Or you can link a store’s loyalty card to the Ibotta app and get automatic credit for purchases.
Ibotta has a minimum payout threshold of $20.
Once you’ve reached that minimum, you can cash out in a few different ways:
- Send money to your bank account (if it partners with Ibotta)
- Transfer money to your PayPal account
- Choose from available retailer gift cards
Note that some gift cards have a minimum amount of $25.
2. Fetch Rewards
Fetch Rewards was started by college sophomore Wes Schroll in 2013. Today, the app has 13 million active users.
One thing that’s different about Fetch Rewards is that it lets you earn cashback on any receipt from any store. Here’s how it works.
After you download the Fetch Rewards app, just use the app to snap a picture of the receipt from every purchase you make.
Fetch Rewards will put points into your account for every receipt. If you’ve made a purchase from one of the Fetch Rewards partner brands, you’ll earn additional points.
You can also earn points for taking advantage of offers sent to you by Fetch Rewards or by referring friends who sign up and use the app.
Then you can use your points to get free gift cards to popular retailers such as Visa and/or Amazon.
Bonus: Fetch Rewards has sweepstakes and contests for members where they give away gifts such as $1,000 Visa gift cards. See the Fetch Rewards website for details.
Note that the minimum cashout threshold will be higher on your first cashout than it will be on subsequent cashouts.
3. Receipt Hog
Receipt Hog is a free mobile app that was founded in 2016 and pays you for submitting pictures of any receipt from any store.
You can also connect online accounts to your Receipt Hog app to get credit for purchases.
If you’re shopping from your PC, just add the Receipt Hog browser extension to your Chrome, Firefox, or Edge browser and get automatic credit for your purchases.
Every time you make a purchase and/or snap a receipt, you’re eligible to earn rewards called “coins.”
You can also earn coins by participating in sweepstakes drawing and by reaching bonus levels.
Then you can use your coins to get PayPal money, Visa gift cards, or Amazon gift cards. See the Receipt Hog website for additional information on earning and cashing out.
4. TopCashback
TopCashback has been in business since 2005 and has over 20 million members. With TopCashback, you’ll earn cashback from over 4,400 partner retailers.
The cool thing about using this site is that it will pay you cashback on any purchase, whether it’s groceries or something else.
Some of the retailers TopCashback partners with include:
- BJ’s Wholesale Club
- Walgreens
- Costco
- Uber Eats
- Petco
- Home Depot
- Lowe’s
- Bed, Bath and Beyond
You can get cashback from travel and hotel bookings as well, and from clothing and shoe stores too.
Just connect to the online retailer you want to shop at through the TopCashback portal.
After you complete your purchase, TopCashback will send you the commission portion that the retailer paid to them.
You don’t even have to scan any receipts. As long as you are accessing the retailer and completing the purchase through the TopCashback portal, you’ll be credited with your reward.
You can take your earnings out via PayPal, Visa, or other retailer gift cards, or you can have the money transferred to your bank account.
5. ReceiptPal
ReceiptPal is a website that uses the information from your paper receipts and some online shopping sources and combines it with other user purchases to help companies develop better products and services.
All you have to do is snap a picture of your receipt and ReceiptPal will reward you with points for each receipt.
Then you can use your points to get gift cards to a variety of retailers including Walmart, Chipotle, Domino’s Pizza, Starbucks, Target, or Visa.
Note that the Visa gift cards have special terms such as expiration dates.
Another cool thing about ReceiptPal is that you earn points for online purchases such as Amazon purchases as well.
Just connect the email address you use for online purchases to your ReceiptPal account, and ReceiptPal will reward you when it sees that you’ve made an online purchase.
ReceiptPal also has a weekly cash sweepstakes contest. As long as you are meeting the requirements for submitting receipts, you can get one or more entries into each sweepstakes contest.
The ReceiptPal app is available for both Apple and Android.
6. Shopkick
Shopkick was founded in 2009 and, according to its website, is on a mission to become your favorite shopping app.
The app gives you several ways to earn points, called “kicks”, for your purchases.
For instance, you can earn points on purchases just by linking your Visa or Mastercard debit or credit card to your Shopkick account.
You can earn kicks by snapping pictures of receipts from purchases at eligible stores too. Or you could earn by making purchases of items featured by Shopkick.
