How to Use Honey to Find Coupon Codes When Shopping Online

When you shop online, there is often a box at checkout labeled "coupon code" or "promo code." Most people skip right past it because they do not have a code handy. Honey is a free tool that fills in that box for you automatically — it searches the internet for working discount codes for that specific store and tries them all, applying the one that saves you the most money.

Honey is made by PayPal and has been used by over 17 million people. It works as a browser extension — a small add-on to your web browser (like Chrome, Firefox, or Safari) that runs in the background while you shop. When you reach a checkout page on a supported site, a small Honey popup appears. You click one button and Honey tests available coupon codes in seconds.

Supported stores number in the thousands, including Amazon, Walmart, Target, Macy's, Bed Bath & Beyond, eBay, Hotels.com, and many more. The savings vary — sometimes Honey finds a code worth five or ten percent off, and sometimes it finds nothing. But since using it costs nothing and takes only a second, it is worth having active whenever you shop online.

Honey also has a feature called Honey Gold, where you earn points on purchases at certain participating stores. These Gold points can be redeemed for gift cards to Amazon, Target, and other retailers. It functions similarly to cash back programs like Ibotta or Rakuten.

In addition to coupon codes, Honey has a price tracking feature called Droplist (on Amazon). You can add an item to your Droplist and Honey will notify you when the price drops to a level you set. This is useful for big purchases you are willing to wait on to get a better price.

Setting up Honey takes about two minutes. You install the browser extension once, and it runs automatically every time you shop online afterward.