If you’re like me, you enjoy getting money back when you shop. Cashback programs are increasingly popular these days, offering people like you or me a chance to earn rewards on everyday spending — even things we were going to buy anyways.
In a recent survey of U.S. credit card users by Bank of America, 70% of people said cashback is the best perk that credit cards can offer. This highlights just how much the average person values cash rewards over points or miles. And, hey, cashback rewards go far beyond just credit card use cases, as they’re now at the heart of many store loyalty programs and apps that millions of people around the globe use daily. The US market is super saturated with cashback earning opportunities — the average American is signed up to over 15 reward and loyalty programs! And if that wasn’t enough to convince you, some of the biggest cashback platforms out there have now paid BILLIONS to users. For example – Rakuten has paid more than $1 billion to their 14 million+ US members at the time of writing, and the popular, publicly-traded earning app Ibotta has paid out users ~$1.5 billion!
TLDR: Cashback is a serious industry that is not going away any time soon.
In this article, we will cover the topic of, what types of cashback programs are out there? Our guide will break down the major categories, from (1) online cashback websites, to (2) cashback credit cards, to (3) a new breed of fintech-y apps, and finally, (4) bank-offered deals. We hope that by sharing a deep dive into the different types of cashback programs and how they work, we can help you figure out which ones are right for you.
Cashback Websites & Online Shopping Portals
Cashback websites and online shopping portals are a major type of cashback platform, and the one we feature most prominently on CashbackHQ. Platforms like these will either (1) give you a percentage of your purchase back when you shop at partner retailers through their links, or (2) give you a flat bounty ($5, $25, etc) upon completing a purchase or sign-up. How does the cashback site make money? Well, they earn a commission from the retailer for helping drive your purchase, and they then share part of that payout with you.
Example: Shopping at a Store like Nike through Rakuten might give you 10% cashback. Spend $100 and you’ll see $10 credited to your Rakuten account once the order is confirmed. Over time, these rebates can add up significantly.
- Rakuten: Over 12 million U.S. members, with $1 billion+ earned back.
- TopCashback: Known for high payout rates and passing along nearly 100% of commissions.
- RebatesMe: Newer platform, internationally based, recently came to the US.
- Mr Rebates: Legacy cashback platform that looks like it’s from 1999, but the core functionality is there and sometimes has great rates.
- Other platforms: Shopback, Shoptastic, FatCoupon, BeFrugal, Honey/PayPal Rewards, Swagbucks, RetailMeNot, and more.
To get started, check out our guide on what is cashback and how cashback works or dive into our detailed reviews — you can start with our Rakuten Review and TopCashback Review.
Cashback Credit Card Programs
Cashback credit cards are probably the highest awareness and most popular cashback products among US consumers. It’s pretty straightforward and easy to understand. When you spend using a cash back credit card, the card returns a percentage of what you spend as cash rewards. This is usually shared as a statement credit, a check, or a deposit to your account. Through our research, we’ve found that cashback cards typically offer anywhere from 1% to 5% back on purchases.
Some cards offer a flat cashback rate, meaning they give the same percentage return on everything (like 2% back). Other cards have bonus categories, like 3-5% on groceries, gas, or dining. There are also cards with rotating 5% categories each quarter (Chase Freedom Flex, I’m looking at you…). These will give you 5% on specific things like Amazon or gas stations. Annoyingly, you often have to “opt in” to the offers every quarter; this is how the Chase Freedom Flex works.
Example: The Citi® Double Cash card gives cardholders 2% back on all their purchases (1% when you buy, 1% when you pay). The Chase Freedom Flex℠ mentioned above gives 5% back in rotating categories and 1% on everything else. These rates sound like small earnings, but you’d be surprised how quickly these rewards can add up.
Retailer Cashback & Loyalty Programs
Unless you’re living under a rock, you’ll have seen how major US retailers like Amazon, Target, Starbucks, and others have their own loyalty programs that function as cashback programs. These types of programs are almost always free to join, and they’ll reward you with points, discounts, or store credit.
Examples:
- Starbucks: Earn “Stars” on your purchases to redeem free drinks and food.
- Target Circle: 1% back in Target credit on every purchase.
- Amazon Prime Rewards Visa: 5% back at Amazon and Whole Foods for Prime members. <– We LOVE this card, I use it for all my Amazon and Whole Foods! No annual fee!
- Costco Executive Membership: 2% back annually on Costco purchases (up to a cap)… there’s also an introductory membership which gives you access to Costco warehouses, but no cash back earning potential.
- Kohl’s Cash: Kohl’s loves giving customers coupons like $10 for every $50 spent… this is essentially a 20% cash back offer toward future purchases.
Now, retailer cashback/loyalty programs are usually “closed-loop,” which means you can only redeem them with that retailer. It wouldn’t make sense for Costco to reward you in such a way that you could take your cash back over to Target; it defeats the purpose of the reward offer, which is to promote loyalty. But, importantly, these offers can stack with credit card rewards and cashback portals.
