Best cards, by category

Generated August 13, 2026 from 250 researched cards

Same database that powers the app, ranked by what a card actually earns — caps, category choices and activation rules included. If you already own the winner, don't apply for anything: put your cards in the app and it will tell you which one to use at the register.

How to read this

"Must choose" cards do not pay this rate by default. A 5% pick-your-category card earns 5% here only if you park it on this category (and on nothing else that month or quarter), and a rotating-calendar card earns it only while the issuer's published quarter includes this category — usually only after you activate. If you won't do that reliably, a flat-rate card lower down is worth more to you than the bigger number above it. "Conditions apply" means the rate needs something extra: a deposit balance, a wallet, a membership.

Rates are the published earn rate times the redemption value we researched for that card's currency — cash back at face value, points at the value in data/pointValues.json. That value is deliberately conservative: it is never higher than the lowest figure the sources printed on the row publish, so when The Points Guy says 2¢ and Frequent Miler says 1.5¢, every number here uses 1.5¢. Where only one source exists, the row says single-source value — rank it accordingly. Caps, portal-only bookings and activation deadlines are printed on the row because they routinely halve the real return. We exclude discontinued cards, store-only cards, cards whose terms we haven't verified, and points cards whose currency we could not value at all (see below).

This ranks card terms. It is not a recommendation to apply for anything. If you already hold something on this list, the win is using it in the right place — that's what the app is for.