You are probably aware of the main student deal websites out there, but do you ever get confused at which one to use? Which is the best for student discounts? UNiDAYS, Student Beans, TOTUM, any others?
Back when I was a student, there was only one main discount card to use, that being the paper NUS card, and no app to easily get discount codes. (Something like the image on the right, and most of the time a fake one) How times have changed. Now with the power of the web, we have several student discount websites and apps. NUS has become TOTUM and has lost considerable share of the market and new apps have taken over.
Over this short post, I’m not going to shout about The Grad Hub, but instead compare the two main student discount website, UNiDAYS and Student Beans. I guess we can leave NUS TOTUM for another day.
Firstly UNiDAYS. It’s free to join! That’s a bonus, but you have to be in sixth form, college or university. They offer discounts on everything from food & drink, fashion, technology, beauty, lifestyle and health & fitness.
To join all you have to do is register with your email address provided by your institution, enter a password, confirm if you are male or female and hit register. It’s that simple.
There are hundreds of brands to choose from, including Dominos, Expedia, JD Sports, Ryman, Topshop, Topman and more.
Student Beans offers similar deals as UNiDAYS. You may see several retailers advertising their services with either one or the other brands. For example, with Student Beans you can get offers from McDonalds whereas UNiDAYS have teamed up with Burger King.
Student Beans uses the same verification function as UNiDAYS. You need to sign up with your institutions email address to be verified into the programme. It’s a simple step and unlike UNiDAYS, you can sign up with Facebook and Google, although I’m not so sure how they verify Facebook and Google registration. I guess it must be the follow up verification link.
Like UNiDAYS , there are hundreds of brands offering student discounts via Student Beans, including Benefit, Europcar, Mobiles.co.uk, Missguided, PRETTYLITTLETHING and more.
Do they have an app?
Both brands have an app to go with their website, which you can easily download from either the Apple Store or Google Play. Both websites are also mobile responsive, meaning if you don’t want to download even more apps, just type in their URL and you have all the deals there on your mobile.
Student Beans App
Looking at both apps, I personally prefer the Student Beans app. As soon as you download and open the app, you are shown how to use it via a short tutorial. You are then asked to sign in/register or you can skip. Once in you can set location services so you can find deals near you. The main screen doesn’t have that many offers compared to UNiDAYS app, but you can navigate through online and instore via the icons at the bottom of the app and find all the offers available. And then all the offers can be navigated through menu options, similar to the website.
UNiDAYS App
The UNiDAYS app also asks you to sign in/register or skip when you first open it. Once in, the home screen is designed to be swiped to see offers, and they focus their attention on the ‘featured’ and ‘just in’ offers over showing all the offers. I guess you need to sign in to see all the offers. The good thing I like about the UNiDAYS app over the Student Beans app, is that it also shows you other offers you may like, once you click into one of the offers. So I’m being up-sold to, which isn’t a bad thing when I’m getting a discount, right!
The Blogs
Both websites offer a blog that provides students with a variety of advice, from food & drink, hair & beauty, fashion, travel and student tips.
UNiDAYS Blog – The Edit
Having a read of both blogs, the winner for me by far is the UNiDAYS blog – The Edit. The Edit has 13 different blog topics with a variety of posts geared to everything the student wants to know. But most importantly, the Tips & Advice section goes beyond just retailers and entertainment. The Tips & Advice section provides quality content that a student would love to read on university advice, such as ‘Things I wish I knew when I started university’ and ‘7 uni life hacks you need to know’. They also discuss anxiety and stress, which is a big thumbs up from me! The layout is nice and clean, with latest and recommended posts showing first, followed by trending and then older posts, allowing me to get a good idea of when the posts were produced. Plus they have an easily navigated search menu!
Student Beans Blog
Moving on to the Student Beans blog, maybe it’s me, but it just doesn’t do anything for me. I guess it just doesn’t look clean like the UNiDAYS app. It feels a bit difficult to navigate and get actual student specific content. I think it’s a bit disjointed. The first thing that popped out was the ‘Heres everything we know about next year’s Love Island’ post. How could it not stand out. Just look at that image!! Obviously I opened it, so something worked. The blog looks at a variety of different categories, but no where near the number that UNiDAYS touches upon. One thing I did like is the ‘A day in the life of’ posts. It really helps students understand what work-life is like and helps encourage students when they are looking for a job. If I was however looking for student specific advice, it would have to be the UNiDAYS blog!
Are there any cons to using both sites?
Hmmm, that’s a tough one. Who wouldn’t want to sign up to a free student discount site? I can’t see any cons with using any of these brands. They help you save money at a variety of brands, offer advice and are continuously coming out with new offers.
Should I sign up to both?
The short answer is YES. You have different discounts being offered by both brands and they are both FREE to sign up to! You never know when one or the other will come in use during your time in education.
To conclude
Both UNiDAYS and Student Beans have been around for a while now and are continuously improving to provide students with a variety of discounts across retail, food, tech and more. It’s a no brainer that as students you would want to save money and use both of these student discount websites. There’s no harm to signing up to them and getting the most of these during your time studying.
Sign up to UNiDAYS here
Sign up to Student Beans here
Here’s a little secret between you and me…
If you have any friends and family that aren’t in education, once you have signed up you can send them discount codes for them to use online and sometimes in store (as many brands dont check). So it’s a win for you and a win for your friends and family! Shhhhh!!
