Cheddar Cashback App Review: Is It Worth Using?

Written by Al Baker | Founder & Editor, The Penny Pincher - Last updated: the 15th of October 2026

If you’re heading to the supermarket for your weekly shop, there might be a way to get a little money back without changing what goes into your trolley. With the Cheddar cashback app, you buy a gift card for a participating shop, receive cashback and then use that gift card to pay for your shopping. It adds an extra step before paying, but it can reduce the cost of purchases you were going to make anyway.

There’s also a joining offer attached to our code, PINCHER, which now pays up to £5 in two stages. You’ll get £2 after buying £25 of gift cards, then another £3 once you’ve earned £10 in cashback, with both targets needing to be reached within 60 days of signing up. That second target is cashback earned, rather than £10 spent, so it’s worth working out whether your usual shopping will get you there.

I’ve revisited Cheddar using my account and the current offer details to look at what it offers alongside other gift-card cashback apps. My overall rating is four out of five: it isn’t my personal favourite, but it’s a useful service that’s worth comparing before you shop.

How does the Cheddar cashback app work?

Think of it as changing how you pay for your shopping. If you were already planning to spend £50 at a participating supermarket, you could buy a £50 gift card through Cheddar and use it towards that shop. At an illustrative cashback rate of 3%, you’d receive £1.50 in your Cheddar balance while still having the full £50 gift card to spend.

That 3% is an example, not a current supermarket offer. The available rate depends on the retailer and any eligible boost, so look at the amount you’ll actually receive before confirming payment. A larger percentage at a more expensive shop won’t necessarily leave you better off.

To start, download the Cheddar cashback app, register and check that PINCHER is applied if you want the joining offer. Browse the shop section or search for the retailer you want, then choose a gift-card amount that fits your planned purchase. The app shows the cashback available before you pay, including any boost you’ve selected.

Choose your bank and follow the instructions to approve the payment in your banking app. This is Pay by Bank, so you’re paying from your bank account rather than typing in a card number. Once the purchase is confirmed, your gift card appears in Cheddar and the cashback is added to your balance.

When you’re ready to spend it in store, open the gift card in your Cheddar wallet and reveal the barcode or code for the checkout. For an online purchase, copy the gift-card number into the retailer’s gift-card payment box and add the PIN if one is required. Cheddar’s gift-card instructions explain both methods, but individual retailers can have their own redemption steps.

Give yourself time to do this before reaching the till. Gift cards usually arrive quickly, but a payment delay or poor mobile signal is much less frustrating when there isn’t a queue behind you. Check whether the card works online, in store or both, particularly if you’re buying it for a specific order.

How do you get the £5 Cheddar joining bonus?

Open our Cheddar invitation link and check that PINCHER is applied when you register. If it hasn’t appeared automatically, enter the code during sign-up. The offer currently has two separate targets, both measured from the day you join.

To get the first part of the bonus, you’ll need to buy at least £25 of eligible gift cards through Cheddar. That could be a gift card for your next food shop, or a purchase from another participating retailer. Once you’ve reached that £25 total within 60 days of signing up, you’ll receive your £2 bonus.

To get the second part, you’ll need to keep buying eligible gift cards until you’ve earned £10 in shopping cashback, which unlocks another £3 bonus. As a rough guide, a 4% cashback rate would mean buying £250 of gift cards in total, while a 2% rate would mean £500. Those are examples rather than current offers, and the total you need will depend on the rates you receive.

That might sound like a lot of money, but if you’re using gift cards for your weekly food shop and other purchases you’d be making anyway, the cashback can soon add up. For example, £50 a week at an illustrative 4% would earn £2 cashback each week, reaching £10 after five weeks.

You have 60 days from signing up to reach the target, so it’s worth thinking about your usual shopping over that period rather than buying extra just for the bonus.

Reloadable gift cards, cashback boosts and extra perks

Cheddar also offers reloadable gift cards, allowing you to add money to the same card instead of collecting a new one each time. Its published range includes Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Costa, although the options available in your app should guide your purchase. This can make repeat shopping less fiddly, particularly if you’d otherwise have several cards with small balances left on them.

Reloadable doesn’t mean you should load your whole monthly shopping budget in advance. Adding what you expect to use on your next shop leaves the rest of your money available if your plans change. Wallet support and balance updates vary by retailer, so use the balance shown in Cheddar when you’re unsure how much remains.

