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While many luxury credit cards charge an annual fee, there is a vast array of top tier credit cards that offer ample rewards without an annual fee. In fact, these include some of the best credit cards around. Find low rates, cash back, and rewards with the best no annual fee cards from our partners below.
While many luxury credit cards charge an annual fee, there is a vast array of top tier credit cards that offer ample rewards without an annual fee. In fact, these include some of the best credit cards around. Find low rates, cash back, and rewards with the best no annual fee cards from our partners below.
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Updated: May 5, 2020
Credit cards without an annual fee offer much-appreciated savings, a hassle-free experience and other benefits, say experts. In fact, the majority of our picks for the best credit cards have no annual fee.
“Yearly fees prevent consumers from buying what they really want,” says Julie Pukas, head of U.S. Bankcard and Merchant Solutions at TD Bank. She notes that millennials spend significantly more on dining than other consumers – TD Bank’s 2019 Consumer Spending index found that millennials spend annually almost $1,000 more on dining than Baby Boomers and more than $500 than Gen Xers.
“Some consumers may save their credit card rewards points so that they can pay off their annual fee,” says Pukas. “By switching to a card with no yearly fee, they can put those rewards to something they really want, like flights, dining out and more.”
The trick is to identify whether one suits your lifestyle. Here, we look at:
Whether you need to carry a balance long term, pay down debt or finance a larger purchase, the Discover it Cash Back should help you save on interest: The card not only features a low-end APR that’s much lower than the average cash back credit card APR, but also comes with a solid 0% introductory APR offer – 0% for 14 months on balance transfers and 0% for 14 months on purchases (then 11.99% - 22.99% Variable).
This card’s cash back match feature at the end of your first year can easily beat out other cash back cards’ sign-up bonuses. For example, while you would only get $150 back from the Capital One Quicksilver after a $500 spend within the first 3 months of card membership, you could potentially get $600 back the end of your first year with the Discover it Cash Back if you enroll quarterly and max out your 5% rotating category offer ($1,500 max spent each quarter comes to $75 back each quarter, $300 at the end of the year, then matched by Discover for a total of $600). Then earn unlimited 1% on all other purchases.
If it’s not your idea of fun to chase rotating categories, this isn’t the best choice for you. Not only do you need to keep track of which categories are active, but you have to sign up each quarter to activate those categories.
It’s hard to match the Blue Cash Everyday Card’s 3% cash back rate at U.S. supermarkets (on up to $6,000 in purchases per year, then 1%) without paying an annual fee. If you max out this bonus category, you’ll earn close to $180 cash back per year. Plus, you get unlimited 2% cash back at U.S. gas stations.
Not only does this card have tiered ongoing rewards that more than compete with other cash back cards, the regular APR starts out quite low at 12.99%-23.99% Variable, which kicks in after a solid intro offer of 0% on balance transfers for 15 months and 0% on purchases for 15 months.
The welcome offer has a high spend of $1,000 after the first 3 months, given the $150 you earn is pretty standard for cash back cards with no annual fee. Also, although the rewards are excellent for 3 key categories, it’s only 1% back on everything else.
Few travel cards offer such terrific everyday value without charging an annual fee. Since you’ll earn unlimited 3X points on dining, travel and transit, gas station purchases and select streaming services, you should have no trouble racking up points for a trip come summer.
Along with a sign-up bonus of 20,000 points if you spend $1,000 in the first 3 months – worth $200 when redeemed as cash back or for travel – the card offers a number of compelling perks, including cell phone protection. Just pay your monthly cell phone bill with the Propel card and you can get reimbursed up to $600 if your phone is damaged or stolen ($25 deductible).
One of the few down sides of this card is that you cannot transfer your points to other loyalty programs. They must be redeemed through Go Far Rewards.
You’ll never be stuck with just 1% cash back because your spending doesn’t fit into a card’s bonus category. The Citi Double Cash Card offers a flat rate of up to 2% cash back on every single purchase (1% when you buy and 1% when you pay off those purchases), which matches the bonus cash back rate of many cards.
Along with its terrific ongoing cash back rate, the card comes with an APR of 0% intro for 18 months on Balance Transfers, then 13.99% - 23.99% (Variable), which could make all the difference if you need to hit pause on mounting interest charges and pay off debt. Plus, you can transfer your cash back to Citi ThankYou points at a rate of $1 cash back to 100 ThankYou points.
One of the card’s major flaws is its lack of a sign-up bonus. Many cash back cards offer a sign-up bonus of $150 or more if you meet spending requirements in the first few months. Also, there’s no 0% introductory APR offer on new purchases, so it won’t be of much help if you need to finance a larger purchase.
Not only does the American Express Cash Magnet feature an APR of 0% on purchases for 15 months, but it offers the same 0% on balance transfers for 15 months (it’s 12.99%-23.99% Variable APR after that).
