Best Rewards Credit Cards of February 2025

Many of the best rewards credit cards provide you with valuable points, miles, or cash back on your purchases.

If you qualify and can pay your statement balance in full each month to avoid incurring interest, opening a rewards credit card is a great way to maximize your spending and work toward an award flight or hotel stay, or put some cash back in your pocket.

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Best Rewards Credit Cards

• Best for everyday travel: Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
• Best for beginners: Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card
• Best for luxury travel: The Platinum Card® from American Express
• Best for affordable lounge access: Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card
• Best for travel insurance: Chase Sapphire Reserve®
• Best for restaurants and groceries: American Express® Gold Card
• Best for high-yield (and high-risk) rewards: Save Wealth Premium

Featured Rewards Credit Cards

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Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card: Best for Everyday Travel

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is our top-choice travel rewards credit card for most people based on generous benefits and a reasonable $95 annual fee.

The Sapphire Preferred Card earns:

• 5 points per dollar on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
• 3 points at restaurants
• 2 points on all other travel purchases
• 1 point per dollar on all other purchases

Points are worth 1.25 cents apiece on travel booked through Chase, and you can transfer them to airline and hotel partner loyalty programs.

You don't receive an annual travel credit, but you'll still have car rental primary coverage, as well as trip delay coverage and purchase protection. And each year on your account anniversary, you'll receive a points bonus equal to 10% of all purchases made in the previous year.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card can be a great travel rewards starter card until you travel enough to utilize premium benefits like airport lounge access on a regular basis.

Expert Tip: The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card comes with an annual statement credit of up to $50 for hotels booked through the Chase Travel℠ Portal and a 10% anniversary points bonus.

Read our Chase Sapphire Preferred card review.

Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card: Best for Beginners

If you're new to credit card travel rewards, the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card is an excellent starting point.

It offers a generous welcome bonus of 75,000 miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within the first three months of account opening (worth $1,275 based on Business Insider's valuation of Capital One miles). 

This card's straightforward earning structure and its flexibility in redeeming rewards are very appealing for people who value simplicity.

Cardholders earn 5 miles per dollar on hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars booked through the Capital One Travel Portal, and 2 miles on all other purchases. 

On the redemption side, you can keep it simple by using your Capital One miles to offset travel purchases made with your card at a rate of 1 cent per mile — no fussing with award charts or availability.

Alternatively, you can transfer your miles to Capital One's airline and hotel partners to book award travel and potentially get even more value.

You'll also get an impressive range of perks, including up to $120 in credit toward the Global Entry or TSA PreCheck® application fee, car rental insurance, travel accident insurance, purchase assurance, lost luggage reimbursement, and more.

Read our Capital One Venture card review.

The Platinum Card® from American Express: Best for Luxury Travel Benefits

The Platinum Card® from American Express has a high $695 annual fee, but offers a long list of benefits to match.

The Amex Platinum Card is also one of the best options for paying for flights because you'll earn 5 Amex points per dollar on airfare purchased directly with airlines and with American Express Travel.

Like Chase Ultimate Rewards points, you can use Membership Rewards points to purchase travel, gift cards, or products directly from the issuer — or you can get significantly more value by transferring points to partner airline and hotel loyalty programs.

The Platinum Card® from American Express offers access to the same Priority Pass airport lounges (enrollment required) as the Sapphire Reserve, as well as 10 visits to Delta Sky Clubs when you fly Delta (or unlimited visits after spending $75,000 or more in a calendar year), as well as the proprietary Amex Centurion Lounges.

Amex Platinum Card members also get exclusive access to major events and experiences, including once-in-a-lifetime "By Invitation Only" events.

Of course, $695 is a lot to shell out each year. Up to $200 in annual airline fee credits and up to $200 in annual Uber Cash credits (including Uber Eats) certainly help offset that cost, but the airline credit can be difficult to use if you aren't checking bags or buying drinks on flights. (Terms apply, and enrollment is required for many benefits.)

