Is the Honey extension safe to use?

Find the best deals while shopping online, a Honey Extension Review

Nobody likes paying the full price for products, and getting a discount, no matter how little, always feels nice. A lot of stores see their best business days on Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas time. Many people wait patiently until these sales begin, to buy things that would otherwise be too expensive for them, especially electronic devices. But that doesn’t mean you can’t save money on shopping during the rest of the year. You just need to learn to be frugal, and the Honey extension can help you by find coupons and discounts on thousands of sites.

Honey extension key takeaways

• Displays coupons on shopping sites
• Tests available coupon codes
• Get notified about price drops
• Earn gift cards via Honey Gold

Honey extension main features & specifications summary

• Rating: 4.2/5
• Browser compatibility: Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari, Brave, Vivaldi, Opera
• Pricing: Free
• Features: Finds coupons for online shopping sites, sends alerts for price drops

Honey pros & cons

 Pros

• Free
• Easy-to-use
• Automatically finds coupons
• 1-click to copy the code to the clipboard
• Finds best deals by comparing prices on Amazon
• Honey Gold rewards
• Notifications about deals
• Droplist (Price Tracking)
• Amazon Price Comparison
• Insider Deals

Cons

• Privacy issues
• Some features requires an account
• Sometimes coupons don’t work

Download options for Honey

Honey alternatives

	Honey	Keepa	CamelCamelCamel	RetailMeNot	Rakuten Cash Back
Requires Registration	Yes	Optional	Optional	Yes	Yes
Finds coupons automatically	Yes	N/A	N/A	Yes	Yes
Supports Multiple Stores	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes
Amazon Price Tracking	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Price Drop Alerts	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Extensions for Chrome and Firefox	Yes	Yes	Firefox add-on is outdated	Yes	Yes
Cashback/Rewards	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes

What is Honey?

Honey is an online service that gathers coupon codes and deals around the internet, so you don’t have to search for discounts manually. A single-click gets you the coupons that you can apply during the checkout process.

Why do you need it?

Do you like money? Who doesn’t? By using Honey, you can avoid paying the full price on products, and thus save a few bucks. With enough savings made this way, you could even buy something else, or invest it.

How does Honey work?

Honey detects the website that you are on, and automatically checks for coupons in its database. If the site is found, it displays the relevant information in its interface, for your convenience.

Honey features analysis

Let’s find out what the Honey extension has to offer.

Finds Coupons

You don’t have to waste time searching for a coupon code, the extension makes the task simple. Honey’s primary feature is its coupon finder. It is powered by a community-driven database, and often has multiple coupons per website. All you have to do is click the button on the toolbar, and the pop-up panel shows you the details about the promo, i.e., the percentage of discount that you can avail, the product that it is valid for, and of course, the coupon code.

Tests Coupon Codes

If multiple coupon codes are available, Honey will offer to check them for you. Allow it, and it runs a test and applies the coupon that gives you the best discount possible.

Notifications

Besides alerting you about price drops, Honey will also send email notifications when reward updates are available, and to show you updates from stores that you have followed. It also sends notifications for feature announcements. If you would prefer not receive such emails, you can opt-out of these at the settings page, on the official website. Honey will prompt you for feedback regarding the service, but you can toggle the option off, if you do not wish to participate in the program.

Trending Stores

As you browse various websites, Honey will automatically find coupons relevant to the current site. That’s how you normally use it. But the add-on also displays a list of sites that are currently popular, these are listed under a section called Trending Stores. Click on a listed store’s logo, to view all coupon codes that are available for that specific site. It is a good way to discover deals that may interest you.

But if you are looking for stores that support Honey, I recommend using the website. The site has a search bar that you may use to find specific products, and the sidebar has various filters that are handy for narrowing down the results.

