The Best Chrome Extensions for Online Shopping $$$


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The Best Chrome Extensions for Online Shopping $$$

Last week, I dished out a post of over 6,800 words: Moving to Boquete or Visiting? The Ultimate List of Tips!! This week, I thought I’d keep things a little simpler and let you know about some of the best Google Chrome extensions for online shopping. It’s time to save some money, folks!

With the holidays around the corner and the pandemic continuing to do its thing, shopping online should be even more widespread than ever this year. Sometimes I take it for granted that I use a few seamless tools to help save good money when doing my shopping. So now it’s time to share.

If you’re wondering, we still do some online shopping here in Panama. We don’t have much shipped to us here because the costs would be too much to do regularly. However, we do still order things to be shipped to our families’ houses that we then get when we visit.

I called this “the best Chrome extensions for online shopping” because Google Chrome accounts for about 70% of the Internet browser market share. That’s the lion’s share by far and also the browser I use. If you’re using another browser, there may or may not be versions of these extensions available for you.

Ok, let’s get on with saving some money!!

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Why use extensions for shopping online?

Yeah, that’s a great question – why bother installing any of these Chrome extensions?

I love it when I get questions that are easy to answer! Here are the biggest reasons:

  • They’re all 100% free.
  • Some don’t even require you to create an account (except the ones that give you cash back for your purchases!)
  • They do all the work and run in the background so you don’t even need to remember to use them.
  • You can actually save quite a bit of money just by having them installed while you do the same shopping you were going to be doing anyway.

These Chrome extensions help your wallet in various ways:

  • They let you know if the product you’re looking at can be found cheaper elsewhere… sometimes much cheaper!
  • They tell you if a product’s been cheaper until recently – maybe you want to wait a little bit. On the flip-side, maybe the price has been expensive until now and it’s time to jump on it.
  • They provide discount codes to save you money at checkout. Whether it’s something like 20% off your purchase or free shipping, that’s free money!
  • They literally give you money for purchases you make.

How do these companies make money?

Some extensions like the ones I’ll be talking about are created solely to help you. Maybe they initially created a tool for themselves to save money but then decided to share it with the world.

However, most of the time, that’s not going to be the case. Generally, it’s about them making money. And for the most part, it’s all about affiliate relationships. If you click through on one of their links to go to another site, they make a commission at no extra cost to you.

So it’s win-win – they find you cheaper places to buy things and when you click through, they get money from the storefront you end up at. Or they may get a commission for bringing you to their site and then share the money with you.

Pretty cool, right?

What about my privacy?

Well, that’s a little bit more of a complex question. It’s good to be aware that the big permission most of these extensions have is site access to be able to “see” everything on the websites you visit.

That’s a little scarier than it sounds though. In order for these extensions to be able to help you, they need to know what you’re looking at – what site you’re on, what the item is, etc.

Are these extensions like Big Brother watching over everything you do? Yes and no. They are watching, but in theory, they’re not watching you specifically. In many cases, they’ll grab aggregate data about the sites you go to, but that should be it.

But if you’re way too worried, then these might not be for you. The companies I’m going to mention though have been around for a while now and should be reputable. Some have been acquired by big-name companies as well.

Personally, I prefer the convenience they offer and the money saved or added to my wallet. But you’ll have to make your own call on that.

So let’s take a look at what I consider to be the best Chrome extensions for online shopping…

The Best Chrome Extensions for Online Shopping #1… Rakuten (formerly Ebates)

Let’s start with Rakuten because this extension can actually put cash right back in your pocket. And who doesn’t love that?!

Here’s the deal, when you go to a site that Rakuten has a relationship with (and there are thousands of stores in the list), you’ll get a prompt to activate for cashback…

The Best Chrome Extensions for Online Shopping $$$ - Rakuten - Activate Cash Back

Click on it and you’re golden. That’s it. Rakuten gets a commission from whatever you buy on that site and they share that commission with you. That percentage varies from place to place but sometimes you’ll see some massive ones along the way…

Rakuten - Activate 40% Cash Back

Regardless, when you have a big purchase to make, that’s when it really shines. Buying a new cell phone or TV for instance. A lot of times, it actually makes sense to buy it online instead of going into a store so you can use this extension and get money back.

We’ve used this when we took a cruise we had booked through Expedia last year. We ended up getting $18.90 back. We were going to be buying it anyway so that was just icing on the cake. I even earned a couple of bucks for booking our stay at the Luxor in Vegas during our long road trip.

And that’s the whole point – if you’re already on a site to buy something, you click on Rakuten when it pops up. Everything’s 100% the same except that you get paid for it. Oh, and it doesn’t interfere with anything else either – your promo codes, credit card rewards, etc. still apply.

I can’t even tell you how much I love this. We’ve gotten hundreds of dollars of money back from this extension simply for doing our normal shopping. They transfer money to you via PayPal on a quarterly basis when you have more than $5 in your account.

The only downside is that I’m greedy and want it to be available everywhere. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work on some sites, including Amazon, which is where we do most of our shopping. Still, solid money for free from thousands of other places you’re likely shopping at anyway.

