Top rewards cards compared

About Top rewards cards compared

This ranking covers rewards cards from 112 brands, and the great majority of them pay in points rather than cash. The main trade-off is straightforward: what the card pays back for your spending against what it costs to keep and use. A card can look generous on the earn and still lose ground on an annual fee, a foreign transaction charge or a rate that bites when a balance is carried. Cost matters more here than in most comparisons, because rewards cards are largely credit cards and credit cards charge interest on balances. Rates across this ranking run 0% to 89.4%, with a median of 19.29%. Annual fees run €0 to €570.03, and foreign transaction fees sit between 0% and 3.5% against a median of 1%. The structure of the rewards is the other filter. 88.4% of the cards here pay in points, so the useful question is not which card pays points but how the points are earned, what they convert into and whether the earn survives the fees. The brands near the top pair a clear earn with a low cost of holding, while those further down charge more, ask more of a balance carried, or lean on perks rather than a stated rate.

How we picked

Every card in this ranking carries a single score built from weighted inputs: 35% for cost, 40% for trust and 25% for the offer. Cost covers the annual fee, the borrowing rate and the foreign transaction charge, since together they decide what a card really costs to hold for a year. Trust covers the licensing and the standing of the institution behind the card. Offer covers the rewards rate, the way points are earned and the benefits attached to the account. Those weights shape the order more than any single headline figure, which is why a card with a strong earn can sit below a card that simply costs less to keep. Trust carries the largest share, so an established, licensed institution pulls ahead of a newer entrant with a richer offer, and cost stops a card with a heavy annual fee from climbing on rewards alone. Facts come from each brand's own published material: pricing and tariff pages, card product pages, terms and conditions, reward programme pages and standard disclosure documents. Licence and entity details are taken from the same sources. Ranges are carried through as published rather than reduced to a single figure, so a card quoted as a spread is shown as a spread. Partner brands are listed ahead of the rest, in rank order, and the remaining brands follow by score. Every brand in the list appears, partner or not.

Our top picks

1. 3. Revolut

   Revolut sits at the end of this ranking with the most flexible support and a points rate stated to the euro, though the cost of using it abroad is the most variable in the field. The earn is 1.5 points per EUR1 and the annual fee is €0, with multi-currency, virtual-card and travel features behind it. The rate on a balance runs 13.34% to 17.99%, and the foreign transaction charge is a spread of 0% to 2%, so the same card can be free to use abroad at the lower end and costly at the higher end, which is the trade-off against the flat charge-free cards higher up. Support is the broadest available here, on chat, email and phone, and the card sits with Revolut Digital Assets (Europe) Ltd, founded in 2015. Compared with Uni5Pay+ by Scombank, whose published strengths are all on the cost of spending abroad, Revolut publishes both the earn and the rate, at the price of a range on currency use.

   • Monthly fee: £0
   • Currency conversion fee: 0% to 2%
   • Free ATM withdrawals: £200

   Pros

   • No monthly cost, with a monthly fee of £0 and an annual fee of €0 on the credit card
   • Currency conversion fees of 0% to 2% compare well with Wise at 0.1%
   • Multi-currency balances across 160 currencies, and multi-currency is a 34.9% share of the brands compared
   • Cash withdrawals included to £200 each month, above the median allowance of €0
   • Support runs through chat, email and phone, so help is available by phone as well as in the app

   Cons

   • The credit card charges an APR of 13.34% to 17.99%, below the field median of 20.97% but still a cost on borrowed money
   • Rewards pay 1.5 points per EUR1 in points, while cashback is the most common rewards type at 49.5%
   • Currency conversion fees of 0% to 2% sit above the median of 1% for the field, so frequent conversions add up

2. 9. Scapia: best for Scapia

   Scapia is a travel credit card issued in partnership with Federal Bank.

   • Currency conversion fee: 0%
   • Rewards type: Points
   • Rewards rate: 10% rewards

   Pros

   • Federal Bank identifies Scapia Technology as its co-brand partner.

   Cons

   • Terms for other issuer variants should not be assumed to apply.

3. 10. Zagg Money: best for Zagg Money

   Zagg Money offers a lifetime free UPI credit card with cashback and rewards.

   • Annual fee: ₹499
   • Rewards type: Points
   • Rewards rate: Upto 8% Zagg Coins on UPI, contactless spends

   Pros

   • The app supports UPI setup and Scan & Pay merchant purchases.

   Cons

   • Terms differ by bank-specific Zagg variant.

What to look for

What the points are worth

Points are the norm here, with 88.4% of this ranking on that basis, 11.6% on miles and 0% on cashback. A point is only worth what it converts into, so check whether points redeem for statement credit, travel, gift cards or merchandise, and whether redemption is capped or tiered.

The rate that runs if a balance is carried

Rates across this ranking sit at a median of 19.29%, with 0% at the bottom and 89.4% at the top. Paying in full each month removes this cost entirely, so a rewards card only makes sense against an annual fee if the balance will be cleared.

What holding the card costs

Annual fees in this ranking run €0 to €570.03, with a median of €0, and 100% of the cards carry no annual fee. A fee is worth paying only if the earn and the benefits on the account outrun it.

Foreign transaction and travel costs

Foreign transaction fees here have a median of 1% and reach 3.5% at the top, while 0% cards charge nothing on conversion. This is the figure that decides whether a points card is worth using outside its home market.

Whether the card is a credit card or something else

98% of the cards in this ranking are credit cards, with 2% as charge cards. Multi-currency and travel features appear on 10.4% and 15.1% of them, which matters most to anyone spending abroad.

How you can get help

Phone support is the most common channel in this ranking at 77.5%, followed by a help centre on 72.5% and email on 52.5%. A help centre alone covers routine questions, but a card used abroad is easier to manage with a phone line or live chat behind it.

Frequently asked questions

Top rewards cards compared by country

• Australia
• Brazil
• Canada
• China
• France
• Germany
• India
• Ireland
• Italy
• Japan
• Netherlands
• Singapore
• United Kingdom
• United States

Cards compared head to head

• Current Build Card vs Alior
• Current Build Card vs Revolut

The data behind this ranking

All data and the CSV