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Is the Honey Extension Safe, or a Scam? What the Record Shows (2026)

Topic: Tech & Software
Author: Will Song
Date: October 15, 2026

Quick Summary

  • Is Honey legit? It is a real, free browser extension. PayPal has owned it since January 2020, when it paid about $4 billion in cash for it.
  • How it makes money: stores pay it a commission when you buy. Its own terms say it "may not always find you the best deal."
  • The "scam" claim is an allegation, not a ruling. A December 2024 video said Honey took creators' affiliate credit even when it found no coupon. PayPal says Honey "follows industry rules and practices." A creators' lawsuit over this is still open.
  • Is it safe? Its Chrome Web Store listing says it handles your web history, location and payment information. Install it only if that is fine with you.

What Honey is, and who owns it

Honey is a free browser extension that pops up while you check out at an online store and offers to find coupon codes for you. Members with a Honey account can also earn rewards, in a program its US terms now call PayPal Rewards (formerly Honey Gold). The company behind it, Honey Science, belongs to PayPal: PayPal completed the purchase on January 6, 2020, for about $4 billion in cash.

It is still live: on October 15, 2026, the Chrome Web Store listed "PayPal Honey: Automated Coupons & Rewards" at version 19.7.0, updated October 2, 2026.

How Honey makes money

Honey is free because stores pay it. Its US terms of use say: "We make money to sustain the Service when you purchase or engage with these offers." Its Chrome listing says merchants may pay it affiliate commissions, and that it shares those commissions with users as rewards.

The same terms include a line worth reading twice: "we may not always find you the best deal." Fair small print. It also means an empty pop-up does not prove that no code exists.

The "Honey scam" claim: both sides

In December 2024, YouTuber MegaLag published a video calling Honey a "scam." As The Verge reported, the video made two main claims:

  • When you click Honey's pop-up at checkout, Honey puts in its own affiliate tracking link, even when it found no coupon. So Honey gets the credit for a sale that a creator's link sent you to.
  • Honey skips better codes because of its deals with the stores it partners with.

PayPal's answer came from its spokesperson, Josh Criscoe, in an email to The Verge: "Honey follows industry rules and practices, including last-click attribution." Last-click means the program pays whoever's link was clicked last before the sale. PayPal's side: that is how affiliate marketing works. The critics' side: Honey made itself the last click without earning it.

On the second claim, the same statement says Honey "provides millions of shoppers with additional savings on their purchases whenever possible." A shoppers' case built partly on that claim was dismissed (more below), and they are appealing.

So the honest answer to "is Honey a scam?" is that it is an open allegation. No court has ruled on whether the creators' claim is true.

What changed in 2025

Google's Chrome Web Store affiliate ads policy, last updated March 11, 2025, says: "Related user action is required before the inclusion of each affiliate code, link, or cookie." It lists replacing an existing affiliate code "without the user's explicit knowledge or related user action" as a violation.

Two days after that date, 9to5Google tested Honey version 17.0.4 on the same site and creator shown in the video. Clicking "Got it" on the pop-up no longer changed the affiliate cookie. The same report says Honey still takes affiliate credit when you use its coupons or Honey Gold. That was one outlet's test, and we have not re-tested it.

The lawsuits, as of October 15, 2026

The creators' case: still open

Creators sued PayPal in federal court in San Jose in December 2024. The case is In re PayPal Honey Browser Extension Litigation, No. 5:24-cv-09470-BLF (N.D. Cal.).

  • November 21, 2025: Judge Beth Labson Freeman dismissed the first amended complaint, because the creators had not plausibly shown an injury traceable to PayPal. She let them amend it.
  • June 22, 2026: she denied PayPal's motion to dismiss the second amended complaint. At this stage a court accepts the complaint's factual claims as true. So the ruling means the case goes on. It does not mean PayPal did anything wrong.
  • July 16, 2026: PayPal filed its answer. The current schedule puts a class-certification hearing on February 11, 2027 or later, with summary-judgment motions due by March 22, 2027.

The shoppers' case: dismissed, now on appeal

Campbell v. Honey Science, LLC, No. 5:25-cv-02850 (N.D. Cal.), was brought on behalf of UK residents who used Honey. They said Honey did not apply the best coupons because of agreements with stores, and they also made a privacy claim about its tracking.

  • June 15, 2026: Judge P. Casey Pitts dismissed the case with prejudice, which means no more chances to amend. On privacy, he wrote that the very purpose of the extension was to track browsing, so the tracking alleged was "routine commercial behavior," not a highly offensive intrusion.
  • July 2026: the plaintiffs appealed to the Ninth Circuit (No. 26-4493). The docket we could read shows no appeals ruling yet.

So, is Honey safe to use?

  • Your data. Honey's Chrome listing says it handles personally identifiable information, financial and payment information, location, web history, user activity and website content. The developer declares that this data is not sold to third parties outside approved uses. That is a lot of access. If the trade bothers you, skip it.
  • The creators you watch. If you came from a creator's link and want them to get the credit, 9to5Google's test suggests you skip Honey's coupons and Gold on that order.

How to check a code without trusting a pop-up

Step 1: Start from the store

Look for codes on the store's own site and emails, or on a page that says when each code was last tested.

Step 2: Apply it and watch the total

A code works only if the total drops. If it doesn't, look for a minimum spend or excluded items.

Step 3: Compare the final price

Compare what you really pay, not the headline discount. The discount stacking calculator does the math.

Where Tenmomo fits

Full disclosure: Tenmomo is a coupon and cashback site, so we compete with Honey. Read this post with that in mind.

We are a website, not a browser extension, so there is nothing to install. Each code on our tested codes page was applied in the brand's own cart or checkout in the last 30 days, with no order placed. When a store pays us a commission for an order you placed through Tenmomo, 100% of it goes back to you as cashback (how it works). We are one option; a store's own newsletter, or no tool at all, can work too.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Honey legit?

Yes, in the sense that it is a real, free extension that PayPal has owned since January 2020. Whether it treated creators fairly is the subject of an open lawsuit.

Is the Honey extension a scam?

That is an allegation, not a ruling. A December 2024 video said Honey took creators' affiliate credit. PayPal says Honey follows industry rules, including last-click attribution. No court has ruled on whether the claim is true.

Is the Honey extension safe?

Its Chrome Web Store listing says it handles web history, location and payment information, and that the data is not sold to third parties outside approved uses. Install it only if you are comfortable with that.

Does Honey still replace affiliate links?

A March 2025 test by 9to5Google found it no longer did when it had no coupon or Gold to offer, but it still took the credit when you used one. We have not re-tested it.

Who owns Honey?

PayPal. It completed the purchase on January 6, 2020.

Related

Sources

Last updated: 2026-10-15. Court status is from the public dockets as read on October 15, 2026. Honey's terms, its Chrome listing and Google's policy page were read the same day. Tenmomo has no affiliate link or cashback offer for Honey, so none is shown here.

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