If you’re scouring the internet in search of the best apps to earn free gift cards, then you’ve landed in the right place. That’s because over the last year, I’ve tested out some of the most mentioned apps to see if you could REALLY earn free gift cards with them….or if it was all just a big scam.
Now, I’m not going to give you a long list of random apps that may or may not work. Instead, I’m going to share with you the 5 best apps that I found to be legit, and where I earned real gift cards. You’ll see actual screenshots of my earnings, and I’ll even direct you to my YouTube channel where you can see me scrolling through the apps.
See, I never believed other bloggers when they claimed they had earned tons of free gift cards, until I became that person. So to leave all doubt aside that any regular person can do this, I’ll show you proof that this is possible.
Ready to start earning your FREE Gift Cards? Then check out these next 5 apps to get started today.
Earn FREE Gift Cards Every Week
Side note – These apps can become ADDICTIVE when you start earning your first few gift cards. At least that’s what happened in my case. The more you use them, the more free gift cards you’ll earn. Best of all, you can stack your rewards even higher when you use the below apps together.
Ibotta
The Ibotta app has by far earned me the most amount of free money and free gift cards to date. Since downloading the app last year, I’ve earned $3,629.64 with Ibotta.
How to Get FREE Gift Cards with Ibotta
Ibotta is a cash back receipt app that rewards you for shopping your favorite grocery brand products. So if you regularly shop brand name products such as Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Quaker Oats, Skippy’s Peanut Butter, Beyond Burger, Perdue Chicken, General Mills and more, then you’ll earn plenty of free gift cards with this app!
In my Ibotta review, I explain exactly how to use the app for the most cash back rewards. But the gist of it is to redeem specific brand offers within the app and then snap a photo of your receipt. Ibotta will match the in-app offers to your grocery receipt and pay you a cash back reward. The more offers you redeem, the more rewards you’ll earn.
Additionally, there are opportunities to earn even more with weekly bonuses, and nab free food with special promotions.
You can cash out your rewards in free gift cards or to your PayPal account when you have a minimum balance of $20 in your Ibotta account.
Download the app here and use promo code KSHAGVC to earn $10 when you snap your first receipt.
Fetch Rewards
Fetch Rewards is my next favorite app to use. Three months ago I downloaded the app, and to date I have earned $558.00 in free gift cards.
How to Get FREE Gift Cards with Fetch
Fetch Rewards is similar to Ibotta in that they reward you for uploading your shopping receipts to the app. Unlike Ibotta, Fetch will reward you for ALL receipts no matter whether you redeem an in-app special offer or not. This makes it an ideal app for pretty much any shopper looking to earn free gift cards.
You can upload nearly any receipt to receive points including from places such as grocery stores, gas stations, fast food restaurants, mom and pop shops, and more. These points can then be redeemed for free gift cards.
In my first 30 days of using Fetch, I earned enough points to cash out a Starbucks gift card and grab a few free coffees. But if you’re not a coffee drinker like me, then you can check out over 50+ other gift cards to cash out your rewards.
Some of these gift cards include: Amazon, Best Buy, Nordstrom Rack, Cheesecake Factory, Nintendo, Burger King, Macy’s and more.
Every 1,000 Fetch points you earn is equivalent to $1.00 towards a free gift card. You only need 3,000 points to redeem your first reward. As a special promotion, when you use Fetch referral code AWPFV8 at sign up, you’ll earn 2,000 FREE points. Try it out for yourself by downloading the app.
Receipt Hog
Next on the list is Receipt Hog. I will say that this app took me the longest amount of time to earn my free gift card. To date, I have earned $40 with this app.
How to Get FREE Gift Cards with Receipt Hog
Receipt Hog is another app in the mix of shopping reward apps that rewards you in coins per receipt. The coins you earn are based on the total amount on the receipt. The more money you spend at a store, the more coins you’ll earn.
So for instance, a receipt that has a total amount of $10 will earn you 10 coins, whereas a receipt of $101 will earn you 20 coins. You can earn coins on receipts you snap from grocery stores, health and beauty stores, toy stores, liquor stores and more.
The great part about using Receipt Hog is that you can also upload receipts from other family members within your household. Most of the other apps mentioned on this list do not allow that. So that’s a definite plus!
But there is a downside I noticed when testing out this app over the last year. Mainly, it does take a significant amount of time to reach the 1,000 minimum points to cash out your first gift card. As a matter of fact, it took me a few months to reach that level. Then it took me another few months to reach 6,500 coins where I then cashed out $40 to my PayPal account.
With Receipt Hog, you’ll have the option of cashing out to either an Amazon or Visa gift card, or taking your reward as a cash payment through PayPal.
