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Honey Review: Is It a Scam or Safe and Legit? (Pros and Cons)

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Written by: Kate Starr
Last Updated:

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Honey Review

honey logo

Honey is a rewards and cashback app and browser extension that enables you to save up to 50% on your online purchases. Using the Honey browser extension, you don’t have to manually look for discount coupons and test each. Honey automatically tests those for you and applies the coupon with the best deal. Because of this, you can save both money and time. Cashout your earnings via PayPal.

Safe & Legit

Cashback Value

Number of Stores

Payout Process

Pros

  • Automatically applies discounts
  • More than 30,000 partner stores
  • Use app or browser extension for shopping
  • Extensive Help section to guide new users

Cons

  • Fewer stores available on the app
  • PayPal is the only option to get cash

Jump to: Full Review

Compare to Other Cashback Sites

Swagbucks

Swagbucks logo

18 ways to earn money – surveys, coupons, cashbacks + $5 sign up bonus

Up to 10% cashback from stores – Walmart, Amazon, Best Buy, JCPenney

Most members can earn an extra $50 – $200 a month using Swagbucks

InboxDollars

InboxDollars logo

Shopping online on mobile apps with a cashback rate of 1.5% to 15%

Earn money for scanning your receipts or trying featured daily deals

Over $80 million in cash rewards paid to members + $5 sign up bonus

MyPoints

MyPoints logo

Earn a $10 Amazon Card with your first purchase (spend $20 to qualify)

MyPoints members get up to 40% back with every purchase at 2,000 stores

Extra ways to earn money – surveys, games, emails, watching videos

How Does Honey Work?


Honey is a shopping rewards app and browser extension owned by PayPal. It was launched in 2012 in Los Angeles, California, aiming to make the world fair for consumers. 

It does so by providing tools, helping its users find the best deals and savings. From its 900,000 users in 2014, Honey now has over 17 million users and works with more than 30,000 sites globally. No wonder PayPal paid $4 billion to acquire this platform. 

Honey works quite similarly with other cashback and coupon websites. You’ll need to sign up first using your email. From there, you can download the browser extension and install it on your browsers, like Chrome or Opera. 

When you visit online stores, Honey pops up at the top right of the screen showing available coupons. Suppose you’re ready to check out items. Honey will then test the coupons to see if any works for your intended purchases. 

If any of the coupons work for your purchases, Honey automatically applies those and shows you how much you save. 

You can also earn cashback from participating retailers using Honey. When you visit a participating retailer, Honey shows a message asking you to activate cashback. 

After completing your purchase, you’ll get the cashback in the form of Honey Gold. It’s the rewards currency at Honey and you can trade this for gift cards, PayPal shopping credits, or PayPal cash.

Honey also offers a smartphone app so you can use coupons and earn Gold rewards. But, unlike the browser extension, you’ll need to visit online stores and shop within the app.

Besides coupons and cashback rewards, Honey has other features to help you save money on your shopping. You can check an item’s price history and add that to your Drop List, letting Honey notify you when that item’s price drops. 

How Much Cashback You Can Get With Honey?


Honey rewards range from 1% to 50% of your eligible purchase amount. However, how much you get depends on the participating store. 

Participating stores in Honey offers cashback rewards in the form of Honey Gold, which you can exchange for these rewards:

Gift cards

PayPal store credits

PayPal cash

Who is Honey Best for?


Honey is ideal for those who do most of their shopping online. It’s also best for people who prefer to online shop using their computers.

Honey also works best for those who frequent specific shops. They can look for their favorite stores on this platform and enjoy savings from coupons and cashback.

Honey Partner Stores


Honey partners with over 30,000 stores including the following:

TargetNikeSephoraMacy’sBloomingdale’s
WalmartAdidasUltaLowe’sCrate & Barrel
AmazonForever 21Kohl’sFinish LineStubhub
Pizza HutNordstromJ. CrewHotel.comGameStop

Honey Features: What Does Honey Offer?


Browser Extension

The browser extension lets you access most of Honey’s features. When you visit your favorite online stores, it automatically applies available coupons to your purchases. It also prompts you for applicable cashback.

You can use the Honey Browser Extension on select browsers on a desktop version: 

  • Chrome
  • Opera
  • Firefox
  • Edge

If you’re using an iPhone running on at least iOS15 software, you can also install the Mobile Browser Extension on Safari. It works similarly to the browser extension on your computer. 

Mobile App

Honey mobile app allows you to access selected stores, shop, and enjoy savings with coupons and cashback. This also lets you access your account settings, as well as redeem rewards using Honey Gold. 

You can download the app from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. Note that some stores available at the browser extension may not be available in the mobile app. 

Honey Gold

Honey Gold is the rewards currency at Honey. You’ll get this as cashback when you make eligible purchases at supported stores. 

Then, you can exchange your accumulated gold for specific rewards, like gift cards, PayPal Store credit, or PayPal cash.

Droplist

Droplist is a price-tracking feature that lets you monitor specific products you wish to buy. When you add products to your Droplist, Honey allows you to view their price history. This way, you have an idea if you can buy those products at a cheaper price. 

