Top cashback cards compared

About Top cashback cards compared

Cashback cards pay money back on everyday spending, and this ranking covers 201 of them. The main trade-off is that a rich rate on a few categories usually gives way to a thinner rate on everything else, so a modest all-round rate can beat a headline number. Costs matter as much as the reward: the median annual fee in this category is €0, the median foreign exchange fee is 0% and the top quartile reaches 2.5%. Card type also shapes what the cashback is worth, since 84.4% of these cards draw on your own money while credit cards extend a line. The cards listed below cover credit builder cards, crypto cards, a rewards credit card and a virtual card, and each blurb sets out who it suits and what it costs you.

How we picked

Scores come from three weights: trust at 40%, cost at 35% and the offer itself at 25%. Trust covers how the money is safeguarded, the standing of the provider and the support you can reach. Cost covers what you pay to hold the card and what you pay when you spend abroad. The offer covers the cashback rate, how broad it is and whether it lasts. Every figure on this page comes from a provider page or a public register rather than from signing up, and each figure is shown in the currency the provider quotes. Partners are listed first in the order given, and the remaining brands follow by score. Cash is the only rewards type in this category, at 100%, and the no-annual-fee model covers 100% of these cards, which is why fee figures do much of the separating work.

Our top picks

1. 3. Bitpanda

   Bitpanda earns third in this ranking by being straightforward: 1% back on crypto asset spending, a no-annual-fee model and a 0% foreign exchange fee. The card is custodial and multi-currency, with virtual card and travel features, so it works as well online as in person. The trade-off is concentration. That cashback applies to crypto spending rather than ordinary purchases, and 7.1% cards are a small slice of this category, so a household buying groceries will earn far less here than on Upgrade OneCard, which pays on everyday categories.

   • Monthly fee: €0
   • Currency conversion fee: 0%
   • Card type: Debit

   Pros

   • Cashback of 1% on crypto spending, on an account that also holds several currencies.
   • Registered as a crypto asset service provider in Austria (MiCA CASP 5493007WZ7IFULIL8G21), Germany (MiCA CASP 9845005X9B7N610K0093) and Malta (MiCA CASP 984500DEID7B03J77118).
   • A visa network card plus a virtual card covers in person spending and online subscriptions.
   • Crypto, multi-currency, travel and virtual card all sit with one provider, so there is no other app to manage.

   Cons

   • Custody is custodial, so the platform holds the crypto and the keys, and readers who want to hold assets directly cannot.
   • Cashback of 1% applies to crypto spending, so purchases elsewhere on the card do not earn that rate.
   • The card type is debit and the card kind is recorded as credit, so the money spent comes out of the balance held with the platform and that balance has to be funded first.
   • Wise lists a £0 monthly fee for a multi-currency account, so a reader who simply wants a spending card pays the same and skips the crypto balance.

2. 4. Bitpanda Card

   The Bitpanda Card takes eighth in this ranking with the same core promise as the Bitpanda entry above it: 1% back on crypto asset spending, a no-annual-fee model and a 0% foreign exchange fee, so the reward runs at no cost on the card side. The trade-off against the higher-ranked Bitpanda entry is the feature set, which on this record is rewards alone, and the offer applies to crypto spending rather than to ordinary purchases.

   • Annual fee: €0
   • Currency conversion fee: 0%
   • Rewards type: Cashback

   Pros

   • Costs sit at the free end: annual fee €0, monthly fee €0 and currency conversion fee 0%, so a reader pays nothing to hold the card or spend abroad.
   • It ranks 1 of the 301 brands compared on annual fee, and 1 of the 181 on the currency conversion fee, which is rare in this group.
   • Spending crypto earns cashback of 1% on crypto asset spending, which the listed alternatives do not match; they compete on annual fees of $0 and $0.
   • It is a debit card on the visa network, so spending comes from the balance you already hold rather than from a revolving debt.

   Cons

   • The card is custodial (custodial), so the crypto the account is built on is held by the platform rather than in a wallet you control.
   • Cashback of 1% is tied to crypto asset spending, so ordinary purchases on the card add nothing on top of it.

3. 8. Upgrade OneCard™

   Upgrade OneCard sits fourth in this ranking because it pays on what people actually spend, with a defined cashback rate across gas, groceries, streaming, subscriptions and utilities, a lower rate on everything else and no cap on it. Rewards do not expire, and Visa fraud liability protection comes with monitoring and real-time alerts, alongside payment options that include Pay Now, paying in instalments and Pay Over Time to come. The model is no-annual-fee, but the 3% foreign exchange fee is the trade-off, above the 0% median here, so travel spending eats into the reward.

   • Annual fee: $0
   • Currency conversion fee: 3%
   • Rewards type: Cashback

   Pros

   • The stated criteria include being at least 18, living in a state where OneCard is offered, and meeting credit approval requirements, including sufficient income for repayments.
   • These are eligibility conditions, not an approval guarantee.

   Cons

   • Its extras are basic, so travel focused spenders may want more
   • A flat approach means heavy spenders in specific categories may find less variety than expected

What to look for

The rate on your normal spending

Category rates only pay on the categories named. Check what the card gives on everything else, because spending at a shop that splits the bill between groceries and other items decides which rate you actually collect. Cash back is the only rewards type here, at 100%, so the rate is the whole reward.

What the card costs to hold and to use abroad

The median annual fee in this category is €0 and the median foreign exchange fee is 0%, with the top quartile at 2.5%. A card that pays well at home can still cost more than it returns on a trip.

Debit, prepaid or credit

Debit cards spend your own money, prepaid cards spend loaded money, and credit cards extend a line that has to be repaid. 84.4% of the cards in this ranking are debit, 13.1% are prepaid and 2.5% are virtual, so pick the kind that matches how you want the balance treated.

Who stands behind the money

Look for fraud protection, liability terms and the card network, since 60.6% of the cards here run on Visa and 37.2% on Mastercard. Caps on your liability for a confirmed fraudulent charge, and real-time alerts, are what decide who pays when a transaction turns out to be fraudulent.

Whether the credit bar is reachable

A card that reports to the credit bureaus can help a thin file, and 33.3% of the cards in this category target poor credit against 62.5% for good credit. Read that line before applying, because an application is a credit check of its own.

Support when a payment fails

A card you can reach when a payment fails matters as much as the rate. 79.3% of the cards here run a help centre, 63.3% take calls and 46.7% answer email, so check the channels on the card before you commit.

Frequently asked questions

Top cashback cards compared by country

• Australia
• Brazil
• Canada
• France
• Germany
• India
• Ireland
• Italy
• Netherlands
• Singapore
• South Africa
• United Kingdom
• United States

The data behind this ranking

All data and the CSV