17 Best cash back credit cards for December 2024

Our team of credit card experts is no stranger to the top cash back cards, and many of Bankrate’s writers and editors have strategies of their own to maximize credit card rewards. We look at and research credit cards every day, so we know which options are best for us. Although what works for our experts may not necessarily be a great fit for you, here are a few different, well-crafted cash back strategies to learn from:

I’ve been a credit card nerd for five years now — but it doesn’t mean I like an overly complicated credit card strategy. On the contrary, the less work I do with my cards, the better. “Get the most value with the least effort” is my motto here.

I carry a mix of travel and cash back cards to help me travel and beef up my savings. Here’s what that looks like:

• Dining and groceries: The Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card offers generous cash back rates at restaurants and grocery stores, especially considering it doesn’t charge an annual fee (See Rates & Fees). I spend around $6,000 per year with the Savor and earn $180 in annual cash back. I convert these earnings into Capital One Miles (18,000 miles) to spend on airfare.
• Amazon purchases: The Affinity Cash Rewards Visa Signature is a no-annual-fee card that offers 5 percent cash back rate (on up to $1,000 in purchases per month) at Amazon — where I shop for essentials. It also rewards purchases at bookstores, where I usually spend more than I intend to. On average, I spend around $3,000 annually with my Affinity card and earn $150 in cash back. I send this money to the savings account that holds my emergency fund.
• Travel purchases: I charge all non-award travel purchases to my Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card; whether it’s parking, public transportation or vacations I don’t have enough points or miles to cover. Sometimes I also charge dining to this card when I feel that I have enough Capital One Miles for the next couple of flights. As for Chase Ultimate Rewards points, I let them accumulate to book hotel stays. I earn roughly 20,000 points with this card annually — that’s $250 when redeemed through the Chase Travel℠ portal.
• Everything else: The rest of my spending goes on the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card, thanks to its 2X rewards rate on all purchases. That’s about $18,600 per year, meaning I earn 37,200 miles annually, which I combine with the rewards I transfer from the Savor card (18,000 miles). That’s 55,200 miles per year — or $552 or more worth of travel.

I have a couple of other cash back cards I barely use but keep open because they’re my oldest cards. Overall, I find that a fat stack of credit cards doesn’t necessarily mean more rewards. If anything, it’s harder to spread your spending effectively. So I’m happy with the four cards I do use and all the value I get out of them.

— Ana Staples, Lead Writer

I’ve been writing about cash back and credit card rewards for several years now, so I understand the benefit of carrying multiple cards and using them strategically to maximize my earnings. But I also know that sometimes juggling so many cards to earn a little more cash back can be more trouble than it’s worth.

When I first got into rewards strategy, I went a little overboard, carrying a card for every spending category I could think of, constantly switching based on where I was shopping or which bonus category was available in a given quarter. I even had a spreadsheet I used to track my purchases and cash back earnings. It eventually became a headache, though. Now I take a more streamlined approach, focusing on a few key spending categories as I try to strike a balance between high earnings and low maintenance.

Here’s what I focus on with my current credit card stack:

• Groceries: The Citi Custom Cash® Card. This card automatically rewards your top spending category each billing cycle, and I only use it for groceries, making that my top category by default.
• Gas and online shopping: The Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express. Since I use the Custom Cash for groceries, it made sense for me to use the no-annual-fee Blue Cash Everyday to get a solid rewards rate on gas. As an added bonus, this card comes with an online shopping category missing from the Blue Cash Preferred’s categories. Online shopping is another key category for me, so this card is quite versatile.
• Dining: The Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card. This card offers one of the best rates you can get at restaurants without paying an annual fee (See Rates & Fees).
• Everything else: The Citi Double Cash. I use this card for all purchases that fall outside of groceries, gas, dining, travel and online shopping. A flat rate of up to 2 percent back (1 percent when you buy, 1 percent when you pay off purchases) is hard to beat.

Is my stack perfect? Definitely not. I still have a co-branded airline card, a rotating category card and a specific online retailer card sitting around, and using them could help me squeeze a little more earnings out of my purchases. But for now, five cards is plenty to juggle.

— Nouri Zarrugh, Senior Editor

When I opened my Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards credit card, I never dreamed of someday becoming a credit cards content editor or managing over a dozen credit cards between my husband and me. These days, earning travel rewards for family trips forms the foundation of my credit card rewards strategy, but my Customized Cash Rewards card has continued to earn a spot in my credit card rotation.

There are two primary reasons why:

• It’s my oldest card, so I keep it open to extend the length of my credit history and benefit my credit score.
• It’s hard to beat its boosted cash back for online purchases.

I strive to use the card that earns the most rewards for each purchase. I use my Bank of America card often because of its high cash back rate for online purchases. Plus, I’m a Preferred Rewards member with Bank of America, so my rewards rate is even higher than the card’s standard rate. I’m careful only to use the card for online purchases, and given how much you can buy online these days, I rarely have trouble hitting the card’s $2,500 spending cap. But even if I hit the spending cap, I use my Capital One Venture X Rewards Card to earn a decent rewards rate.

When I max out the Bank of America spending cap each quarter, it adds up to $93.75 in cash back, which I'm perfectly happy with.

I usually let that cash back accumulate and then redeem it after a trip to offset expenses — food, an experience or a rental car — that my travel rewards didn’t cover. I love the feeling when that $200 or $300 hits my checking account and I know I didn’t do anything special to earn it. So you could say that the Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards card does have a place in my travel rewards strategy, even if not directly.

— Brooklyn Lowery, Senior Editor

How we assess the best cash back credit cards

When evaluating the best cash back cards, we consider a mix of factors, including how cards score in our proprietary card rating system and whether cards offer features that fit the priorities of a diverse group of cardholders, from earning rewards in popular categories to scoring a large sign-up bonus or high-value perks. Whenever possible, we also feature cards that are available at various credit levels and price points. 

We analyzed over 150 of the most popular cards and scored each based on its rewards rate, estimated annual earnings, welcome bonus value, APR, fees, perks and more to determine whether it belonged in this month’s roundup of the best cash back cards.

Here’s a quick breakdown of the key factors in our cash back card scoring methodology and details we considered when putting together our list of the best cash back cards.  

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*For Capital One products listed on this page, some of the benefits may be provided by Visa® or Mastercard® and may vary by product. See the respective Guide to Benefits for details, as terms and exclusions apply.

*The information about the Chase Freedom Flex and the Aspire Mastercard has been collected independently by Bankrate.com. The card details have not been reviewed or approved by the card issuer.