Cashback in the UK explained: every way to earn it (October 2026)

Retailers pay to win customers. When a cashback site sends you to a shop and you buy something, the shop pays the site a commission and the site passes some of it to you. Card-linked apps work in a similar way, but track your card payment instead of a click. Card providers fund cashback partly from the fees retailers pay when you use a card. Receipt apps are often funded by brands that want you to try a product.

Because the money comes from the retailer, brand or card provider, you pay the same price as anyone else. The trade-off is that you share data about your shopping, and cashback is only confirmed once the retailer approves the sale.

Here are the main routes side by side, with where to read more about each.

We do not use affiliate links and no provider paid to be mentioned. We only name providers we confirmed are operating in the UK in October 2026, and we compared routes on:

Cashback sites are the biggest earners for most households. TopCashback and Quidco are the two main UK sites, both free to join with optional paid tiers. They pay the most on switching broadband, mobile, energy and insurance, and on travel and larger online orders. TopCashback has a browser extension that reminds you when a site pays cashback, and Quidco now offers card-linked cashback in some high street stores.

For everyday shopping, Airtime pays rewards towards your mobile bill when you use a linked card at partner retailers, receipt apps such as Shopmium and CheckoutSmart pay back part of the price of featured groceries, and JamDoughnut gives cashback on gift cards bought in the app.

Our cashback apps guide compares each type in detail, and how to use cashback sites walks through making a purchase step by step.

Cashback credit cards pay a small percentage on almost all your card spending. At the time of writing (October 2026), the no-fee American Express Cashback Everyday pays 0.5% on the first £10,000 a year and 1% above that, provided you spend at least £3,000 a year, while fee-free cards such as Barclaycard Rewards pay a flat 0.25%. Rates change often, so check providers' sites.

They only make sense if you clear the full balance every month. Typical purchase rates on these cards are close to 30% APR, so a single month of interest can outweigh a year of cashback. Applying also leaves a hard search on your credit file, so use an eligibility checker first. Our cashback credit cards guide compares card types, caps and fees, and covers the risks in full.

Some current accounts and debit cards also pay cashback on certain spending, usually with conditions such as a minimum monthly deposit and a monthly cap, and banks sometimes pay a cash bonus for switching your current account. See our guide to switching bank accounts for cashback.

Different types of cashback are paid by different companies, so you can often combine them. For example, a single online order could earn:

Cashback is low risk if you follow a few rules:

Cashback tends to arrive in small, irregular amounts, which makes it easy to lose in your current account. The simplest fix is to move every payout straight into savings, or towards debt if you have any. The debt payoff calculator shows how even small overpayments shorten the time it takes to clear a balance.

If you are saving towards something, set a target with the savings goal calculator. Or use your cashback to power a savings challenge in SYM, the free savings challenge app for iPhone and Android. SYM tells you how much to put aside today and you tap to log it, so each cashback payout can cover a few days of your challenge. It does not connect to your bank or hold your money.