This no annual fee card’s welcome offer and ongoing rewards are solid – earn $150 cash back after a $1,000 spend within the first 3 months, and earn 1.5% cash back on all purchases.
If you are looking for a card to carry in your wallet while overseas, the Cash Magnet may not be the best choice – not only does American Express not have much of a presence abroad, but this card has a foreign transaction fee of 2.7% (see rates and fees).
This card offers a generous bonus rewards system: You’ll earn 15,000 ThankYou points if you spend $1,000 in the first 3 months of account opening. And on top of that, you’ll earn 10% points back on the ThankYou points that you redeem (up to 100,000 points per year). You can redeem these points on Amazon, which is a great perk if you’ve been doing most of your shopping online lately.
The rewards rate on this card can bring a lot of value to your everyday spending: You’ll get 2 ThankYou points per dollar at supermarkets and gas stations (up to $6,000 per year in purchases, then 1x points) and 1 ThankYou point per dollar on all other purchases. On top of that, every purchase you make is rounded up to the nearest 10 points. So for example: A $2 dollar purchase earns 10 points, or a $13 purchase earns 20 points.
If you’re considering booking travel in the future with the points you earn, you can only book through the ThankYou travel portal. Also, the redemption value for your points is only high on gift cards and travel purchases, so that is something to keep in mind given our current travel restrictions.
It doesn’t get much simpler than this: Earn unlimited 1.5% cash back on all purchases, no matter where or when you make them. No need to track spending, enroll in bonus categories or deal with complicated cash back redemption. Redeem in any amount, any time.
The Quicksilver’s unlimited flat cash back rate makes it a great choice for everyday spending, and earning the card’s sign-up bonus should be no trouble. You’ll score $150 after spending just $500 in the first 3 months.
The go-to variable rate after the 0% offer ends is crazy high, at 15.49%-25.49%, which means this is not a card you want to carry a balance on.
Not only does it offer an APR of 0% intro on purchases for 15 months and 0% intro on balance transfers for 15 months (15.49% - 25.49% (Variable) after that), the card is a great long-term option even after the introductory period ends, thanks to its solid ongoing cash back rate on everyday purchases like dining, entertainment and groceries.
Among cards with no annual fee, the SavorOne is top-notch for the restaurant-goer – earn 3% back on both dining and entertainment, as well as 2% back at grocery stores. And another restaurant-friendly feature of this card: Make reservations on the fly at elite restaurants throughout the country with Capital One’s OpenTable partnership with its Premium Access program.
If you anticipate that you might carry a balance from time to time, this card may not be the best choice, with a regular APR of 15.49% - 25.49% (Variable). Other no-annual-fee cards can be found with a lower interest rate, such as Blue Cash Everyday (12.99%-23.99% Variable) or Discover it Cash Back (11.99% - 22.99% Variable).
It’s a great choice for international travel since Visa cards are accepted in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide and the VentureOne charges no foreign transaction fee (many cards charge a fee of 3% or more for each purchase made abroad).
Like the Capital One® Venture® Rewards Credit Card, the VentureOne Rewards partners with more than a dozen international airlines, including Alitalia and Etihad, yet the VentureOne offers no annual fee.
With a lackluster 20,000 miles bonus after a $1,000 spend within the first 3 months and only 1.25X miles for all spending, the VentureOne Rewards card is really for the occasional traveler who won’t be racking up a lot of travel expenses to justify an annual fee.
| Credit Card | Best For | Annual Fee | Our Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Discover it® Cash Back | Low interest | $0 | 4.3 / 5 |
| Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express | U.S. Gas and U.S. Supermarket | $0 | 3.7 / 5 |
| Wells Fargo Propel American Express® card | Travel rewards | $0 | 3.5 / 5 |
| Citi® Double Cash Card | Cash back | $0 | 3.8 / 5 |
| American Express Cash Magnet® Card | Balance transfer | $0 | 4 / 5 |
| Citi Rewards+℠ Card | Bonus rewards | $0 | 3.0 / 5 |
| Capital One® Quicksilver® Cash Rewards Credit Card | New cardholders | $0 | 3.4 / 5 |
| Capital One® SavorOne® Cash Rewards Credit Card | 0% intro APR* | $0 | 3.8 / 5 |
| Capital One® VentureOne® Rewards Credit Card | No foreign transaction fee | $0 | 3.5 / 5 |
*For 15 months, then 15.49% – 25.49% variable APR.
