During this recession in Canada, everyone is looking to save a few bucks if they can. There are a number of ways you can earn cash back, some happen automatically if you click through a portal, for example, Rakuten Canada, and some you have to link your credit card to the app. Some you can get cash back when you upload your receipt or scan your receipt on grocery purchases. Here are 3 free apps that pay you to scan receipts in Canada.
I used to throw away my receipts if they weren’t used for business purposes, but now I keep all my receipts and put them in an envelope, then I reconcile them when I receive my credit card bill.
After checking the receipts against the credit card statement, I staple the receipt to the statement. Having all the receipts in one place helps when I’m looking for the receipt to upload for cash back.
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apps that pay you to scan receipts in Canada
These receipt apps ub Cabada that pay you to scan receipts are low effort but they are also low paying. You’re not going to be able to generate much meaningful passive income from this, but doing something ‘productive’ on your smartphone while you’re commuting on the bus.
You might wonder how these apps make money.
Well, they look at your receipts that you submit to determine insightful data on your shopping habits and they share these insights with companies who are interested in this information.
Caddle
Caddle is a Canadian based data insights marketplace that gives you cash back when you answer surveys, upload receipts, watch videos, and interact with Caddle’s offers.
When you use Caddle surveys, you’re kind of like participating in a virtual focus group but with very short questionnaires that reward you $0.05 to $0.25 each survey for participating. There is usually at least one survey available a day on Caddle.
They also have a feature on their app where you can get $0.50 for uploading Costco receipts and $0.10 for uploading receipts from places like Metro, Food Basics, FreshCo, Giant Tiger, Dollarama, Shoppers Drug Mart (love them PC Points), and Loblaws.
The only problem is the time ‘window’ to submit these receipts is quite narrow.
Sometimes I see a Loblaws receipt offer and then the next day it’s gone. Your receipt has to match the time window available on the app, otherwise it will get rejected.
It takes a few days after your upload your receipt to get it verified and approved, and in the meantime it will just show ‘receipts pending’.
Click here to sign up with Caddle and get $1 for doing one of the aforementioned Daily Caddle surveys. The minimum to cash out is $20.
I signed up in 2018 and I have cashed out a few times (made over $100, wooooo!).
It’s definitely not a ‘get rich quick‘ scheme by any means, but every little bit counts and it is very low effort, if you’re mindlessly scrolling on your smartphone, why not earn a few cents here and there.
Here’s my honest Caddle review. Unfortunately, I have been checking this app daily, they got me addicted somehow to checking their surveys for $0.05 to $0.25 a day!
I calculate completing the 5 cents Caddle surveys to be about $18/hr (they take seconds to complete), so you can decide whether it’s worth your time.
I consider Caddle to be one of the best personal finance apps in Canada mainly because of its addictive nature and easy surveys and I’ve redeemed over $100 in cheques.
Checkout 51
Checkout 51 is a money saving app founded in Toronto since 2012.
Checkout 51 is essentially a receipt cash back app. Every week they load up new offers and you match the offers to grocery items that you have bought. These offers are for $1.00 or sometimes $0.50, it varies.
Most of the offers are for specific branded products like Lucerne milk (2L or 4L volume) and sometimes (occasionally) there are generic grocery items, like $0.25 for bananas or $0.25 off for bread.
You upload your receipt to the matching offer, and submit the receipt. After about 24 hours, you’ll find out of your receipt was approved. Checkout 51 is much faster than Caddle to approve receipts that you scan. Caddle seems to take at least a few days and Checkout 51 seems to be within a day at most.
To cash out from your Checkout 51 bounty, you will need at least $20 on your account, and they mail you a cheque in a few days.
Here’s my honest Checkout 51 review. They are considered the Ibotta of Canada.
Receipt Hog Canada
The last of the free apps that pay you to scan receipts in Canada is Receipt Hog.
It’s kind of like Fetch Rewards in Canada. As you know Fetch Rewards is only in the United States right now.
Receipt Hog by InfoScout (based in San Francisco, USA) is a free mobile app that lets you turn your receipts into cash (specifically PayPal credit, Amazon e-gift card, or Visa Prepaid Card).
Receipt Hog is available in the US, Canada, and the United Kingdom.
You upload your receipts and you get Coin Rewards based on the value of your receipt and the number of receipts you submit.
Does Receipt Hog work in Canada?
Yes it does.
I downloaded this recently so haven’t earned the minimum to cash out, but I like testing apps and checking on their usability and whether they are worth downloading, so I thought why not try Receipt Hog in Canada?
The good thing is that you don’t have to shop at a particular place to earn coins. It can be at any place and any value.
