You are already buying groceries. Already filling up the tank. So why not get paid a little for it? That is the whole idea behind cash back apps. You shop like normal, snap a photo or link a card, and money trickles back.
But they are not all worth the space on your phone. I tested four of the big ones. One I use every week. One I tell people to delete. Here is the honest rundown.
| App | What it pays | How you get paid | Effort | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fetch | $10 to $30 a month | Gift cards only | 5 minutes a month | No cash option, points expire after 90 days |
| Upside | 5 to 25 cents a gallon on gas | Bank, PayPal, or gift cards | Claim, then buy | Forget to claim first and you get nothing |
| Amazon Shopper Panel | $10 a month | Amazon balance | 5 minutes a month | Up to a 6-month wait to even join |
| ReceiptJar | 1,000 points ($5) minimum | PayPal or gift cards | Snap receipts | People say they got locked out at cashout |
Fetch: the one that lives on my home screen
Fetch is the easy winner for most people. Any receipt works. Grocery store, drugstore, gas station, does not matter. You snap it, you get points, and 17 million other people are doing the same thing.
It pays in gift cards only, not cash. And you need 10,000 points to reach your first cashout, so it feels slow at the start. But it has paid out more than a billion dollars, so the money is real. Just do not let it sit. Ninety days of doing nothing wipes your points. My full Fetch review shows how to earn faster with special offers.
Upside: the best pick if you drive
Gas is not getting cheaper. Upside softens the hit. You claim an offer in the app before you fill up, pay with a linked card, and real cash comes back. Bank transfer or PayPal, not just gift cards. That matters.
The one rule you cannot forget: claim the offer before you buy. Miss that step and the deal is gone. It stacks with your credit card rewards too, which is a nice bonus. There are more than 100,000 spots, though rural folks will find fewer. See the full Upside review for the pending-payment issues I ran into. Real talk: $20 to $50 a month back on gas is doable.
Amazon Shopper Panel: nearly free money, if you can get in
This one is almost fully hands-off. You send in a few receipts, answer the odd quick survey, and Amazon hands you about $10 a month in credit. Run by Amazon, so the payout is as reliable as it gets.
Two catches. The payout is Amazon credit, not cash in your pocket. And there is a waitlist that can run up to six months. So join the list now and forget about it. By the time you are in, you will have forgotten you signed up. The Amazon Shopper Panel review has the full story.
ReceiptJar: the one I would skip
ReceiptJar looks fine on paper. It takes a wide range of receipts, even some local stores Fetch might miss. The cashout floor is low, just $5. There is even a PayPal cash option.
So what is the problem? Real people say they got their accounts suspended right at cashout, with points gone and no clear answer from support. When folks tell you they are not getting paid, listen. Skip ReceiptJar and go straight to Fetch. Same idea, far better track record. My ReceiptJar review lays out why.
The short version
Everybody should have Fetch. Drivers should add Upside on top of it. Get on the Amazon Shopper Panel waitlist while you are thinking about it. And leave ReceiptJar in the app store where you found it.