Best credit cards of 2024 | Cashback, travel rewards, no annual fee + more (2024)

I’ve been reviewing credit cards for over 15 years — never mind using them myself! This is a curated list of what I think are some of the best credit cards available today if you pay your balance off every month and have good credit (see recommended credit cards for average credit or poor credit).

Unlike most websites recommending credit cards, this is not just a list of credit cards that pay me the most for promoting them. A few of my recommendations are affiliates and links to those cards’ application pages are denoted by a 💰 emoji. I do my very best to ensure the objectivity of my recommendations and present what I think are the best credit cards on the market — regardless of whether I earn anything from them. As always, if you do wish to apply for one of the affiliate cards, using my link helps support me and this site, and I am forever grateful 🙏🏻.

My favorite rewards credit cards

• For cash back:
  • Fidelity Rewards Visa Signature Card *
  • American Express Blue Cash Preferred® Card†
  • Chase Freedom Unlimited® Credit Card†
• For travel rewards:
  • Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card and Chase Sapphire Reserve® *
  • Capital One Venture, VentureOne and Venture X

*Cards I’m personally using now. †Cards I’ve used in the past.

An important note if you carry a balance

Usually, the more generous a credit card’s rewards, the higher its interest rate. If you ever — even occasionally — use your credit card to pay for purchases over time, the only thing you should care about is finding the lowest APR possible. For that, I’ve found there’s no better place to find a credit card with a low regular APR than your local credit union. Unlike private banks that are focused on making profits for shareholders, credit unions are member-owned cooperatives that “reinvest” profits by offering members low borrowing rates. You can find credit unions near you using the National Credit Union Administration’s Credit Union Locator.

Fidelity Rewards Visa Signature

The Fidelity Rewards Visa Signature (review) is the credit card I use most because it pays 2% cash back on every purchase. There’s no annual fee, and every time you earn $50 or more the rewards are deposited directly into your linked Fidelity brokerage account. I like this because it makes it easy to invest my rewards rather that spend them. You can, of course, withdraw your earnings from Fidelity with no issue and spend them instead.

As far as cash-back credit cards go, it’s difficult to beat earning 2% back on everything. Many cards allow you to earn higher rewards rates on some purchases (either in specific categories or on a limited amount of purchases). And some people like the game of trying to maximize their rewards across multiple credit cards. I do that to a limited extent by putting travel and restaurant purchases on one of my other cards, but I value simplicity. I’m not interested in keeping track of a half dozen credit cards.

Lastly, the Fidelity card is a Visa Signature card which means it comes with a host of benefits including no pre-set spending limit, a 24/7 concierge line, travel insurance, roadside assistance, and more.

Amex Blue Cash Preferred® Credit Card

The American Express Blue Cash Preferred® Credit Card (review) is a great choice if you want to earn cash back on everyday purchases like groceries and gas. There’s a $95 annual fee that is waived for your first year. You’ll earn:

• 6% cash back on eligible grocery purchases at U.S. supermarkets
• 6% cash back on select U.S. streaming purchases
• 3% cash back at U.S. gas stations, and on transit and ridesharing
• 1% cash back on everything else

Chase Freedom Unlimited® Credit Card

TheChase Freedom Unlimited® (review) is another good option for a no-annual fee cash rewards credit cards.

• Earn 5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, 3% cash back on dining and drugstore purchases, 1.5% cash back on everything else.

This card has a nice introductory offer. Earn a $200 bonus after you spend $500 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.

Chase Sapphire Preferred® and Sapphire Reserve®

More so than any other credit card, I think Chase’s Sapphire products are responsible for creating such a competitive market for travel rewards credit cards. You can earn enough points to book a free trip just by signing up for one of these cards and fufilling spending requirements. You have two choices: The Chase Sapphire Preferred Card ($95 annual fee) and the Chase Sapphire Reserve Card ($550 annual fee.)

Sapphire Preferred

TheChase Sapphire Preferred® Card (review) has been a go-to card choice for casual travelers for over a decade. You’ll earn:

• 5x points on travel purchased through Chase Travel
• 3x points on dining, streaming, and online grocery purchases
• 2x points on all other travel purchases
• 1x points on everything else

Because you’ll earn Chase Ultimate Rewards points instead of miles, you have more options when you cash in rewards whether you choose to redeem them for a statement credit, transfer your points to a hotel or airline loyalty program at a 1:1 rate, or something else. And if you use your points to purchase travel through Chase Travel, they’re worth 25% more. For a mid-tier travel card, the annual fee is relatively low and easily made back with perks like a $50 annual hotel credit and complimentary DashPass access (activate by December 31, 2027).