Cashback Apps and Rebate Programs
Many companies in the fintech and general consumer app space have flooded into the cashback ecosystem with new app- rather than website-based experiences. Some of the most popular include:
- Shopback: Based in APAC, but expanding globally (and now in the US), these guys love giving really rich cashback offers on all sorts of things. They actually do have a website, but the experience is slicker in the app. They offer quests to give you an extra cashback boost.
- Fetch Rewards: One of the hottest new apps — they even had a Superbowl ad in 2024. You can earn cash back in a variety of ways, including scanning grocery receipts, making purchases or signing up for services, playing games, and more. All rewards are given to users as “Fetch points” which you can redeem in a variety of ways.
- Ibotta: This company, publicly traded under the ticker IBTA, gives cashback on groceries and online shopping by activating offers and uploading receipts. They claim that their users average about $260 in annual rewards.
- Upside: Another very powerful consumer cashback app that specializes in cashback on gas, groceries, and dining.
- Honey/PayPal Rewards: Browser extension that recently got into hot water due to their tracking cookies… Honey finds coupons and gives cashback in the form of points.
- Lolli: A newer offering based on Web 2.0. Lolli lets you earn Bitcoin rewards instead of cash for your online shopping.
What’s unique about cashback apps is they often gamify saving money and let you earn in new ways, from digital receipts to crypto rewards. No one would ever do receipt uploads on a cashback website; it would be a terrible experience. But in an app environment, it’s seamless. Like cashback websites and loyalty programs, most of these are free to use, though they often have payout thresholds before you can withdraw.
Bank Cashback Offers and Card-Linked Offers
If you’ve ever logged into your online banking portal, you’ve surely seen all sorts of special cashback offers there. Many banks and card issuers provide targeted cashback offers, often called card-linked offers (“CLO”). Examples include Chase Offers, Capital One Offers, BankAmeriDeals, and Amex Offers. Every credit card and banking company seems to have an Offers portal these days. These offers work like digital coupons — you just activate an offer in your bank’s app (like “10% back at Starbucks”), then pay with your linked card to earn the cashback as a statement credit, points, etc.
These deals are personalized based on your shopping habits, are often time-bound, and are usually capped (like “earn 11x points up to 2000 points” or “earn 20% back, up to a maximum of $30”). These types of offers are super easy to use and stack on top of your regular credit card rewards. However, they’re really annoying because you have to go into your portal, find the offer you want among hundreds or thousands of entries, activate the offer, then make your purchase. Not the best experience, but it is what it is.
How to Choose and Combine Cashback Programs
As you can see, there’s a lot of options for earning cashback rewards out there. It can definitely be overwhelming. We recommend finding the correct balance that matches your lifestyle, and if you’re new, start in small but sustainable ways. Here are some of our tips:
- Start with a no-annual-fee cashback credit card — easy to use, and you’ll get automatic rewards on your purchases. Choose one that just gives you a flat percent rate on all purchases before you get too wild optimizing for specific categories.
- Opt in to retailer loyalty programs for stores you frequent (Target, Costco, Starbucks, Amazon, etc.).
- Use cashback websites like TopCashback and Rakuten when shopping online to capture extra savings.
- Experiment with consumer cashback apps like Shopback or Fetch Rewards for groceries, gas, and restaurants.
- Activate card-linked offers in your banking app for bonus cashback at select merchants.
Whenever it’s possible, you should stack multiple programs together: use a cashback credit card, click through your favorite cashback website, and add your retailer-specific loyalty program — all on the same purchase. Done right, you can earn 5–10% (or more) back without much extra effort.
Example: I want to purchase a flight on Delta. I go into my Capital One account and find the Delta 11x miles boost, and activate it. I then go to CashbackHQ’s Travel Hub and find the Delta page, then use the comparison table there to identify which cashback website has the best cashback rate. I identify TopCashback as being the best, offering 6%. Then I click through, log in, and click through the Delta page redirect and log in there with my Delta SkyMiles account. Then I make my purchase.
In this example, I got:
- An 11x points boost via Capital One Offers
- 6% cash back via TopCashback
- Delta SkyMiles points
- 5% cashback for using my credit card
Just remember not to overspend chasing rewards. Cashback only makes sense on purchases you were already planning to make. Stay organized, track your rewards, and cash out regularly so you don’t miss any value.
Bottom Line
If you know what you’re doing, and nurture habits that you can repeat and sustain over the long haul, cashback programs are one of the easiest ways to generate long-term savings on your everyday spending. Whether you’re getting that cash back via a cashback credit card, cashback website, retailer loyalty program, bank offer, or cashback app, you’ve got seemingly endless opportunities to earn money back on your purchases. If you combine different types of cashback programs like in the above Delta example, you can maximize savings and keep a whole lot more money in your pocket.
If you found this guide useful, explore our full set of resources in the CashbackHQ Guides section for more expert tips.
