Credit Card Reward Optimizer Calculator
Enter your cards' cashback or points rates, annual fees and monthly spending by category: see the best card for each category and which cards earn their fee. How it works
Use the Credit Card Reward Optimizer Calculator
About the Credit Card Reward Optimizer Calculator
The calculator gives each spending category to the card with the highest reward rate, and keeps a card only when the cashback it adds is more than its annual fee, by trying every set of your cards (up to 12 cards, 4,095 sets). In the example below, a flat 2% card, a 6% grocery card with a $95 fee and a 4% dining card net $781.00 a year, $258.00 more than the best single card. Points cards are entered as points per dollar and the value of a point in cents, and compared in dollars.
Worked example: best card for each category
| Category | Monthly | Card | Rate | Per year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dining | $300.00 | Dining card | 4% | $144.00 |
| Groceries | $600.00 | Grocery card | 6% | $432.00 |
| Gas | $150.00 | Flat card | 2% | $36.00 |
| Travel | $100.00 | Flat card | 2% | $24.00 |
| Other | $1,000.00 | Flat card | 2% | $240.00 |
Per year = monthly x 12 x rate / 100. Cashback $876.00, fees $95.00, net $781.00.
Worked example: each card used alone
| Card | Rates | Annual fee | Cashback per year | Net per year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grocery card | 1% base, 6% Groceries | $95.00 | $618.00 | $523.00 |
| Flat card | 2% on everything | $0.00 | $516.00 | $516.00 |
| Dining card | 1% base, 4% Dining | $0.00 | $366.00 | $366.00 |
| Basic card | 1% base, 1.5% Gas | $0.00 | $267.00 | $267.00 |
| Travel card | 1% base, 5% Travel | $250.00 | $306.00 | $56.00 |
The best single card nets $523.00, so using three cards adds $258.00 a year.
How to use this tool
- Add each card: a name, its base rate (what it earns everywhere), one bonus category with its bonus rate, and its annual fee. Rates are cashback %, or, with Reward unit set to Points per dollar, points per dollar plus what one point is worth in cents. For a flat-rate card such as 2% on everything, set the bonus % equal to the base %; the bonus category then makes no difference. Optionally add a yearly cap on the bonus rate and a sign-up bonus with the spending and months it needs.
- Add your monthly spending by category (Dining, Groceries, Gas, Travel, Streaming, Entertainment, Online Shopping or Other). Several entries in one category are added together.
- Read the plan: the card for each category, the yearly cashback, the fees and the net, and why each unused card was left out.
Frequently asked questions
- Which credit card should I use for each category?
- The one with the highest cashback rate in that category among the cards worth their fee. In the example, groceries go to the grocery card at 6% ($432.00 a year on $600 a month), dining to the dining card at 4% ($144.00 on $300 a month), and gas, travel and other spending to the flat card at 2%.
- Is a credit card annual fee worth it?
- Only when the cashback the card adds over your other cards is more than the fee. The grocery card earns $432.00 on groceries where the flat card would earn $144.00, so it adds $288.00 for a $95 fee and stays. The travel card earns $60.00 on $100 a month of travel against $24.00 on the flat card, so it adds $36.00 for a $250 fee, and adding it lowers the net by $214.00.
- How is yearly cashback calculated?
- Monthly spending x 12 x the rate / 100 for each category, to the cent: $1,000 a month of other spending at 2% is $240.00 a year. The net is the cashback minus the annual fees of the cards the plan uses; a card the plan does not use pays no fee in the result.
- Why is a card with no annual fee left out?
- Because another card in the plan earns the same or a higher rate in every category you spend in. In the example, the basic card (1% base, 1.5% on gas) is not chosen: the flat card's 2% beats it everywhere, so adding it changes nothing.
- Can I compare a points card with a cashback card?
- Yes. Set Reward unit to Points per dollar and type the points per dollar and what one point is worth to you in cents. The card is turned into a cashback rate, points x cents: 5 points per dollar on dining at 1.5¢ a point is 7.5%, so $1,000 a month of dining earns $900.00 a year. The value of a point is your own figure; it depends on how you redeem.
- Does it count spending caps or sign-up bonuses?
- Yes, when you enter them. A bonus rate cap pays the bonus rate on the first dollars a year and the base rate above it: 5% capped at $5,000 with 1.5% elsewhere earns $250 + $105 = $355 on $1,000 a month of travel, and a 2% card beside it takes the $7,000 over the cap for $390 in all. A sign-up bonus is added to a separate first-year net when the plan's spending on that card in the window reaches the amount needed; it never changes which cards are chosen. Rotating categories and interest are not modelled.
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