Ibotta Vs Fetch: What's The Difference And Which Cash Back App Is Best?
By Ashley Rogers 
Ibotta and Fetch Rewards are two of the most well-known cash-back apps, particularly among people looking to save money at the grocery store. Both of these apps have cut the need for couponing and made earning cash by grocery shopping much, much easier.
They have a lot of similarities as apps, and a lot of differences as well. We are going to dive into Ibotta versus Fetch Rewards in this article comparing where they are similar, where they are different, and ultimately which one to choose as a shopper.
Table Of Contents
What’s The Difference Between Ibotta & Fetch Rewards
Similarities Between Ibotta & Fetch Rewards
What Real People Are Saying About Fetch Rewards Vs. Ibotta
Summary: Which Is Better Ibotta Vs. Fetch Rewards
What’s Ibotta?
Ibotta is one of the most well-known apps that pays people for scanning their receipts. It is best known as an app to use at the grocery store, but it works at a wide range of stores — Walmart, Target, Amazon — and on a wide range of products.
As the app has grown — more than 35 million people have downloaded the app and they’ve paid out over $1 billion to users over the last seven years — so has its offerings. Ibotta is now a payments app (you can actually use the app to pay at the grocery store) and a browser extension.
To earn cashback for shopping in person in stores, add offers to your Ibotta account before you go on your shopping trip. Shop for the items that correspond to the offers. Once you’ve made your purchases, submit your receipt and you’ll earn cashback on the eligible offers you’ve bought.
If you’re shopping online, you can use the Ibotta app or browser extension to earn cashback. Simply select from the available offers, make your purchases, and earn cashback.
You can also buy gift cards through the app to instantly earn cashback.
Pros & Cons Of Ibotta
Pros
- Free to use
- Features over 300 retailers
- $20 total welcome bonuses
- $10 friend referral bonus
- Earn cash back on gift card purchases
- Earn more with bonuses
- Ibotta offers general shopping categories at certain stores or “any item”-type purchases feature with the flexible offers
- Ibotta offers a large selection of grocery shopping offers
- Ibotta Teamwork lets you earn bonuses meeting savings goals with friends
- 24 hour cash back earned shows up within 24 hours of purchase
Cons
- $20 minimum cashout threshold
- You need to add offers before shopping which is inconvenient
- You need to upload receipts which is inconvenient
- Offers are store-specific and many other offers are brand-specific
- You have to watch ads
- Online purchases are made through the app
- If you don’t cash out your balance for 6 months, you will be charged a maintanence fee of $3.99 which seems extreme considering the minimum payout is $20 (Note: Fees will not be charged to your personal bank account, only whatever balance remains on your Ibotta account)
What’s Fetch Rewards?
Fetch Rewards is similarly a shopping app that rewards its users with gift cards for scanning receipts. It works at any store be it online or in person, combing a person’s receipts for eligible offers.
To use Fetch Rewards you have to take a picture of a physical receipt or use the eReceipt button inside the app to earn points. Those points can then be redeemed for gift cards to places like Amazon and Target.
Alongside offering rewards for eligible purchases, Fetch Rewards compensates users for taking advantage of certain offers within the app, too.
Fetch Rewards works at any retailer and has partnered with a huge number of brands from Pull-Ups diapers to Blue Moon beer, so while it is known as a way to save at the grocery store, it’s actually just a great way to save on shopping in general.
It’s no wonder that this app has a lot of fans — more than 10 million active monthly users according to the company.
Pros & Cons Of Fetch Rewards
Pros
- Easy of use- no barcodes to scan no offers to unlock
- Quick receipt upload time
Fast e-gift card delivery upon redemption of points - Free to sign up
- Earn both gift cards or hard cash
- Get 25 points for every eligible receipt with no other requirement like quantity or money spent
Cons
- Fewer offers than competitors
- Limited points awarded for receipts with no special Offers
No cash back redemption option - Fetch Rewards has a point system and only rewards with gift cards and no PayPal option which is common for similar apps
- Low point conversion 1 point=$0.001
- Common reports of technical difficulties
What’s The Difference Between Ibotta And Fetch Rewards?
With both Ibotta and Fetch Rewards, you can earn cashback on your shopping. But how do they differ and which is better for your lifestyle and shopping habits? Here’s a quick breakdown of the differences between these two apps.
Which Gets You More Money? Ibotta Vs. Fetch
Both of these apps are highly dependent on how much you use them as far as earnings go. The more you shop and take advantage of offers via the two apps, the more you’ll earn.
Fetch Rewards allows you to earn rewards points from any store receipt while Ibotta has partnered with hundreds of major retailers (including Costco, CVS, Kroger, Walmart, Target, and Whole Foods Market) to provide its users cashback. Both have opportunities to increase how much you earn while utilizing the app, too, and both offer referral bonuses for getting friends and family to sign up for the app.
