RareBillIs that dollar worth more than a dollar?
Point your iPhone at any US bill. RareBill reads the serial number and tells you straight away whether it's a star note or a fancy serial that collectors pay for — the kind of note most people spend without ever looking.
Checking is free, unlimited, and always will be.
Reads the same backwards — and the star means it's a replacement note from a much smaller print run.
Two things, and both are printed on the note.
You don't need to know anything about paper money. If your bill has either of these, it's worth more than its face value to somebody.
★ Star notes
When a note is damaged during printing, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing replaces it with one whose serial ends in a star instead of a letter. Roughly one note in a hundred. Some print runs are far smaller than others, and that's where the money is.
# Fancy serial numbers
Eight digits, and a small number of them fall into patterns collectors chase — solids, radars, ladders, repeaters, binaries, low numbers. RareBill knows sixteen of them and checks every one.
⛏ Print-run rarity
A star note from a run of 3,200,000 is ordinary. One from a run of 320,000 is not. RareBill looks your serial up in the Bureau's own monthly production reports — 24 years of them, on your phone.
Solid
Every digit the same. About as rare as serials get.
Ladder
The digits count straight up, or straight down.
Radar
Reads the same backwards as forwards.
Repeater
The second half repeats the first.
Low serial
Under 1,000 — and the fewer digits, the better.
Binary
Only two different digits in the whole serial.
Two seconds, no typing, no guessing.
Point at the bill
Fill the frame with the front of the note. The serial is read on your phone as you hold it — no shutter button, no photo to upload. Worn note? Type the serial instead.
Get the verdict
Star note, fancy serial, or neither — with the pattern drawn over the digits so you can see why. This part is arithmetic, not a guess, and it's free forever.
Keep the good ones
Save a bill to your collection, share the result card, and — with Pro — see which print run it came from and what notes like it tend to sell for.
The answer is free. Always.
Scanning and the star / fancy-serial verdict are never metered, never limited, and never behind a paywall. Pro is the research layer on top.
Free
No account, no trial, no counter
- Unlimited scans — every bill, every day
- Star-note detection
- All 16 fancy-serial patterns
- Shareable result card
- Keep up to 10 bills
$29.99 / year
or $4.99 weekly · $49.99 once, forever
- Print-run rarity from official BEP production reports
- Value ranges with a link to live listings
- Unlimited collection with a portfolio total
- Stack mode — rip through a bank strap without tapping
- iCloud sync across your devices
7-day free trial
Values are estimates drawn from published collector guides and current listings — they are not appraisals, and they are not offers to buy. What a note actually sells for depends on its condition and who wants it that week.
Most people never look.
Check the change in your pocket. It takes two seconds and costs nothing.