Additional Benefits: The Platinum Card® from American Express has a slew of other benefits, some of which require enrollment:

• Up to $300 annually in Equinox credits
• $199 per year in credits for CLEAR® Plus membership
• Up to $200 per year in credits toward eligible prepaid hotel bookings
• Up to $240 in annual credits toward eligible digital subscriptions
• A monthly credit for Walmart+ membership
• Up to $300 back for purchasing a SoulCycle At-Home Bike through Equinox+ (enrollment required

Read our American Express Platinum card review here.

Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card: Best Card with Airport Lounge Access at Low Cost

The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card comes with top-notch benefits in addition to generous earning rates:

• 10 miles per dollar on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
• 5 miles per dollar on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Travel
• 2 miles per dollar on all other purchases

Cardholders also get $300 per year in credits toward travel booked through Capital One Travel. They also get Priority Pass and Capital One lounge access — even for authorized users, who are free to add to your account. There's also a 10,000-mile bonus on each account anniversary (worth $100 in travel), as well as Visa Infinite travel and purchase benefits.

You can redeem miles at a fixed rate toward a statement credit to cover travel purchases with Capital One. For example, if you buy a $500 plane ticket, you can apply 50,000 miles to cancel that charge. Or, for potentially even more value, you can transfer miles to over a dozen Capital One airline and hotel partners.

Capital One's travel rewards program has become very competitive, with expanded card benefits, new transfer partners, and occasional transfer bonuses. The transfer value has improved as well, with most partners offering a 1:1 transfer ratio, and Capital One miles are easy to earn and redeem.

Read our Capital One Venture X Rewards credit card review.

Chase Sapphire Reserve®: Best for Travel Insurance

The Chase Sapphire Reserve® makes it easy to maximize your everyday spending, and comes with a slew of perks.

It used to be our top pick for the best travel rewards, but now that it has a $550 annual fee, it's harder to recommend to everyone.

Cardholders earn:

• 10 points per dollar on hotels and car rentals purchased through Chase Travel℠
• 5 points per dollar on airfare through Chase Travel℠
• 3 points on other travel and dining
• 1 point per dollar on everything else

The high annual fee is offset by an annual travel credit of up to $300, which is extremely easy to use since it applies to almost any form of transportation including cabs, subway fares, parking, tolls, and flights.

Cardholders also get Priority Pass and Chase Sapphire Lounge access, and $5 per month in DoorDash in-app credit (along with complimentary DoorDash DashPass membership through December 31, 2027).

Check out our guide to the best travel credit cards for more options like the Chase Sapphire Reserve.

Read our Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card review here.

American Express® Gold Card: Best for Restaurants and Groceries

The American Express® Gold Card earns a whopping 4 Membership Rewards® points on purchases at restaurants worldwide (on up to $50,000 in purchases per calendar year, then 1 point), 4 points at US supermarkets (on up to $25,000 in purchases per calendar year, then 1 point), 3 points on flights booked directly with airlines or on AmexTravel.com, 2 points on prepaid hotels and other eligible purchases booked on AmexTravel.com, and 1 point on all other eligible purchases.

Since you can easily redeem Amex points for more than 1 cent of value each when you transfer them to airline and hotel partners, this is one of the highest-earning available cards for everything food-related.

The American Express® Gold Card has an annual fee of $325 but offers more than $300 in annual dining credits — most restricted to specific restaurant chains in monthly allotments.

Cardholders also receive up to $120 per year in Uber Cash, also broken into $10 each month. This perk is only applicable to U.S. Eats orders and rides, and your Amex card must be added as a method of payment to the Uber app to receive the Uber Cash benefit. 

Read our Amex Gold card review.

Save Wealth Premium: Best for High-Yield Rewards (with High Risk)

The Save Wealth Premium has the potential to earn an extremely high rate of return. But it also comes with a whopping $750 annual fee and some risk. 

