How To Get FREE Subscription Boxes
Updated on October 22, 2019!
“How can I get free subscription boxes?” I’ve been reviewing subscription boxes for 8 years, and that’s the question I hear the most! Good news! I’ve got all the answers for you – whether you have a blog or not!
Here are 5 different ways to get free subscription boxes, from easiest to hardest:
1. First Month Free Subscription Boxes
If you haven’t already, make sure to take advantage of all the first-month free subscription box offers. You aren’t committed to keeping these subscriptions (you can always cancel before you are charged for the next month), so this is the easiest way to start getting free subscriptions immediately.
FYI – some of these offers are completely free, some are free but you have to pay shipping. I’ll indicate on each box what type of offer it is. Also, keep in mind that you need to enter credit card info for all these offers, and companies may place a small charge on the card to verify it’s working. (This charge is immediately refunded, but still may show as pending for a few days.)
Here are some popular subscription boxes with free first-month deals:
Love with Food
Love With Food ($9.99 a month) is a snack and food sampling subscription box. They send only natural and organic snacks and donate a meal to charity for each box sold.
Use this link to get your first Tasting Box for free. Just pay $4.99 shipping. You will get 7+ items.
This deal is free, but you do have to pay $4.99 for shipping charges.
Nadine West
Nadine West is a subscription styling service for women sizes Small to 3X.
Subscribers fill out a style quiz and are sent an outfit (2-4 items, usually 1 apparel item plus accessories) every month based on their style preferences. There is no styling fee, but there is a shipping fee ($9.78) that is credited toward the cost of anything you keep. Their items are priced lower than other styling services, ranging from $10 – $25 per piece.
Use referral code NADINE to waive shipping fees on your first box. That means you can get your first box totally risk-free, with no styling fee and no shipping fee (normally $9.78). You’ll pay only for items you decide to keep!
Check out our Nadine West reviews to see what you can expect from this subscription box.
This deal is completely free, no shipping charges. But you will have to pay for any items you want to keep. Think of it as a completely free way to try a styling service.
Dollar Shave Club
Dollar Shave Club is a monthly razor blade subscription service. (And they now offer grooming products like shave cream, hair products, etc.) Subscriptions start at $6 a month for their most popular model (the 4X) and you get a free handle with your first month.
Get a starter kit including razor handle, blades, and trial sizes of several shower & shave products for free – just pay $5 shipping! No coupon needed, just use this link!
Check out our Dollar Shave Club reviews to see what you can expect with this subscription!
This deal is free, but you do have to pay $5 for shipping charges.
Rocksbox
Rocksbox (regularly $21/month) is a monthly subscription box for jewelry rental.
Receive 3 pieces of hand-selected jewelry in every box. Wear them as long as you like, and then return them in a pre-paid shipping envelope to swap them out for a new set. Subscribers also get $21 in “Shine Credit” each month that they can use towards buying the jewelry to keep (Shine Credits do not roll over).
Use this link to get your first box for FREE with coupon code mysubaddictxoxo!
Check out our Rocksbox Reviews to learn more about this subscription!
This deal is completely free, no shipping charges. This is a rental service, so you do not get to keep the items, but you have them for a month.
Curology
Curology (regularly $19.95/month) is a unique and totally personalized prescription skincare subscription service that targets acne and pairs you with a licensed dermatologist and sends you prescription medication every month or every other month.
Get your first month of Curology for free, no coupon needed!
Check out our Curology Reviews to learn more about what to expect from this box!
This deal is free, but you do have to pay $4.95 for shipping charges.
Second Nature
Second Nature (formerly Filter Easy, $12 a filter) is a furnace and air filter subscription service that ensures you always have clean air in your home. Choose your size and whether to receive deliveries every 1, 2, or 3 months, and you’ll never forget to change your filters again!
Use this link to get your first month for free. (Free shipping, too!)
This deal is completely free, no shipping charges.
And if you want even more deep discounts + cheap boxes, check out our list of 39 subscription boxes you can try for $10 or less.
