If you are looking for free apps to save money or apps to make money, Ibotta should be at the top of your list. In this Ibotta review, I will show you how easy it is to use the Ibotta app to save money on things you already purchase. If you stack the app with coupons and sales, you can even make money using Ibotta.

Ibotta offers rebates on everyday shopping items from groceries to movie tickets. Sign up today, and get started making money just by shopping!

Ibotta is well-designed, and their interface is intuitive. I have been using the app for over a year, and I am impressed with the new features they continue to add. When you open the app, you will see a pretty loading screen while Ibotta works behind the scenes to pull up hundreds of rebates.

Your welcome screen on Ibotta is the “Rebates” tab which shows all of the categories for the different rebates. There is a more complete list further on in the review. The slider add at the top of this screen is actually very helpful as it shows some of the most popular rebates that you might miss if you were just checking out the one or two categories that you use the most often.

The grocery tab is the tab I use the most because we just don’t do a lot of shopping on a regular basis other than groceries.

Once you click on any category, you will be taken to that category’s specific screen. You can choose to filter by in-store or online rebates. In the groceries category, all of the rebates are in-store so there is no need to filter. Under the filter options, there is another slider screen with popular rebates. Clicking on any slide will take you to that rebate automatically. Otherwise, you can scroll down to see the various local stores where Ibotta works. These stores are listed in order of the total dollar amount you could save if you used all of the available rebates. Each store also lists how many general rebates and exclusive rebates they have available. Exclusive rebates are only available at that retailer, whereas general rebates are available at multiple stores.

Once you click on a store, you can sort rebates by popular, new, or expiring. You can also press the little down arrow and choose a specific category of rebates if you don’t feel like scrolling.

There are a lot of rebates on Ibotta, but it doesn’t take very long to scroll through them. I usually sort by most popular so I can see the best rebates first. The clock in the corner means that the rebate is expiring. If you see a little trophy next to the dollar amount, that means the rebate is eligible for a bonus which we will talk about later.

The rebates on Ibotta are constantly changing, but my favorite rebates are the ones where the brand doesn’t matter. You can currently get a rebate for $0.25 back on any gallon of milk. This is a pretty common rebate. They also have had unbranded rebates for veggies and fruits, bread, eggs, yogurt, and even ice cream.

Once you click on an individual rebate, you will see the actions you have to take in order to “earn” your rebate. These are usually very simple such as learning a fact, answering one survey question, or looking at a picture. Occasionally, higher value rebates will require you to post to facebook or twitter. Rebates over $0.50 usually require you to complete multiple actions, earning a portion of the rebate for each action. Usually, earning an entire rebate takes less than 15 or 30 seconds.

Once you click on “learn a fact”, it will take you to the fact.

As you can see, Ibotta makes it easy to verify the product barcode while you are out shopping to make sure that the item you are about to purchase qualifies for the rebate. This is a great tool to make sure you are on the right track. 

Once you have bought all of your items, you click on the “Redeem” tab at the bottom of your screen. There you will choose to verify your Ibotta purchases. You will select an unlocked rebate from your list, and then scan that item’s barcode to verify that you purchased the correct item. Once you have done this with all of the rebate-eligible items from your purchase, you will upload your receipt by taking a picture (multiple pictures if it is a long receipt). This process may sound cumbersome, but it takes very little time, and the app walks you through every step. Just remember to actually submit your receipt, otherwise, you obviously won’t get the rebate.

Once you earn $10 in rebates on Ibotta, you can cash out via Paypal or venmo. I have cashed out over $400 since I started using ibotta, and I never purchase anything I wouldn’t have purchased anyway.

You can also redeem your Ibotta rebates for gift cards if you would rather. These are the current options.

Ibotta Bonuses – Certain bonuses are just for fun, and you earn them for completing certain milestones on Ibotta. I earned the Fat Wallet bonus when I deposited my rebates to Paypal the first or second time. Other rebates earn you money. These are noted on the rebates that qualify or you can go to the bonuses tab and see what bonuses are available. Clicking on a greyed-out bonus icon will take you to the requirements for that bonus. For instance, I earned an extra dollar when I redeemed to Nature Valley rebates at WinCo. Bonuses are usually brand and/or store specific, but they are a great way to increase your earnings.

Ibotta recently introduced the Teamwork bonuses. These bonuses earn you extra money if your team (all of your friends on Ibotta, including me if you use one of my referral links) redeem a certain amount in rebates and you redeem a certain number of rebates.

Here is a more complete list of the categories with rebates on Ibotta. Other categories include special occasions, photos & print, pet, home improvement, babies & kids, and movie theaters. Yes, you can earn a rebate when you see certain movies. The rebate is usually $1 back on your movie ticket. AWESOME!

Ibotta really is a great app that can save you money (or make you money depending on how you look at it). Clicking any of the images or links in this review will use my referral link when you sign up, or you can manually type in my referral code (azerq) when you sign up. I look forward to being a part of your team and earning together!

Next week, I will be writing about apps like Ibotta to help save even more on your grocery budget.