Honey

What is Honey

Honey is a popular browser extension and mobile app that helps online shoppers save money. Its main function is to automatically find and apply the best available coupon codes at checkout. When you are ready to buy something online, Honey searches the internet for relevant promo codes and tests them in your shopping cart, applying the one that gives you the biggest discount. The service was founded in 2012 by Ryan Hudson and George Ruan. It grew rapidly in popularity and was acquired by PayPal in 2020 for about $4 billion. Honey's goal is to make saving money simple and accessible for everyone, removing the need to manually search for deals.

Honey Features

• Automatic Coupon Finder: This is Honey's core feature. At checkout on thousands of online stores, the Honey extension pops up and, with one click, it will test all known coupon codes for that site and apply the best one to your order.
• PayPal Rewards (formerly Honey Gold): This is a rewards program. When you shop at participating stores, you can earn a percentage of your purchase back in points. These points can be redeemed for gift cards from various popular retailers.
• Droplist: This feature acts as a price tracker. You can add an item from many popular stores to your Droplist, and Honey will monitor its price for you. If the price drops to your desired level, you will receive a notification.
• Amazon Best Price Detection: When shopping on Amazon, Honey can compare prices from different sellers for the same item to help ensure you are getting the best deal available.
• Travel Deals: Honey also works on travel sites, helping users find deals on hotels and other travel-related bookings.

Honey Pricing Plans

Honey is a completely free service for its users. There are no subscription fees, premium tiers, or hidden charges. The company makes money by earning a commission from the merchants when a user makes a purchase using a coupon found by Honey. This business model allows them to offer the tool to consumers at no cost.

Honey Free Plan

The entire Honey service is offered as a free plan. All features, including the automatic coupon finder, PayPal Rewards, and Droplist, are available to all users without any payment required. There is no trial period because the product is always free. You can install the browser extension or download the mobile app and start using it immediately.

How to use Honey

Getting started with Honey is very simple. Here is a typical workflow:

1. Installation: Go to the Honey website and add the browser extension to your preferred browser, such as Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge. You will be prompted to create a free account.
2. Shop Online: Browse your favorite online stores as you normally would. When you are on a supported retail site, the Honey extension icon in your browser will light up.
3. Checkout: Add items to your cart and proceed to the checkout page.
4. Apply Coupons: On the checkout page, a Honey window will appear. Click the "Apply Coupons" button.
5. Save Money: Honey will automatically test different promo codes. If a working code is found, it will apply the one that saves you the most money. If no codes work, it will let you know.
6. Earn Rewards: For participating stores, you can also activate PayPal Rewards to earn points on your eligible purchase, which can be redeemed later for gift cards.

Pros and Cons of Honey

Pros:

• Completely Free: There is no cost to use the service.
• Saves Time and Money: It automates the process of finding and testing coupon codes, which can be time-consuming.
• Wide Coverage: Works on over 30,000 different online stores.
• Easy to Use: The extension is simple to install and requires just one click at checkout.
• Rewards Program: The PayPal Rewards feature provides additional value on top of coupon savings.

Cons:

• No Guarantee of Savings: It does not always find a working coupon for every store or every purchase.
• Can Slow Checkout: The process of testing multiple codes can sometimes slow down the checkout page loading time slightly.
• Data Collection: Like many browser extensions, it collects data on your shopping habits to function, which may be a privacy concern for some users.

Honey integrations

Honey does not offer traditional software integrations in the way a B2B SaaS tool does. Instead, it functions as a browser extension that integrates directly with your web browser and the e-commerce websites you visit. It is compatible with major browsers, including:

• Google Chrome
• Mozilla Firefox
• Microsoft Edge
• Safari
• Opera

This browser-level integration allows it to work across tens of thousands of online stores without needing a specific partnership with each one.

Honey Alternatives

• Capital One Shopping: A direct competitor that also automatically applies coupon codes, compares prices, and offers rewards. It is also a free browser extension.
• Rakuten: Primarily a cash-back service, Rakuten gives users a percentage of their purchase back when they shop through its portal. It also offers coupons, but its main focus is on cash back.
• RetailMeNot Deal Finder: This browser extension automatically finds and applies coupon codes and cash-back offers as you shop, similar to Honey.
• CamelCamelCamel: A specialized tool focused exclusively on tracking the price history of products on Amazon. It is more powerful than Honey's Droplist for Amazon-specific price tracking.

Honey API

Honey does not provide a public API (Application Programming Interface) for developers. The service is designed as a consumer-facing product, and there is no official documentation or support for third-party developers to integrate Honey's coupon-finding technology into their own applications.

Honey Affiliate program

Honey does not have a traditional affiliate program where partners earn a commission for sales. Instead, it offers a referral program for its users. Existing members can invite friends to join Honey using a unique referral link. When a friend signs up using the link and makes their first qualifying purchase, both the referrer and the new member typically receive a bonus in the form of PayPal Rewards points. To find your referral link, you need to log into your Honey account and look for the "Invite" or "Refer a Friend" section.