Ibotta does have some advantages for earning over Fetch Rewards — particularly because of the many opportunities it offers users to earn. Link your store loyalty cards to your Ibotta app, for instance, and automatically start earning rewards. Ibotta also has a browser extension where you can earn cashback shopping online just with a click of a button.
Which Is Easier To Use? Ibotta Vs. Fetch
Ibotta and Fetch Rewards are both very easy apps to get started with. With both, you have to spend a little time making sure to scan your receipts in order to get cashback, but that’s about it, they are pretty self-explanatory when it comes to ease of use.
The big difference between the two is that with Ibotta you have to pre-select offers within the app in order to get cashback after uploading a receipt — so there is slightly more work involved. That being said, pre-planning on offers also helps users shop according to what offers are available, so this does provide an opportunity to optimize earnings.
And while both apps are extremely easy to get started with, both require some extra work to become true experts and to maximize earnings. There is a whole Youtube universe dedicated to breaking down various hacks to take advantage of these apps.
Cash Back Vs. Rewards
Both Fetch Rewards and Ibotta offer multiple ways to get cashback and rewards. With Fetch Rewards, you get to choose between free gift cards, charitable donations, and sweepstakes entries. With Ibotta, you can choose PayPal deposits, bank deposits, or gift cards.
If you are looking for cash specifically, Ibotta is the better option, but the gift cards that Fetch Rewards offers — like Amazon — are essentially as good as cash in many cases. A dollar not spent out of your own bank account is as close to cashback as you can get.
Points & Cash Out Minimums
The minimum cash-out threshold is different between Fetch Rewards and Ibotta. Fetch Rewards has a minimum cashout threshold of 3,000 points, which is equal to $3, whereas Ibotta requires a minimum of $20 to cash out.
For frequent shoppers, this difference won’t matter so much, but for the person looking to cash out quickly, this could make a big difference.
Points & Cash Out Maximums
Both apps have some limitations. Fetch Rewards, for instance, has a maximum amount of receipts you can upload in a seven-day period. Ibotta limits how many times users can redeem offers. Read the fine print.
That being said, with both Fetch Rewards and Ibotta there is no maximum amount you can earn. But again remember, earnings are dependent on how much you are shopping and using the apps.
Apps, Sites & Browser Extensions
The Ibotta app is available for iOS and Android. For most people utilizing the app is the best way to earn cash back for shopping in stores. It also offers the ability to sign in to your account via Ibotta.com and a browser extension that can be utilized to get cashback on online purchases.
Fetch Rewards only offers an app, but it is available for both iOS and Android.
Referral Bonuses
Both Fetch Rewards and Ibotta offer referral bonuses for signing up new users. To get a referral bonus, you’ll need to get your unique referral code or link from your account and someone has to use it to sign up.
For Ibotta specifically, the person using your referral code will need to redeem an offer on Ibotta for you to earn your bonus or they’ll need to scan and submit their first receipt on Ibotta. In that case, you’ll both get bonus points.
Getting Cash Back For Shopping Online
Both Fetch Rewards and Ibotta offer the ability to earn cash back for shopping online.
Fetch Rewards has a digital receipt program called eReceipts. To start earning cashback via shopping online with Fetch Rewards you’ll need to connect your Amazon account or email account to start earning points. Retailers participating in the program include many of the most shopped online stores from Amazon to Walmart to Target, Shipt Costco Instacart, and others.
To earn cashback shopping online via Ibotta visit online retailers through the Ibotta app. There is no need to submit a receipt — by visiting the online retailer via the Ibotta app, the app will automatically calculate your cashback and add it to your Ibotta earnings.
Scanning Receipts
Both Fetch Rewards and Ibotta allow you to scan receipts from stores to earn rewards. The process of exactly how to do this, though, is different between the two apps.
With Fetch Rewards, you simply scan a store receipt and earn your rewards. When you shop online, you use the eReceipt feature to link your Amazon and email accounts to have Fetch automatically scan them for purchases as detailed above.
With Ibotta, you first need to add offers to your app before you make a purchase. Once you add those offers, you need to look for those specific items at the store to buy. Depending on the store you’ll need to scan the receipt, and possibly the barcodes of items. You’ll also need to make sure you are shopping at a store that is accepted at Ibotta.
Overall, the process for scanning receipts is much easier for Fetch Rewards. The way that Ibotta works can be advantageous to shoppers looking to really maximize their cash back, so there are tradeoffs.
Similarities Between Ibotta Vs. Fetch
While Ibotta and Fetch Rewards have some key differences, the two apps certainly have a lot of similarities.