Ok, ready for the best part? If you sign up with my link below right now, Rakuten will give you $40 after your first purchase through them. $40 for doing the shopping you were going to do anyway? No-brainer, my friends! If you don’t have an account, join using my link below to be on your way to free money.

Don’t waste time though – that $40 bonus is for a short time only!

Get the Rakuten extension free here.

The Best Chrome Extensions for Online Shopping #2… Honey

Honey is a no-brainer. The Chrome Web Store shows that the extension has over 10,000,000 users who have installed it and Honey’s site says they have over 17 million members. In other words, they must be doing something right!

It’s such a valuable company that PayPal acquired the organization at the beginning of 2020.

Honey offers you several ways to save money:

  1. They find awesome coupon codes to apply. You know when you get to your cart on many shopping sites and they have a little box for any promo codes? Yeah, well, Honey rolls up its sleeves and will enter its list one at a time to find you the best codes it knows of. I enjoy watching it go crazy on the Kohl’s site.
  2. If there’s an item you like but don’t need to buy right away, you can add it to your Droplist. When they find a price drop, you get notified.
  3. If you’re an Amazon shopper (I am!), they do something cool where they compare sellers for you on each item you’re looking at. They tell you if you’re getting the best price on Amazon (even factoring in shipping and Prime status).
  4. You earn “Honey Gold” as you shop with them. So if you activate the extension on a site (you’ll be prompted), you earn credit that you can redeem for gift cards from many popular stores like Walmart, Target, Amazon, eBay, etc.

I take advantage of the first three services on this list. I love the promo codes, the Droplist, and the Amazon price comparison. I’ve saved a ton of dough over the years with this extension!

As for the Honey Gold, that’s not a bad deal, but I prefer Rakuten for that side of things. Actual cash is more valuable than gift cards in my world!

Regardless, this is hands-down one of the best Chrome extensions for online shopping and I absolutely recommend it!

Get the Honey extension free here.

The Best Chrome Extensions for Online Shopping #3… InvisibleHand

This is another favorite of mine. I truly love the simplicity of this extension. You don’t create a login or anything – just install the extension and let it do its job.

When you go to an item on one of it’s supported locations, it’ll just let you know if it’s got a coupon code for that site, if there’s a better deal on the item elsewhere, or if you’ve found the best price. That’s it – simple and awesome.

The Best Chrome Extensions for Online Shopping $$$ - InvisibleHand - Lower Price Found

You can click on “Compare” in the pop-up to see where an item is cheaper and click through to be taken directly to the product page on the site it mentions (that’s how they earn their money).

They also offer a coupon feature to let you know about discounts being offered:

I don’t tend to use the coupon code functionality from this extension, but I’ve saved some serious money when it finds an item cheaper elsewhere. And if it shows that I’m getting the best price on a product already, it just makes me feel even better about my purchase.

The Best Chrome Extensions for Online Shopping $$$ - InvisibleHand - Best Price.png

Get the InvisibleHand extension free here.

The Best Chrome Extensions for Online Shopping #4… Keepa – Amazon Price Tracker

Keepa is a cool extension and there’s a good reason I list it on my best Chrome extensions for online shopping list. Although it has some other functionality, by far, the most impressive feature is its Amazon price tracker.

Not only that, but it actually modifies Amazon (and AmazonSmile) pages as your browser renders them. So when you look at an item on Amazon, you’ll see the price history right below it. That’s freakin’ awesome!

The Best Chrome Extensions for Online Shopping $$$ - Keepa

Knowledge is power and knowing if an item is suddenly a lot more expensive than it’s been for months can help you make a better decision in buying. The same goes for knowing if the price has been holding fast for a while and suddenly dropped dramatically.

I quickly look at this chart with almost every item I purchase from Amazon, especially the more expensive products. Being able to see an item’s price history is extremely helpful in the decision-making process.

Keepa does offer price drop and availability alerts too right from the product page. Then you can be notified if the product drops below your desired price. Not too shabby for free!

Get the Keepa – Amazon Price Tracker extension free here.

The Best Chrome Extensions for Online Shopping #5… The Camelizer

The Camelizer is an extension that comes from the popular CamelCamelCamel site. Similar to Keepa, the Camelizer can show you the price history for Amazon items. When looking at an item on Amazon’s website, you just click on the Camelizer extension to see historical data on it. This can help you make a more informed decision.

The Best Chrome Extensions for Online Shopping $$$ - The Camelizer

You can also easily have it added to your watch list to notify you of any price drops. These are the kind of tools that can definitely help you save money as an online shopper.

I prefer Keepa to the Camelizer but only because the historical price information is automatically embedded into each item’s page. I know me and I’d forget to click on the Camelizer to check the price first. With Keepa it just happens.

To each his/her own though. CamelCamelCamel is a very popular site for a reason. If that’s your go-to, then the Camelizer might be the right fit for you.

Get the Camelizer extension free here.

