Fetch Rewards vs. Ibotta: Is Double-Dipping Worth It?

Fetch Rewards and Ibotta provide straightforward opportunities to earn rewards on your everyday purchases. For example, you can scan a grocery receipt with either app and get rewarded, which is a great tactic as you learn how to save money with cash back apps.

Check out how Fetch and Ibotta compare:

Online vs. offline	Online and offline	Online and offline
Type of app	Mobile app (iOS and Android)	Mobile app (iOS and Android) and browser extension
Redemption options	Gift cards	PayPal account deposit, bank deposit, and gift cards
Minimum cash out	$3 (3,000 points)	$20 minimum
Best for...	Any type of purchase	In-store offers and online shopping

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When to go with Fetch Rewards

Fetch Rewards offers many opportunities to earn cash back. While Fetch Rewards and Ibotta are similar, there are times when Fetch stands out, including if you:

• Don’t want to track specific deals
• Like earning bonus points on specific products
• Like to spend gift cards

You want to upload any and every receipt

Fetch Rewards pays 25 points for any receipt, not just those from a specific store. You don’t have to buy certain items or shop at specific stores. If you do, you might get lucky enough to earn bonus points, but it’s not a requirement to earn at least a little something for every receipt.

Keep in mind that you can only upload a maximum of 35 receipts per 7-day period. While I doubt you have much more than 35 receipts on a weekly basis, it’s something to keep in mind.

If you haven’t hit your max, you may revisit past receipts, as Fetch allows you to upload them for up to 14 days after the purchase date.

You like earning bonus points

Just because Fetch pays you for any old receipt doesn’t mean they don’t run special offers for certain purchases. If you like earning bonus points, check out the personalized offers in your app. If there are items there that you need to purchase anyway, you can earn more than the minimal 25 points for your purchase.

You prefer gift cards as rewards

Fetch only offers the option of gift cards as a cash out reward. If you are looking for the best money apps to give yourself some money for “splurging,” you might enjoy Fetch because it only offers gift cards.

I don’t know about you, but I feel a lot less guilty when I buy items I don’t need with gift cards rather than cash. It just feels less irresponsible to do it that way.

When to go with Ibotta

Ibotta used to be primarily a grocery rewards app, but today you can earn rewards for almost any type of shopping. Choose Ibotta if you:

• Want to earn more than a gift card as your cash out reward
• Don’t mind using a browser extension
• Do most of your grocery shopping in person

You want cash out options

Fetch only offers the option to cash out with a gift card, which for people like me, is great. However, if you prefer something different, such as a bank deposit or PayPal cash, Ibotta is the better option.

If you’re saving up for a special purchase or want the money to make ends meet, Ibotta will send the money to your bank or PayPal account, whichever you prefer. Keep in mind that it could take up to five business days for the funds to arrive.

You are comfortable with browser extensions

If you don’t mind a browser extension following what you do online, you could save money or earn rewards automatically when shopping online. The Ibotta browser extension helps you compare prices, set price drop alerts, and view an item’s price history.

If there’s a reward available, you’ll see it as a pop up when you visit the site. If you want to take advantage of the reward, you activate the offer and check out like you normally do.

You enjoy grocery shopping in-store

Ibotta partners with 150+ grocery retailers to help you earn cash back on your purchases. While it takes a little effort to browse the deals and activate them before shopping, it’s well worth it. After you buy the items, you upload your receipt and get cash back, sometimes within 24 hours.

If you don’t want to upload receipts, you can also link your loyalty accounts to most major grocery stores and automatically get credited for the offers you activate.

Key differences between the two

Fetch Rewards and Ibotta feel very similar, but there are certain features that stand out between the two.

Minimum cash-out threshold

Earning rewards is great, but if you can’t withdraw them, what good do they do?

Here’s how the minimum cashout thresholds differ between Fetch Rewards vs. Ibotta:

• Fetch Rewards requires only 3,000 points or $3
• Ibotta requires a minimum of $20 to cash out

While 3,000 points on Fetch is the equivalent of 120 receipts at 25 points each, it’s still nice to know you can cash out at such a low threshold.

However, keep in mind that both apps have points expiration rules:

• Fetch points expire if your account is inactive for 90 days
• Ibotta points expire if there’s no activity in your account for 180 days

Winner: Fetch simply due to the lower cashout threshold of $3.

Scanning receipts

Both Fetch Rewards and Ibotta allow you to scan receipts from stores to earn rewards. This is the only way you can earn with Fetch Rewards and it’s also a primary part of Ibotta. However, the process isn’t the same between the two.

To use Fetch Rewards, you must:

• Scan a store receipt to earn rewards
• Any products with bonus offers automatically include the increased rewards
• Online purchases use the eReceipt feature to link your Amazon and email accounts to have Fetch automatically scan them for purchases

To use Ibotta, you must:

• Add offers in the app before you make purchases
• Scan the shopping receipt and sometimes the barcodes of your purchases

If you don’t find any offers, you won’t earn anything with Ibotta for scanning a receipt.

Winner: The Fetch Rewards process for scanning receipts and earning rewards is a lot easier than Ibotta’s process. There’s no searching and adding offers with Fetch Rewards, which can save you a lot of time.

Earning potential

Fetch Rewards and Ibotta both reward you for shopping, but in different ways.

With Ibotta, if you’re shopping at an eligible retailer and you link your loyalty account to the Ibotta app, you can automatically earn rewards without scanning any receipts. Fetch Rewards doesn’t offer this option; you always have to scan your receipts with Fetch.

Ibotta’s browser extension is another feature not available with Fetch Rewards. The extension enables you to earn cash back from various online stores with the click of a button. If there’s a cashback promo available at a store, the Ibotta extension will let you know and you can click to activate the cash back, make your purchases, and earn your rewards.

Winner: Ibotta wins for its easily accessible opportunities to earn rewards, increasing your chances of saving more money.

FAQs

Bottom line

Both Fetch Rewards and Ibotta can help you save money, but they work in slightly different ways. My suggestion is to use both apps to the best of your ability and even consider pairing your efforts with the best cash back credit cards to see the largest return on your efforts.

You might find that you don’t like activating offers before shopping, or that you love uploading receipts on Fetch just to see how many points you get. As long as you keep both accounts active, your points don’t expire and you can have a little fun.

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Rates and fees

Current Offer

$200 cash rewards bonus after spending $500 in purchases in the first 3 months

Annual Fee

$0

Rewards Rate

Earn unlimited 2% cash rewards on purchases

Benefits and Drawbacks

Benefits

• Low spend threshold for its welcome offer — $200 cash rewards bonus after spending $500 in purchases in the first 3 months
• Cell phone protection benefit (subject to a $25 deductible)
• Can redeem rewards at an ATM for literal cash

Drawbacks

• Foreign transaction fee of 3%
• No bonus categories

Card Details

• Select “Apply Now” to take advantage of this specific offer and learn more about product features, terms and conditions.
• Earn a $200 cash rewards bonus after spending $500 in purchases in the first 3 months.
• Earn unlimited 2% cash rewards on purchases.
• 0% intro APR for 12 months from account opening on purchases and qualifying balance transfers. 19.49%, 24.49%, or 29.49% Variable APR thereafter; balance transfers made within 120 days qualify for the intro rate and fee of 3% then a BT fee of up to 5%, min: $5.
• $0 annual fee.
• No categories to track or remember and cash rewards don’t expire as long as your account remains open.
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