The method
How we rank cards
Every card gets one number: what it's worth to you in dollars a year, after its fee. Here is exactly how that number is made, so you can check it.
- 1
Your spending
Groceries, dining, gas, travel and everything else, in monthly dollars. Without your answers we use a typical $2,600/month.
- 2
Dollars after fees
Each card’s rewards and the credits you’d realistically use on that spending, minus its annual fee: what it earns you every year.
- 3
Fit for you
In the quiz, harder-to-get cards count for less, and only rewards your current cards don’t already earn count.
The formula
Every year = rewards + credits − annual fee
First year adds the welcome bonus, if typical spending would reach its requirement in time. Bonuses you can't realistically earn count as $0.
Rewards are each category's monthly spend × 12 × the card's rate in that category, with the issuer's spending caps applied.
Credits (dining credits, travel credits, lounge access) count at what a typical cardholder actually uses, not face value. A $120 dining credit split into $10 monthly pieces is worth less than $120 to most people.
Cards whose fee we couldn't confirm from the issuer's page get no dollar value and are left out of rankings, because a missing fee would count as $0 and flatter them.
The typical spender
groceries
$500/mo
dining
$400/mo
gas
$200/mo
travel
$300/mo
everything else
$1,200/mo
"Best for dining" and similar lists count that category double, since that's who searches for them. Business lists use a business spending mix.
What points are worth
Points and miles are converted to cash at conservative values: roughly what a typical redemption gets, not the best-case transfer to an airline partner. Cash back counts at face value.
| Program | Cents per point |
|---|---|
| Hilton Honors | 0.5¢ |
| Marriott Bonvoy | 0.7¢ |
| IHG One Rewards | 0.5¢ |
| World of Hyatt | 1.5¢ |
| Wyndham Rewards | 0.8¢ |
| Choice Privileges | 0.6¢ |
| Airline miles | 1.1¢ |
| Chase Ultimate Rewards | 1¢ |
| Amex Membership Rewards | 0.8¢ |
| Citi ThankYou | 1¢ |
| Capital One miles | 1¢ |
| Bank of America points | 1¢ |
| Wells Fargo Rewards | 1¢ |
| U.S. Bank points | 1¢ |
| Discover Miles | 1¢ |
| Other points | 0.8¢ |
Store-only rewards
Some cards pay rewards you can only spend with one merchant: store certificates, a phone bill, one travel site. They count at 50% of face value, since they're worth something to a regular shopper and little to anyone else. That applies to: Key Rewards, Kohl's Cash, Bass Pro Shops CLUB points, REI card dividend, Gap Inc. rewards, Barnes & Noble rewards, Disney Rewards Dollars, T-Mobile rewards, BJ's Awards, GM Rewards points, L.L.Bean coupons, Macy's Star Money, Dillard's rewards, Exxon Mobil fuel savings, Home Depot, NAPA rewards, OneKeyCash.
What we don't consider
- Payouts. No issuer pays us, and nothing about the order depends on who would.
- Interest. If you carry a balance, interest at 20%+ APR usually costs more than any card earns. The balance-transfer list ranks by interest saved instead.
- Your credit report. We never run a credit check. Approval odds come from the issuer's stated credit level, and, in the quiz, what you tell us.
- Targeted offers. We only see the public offer on the issuer's site.
Where the data comes from
A crawler reads each issuer's own product pages every day and extracts the fee, rates, credits, APR and bonus, keeping the issuer's wording for each figure. Big swings (a fee halving, a card renamed) are held back for a person to check before they reach the site. The current data was last refreshed October 29, 2026.
We can still get things wrong, and issuers change terms. Always confirm on the issuer's site before applying. Spotted a wrong number? Email shahaaseesh@gmail.com and we'll fix it.
Method and point values maintained by Aashish Shah.
See it on your own numbers.
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