This card is unique because your rewards come in the form of investment dividends. Whenever you spend money on the card, the fintech company backing this card, Save, purchases stocks worth a little over double what you spent.

After the investment has had time to grow — typically a little bit past the one-year mark —  Save deposits the returns on that investment into your linked bank account, minus a 0.79% management fee. You can either choose your own investments, or let Save choose for you, and the company estimates an average return rate of 5.7% per dollar spent. 

This strategy is unique in the reward space and can be a good option for people who are comfortable allowing the stock market to dictate their spending returns. It's also worth noting that you'll never lose money on your rewards, but you might end up with low to no rewards if the market takes a downturn. So we only recommend this card for people who don't mind trusting chance with their earnings. 

Read more in our Save Wealth Premium credit card review.

Choosing the Best Rewards Credit Card

Rewards credit cards give you something back for every dollar you spend — whether that's points or miles for travel, or cash back that you can use to lower your monthly bill or to treat yourself to a splurge.

How to Get the Credit Card You Want

To get the credit card you want, you'll need to have a good credit score at least, and ideally, an excellent credit score. You are most likely be approved for a credit card if your credit profile shows a low credit utilization ratio. 

If you currently carry a balance on an existing credit card, prioritize paying off that debt as soon as possible before getting a new card to bring your credit score back up. Always pay off your balance in full, since any rewards you could earn will be wiped out by high interest rates from your existing card debt. 

Rewards Credit Card Structures and Benefits

Credit card rewards typically fall into a few categories. You can choose from flat-rate rewards, tiered bonus categories, cards that reward you for additional banking relationships, and rotating category cards. You can also choose between earning cash back or points and miles. 

In addition, many cards offer high welcome bonuses to new cardholders who meet a spending requirement in the first few months after opening a card. Some cards also include benefits like travel and purchase protection. 

Strategies for Maximizing Rewards: Choose the Right Card(s)

The best way to optimize rewards card benefits is by making sure each dollar you spend earns at least 1.5 cents or more in value. You can do this by combining several credit cards in your wallet for different expenses — the American Express® Gold Card for groceries and restaurants, for example, plus the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card for flights and hotels. 

How Much Are Your Rewards Worth?

Wondering what your rewards can buy? Some cards offer as many as 14 points per dollar on certain categories, but the points multiplier is only half of the equation. You also need to know how much each point is worth.

Check out Business Insider's guide to what points and miles are worth to understand how many cents you'll get in value with different loyalty currencies. These valuations are based on all the different ways you can use a given type of points or miles, from redeeming them as statement credits to transferring them to a travel partner to book a flight.

Rewards Credit Card Bonus Categories

This guide can help you find your best reward credit card if you already know what you want. But what if you're not sure which type of credit card best suits your spending habits? 

If you want to maximize rewards on your everyday spending, look no further than the following credit cards. We'll break it down by spending category — from dining to gas to groceries.

Dining

Many people spend thousands of dollars on restaurants yearly, and many cards offer generous dining rewards. The true value depends on how much that reward currency is worth. We ranked some of the best dining credit cards in order of highest to lowest return based on how many rewards you earn per dollar spent, and the value of those rewards based on our estimations.

• Bilt Mastercard®: 3 points per dollar on dining; 6 points on Bilt Rent Day, which falls on the first of every month. Bilt Points are worth an average of 1.65 cents apiece, according to our valuations. Remember, you must make at least five purchases per billing cycle to earn rewards on this card.
• American Express® Gold Card: 4 points per dollar at restaurants worldwide on up to $50,000 per year. Amex points are worth 1.8 cents apiece, according to our valuations.
• Chase Sapphire Reserve® and Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card: 3 points per dollar on dining. Chase Ultimate Rewards points are worth 1.8 cents apiece, according to our valuations

The Bilt Mastercard® is a great option if you strategically dine out or order takeout on the first of each month to take advantage of up to 6 points per dollar on restaurant charges.