No annual fee credit cards analyzed: 2,744
Criteria used: Rates and fees, rewards rates, sign-up bonus, other promotional offers, redemption options and flexibility, regular APR, extra features and benefits, customer service, credit needed, security, ease of application, ability to upgrade
An annual fee on a credit card is a charge made each anniversary year. An annual fee might be charged on a credit-builder card, a rewards card or a luxury card, for example. Typically, you are benefiting in some fashion for having the card, such as when it’s a hotel or airline card. In fact, we found in our November 2019 credit card fees survey that most annual fee credit cards are travel cards. In our survey, we found that 26 of the 100 cards we surveyed had annual fees, unchanged from the previous year.
If you’ve never held a card before, you might want to jump in with a card that has no annual fee until you better understand the market. That way, you can get in the habit of remembering those monthly payments, keeping track of your expenses and searching for the next upgrade, be it a travel card or a 0% intro APR card.
Already hold cards and want to consolidate those balances? There are a host of cards that offer 0% intro APR on balance transfers, such as the Citi® Diamond Preferred® card, with a 21-month offer for balance transfers (13.74% – 23.74% variable).
If you only plan to use your card occasionally, a card with no annual fee is probably best, because you would need to spend a minimum on a card with an annual fee to make it worth your while.
Cards without annual fees can also be easier to get, because they sometimes require a lower credit score. If you need a secured card or a card for bad or fair credit, you’ll want to see if there is an annual fee, which can be another cost when cash is short.
Also, while many rewards cards have annual fees, there are some without one, which is ideal if you don’t plan to use the card extensively.
You don’t have to get a credit card with an annual fee to enjoy rewards. Most cash back cards, such as the Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards, don’t have an annual fee, and there are a couple of travel cards for the occasional traveler with no annual fee, such as the Capital One VentureOne Rewards.
Many cards, such as the Discover it Cash Back card, now offer a free credit score monthly or quarterly without you taking a hit to your credit.
Called secondary auto insurance, cards like Chase Freedom Unlimited allow you to use this product as a supplementary item to your primary insurance. Some no annual fee cards also offer roadside assistance for such events as towing, fuel delivery and tire changing.
The information for Chase Freedom Unlimited has been collected independently by CreditCards.com. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Some no annual fee cards such as the Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card, offer comprehensive, personalized assistance in dining, entertainment and travel 24 hours a day.
If you get a credit card for credit building that has no annual fee, that’s one less fee to worry about. In addition, you can find credit-builder cards that have minimal fees, such as the Discover it® Secured and the Capital One® Secured Mastercard®.
If you’ve committed to a card with an annual fee and now you’re feeling a bit trapped, there are actually ways to get out of the annual fee without harming your credit.
If you’re unsatisfied with the card and perks, instead of closing the card, call the card’s issuer and request a product change to downgrade to a card with no annual fee, advises Chelsea Hudson, personal finance expert with TopCashback.com. This will allow you to skip the annual fee without affecting your credit score.
If you want certain benefits of the older card, such as the credit limit, you’ll want to stay within product groups. So, for example you wouldn’t transition as a downgrade from the Chase Sapphire Reserve to a Southwest card, although you might downgrade to a Chase Sapphire Preferred Card.
When you downgrade, everything transfers to the new card, including account number, credit line, payment history, even length of time you have had the card active. The payment history and length of history are particularly important, because those impact your credit, and by retaining these with a product change, you keep them beyond 10 years on your credit file. Also, by maintaining the credit line, you keep your credit utilization ratio low, provided your balances are low, which is another important part of maintaining a healthy score.
If your wallet is weighed down with cards, closing the card with an annual fee can be an option. You’ll want to pay off any debt (don’t just transfer it to another card) and make sure you don’t have high debt in your combined cards, because that can impact your credit utilization ratio, and therefore, your credit score. Also, think twice before closing an older card, because your oldest card and your average age are factored into your credit.
There’s another little-known option – simply ask your issuer to waive the annual fee. The answer may surprise you. In fact, we found that 70% of consumers who asked successfully had their annual fees waived or lowered.
Source: CreditCards.com study
To know if a credit card annual fee is worth it, you’ll have to take a close look at a card’s features and decide if the rewards and benefits you’ll get justify paying a fee. This is sometimes easier said than done, since issuers often offer 2 versions of a similar card – one with an annual fee and one without – making it hard to tell at a glance which is a better fit.
If you’re debating whether it’s worth paying a credit card annual fee, consider the following:
To help clarify things further, let’s go through the process with a few cards, comparing no annual fee cards with cards that charge an annual fee and noting the differences in rewards, benefits and net earnings. We’ll use one of each type from American Express and Capital One as examples.