A quick recap of all of the ways these apps are similar:
- Require receipts to earn cash back shopping in stores
- Offer gift cards to cash out on earnings
- Free signup
- Ease of use
- Many supported retailers
- Multiple redemption offers
- Offer referral bonuses
What Real People Are Saying About Fetch Rewards Vs. Ibotta
With both Fetch Rewards and Ibotta, there are fans and less enthusiastic users of the apps. For the most part, with both apps, people point to the ability to earn easy cash back for the shopping they are already doing. The negatives largely come down to smaller issues and kinks.
Per one review in the Google Play store speaking to Fetch Rewards:
“I really like this app. The only downside to it is the time it takes to receive the gift card that u requested. 72 hrs. And it doesn’t come till that 72nd hour. Another issue is with Walmart gift cards. You must have a manager’s approval to use it. Once the clerk scans the card it requires manager approval. Not sure why.?. My other apps that give gift cards as payments timetable is 24-48 hrs and I always get them faster.. maybe you can address that issue.”
Another reviewer wrote of Fetch Rewards:
“It’s really cool!! I mean it’s simple, something you can do in your spare time. All you have to do is take pictures of the receipts you get from anywhere just about. And you get points. You build those points up, and you can get gift cards with those points. From some pretty awesome places. Or a Visa card of your choosing. I just feel like you can’t top that. I mean me personally, I have been doing it for about 3 weeks, and I’m only 2,000 points away from getting a $5 gift card.”
On the Ibotta side of things one reviewer wrote:
“Love everything about this app. I’ve been using Ibotta for a few years and have saved so much money, like thousands!!! I’ll use it for gift cards at the grocery store, book vacations, and really anyway possible to save some money. Also, the customer service is great and has always helped me with any issues that may pop up but that is not often. It’s just a great app and completely worth downloading!!!”
Another reviewer disliked the process of using the app, writing:
“I don’t like that I have to scan the product after scanning the receipt to confirm the item. It’s on the receipt, so why do I need to scan the barcode too? It’s a hassle sometimes to go dig up the item from the fridge or pantry because the app doesn’t trust me. Offers are often for products I don’t buy, but that’s not really Ibotta’s fault – that’s down to the product manufacturer (like coupons).”
While there are some negative reviews for both Ibotta and Fetch Rewards, there are many users who point to earning easy cashback.
Summary: Which App Is Better Ibotta Vs. Fetch Rewards?
Both apps are great for saving money be it in person at the grocery store or if you are shopping online. Here’s the great thing about using these apps, while they both have pros, cons, and features that make them different, you can actually use both of these apps at the same time, even using the same receipt to get cashback.
There’s no need to really make a choice, and we can’t recommend enough having both of these apps on your phone to take advantage of both of them at once.
Sign-up for Ibotta here.
Sign-up for Fetch Rewards here .
FAQs: Ibotta Vs. Fetch Rewards
How do Fetch Rewards and Ibotta make money?
Both Fetch Rewards and Ibotta make money via partnerships with major brands and retailers. It is with those partnerships that they are able to offer deals to their users, along with making money. It’s a win-win for users of the apps, which are free and help people save money.
Can You Use The Same Receipt For Ibotta And Fetch Rewards?
This is one of the great advantages of these apps, that you can use the same receipt with both apps — and any other shopping apps you have. By using both you can stack your earnings.
Is Ibotta Legit?
Yes, Ibotta is completely legit! The app has millions of members and has paid out over $1 billion to its users in the last seven years.
Is Ibotta Worth It?
Ibotta really is worth it. Millions – and we mean millions of people – swear by this app. According to the company active users earn anywhere between $100 to $300 a month using the app.
Is The Fetch Rewards App Safe?
Fetch Rewards is completely safe to use, and also has millions of fans. It has a 4.1 rating in the Google Play store.
What Is The Best App To Scan Receipts And Get Money Back?
We really do recommend having both Ibotta and Fetch Rewards on your phone in order to maximize your earnings. If you absolutely want to narrow it down to one, Fetch Rewards is completely seamless to use, you just need to upload receipts. Ibotta has advantages as far as maximizing your earnings.
How To Use Fetch Rewards
- Download Fetch Rewards
- Browse special offers for bonus points, link participating accounts so Fetch can scan your eReceipts, and hold onto your paper receipts to earn points
- After shopping, snap a picture of your receipts, the app will automatically comb through it for participating products. Any eligible purchases you’ve made score you points immediately.
- Redeem your points for free gift cards to your favorite stores like Whole Foods, Walmart, Target and hundreds of other retailers like Amazon, Sephora, and Nordstrom
Sign up today and use code TMMLOVESYOU to get 2,000 bonus points immediately when you upload your first receipt. This is free money, people!
How To Use Ibotta
- Download Ibotta for free
- Check Ibotta first before shopping at your favorite in-person and online stores
- Choose what offers you want (they have everything from groceries to clothes to travel!)
- Scan your receipt(s) into the app and get cash back.
Start maximizing your cash back for shopping today, sign-up for Ibotta here and sign-up for Fetch Rewards here.