Ultimately, when you use this app with the rest of the apps on this list, it still makes it a worthwhile app to use. You can download the app and use Receipt Hog promo code smur5378 for 5 free Hog Spins to earn free coins.
Shopkick
Shopkick is a newer app I started using one month ago. To date, I have earned $10 in free gift cards, and am more than half way to earning a $25 free gift card.
How to Get FREE Gift Cards with Shopkick
Shopkick is an interesting app to say the least. While it is more prone to being a shopping rewards app, it also has some features of being a gig app.
Here’s what I mean. Shopkick, will reward you ‘kicks’ on special in-app product offers you purchase during your grocery shopping trip. Simply upload your receipt and Shopkick will match those offers to your receipt and reward you a specified amount of kicks.
Though, I have not personally earned kicks in this manner as of yet. For the most part, I’ve opted to earn kicks by doing more of the in-app gig type features. This includes finding specified products inside a store and scanning the barcode of that item in order to receive kicks. It’s almost like doing a fun scavenger hunt and getting paid in free gift cards for it!
Additionally, the Shopkick app will on many occasions reward you for simply walking into a store. I’ve actually earned close to 1,000 kicks by simply walking into stores, which I find a little wild. But I guess the reasoning behind it is that these stores want more foot traffic. The more people that walk into their stores, the higher the chances that someone will make a purchase at that store.
2,500 kicks on the app will earn you a free $10 gift card. You can download the app and use Shopkick promo code CARD513768 to earn 500 FREE bonus kicks. If you need help using the app, then make sure to read my ultimate Shopkick app guide.
Rakuten
Rakuten is quickly becoming one of my favorite apps to earn free money and free gift cards. I joined Rakuten 3 weeks ago, and to date have earned $81.01 with the app.
How to Get FREE Gift Cards with Rakuten
Rakuten is a deals website and app that rewards you with cash back rewards at popular retail stores. These stores include Macy’s, Adidas, Walmart, Bed Bath and Beyond, Kiehl’s, Ray Ban and more.
The premise of the app is that you search for the store you wish to shop at, and then click over to that store through the app. Rakuten earns a kickback on purchases you make at the retail partner store, and they share that kickback amount with you. It’s truly a win-win situation.
Some of these cash back rewards can be significant deals, especially when shopping during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday time frame. On many occasions, Rakuten offered 10% – 15% cash back on purchases made at Macy’s, Forever 21, Nike, and other popular stores.
In my Rakuten review, I share with you my experience shopping on the app and how I came to quickly earn $81.01 my first month. Once you’ve reached a minimum of $5.01 in cash back rewards, you can cash out your rewards during the next pay period, and nab a handful of free gift cards with that free money.
As a new Rakuten app user, you can earn anywhere from $25 – $40 at sign up when using a Rakuten sign up bonus link.
WATCH ME SCROLL THROUGH THESE APPS ON MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL HERE.
Pro Tip to Earn Even MORE
So now that you know the top 5 best apps to earn free gift cards, let me also share with you how you can earn free money on top of that.
Many of these apps offer deals on the same products at the same time. And if you have time to look for some of these overlaps, you can actually end up getting free stuff, along with free money.
For instance, just recently, I found an overlap deal on Fetch Rewards and the Ibotta app. It was for Beyond Burger Plant-Based meat patties. Fetch was offering 3,500 points each for up to 2 purchases of the product. Ibotta was offering $3.50 per purchase of the item.
I found the burgers at my local Target on sale for $4.29 and grabbed two Beyond Burger pattie packages for a total of $8.58. After scanning my receipt on both Ibotta and Fetch Rewards, I ended up earning about $14.30 in cash back rewards. That overlap netted me 2 free packages of plant-based meat patties along with $5.72 in FREE money.
Additionally, I was able to earn coins for this same receipt on Receipt Hog.
But it doesn’t end there. These offers tend to re-set after a day or two and can be redeemed again. This is not the case all the time, but in my experience using the app, it does happen a lot.
Two days after my initial purchase, the Beyond Burger patties re-set in my Ibotta and Fetch Rewards app. I once again purchased the items, and nabbed myself another 2 free patties packages and $5.72 in free money.
I also was able to use these receipts on Receipt Hog to earn coins towards free gift cards.
Earn Free Gift Cards Conclusion
These apps can truly earn you free gift cards and free money when you use them religiously. I never expected to earn thousands of dollars in free cards and free money when I first downloaded these apps. But as you can see, these rewards can really add up quickly!
Make sure to use all promo codes listed on this page to earn your free bonus sign up rewards!
Have fun shopping and earning your free gift cards!
