Best Apps That Save Money On Groceries: 15+ Free Tools To Cut Costs On Your Grocery Budget

Digital innovations in recent years have created a number of great, free apps that save money on groceries and help keep money in your pocket. Whether it’s earning cash back rewards on your grocery purchases or sourcing digital coupons in a matter of seconds, your phone and computer are money saving machines.

The average family spends upwards of $7,700 on food over the course of a year. Wouldn’t it be nice to save $5 or $10 per shopping trip without much effort? How about the ability to earn 1%, 2% or 5% cash back on those purchases?

With the simple click of a mouse or tap on your phone you could be cutting those costs in a few minutes of work each week.

The money you save can be used to support your more meaningful financial goals. Take advantage of these apps that save money on groceries

Checkout 51: Save Big On Groceries (Free $5 Bonus)

Checkout 51 is a free app that helps you save money on your grocery and household item purchases. The Toronto-based company was founded in 2012 and the app is available through both the App Store and Google Play for Canadians and Americans.

Every Wednesday night the app refreshed with a collection of new offers for you to load and then redeem. These offers run across every department, aisle and category of the grocery store. From produce and meats to bathroom toiletries and junk food, Checkout 51 gives their users a breadth of options.

It’s an intuitive, easy to use app and they’re offering a free $5 welcome bonus. After setting up your account and downloading the app, the steps to saving money on your groceries is easy.

Browse the offers available, add them to your list, purchase your items at the store, upload a picture of your receipt to redeem the cash back for those offers and then cash out once you hit $20.

Ready to start earning cash back today with Checkout 51? You can claim your free $5 welcome bonus after uploading your first 3 receipts.

Ibotta: Popular Money Saving App In USA (Free $10 Bonus)

Ibotta is a free cash back app available to Americans. It has over 22 million downloads since launching in 2012 and remains one of the most popular apps in the USA.

They’ve paid out over $526 million in cash back to their members.

Ibotta has partnered with over 300 different stores in the USA. From Aldi and Walmart to Walgreens and CVS, you can be confident that your grocery and household purchases will be eligible with Ibotta. They even provide offers from Best Buy, 7-Eleven, PetSmart and other retailers outside the grocery niche.

The process is very similar to Checkout 51 in terms of browsing offers, purchasing products and uploading receipts for redemption. It’s very easy to use and continues to add new offers and partner stores. Ibotta gives you a number of ways to maximize your earnings alongside browsing the offers. With Bonuses and Referrals, you can stack up cash back in your account quickly.

Get the free Ibotta app today through Google Play or the App Store. Start saving money on your groceries today with your free $10 welcome bonus.

SavingStar: Automatic Savings And Rewards

SavingStar describes their app as “hassle-free grocery rebates. No clipping, no printing, no mailing”. Sounds about right for one of the best apps that save money on groceries?

They’ve been featured on NBC News, Time, Wall Street Journal and countless other major publications. The SavingStar network of retailers includes over 100,000 locations to shop. That list features Walgreens, Walmart, CVS, Food Lion, Kroger and all the other big brands.

The offers include different categories: Healthy (produce), One or Many (tiered savings for reaching spending targets) and Always On (ongoing offers to always save).

You have to sync your existing store rewards card from grocers, drug stores, etc. to the SavingStar app. Then load offers in the app, purchase the items at the stores and produce your rewards card at checkout. The card is automatically synced and savings will be added immediately after.

After you’ve reached $20 in rebates, you can withdrawal the money directly to your PayPal account.

Get the free SavingStar app on Apple or Google today and start saving money on groceries. It’s an easy, intuitive app to help keep money in your pockets.

Shopkick: Stack Cash Back And Save Money On Groceries

Shopkick is another rewards app that can help you save money on groceries and your household item purchases. They’re partnered with a huge network of stores that totals to over 250,000 retail locations and have an active monthly user base over 20 million.

The rewards points on Shopkick are known as ‘kicks’. The app gives you 8 different ways to earn ‘kicks’ and those can eventually be cashed out for gift cards. The 8 ways to earn ‘kicks’ include walking into stores, scanning barcodes, purchasing select items, uploading receipts and other online rewards opportunities.

In 2017, they launched Shopkick Grocery which extended the ability to earn ‘kicks’ and get discounts on groceries to a whole new range of stores.

After you’ve collected enough ‘kicks’ through the various ways to earn then, you can then cash out for gift cards. The minimum cashout balance is 250 ‘kicks’ ($2).

Ready to earn ‘kicks’? It takes a few minutes to set up your new account and download the app. Then you can start stacking ‘kicks’ on your next shop.

Caddle: Canadian Grocery Savings App

Caddle is a Canadian cash back and coupon app that helps Canadians save money and get rewarded for shopping. Caddle also provides their members the opportunity to earn rewards by taking surveys, watching videos and performing other digital tasks.

The free Caddle App is available on both iOS and Android plus their platform is functional on any desktop computer. Their selection isn’t as extensive as Checkout 51 as they tend to be more specialized, specific products.

How does it work? It’s easy.