Droplist

Droplist is an option in Honey that allows you to add products to the service’s wishlist. Toggle the feature from the extension’s pop-up modal, and visit web pages of products that you like. Click the + button in the add-on’s interface to add the item to your Droplist. Honey monitors the price of the products in your Droplist, and when it discovers a price drop, it will send you an email to notify you about the discount. Droplist is available in selected regions. It supports over 800 stores in the US, including Amazon, Walmart, Target, Macy’s, etc.

When you enable the feature, a few additional options are enabled in the service’s settings. Go to https://www.joinhoney.com/settings to manage the options. You may want to toggle the telemetry options that are listed under the Featured Sections. This includes Honey on Amazon, which compares the proce of products for you. Community Hero shares your usage data anonymously with other users to help them get the deals and prices you availed. Smart Droplist sends you notifications when it finds a discount for products that you added to Honey. The feature has two additional options, that syncs your saved for later items with your Amazon profile, and frequently viewed products from some stores. Honey Checkout allows you to checkout with PayPal, which is its parent company.

Amazon Price Comparison

Amazon does not have a coupon system in its checkout process, instead it has in-store coupons that you can avail for certain products.  These coupons are random, so we can’t use the add-on for these. But Honey has a Price Comparison option, which when enabled, can help you find the best deal for products. It does so by comparing the price of the item offered by all sellers, and recommends the lowest price, so you can avoid overpaying for it. The really cool part is that Honey even includes the shipping costs while finding the deal.

Insider Deals

Honey has some exclusive offers that are only available for its members. To access these you will need to sign up for an account. If you opt-in to receive Insider Deals, the web service will send you an email early, so you don’t miss on the discounts. If you choose not to login, you won’t be able to access these discounts.

Honey Gold

You don’t just save money while using Honey, you can also get an extra bonus. Instead of offering rebates (cashback) directly, Honey rewards you for using its affiliate network for completing purchases in the form of Honey Gold. The rewards that you earn from the loyalty program can be redeemed for gift cards that you can avail at popular stores.

How to use the Honey browser extension

Now that you know how Honey can be useful for your online shopping, allow us to show you how to get started with the extension.

Step 1: Install the Honey extension in your browser

The first step is to download the Honey extension, we have provided the links for all major browsers at the beginning of this article, install the add-on.

Step 2: Sign up for a Honey account

Pin the Honey button to your browser’s toolbar, so you can access it quickly when you are shopping. This is the easiest way to use the plugin. You will need to sign in to your account to begin using the extension.

If you don’t have one, you can create a Honey account for free by using your email address to sign up. Optionally, for a quicker sign up process, you may use your Google, Facebook, Paypal or Apple account to create your Honey user profile. Please read the privacy policy and user agreement statements before you sign up for a Honey account.

Step 3: Start using Honey

Honey supports over 40,000 stores including eBay, Target, Pizza Hut, GameStop to name a few.  So you can use it to save money on food, groceries, clothes, flight tickets, games, VPNs, antivirus programs, etc. When you visit an eligible website, the add-on’s icon turns orange in color, indicating that coupons or discounts are available. If it stays gray, it means the site isn’t supported by Honey.

You may participate in the Honey community with your account, it allows you to add new coupon codes for websites, to help other members. You can also follow Stores to be alerted about deals. The stores that you follow can be accessed from the extension’s interface.

Step 4: Applying a coupon

Go to the site you want to shop from, and add the products that you like to the cart, and click the Honey extension. This is where the add-on excels and really saves your time. The extension’s icon displays a badge with a number, to indicate the number of coupons that are available for the current website. Click on the Honey button and a menu drops-down, and lists the coupons that you can choose from.

Click on one of the displayed coupons, and the extension will copy the code to your clipboard. Head on to the checkout page on the website. Paste the content in the coupon field, to avail your discount.

Before clicking the pay button, please take a moment to verify the total amount that is displayed on the checkout page, to ensure whether the coupon worked.

If it did, you can choose to proceed with the transaction and complete the purchase. Sometimes Honey will test the codes on its own, which can be convenient.

