Best Rewards Credit Cards for September 2025

We are living in the golden era of credit card rewards. It’s not hard to find hyper-generous bonus categories and massive welcome offers — many potentially worth over $1,000.

Rewards cards come in many forms. You can earn cash back rewards, points or miles. It’s great to have so many valuable credit cards to choose from, but it can be hard to decide between so many great options. We’ll help you decide which is the best fit for your wallet. Check out the best rewards credit cards from our partners.

Detailed Overview: Best Rewards Credit Cards

What Kind of Cards Are Considered Rewards Cards?

You can find rewards credit cards in virtually every credit card category — from no annual fee credit cards to student credit cards to small business credit cards to airline and hotel credit cards. No matter which rewards credit card you have, you’ll earn one of three types of rewards.

Cash Back Credit Cards

Cash back is the most straightforward type of credit card rewards. You can redeem it for anything, and it doesn’t require a strategy to maximize (unlike travel rewards). There’s also no ambiguity as to how much your rewards are worth — which, again, is the case with most travel rewards that yield wildly different values depending on how you use them.

Miles-Earning Credit Cards

The term “miles” implies the rewards you earn for award flights. Think airline miles like Delta SkyMiles or American Airlines Aadvantage miles. If (nearly) free flights are your primary objective, look into collecting miles.

Points-Earning Credit Cards

The term “points” typically refers to either:

• Hotel points, which you can use to book inexpensive accommodation at popular hotel chains like Marriott, Hilton and Hyatt
• Transferable travel rewards, such as Chase Ultimate Rewards® points, which you can convert into either hotel points or airline miles. You can sometimes even redeem them for cash.

There are rare exceptions to the above terminology. Some banks refer to their transferable points as “miles.” Some airlines even call their rewards “points.” Some issuers call their cash back “miles.” But broadly speaking, the above is common parlance.

What Rewards Perks Make an Annual Fee Worth It?

If an annual fee-incurring credit card can organically save you more money than you’re spending in membership costs, the annual fee is worth it. These can be benefits like:

• Annual free night certificates
• Airfare discounts
• Complimentary airport lounge access
• Travel credits
• Streaming credits

To be clear: The card should save you money you’d otherwise have spent. Just because a card offers a collection of fun perks that can outweigh its annual fee doesn’t mean it’s right for your situation.

Types of Rewards Structures

The return you’ll get for swiping a rewards credit card varies greatly from card to card. You’ve got four common earning structures to choose from:

• Category/tiered rewards. Most familiar are credit cards that give you extra rewards for spending in specific categories. If you find yourself spending a lot on dining, you can search for a card with restaurants as a bonus category to help you maximize the return on your everyday purchases.
• Rotating categories. Slightly more confusing are credit cards with bonus categories that change periodically.
• Customizable categories. The “choose-your-own-bonus-category” credit card is becoming increasingly popular. Some cards allow you to manually select your desired categories from a list of eligible options, and some will automatically bonus your most used eligible category — no enrollment necessary.
• Flat rate. These credit cards earn the same amount on all purchases no matter what. They’re great if you routinely spend on purchases that don’t normally conform to a bonus category (think insurance, education expenses or medical bills).

What Is a Welcome Bonus?

A welcome bonus is a special intro offer that serves as a big incentive to open a credit card. It usually takes the form of a lump sum of cash back or travel rewards after you meet a minimum spending requirement during the first few months of card membership.

Credit card welcome bonuses are the fastest and easiest way to earn bonus cash or points. Just make sure that the welcome bonus you’re trying to earn is guarded by a spending requirement that you know you can hit. Otherwise, you could forfeit hundreds — potentially even thousands — of dollars in value.

What Kind of Rewards Card Is Best for Me?

The ideal rewards currency for you has everything to do with your goals.

If you’re after a simple rebate on all your purchases, a cash back credit card will confer an automatic discount every time you swipe. If you’d like a little more disposable income, or if you’ve got a business in which you continually reinvest your earnings, cash back is the way to go. But if you’ve got travel aspirations, you can save more cash with a card that earns:

• Airline miles
• Hotel points
• Transferable rewards

Let’s compare two popular no annual fee rewards credit cards:

• The Wells Fargo Active Cash® Card earns 2% back on all purchases.
• The Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card earns 1.25 Capital One miles on all purchases.

At first glance, the Active Cash Card looks like the easy choice. But depending on how you plan to redeem your rewards, the VentureOne Card may be the better choice.

For example, after spending $16,000, you’ll have earned:

• $320 in cash from the Active Cash Card
• 20,000 Capital One miles from the VentureOne Card

You can redeem the Active Cash Card’s $320 cash back for — you guessed it — $320 in cash.

But the value you’ll get for the VentureOne Card’s 20,000 miles will vary greatly depending on how you use them. If you were to transfer them to Air France, you could book a one-way flight between the U.S. and Europe — which could save you over $450 (after taxes and fees).

Air France

All to say, those who want to travel and are willing to put in some work to maximize your rewards redemption should focus on airline miles, hotel points or transferable rewards (which can be converted into airline miles or hotel points).

How to Compare Rewards Cards

When trying to decide which rewards credit card belongs in your lineup, you should focus on the following:

• Annual fee vs. benefits. Are a card’s benefits truly useful for your lifestyle? And if so, are they valuable enough to negate the card’s annual fee?
• Rewards currency. Does the card earn the type of rewards that jive with your financial goals? 
• Bonus categories. Does the card reward you well for your most common expenses?
• Welcome bonus. Will you earn a big intro offer after meeting an achievable spending requirement?

Pros and Cons of Rewards Cards

Pros

The obvious benefit to rewards credit cards is the return you’ll get for your spending. Many even offer welcome bonuses worth hundreds of dollars.

Rewards credit cards also often come with valuable ongoing benefits that can either save you money or deliver extra value toward expenses related to travel, ridesharing, streaming and much more.

Cons

For the above perks, there’s often a cost involved. The best rewards credit cards charge annual fees and incur some of the highest APRs. Although, you won’t need to worry about interest rates if you pay your balance in full each billing cycle.

One minor disadvantage related exclusively to travel rewards is the complexity in maximizing your points. Though it’s possible to get an astounding value for airline miles, hotel points and transferable rewards, there’s a lot of strategy associated with extracting the best possible value from them. If the idea of researching to improve your redemption is off-putting, travel rewards might not be for you.