Bonus Tip:
One thing to keep in mind: Some subscriptions will email you a reminder before you are charged after you free trial, but not all of them. Make sure to add the date you’ll be charged again to your calendar so you have a reminder to cancel if you decide you don’t want to keep it.
Here’s one extra strategy for boxes you are interested in that don’t have a free box offer: Create an account! This doesn’t work with every subscription, but I’ve found that occasionally I’ll get a completely free offer to try a subscription via email if a company sees I’m interested and have already created an account but didn’t finish signing up + paying.
Here’s a recent example I got from American Eagle Style Drop:
2. Subscription Box Referral Programs
Take advantage of referral programs. No blog needed for this one! Just share your referral links with friends and on social media. (Before I even started MSA, I was getting free boxes through referral credits just for sharing my referral links on Pinterest!)
Here are some popular subscription boxes that have referral programs:
- FabFitFun: Get $15 in credit for every friend that signs up.
- Box of Style: Get $20 in credit for every friend that signs up.
- Haverdash: Get $30 in credit for every friend that signs up.
- Birchbox: Get $5 credit to use in their shop for every friend that signs up.
- Ipsy: Get 250 points you can redeem for free beauty products for every friend that signs up.
- Boxycharm: Get $5 credit to use in their shop for every friend that signs up.
- Home Chef: Get $30 in credit for every friend that signs up.
- Gwynnie Bee: Get $25 in credit for every friend that signs up.
- Candy Club: Get a free box for every friend that signs up, up to 5 free boxes.
- Love with Food: Get a free bonus snack box and $10 in credit for every friend that signs up.
- Hello Fresh: Get $20 in credit for every friend that signs up.
- Winc: Get $26 in credit for every friend that signs up.
- Allure Beauty Box: Get a free gift when a friend signs up.
- Daily Harvest: Get 3 free cups when a friend signs up.
- Le Tote: Get $25 in credit for every friend that signs up.
- Kiwi Crate: Get $10 in credit for every friend that signs up.
- Nature Box: Get $20 in credit for every friend that signs up.
- Fabletics: Get $20 in credit for every friend that signs up
One thing to keep in mind: Most of these boxes require you to have an active subscription to earn free credits. If you’re thinking of canceling at any point, cash in your credits first!
3. Subscription Box Giveaways
Enter subscription box giveaways. This method isn’t a sure thing, but there’s no risk and your odds are pretty good in the subscription box industry vs other areas.
Just make a wishlist of all the subscription boxes you are interested in and follow them on social media. (You can create a wishlist on our site and add boxes while browsing the directory if you like!) There are lots of small-scale subscription boxes that want to beef up their social media following, and they use giveaways as a way to do that. Since a lot of these boxes have followers in the thousands or only hundreds, you have pretty good odds!
And here at My Subscription Addiction, we do giveaways every weekend, so make sure to check back every Saturday. (Or sign up for our daily newsletter if you want to make sure you don’t miss it!)
4. Swap Subscription Box Items
Swap the subscription box items you don’t want for the ones you do. If you subscribe to several boxes, you might have a stash of items that you aren’t going to use. Instead of letting them collect dust, trade them on our subscription box swap site to get the items you actually want!
One thing to keep in mind: The swap site is completely free to use, but you will have to pay for the cost to ship your items, so keep that cost in mind when making swap decisions.
5. Review Subscription Boxes on Your Blog and/or Instagram
Get companies to send you free boxes in exchange for a review on your blog or a post on Instagram. This is a lot more work on your end, but it will get you the most free boxes if you stick with it. (Companies are interested sending in bloggers/influencers free boxes to help build awareness/get exposure, build incoming links for SEO, etc.)
If you want to start a blog, here’s a very quick guide to get started:
- Go with a free service. I started out with Blogger, but eventually moved to WordPress and am still with them today. No technical expertise required!
- Once your blog is set up, start creating content! (If you want to do this at little to no cost, sign up for the free subscription boxes at the top of this post and review those.)
- Write the kind of review you would find helpful and want to read. You can get great pictures with just your phone and filtered sunlight. We’ve found that the more photos we take demonstrating items, the better the review. This Stitch Fix review is a great example:
- Post as consistently as you can. Learn how long it takes you to write and take pictures for a review, and how many reviews you can publish a week. When a company is considering sending you a free box, they’ll want to see that you have an established site. I recommend posting reviews for at least a month or two before you approach any company for a free box.
