Daily deal websites have been around in Cairo for about 6 months since February 2011, during this period the daily deal industry have evolved a lot from offering low quality deals that has lots of conditions and restrictions to much better quality daily deals that offer value to consumer…

As more and more people turn to social media sites, the idea is becoming more appealing to both the local businesses and the consumers, there are now 6 major deal sites in Egypt basically covering Cairo and trying to cover Alexandria as well but not so much success so far covering other Egyptian cities.

I’m writing reviews about all these 6 sites in order to help you know what to expect from each site, that said don’t go crazy with the deals thing and spend your money wisely!

Here is a list of daily deal websites in Cairo and my reviews about them:

Cobone. Cobone is one of my favorite deal sites in Cairo, they are a good money saver as they bring places where i usually go,  so it’s not only about going and exploring new places but rather saving money on everyday places, i bought 2 deals so far one for Trianon Cafe and another one for Grey Lounge in New Cairo. Visit Cobone.com Here >>

Pros

• Few limits and restrictions, usually deals are valid in all restaurant branches and on all menu items
• Reputable website with good experience in several middle east countries
• The offer 5% additional discount when you buy online with Master Card

Cons

• Invite your friend and win 46 LE is a kind of hoax, i invited a friend before and he purchased but i never for the money, talking to the customer service, they mentioned that the deal value should be more than 46 LE in order to redeem that money but the deal was only for 30 LE. Didn’t like that…
• The site could use little bit more work on bug fixing, displaying the right map location, importing contacts from email, …

Offerna. is the Egyptian daily deal site with a full local flavor, as the name suggests it means “our offers”.  Due to this reason Offerna is one of the easiest names to remember, as the same matter with other popular sites which has a local name such as Masrawy, YallaBina or FilGoal….

Offerna stared off the wrong foot, when they offered deal with good brand names but with so many restrictions that made the offer lose its value, for example they offered a meal in Abou El Sid with half price, however it was restricted to a certain branch, at certain weekdays and a certain dish! That said, it seems they got over this problem recently when (i got confused, it was darenadeal who made this bad abou el sid offer http://www.darendeal.com/deals/index/4-EGP-89-Instead-of-EGP-183-for-a-Delicious-Meal-of-Authentic-Oriental-Cuisine-for-Two-at-Abou-El-Sid-(Set-Menu-of-2-Salads,-an-Appetizer-and–Abou-El-Sid.mhtml) Offerna made recently a very successful Ramadan Iftar without any restrictions to days or branches, this offer sold 1,382 times! Visit Offerna.com here >>

Pros

• Most deals are available at prices less than 50 LE
• Deals are getting better over time

Cons

• Some venues that offer the deals are not well known
• Many deals discounts are 50% not more

Dare’n’deal. Darendeal is world class daily deal website, everyday literally you will see a new offer, sometimes two offers are released in the same day. So you will never get stuck with that Thai massage ad for one week on the site waiting for a new offer to be released. Although i have never personally bought a deal from there, you will find a few past deals with over 1,000 or 2,000 purchases like spend a day by the pool for 35 pounds. Visit Darendeal.com here >>

Pros

• Highest number of deals in terms of quantity
• The Arabic site is fun to use, it seems that they have specialized editors in Arabic section who write in the same language we speak, not the formal Arabic thing

Cons 

• You can easily miss a deal if you don’t check the site on daily basis
• Mostly restaurant deals, not much of  other lifestyle deals

GoNabit. Acquired by Living Social, you would expect the $ 1 billion daily deal giant to dominate the market in Egypt and kill the competition, well No. Unlike expected the website is poor in terms of deals and content, since the beginning of Ramadan i have seen tens of Iftar and Sohour deals on many websites… Guess what GoNabit have for us? Ice cream offer!! Visit gonabit.com here >>

Pros

• Supported by the giant Living Social

Cons

• Website and daily deals are below the quality you would expect from Living Social
• You can’t browse the older deals

eDealo. With deals targeting class A, eDealo is trying to expand the daily deal business to other verticals such as travel, eDealo have launched the vacations sections with Trips inside Egypt including Sahel and Red Sea and outside trips as well. Visit www.edealo.me here >>

Pros

• Penetrating new verticals such as travel and vacations

Cons

• Past deals are not listed
• New deals are not as frequent as other deal sites

Dealwaty. The newest member of daily deal websites, just launched about 2 weeks ago, so it is early to judge the site now. The site now probably started the same way as other deal sites but with the advantage that people know learned the concept in Egypt. Visit dealwaty.com here >>

Pros

• Upcoming deals is a good idea to present some teasers for the new deal

Cons

• The past deals don’t seem to do very well, yet it’s early to judge