The best 2% cash back credit cards: Maximum rewards everywhere else

A 2% cash back card can be a good choice to use “everywhere else” when you’re not earning rewards in a bonus category. While many 2% rewards cards are light on additional benefits, this might not matter if you’re paying bills or buying things like household consumables.

Here are our top picks among the available 2% cash back credit cards.

The best 2% cash back and points rewards cards

Card	2% cash back rewards
American Express Blue Business Cash™ Card Annual fee: $0	2% cash back on all eligible purchases on up to $50,000 per calendar year, 1% thereafter. If you’re a small business owner and want cash back rewards with no annual fee, this card is the best to get. More on the American Express Blue Business Cash™ Card.
Bread Cashback™ American Express® Credit Card Annual fee: $0	Unlimited 2% unlimited cash back on purchases. The Bread Cashback card is the only personal Amex card that will give you unlimited 2% cash back on all purchases. More on the Bread Cashback™ American Express® Credit Card.
Capital One Venture X Annual fee: $395	Unlimited 2x miles on all purchases. Rewards are earned as Capital One miles, which can be redeemed for statement credits to offset travel purchases or transferred to travel partners. We include the Venture X in this list because its points can be redeemed for 1 cent each toward statement credits to offset travel purchases. If you travel frequently, that might be close enough to cash back that this card makes sense. More on the Capital One Venture X.
Citi® Double Cash Card Annual fee: $0	2% cash back on purchases: 1% when you buy and 1% as you pay. Rewards are earned as ThankYou points. With the Double Cash, you can redeem your ThankYou Points for 1 cent of cash back each. As a standalone card, you can use the Double Cash as a cash back card. But the points are more valuable when you also also hold a Citi Premier Card—having that card enables point transfers to travel partners. More on the Citi® Double Cash Card.
Ink Business Premier® Credit Card Annual fee: $195	2% cash back on purchases. 2.5% cash back on every purchase of $5,000 or more. The Ink Business Premier® Credit Card makes sense for small business owners who make frequent larger (>$5,000) purchases due to its 2.5% cash back rewards on these purchases. More on the Ink Business Premier® Credit Card.
Spark 2% Cash Plus Annual fee: $150	2% cash back on every purchase. Small business owners who spend more than $65,000 annually will be better off with the Spark 2% Cash Plus than the Blue Business Cash card. Each year that you spend $150,000 or more on the card, you’ll get the $150 annual fee refunded. More on the Spark 2% Cash Plus.
TD Double Up℠ Credit Card Annual fee: $0	2% cash back on every purchase. The TD Double Up is a no-frills 2% cash back card. It’s probably a slightly better option for most people than the Wells Fargo Active Cash due to its extended warranty and purchase security benefits. More on the TD Double Up℠ Credit Card.
Wells Fargo Active Cash® Card Annual fee: $0	2% cash rewards on every purchase. The Wells Fargo Active Cash Card is a no-frills 2% cash back card. More on the Wells Fargo Active Cash® Card.

My take on the best 2% cash back cards

I think that a card that earns 2% cash back or 2x transferable points on every purchase should be in everyone’s wallet. Cash back is easier to use than transferable points, though if you play the points game right, you can get much more value out of transferable points.

Although I don’t personally hold the card, I really like the TD Double Up℠ Credit Card as a personal card. I’m a big fan of extended warranty benefits and think that it’s worth earning lower rewards on a large purchase if you can get a good credit card extended warranty. But with the Double Up, you don’t have to sacrifice rewards to get this benefit! I do have the Citi^® Double Cash Card, but I use that mostly for earning ThankYou Points to transfer to Citi’s ThankYou Rewards airline transfer partners.

If you’re a small business owner, and you make at least 8 large (>$5,000) purchases each year, getting the Ink Business Premier® Credit Card will pay off. Otherwise, go with the Spark 2% Cash Plus if you spend more than $65,000 a year on a credit card and the American Express Blue Business Cash™ Card if you spend less.

Why some cards didn’t make this list

This list focuses on cash back, so I’ve only included cards which earn 2% cash back or points which can be redeemed for 2% cash back. However, I do occasionally get questions about why a particular card didn’t make this list. In most cases, I’ve deliberately left the card off the list because it’s not a great product or requires you to jump through hoops to get 2% cash back rewards. Here are the cards I get asked about most commonly:

• Apple Card didn’t make this list because it requires you to use Apple Pay to get 2% rewards. If you’re willing to use Apple Pay everywhere, you might as well get the U.S. Bank Altitude® Reserve Visa Infinite® Card and get 3x points—good for 3% cash back or 4.5% toward travel—everywhere you use Apple Pay.
• The Alliant Cashback Visa® Signature Credit Card offers 2.5% cash back rewards on the first $10,000 of purchases each month, but it requires you to jump through several hoops. You must maintain a $1,000 average daily balance in an Alliant High Rate Checking account, receive an account deposit of some sort into your Alliant account.

