Honey works well, but it collects data and has been criticized for diverting affiliate commissions away from creators. If privacy matters to you, or you want a coupon tool that doesn't feed a corporate data engine, building your own with PlugThis gives you the same workflow without the data tradeoffs.
Honey is a Chrome extension owned by PayPal that automatically finds and applies coupon codes at checkout on thousands of e-commerce sites. It also offers a price-tracking feature and rewards program.
Pricing: Free for users. Honey monetizes via affiliate commissions on purchases and through PayPal's broader business.
Audience: Online shoppers who want to find coupons without searching for them manually.
| Feature | PlugThis | Honey |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | From $29/month | Free |
| Coupon database | You build/curate your own | Massive Honey-maintained DB |
| Privacy / data collection | No data leaves your browser | Honey collects browsing/purchase data |
| Affiliate commission diversion | No | Honey may divert affiliate credits |
| Source code access | Full source | Closed |
| Customization | Modify any behavior | Honey-controlled features only |
| Setup | Build the extension once | Install and sign up |
| Auto-apply at checkout | Yes — you build it | Yes |
Build time: About 10 minutes
What you get:
Build a Chrome extension called "Private Coupon Finder" that helps find and apply coupons at checkout. The extension should: (1) detect when the user is on a checkout page (look for common patterns: URL containing /checkout, /cart, presence of "promo code" or "coupon code" input fields), (2) when detected, show a small popup asking if the user wants to search for coupons, (3) if yes, search RetailMeNot's public coupon search results for the current domain (or use a curated coupon list the user maintains in extension storage), (4) try each coupon in the promo code field, attempting application until one works or all fail, (5) report results to the user, (6) provide an options page where the user maintains their own curated coupon list per retailer. Permissions: storage, activeTab. Host permissions: <all_urls>, https://www.retailmenot.com/*. Manifest V3 with content script.
Free (monetized via your data and affiliate streams)
From $29/month
On pure cost, Honey is cheaper. On total value (privacy, control, no affiliate diversion), the trade favors building your own if these things matter to you.
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Paste the prompt above into PlugThis and ship your custom version in minutes.
Disclosure: PlugThis is a competing product to Honey. This comparison is intended for users actively evaluating both options. We last verified the Honey information on this page on 2026-05-14. Pricing and features may have changed since — please check the Honey website for current details.
No — Honey has years of crawled coupons across thousands of retailers. Your version starts smaller, but you can curate it to the retailers you actually shop at, which often gives better results than Honey's spray-and-pray approach.
More answers below.
Honey records your shopping behavior, purchases, and the prices you see. This data is valuable to PayPal and likely to advertisers and partners. If you'd prefer your shopping not be a data product, an alternative makes sense.
More answers below.
Honey has been documented as overwriting affiliate links at checkout, redirecting commissions to itself. This affects creators whose links you click. A self-built alternative doesn't do this.
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Yes — describe it in PlugThis. Combine the coupon finder with the price tracking from your /extensions/amazon-price-tracker page for a fuller shopping assistant.
More answers below.