Download the Caddle App or register a new account on the Caddle website. Browse the offers and select those that appeal to you then follow the instructions. Purchase the product, upload a photo of your receipt and see the cash back rebate hit your account

If you’re Canadian and want to save money on groceries, give Caddle a try. It’s free and continues to add new offers and features to their platform.

Coupons.com: Digital Coupon App To Save Money On Groceries

Coupons.com is a big-time database of potential savings. They offer both printable coupons (not our cup of tea) and digital coupons through their app.

The offers extended from groceries, pharmacies, clothes retailers, department stores and much more. In terms of discounts available, Coupons.com might have the most to offer.

How does it work? Similar to SavingStar, you can sync your existing loyalty and rewards cards or accounts to your Coupons.com app. From there you can browse offers, swipe your card at checkout and upload receipts to confirm your cash back savings.

You can also just browse the offers and upload receipts directly to the app after purchasing without worrying about store loyalty cards.

Coupons.com app is available for free on both Apple and Android. The website might not be the most modern but the app and platform serves one purpose: saving you money.

Flipp: Digital Flyer And Coupon Collector

Flipp is a great service that collections digital flyers and coupons from stores located near you. They pull discounts and deals from 1,000s of retailers and compile them for you in the free Flipp app. Flipp claims to be able to source offers from 20% – 70% off on a wide variety of grocery, household and everyday products.

Since Flipp pulls from multiple locations and stores, you can use their Ultimate Grocery List tool to build a custom shopping list. This helps identify the best deals for you based on the items you’re looking for. The Flipp app is modern and packs a variety of features to make the process quick and easy.

The app and digital platform has grown to over 50 million users in Canada and the US.

Flipp is free to use and is an app totally dedicated to helping you save money. It’s one of the most popular grocery saving apps in North America for a reason.

More Apps That Save Money On Groceries

As with most areas of personal finance, making money and saving money, the number of apps and tools available continues to grow. In terms of apps that save money on groceries, the list could go on and on.

Earn Free Gift Cards For Groceries And Household Items

Another collection of apps that save money on groceries come from the world of digital rewards and cash back. These aren’t directly tied to shopping at grocery stores but you can earn FREE gift cards to use at grocery stores and other major retailers.

These types of apps generate rewards for shopping online, watching videos, taking surveys and performing other digital taks. After you’ve stacked enough points or money, you can cash out for gift cards to use on your grocery and household shopping.

Cash Back Credit Cards To Save On Groceries

One more lucrative way to save money on groceries and household shopping is by using a cash back credit card. These credit cards earn you a guaranteed 1% – 10% cash back on every single purchase you make. There are over a dozen great cash back credit cards available in both the US and Canada. Each card differs in terms of the annual fee (or no fee), welcome bonus, cash back earning rates, bonus earning categories and other benefits.

Most cash back cards offer an expedited earning rate on grocery store purchases. Given groceries is often one of the highest spending categories for households, it’s a nice way to stack cash back fast.

If you’re from the United States, check out this collection of the best cash back credit cards from Nerdwallet. Two of the best cash back cards for Canadians are noted below.

Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite Credit Card

The Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite Credit Card is one of the best cash back cards in Canada. The Momentum Visa is packed with benefits and helps deliver major value to Canadians card holders.

The card offers an unmatched 10% cash back welcome bonus rate on the first $2,000 spent (essentially $200 value). It also provides an everyday 4% cash back rate on grocery and gas purchases as well as 2% cash back at the pharmacy and on recurring bills.

Plus there’s no annual fee for the first year.

Want to learn more about this great cash back card? Check out this Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite review.

Tangerine Money-Back Credit Card

The Tangerine No Fee Money-Bank Mastercard is often ranked as one of the best no fee credit cards in Canada. Why? It delivers an all-around 2% return on your spending for two product categories with no cap on cash back.

Given we’re talking about apps that save money on groceries, we’d be allocating grocery as one of your two categories.

Tangerine is currently offering a special 4% cash back for the first 3 months on new cards. This 4% rate is unmatched by any no-fee credit card in Canada.

Want to find out more info on this great no-fee card? Check out this full Tangerine Money-Back credit card review.

Conclusion: Apps That Save Money On Groceries (+ Tools To Cut Costs)

When it comes to better spending your money and mastering your budget or personal finances, digital tools can definitely help. This collection of apps that save money on groceries will play a role in keeping money in your bank account.

Personal finances are personal. Apps and digital tools are personal too. There’s no one size fits all solution so you need to find out what works best for you. Each app is better for certain stores, products, locations and types of people.

Find what fits your lifestyle and habits.

Whether it’s earning cash back, using digital coupons or generating rewards for free gift cards, there are plenty of ways to cut costs on your grocery bill.

Here are some other posts to help you save money:

• Simple Frugal Living Tips In 2019: 25+ Easy Ideas For Anyone To Save Money
• Great Personal Finance Tools, Services & Apps To Save Money (And Manage It)
• 40+ Money Saving Hacks: How To Save Money Each Month In Your Everyday Life
• Free Cash Back, Money & Rewards – Best Websites, Apps & Services