Step 5: Using Honey to track deals

It may be a good idea to wait for a discount, before you buy a product. But if the item isn’t on sale right now, you can add it to the Honey Droplist. The extension will keep an eye on it, and alerts you when the price drops. Buying something on Amazon? Honey can pick the best deal for you by comparing prices offered by various sellers, and chooses the lowest price to help you save money.

Step 6: Optional – Participate in the Honey Gold Program

Honey Gold is a rewards program that you can opt-in to. When you complete purchases in stores that are participating in the program, Honey adds some virtual reward points called Honey Gold, to your account. You may use the Gold to avail store gift cards that the service offers.  The caveat here is that not all products are eligible for Honey Gold, so you need to pay attention to the extension’s window. You will see a floating Honey icon near the right edge of the screen, on sites which are eligible for Honey Gold. Click it and select activate rewards, before making your purchase.

Step 7: Optional – Use the Honey Mobile App

Honey can be useful for you even when you’re away from your computer. Download the Honey Smart Shopping Assistant app on your phone, it is available for both iOS and Android devices. This allows you to find deals and coupons on the go, but there’s a catch. You will need to shop using the Honey app to get the cashbacks and discounts, so keep that in mind. It maybe a better idea to use the store’s app insted of Honey’s app, for a better experience, especially if you run into some issues with the order.

Frequently asked questions about Honey

How does Honey make money?

When you buy a product from a store that is supported by Honey, the service earns a commission from the affiliate merchant partner. Honey uses browser cookies to track your purchase, this is how it verifies the affiliate network was used for the transaction. This isn’t exclusive to Honey, every single affiliate network works in the same way.

What browsers support Honey?

The Honey extension works on all major browsers including Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Opera Browser, Brave Browser and Vivaldi.

Which Countries does Honey support?

Honey is available in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and United States. Some features are only available in the US and Canada.

Is the Honey extension safe to use?

Yes, the add-on is safe and does not contain malware. Honey is a subsidiary company of PayPal, the payments giant acquired the coupon service in 2020.

What is Honey’s privacy policy like?

According to the service’s privacy policy, Honey collects telemetry and this includes your IP address. Though the policy states that your data will not be sold, it clearly mentions that the extension/service tracks your usage using cookies, web beacons, and pixel tags. In other words, Honey comes at a cost, your privacy. I strongly recommend reading the privacy policy to understand more about the data that it collects, and what rights you have to protect your information.

Use a secondary email account while signing up for the service, and enable the extension only in incognito mode/private browsing to reduce the impact of tracking. You don’t need to sign in to shopping sites to view the coupons that Honey offers. Adding a VPN to the mix can further improve your privacy.

I’m a Firefox user, can I restrict Honey to a Container?

Honey is primarily an add-on, and Firefox does not allow add-ons to be restricted to a specific container. However, you can use Honey’s website to check for deals, and get coupons, and you can restrict the site to a container. The site will prompt you to install the extension, you can decline it by selecting “No thanks, show me the coupon”, to get the code.

Bottom line, is Honey worth using?

We have listed the features of the extension, and analyzed them. But here’s the big question. Is Honey worth using?

The add-on works, there’s no denying that. But if you value your privacy, you shouldn’t use such add-ons. Think of it like the Facebook of coupon sites, you are the product. It’s up to you to decide whether you want to save money at the expense of being tracked all the time. If necessary, I’d use it in private mode, without an account.

Now as for the service’s quality, the coupon finder is a bit of a gamble. Sometimes it works, it is a hit or miss. It depends on the availability of stores too, as I couldn’t find coupons for some sites. Just because it shows a coupon doesn’t mean Honey works, and as mentioned earlier, you will need to go to the checkout page, and apply the code to see if it is valid. But sometimes it has outdated coupons, or none at all.

Personally, I use services which offer price tracking and price history for specific sites, e.g. Keepa for Amazon, SteamDB for games, etc. You don’t need to install the extensions to use these services, or even an account if you’re just interesting in the price history. If you want to get alerts for price drops, you can optionally set up email alerts for products that you add to the wishlist, and you can use a secondary email address for this.

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