Apps to save money: compare prices and find coupons before you buy.
Por Rodrigo Pereira
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How much did the 40% TV, which was discounted on the last Friday of November, cost in September? The price history from Buscapé or Zoom answers this in one line: when the graph goes up in October and "falls" in November back to where it was, you're looking at half of double the price.
Let me be direct: the best app for saving money is the one that answers three questions before you pay. Is this price low compared to what? Does this store deliver? Are there any coupons or cashback options I haven't applied yet?
I checked the listings for six apps on Google Play in September 2026 and organized the order in which I would use each one the minute before closing my cart.
Comparison tool, coupon app, and cashback: three tools for three different situations.
They get confused because nowadays every app advertises everything: Buscapé and Zoom, which started as comparison sites, have coupons and cashback on their listings; Cuponomia and Cuponeria, which started as coupon apps, also pay cashback. The original function remains what each one does best.
- Comparator (Buscapé, Zoom): How much does this product cost in each store and how much did it cost in recent months? This applies to products with a defined model: cell phone, TV, refrigerator.
- Coupon app (Cuponeria, Cuponomia): Is there a code that reduces the price at this store or restaurant? It works for clothing, food, pharmacy items.
- Community of offers (Promobit, Pelando): Has anyone found this product cheaper today, and is the store reliable?
- Cashback: It returns a portion of the value after the purchase is confirmed. It's the last step, never the first.
None of them replace monthly budget control: saving 15% on a product you didn't need means spending 85%. The entire budget is in the system. A guide to apps for controlling monthly expenses..
Before closing your cart: the right order in five steps
The sequence matters: applying a coupon before comparing prices gives a discount on an inflated value, and activating cashback after the coupon may be canceled by the store's rules.
- Search for the product in the comparison tool. Type the exact model (capacity, color, voltage) into Buscapé or Zoom, sort by lowest price, and note the three cheapest stores including shipping costs.
- Open the price history. Both apps store the last 6 months or 40 days, according to their listings on the Play Store. Today's price near the chart low is a buy; above the average is a hold.
- Create a fall alert. You set how much you want to pay, and the app notifies you when a store arrives there.
- Look for a coupon for the store you've chosen. First, try the code on the store's own app, then on Cuponeria or Cuponomia, and finally in the community. Test the code in your shopping cart.
- Access the store through the cashback app. Activate cashback, let the app open the store, apply the coupon at checkout, and only then pay. Purchases initiated directly on the store's website are not tracked.
It takes five minutes to purchase R$ 2,000. For R$ 40, just follow steps 4 and 5.
Price history and price drop alerts: the feature that decides the purchase.
R$ 2.799 for a cell phone: is it expensive or cheap? Only the history answers that. In the listings on Buscapé and Zoom, the feature appears with the same description: how much the product cost in the last 6 months or in the last 40 days. It's the only price reference that doesn't come from the store.
How to read the chart
Observe the lowest recorded price, the most frequent price range, and recent changes, always for the same model, capacity, and seller. A graph can help evaluate the offer, but it doesn't, on its own, prove misleading advertising. Newly launched products have little historical data, and the price can go up or down; there's no timeframe that guarantees a discount.
How to create a price alert
- Open the product page in the price comparison site and tap on “Price Alert” (this is the name on the Buscapé and Zoom listings).
- Write down the amount you are willing to pay, using the lowest historical price as a reference.
- Leave app notifications enabled in your Android settings. A muted alert means a missed alert.
- When the notification arrives, check the shipping and store information before clicking "buy".
On Promobit, the equivalent is a Wishlist: you register the item and the lowest price you want to pay. On Pelando, you receive a notification when a favorite product goes on sale.
Buscapé and Zoom: two names, one owner.
Buscapé and Zoom have a business relationship and listings published by Banco Pan, but this does not guarantee identical results for every search. Compare the exact model, the seller, the shipping cost, and the total at checkout. To broaden your reference, also check the store itself and any offers that did not appear in the comparison tool.