Sapphire Reserve

In addition to the previously-mentioned Fidelity Rewards Visa, the Chase Sapphire Reserve® (review) is one of my primary credit cards. But with a $550 annual fee, it’s obviously not for everyone. I’ve come a long way since I was a broke 20-something, and I’m now fortunate to have the means to take my family on epic vacations. We’ve been to Paris, Venice, Tuscany, Costa Rica and are heading to Japan next month. With all that spending on travel, the Sapphire Reserve card pays really pays off with the following benefits:

• Welcome bonus: Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $900 toward travel when you redeem through Chase Travel℠.
• Rewards: 10x points on hotel and car rental bookings through Chase Travel℠; 5x points on Chase Travel℠ flight bookings; 3x points on travel worldwide; 3x points on other dining purchases (including eligible delivery services; 1x points on all other purchases
• Travel benefits: $300 annual travel credit; Priority Pass Select membership; up to $100 Global Entry, TSA Precheck or NEXUS fee credit every four years; Luxury Hotel & Resort Collection perks
• Travel Insurance: Trip cancellation and interruption insurance (up to $20,000 per trip); trip delay reimbursem*nt (up to $500 per ticket); primary rental car coverage (up to $75,000); lost luggage reimbursem*nt (up to $3,000 per passenger); emergency evacuation and transportation coverage (up to $100,000)

I take advantage of most of these perks. I get a statement credit for the first $300 in travel expenses I charge to the card each year. The card pays for TSA Precheck for me and my wife. And the included travel insurance is as good or better than what you can buy privately (for a lot more money). I recently declined a travel insurance quote of $800 for my family’s Japan trip that offered little more than I already have with the Reserve Card. Lastly, one really popular perk of this card is the Priority Pass membership which entitles members to use airport lounges around the world. I haven’t taken advantage of this yet only because I’m fiercely loyal to Delta Airlines and have a SkyClub membership, so I use Delta’s lounges exclusively. Just be careful: Once you experience airport lounges it’s hard to go back!

Capital One Venture Cards

Capital One offers three versions of travel cards with different tiers of annual fees and benefits: VentureOne, Venture and Venture X. I like the Venture cards because their straightforward rewards are easy to earn and redeem. They are also some of the best credit cards for international travel because they don’t charge foreign transaction fees.

VentureOne

The CapitalOne VentureOne Card (review) has no annual fee and pays 1.25x miles per $1 spent. Miles can be redeemed 1:1 for travel booked through Capital One Travel. It’s been the most popular travel rewards card among Money Under 30 readers for years, but I think that’s mostly because there’s no annual fee.

Venture

The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card (review) charges a $95 annual fee but pays 5x miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One and 2x per dollar spent elsewhere. If you plan to spend more than $12,500 per year on this credit card, you’ll net more free travel with the Venture Card than the VentureOne card after factoring in this card’s annual fee. Venture users will also enjoy up to a $100 credit toward Global Entry or TSA PreCheck® membership. Benefits like this are typically reserved for cards with annual fees 4-5 times higher.

VentureX

TheCapital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card (review) is one of the best credit cards for people who are willing to pay for excellent travel benefits and convenience. It comes with a hefty price tag of $395 per year, but those who spend more than $5,000 on travel annually should have no problem earning this annual fee back and much more. The $300 annual travel credit and $100 Global Entry or TSA PreCheck® credits alone might make it worth it for frequent flyers.

My advice on choosing a new credit card

My take on credit cards is that they are a necessary evil. I know, as well as anyone, the debt and suffering misusing credit cards can cause. I also recognize that credit cards can cause us to spend more both because they make spending so friction-less and because rewards features encourage spending.

The fees credit cards charge merchants (which are higher than debit card fees) are what enable the credit card issuers to offer rewards. But merchants bear that cost and simply pass it back to us, the consumers, in the form of higher prices. Put another way, everybody who busy anything (even with cash) shares in the cost of funding credit card rewards. But only those who regularly pay with rewards cards reap the benefits. Sadly, it’s another way The Haves get richer off the backs of The Have Nots. If you don’t have the income, credit, or good financial habits to pay with a rewards credit card, you’re paying the same prices as those with rewards credit cards. It’s like paying a 2% tax on everything you buy.

It comes down to a case of “if you can’t beat them, join them.” As long as you have the wherewithal to always pay your credit card charges in full so you never pay interest, you should use a rewards card to avoid paying a 2% tax on your purchases. After that, it’s up to you how seriously you want to play the game.

There’s something to be said for the simplicity of choosing a cash-back card and using it for everything. At the other extreme, a creditworthy consumer can apply for several credit cards every year. There are few limits to how many cards you can have, although certain issuers will limit how many of their cards you can open in a certain period of time. For example, Chase limits you to opening 5 cards every 24 months. That’s still a lot of credit cards!

If you’re a big spender — or, perhaps, can charge business expenses — taking advantage of lucrative credit card sign-up bonuses can net you thousands of dollars. And while earning 2% back on $3,000 worth of purchases each month will net you $720 in annual rewards, that amount could be double or triple if you voraciously optimize which credit card you use for which expense. The more you spend, the more optimizing for one or two percentage points pays off.

At the end of the day, my advice comes down to this:

• Avoid credit cards altogether if you struggle with spending within your means and frequently run up balances you can’t pay off at the end of the month.
• Otherwise, use a credit card for most purchases. It’s safer than using a debit card, and not claiming your share of rewards is leaving money on the table (paying the 2% tax).
• Start with a basic cash-back card.
• If you’re inclined, add one or two more rewards cards that pay extra on purchases you make frequently.
• Limit new credit card applications to no more than one or two every 6 months. If you’re declined for one card, applying for others may further hurt your credit temporarily. And AVOID applying for a new credit card between 6 months and a year before applying for an important loan like a mortgage.