Is Upside a good way to save?

This page was originally published in January 2022 and reflects the author’s prices, premium rates, and experience at that time. The rest of the article has since been updated.

Upside is a cashback app best known for offering cashback at certain gas stations (as well as some restaurants and grocery stores). Any savings are welcome these days. According to AAA, the average price for a gallon of unleaded gasoline nationwide in July 2024 was $3.52. While that’s not nearly as much as 2022, when gas prices rose to about $4.00 per gallon on average, it’s still higher than 2021.

Upside’s promotions can be combined with the rewards from your existing credit card. Like store coupons, shopping portals, card-linked offers, and other cashback apps (like Dosh and Ibotta), Upside is another way to save money. And when you combine multiple savings strategies on the same purchase, the 1 to 6 percent cash back you can get on gas, food, and groceries with a rewards credit card is just the beginning.

How Upside works: The fine print

Although Upside advertises partnerships with national brands like Shell, BP, Phillips 66, Dunkin’ Donuts, Burger King and many others on its website, it’s important to note that only some of these retailers offer cashback through Upside. And in my experience, that’s a distinct minority.

Maybe you’ll get lucky and find something that works for you. I’ve found that you’re more likely to find something at a restaurant listing than at a gas station or grocery store, but it depends. And it’s not just well-known franchises; lots of small local restaurants are on Upside, too. The app’s proposition to businesses is that it’s targeted advertising that drives sales and can be attributed to specific purchases.

When you see an offer you like in the Upside app, here’s what you need to do to take advantage of it:

1. Click on “Request a quote”. This must be done before purchase.
2. Continue your purchase using your credit or debit card. You only have four hours to make the purchase.
3. Click on “I paid with this card.” Make sure the payment method you have on file matches the payment method you used for your purchase.

After you click the “I paid with this card” button, the transaction will move to your History tab and appear as pending. Upside uses affiliate data to confirm that you paid with this card, so you don’t have to upload a receipt like you used to. However, if your transaction can’t be found in the affiliate data within 10 days, you won’t get the money back, even if you know you paid.

Once you receive your cashback, you can redeem it as many times as you like, with no minimum redemption amount required.

Can Upside help you save at gas stations?

In my area (a suburb of New York City), GasBuddy’s data and my personal experience showed that a good price for a gallon of regular gasoline in 2022 was around $4.25. Upside, a few miles from my house, was advertising an 11 cent discount off a price of $3.79 per gallon. That sounded too good to be true, so I drove to the station to check it out. Sure enough, the price was $4.69 per gallon!

I visited another gas station that advertised Upside for 15 cents off $4.33 per gallon. The actual price was again higher than the app promised, but this time only by six cents. I decided not to fill up since I could have gotten a similar price at my usual gas station without having to wait for Upside to refund my money.

However, newer listings in other parts of the country show more lucrative offers. In North Carolina, for example, offers can range from 56 to 61 cents cash back per gallon.

Fuel credit cards that can be linked to Upside

In general, credit cards with gas rewards are my favorite way to save on gas. I use the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express, which gives me 3 percent cash back at U.S. gas stations. That’s solid, if not the best of the best (my main reason for using this card is the exceptional 6 percent cash back at U.S. supermarkets—on purchases up to $6,000 a year, then 1 percent cash back after that).

Some popular cards that potentially offer higher fuel rewards include:

• Citi Custom Cash® Card: You’ll earn 5% cash back (up to $500 per billing period, then 1%) on your highest eligible spending category per billing period. This could be the gas station category if that’s all you use the card for.
• Costco Anywhere Visa® Card from Citi*: 4% cash back on eligible gasoline and electric car charging purchases, including gasoline at Costco (up to $7,000 per year, 1% thereafter)
• Sam’s Club® Mastercard®*: Get 5% cash back on gas at all U.S. gas stations, not just Sam’s Club stations (up to $6,000 per year, 1% thereafter)
• PenFed Platinum Rewards Visa Signature® Card*: Earn 5X points on gasoline paid at the pump and at electric vehicle charging stations.

You can combine these cards with the Upside app to save even more, but I like to combine my credit card rewards with gas station loyalty programs whenever possible. Most major gas station brands have apps that will knock 5 to 10 cents off the price per gallon in addition to the credit card rewards you earn. Whether these loyalty programs offer you more or less than Upside will largely depend on what deals are available where you live.

However, you cannot combine loyalty program discounts with Upside discounts. The Upside fine print in each offer states that other discounts (except credit card rewards) may reduce your Upside discount.

What restaurant offers can you find on Upside?

In my area, I could have used Upside to get 14 percent cash back at a neighborhood deli and 7 percent cash back at several other small family restaurants (all of these rewards are capped at $10). None of the Dunkin’ Donuts or Burger King franchisees in my area seemed to be offering special deals.

Outside of New York, I was able to find the following recent promotions, among others:

• 22 percent cashback (up to $10) at a Taco Bell in Texas
• 21 percent cash back (up to $10) at Arby’s in Delaware
• 20 percent cashback (up to $10) at a pizzeria in California
• 18 percent cashback (up to $10) at a bar in North Carolina
• 14 percent cashback (up to $10) at an ice cream parlor in Florida

How about saving at the grocery store with Upside?

I was excited when I first heard that Upside offered cash back at grocery stores, since grocery is one of my family’s biggest spending categories. But this is the most limited of Upside’s three categories. I couldn’t find any participating retailers in my area.

Hopefully you’ll have better luck. Upside’s website claims to have deals from more than 175 grocery stores across the country. Some of these grocery brands include:

• Woodmans Market
• Piglet Wobble
• Gelson’s Markets
• Vicente Foods
• Cardenas Markets
• Price Chopper
• Northgate Market

I found a few Cardenas Markets locations in the San Francisco Bay Area that advertise discounts, one of them offering a whopping 21 percent cash back, but again, the cap is only $10.

Don’t get me wrong: I’ll take the $10 free, but my family often spends $300 a week on groceries, so I’d like a 21 percent discount.

The conclusion

I don’t see many savings opportunities when I look at Upside’s available deals in my area. I’m also concerned that the app doesn’t show the latest gas prices. While you may get better deals, my opinion is that Upside sounds better than it actually is.

Still, the app can help you save a bit here and there if you find good deals in your area – especially if you pair it with a solid cash-back credit card. You’ll likely find deals at gas stations and restaurants, especially chain restaurants, before you find deals at grocery stores.

Have a question about credit cards? Email me at [email protected] and I’ll be happy to help.

*Information about the Sam’s Club® Mastercard®, PenFed Platinum Rewards Visa Signature® Card and the Costco Anywhere Visa® Card from Citi was collected independently by Bankrate. Card details have not been reviewed or approved by the issuer.