Premium
The public rate data stays free forever. Premium membership gets you a personal toolkit designed around the needs of the points, miles, and cashback community: more alerts that are delivered faster, the full rate archive, tracking of all portal purchases in your CBYS claim tracker, and more (like premium access to our sister site, PointAuctions.com).
Pick a plan
Every plan unlocks the same premium features. The only thing that changes is how you pay.
Monthly
$5 a month
The whole toolkit, month to month.
Cancel any time, from your own billing page.
Annual
Two months free$50 a year
The same toolkit, paid once a year.
Cancel any time, from your own billing page.
Founding lifetime
Founding$150 once
Pay once and premium is yours for good.
Limited to 10 founding members. It's not a subscription, so there's nothing to renew/cancel.
Signing in and signing up are the same form: put in your email, click the link we send you.
One subscription, both sites
CheckBeforeYouShop is the earn side of points and miles. Our sister site PointAuctions.com is where you spend them: unique experiences to bid on with your points and miles across many loyalty programs.
Whichever plan you pick, premium switches on for both sites when you use the same email on each. If you already pay on PointAuctions, premium here is already included, so there is nothing more to buy.
Free vs premium
The free functionality of the site is a real product, not a limited trial. Premium adds tracking, speed, and depth, never a better version of the truth.
| Feature | Free account | Premium |
|---|---|---|
| Rate alerts | Included 1 store, once a day | Included up to 250 stores, instant |
| Rate history you can browse | Included the last 21 days | Included the full archive |
| Verdicts and rate comparisons | Included every store, no account | Included the same, free for good |
| Click receipts | Included kept 6 months | Included kept for good |
| Cashback claim tracker | Included 1 new claim a month | Included no monthly limit |
| Your own point values | Included set and save them free | Included the same |
| CSV exports | Not included | Included alerts, click receipts, claims |
| PointAuctions.com premium | Not included | Included included in full |
How fast "instant" is
We check most portals every 6 to 24 hours. For premium users, as soon as we see a rate change, you'll get an email instantly. Free users are alerted of rate changes in the next morning's email.
About the archive
We started recording rates in early July 2026, and the archive grows daily. That said, full transparency - the archive isn't terribly deep. If browsing the full archive is the main thing you want, it is worth waiting a few months (or getting a founding member lifetime membership). I don't want you to sign up expecting a benefit that's not quite there yet.
If you cancel
- Click receipts you created while on premium keep their forever retention. Cancelling never shortens them.
- Alerts past the free limit are paused, never deleted. Resubscribe and they come back exactly as you set them.
- Your claim tracker entries are never deleted, at any tier.
- You can export everything on the way out, free.
- You cancel yourself from the billing page. No email to us, no retention call.
- You're on a founding member lifetime membership - thanks! It's not a subscription, so there's nothing to renew/cancel.
- Buying founding lifetime while you are subscribed cancels the subscription and refunds the unused part of what you last paid. If that refund has not reached you in a few days, tell me and I will send it.
Still to come
Both free and premium features are complete. The rate archive is still building (see "About the archive" above for more context). There are a lot of fun improvements on the roadmap for the future, like text updates as soon as we see an increased rate, a browser plug-in, and more. I'm always looking for feedback on features and functionality - if you have ideas for features that'd make your online shopping better, I'm all ears - drop me a line at the 'Contact Us' page!
If there's something in particular you want, tell me through the contact form. It genuinely helps decide what gets built next.
Who you'd be paying
One person and a lot of robots. No investors, no VC, no growth targets (other than my own). Subscriptions are what keep CBYS up and running. How the rest of it is funded is on the disclosure page.
What's free, forever
The site exists to share data with the community that's given so much to me. The site's core functionality will always be free: current rates, timestamps, 21 days of rate history, the "is this a good rate or not?" verdict based on all historical data (including beyond the 21 days), and exclusions.
We want you to get the most cashback or points for your purchases. Free members see the same rates, at the same freshness, as paying members.
Paid features add reach and depth - more alerts, instant delivery instead of the once-a-day alert email, the full rate archive, and click receipts and cashback tracking that doesn't expire.
Questions about any of this? Ask me directly.