- Reach out to your favorite boxes and request complimentary boxes for review purposes. Here’s an example email you could send:
Hi!
I’m reaching out to see if you send complimentary boxes to bloggers. I review subscription boxes on my blog: [make sure to include the link so they can check out your blog] and I’d love to review [name of subscription box].
In exchange for the box, I would provide an honest review on my blog. Reviews are typically posted within [amount of time you feel comfortable with] after receiving the box.
If you aren’t familiar with [name of your blog], it’s my favorite hobby and I’m especially proud of [one of your strengths – photography, Instagram followers, writing style, etc.]
Want to take the Instagram-only approach? Create a subscription box focused Instagram account, and follow all the subscription box companies you are interested in. Get noticed by tagging brands when you share pictures of their products and remember to use their brand hashtag. They may reach out once they check out your account and pictures. You can also DM them to see if they’d be willing to send you a box to share on Instagram. Even if you don’t have a lot of followers to start, if you take good pictures that can be a value to the company as well. (They may want to regram your pictures, and that can help you build a following, too!)
One thing to keep in mind: Make sure to disclose to your readers if you received a box for free in exchange for a review. We also always make sure to verify with the company that we are receiving the exact same box a paying customer receive.
P.S. If you start a subscription box blog or Instagram account, let me know! I’ll follow you!
Written by Liz Cadman
I am disabled with a head injury and cannot work mostly due to short term memory loss. I am not having luck getting donations for a box even offering a free link to their website. Any suggestions?
Hello, I don’t know who reads these but I must express how Ellen lifts me every day no matter what I’m feeling!
Thank you so much to everyone on the Ellen show!!!
Lol
Thanks for the tips Liz!! I actually do written reviews for sub boxes and actually before I finished ur tips list I was thinking to myself I wonder if companies would send me boxes since I only do written reviews or instagram and you kinda answered that for me:)
I used to be a model a few decades ago😪 so my image is actually still owned by a few companies but I finally got the ok to do subscription boxes!! Before I wasn’t able to take pictures with me in them so I went the next best route and wrote. I think I know just about every product there is and probably used them all too lol. But I’d love to actually take pictures and review subscription boxes since I’m such a huge fan and I also know what really works and what’s an overpriced over promoted useless product but have a way of writing it that makes it not sound like I’m calling the product junk. I’m glad I ran across your article because I really wanted to start doing reviews on Instagram. Now let’s see if my charm works and I can get some free boxes lol. Any tips on charming these companies into believing that you’re the perfect person to review their items?!? Lol 😉
Hey Liz & all! I have a new Insta page reviewing sub box items. I love all things fashion, beauty and home. I would love and appreciate any follows!
Drop me a DM and I’ll happily follow you back.
My IG is subboxchick
<3
Would you please follow my IG account? It is only for sub boxes and make up. I would love that. I only have 354 followers. Anyone is welcome to follow me. I am a Dutch woman of 55 years old and do a lot of skin care and high end sub boxes from the UK for example. Thank you so much. X X X
what is the name to follow on IG?
Wow. There are alot of people doing this.
Please follow me on Instagram @galfindsgreenlilacs. I focuse on clean beauty and ethical fashion and consumption. Xxx
Thank you for this helpful post!
I’m trying to start a subscription box review & beauty deals Instagram account and I’d greatly appreciate anyone who wants to follow along! The Instagram name is “electric.s0ul”. 🙂
Would appreciate a follow at maya_thebeautyboxaddict on Instagram
Would really like hair products? ANYTHING
I would love if you followed me on instagram .My handle is kelireviews
Follow me at subboxes308 on Instagram please!!!
Liz, I’d be so grateful if you followed me on my unboxing channel on youtube: “Sincerely, Kristen” and on my Instagram page as well! @Kristensarah79 🙏 I’m a newbie but Not to the subscription World if boxes 😉 and any feedback would be so helpful! God bless! Sincerely, Kristen 😉😘🙌
I just started my YouTube channel where I mostly do unboxings. It’s a slow process growing my channel, but I love doing it! YT is just my name and my IG is @brittney_grammer. I sometimes do box pictures and thoughts on my Insta.
