7 Apps To Help Early Holiday Shoppers Save Significantly

by Andrea Norris-McKnight

Do you think it’s too early to start your holiday shopping? It’s not if you want plenty of time to find the most significant savings. These apps can help you do just that.

Chances are, you’ll do much of your holiday shopping online. Thankfully, there are now many apps, sites and browser extensions that can help you easily find the best deals and save with coupons and discounts no matter what you are shopping for or which sites you are shopping from.

The following apps can help you save this holiday season (or any time of the year). However, some of these apps’ features can only help you save if you start your holiday shopping early.

Price Comparison Apps

Price comparison apps will alert you if an item you are viewing online is offered for less on another site. Some will track the pricing of specific things you want to buy and alert you if/when prices drop so you can buy when prices are low.

Here are four price comparison tools we like:

1. Camelcamelcamel

If you do a lot of Amazon shopping, camelcamelcamel can help you find savings when shopping from this retail giant. This free price tracker will alert you to price drops on Amazon products you have your eye on so you know the best time to buy. You can also research the price history of Amazon products.

2. Paypal Honey

PayPal Honey has a few tools that can help you track and compare prices.

Droplist is the name of Paypal Honey’s price tracking tool. You can add items to Droplist and receive a notification if a lower price is found on any shopping site.

PayPal Honey’s Real Deal comparison tool will also help you find the lowest prices for a specific product across different stores if you need to make an immediate purchase and don’t have time to track pricing to wait for a good deal. This feature isn’t available for all products, but it may be worth checking out to see if it is available before making a purchase.

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3. Capital One Shopping

As you shop online, Capital One Shopping will notify you if an item you are viewing (even on Amazon) is cheaper from another online retailer. It even accounts for any shipping and membership costs. To save with this feature of Capital One Shopping, you do need to install the Capital One Shopping browser extension.

4. ShopSavvy

If you still prefer to shop in physical stores, the ShopSavvy app can help you find the best local deals. You can easily compare and track product prices to ensure you’re not spending more time or money than necessary.

If you see products in-store that you wish to track for a future purchase, just use the ShopSavvy app to scan the barcode and add it to a watch list so you’ll know if there is a price drop.

Cash Back and Coupon Codes

Price-tracking to know the best time to buy is only step one of saving on your holiday shopping. Once you determine the best time to buy and from which retailer, you also want to find out if you can save even more on the purchase with a coupon code or by earning cash back.

Cash Back shopping sites allow you to earn on qualifying retail purchases. They also typically provide coupons and coupon codes for in-store or online purchases.

Previously mentioned Capital One and PayPal Honey both provide coupon codes and rewards along with their price comparison tools. The following shopping apps don’t have price comparison features, but they do allow you to apply coupons and earn cash back on purchases easily:

5. Rakuten

Rakuten allows you to earn cash back from purchases at over 3,500 retailers. Cash-back rewards are paid out every three months. Install the Rakuten browser extension, and you’ll receive a notification whenever you’re shopping on a site that will earn you cash back via Rakuten.

Rakuten also enables you to earn cash back on some in-store purchases.

6. CouponCabin

With CouponCabin, you can earn up to 5X cash back at over 6,000 retailers. VIP members can earn significant cash back on the purchase of select gift cards, which can help you save if gift cards are often your gift-giving go-to for some folks on your list.

7. Ibotta

Perhaps you already use Ibotta to trim your grocery costs, but Ibotta allows you to save on more than just groceries. It can also help you earn cash back when shopping online from more than 750 retailers.

Bonus: Cashback Monitor

Cash-back shopping portals often do not offer the same cash-back percentages for a specific retailer. If you want to ensure you’re getting as much back as possible, use Cashback Monitor, a free tracking tool that compares the cash-back offerings of cash-back shopping portals.

Make Your Holiday Gift List and Get to Tracking

Price tracking is only a helpful money-saving tool if you allow yourself plenty of tracking time. Now is a good time to make your gift list so you can add some of the items to one or more price-tracking apps. Remember to use your favorite cash-back shopping portals to save even more whenever you determine it’s the best time to buy.

Reviewed September 2023

About the Author

Andrea Norris-McKnight took over as the editor of The Dollar Stretcher and After 50 Finances after working under the site founder and previous editor for almost 15 years. She has also written for Money.com, GOBankingRates.com, HavenLife.com and The Sacramento Bee.

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