Honey Review 2024: Pros, Cons & Tips for Earning the Most

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If you do a lot of online shopping but haven’t installed Honey, you could be leaving money on the table. Honey is a browser extension that automatically finds discount codes from across the internet for all your favorite retailers.

Our mission at DollarSprout is to help readers improve their financial lives, and we regularly partner with companies that share that same vision. If a purchase or signup is made through one of our Partners’ links, we may receive compensation for the referral. Learn more here.

If you do a lot of online shopping and don’t use the Honey app, you could be leaving money on the table.

Honey is a legit Chrome browser extension that automatically finds discount codes from across the internet for all your favorite retailers.

The premise is simple: When you go to check out, the Honey app scans the retailer’s website and other coupon databases for current offer codes. The app goes through all the offers it finds and applies the best one.

You can also earn money back from Honey if you shop at qualifying online stores.

We take a deeper look to see if the app and Chrome extension are worth the hype (and what to watch out for) in this detailed Honey review.

What Is Honey and How Does It Work?

Honey is one of the best shopping apps for discounts and rewards. Here’s a review of Honey’s features:

Free Price Free browser extension. No app.
DollarSprout Rating No app. Coupons sometimes expired or unavailable.

Honey pays cash back for your online shopping. It's free to use, and the browser extension alerts you when they have a deal or coupon available for a site you're on. The Droplist feature also allows you to track prices on items you're interested in. You'll receive an alert from Honey with the price drops.

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Pros

  • Shop as you usually would at your favorite online retailer
  • Searches the web for legitimate coupon codes so you don’t have to
  • Automatically applies the coupon code with the biggest discount, saving you the most amount of money possible
  • Easy to use – just click the Honey icon when you’re ready to check out
  • Offers a rewards program in addition to finding discounts

Cons

  • Must install the extension on your browser
  • Button appears on all shopping pages, which could negatively affect your internet shopping experience
  • Honey won’t always find a discount code

Honey Chrome extension

If you use the Chrome internet browser, it’s easy to add Honey from the Chrome web store. The Honey Chrome Extension has a 4.8 out of 5-star rating and over 150,000 reviews. 

From the Chrome web store, click on “Add to Chrome” and then “Add extension” to install the Honey app. Once you’ve installed the Honey Chrome extension, you’ll see the Honey button appear on your favorite shopping sites. Just click the pop-up at checkout to apply Honey’s deals and coupon codes.

The Chrome web extension also allows you to look at price history charts on Amazon so you can choose the best time of the year to buy for the lowest price.

Honey Amazon price watch
Source: Honey

For example, when I’m looking to buy a reading light on Amazon, I can verify that I’m buying it from the least expensive seller. I can also see that right now it’s being sold for the lowest price.

How to use the Honey app and browser extension

Honey chrome extension explanation
Source: Honey

It’s easy to get started with Honey. First, download and install the Honey app that’s compatible with your preferred internet browser. Honey supports Chrome, Firefox, and Opera each on Mac and Windows. You can also install Honey on Safari (Mac) and Edge (Windows).

After you’ve installed the extension, shop as usual. When you’re ready to make a purchase, you should see the Honey icon at the corner of your page. Click on the button, and Honey reviews its database for discounts. It then chooses the code with the biggest discount and applies it to your cart.

Honey supports many different online retailers and service providers like Amazon, eBay, and Sephora.

Honey chrome extension Sephora website
Source: Honey

For example, when I visit the Sephora website, I automatically notice that the Honey extension pops up. It tells me that I’m eligible for 1% to 4% cashback on the site. All I need to do is click on the “Activate 1-4% Rewards” button to earn cashback on my purchases.

I then find what I’m looking for, the Glow Recipe Watermelon + AHA Glow Sleeping Mask, but decide it’s too expensive right now. So instead of adding it to my cart, I add it to my Honey Droplist where I can decide when I want Honey to notify me about a sale.

Honey Sephora droplist
Source: Honey

You can decide to track the item for 30, 60, 90, or 120 days, and you can choose what kind of discount you want, between 5% to 95% off. The item I want also comes in two different sizes, and I was able to add both sizes to my Droplist.

When you use this feature, Honey will notify you via email when the item goes on sale.

Honey testing codes
Source: Honey

If I decide to buy the item now, I’ll add it to my shopping cart, where Honey notifies me that it’s found 10 possible coupon codes.

I click on the button, and Honey begins testing the codes. It doesn’t find any usable coupon codes but does remind me that Sephora has several free sample codes I can take advantage of.  

Honey Gold

how to redeem honey gold
Source: Honey

Honey isn’t just for discount codes. You can earn Honey Gold whenever you shop online using the Honey app at participating retailers. When you’ve earned enough Honey Gold, you can redeem it for gift cards to major online stores like eBay, Amazon, Sephora, and Walmart. You can cash out your earnings as soon as you reach 1,000 Honey Gold. Your 1,000 Gold points will net a $10 gift card.

