Best Daily Deals Sites

W

hen you're on the hunt for a good deal or you want to try out new restaurants and shops, daily deals sites like Groupon can be really great. But unfortunately, most of the offers can seem irrelevant, or too far away, or not that great of a deal (paying $5 to get $7 worth of goods isn't nearly as enticing as paying $15 to get $30, right?). So which ones should you subscribe to, and which ones should you give the boot? Here's our take on the best daily deals sites out there—it is by no means comprehensive, as there are hundreds of them out there; these are just our favorites.

Groupon
Groupon easily takes our top spot; its consistency in offering a variety of deals makes it a no-brainer. Be it discount on a sushi dinner, a half-price massage, or sale-priced t-shirts from places like American Apparel or Threadless, Groupon serves up a wealth of options for you to choose from. As we write this, we've got a few in mind for ourselves—restaurants, bowling alleys, and one for a half-price oil change.

With Living Social and Google Offers, the deals are worth your time, you just have to be a bit patient when waiting for a good one to come your way.

Living Social/Google Offers
These two tie on our list, because they deliver basically the same quality of deals. The deals are usually more product-specific—for example, a deal for cupcakes instead of a dinner place, or a deal for six spray tans, rather than a deal for a percentage off of any spa service. Still, the discounts are worth your time, you just have to be a bit more patient for a good one to come around.

Woot!
Woot! is another daily-deals site, but they separate their categories to one deal per category—tech, home, sports, kids, shirts, wine, and hot-selling deals they categorize as "sellout!". These deals are great if you're looking for something a little more specialized than the general services peddled by Groupon, Living Social and Google Offers.

But what about other daily-deals websites like Gilt.com, OneKingsLane, and Fab.com? While Gilt and OneKingsLane offer mostly high-end items, Fab serves up an expansive list of ever-changing deals. When they're sold out, they're sold out. But of the three, we absolutely like Fab the best. It consistently offers the best variety of wares, from cookware to unique shower curtains, from watches and jewelry to iPhone cases. OneKingsLane typically sells relatively expensive home goods, like fancy rugs or one-off coffee tables. Gilt is more fashion-oriented, offering designer clothes and accessories at better prices than retail shops.

Overall, your proclivity to use these sites really depends on what you're looking for, but these are the best sites we've found offering several different categories of things you can save on.

What daily deals sites do you use?