What’s also great about Droplist is that it does the price monitoring, proactively. Then, when it detects any price drops for your Droplisted products, you’ll receive a notification. This way, you can buy those while they are within your budget. 

Amazon Best Price

Suppose you’re shopping on Amazon. With this feature, Honey checks and compares seller prices of the product you’re checking on Amazon. Then, it shows you if it finds cheaper options of the exact product you want to purchase. 

This feature also tells you if there will be any shipping delays when buying from a specific seller. Honey also considers Prime shipping benefits.  

Is Honey Free?


Honey is completely free to use. You don’t need to pay for anything when downloading the browser extension and app. 

Honey Payout Terms and Options?


After completing an eligible purchase, Gold rewards will go to your Pending Gold Points within 2 to 14 days. Once there, your gold points will stay on Pending for the next 60 to 90 days. This allows time for the retailer to confirm your purchase.

While your Gold points are pending, you can’t use them to redeem any rewards. 

Available Gold points, on the other hand, lets you redeem: 

  • Gift cards
  • PayPal store credit
  • PayPal cash

To give you an idea of the conversion, 1 Gold point is equivalent to $0.01 worth of rewards. If you’re redeeming gift cards, just go to the redemption page and choose a store and how much you want to redeem. You’ll receive the gift card within 24 hours.

These are also the same steps when redeeming PayPal store credit. You can use this on your next purchase if you’re using PayPal as a payment method. The redemption page also allows you to redeem points to PayPal cash. 

Honey Reviews: Is Honey Legit?


Honey has impressive 5-star ratings from over 160,000 users at Chrome Web Store. It received a 4.4 rating at the Apple App Store and a 4.3 rating at Google Play Store. At Trustpilot, Honey has over 4,500 reviews and received an average of 4.2 ratings.

Review SiteReview Score
Chrome Web Store5
Apple App Store4.4
Google Play Store4.3
Trustpilot4.2

Many users liked how the browser extension is easy to install and use. Other users complimented how Honey does the hard work of looking for coupons for them, helping them save money. Some users even claimed to save thousands on their purchases. 

On the other hand, some Honey users had complaints about redeeming rewards. They had issues with gift cards not arriving after redemption. Few users encountered problems with Gold points staying at pending status even after 90 days. 

Despite these reviews, Honey remains a legit platform that you can use for free to save money on your purchases. It’s safe to install on your browser or smartphone, with features that add value to your shopping experience.  

What Are the Honey Pros & Cons?


Honey Pros

  • Automatically applies discounts to your purchases
  • More than 30,000 partner stores
  • You can always use the app and browser extension when shopping
  • Extensive Help section to guide new users

Honey Cons

  • Fewer stores available on the app than the browser extension
  • PayPal is the only option to get cash rewards

How Good is Honey Support?


Honey offers excellent customer support. Right after signing up, its website will direct you to a video tutorial on how to use the browser. 

There’s also a Help page where you can find answers to specific questions. These questions are categorized based on topics. You can also use the Search field to easily look for relevant articles. 

If you need to reach out to their customer support team, the Help page also features a Contact Us button. By clicking on it, you can send an email to Honey Support regarding your issue or question. They’ll get back to you via email, too. 

Besides that Contact Us button, all articles in the Help section have a “Still need help? Contact Us” at the bottom. You can click on it to submit a ticket to their support team, in case the article did not address your issue.  

Honey Review Verdict: Is Honey Worth it?


Honey is a rewards and cashback app and browser extension that enables you to save up to 50% on your online purchases.

Using the Honey browser extension, you don’t have to manually look for discount coupons and test each. Honey automatically tests those for you and applies the coupon with the best deal. Because of this, you can save both money and time. 

Other Honey features can also save you money in a significant way. The Honey Gold rewards, for example, literally pay you back some of the cash you spend on shopping. Meanwhile, the Droplist feature allows you to buy items for less. 

Although Honey has impressive ratings on trusted platforms, like Trustpilot, there are some things Honey can do better. The Mobile app, while accessible, needs to include more stores, or at least the same number as the browser extension.

How to Sign Up With Honey?


To sign up with Honey, go to its website or download the app on your smartphone. Then, click on Join and select which account you want to use to sign up. 

Your sign-up options include:

  • Google
  • Facebook
  • Apple
  • PayPal
  • Email 

If you opt for email, you’ll need to create a password, too.

Honey FAQ


Does Honey steal your credit card information?

According to Honey’s privacy policy, they never collect passwords, phone numbers, and credit card information. 

How does the Honey app make money?

Honey makes commissions from its partner stores when users go through Honey to shop and activate coupons. 

Who invented the Honey app?

Ryan Hudson invented the Honey app.

Is Honey only for the US?

No, Honey is not only for the US. Besides the US, Honey is available in Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, India, and Spain. 

When did PayPal buy Honey?

PayPal completed its acquisition on January 6, 2020. 

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Kate Starr

Dollarbreak

About the author:

Kate Starr is a personal finance, FinTech and MarTech writer. Her areas of expertise include making money, investing, and money management.

From earning money as a beginner entrepreneur to advanced investing in the stock market, Kate’s guides can help you to get more ideas on how to earn income online and increase your wealth.

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