The best 2% cash back credit cards

Here are some more details on our picks for the best 2% credit cards.

American Express Blue Business Cash™ Card: 2% cash back with extended warranty and purchase protection

You won’t find many cards offering both 2% cash back rewards and consumer insurance benefits like extended warranty and purchase protection. But the American Express Blue Business Cash™ Card offers all of the above. Your 2% rewards are limited to $50,000 of spending each year, and you must be a small business owner to qualify for the card. But most people probably have a small business that qualifies.

The American Express Blue Business Cash™ Card offers a welcome bonus to new cardmembers. Visit our card overview of the American Express Blue Business Cash™ Card for information on the current welcome bonus.

The Bread Cashback™ American Express® Credit Card: 2% cash back with Amex Offers and no foreign transaction fee

The Bread Cashback™ American Express® Credit Card is the only consumer Amex card that offers 2% cash back on all purchases. The card becomes interesting when you consider that the card can be targeted for Amex Offers. These targeted bonus offerings for American Express cardmembers can get you a few extra points on things you might otherwise spend, or a large—sometimes 30% or more—cash rebate on things you buy. Amex Offers are bonuses in addition to cash back, so you’ll earn 2% cash back rewards on top of any bonus you get from Amex Offers.

Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card: 2 transferable points per dollar and loads of travel rewards

The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card offers 2 Capital One miles per dollar on general purchases. Capital One miles are great if you want to transfer them to travel partners, but if you want cash back, they come with a catch. Capital One miles can be redeemed for a full cent each for statement credits to offset travel purchases, but they’re worth only half a cent each toward cash back redemptions.

Our Guide to Capital One miles can help you learn how to most effectively use the points you’ll earn with the Venture X. And you can read all about the perks of the Venture X card from our overview of the Venture X.

Citi Double Cash® Card: 2% cash back, with ThankYou Rewards card synergies

The Citi Double Cash® Card is marketed as a 2% cash back card, and you can certainly use it as that, but your rewards can be even more valuable when you hold other Citi cards. Because the card earns ThankYou Points, you can increased the value of your rewards when you hold other cards in the ThankYou Rewards ecosystem.

If you also hold the Citi Premier® Card, you can move your ThankYou Points from your Double Cash to the Premier and then transfer them to travel partners. When you can find business or first class flight awards with Citi’s travel partners, this path is the key to getting elevated value from your points. Additionally, Citi Rewards+® Card cardholders get a 10% points back bonus on the first 100,000 points redeemed per year, giving you the opportunity to net slightly more than 2% cash back on all of your purchases.

We have a guide to the ThankYou Rewards program than can outlines how this card works with the other Citi ThankYou Points cards, plus an overview of the Citi Double Cash where you can learn more about the Double Cash card’s rewards and benefits.

Ink Business Premier® Credit Card: 2.5% cash back on large purchases for small business owners

The killer feature of the Ink Business Premier® Credit Card its 2.5% cash back rewards on purchases over $5,000. (It earns 2% cash back on other purchases, plus 5% cash back on travel purchases through Chase Travel℠.

Although you’ll sometimes see the card marketed as an Ultimate Rewards® credit card, you can’t transfer the points you earn on the Ink Business Premier to other cards or to travel partners. The Ink Premier is effectively a cash back card.

Capital One Spark Cash Plus: Unlimited 2% cash back for small business owners

The Capital One Spark Cash Plus is one of the few small business cards that earn unlimited 2% cash back rewards. If you’re spending under $50,000 a year, the Amex Blue Business Cash card is likely a better choice, but once you hit $65,000 in spending, you’ll earn more rewards net of the annual fee with the Capital One Spark Cash Plus. When you spend more than $150,000 in a year on the card, Capital One will even refund the card’s annual fee.

You’ll even do better than 2% cash back rewards in a few select categories with the Spark Cash Plus—Capital One Travel hotel and car rental bookings earn 5% cash back.

TD Double Up℠ Credit Card: 2% cash back rewards with extended warranty

The TD Double Up℠ Credit Card offers cell phone protection, purchase protection, and extended warranty protection. The inclusion of those benefits gives the Double Up card an edge over the better-known Wells Fargo Active Cash, which only offers cell phone protection. TD Bank may also offer easier card approvals—Wells Fargo is known for not approving you unless you already have an existing banking relationship.

The TD Double Up also recently updated its welcome bonus, adding another $50 onto the incentive to get the card.

Wells Fargo Active Cash® Card: 2% cash back with cell phone protection

Many 2% cash back cards don’t offer much in the way of benefits. And that’s true for the Wells Fargo Active Cash® Card as well. You won’t get extended warranty benefits or purchase protection with this card, but you will get cell phone protection. The TD Double Up℠ Credit Card is likely a better option if you’re not intent on keeping your banking relationship with Wells Fargo, but the Active cash typically has a better welcome bonus.

Learn more in our review of the Wells Fargo Active Cash® Card.

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