Best Coupon Apps & Sites – Find Deals

Coupons? Isn’t that what older women with too much free time and more cats than they can handle need? According to a recent study, consumers save $3.4 billion a year by using coupons and promo codes. Still think that’s a thing of the past?

Today’s coupons are powered by cutting-edge technology and are available on the latest devices, offering an innovative experience that makes it quick, easy, and convenient to find, use, and save money.

Now that you’re convinced, the only question is which coupon sites and apps will actually help you save. Discover how to distinguish between misleading offers and real deals to find the best deals and big savings you’re looking for.

Savings Style

The app’s functionality and the types of coupons available are the first steps in evaluating a site. Does the service offer printable coupons, scannable coupons, or coupons with links? Are there any discounts or just coupon codes? Groupon offers downloadable coupons that are great for instant purchases, and the immediate delivery makes this site a great option. Meanwhile, RetailMeNot, an industry giant, offers over 500,000 deals at any given time, in addition to gift cards and discounts for both physical and online stores, so you can find exactly what you’re looking for. Plus, Coupon.com’s easy-to-print format is a handy feature that not all sites offer.

Range of Stores

We all have our favorite stores, and a platform that offers discounts there is ideal. Some coupon apps focus primarily on savings at supermarkets, while others include everything from appliances and furniture to clothing. Unless you’re planning on doing some specialty shopping, the best sites are those that offer a wide variety of stores. Of course, the big brands in the industry, like RetailMeNot, have a huge selection and partner with over 130,000 retailers to offer a comprehensive coupon experience. If you want to try smaller (but equally useful) sites, check out coupon aggregators like Money Saving Mom or SlickDeals. These apps collect (and evaluate) coupons from other coupon sites and have exclusive deals with stores like Target, Macy’s, Amazon, and T-Mobile so customers can get the most out of their money every time they shop.

How Good are the Deals?

This is pretty subjective and depends on the industry and the shopper. Some sites offer amazing deals, but if they’re not the deals you’re looking for, they won’t be very appealing. In general, look for an app with an active and engaged community (more on that below) that offers significant savings. LivingSocial, which lets you save up to 90%, is a good example of this combination.

Tools & Additional Features

If you don’t want to spend a lot of time searching on your own, the various tools and features offered by a coupon app will make the difference between downloading it and ignoring it. Good apps are comprehensive and offer useful features and tools that make them easy to use. From list creators to shopping card syncing, here are some great tools you won’t want to miss.

RetailMeNot

lets shoppers personalize and save lists of their favorite products so they always know when they’re on sale. Plus, its algorithm is geo-targeted, so you get the most relevant local deals. Speaking of lists, The Krazy Coupon Lady also does a great job. In addition to letting you create your own shopping lists, The Krazy Coupon Lady syncs them across devices so you can share them with your partner or manage them from multiple devices. Krazy Coupon Lady is also a great resource for saving money. They offer tutorials, money-saving tips, and videos like the fun 10-day guide to becoming a coupon expert. Best of all, their YouTube channel is packed with all of these videos. Hip2Save is another app that offers excellent educational resources on saving, with entire sections dedicated to recipes, couponing techniques, and other money-saving tips.

Other sites, like SlickDeals, offer perks like a dedicated Black Friday app (also available for mobile, so you can access your savings wherever you are) that focuses exclusively on deals for that big shopping day of the year.

We found Coupon.com’s integration with grocery cards particularly impressive. This feature lets you link your favorite coupons to your grocery cards so they’re automatically deducted from your total purchase. Coupon.com also has a handy Smart Savings calculator so you can see how much you’re saving with your coupons and exclusive credit card offers.

Social Aspect

Of course, couponing has become much more than just clipping coupons from the newspaper. Today, the industry revolves around and is heavily influenced by social media. The more accessible and engaged the community is, the better your experience will be. Some apps, like SlickDeals and Woot, have large and active communities. The great thing is that the coupons are reviewed by members, so you know you’re seeing the latest deals. If an offer doesn’t meet your expectations, is expired, or is invalid for some reason, you’ll be notified by a helpful community of advisors. SlickDeals even has a rating system for its coupons, and only the best ones appear on the homepage. Woot community members are very active and provide detailed information about the products they buy and whether the discounts are worth it.

Alerts & Notifications

This is one of the modern conveniences that really sets the traditional couponing experience apart from the modern version. You no longer have to scroll through pages of ads to find good discounts. Today, you can simply set up an alert and get notified when products you like are discounted. Technology is truly amazing. With good alerts and notification settings, an app is invaluable. Apps like SlickDeals allow users to customize their notification categories so that you’ll be notified when products you’re interested in are discounted. LivingSocial sends its members a general email with the best daily deals, while DealNews lets you set up notifications for specific products.

User Friendliness

Ultimately, you want your experience to be seamless and simple. After all, one of the main reasons to use a coupon app is to save time and avoid the hassle of traditional methods. We found SlickDeal’s website to be particularly easy to navigate, with a smart search box and sections like popular posts and featured deals, all in a clean and organized design. Coupon.com also offers a zip code search to quickly find local deals. DealNews was also very easy to navigate, thanks to its simple listings and good categorization. Hip2Save always highlights deals on the homepage, and you can quickly search by store, product type, favorites, and organized lists. Last but not least, Money Saving Mom lets you sort coupons by store, product, or expiration date.

Shopping in the 21st century continues to get better. So, take advantage of smart coupon apps and start saving now.