The user base is large (Zoom's listing mentions over 150 million offers and over 600 stores), both are free, and the difference lies in what each one highlights.
Buscapé: Promotions and cashback
Rated 4.6 on Play with over 162,000 reviews. Features include Deal of the Day, saved products to view later, cashback paid via Pix (Brazil's instant payment system), and an "Experts" channel to answer questions before purchase.
Compare prices between stores, show the history for the last 6 months, and notify you when the product reaches the price you set.
Zoom: Discounts and Cashback
Rated 4.6 and with over 212,000 reviews. It has the same features and an extra that weighs heavily in the choice of store: the "Zoom Guarantee," which promises to resolve issues with the merchant if the product doesn't arrive on time and refund the money within R$5,000 if it doesn't arrive. Read the terms and conditions within the app; for purchases from small stores, this is the argument to start with Zoom.
Price comparison tool with price history, price drop alerts, coupons, and the Zoom Guarantee for purchases that don't arrive.
How to know if a store is trustworthy before paying?
The comparison tool lists dozens of stores for the same product, and the cheapest one isn't always the one that delivers. A price of 30% lower than all the others is a red flag. Before clicking "go to store," perform three checks.
- The store's listing within the app. Tap on the store name to see reviews and complaints from previous customers. On Promobit, the app's information states that only offers from verified stores are approved; on Pelando, verified stores are marked.
- The CNPJ (Brazilian company tax ID) is located in the website footer. A business without a visible CNPJ (Brazilian tax ID), address, and phone number is out of service. A free search on the Federal Revenue Service website shows if the company exists, since when, and if it is active.
- Public complaints. O consumer.gov.br, The official platform of the federal government shows the response rate and average resolution time for each registered company. A store that doesn't respond to public complaints is a store you should only pay if you can afford to lose the money.
Signs of a fake store: payment only via Pix (Brazil's instant payment system) for individuals, domain registered a few weeks ago, "last units" on all products. If two of these appear together, close the tab.
Where coupons live: store app, coupon app, and community.
Coupons aren't created within coupon apps. They're created by the store, which distributes a code to drive traffic to its own app, move stagnant inventory, or pay commissions to those who refer customers. This changes where you look first.
In the store's own app.
Many stores keep their best first-purchase coupons on their app. If you're buying from a large store, open their app and look for the coupons tab before anything else. Shein is an extreme example of this model, with coupons, points, and shipping rules only available within the app; Coupons and points guide on the Shein app It shows how to stack the three and what changes with import tax.
In coupon apps
Cuponeria (rating 4.6, over 38,000 reviews) is a coupon app with a foothold in the physical world: its listing features coupons for McDonald's, Burger King, Spoleto, and stores like Marisa, in addition to major websites, and claims to have over 2,000 partner stores. It's an app for food and clothing, not electronics. Cuponomia (rating 4.8, over 59,000 reviews) combines coupons and cashback, redeemable starting from R$ 20 accumulated, at stores like Mercado Livre, Magalu, and Shopee.
Every coupon has an expiration date, minimum purchase amount, and category. Copy it to your cart and see if the total has changed; coupons that say "do not apply to this order" usually exclude products that are already on sale.
Coupons for restaurants, physical stores and websites, with cashback at over 2,000 partner stores.
In the communities of offers
Promobit (rating 4.6, over 55,000 reviews) describes itself as a social network for deals and makes a point of saying that it is not a price comparison site: offers are submitted by users and verified one by one, and comments indicate if the price has ever been lower. Pelando (rating 4.6, over 43,000 reviews) follows the same model, with over one million users according to its listing and an internal price comparison tool.
The benefit of communities lies in the comments, not the offer. When someone writes that this is the usual price, you've just saved yourself an entire search.
A social network for promotions with individually verified offers, coupons, and a Wishlist that notifies you when the target price is reached.