To get started, register for the Honey community. Then, shop as usual and collect Gold when you buy from more than 4,500 participating stores like Sephora, eBay, Apple, Macy’s, and The Home Depot.

Tip: Honey gives you up to 20% back on purchases in the form of Honey Gold. Look for a gold dollar sign icon when you shop; this is the sign that the site participates in Honey Gold. Your earnings don’t expire as long as your Honey account stays active.

Related: The Best Cash Back Apps to Save Money On Everything

Honey Droplist

Honey droplist
Source: Honey

Honey Droplist can help you save money by watching prices. You can easily track price drops on select online stores through the Honey Droplist feature, currently available at retailers like Overstock, Macy’s, Amazon, and Walmart.

When you find an item you’d like to watch, click on the small blue h+ icon. The icon is only visible on participating sites, and you’ll need to have the Honey extension installed. Once you click the h+ button, let Honey know how long to watch the item (30, 60, or 90 days).

When the price drops, Honey automatically emails you to let you know.

Honey referral program

Once you’ve signed up for Honey, you can send a referral link to people you know. You earn 500 Honey Gold when a friend makes their first qualifying purchase, and the more friends you recruit, the more you’ll make. You can have up to 200 people sign up through your link. They’ll also receive 500 in Honey Gold when they sign up.

invite friends to honey with your referral link

The Honey App

The Honey extension is built for desktop web browsers, but if you do online shopping from your phone, Honey currently has the Honey Smart Shopping Assistant App available on Android and iPhone devices.

The mobile app works differently than the desktop extension. Instead of shopping directly from the stores’ sites, you browse different online retailers from within Honey’s app. You can compare prices for your favorite items at different stores. Best of all, you can check out one time across all stores included on the app.

You don’t need to create a separate Honey account to use the mobile app; you just need to log in using your existing Honey account information. Without an account, you’ll be able to download and browse the app, but you can’t make a purchase until you register with Honey.

Is Honey safe to use?

Honey is generally considered safe to use. To improve your online shopping experience, Honey collects basic information like your IP address, device, operating system, and information about purchases made through Honey. They also retain information about your browsing history while using Honey.

Honey doesn’t collect or store any of your financial information, like bank accounts or credit card numbers, unless you provide them. It also doesn’t collect information from your search history or your email.

How to uninstall the Honey Chrome extension

If you decide that it isn’t a good fit for you, you can uninstall Honey in just a few steps. You can also uninstall the Honey mobile app by removing the app from your phone. Once you delete the app, Honey deletes all of your personal information too.

According to the app, “After you click Delete Forever, your account is completely removed from our system and we will no longer have any personal information about you in our system.”

Honey vs. Capital One Shopping: How Do They Compare?

Honey and Capital One Shopping are both browser extensions that help you find discount codes and lower prices for an item. Like Honey, Capital One Shopping is available as an extension on Chrome, Edge, Safari, and Firefox. It’s not available on Opera.

Capital One Shopping also has both an iPhone and Android app, and the app experience is similar. Capital One Shopping allows users to search for low prices on items within the mobile app. There’s also a “local” tab if you’re doing a price comparison of local stores.

Capital One Shopping offers a rewards program where you can earn credits by making qualifying purchases at participating online retailers. You can also track price drops via Capital One Shopping’s Watch List feature.

Although both of these extensions help you find discounts and earn rewards, some find Honey to be less intrusive and more user-friendly. Get a closer look at these two tools in our Capital One Shopping vs. Honey comparison.

Honey App Review Summary

The Honey extension is an effortless way to save money. It’s simple to add the extension to your computer’s browser in just a few clicks. Once it’s there, Honey will show you when deals are available, and you can claim them with the click of a button.

One of the best ways to use Honey is to add items you want to buy to the Honey Droplist, where you’ll be notified when they go on sale. You can save a lot of money by waiting for the best deal. 

Overall, Honey is a legitimate money-saving app, with a 4.6 rating on Trustpilot with more than 3,800 reviews. If you do a lot of online shopping and want to get great deals, Honey is a good option.

Author
Cat Alford

Cat is the go-to personal finance expert for educated, aspirational moms who want to recapture their life passions, earn more, reach their goals, and take on a more active financial role in their families. Cat was named the Best Contributor/Freelancer for Personal Finance in 2014, and over the past few years her writing and financial expertise have been featured in dozens of notable publications like The Wall Street Journal, Yahoo! Finance, U.S. News and World Report, and many more.

1 comments
Jennifer S Shaver
Jennifer S Shaver

I find that Honey is seriously aggressive and I have saved more with Capital One Shopping (it’s not always in my face and pushing over the top). I have both and Capital One Shopping gives a bigger percentage off than Honey does nearly every time. Thank you for the review.

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