Amex Blue Cash Everyday Review: 3% on Groceries, Gas and Online Shopping, With No Annual Fee

01Who It Suits

Blue Cash Everyday pays 3% in three places: U.S. supermarkets, U.S. gas stations and U.S. online retailers, each on up to $6,000 a year before dropping to 1%. Everything else earns 1%. For a household that does most of its buying in those three places, it is a good card with no annual fee.

Two things limit it. The first is the rest of your spending, which earns half what a flat 2% card pays, so the three categories need to be more than half of the total. The second is its sibling. Counting groceries alone, Blue Cash Preferred's 6% covers its $95 fee once your supermarket spending passes about $3,167 a year. Online shopping changes that: Everyday pays 3% there and Preferred 1%, so a household with $500 a month at the supermarket and $500 a month online gets $35 a year more from Everyday.

02Rewards and Costs

Rewards, caps, the Disney credit, the 60-day balance transfer window, the foreign fee and redemption are from American Express's product page, checked November 8, 2026. Its page did not show the welcome offer, APRs or balance transfer fee; those, and the supermarket exclusions, are from NerdWallet's review of the card. Offers and rates can change; the issuer's page has the current terms.

03On Your Spending

These figures assume you pay the full statement balance every month; interest and other borrowing costs are not included. The categories are the same as in the full comparison, so the same budget gives each card the same result on every page. Purchases abroad are treated as spending outside the bonus categories, and bookings through card issuers' own travel and entertainment sites are not included. Rank all six cards on every category.

What it takes to beat it

Against a flat 2% card, Blue Cash Everyday pays more once more than half your spending is at U.S. supermarkets, gas stations and online retailers, within the $6,000 yearly cap on each. Against Blue Cash Preferred, counting groceries alone, the line is about $3,167 a year (about $264 a month) of supermarket spending; online shopping raises it, because Everyday pays 3% there and Preferred 1%, while streaming, gas and transit lower it.

04What the Headline Leaves Out

• Each 3% category stops at $6,000 a year; after that it earns 1%.
• Everything outside the three categories, including restaurants, earns 1%.
• Walmart, Target, Costco and Sam's Club do not count as supermarkets.
• The welcome offer is not the same for everyone, and American Express may decline to offer one at all.
• Purchases abroad cost 2.7%.

05Closest Alternatives

All six cards are ranked on your own spending on the cash-back cards page.

06Questions

07Sources and Changes

1. American Express, Blue Cash Everyday card page, checked November 8, 2026 (rewards, caps, Disney credit, balance transfer window, foreign fee, redemption).
2. NerdWallet, American Express Blue Cash Everyday review, October 1, 2026 (welcome offer, intro and ongoing APR, balance transfer fee, supermarket exclusions).

November 8, 2026: first published. Revised the same day: calculators now take every spending category from the full comparison, and comparisons and break-even figures state what they assume.