Here are the tiers of receipt values for the Coin-Receipts. There’s a max ‘earn’ rate of 100 coins per week when you submit receipts.
- <$10 = 5 coins
- $10-$50 = 10 coins
- $50-$100 = 15 coins
- $100+ = 20 coins.
How many Coin-Rewards do you need to be able to cash out on Receipt Hog?
Basically, you need 1000 coins to cash out on a $5 Amazon e-gift card or a $5 PayPal credit or a $5 Visa Prepaid Card. That means you will have to submit about 45 receipts worth more than $100 to get a $5 gift card. That’s a lot of receipts.
One way to earn more points is to submit receipts of smaller value but again, that’s a lot of time spent scanning receipts.
When you submit your receipt, Receipt Hog asks you who in your family went shopping and asks you to rate your shopping experience.
Submitting the receipts are time sensitive too, you have to submit your receipt within a 14 day window- they can’t be old receipts.
With Receipt Hog, you get 50 Coin Rewards for joining, and another 30 Coin Rewards for taking a short questionnaire (to find out more about you). There are also ‘slots’ that you can play to earn additional coin rewards.
One caution about Receipt Hog Canada is that there is a button for you to submit digitized or emailed receipts but the problem with this is it allows Receipt Hog to have access to all your emails. I would caution against this unless you don’t care about your privacy.
Is Uploading your Receipts Worth iT?
Hope you found this list of receipt apps in Canada to be helpful.
Well, the answer to whether uploading receipts for extra cash back is worth it lies within yourself 🙂
If you don’t mind doing surveys and submitting receipts to get scanned and get cash back (a few cents here and there that add up eventually) and like the extra pocket change that these free apps can generate, then downloading these may be worth it.
It is complete delayed gratification! That $20 cash out cheque in the mail feels ridiculously good for some reason even though it is $20.
In terms of money saved, the biggest cost savings for me is probably from Checkout 51. I’ve received hundreds in cash back cheques from Checkout 51 vs the $100 from Caddle in the past three years.
For more tips on how to save money on groceries n Canada, check out these 12 ideas.
Here are some of the best food waste apps in Canada.
For more cash back websites or apps, you can check out:
- Great Canadian Rebates
- Rakuten Canada
- Paymi
- Ampli review: Get Canadian Cash Back
- Rexall Be Well Review
- PC Optimum Points: How to Maximize Your Points
- Is a Costco membership worth it?
- Food inflation in Canada
Have you tried using any of these free apps that pay you to scan receipts in Canada?
If so, which one is your favourite?
GYM is a 30 something millennial interested in achieving financial freedom through disciplined saving, dividend and ETF investing, and living a minimalist lifestyle. Before you go, check out my recommendations page of financial tools I use to save and invest money. Don’t forget to subscribe for blog updates, a free dividend yield spreadsheet, and the free Young Money Bootcamp eCourse.
Great list, in fact I use all 3 mentioned here on a daily basis!
@Danish- Fantastic. I sheepishly use Caddle the most.
Ugh, the window on Caddle receipts – especially for Superstore – is crazy! I almost never get that one because by the time it goes up, it’s gone. I’ve gotten a few Shoppers and Dollarama ones lately, though, and the surveys are usually good. Just cashed out $40 there the other day, actually! I’d say it’s my favourite cash back app outside Rakuten.
I’m eh on Checkout 51. I use it from time to time (and loved when it had more generic options) but I find often a lot of the stuff there is either a) brands not sold where I live or b) items I don’t really buy. But I’ve made a bit of money from it.
Will have to check out Receipt Hog! Might be worth a try.
Side note: I really wish iBotta and Fetch were available in Canada. Sigh.
@Tara- Sometimes I think that it tracks that I went to Superstore and then when it sees that I went there, the receipt upload option to Superstore deletes. But that’s just me and my technology paranoia, haha. Checkout 51 was much better before, but yeah, I agree, it’s been more difficult to find products to upload on there.
haha I don’t think it’s just you! I feel like the app does it to me, too, sometimes. Have you tried Ampli at all? I have an offer for $10 if you sign up in CO51, I just have not gotten around to investigating.
@Tara- I signed up through CO51, haha. https://genymoney.ca/ampli-review/ but then I cancelled it because I don’t like linking my credit cards. It is slow going to get to the $20 right now for CO51.
My wife is really into these types of apps. She uses CHECKOUT 51 lately and has had some great results! Every bit counts :).
@AnotherLoonie- Even though it’s like $20, it feels so good to receive that cheque, haha.
check out Shopperarmy.com as well – they don’t do cash back anymore but pay for surveys and send full size new products free
@Anonymous- Oh yes I’ve heard of them before but never signed up. Thanks, I love free full size products!