Quidco vs TopCashback: comparing the best cashback sites

Is TopCashback or Quidco the best cashback app?

The two major cashback players in the UK are Quidco and TopCashback. But is one better than the other? I’ve compared the cashback rates they offer, the extras and the membership schemes, to help you decide which cashback site you should be using.

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What are cashback sites?

When you buy something online, rather than going directly to a website, you can go via a cashback site and get paid for it. Cashback sites like Quidco and TopCashback earn commission when you click through to a merchant via their website and some of this commission is passed back to you and is known as cashback.

When it comes to purchasing goods and services online, you really should be using either Quidco or TopCashback unless you have a voucher code that will beat the cashback they offer.

So which one offers the best rate – TopCashback or Quidco?

Both cashback sites offer good cashback rates and have exclusivity with some brands. Yet they both claim to offer the best cashback. So we looked at a variety of 25 online retailers and compared the rates for current customers between both cashback sites, to see if we could spot a winner in this category.

	Quidco cashback rate	TopCashback cashback rate
Adidas	4.5%	7.65%
Amazon	2% on selected items	2.12% on selected items
Asda	75p (orders over £40)	85p (orders over £48)
Argos	0.75%	0.85%
ASOS	0.75%	0.85%
Boots	1.5%	1.7%
Boohoo	3.75%	3.4%
Dunelm	0.75%	0.85%
eBay	3%	1%
Evans Cycles	0.37-2.25%	0.85-4.25%
H&M	0.75%	0.85%
Iceland	0.75%	1%
JD Sports	1.5%	5.1%
John Lewis	1.5%	2%
M & S	0.75%	3.4%
New Look	1.5-3%	3-6%
Nike	7.5%	10.2%
Ocado	4.5%	4.25%
River Island	0.75%	2.55%
Sainsburys	52p (orders over £40)	76p (orders over £40)
Sephora	6.75%	8.5%
Tesco	37p (orders over £70)	85p (orders over £140)
Very	0.75%	0.85%
Waitrose	£1.50 (orders over £100)	£1.53 (orders over £100)
WH Smith	1.5-6%	1.7-6.8%

And the clear winner here is TopCashback with 22 out of 25 better cashback rates. That said, most cashback rates only differ by a tiny percent so it doesn’t make too much of a difference.

More so, the cashback rates change daily and on another day it could be a very different result – so I’d still check with both sites before making any big purchases.

Analysing the current rates for other categories, TopCashback seems to beat Quidco by a few percent or a few pounds across the board including flights, holidays and banking.

And both sites have plenty of flash offers with higher rates being offered so it will always be worth checking both sites before you make any purchases and don’t forget to check if any discount codes beat cashback rates first.

How do the withdrawal rates differ between Quidco and TopCashback?

So you’ve made your cashback, but who gives the best rates for withdrawing your earnings?

Both TopCashback and Quidco allow you to withdraw to your bank account or Paypal at the amount you’ve made, and both sites allow you to transfer your earnings to e-vouchers and will give you more for your money.

This table compares the extra bonus you get withdrawing your cashback from the regular accounts of TopCashback and Quidco

	Bonus on withdrawal from Quidco	Bonus on withdrawal from TopCashback
Argos e-voucher	3%	3%
Cafe Nero e-voucher	6%	5.8%
Costa e-voucher	5%	5%
Just Eat e-voucher	4%	3.5%
Deliveroo e-voucher	2.5%	2.5%
Dining Out Card e-voucher	10%	7.5%
John Lewis e-voucher	3%	2%
Tesco e-voucher	2%	2.5%
Halfords e-voucher	4%	3%
WH Smith e-voucher	3.5%	3.5%

And the definite winner here is Quidco with higher bonus rates on withdrawals as e-vouchers than TopCashback. Just to note also, that both sites do offer e-vouchers for different retailers. For example, Quidco offers e-vouchers for Hotels.com whilst TopCashback doesn’t, and TopCashback offers e-vouchers from Uber whilst Quidco doesn’t. 

And if you have the premium or plus memberships on either site, your withdrawal bonus will be even higher. For example, with Quidco Premium, John Lewis doubles from 3% to 6% and Costa rises from 5% to 10%.

The main differences between Quidco and TopCashback

Number of retailers

The two cashback sites don’t differ very much at all. TopCashback claims to feature over 5,000 retailers and the same for Quidco. Both sites are free to join and have easy to navigate websites.

Extra bonuses

They both offer variable cashback rates, bonuses, voucher codes, boosted withdrawal rates, refer-a-friend schemes and welcome bonuses.

Generally Quidco tends to offer more of these promotions, though they’re only any good if you plan to use the boosted retailers when the limited time offer is running.

Premium memberships

Though both can be used for free, they both offer Premium or Plus memberships which are very similar, differing mainly in payment terms rather than what they offer. 

TopCashback is a yearly fee of £5 and Quidco is a monthly fee of £1. So Quidco could end up costing more – but you pay only in months where you have earned cashback.

Price guarantees

Both sites guarantee to beat each other with their highest cashback guarantees. You can get even more cashback from either site if the other offers a higher rate as they also give you a little extra on top of matching the competitor’s rate. It’s even higher if you’re a Premium or Plus member. 

But be cautious of how many times you submit a claim, as they both state there is a maximum number of claims that can be submitted under their fair usage policies.

TopGiftcards

TopCashback does have something extra that Quidco doesn’t – you can buy gift cards from them and earn a good rate of cashback in return. TopGiftcards allows you to purchase gift cards and earn as much as 16% cashback from your purchase. 

Exclusive retailers

TopCashback also has a handful of retailers which are not available on Quidco. At the time of writing, the only retailer that I found to be on TopCashback and not Quidco was HMV, as was the bank First Direct. But this can always change.

Which cashback site is best – TopCashback or Quidco?

TopCashback tends to offer higher cashback rates than Quidco and Quidco offers higher bonuses than TopCashback on withdrawals as e-vouchers. So in essence this kind of cancels out any difference between both sites. Both cashback sites are winners in our eyes!

The main takeaway, is to check the cashback rates on both sites and keep an eye out for special increased rates and bonuses.

But don’t rely on cashback sites being the best money saver. Always check voucher codes first as you could get an instant discount that’s better than the cashback rate and remember that the cashback is not always a definite payout.