The 7 Best Receipt Scanning Apps to Get the Most Cash Back

Getting paid to take pictures of your receipts may be one of the world’s easiest ways to make extra money.

It won’t make you rich, but the income can add up, especially if you use multiple receipt scanning apps. 

And if you’re comfortable sharing your purchase data with one, it’s not that big a stretch to share the same information across a few different apps.

I compiled this list based on:

• My personal experience with receipt scanning apps
• App store reviews
• Feedback from the 50,000-member Side Hustle Nation community

Ready? Let’s do it!

App Name	App Rating*	Minimum Receipt Value	Max. Receipt Value	Estimated Annual Earnings**
Fetch Rewards	4.8 ⭐	$0.02	$3.00	$10-25
Swagbucks	4.4 ⭐	$0.02	$0.15	$5-20
Ibotta	4.8 ⭐	$0	$5.00+	$20-$100
Receipt Hog	4.7 ⭐	$0.025	$0.10	$10-25
ReceiptPal	4.5 ⭐	$0.06	$0.06	$10-25
CoinOut	4.6 ⭐	$0.01	$0.05	$20-36
Pogo	4.9 ⭐	$0.01	$0.05	$5-20

*Apple App Store rating at press time.

**Many of these apps have other ways to earn. For the purposes of this table, I’ve only estimated the earning power from the receipt scanning portion of the app.

1. Fetch Rewards

The Fetch Rewards app is a favorite of mine because it’s super easy. You earn points by snapping pictures of your grocery receipts, which you can cash in for gift cards.

Each receipt is worth at least 25 Fetch Rewards points, worth around 2 cents.

Plus, if you purchased any products from Fetch’s 300+ partner brands, the app will automatically credit you bonus points. For example, we’ve earned bonus cash back for buying:

• Annie’s macaroni and cheese
• Jif peanut butter
• Mott’s fruit snacks
• and more

This is stuff we would have bought anyway, so it feels like getting free money by scanning the receipt into Fetch.

You can cash out once you earn 3000 points. Fetch has a variety of gift card rewards to choose from, including popular options like:

• Amazon
• CVS
• Kroger
• Nike
• Nordstrom
• REI
• Target
• Walmart
• Whole Foods
• and more

You can also choose to donate your earnings to charity if you prefer.

Pro Tip: Use referral code FETCH300 when you sign up to get 300 free bonus points added to your account.

2. Swagbucks

Swagbucks is primarily known as an online survey app, not a receipt scanning app, but they do pay you for pictures of your receipts. 

Most grocery, warehouse club, drug store, and dining receipts are worth $0.02, and receipts from select clothing retailers pay $0.15 each.

Swagbucks makes this list because the app has so many other ways to earn, including getting paid to play mobile games. The company has been around since 2008 and has paid out over half a billion dollars to users!

At press time, the app had a 4.4-star rating from over 120,000 reviews on the Apple App Store.

Join with our referral link to score a $10 sign-up bonus.

3. Ibotta

I still use Ibotta every week to check for extra cash back on our grocery purchases.

The drawback is you still have to scroll through each store’s listing and choose the products you bought. Then, you snap a picture of your receipt and watch the cash back hit your account.

Sometimes you’ll find the things you bought turned out to have a big offer on them. For example, I’ve earned as much as $5 back on a single item (some kind of protein bar from Costco). 

The most common offer I redeem is a $0.10 “any grocery item” offer. Simply scan your receipt from the participating store and you’ll see the credit.

But what’s frustrating is a lot of your shopping trips will have zero value in Ibotta. You’ll spend the time selecting the store and scrolling through the offers only to end up empty-handed.

Still, according to the app, Ibotta Savers who use the app every month earn over $130 a year! (You can cash out via gift cards or PayPal.)

In my experience, that seems a little high, but Ibotta is definitely still worth checking. 

4. Receipt Hog

Receipt Hog is another receipt-scanning app, where our independent app tester reported earning $25 a year. 

The points you earn in the app are based on the total amount of each receipt:

• Less than $10 = 5 coins
• $10-$49.99 = 10 coins
• $50 – $99.99 = 15 coins
• $100+ = 20 coins

It takes 1000 coins to earn $5, so every coin is worth $0.005 (half a cent). If your your average receipt is worth 10 coins, that would be $0.05 —better than many on this list.