Shopkick will also give you kicks just for walking into certain stores or for scanning barcodes from specific products.
You can earn kicks for in-store purchases or online purchases.
Then you can use your kicks to get gift cards from retailers such as:
- PayPal
- Amazon
- Best Buy
- Starbucks
- Target
- American Eagle
- Barnes & Noble
Bonus: You can earn kicks when you invite friends and loved ones to sign up and use the Shopkick app as well.
The Shopkick app is available for both Apple and Android devices.
SIGNUP BONUS: Use the promo code COUPONPROJECT at signup to get a free $5 gift card!
7. Rakuten
Rakuten is one of the oldest cash-back shopping sites, having launched in 1997. You might also know this site by its former name of Ebates.
Rakuten will pay you cashback when you shop online through its portal. Since its inception, Rakuten has paid its members over $1 billion in cashback.
Rakuten partners with over 3,500 stores to give cashback to its members.
Some of the stores you can get cashback rewards from when you shop through Rakuten include:
- Walmart
- Target
- Lowe’s
- Macy’s
- Ulta
- Petsmart
- Kohl’s
- Sam’s Club
You have to access the online store you want to shop at through the Rakuten portal–and complete your purchase through the portal–if you want to earn your cashback amount.
Payments for your cashback earnings are sent out quarterly. You can choose to have your payment sent via PayPal or via a check mailed to your mailing address.
Note that you can get cashback from shopping purchases made in-store as well. Just link your debit or credit card to your Rakuten account.
Then activate the offer you want to take advantage of when you walk into the store, and Rakuten will automatically credit you cash back for your completed purchase with that card.
Note that in-store purchases can apply to only one store at a time. For that reason, you’ll have to go into your Rakuten account and change the store you’re shopping at when going from store to store.
RELATED: 12 Sites Like Slickdeals: Best Places to Find Deals Online
8. NCP
NCP (National Consumer Panel) has been gathering member opinions for nearly 30 years in order to help companies choose which products to develop and market.
When you join NCP, you’ll get access to the company’s exclusive app. But instead of scanning your receipts, you’ll scan barcodes on the items you purchase.
You’ll be awarded points every time you make a qualifying submission to NCP. Then you can use your points to get prizes such as free retailer gift cards, kitchen accessories, clothing, and more.
Bonus: You can earn points for other activities too such as taking surveys or joining focus group studies.
NCP has a members-only sweepstakes contest too that runs regularly. You can win up to $5,000 when you enter into NCP’s sweepstakes contests.
9. Checkout 51
Checkout 51 will pay you for taking advantage of offers and then scan grocery receipts after you buy.
You’ll start by downloading the Checkout 51 app. From there, you’ll browse the app as often as you’d like to view new offers.
You can find offers for groceries, gas purchases, and other purchases as well. Offers apply to both in-store and online purchases.
Some of the offers you see can be claimed multiple times while others can only be claimed once. Tap into the offers to get details. However, each receipt can only be used once.
Some of the brands and stores Checkout 51 will pay you for buying from include Unilever, Shell, Nestle, Dollar General, P&G, and others.
Let the app know which offers you redeemed, and then scan grocery receipts containing those offers.
You’ll earn cashback for every offer you take advantage of. As soon as your cashback balance reaches at least $20 you can cash out.
Your money is sent to you via mailed check.
10. Coupons.com
Coupons.com is a popular coupon app that allows you to print coupons to shop with at the store or digitally snip coupons to shop online.
You can also get your cashback from coupon offers by submitting your receipt. You can take a photo of your receipt with your phone using the Coupons.com app.
Or, if you are a member of the loyalty program at the store containing your offers, you can just link your loyalty card to your Coupons.com account.
When you link your loyalty card, Coupons.com will do all of the work of finding the purchase you made and crediting your account with the money savings.
Then Coupons.com automatically transfers your money saved to your PayPal account within one week of the verified purchase.
Coupons.com is one of the best places to get coupons because the site makes it so easy to save money. Sign up today to save money on everything from groceries to pet supplies and more.
Summary
Using apps to save money on everyday purchases is a great way to stretch your dollar further.
The best apps that pay you to scan grocery receipts or record purchases cover a variety of types of purchases.
Try out a few of them in order to discover which money-saving apps are best for you.