Cashback boosts can increase the reward on a gift-card purchase. They’re linked to features such as badges and shopping streaks, and you select an available boost in the shop section or at checkout. Look at the final pounds-and-pence saving before buying, rather than spending extra to maintain a streak or collect a badge.

Students and eligible key workers can also look for Student/Blue Light Perks in their profile. Cheddar has a verification scheme for those groups, but its older announcement includes different bonus figures, so use the current offer shown after verification rather than assuming those figures still apply.

Which retailers can you buy Cheddar gift cards for?

Supermarkets are likely to be the most useful starting point because food shopping is something you’re already budgeting for. Cheddar’s current range includes Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Morrisons, M&S, Iceland and Farmfoods. If your usual supermarket is included, you can earn something back on your normal shop without changing where you buy your food.

There are options beyond groceries too, including Costa, Starbucks and Caffè Nero for coffee, plus Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats for takeaway orders. For clothes, gifts and household purchases, the range includes brands such as Nike, Adidas, JD Sports, Boots, Argos and Currys. IKEA, B&Q, Dunelm and The Range are also listed, while travel options include Airbnb, Uber, Trainline and Eurostar.

That gives you opportunities to use Cheddar for an occasional larger purchase as well as regular spending. Before buying a card, look at where it can be used and any exclusions, especially if you’re placing an online order or using a retailer’s concession. The available retailers and rates can change, so use the selection shown in your app when planning a purchase.

How much can you actually earn with Cheddar gift-card cashback?

Your earnings depend on how much of your normal spending you put through eligible gift cards and the rates available when you buy them. For example, £200 a month of supermarket shopping at an illustrative 3% cashback rate would earn £6 a month, or £72 over a year. That isn’t a prediction of Cheddar’s rates; it’s a way to see what a small percentage could mean for your household.

If you also spent £30 a month on coffee or eating out at an illustrative 5%, that would add £1.50 a month, or £18 a year. Together, those examples would produce £90 in annual cashback before any joining bonus, provided the spending and rates stayed the same. An occasional £100 purchase at 4% would add another £4, but only if that retailer and purchase qualified.

You don’t need to put every purchase through the app for it to be useful. Using it for a regular supermarket shop might be enough to make it worth keeping on your phone, while someone who rarely shops with the participating retailers will get less from it. Compare what you’d actually spend and receive, because changing to a shop that costs more can easily wipe out the cashback.

Can you withdraw the cashback, and are there fees?

Cheddar is free to download and use, and its invitation page gives a £5 minimum for withdrawing cashback to your bank account, with no withdrawal fee. That threshold matters when you earn the first £2 joining bonus, because you may still need more cashback before you can take the money out.

For example, a £25 gift card at an illustrative 4% rate would earn £1 cashback. Add the £2 first-stage bonus and you’d have £3, which is still below the £5 withdrawal threshold. The gift card and the cashback balance are separate: you can spend the gift card without having enough cashback to withdraw.

The Cheddar terms also require a qualifying transaction at least once every six months to keep cashback valid. A cashback-earning gift-card purchase, a withdrawal or a successful rewarded invitation can count. Simply opening the app isn’t the same requirement, so don’t leave a forgotten balance sitting there indefinitely.

Buying a gift card also commits money to that retailer. Cheddar’s terms don’t promise a change-of-mind refund, so check the amount and retailer before paying, along with expiry dates, exclusions and what happens if you return the goods you buy.

Is Cheddar safe to use, and what does bank access mean?

Cheddar is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, the UK financial services regulator. It uses Open Banking for bank connections and payments, with your permission controlling the access you give. When buying a gift card through Pay by Bank, you approve the payment in your own banking app.

Open Banking also allows Cheddar to show spending information from accounts you choose to connect. That information can help you see how much you’re spending at particular shops or in different categories, rather than relying on memory. Access for those insights is different from approving a payment, so the permission screens explain what you’re agreeing to.

Connecting an account for personalised spending insights is optional. If you use that feature, Cheddar can highlight spending at retailers where buying a gift card might have earned you cashback. That can be useful for spotting opportunities on purchases you make regularly, but it doesn’t mean you’ve lost money or should buy something to improve a figure in the app.

How does Cheddar compare with JamDoughnut, Everup and Gains?

