Which Cash-Back Card Pays You the Most?

01Run Your Spending

Put in what you spend in a typical month and every card is ranked by what it would pay you in a year, after its caps and fees. Nothing you type leaves your browser.

Earned is cash back at each card's rates and caps. Fees are the annual fee plus the fee on purchases abroad. Purchases abroad are treated as spending outside the bonus categories, so they earn each card's base rate; a restaurant meal abroad can earn a card's dining rate, depending on how the merchant codes it. Credits count only what you enter above, up to each card's monthly limit. Supermarket rates on the Amex and Capital One cards exclude superstores such as Walmart and Target and warehouse clubs, so put that spending in Everything else.

02The Six Cards

Card	Rewards	Annual fee	Abroad	Next
Wells Fargo Active CashThe 2% benchmark	2% cash rewards on purchases	$0	3% fee	Our review Issuer terms
Citi Double Cash2%, paid in two halves	1% when you buy plus 1% as you pay, as ThankYou Points worth 1 cent each in cash	$0	3% fee*	Our review Issuer terms
Capital One SavorFood and entertainment	3% on dining, grocery stores, entertainment and popular streaming; 1% on everything else	$0	No fee	Our review Issuer terms
Amex Blue Cash EverydayGroceries, gas and online, no fee	3% at U.S. supermarkets, U.S. gas stations and U.S. online retail, each on up to $6,000 a year, then 1%; 1% on everything else	$0	2.7% fee	Our review Issuer terms
Amex Blue Cash PreferredBig grocery bills	6% at U.S. supermarkets on up to $6,000 a year, then 1%; 6% on select U.S. streaming; 3% at U.S. gas stations and on transit; 1% on everything else	$0 first year, then $95	2.7% fee	Our review Issuer terms
Chase Freedom UnlimitedDining, drugstores and 1.5% on the rest	3% on dining and drugstores, 5% on travel booked through Chase Travel, 1.5% on everything else	$0	3% fee	Our review Issuer terms

Card images are plain illustrations, not the cards' designs. * Citi's public page did not show its foreign purchase fee when we checked; the 3% is from NerdWallet's review of the card. Welcome offers and APRs are in each card's review and on the issuer's page; they change more often than the rewards.

03Head to Head

Wells Fargo Active Cash vs Citi Double Cash

Both pay 2% on everything, so on spending alone they tie. Active Cash pays its 2% when you buy; Double Cash pays 1% when you buy and the other 1% as you pay the purchase off, so the full 2% only arrives on balances you pay. Active Cash has a $100 bonus after $500 in the first three months and 0% on purchases for 12 months; Double Cash has a $200 bonus after $1,500 in the first six months and no intro rate on purchases, but 18 months at 0% on balance transfers. Both charge a fee on purchases abroad.

Amex Blue Cash Everyday vs Blue Cash Preferred

Preferred pays 6% at U.S. supermarkets to Everyday's 3%, on the first $6,000 a year each, and costs $95 a year after the first year. The extra 3 points cover the fee at $3,167 of supermarket spending a year, about $264 a month. Preferred also pays 6% on select streaming and 3% on transit, which brings that number down; Everyday pays 3% on U.S. online shopping, which Preferred does not, which pushes it up. The calculator above weighs all of it on your figures.

Capital One Savor vs Chase Freedom Unlimited

Both pay 3% at restaurants. Savor also pays 3% at grocery stores, on entertainment and on streaming, but only 1% on everything else; Freedom Unlimited pays 3% at drugstores and 1.5% on everything else. Leaving restaurants and drugstores aside, Savor pays more when its grocery, entertainment and streaming spending is more than a third of everything else you put on the card. Savor has no fee on purchases abroad; Freedom Unlimited charges one.

When a 3% card beats a flat 2%

A card paying 3% in some categories and 1% on the rest matches a flat 2% card when exactly half your spending falls in its 3% categories. Below half, the flat card pays more, before any welcome bonus.

04How We Compare Cards

Figures come from the issuer's own pages first, with a named, dated secondary source where an issuer's page does not show one. The ranking is your spending run through each card's rules, with caps, categories and fees included and welcome bonuses kept apart from a normal year. We are not paid by any card issuer today; if that changes, it will say so next to the link, and it will not change the order. More on how we compare and how we make money.

05Questions

06Sources and Changes

1. Wells Fargo, Wells Fargo Active Cash product page and pricing terms, checked November 8, 2026.
2. Citi, Citi Double Cash product page and pricing terms, checked November 8, 2026.
3. Capital One, Capital One Savor product page and pricing terms, checked November 8, 2026.
4. American Express, Amex Blue Cash Everyday product page and pricing terms, checked November 8, 2026.
5. American Express, Amex Blue Cash Preferred product page and pricing terms, checked November 8, 2026.
6. Chase, Chase Freedom Unlimited product page and pricing terms, checked November 8, 2026.

November 8, 2026: Citi's welcome bonus added; American Express offers can now be entered; optional spending categories start at $0; the pay-in-full assumption is stated beside the calculator.