Black Friday may have come and gone, but there’s still time to get some great deals for the holidays — if you act fast. One of the best ways to save is with browser extensions, which act like digital versions of Santa’s little helpers to hunt down the sweetest bargains for you.
Easily downloaded, the plug-ins work with your favorite browsers, like Chrome, Firefox, and Safari, to instantly transform you into a savvy super shopper. They can compare prices and automatically find you the lowest prices available; alert you to price drops; search far and wide for any valid coupons, promo codes, and discount offers and apply them for you; and even get you cash back.
When it comes to saving money with the least amount of effort, browser extensions are some of the most powerful tools available to any consumer. Arm yourself with a few of them this holiday season, and let it snow with savings.
Amazon Assistant for Chrome
We’ll start with our obvious favorite: The official Amazon Assistant extension makes it easy to save time and money, allowing you to compare products while you’re shopping on Amazon and other sites. With the extension installed, you’ll automatically see Amazon’s 30-day price history on most products, as well as receive exclusive offers and personalized recommendations. Available on Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge, and Opera, Amazon Assistant notifies you of new deals every day, gives you real-time shipping and delivery updates in your browser, and can even build off of your Amazon Wish List by adding your favorite items from other sites.
The Rakuten Cash Back Button
Available for Firefox, Edge, Safari, and Chrome, the Rakuten browser extension allows you to earn cash back when you shop. It can also alert you to deals, coupons, and savings when you’re browsing at more than 3,500 stores, with features like automatically applying coupon codes at checkout.
InvisibleHand
The InvisibleHand browser extension promises to get you the lowest prices on flights, hotels, and rental cars, plus plenty of shopping coupons and deals. Available for Chrome, Firefox, and Safari, the plug-in remains invisible until it finds a deal on something you’re shopping for, then offers a discreet notification when there’s a lower price — with a direct link to where you’ll find it.
RetailMeNot
RetailMeNot’s Deal Finder browser extension finds and applies the best valid discount codes and cash-back options at checkout to maximize your savings. Available for Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Microsoft Edge, the easy-to-use extension works with more than 20,000 retailers.
Cently
Cently’s free Chrome add-on automatically detects empty coupon or promo code boxes at checkout when you’re shopping at thousands of stores. It searches the web for you, finding the retailer’s latest and greatest codes, then applies them for you in one click. The latest version also allows you to earn cash back and rewards.
Klarna
Formerly known as Piggy, the Klarna browser extension scours the internet to find the best available coupons for any given store and enters them for you at checkout. Once it’s installed, you can just shop like you normally do at more than 250,000 stores, and Klarna does the rest.
Slickdeals
The Slickdeals extension quickly shows you the current deals offered by a particular retailer without having to leave their site. It also helps you auto-apply any eligible coupon codes, compare prices to past deals, and learn about cash-back offers.
PriceBlink
Available for Chrome and Firefox, PriceBlink lets you find coupons and compare prices in real time as you shop. With Instant Price Comparison, it lets you know if you’ve found the best deal, checking for lower prices at thousands of popular merchants. It also alerts you to any money-saving coupons or discount codes available for the site you’re shopping on, so you never miss out.
Offers.com
When you shop at any of Offers.com’s 6,000-plus partner stores, their free Firefox extension instantly alerts you to any special deals available, including free shipping, buy-one-get-one-free offers, and promo codes.
Splitwise
While it’s not a browser extension, the Splitwise app is a great way to save and keep track of shared expenses. It makes splitting bills with friends easy, whether it’s a group dinner over the holidays, balances incurred with roommates, or a road trip with friends or family. You can split up the costs however you want and quickly add up expenses before you forget who owes what to whom.
Of course, whatever browser extensions you choose, the savviest shoppers use Amazon Pay to check out conveniently on thousands of websites around the world — even when they’re not shopping on Amazon.com. Like a digital wallet, Amazon Pay uses the same billing and shipping information that’s already stored in your Amazon account, allowing you to skip the forms at checkout wherever you see the Amazon Pay button.