| Card | Annual fee | Rewards | Benefits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blue Cash Everyday from American Express | $0 | $150 intro bonus/$1,000 spend in first 3 mths; 3% back at U.S. supermarkets (up to $6,000); 2% back at U.S. gas stations, select U.S. department stores. Terms Apply | 15-month 0% intro APR on purchases, balance transfers, then 12.99%-23.99% (Variable) |
| Blue Cash Preferred from American Express | $95 | $250 intro bonus/$1,000 spend in first 3 mths; 6% back at U.S. supermarkets (up to $6,000, then 1% after that), select U.S. streaming subscriptions; 3% back at U.S. gas stations and on transit. Terms Apply | 12-month 0% intro APR on purchases, balance transfers, then 12.99%-23.99% (Variable) |
| Capital One VentureOne Rewards | $0 | 20,000-mile sign-up/$1,000 spend in 3 mths; 1.25X miles per dollar on every purchase | No foreign transaction fee |
| Capital One Venture Rewards | $95 | 50,000-mile sign-up/$3,000 spend in 3 mths; 2X miles per dollar on every purchase | No foreign transaction fee |
As you can see, while the Venture cards have similar benefits, the Blue Cash products vary in the 0% APR offer, so it’s worthwhile to read the fine print. As expected, the rewards are better on the cards with an annual fee.
While cards with annual fees often have superior benefits, money can be saved with a card that has no annual fee.
You can save money by avoiding an annual fee if you don’t plan to spend too high of an amount. For example, with the Blue Cash Everyday, which has no annual fee, and the Blue Cash Preferred, which has a $95 annual fee, with a $3,200 spend at U.S. supermarkets, the Blue Cash cards come out within a penny of each other.
| Card | Cash back | Total minus annual fee |
|---|---|---|
| Blue Cash Everyday | 3% x $3,200=$96 | $96 |
| Blue Cash Preferred | 6% x $3,200=$192 | $97 |
If you spend less, the Blue Cash Everyday is worth your while. If you spend more, then the Blue Cash Preferred is the best pick.
Take another example. The Capital One Venture Rewards has a significantly higher sign-up bonus than the Capital One VentureOne Rewards – 50,000 miles as opposed to 20,000.
| Card | Cash back | Total minus annual fee |
|---|---|---|
| VentureOne Rewards | 1.25 miles x $12,750=$159 | $159 |
| Venture Rewards | 2 miles x $12,750=$255 | $160 |
So, you see that the VentureOne Rewards is worth your while if you plan to spend less than $12,750 a year after the first year.
You’ve practiced on your no annual fee card, and you feel you have this rewards thing down. Now it’s time to think more strategically. It’s time to look at pairing cards.
While a no annual fee card can have great cash back rewards on all spending or even specific categories, it may not have the outsized rewards of a travel card. With a travel card, you can get travel and purchase benefits, travel credits, even credits with Uber – all things you likely won’t get with your cash back card.
But if you play it right, you can use the cash back, no annual fee card for, say, all spending, and use the travel card to get a sizeable sign-up bonus with your favorite hotel or airline brand, as well as outstanding ongoing rewards for that brand.
For example, the Wells Fargo Cash Wise will earn you 1.5% back on all purchases, while the Chase Sapphire Preferred gives you 2X points on travel and dining. Simply use the CSP for those purchases and the Cash Wise for everything else. In addition to the ongoing rewards, the Sapphire Preferred card will earn you 60,000 points after a $4,000 spend within 3 months.
When pairing no annual fee cards and annual fee cards, there is no comparison when looking at the Chase cards.
Through the Chase Ultimate Rewards program, you can get the added travel bonus points of the Sapphire cards. In fact, the Sapphire Reserve, delivers a 50% bonus on points when you redeem for travel through Ultimate Rewards.
Even if a credit card has no annual fee, it is most certainly not a “free” credit card, primarily because if you carry a balance, you may incur interest charges.
Then there are the other fees you’ll find. In November 2019, we surveyed 100 cards and we counted 438 potential fees listed on new cardholders’ credit card agreements, including not only annual fees, but balance transfer fees, cash advance fees and penalty fees. So an annual fee is only one aspect of the charges you can face with a credit card.
It’s rare, but there are credit cards without an annual fee for consumers with bad credit and even no credit history. In some cases, they even have rewards. For example, the Discover it Student Cash Back offers no annual fee as well as 5% cash back on rotating categories up to $1,500 spend a quarter (1% back after that), with a required quarterly sign up.
If you have a credit card with an annual fee, you are responsible for paying the fee even if you don’t use the card. However, there are ways to avoid paying the fee – for example, we’ve found that you have a strong chance of having your annual fee waived simply by asking the card issuer to do so. And then there is the card that waives the annual fee the first year. We found that of 100 cards surveyed in November 2019, 9 of those cards waived the annual fee the first year.
Check out our reviews for no annual fee cards to explore more credit card offers that waive that cost every year.
Laura is an editor and writer at CreditCards.com. She has written extensively on all things credit cards and works to bring you the most up-to-date analysis and advice. Laura’s work has been cited in such publications as the New York Times and Associated Press. You can reach her by e-mail at laura.mohammad@creditcards.com and on Twitter @creditcards_lm.
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