Capital One Shopping vs Honey

Is Honey or Capital One Shopping better for your shopping style? Find out which is better and see which one saves you more.

Remember when getting a deal online meant scouring the internet for coupon codes?

You'd painstakingly copy and paste them at checkout, only to find out none of them worked?

Luckily, there are a host of money-saving tools that take the work out of online shopping. Two of the most popular contenders are Honey and Capital One Shopping.

But with both tools being so similar, which one is better? Find out who wins in this Capital One Shopping vs. Honey review.

Overview: Capital One Shopping vs. Honey

If you can't tell the difference between Capital One Shopping and Honey, that's because they're honestly pretty similar. Both are free extensions to help you find more deals while you shop. Capital One Shopping and Honey both offer:

• Automatic coupons and promo codes
  
• Price comparisons to help you find deals
  
• Shopping rewards
  
• Price drop notifications

But there are a few differences. Here's a comparison of what you can expect from both products:

Shopping Features: Head-to-Head Comparison

Capital One Shopping and Honey share a lot of the same features. But how do they stack up against each other? Find out which browser extension can save you more.

1. Automatically Find Coupons

Finding coupons online usually involves sifting through a sea of bunk codes just to find one that works. Capital One Shopping and Honey both automatically find and test available coupon codes for you. The promo code that saves you the most gets applied to your cart.

Capital One Shopping
When you check out, a pop-up will appear in the upper-right corner with the number of codes available. Click "Try codes" and it'll automatically cycle through the codes to see which one will save you the most.

Capital One Shopping works at more than 30,000 retailers. All you have to do is shop online like you normally would.

Sometimes, the extension won't find any coupons that apply to your current purchase. But with Capital One Shopping, you at least don't have to go through the effort of trying codes manually.

Honey
Honey works very similarly, with a pop-up also appearing in the upper right when you check out. Just click "Apply Coupons" to try the available coupons.

Again, the codes won't always work with every purchase. But Honey has the upper hand because it lets users submit codes to share with the community. This can increase your chances of getting a code that works.

Honey also works on more than 40,000 sites, compared to more than 30,000 with Capital One Shopping.

WINNER: Honey - more coupons and compatible retailers

2. Price Comparison

Shopping around is the best way to find deals. Capital One Shopping and Honey both make the process easier by comparing prices for you.

Capital One Shopping
When you shop on Amazon, Capital One Shopping automatically compares prices against other retailers.

If it finds a better offer, you'll see a green button that tells you how much you could save at a different store.

For example, you could save $20 by buying this Acer monitor new on eBay instead of on Amazon. Capital One Shopping tends to find more deals more frequently than Honey since it compares prices against thousands of other sites.

Honey
Honey, on the other hand, only compares prices between sellers on Amazon. It won't compare prices at a different store. If it finds you a cheaper Amazon seller, you'll find an orange button above the price that tells you how much you'd save.

Honey doesn't find deals as often as Capital One Shopping since it only looks at other Amazon sellers. This might be fine if you only shop at Amazon.

But for shoppers who are willing to shop elsewhere for a better deal, Capital One Shopping is a better fit.

WINNER: Capital One Shopping - compares multiple sites

3. Shopping Rewards Program

With both Honey and Capital One Shopping, you can earn rewards for shopping at participating stores.

Capital One Shopping
Capital One Shopping lets you earn Shopping Rewards online. If a store is eligible, you'll get a pop-up prompting you to activate the reward. Most rewards range from 0.5% to 20%.

You can also earn rewards by shopping in-store at your local restaurants and other businesses. To use this feature, you need to make your local purchases with a linked credit card. You can view local rewards on their website or app. They're usually 4% or more.

Once you've racked up the reward dollars, you can redeem them for gift cards at more than 35 stores, including Walmart and eBay. But, there's no cash payout option. This can be disappointing if none of their gift cards appeals to you.

Honey
Once again, Honey has a similar feature with their Honey Gold rewards program. A pop-up will ask you to activate rewards when you shop on an eligible site. Their rewards usually range from 0.1% to 20%.

Instead of earning dollar amounts, you'll earn Honey Gold. For reference, 100 Gold equals $1. This makes it a little more confusing than Capital One Shopping. Honey Gold is also available online only and doesn't have any local offers.

