Want to make the biggest savings on your online shopping?
Use this page to compare us to our closest rival, Quidco, to see how you can make the biggest savings when online shopping with the two UK cashback sites. Competition drives us to continuously improve our service!
Okay, let's compare features
Both Quidco — founded by Jen and Paul Nikkel (and part of Maple Syrup Media) — and TopCashback were established in 2005 and now have millions of members earning cashback when they shop online, or via the TopCashback or Quidco app.
| Features | Quidco | TopCashback | |
| Cashback Rate | up to 160% | up to 165% | |
Additional information Members who sign up to Quidco get up to 160% of the cashback offered by the retailer for products or services purchased online. For TopCashback, the amount of cashback available when online shopping is up to 165%. |
| Friend Referral Scheme | £25 | up to £25.00 | |
Additional information Sign up to Quidco and they'll give you a £25 bonus when your friend earns £5 of Quidco cashback. TopCashback offer up to a £25.00 bonus when your friend earns £10.00 cashback. |
| Cashback Guarantee | Beat Rate | Beat Rate | |
Additional information Both cashback websites guarantee to beat any rates found elsewhere. As 91% of the rates found on TopCashback are better than competitors, this is rarely needed. |
| Purchase Giftcards with Cashback | No | Yes | |
Additional information TopCashback offer a feature called TopGiftCards, which allows members to buy digital gift cards from a number of retailers and receive cashback. You’ll not get this with a Quidco account. |
| Payouts with added bonus | 48 | 78 | |
Additional information Quidco offer 48 payouts with a cashback bonus. TopCashback offer 78 payouts with a bonus, including Just Eat, Tesco, Amazon and Love2Shop vouchers. |
| Number of Retailers | Over 4,500 | Over 5,000 | |
Additional information TopCashback offer online cashback on more than 5,000 retailers, covering everything from car insurance and breakdown cover to grocery shopping and even mobile phone contracts. You're sure to be able to save money with your favourite brands, including John Lewis, eBay, House of Fraser, M&S, Amazon, Currys, British Gas, Virgin Media and other leading online retailers. |
| Ability to Split Your Payout | No | Yes | |
Additional information TopCashback allow you to split your payout by various payment methods (such as bank transfer to your chosen bank account and gift cards) to give far more flexibility on how to use your cashback. TopCashback’s unique Reward Wallet means you can choose exactly what payouts you want to receive. |
The above is based on Quidco Premium membership and TopCashback Plus accounts.
91% of our rates are higher than the Quidco deals you'll find. We can beat the rest too*
*Based on a full comparison of TopCashback displayed rates vs the equivalent rates displayed on Quidco. We also have a cashback guarantee which means we will not only match their higher rates, but beat them!
Paid vs. Free Memberships
Both Quidco and TopCashback offer a paid-for membership, gaining you access to higher cashback rates, more features and bonuses in exchange for a small portion of your cashback.
| Features | Quidco | TopCashback | |
| Membership Type | Premium | Plus | |
Additional information Both TopCashback and Quidco offer two membership levels: a free account with the default offers and rates, with an upgrade available for improved service, better rates, cashback bonus offers and more. |
| Cashback Rate | up to 160% | up to 165% | |
Additional information While Quidco offer up to a 60% bonus on cashback rates to their new Premium members, if you choose our Plus account, you'll get up to 165% of the cashback we receive from your favourite brands when making online purchases via our website or mobile app. |
| Annual Cost* | up to £12 | Up to £5 | |
Additional information Each site offers either a free account or an upgraded account in exchange for a small amount of your cashback each year. TopCashback Plus takes up to £5 a year from your earnings (if you don't earn that much, you'll pay less, and if you earn nothing, you pay nothing). Quidco Premium is up to £12 a year. |
| Payout Options (view options) | 52 | 62 | |
Additional information There are 48 payout options with a bonus available via Quidco. TopCashback offer 78 payment methods with a bonus. |
*Taken from your cashback only
Boost your cashback by up to 20% with over 60 bonus payout options
TopCashback Payout Options
and many more...
TopCashback voted Cashback Site of the Year 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022.
As voted for by real members in the Consumer Moneyfacts Awards for four years running
Top rated - what people say
TopCashback are ranked number one and Quidco number two on independent review site Trustpilot. Why not check out the Trustpilot ratings?
Split your payout by type for more flexibility on how to use your cashback
Top facts compared
Some key frequently asked questions about Quidco and TopCashback.
- Who offers the best rates?
