With well over 1,000 apps being created every day it can feel overwhelming to find ones that will actually help you save money. After looking over several apps that say they'll save you money here are our my top 11 favorite money saving apps. Some I use every day and others just every once in awhile, but I have to say, loving how much easier FinTech is making things like budgeting and saving!

Related: 5 Free Money Apps that Automate Money Management

Our Top 11 Money Saving Apps

Swagbucks

Swagbucks is one of the best money saving apps. If you search via the app and buy items there you'll get “Swagbucks” which you can then cash in for gift cards. Good gift cards too, to places like Amazon, Walmart, Target. Here's our full post on how to get started with Swagbucks that details step-by-step how to use the platform.

Ebates

One of the ways to save money is to use more than one of the same kind of app to supercharge your rebates and earnings. Ebates and Swagbucks, though similar, can, at times, be used in unison to save even more money. On top of using the Ebates app for cash back, installing the chrome extension means you don’t even have to think about it as you shop, it will just automatically calculate it for you. Read more about why we like Ebates here.

Honey App

Honey App not only saves money but also some time. It's a Chrome extension, so once installed it automatically looks for a coupon for the site you are shopping on, runs the coupon through to make sure it’s actually currently working, and then provides you with the best money saving option (if multiple coupons are available.) LOVE this one for making my J.Crew and J.Crew Factory purchases.

Inbox Dollars

Filling out surveys about your age, income, clothes you wear, the car you drive, and other “facts” can make you money. Inbox dollars is another survey site that could provide a little extra income. It doesn’t give much…..usually less than a dollar per survey, but again they don’t require much thinking and you can do it in your spare time. It's an easy, brainless way to earn a little extra on the side.

Related: 5 Survey Sites to Start Hustling With

Paribus

Paribus is a relatively new service, but it works by syncing with your email account and looking at recent purchases. If the price on a purchase has dropped, then Paribus monitors online stores with price drop policies and applies to get  you refunded for the difference. Paribus is only for online purchases, and is a great way to recoup money if you do shop online quite a bit.

 

Butterfly Saves

I won't lie. I like to eat out and on occasion (when I have the money) I like to shop.   Butterfly saves is a Chrome extension (similar to Honey) that lets you earn cash back online and in stores. It automatically applies coupons and earns cash back when you shop at over 2800 online stores (Think big chain retailers like Macy's, Kohl's, Target, Walmart etc.). You can also (automatically – or autoMAGICALLY as I like to say) earn cash back at over 2500 restaurants and retailers when you dine and shop in store.

It isn't necessarily a way to save money per se, but it can make your dollars go further, and that's a smart money move too!

Click here to try Butterfly Saves.

Google Opinion Rewards

Google Rewards keeps track of places you have been and (when available) presents a pop-up saying you have a survey available to fill out. The surveys typically run from 1- 6 questions and will net you anywhere from 0.10 to 1.00 which you can use for purchases within the Google family of apps, like Youtube, etc. May sound a little sketchy that Google is tracking your location, but hey, you already knew that didn't you? Why not profit from it, I say.

Digit

Digit works by directly tying into your bank and running an algorithm that decides how much money you are able to save. Digit is so confident that their algorithm will work correctly that they will pay any overdraft fees caused by their withdrawing money. I mention it here because I've used it, and like it, but stopped using it when they began charging users a fee. I wrote about this change here. 

Many of my friends (especially freelancers) still leverage the app to save money for quarterly taxes, so the option is up to you.

Shopkick

This app will earn you money – even when you don't buy anything. Download the app in order to start earning “kicks”  – which is just a new way of saying, “reward points.” You can earn kicks by: walking into a store, syncing purchases, scanning the UPC on items, and filling out surveys. Works in both retail and grocery stores, so it's easy to start earning gift cards!

The fastest way to get kicks is to buy a few items and have the cashier scan the Shopkicks code. Once you have enough kicks you then cash them in for gift cards, but not cash. Also works best for those who do a large bulk of shopping at Walmart, Publix, CVS, and Walgreens.

Qapital

Hands down my favorite “automatic savings” app. I love Qapital, and I tell everyone.

If you need to gamify your goals in order to accomplish them this may be the best money savings app. If you want to save money for a vacation then you go into the Qapital app, set the amount, and then set the rules in which it will save money. You could make it so you if you meet a step goal through the pedometer on your phone that you save $1, $2, or even $10. You could also make it that if you go under budget on your grocery shopping that you save the difference into the account.

Related: 10 Steps to Creating a Budget that Actually Works, 8 Ways to Quickly Build Up Your Savings in the Next 12 Months

Acorns

Want to invest but don’t have the money to do so? Acorns could be a great option. After linking your account to the app and it will then round up transactions to the nearest dollar. So if you buy a coffee for $2.09 Acorns will take an additional $0.91 and put it in an investment account for you. This may not sound like much but if you bought that same cup of coffee 5 days a week for 1 year then you will have invested $236.60 with just that one daily item, and have made money on that amount.

If you really want to nerd out then look at having Qapital save in increments and then Acorns rounding up that amount.

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