Upside vs Rakuten: Which Should You Install First?
The quick comparison
| Upside | Rakuten | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Gas and driving | Online shopping |
| Typical payout | $10-20/mo | $100+/yr |
| Effort | Low (claim before you pump) | Low (click through, extension reminds you) |
| Payout method | Bank, PayPal, gift cards | Check or PayPal, quarterly |
| Our score | 8.7 | 8.5 |
How they actually work, side by side
Upside pays on gas, grocery and restaurant purchases made in person: claim an offer in the app before you pay, then the cash back matches automatically to your card or receipt. Rakuten pays on online purchases: click through before checkout (or let the browser extension remind you) at a retailer's own site. Our own Upside testing averaged about $13/mo over six months of fill-ups, while Rakuten's quarterly check averaged around $32 a quarter. Different spending categories entirely, so there's no real overlap to referee.
Which one should you install first?
If you drive regularly, install Upside first, it has the highest payout per single action of anything we've tested. If most of your spending happens online, start with Rakuten. If you do both, run both, nothing about using one changes what the other pays, and stacking them with a flat-rate cash back card on top costs nothing extra.
FAQ
Do Upside and Rakuten compete for the same purchase? Rarely. Upside covers gas, grocery and restaurant purchases made in person; Rakuten covers purchases made online through a click-through link. They track different transactions. Which pays more per action? Upside, for anyone who drives regularly, since its per-fill-up payout is the highest per-use amount we've tested. Rakuten's total adds up over a year through smaller, more frequent online purchases. Do I need to pick one? No. If you drive and shop online, both are worth running at once, there's no overlap to manage.