How much would each card actually earn you?
Type in what you spend each month. We run it against every US card in our database and rank them by net annual value after the annual fee — points converted to dollars at our published conservative values, with category caps modelled. Runs in your browser. Nothing is sent anywhere.
Ranked by net annual value
US cards only. Canada: cards · point values. Mexico: cards · point values.
| # | Card | Rewards / yr | Est. value | Annual fee | Net / yr | Cmp |
|---|
Read this before you apply. These are estimates built from printed earn rates and one conservative set of point values. They do not include welcome bonuses, statement credits you may or may not use, rotating quarterly categories, lounge access, or the way you personally redeem points. A card that wins here by $40 has not really won. Use it to build a shortlist, then let the app score your actual charges — that is the only version of this math that knows what you really bought.
How the math works
Every number on this page is rate × point value × spend, and we publish both halves of that so you can check it.
- We never rank on the raw multiplier. "5x points" and "5% cash back" are not the same thing. 3x Membership Rewards at our 1.1¢ value is 3.3¢ per dollar; 3% cash back is 3.0¢. Ranking by the number on the marketing page would put a 2x card ahead of a 1.5% card that beats it. Every figure here is converted to cents first. Our full list of point values is on the methodology page, with per-currency detail in the valuations hub.
- Caps are modelled. Where our data records a spending cap and its period, we fill the bonus tier first and pay the base rate on everything above it. A 6% grocery card capped at $6,000 a year is a 6% card only if you spend less than $500 a month on groceries. Rows where a cap bit are marked cap hit.
- Travel-portal rates are excluded. A 5x rate that only applies inside the issuer's own booking site is not a rate on your travel spending, so it never counts toward a headline number here.
- Your travel spend is split. Because cards pay different rates on flights, hotels and everything else, we split the travel figure you enter 40% flights / 30% hotels / 30% other travel and score each piece against the right rate.
- Foreign transaction fees count against you. If you tick the international box, we subtract the card's actual FX fee on the share of travel spend you say goes abroad. A guaranteed 3% cost is worth more attention than a 1x-vs-2x difference.
- Rotating categories are not counted. Cards whose 5% categories rotate quarterly and change each year are scored at their base rate, and marked rotating 5% not counted. That understates them — deliberately, because we would otherwise be assuming you activate every quarter and that next year's categories match your spending.
- Statement credits are shown but not counted. A $120 dining credit is only worth $120 if you were going to spend it there anyway. We list the credits a card carries next to its name and leave them out of net value.
What this cannot see
The honest limits, in one place. Welcome bonuses are excluded — they are usually the largest single year-one number and they distort any ongoing-value ranking, so we keep them on their own page: current welcome offers. Where two earn categories on a card share one combined cap, our data records them separately, so a handful of cards read slightly high. Cards whose base rate our research could not confirm are marked base rate unverified. And the spending you typed is a guess about your own habits, which is usually the largest error of all.
Common questions
How do you calculate what a card would earn me?
Your monthly spend by category, times each card's printed rate for that category, converted to dollars at a published conservative point value, minus the annual fee. Portal-only rates are excluded, caps are applied, and the ranking has no idea which cards pay us a commission — see our advertiser disclosure.
Do you account for category spending caps?
Yes. The Blue Cash Preferred earns 6% at US supermarkets on the first $6,000 a year, then 1%. At $900 a month of groceries that is an effective 4.3%, not 6%, and this calculator shows the 4.3% version. Any row where a cap changed the answer is marked.
Is this good enough to actually pick a card on?
It is a shortlist, not a verdict. It cannot see credits you would really use, a welcome bonus, or how you redeem. When two cards land within a few tens of dollars of each other, treat them as tied and pick on the benefits you will use. The precise version runs on your real charges in the app.
Are these your point values or mine?
Ours, published in full on the methodology page and deliberately mid-range rather than aspirational. Inside the app you can override any currency with your own value, and every number that uses your figure instead of ours is marked as such.
Other ways to compare
Same database, same conservative math — different angles on the same question.