The Best Chrome Extensions for Online Shopping #6… Capital One Shopping (formerly Wikibuy)

Wikibuy has maintained a loyal following for a few years now. They were acquired by Capital One in 2018 and rebranded as Capital One Shopping though you might see both names floating around out there.

Here’s some of the power this extension has that makes it one of the best Chrome extensions for online shopping:

  1. They find awesome coupon codes to apply. You know when you get to your cart on many shopping sites and they have a little box for any promo codes? Yeah, well, Capital One Shopping rolls up its sleeves and will enter its list one at a time to find you the best codes it knows of.
  2. If there’s an item you like but don’t need to buy right away, you can add it to your Watchlist. When they find a price drop, you get notified.
  3. If you’re an Amazon shopper (I am!), they do something cool where they compare sellers for you on each item you’re looking at. They tell you if you’re getting the best price on Amazon (even factoring in shipping and Prime status).
  4. You earn “Capital One Shopping Credits” as you shop with them. So if you activate the extension on a site (you’ll be prompted), you earn credit that you can redeem for gift cards from many popular stores like Walmart, Lowe’s, Kohl’s, eBay, etc.

Notice anything familiar? I copied and pasted the text from my section about Honey here and then just tweaked a couple of words. Yeah, the two extensions are almost identical in what they set out to do.

The Best Chrome Extensions for Online Shopping $$$ - Capital One Shopping

So which one should you use? Both?

I’m currently using Honey but I decided to install Capital One Shopping as well to mess with it some more. We’ll see over time which does a better job.

Jen from Dollar Sprout did an excellent and thorough comparison of the two. You can read her article here: Capital One Shopping vs. Honey: Which Cash Back Browser Extension is Better?

Get the Capital One Shopping extension free here.

The Best Chrome Extensions for Online Shopping #7… Amazon Assistant for Chrome

The Amazon Assistant for Chrome extension is really for Amazon junkies. It does well at the main job it’s designed for… letting you know if Amazon’s got a product for a cheaper price.

The Best Chrome Extensions for Online Shopping $$$ - Amazon Assistant for Chrome

It’ll also keep you posted on your Amazon order updates in real-time. It lets you know when your order ships and when it’s delivered. And it will show you deals it thinks you might be interested in based on everything Amazon already knows about you.

The big downside to this extension is that it’s just for Amazon. So if you’re shopping online at Walmart or Target, for instance, it will absolutely tell you if Amazon is offering a better price on a product… and that’s a good thing!

However, if you’re on Amazon and another store has a better price, you can bet your bottom dollar that this extension has no interest in letting you know that. And that’s where extensions like InvisibleHand really shine – they’re not biased to just one store-front. They’re just going to show you who has the best price regardless.

So this extension does have some value but it might not be the best option unless you’re a die-hard Amazon shopper.

Get the Amazon Assistant for Chrome extension free here.

Do I have to choose just one of these?

Absolutely not. In fact, I currently have the following Chrome extensions from this list activated in my browser:

  • Rakuten
  • Honey
  • InvisibleHand
  • Keepa – Amazon Price Tracker

I use each of these in different ways all the time. That’s not to say that the others mentioned aren’t great also, but rather that these fit my needs right now.

I have the others in the list also installed but have them disabled temporarily. Tinkering is up my alley and browser extensions are no different. I toy around with everything just to find what works best for me.

You might want to do the same. Figure out what works with the way you like to shop online and make those your go-to extensions.


I hope you find these extensions useful when doing your online shopping. It’s really a no-brainer to install a few of these – they’ve easily saved me hundreds and possibly into the thousands of dollars just for having them installed.

If you found this helpful, hook a brotha up and use my link for Amazon when shopping. It won’t cost you anything more, but I’ll receive a small commission to help keep the lights on around this joint! 🙂

Is this list of extensions helpful? Are there others you’re using to save money shopping that you’d recommend?

Thanks for reading!!

— Jim

You know you wanna share this!!

10 thoughts on “The Best Chrome Extensions for Online Shopping $$$”

      1. I’m so happy you posted this! I’ve been wondering about a few of these that you mentioned especially honey and capital one. Thanks Jim!

  1. Love your blog, Jim! I currently use the Capital One Shopping and Keepa – Amazon Price Tracker. Both are great. These are all fantastic recommendations that help people like you and me save money easily. Gotta love technology. Keep up the great work!

  2. Right on Jim for sharing these handy looking extensions. I imagine this holiday shopping season will be the biggest ever for online commerce–since gatherings are pretty much on hold these days.

  3. Jim, thanks for an awesome overview of extensions for saving money – I use several of these myself!

    Another extension that could be included on this list is AddUp Rewards – a free Chrome extension that helps users maximize their credit card rewards by comparing reward rates for their cards while they shop online. AddUp reminds users of easily-overlooked earning opportunities such as retailer-specific offers, rotating reward categories, and shopping portals.

    AddUp is a great compliment to the other shopping-related extensions profiled here because it can be used alongside any of them and adds another layer of value to shoppers in the form of credit card rewards.

    Here’s the Chrome Store link:
    https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/addup-earn-more-credit-ca/dbankcfkhcbaagbmljfplpmfenkdfifl

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