When it comes time to cash out, Honey has fewer gift cards. But it has the great option to cash out with PayPal. This way, your money isn't locked up with a particular store. Honey also offers Amazon gift cards, which Capital One Shopping doesn't.

WINNER: Tie. Capital One Shopping - more ways to earn; Honey - PayPal cashout option

4. Price Drop Notification

If you're shopping on a budget, it's best not to impulse buy. Try tracking an item with either Honey or Capital One Shopping to get alerted when its price drops.

Capital One Shopping
Capital One Shopping has a Watchlist feature that tracks items and lets you know when it finds a lower price. You can only add an item to your watchlist from Amazon or the Capital One Shopping website.

If your item isn't on Amazon, you'll have to take a few extra steps to search for it on the Capital One Shopping site. Not as convenient, but it gets the job done.

Honey
Honey's Droplist feature is similar, but more robust. It tracks prices and lets you know when a cheaper price is available. But it also shows you a graph of the item's price history in the past 6 months. This can be super valuable to help you decide the best time to buy.

It also has a Smart Droplist option, which automatically adds your frequently viewed items to your list.

One thing to note: Droplist isn't available on every site. An orange button will appear on the right-hand side of the page if the item is eligible.

WINNER: Honey - more price-tracking features

Key Differences Between Capital One Shopping and Honey

Honey and Capital One Shopping have a lot in common. But there are some important features they don't share:

Referral bonuses - Honey only
Both extensions let you invite friends with a unique link, but only Honey rewards you for it. When a friend signs up with your link and makes their first purchase, you'll get 500 Gold, which is $5. (Heck yes to free money!)

Capital One Shopping, unfortunately, offers nothing in return.

Some international availability - Honey only
If you need to make an online purchase outside of the U.S., you might be able to bring Honey with you. The extension works in Canada, Australia, United Kingdom, and more.

Support is still limited outside of the U.S., but they're working on expanding their services.

Local and in-store rewards - Capital One Shopping only
Honey only works on online sites. If you want a money-saving tool you can use in store, Capital One Shopping lets you scan barcodes to see if an item is cheaper online. You can also earn rewards with in-person, local offers.

All you have to do is link your credit card to your Capital One Shopping account.

Safety and Security

Is Capital One Shopping safe?
Capital One Shopping, formerly known as WikiBuy, is a legit company that helps you search for coupons and deals.

The plugin collects some of your personal information like your email, shopping data, and social media preferences. But Capital One Shopping uses the data for their own service only.

It never sells or shares your data with third parties to market to you. You won't be signed up for any spam mail from companies you've never heard of.

Is Honey safe?
Honey is another trustworthy company that has been around since 2012. It was bought by PayPal in 2020. Just like with Capital One Shopping—or anything you download—it's a good idea to understand what information they collect.

Honey collects your personal data, including your shopping and usage data. You don't have to create an account to use their coupon tool. But if you do sign up, they'll collect whatever info you share with them.

The plugin never sells your personal data. It also takes measures to protect your information like encryption, advanced malware detection, and more.

Which One Should You Choose?

Both Capital One Shopping and Honey do a great job of looking for deals you might've missed on your own. Let's face it—not many of us have the time to sit around and search for coupon codes. Having any money-saving tool is better than shopping without one.

But if you only want to pick one extension, think about which sites you use most often and how you'd like to redeem your rewards.

If you prefer shopping primarily on Amazon and want the option to cash out with PayPal, Honey makes the most sense.

If you like to shop at different sites and want to choose from a larger variety of gift cards, Capital One Shopping is a better fit.

Just know that you don't have to pick between the two if you don't want to. Honey and Capital One Shopping can work together in your browser without a problem. It might even save you more since you have the deal-hunting power of two different extensions at your disposal.

Bottom Line

Capital One Shopping and Honey are strong contenders for the best browser extension for shopping.

The best one for you depends on your shopping habits. But both extensions can help you save a lot of time and effort at checkout. If you want to maximize your chances of saving money, it doesn't hurt to use both.

You'll get two little pop-ups in your browser when you're ready to check out. It just takes a click on each to try all the available coupons—and you'll never have to wonder if the other extension could've saved you more.