Update 3/11/26: Giftcards.com at 5% back, ends today. Also: 4% back on eBay.
Original Post:
Kudos shopping portal/extension has revamped their payout structure: they now simply pay out the full affiliate commission received from the affiliate networks. Previously they had a more complicated system of multiplying your credit card rewards as a shopping bonus. You can read about the old system in our previous review; due to the new structure I’ve written a new review in this post, below.
Contents
Kudos Cashback App Review
The Kudos smart wallet is a rewards Chrome extension and Safari Extension which helps track which card is best for earning at any particular retailer when shopping in the Chrome or Safari browsers. They also offers rewards at thousands of retailers when you click through the Kudos extension before checking out. The app offers various other services such as showing your card numbers at retailer checkout so you can use the information at checkout with the retailer.
Once your cards are added to your Kudos wallet, the app will popup at checkout on retailer websites to guide you on which card to use at the given retailer. The app will also track how much rewards were earned from your shopping and the extra shopping portal rewards added on by Kudos, see below.
Kudos Shopping Portal
Aside from aiding customers in using the best card at a given merchant, Kudos also offers rewards at thousands of merchants when you click through their extension before checkout. They call their rewards ‘boosts’. Sometimes they’ll have a special enhanced offer ongoing which is called a ‘flash boost’.
You need to have the Kudos browser extension in order to get Kudos boosts. You can either click ‘activate boost’ which will popup on the bottom-right of your screen or you can browse and click to shop at thousands of merchants found on this page.
Retailers with a Kudos reward/boost offer include Walmart, Giftcards.com, Dell, Saks, eBay, Kohl’s, Groupon, Petco, Neiman, Newegg, and thousands more. It’s similar to what we see on other shopping portals.
Kudos offers payout via Paypal or as an Amazon gift card. For example, if you have 1,000 points, you can get either $10 cash to your Paypal account or a $10 Amazon gift card. Update 3/18/26: Kudos now charges a $2.99 fee for Paypal redemptions.
Kudos 100% Rewards Rate
Kudos promises to pass on 100% of the commission paid by the affiliate network to the customers. They make money on other things like when people sign up using their credit card links, etc. The shopping portal feature is a draw for consumers who want to maximize their rewards and receive 100% affiliate commission back to their own pocket.
There are hundreds of shopping portals out there such as Rakuten, Topcashback, Cartera, etc. Most will keep part of the affiliate commission and pay out part. Many portals will also offer special limited time increased rates which can be even higher than the affiliate commission received; this is a loss-leader for the portal. Topcashback also says that they pass on 100% of the affiliate commissions.
$100 Credit Card Bonus
Kudos has their Kickstart+ Boost offer to get $100 bonus when you apply for a credit card through their link, get approved, and then add the card to your Kudos wallet. We wrote more details about this bonus in this dedicated post.
$20 Referral Bonus
Kudos also offers a $20 bonus to those who signup using a referral link and make a purchase of $30 or more at a site with a boost merchant from Kudos (e.g. Walmart, Giftcards.com, Dell, Saks, and thousands more). Once the purchase has been confirmed with the merchant (typically within 60-120 days), your reward will be issued.
My appreciation if you use my referral link. The signup link will prompt you to add the Kudos chrome/safari extension and then to signup for an account by adding your name and credit cards. In the signup process there will be a box for a referral code. My code is CEDAR_KUDOS and I appreciate if you use it. We’ll each get $20 if you signup with the referral code and make a purchase at a boost merchant. A referral code can even be added after the fact. No referrals in the comments below.
Update History
- Update 1/1/26: Boosts for January are: 4% on eBay and Giftcards.com, 6% on Etsy, and 8% on Stubhub and Expedia.
- Update 12/18/25: 5% at Lowe’s, Giftcards.com, eBay. 8% at Stubhub.
- Update 12/13/25: Hotels.com 15%. Expires at 11:59pm PST on Dec 15th. Boost is only available to US/Canada customers for completed, eligible hotel stays, excluding airfare, vouchers, taxes, tax recovery charges, other similar charges, and any purchases using coupon codes. (Also, 5% on Giftcards.com and eBay is still available. 8% on Stubhub.)
- Update 12/9/25: PayPal has been added as a redemption option with 1,000 Kudos boost = $10. You can redeem via Paypal or Amazon at a value of 1-penny-per-point. Or you can split between the two.
- Update 12/4/25: Aside from the monthly deals for November (see below), they sent out an email about new daily/weekly specials. These require using the Kudos extension. I’ll just flag a few that I find interesting, I’ll update if I see more interesting in the future:
- (12/3-12/4) 8% on giftcards.com (up to $2,000)
(Upcoming 11/27) 10% on eBay(Upcoming 11/29) special unknown rate on StubHub (would have to be higher than 8% since that’s the current rate)(Upcoming 12/1) special unknown rate on Dell(11/25-11/26) 15% on Expedia hotel and car bookings- Update 11/3/25: Kudos is running their monthly ‘flash boost’ offers through November 30th. These include 5% at giftcards.com and eBay; 6% at Sam’s Club; 7% at PetSmart; 8% at Stubhub, Expedia, Hotels.com, TripAdvisor; 9% at Trip.com.)
- (Update 9/2/25: Kudos is running some nice ‘flash boost’ offers through September 30th. These include 5% giftcards.com, 5% eBay, 6% at Sam’s Club, 30% at Boost Mobile, 8% at PetSmart and Expedia and Hotels.com.)
- (Update 8/18/25: Kudos is running some nice ‘flash boost’ offers through August 31st. These include 5% at eBay, 6% at Sam’s Club, 10% at Trip Advisor, 30% at Boost Mobile, 8% at PetSmart and Expedia and Hotels.com.)
Our Verdict
Not many portals pass on 100% affiliate commission; readers point out that Topcashback also promotes a similar structure. Ultimately, the savvy shopping will always want to compare cashback/reward rates since portal rates vary all the time. Even a shopping portal who typically doesn’t offer the strongest rate might an excellent deal with a temporary increased offer.
The $20 Kudos signup bonus should be a nice and easy way of getting started. Just keep in mind that Kudos has a $30 minimum cashout amount. Also note, payout is currently only in the form of Amazon gift card, not cash.
My appreciation if you use my referral link; enter referral code CEDAR_KUDOS when prompted during account signup. You’ll get 2000 points ($20) if you signup and make a $30+ purchase after activating or clicking through the Kudos boost. You’ll probably also get a few extra dollars for adding Kudos to the browser, adding a card, and similar tasks. (I believe you can add a referral after signing up at this link.) No referrals in the comments below.