But the American Express® Gold Card, Chase Sapphire Reserve®, or Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card are better if you prefer to earn Amex or Chase points.

Gas and EV Charging

If you have a car, gas or EV charging may be a big spending category for you. Many cash-back credit cards earn bonus points here:

• American Express® Business Gold Card: 4 points at the two categories where you spend the most each month, including U.S. gas stations (on up to $150,000 per calendar year, then 1 point per dollar)
• Citi Strata Premier℠ Card : 3 points on gas station purchases
• Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card: 6 points on eligible purchases at U.S. gas stations

Again, not all points are created equal, and the value you get from points depends on how you redeem your rewards. Most people will find the most value using the American Express® Business Gold Card for gas rewards.

But if you're saving up your Hilton points for a high-end resort in the Maldives, for example, it could be worth channeling gas spend toward the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card.

Groceries 

• American Express® Gold Card: 4 points at U.S. supermarkets on up to $25,000 per year, then 1 point
• Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express: 6% cash back at U.S. supermarkets on up to $6,000 spent per year, then 1%; cash back is received in the form of Reward Dollars, which can be redeemed as a statement credit
• Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card: 6 points per dollar on eligible purchases at U.S. supermarkets
• Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express: 3% cash back at U.S. supermarkets on up to $6,000 spent per calendar year, then 1%
• Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card: 3 points per dollar on online grocery purchases excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs

Flights and Other Travel 

• The Platinum Card® from American Express: 5 points on flights booked directly with airlines or with Amex Travel on up to $500,000 in spending a year, and 5 points on prepaid hotels booked on Amex Travel
• Chase Sapphire Reserve®: 5 points on airfare; 10 points on hotels and car rentals purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards®; 3 points on other travel purchases
• Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card: 5 points on all travel booked through the Chase Travel℠ portal
• American Express® Gold Card: 3 points per dollar on flights booked directly with airlines or on amextravel.com

If you're looking for lots of rewards for flights, The Platinum Card® from American Express is a great choice. The card earns 5 points per dollar on flights booked directly with airlines and through Amex Travel.

Prepaid hotel bookings made with American Express also earn 5 points on up to $500,000 on these purchases per calendar year). But while this card is a great option, not everyone will get enough value out of the 5-point bonus categories to justify its $695 annual fee.

The Chase Sapphire Reserve® is a great alternative. While it earns a lower 3 points per dollar on travel outside the Chase Travel portal, this bonus applies to all travel purchases — not just flights. Plus, the card's annual fee is partially offset by the $300 travel credit.

Unlike Amex, Chase doesn't restrict its travel credit to a specific airline. The credit automatically applies to any purchases coded as travel. That's why the Chase Sapphire Reserve® is such a popular card for earning and redeeming travel rewards.

Other Spending

• Chase Freedom Unlimited®: 1.5% cash back on most things, bonus cash back on eligible travel and drugstore purchases, can be combined with Chase Ultimate Rewards cards to boost your value
• Discover it® Miles: 1.5 miles per dollar spent, and Discover will match the Miles you've earned at the end of your first year
• Discover it® Cash Back: 1% cash back, with 5% in rotating quarterly categories on the first $1,500 in purchases each quarter you activate; then 1% cash back (from January 1 to March 31, 2025, earn 5% cash back at restaurants, home improvement stores, and select streaming services on up to $1,500 in purchases after enrollment, then 1%)

Many cash-back credit cards offer at least 1.5% cash back on everything, which is a great benchmark to keep in mind on purchases that aren't eligible for bonus points.

The Discover it® Miles is a great option for those looking for a no-annual-fee card with accelerated earning power. Cardholders earn 1.5 miles per dollar spent. Discover will match all the rewards you earn at the end of your first year which can be redeemed for statement credits toward travel purchases or transferred to your bank account.

For those looking to maximize long-term earnings, the Chase Freedom Unlimited® is another great option. It earns 1.5% cash back on most things, with bonus cash back on eligible travel and drugstore purchases.