Follow me at subboxhannah on Insta!
I’ve thought about starting an insta/blog for boxes/makeup reviews but that it’d be pointless, and now I have some confidence! Comment below if you’d like to follow and I’ll ket y’all know when it’s ready 😬
If anyone would like to follow me on Instagram my handle is @sarahsuboxes
hi, i will follow everyone, im starting too. so we can help each other..
instagram [email protected]
I will follow anybody whose up for following me I’m getting the confidence up to go out with my look a lil at a time .I’m truly interested in sub boxes makeup, grooming , jewelery , all sorts my passion is makeup tho creating wearable looks for the average everyday lady ,mom , stressedmom who just wants to look passably okay lol aka me at times lol . I would enjoy the follow please. If I’ve overstepped my bounds here I truly don’t intend to as I love n respect your opinion and love your content !
Angie you didn’t leave your Insta address! How are we to follow you?
Could this be done for YouTube?
If anyone could support me on Instagram by giving me a follow, that would be appreciated!
@mkolenka
I have a youtube where I open sub boxes, but I haven’t gotten any followers in like 2 months I’ve been doing it. Its discouraging.
If anyone wants to follow its: Chrystal Theglamhorsegal, I also post images on my instagram also under theglamhorsegal
I just subscribed to your channel 🙂
My friend and I have been trying to set up a subscription box blog for a while, but we’re struggling. Getting boxes? Not an issue for us. Naming it? GOOD LORD IT’S A STRUGGLE. If we’d have come up with a name we’d have cranked out a bunch of reviews by now (haha).
How did you end up getting boxes? I’ve been wanting to create my own blog. Any help??
how did you end up getting boxes? i just started a blog and want to review kid and women’s boxes in addition to other stuff 🙂
I have always wanted to start a blog but never knew how or quite understood how it works. This page has helped with making a blog and explaining how bloggers get so many subscription boxes to review but one thing I don’t understand still is how one can make a income with a blog. I really hope you follow and enjoy what you read.
Great content Liz… I have started a IG account where I review skincare products. Please follow me there @_myhonestreviews_
Thank you Liz, I appreciate all of your help, for letting everyone know how to start a blog….
Hi I’m trying to start up a youtube channel but seems there are so many out there any suggestions on the best way to start? I already unbox and post the pics on my instagram and trying to get more followers but its not as easy as everyone makes it seem
Thank you for so freely sharing your knowledge with us all. My guess is that it cost you some blood, sweat and tears to acquire it! I don’t know that I am in a position to begin my own blog at this time..despite the fact that subscription boxes and reviews and MSA have become a big part of my life over the last few years. I spent the last two years on the couch as a result of complications from a hip fracture that occurred in January 2017. It may sound silly but make-up and subscription boxes and the MSA community gave me a sense of belonging and something to look forward to. It was a big part of what kept me going thru a very bleak time that consisted of weeks in the hospital, months in the nursing home, a horrible infection that almost took my life and constant, severe pain. Two years and five surgeries later I am finally able to drive and walk short distances (with the assistance of a cane) and take care of myself for the most part but I will never be the same. I may never be able to work outside of the home again and living with pain has become my new norm. The subscription box community continues to be a big part of my life and my hope is to one day be in a position where I could help others the way MSA and subscription boxes have helped me. Thank you Liz…thank you for creating “My Subscription Addiction” and thank you for being such a generous, real person.