Each site has similar, but variable, rates for each retailer, so the ‘best rates’ depend on which brands you want to purchase from. That being said, our comparison tool has found we offer higher rates for the majority of the retailers listed on both sites. Both leading cashback sites also offer a cashback guarantee to match higher rates found elsewhere, but regardless of whether you use this or not, we almost always offer the highest rates!
- How does each site make money if rates are 100%+?
It seems ridiculous, doesn’t it? Surely neither site can afford to keep the lights on if they’re giving 100% of the commission back to you in the form of cashback - and bonuses on top.
So how do we do it?
Both sites have millions of monthly visitors who are looking to save money by earning cashback, all your favourite brands — such as House of Fraser, Virgin Media, M&S and Amazon — a huge advertising platform to promote their businesses and offers. Both leading cashback sites use sponsored adverts, offers and features, which are paid for by the online retailers to each company outside of the normal commission (cashback) rates. We also receive bonuses from particular merchants which attain exceptional coverage as part of being listed on our United Kingdom website.
This adds up and allows both cashback websites to manage a large number of hard-working staff and to pass on everything we receive from merchants for individual transactions, plus some extra!
- Quidco offer live chat and call back support, why doesn’t TCB?
A lot of the queries we receive (and it’s likely the same for Quidco) usually request an update on how long it will be before their cashback is paid.
Unfortunately, in the case of both sites, we’re restricted to waiting for the retailers themselves to pass the commission to us first and there is only so much we can do to speed up that process.
Although live chat and call back support are nice features, the end result is that the transaction is almost certainly not going to be completed any sooner.
The downside to these features is the set-up and running costs involved: a team of staff would need to be trained and be available throughout the day to answer phone calls and live chat requests, in addition to the email support queries. These costs would need to be reflected in the deals we offer, which would result in referral bonuses, top-ups and plus member cashback bonuses being reduced.
We currently don’t offer these support options, both because they're unlikely to achieve the goal any faster than email support and it would mean our members would earn less cashback on products purchased online.
- What other money saving / earning methods does each site have?
Both sites have in-store cashback, where you can earn TopCashback or Quidco cashback in-store on card purchases with selected retailers, and on selected grocery items by snapping and sending a picture of your receipt.
We both also offer refer a friend bonuses, where you can earn up to £25 per member you refer to either site, so long as the member you refer meets the minimum earning threshold for the bonus to be paid.
Both sites also offer several other ways to earn money without requiring a purchase. You can take part in free trials and website sign-ups and get free SIM cards with TopCashback and Quidco deals.
- How fast are you compared to Quidco when it comes to tracking and payouts?
Because both sites can only add a transaction to your account once the retailer has informed us, there should be little difference in the speed at which cashback appears in your account. Any delays in cashback appearing in your account would almost certainly have occurred if you had made the same transaction using the other site.
Please bear in mind the retailer will pay both sites for transactions on an individual basis, so one brand may take a day to process one transaction, but may then take a week to process a second transaction.
Once the cashback has tracked in your account as 'Payable', it’s ready to be withdrawn. As for the speed of payout requests, we like to think we're a little bit quicker in processing them: Quidco state that Amazon.co.uk gift cards can take up to four working days to process, while we like to process them for the next working day, or usually within three working days. For bank account transfer and PayPal, Quidco quote a payment speed within three working days, while we like to make our payment within one working day.
- Is there a limit on how much I can withdraw at a time?
Yes, to withdraw cashback via Quidco, you need to request a minimum of £1.00 before cashback is paid to you, while we have a minimum of £0.01 for payouts.
- Are you available in other countries?
Yes, as well as sites in the United Kingdom, both companies have international alternatives for overseas customers.
At TopCashback, we have international sites to cover the USA (4,400+ stores) and China (350+ stores).
Quidco used to be available in Germany and France as Shoop, but the French site was closed and the German site was sold off in 2021.
Shoop was originally launched in France in January 2016 and until later that year, Shoop in Germany used the brand name Qipu (launched in 2010) with a design that resembled the main Quidco website.
While TopCashback offer 100% of the commissions paid to us, making us a 100% cashback site, Shoop (and previously Qipu) do not. The Qipu website quoted an example where the site withheld 6.64% of the total commission, making them (at least in this example) a 93.36% cashback site.
Want to know more about Shoop?
- I am still not convinced you’re better than Quidco!
Join Free Now
Join our millions of members and earn money back when you shop online and in-store.
Page was last updated on 30 Jun 2022 02:00 and all information on this page was correct at that time.