If you have a Chase credit card for travel like the Sapphire Preferred Card or the Chase Sapphire Reserve, you can convert your Freedom Unlimited rewards to fully transferable Ultimate Rewards points.

If you want the flexibility of earning occasional category bonuses, the Chase Freedom Flex® and Discover it® Cash Back are worth considering. Both cards earn 1% cash back along with 5% on select category bonuses.

Bonus categories rotate every quarter and cardholders can earn 5% cash back on up to $1,500 worth of spending when they activate the bonus each quarter. Be sure to check the cash-back bonus calendar for Discover and Chase quarterly bonus categories for a better idea of where you can expect to earn more points (for Discover it® Cash Back, you can earn 5% cash back at restaurants, home improvement stores, and select streaming services, January 1 to March 31, 2025, on up to $1,500 in purchases after enrollment, then 1%).

For a more straightforward option, the Citi® Double Cash Card is solid. Cardholders earn 1% cash back on purchases and another 1% when they pay them off. Because you can convert your cash back to ThankYou points, the Citi® Double Cash Card is a great way to earn 2 ThankYou points on every dollar spent.

Best Rewards Credit Cards Frequently Asked Questions

Why You Should Trust Us: How We Chose the Best Rewards Credit Cards

The best rewards credit card for you should offer benefits you can use that are worth the annual fee (if there is one). Look for perks such as statement credits that cover travel purchases and travel protection benefits such as trip delay and trip cancellation insurance.

When evaluating your next rewards credit card, consider the following factors:

• Does this card earn bonus points or miles where I spend the most?
• Can those points or miles be applied to rewards I'd actually want, such as airlines I typically fly or hotels I want to book?
• Is it easy to redeem my rewards, or will I get lost in a maze of draconian rules, restrictions, and blackout dates?

With these guidelines in mind, our editorial team of experts purposely left out many rewards credit cards currently available to new applicants to narrow down our list to the very best options.

We define "the very best options" as offering concrete value through benefits like annual statement credits and airport lounge access and through rewards such as bonus points on your everyday spending.

This list doesn't include any of our best airline credit cards or best hotel credit cards. If you're specifically interested in travel rewards rather than cash back, check out our full list of the best travel rewards credit cards.

Read Business Insider's guide to how we rate and review credit cards for more information on our methodology.

Jasmin Baron

Jasmin Baron is a credit cards writer and editor who has contributed her knowledge to sites like The Points Guy, Million Mile Secrets, and Business Insider.Her expertise in maximizing travel rewards grew from over two decades of experience in the aviation industry, including 18 years working as a pilot and flight instructor in her native Canada.

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Angela Fung

Marketing Compliance and Operations Manager

Angela Fung is the marketing compliance and operations manager for Business Insider’s personal finance team. She is a personal finance expert and has been a part of Business Insider for nearly four years. ExperienceAngela leads the compliance team in identifying and reducing risk for readers, the editorial team, and external partners. Her team aims to provide readers with accurate, up-to-date information about financial products and maintain reader trust. She ensures regulatory and partner marketing guidelines are upheld for partners and adheres to the personal finance team’s editorial standards so they can maintain editorial independence. Angela likes helping readers better understand personal finance so that they can build a strong foundation for their financial plan and, hopefully, give themselves the freedom to do more in other facets of their lives.ExpertiseAngela has expertise in and oversees compliance in the following areas of personal finance:

• Personal credit cards
• Business credit cards
• High-yield savings accounts
• CDs

She also has a thorough knowledge of federal regulation for consumer financial protection. A few examples include:

• Regulation Z, Truth in Lending
• Unfair, Deceptive, Or Abusive Acts Or Practices (UDAAP)
• Regulation N, Mortgage Acts and Practices Advertising Rule
• Endorsement Guidelines

EducationAngela graduated from the University of Chicago with a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience. In her free time, she shoots lifestyle photography, volunteers at Meals for Unity, and plays tennis.

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