That’s awesome not silly at all, whatever can make the time pass easier. Sorry to hear about your injury I hope you are doing well. I can definitely relate I broke my tibia and fibula which are the two bones in your lower leg. It was a terrible break my bones we’re almost a half inch apart from one another. I ended up have surgery where they manipulated the bones back together. I get shivers just thinking about the word manipulate now. Was in a full leg none walking cast for 3 months. I was on crutches the entire three months and couldn’t put any pressure on my leg. I think it was even worse once I got my cast off because of the muscle atrophy. My left leg was about half the size as before. But I got through it and it made me a way better person. Being physically handicap was eye opening people treat you different and just doing day to day things that I always took for granted like getting a glass of water, became impossible. Now Everytime I see someone anyone struggling with a task due to a disadvantage or disability I am always the first person to run to there rescue . It’s so different once you are on the other side of things. Just the fact that you are thinking of helping others while you are going through so much is really inspirational. I wish you the best of luck in all of your endeavors.
hey hun i feel for you i actually work from home myself doing dispatching, and it has been a true Godsend due to complications with my current pregnancy & being in & out of the hospital as well as having weekly home health care treatments through a dual central line in my chest, so I totes understand how you must feel. i would like to give u my email address, hopefully they will allow it posted here, it states not to, but my heart goes out to you & i know how hard it can be to find a legit work from home job. my name is janet jones & my email address is my first & last name followed by 08 at gmail. plz just reference yourself in the notes, i apologize for not catching your name, but i will know who you are when i receive your email. I wish you a happy & healthy life, and hope to hear from you soon! God Bless you youre an amazingly strong woman, i look up to you. take care
Thanks for such a reply; while many people forget those of us who are in some way house/ homebound, often it is the simple things that can keep us sane. Being able to talk to som- even on the net, having something fun to look forward to and to break up the monotony of isolating day to day life. I do have a comprehensive understanding of what it means to just look forward to something simple- even a 10.00 or 15.00 box. I always thought I was going to be one of those who would fight and push through anything, however I have learned that it isn’t always so. So thank you.
Hello! I can relate but to your unfortunate situation because I was diagnosed with stage 4 HER 2+ breast cancer which caused me to have 38 tumors.
I Soo wanted to get sub boxes back in 2013, bit I didn’t have any hair! Now I still can’t “work”, but I would love to start an you tube channel, but there are Soo many! I am going to of course unbox, but I’m also going to be talking about cancer and having alot of things about that. Anyways, glad to here of other people who feel the same! Good luck, Angela
Hi Jennifer, it sounds like you are having to deal with a lot, I’m sorry. MSA is like a little community for me too, for kind of similar reasons. Sending positive thoughts your way xx
Thanks for the info.
I’ve been working on my website and Instagram account where I review subscription boxes and other items.
I would love for you to follow me and let me know what you think.
https://tryallthestuff.com
https://instagram.com/tryallthestuff
hello, how can I find out how-to click on what im interested in, like make up? or other products? like ipsy??
or is it whatever they feel like sending you…. I need to know before I pay for anything….
Hello Liz,
Thank you for all these wonderful ideas!! I just started a youtube channel for subscription unboxing! Hopeful it take off!
I have started a blog/review on my ig a few months ago. I try to review and test makeup that I can afford to buy. I also post up my own makeup creations but I’d like to be able to get the subscriptions I can’t afford every month to send me boxes of things I’d love! Thank you for your insight on how it’s done!
P.s I have been following you for a whileeeeee. I love seeing everything you post!
Hi Liz,
When I click on the swap tutorial, it takes me to the message about closing the forum page. Is there another way to get to the swap tutorial?
Thanks for this great post!
Thanks for the info! Great tips!
I’m working on starting a blog now!
Good idea for the ig account! Definitely doing that!
Great! Send me an email when you launch the blog + Instagram account – I’d love to follow you! 🙂
This is awesome, over the last few month this is exactly whats been on my mind of how to go about doing something like this and now that you have unselfishly provided this article i am confident at taking a shot at it, so thank you.
If i may ask, on the average how many hours do u spend each day/week on all aspects of your bog?
Again thank you, as soon as i get mine going i will let you know my info.
So excited 🤗
Currently, it’s pretty much all waking hours, but when I first started it was only a few hours a day. 🙂
This was very helpful!! Thank you for your time and commitment on your blog!
Glad to hear it was helpful! Thanks 🙂
Does this mean you’ve opened up the waitlist for your swap area?
I’ve been posting about beauty boxes and makeup on my Instagram for a few months. My goal is to eventually get some boxes for free!😍
What’s your IG account? I’d like to follow you if you don’t mind.