The gift-card side of Cheddar, JamDoughnut, Everup and Gains works in much the same way: choose a retailer, buy a gift card and earn a reward to reduce the cost of your shopping. There isn’t one app I’d assume will always offer the best rate. Sometimes the differences are small, while a promotion or boost can make one provider noticeably more rewarding for a particular purchase.

For example, 3% versus 3.5% on a £100 gift card is a difference of 50p, while 3% versus 6% is a difference of £3. Those are illustrative comparisons rather than current offers, but they show why it’s worth checking before a bigger purchase. Compare the amount you’ll actually receive after selecting your payment method and any eligible boost.

Our JamDoughnut review covers its gift-card cashback and offers in more detail. One practical advantage for Cheddar is its £5 fee-free bank withdrawal, compared with JamDoughnut’s £10 threshold and 30p bank-transfer fee. JamDoughnut also lets you exchange cashback for gift cards without that bank fee, and its reward can vary with your payment method, so compare the final amount rather than just the first rate you see.

Our Everup guide explains another close alternative, including its cashback points and extra reward features. Everup lets you use cashback towards gift cards from £5, but its bank-withdrawal threshold is £10, with a 30p fee. If you want your reward back in your bank account rather than put towards another gift card, Cheddar lets you reach that point with a smaller balance.

Gains combines gift-card cashback with budgeting and money-management tools, so it’s also worth including in your comparisons. Its published retailer pages give a £10 bank-withdrawal threshold, and its current terms provide for a withdrawal charge shown before confirmation; using available cashback towards gift cards avoids that charge. If you’d also use its budgeting features, that might influence your choice, but it doesn’t automatically make its cashback rates better or worse.

My honest verdict on Cheddar

I’d give Cheddar four out of five for its features and usefulness. There’s a good choice of everyday retailers, buying a gift card earns you cashback, and the £5 minimum bank withdrawal is lower than some of its competitors. The reloadable cards make regular shopping easier, while the spending insights help you see where your money is actually going, which can be a little scary but useful at the same time!

The joining bonus is decent too, with £2 after you’ve bought £25 of eligible gift cards and another £3 once you’ve earned £10 in shopping cashback, both within 60 days of signing up. If you’re using gift cards for your regular food shops and other planned purchases, those targets may fit comfortably into your normal spending. You don’t have to buy everything from one retailer, so different purchases can contribute towards the same cashback target.

For me, it’s a shame that Cheddar’s automatic cashback service ended in January 2025. Being able to earn cashback by paying normally with a linked card, in a similar way to Airtime Rewards, gave it something different from the gift-card apps. Its main cashback service now works much like the others, but that doesn’t make it any less useful when the rate is right.

That’s the main reason I think Cheddar earns its space on your phone. Cashback apps run different promotions at different times, so one might offer 2% at a retailer while another offers 3%, with the positions reversed on your next purchase. As an example, that difference would mean an extra £1 back on a £100 gift card, simply for taking a minute to compare before buying.

Is Cheddar my favourite cashback app? It isn’t, but I still use it sometimes, and I wouldn’t rule it out just because I’m more used to another service. We all have our favourites, but being comfortable with one app doesn’t mean it will always give us the best return on our shopping.

Would I recommend having Cheddar on your phone? Yes, particularly if you regularly use gift-card cashback and want another option for comparing rates and promotions. Whether you start with the joining bonus or find an offer that beats your usual app, it’s well worth considering for shopping you were already going to do.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Cheddar joining code?

Our code is PINCHER. Enter it during sign-up, or check that it has applied when you join through our invitation link.

How do I get the £5 Cheddar bonus?

Buy £25 of gift cards to earn £2, then earn £10 in cashback to receive another £3. Both targets must be completed within 60 days of signing up under the current offer.

Which retailers are available through Cheddar?

The range includes Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Morrisons and M&S, alongside brands such as Costa, Boots, Currys, IKEA and Deliveroo. Check the app for the current selection and each gift card’s spending conditions.

What is the minimum Cheddar withdrawal?

The current minimum is £5. Earning the first £2 joining bonus alone doesn’t give you enough to withdraw.

Do I have to spend £10 to get the second bonus?

No. You need to earn £10 in cashback, which requires more than £10 of gift-card purchases. The amount you need to spend depends on your qualifying cashback rates.