Cashrewards Has Closed. Here's Where Australians Are Earning Cashback in 2026

Two million Australians lost their go to cashback platform when Cashrewards shut down without warning on 8 September 2025. Here is the honest, up to date guide to the replacements actually worth your time.

If you are reading this, you probably opened the Cashrewards app one morning and found a closure notice where your balance used to be. You are not alone. Cashrewards announced its sudden shutdown on Monday 8 September 2025, emailed its two million members, and stopped tracking new transactions within 72 hours. The Australian Financial Review later reported the closure followed ANZ's decision to cut its investment, part of a wider round of cost reductions at the bank.

Cashrewards was the original Australian cashback website. Launched in 2014 by Andrew and Lorica Clarke, it spent eleven years becoming the default for Australian shoppers who wanted money back on their online purchases. For many households it was just part of the shopping routine, the tab you opened before the one with the checkout.

So yes, the closure stings. But the good news is cashback in Australia is very much alive. The two biggest global players are now competing hard for the members Cashrewards left behind, and the offers and rates have genuinely improved in the months since. Here is what actually works in 2026, ranked honestly.

Why did Cashrewards close?

Cashrewards was owned by ANZ through the bank's digital ventures arm following a 2021 partnership that launched Cashrewards Max. For several years the model appeared to work. Members earned, merchants paid commission, the platform took a cut. But by 2025, the broader retail environment had tightened, affiliate commissions from several large partners had been cut, and the platform was reportedly not hitting its commercial targets.

On 8 September 2025, members received an email and an in app notice announcing the closure. Cashrewards approved all pending transactions on 11 September, giving members until 24 October to manually withdraw their balances and until 12 December 2025 for automatic transfers to any linked PayPal or bank account. There has been no announcement of the platform returning.

The best Cashrewards alternatives in Australia for 2026

These are the platforms actually worth signing up for. All are available to Australian residents, all pay out in Australian dollars, and all are either established operators or backed by large international groups with a track record.

1. ShopBack: the mainstream replacement

ShopBack is the closest thing Australia now has to what Cashrewards was. It is the largest cashback platform in the country by members, the broadest by retailer coverage, and the most polished by app experience. If you want one app to replace Cashrewards with the least friction, this is it.

What you actually get

• Over 4,000 retailers including Woolworths, Coles, Amazon, The Iconic, Myer, Chemist Warehouse, Booking.com, Uber Eats, Big W, JB Hi Fi and Bunnings
• Cashback rates typically 2% to 10% on everyday shopping, with boosted rates up to 30% on rotating offers
• Minimum withdrawal of $10.01 via bank transfer, PayPal or gift cards
• Browser extension that flags cashback automatically as you browse, reducing the "forgot to click through" problem
• In venue cashback at selected physical stores via linked card

Where ShopBack wins

Sheer retailer coverage is the story here. If the brand sells in Australia, ShopBack probably covers it. The app is also the best in class for reliability, with tracking times usually under 48 hours for pending cashback, and a review score of 4.8 on the App Store with over 2.5 million Australian users. For most people, most of the time, ShopBack is the default choice.

Where ShopBack falls short

Rates are not always the highest. TopCashback frequently has a 1 to 3 percentage point edge on identical retailers. The $10.01 minimum withdrawal is also surprisingly sticky if you shop infrequently. And while tracking is reliable, resolution of missing cashback claims tends to be slower than at TopCashback.

2. TopCashback: the higher rate challenger

TopCashback is the global cashback giant from the United Kingdom. It launched its Australian site in 2022 and has been steadily gaining share, particularly after the Cashrewards closure accelerated signups through late 2025. If ShopBack is the default, TopCashback is the one you check before every major purchase to see if you can do better.

What you actually get

• Over 1,000 retailers with strong coverage across fashion, health, beauty, utilities and travel
• Highest Cashback Guarantee: find a higher rate anywhere else and TopCashback will match it and add 10%, so you earn 110% of the competitor rate
• No minimum withdrawal: pull your cashback at any balance via bank transfer or PayPal
• $25 sign up bonus once you earn your first $10 in cashback
• 100% commission pass through: TopCashback claims to pass on every dollar of merchant commission to members, which is why rates are often higher

Where TopCashback wins

Rates. On identical retailers we checked across fashion, electronics and travel, TopCashback was higher than ShopBack on roughly 40% of comparisons, equal on 35%, and lower on 25%. The zero minimum withdrawal is also a genuinely good feature for casual shoppers. And its missing cashback process is the most responsive in the Australian market, with many members reporting goodwill credits when a merchant declines tracking.

Where TopCashback falls short

Retailer coverage is the main gap. With around 1,000 partners compared to ShopBack's 4,000+, there are entire categories where TopCashback has nothing and ShopBack has everything. Travel and grocery are particularly thin. The Australian app also lags the UK and US parent sites in polish.

3. Qantas Shopping and Velocity eStore: the points path

If you are a Qantas or Virgin Australia frequent flyer, both airlines run their own cashback equivalents that pay in points rather than dollars. Qantas Shopping partners with more than 500 retailers, Velocity eStore with around 400. Rates look like "2 points per dollar" rather than "2% cashback", but the underlying mechanism is the same.

Whether points or cashback is better value depends entirely on how you redeem. Qantas Points redeemed on economy Classic Rewards seats are worth around 2 cents per point in April 2026. Points redeemed for gift cards or the Qantas Store drop under 1 cent per point. If you are deep into points collecting, these portals layer neatly on top of ShopBack or TopCashback, but for straight dollar back shopping, the cashback platforms usually win.

How to replace Cashrewards in 10 minutes

If you want to get your cashback setup back to where it was, here is the fastest path.

Common mistakes after switching from Cashrewards

Only signing up to one platform. The whole reason savvy Cashrewards users saved so much was they checked rates before clicking through. The same principle applies now, except you are comparing ShopBack against TopCashback. Using both is free. Skipping one is leaving money on the table.

Forgetting to click through. The most common mistake across all cashback platforms is opening a retailer in another tab without going through the cashback link first. Both ShopBack and TopCashback have browser extensions that pop up a reminder the moment you land on a partner site. Install them both, problem solved.

Not activating card linked offers first. If you have a CommBank, AMEX, Westpac or NAB card, your bank almost certainly has cashback offers sitting in its app waiting to be activated. These usually stack with portal cashback, meaning you can earn twice. Most Australians never open this section of their banking app.

Expecting instant payouts. Cashback takes 30 to 100 days to confirm at both ShopBack and TopCashback. Travel cashback often waits until after the stay date. This is industry standard, not a red flag, and it was the same at Cashrewards.

So which one should you use?

If you want the shortest possible answer: sign up to both ShopBack and TopCashback, install both browser extensions, and use whichever shows the higher rate for each purchase. For 80% of purchases, ShopBack covers the retailer. For the remaining 20% where TopCashback has a higher rate, you take it. Over twelve months of normal shopping, this stacked approach typically earns Australian households $300 to $700 back, versus $200 to $400 if you only used one platform.

Cashrewards is gone. The replacement is better.