Here’s our full Receipt Hog review for more.

5. ReceiptPal

With ReceiptPal, receipts are worth about $0.06 each, the highest among the apps we tested.  Depending on your shopping habits, that could add up to $10-25 a year.

You can cash out your ReceiptPal points for an Amazon gift card or a gift card to other select retailers. There is no option to redeem for PayPal credit, bank deposit, or Venmo or Zelle transfer.

The biggest drawback is you’ll need to give ReceiptPal access to your email before you can cash out. 

Another thing to be aware of: your points expire if you forget to upload a receipt for 90 days.

Check out our full ReceiptPal review to learn more.

6. CoinOut

CoinOut won’t replace your day job, but could pay you up to $36 a year for uploading your shopping receipts.

The app first appeared on Shark Tank in 2017 and originally only worked with certain merchants. Now you can earn from receipts from any store.

CoinOut is available on iOS and Android. 

When you first sign-up, your account will be at the basic Bronze level, and receipts are worth 10 coins ($0.01) each. But as you use the app more, every receipt is worth more.

On top of that, CoinOut has several bonus options that can help you earn more coins.

It’s easy to use and you can cash out for an Amazon gift card as soon as you earn your first $3 worth of coins.

Check out our full CoinOut review to learn more.

7. Pogo

Pogo is an interesting newer cash back app, with several different ways to earn.

On the receipt scanning side, each receipt you upload is worth $0.01, with bonuses for sharing multiple receipts in a week.

But you can earn more with Pogo by sharing your location and credit card transaction data.

For example, you’ll earn $0.07 worth of Pogo points as you go about your day and approach certain stores. I’ve gotten these location bonuses at Target, Safeway, Costco, Fred Meyer, and others.

The other easy way to earn bonus cash back with Pogo is by linking your bank account and credit card transaction history. Each credit card purchase shared earns an additional $0.01-$0.10 apiece.

The only downside is you have to remember to open the app occasionally to hit the “claim” button next to each of them.

You can cash out your Pogo points once you’ve earned 3,000 points ($3) to PayPal or Venmo.

Based on my results so far, I expect Pogo to be worth around $5-20 a year.

Check out my full Pogo app review to learn more.

Choosing The Best Receipt Scanning App for You

While ReceiptPal paid the most for each receipt on average, Fetch was the easiest to use, and Ibotta can earn you the most cash back — if you buy the right products.

Since most of these apps make money by selling your shopping data, if you’re going to use one, you might as well use them all. The incremental time it takes to scan a receipt into multiple apps is minimal, and can translate into maximizing your cash back from every purchase.

Still, it’s important to remember than even when you add up the results from all the apps, the total income is unlikely to be a lifestyle-changer for you. 

I’m all for collecting all the easy, free money out there, but you’ll need to turn your attention to higher paying side hustles if you’re really trying to make an impact on your budget.

Alternatives to Receipt Scanning Apps

Receipt scanning apps are examples of apps that pay you real money, under the broader category of monetizing your data.

Caden (iOS)

I’m earning around $10 a month in passive income with Caden, an app that pays you for your data.

The app itself is a little slow and buggy, but may be worth those small headaches for super easy automatic earning power.

At press time, it was iOS only. Check out our full Caden app review to learn more.

Flip Products for Profit

Since you’re already maximizing the value of every dollar you spend, you might be good at finding items to flip for a profit.

How this side hustle works is you go bargain hunting at local stores, garage sales, thrift shops, or Facebook Marketplace, and resell those products at higher prices.

For example, Stacy Gallego broke down how she was earning thousands of dollars a month flipping products like motorcycle sidecars, skateboards, and even Sleep Number Beds.

Remote Bookkeeping

If keeping your own receipts in order is more than just a hobby, maybe you could offer the service to others. Bookkeeping is usually one of the first roles a business hires for, and can pay $60 an hour or more.

Here’s a free training on how to get started.

Grocery Delivery

As a savvy shopper, you probably already know your way around the aisles of your local grocery store. That knowledge can help you become an expert Instacart shopper and get paid to delivery groceries. 

For example, Kevin LaCombe reported earning $10,000 in his first 6 months as an Instacart Shopper–all on the side from regular 9-5.

You can choose which orders to accept based on the estimated earnings and delivery distance. 

Serious About Making Extra Money?

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