A community offering deals with customer reviews, verified stores, coupons, and notifications when a product goes on sale.
Coupon and cashback together: the order that doesn't cancel the discount.
The two processes are combined, but the order is fixed: first you enter the store through the cashback app (this tracks the purchase), then you apply the coupon at checkout. Opening the store through the browser and only then remembering the cashback leaves the purchase untracked.
Read the store's rules within the cashback app: many warn that coupons from outside the platform cancel the cashback on the order. In that case, go with the higher of the two: for small purchases the coupon usually wins, for large purchases the percentage cashback wins.
The mechanics of cashback (the store commission that converts your money, the time it takes for the amount to be confirmed, and the minimum withdrawal amount) have their own page: the Guide to cashback apps and how to receive the money. It goes into detail about each app.
How the comparison site makes money (and why the list order changes)
The comparison tool is free for you because the store pays a commission for each click sent or sale completed from it. That's why the "go to store" button exists and the search doesn't cost anything.
Two consequences. The "relevance" or "prominence" order is a commercial decision of the price comparison site: change it to "lowest price" and add the shipping cost yourself. And stores that don't pay commission may not appear on the list: for expensive products, also check the websites of two or three large stores you already know.
The same model explains cashback (the commission is shared with you) and the coupon with the influencer or platform name, which is a commission tag. Nobody is losing money for you to earn; the store is paying for your arrival.
Table: what each app does
This is all that's stated in the Google Play listings (September 2026). "Not advertised" means the listing doesn't mention the feature.
| App | Compare prices between stores. | Price history | Alert | Coupons | Cashback | Community |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buscapé | Yes | Yes (6 months or 40 days) | Price alert | Yes | Yes (via Pix) | No |
| Zoom | Yes | Yes (6 months or 40 days) | Price alert | Yes | Yes | No |
| Cuponeria | No | No | It doesn't advertise. | Yes, it includes a restaurant and a physical store. | Yes | No |
| Coupononomy | No | No | It doesn't advertise. | Yes | Yes, redemption from R$ 20 | No |
| Promobit | No (the information sheet says it's not a comparator) | No | Wishlist with target price | Yes | It doesn't advertise. | Yes |
| Peeling | Internal comparator | It doesn't advertise. | Promotion notice | Yes | Yes | Yes |
All six are free on Google Play. A comparison tool, a coupon app, and a community cover the entire route.
Common mistakes that negate the economy.
- Compare by price excluding shipping. The cheapest store on the list with R$ 60 shipping is cheaper than the second one with free shipping. Compare before deciding.
- Trust the “R$ X by R$ Y” store. The crossed-out price is provided by the store itself. The price history from the price comparison site is a reference that doesn't pass through their hands.
- Buying on alert without double-checking. The notice says the price has arrived, not whether the store is good or if the shipping cost has changed.
- Waiting for Black Friday for everything. For products with a stable history, the drop in November is usually the same as in any promotional week; the chart shows whether it's worth waiting.
Common questions
Does the price history comparison tool cover all stores?
No. It records the lowest price among the partner stores of the price comparison tool; the others are excluded. Use the historical data as a benchmark, not as the final price.
Does the price alert notify you instantly?
It notifies you when the price comparison site updates the store's price, which can take a few hours; flash sales usually end sooner. The alert works best with a target price taken from the historical low.
Can I use two coupons in the same purchase?
Almost never. Most stores accept one code per order, and first-purchase coupons are usually the most generous. Try each one in your cart and keep the one that lowers the total the most.
Is cashback extra income?
It's pocket change: tens of reais per month for those who buy a lot online, and only after each order is confirmed. A guide on how to make money with apps. It compares cashback, paid surveys, and microtasks side-by-side, showing the order of magnitude of each.
Choose a product you've been putting off, open Buscapé or Zoom, look at the history, and create an alert with the minimum information from the graph. The rest of the process only happens on the day the alert arrives.
