Discover’s quarterly bonus categories for Q1 2026 have been announced:
- Grocery Stores
- Wholesale Clubs
- Select Streaming Services
When you activate your categories and spend in these categories from January-March 2026 on the Discover it® and Discover More® cards, you’ll earn 5% rewards on up to $1,500 in spending.
Here’s everything you need to know about Discover’s 5% bonus cash back categories.
My take on the Q1 2026 Discover cash back categories
Discover brought it with its first quarter 2026 bonus categories. Grocery stores and wholesale clubs are two categories that should be easy to maximize for most people.
Personally, I plan to use the grocery store category to buy gift cards to places where I shop at anyway, to “expand” the category into more spending categories. That will probably include a few Starbucks cards, an Apple gift card for an upcoming purchase, and maybe some Visa gift cards that I can use at Costco.
Speaking of Costco, they no longer accept Discover for online purchases, so while I think that the wholesale club category is extremely useful generally, it is largely useless to me. Sam’s Club members, however, should find this category extremely useful.
Full Discover cash back calendar 2026
For reference, here is the full cash back calendar for 2026 that Discover has announced.
- January-March: Grocery Stores, Wholesale Clubs, and Select Streaming Services
- April-June: (not yet announced)
- July-September: (not yet announced)
- October-December: (not yet announced)
How to earn 5% cash back: You must activate your categories
If you have a Discover it® Cash Back, you must activate your Cashback Bonus categories before you’ll receive 5% on the quarter’s categories. There are two ways to activate your categories: Through the website or through an email you receive.
Activating through the website: Simply log into your account at Discover.com and look toward the left-hand side of the page for the link to active.
Activating through email: You may also receive an email with a one-click link to activate your cash back categories.
When do I need to activate?
The best time to activate your Discover cash back categories is as soon as they are announced. You’ll earn 5% back on bonus category purchases made only after you activate them. If you spend in Discover’s bonus categories after the quarter starts, but before you activate a cash back category, you’ll earn only 1% on purchases until you activate. Discover does not retroactively award bonus cash back to purchases you make before you activate.
Getting more rewards: Get up to 10% total with a new Discover card
Discover matches your cash back dollar-for-dollar at the end of your first year of card membership. This means that the card’s 5% categories effectively become 10% categories during your first year. Discover will allow you to have up to two cards—and both of those cards can be cards like the Discover It®, which earn 5% in bonus categories.
Here’s the best welcome bonus currently available on the Discover it® Cash Back:
Welcome bonus: Earn a $100 statement credit after you apply through a referral link and make your first purchase within 3 months of getting approved. Learn how to apply.
About the card: More on the Discover it® Cash Back card
Annual fee: annual_fees
Foreign transaction fee: annual_fees
All information about the Discover it® Cash Back card has been collected independently by cardsandpoints.com.
The Discover it® Cash Back card offers 5% cash back in Discover’s rotating quarterly categories and a dollar-for-dollar cash back match in your first year.
Sign-up bonus
Best sign-up bonus: Earn a $100 statement credit after you apply through a referral link and make your first purchase within 3 months of getting approved.
Learn how to apply.
The $100 bonus is earned as a statement credit and the dollar-for-dollar cash back match is earned as additional cash back rewards.
Rewards
- 5% on up to $1,500 in combined purchases in Discover’s rotating 5% categories each calendar quarter.
- 1% on all other purchases.
Rewards are earned as cash back, but can also be redeemed for gift cards. When you redeem for select gift cards, you’ll get better-than-cash-back value for your rewards.
Benefits
The Discover it® Cash Back card offers no substantive benefits.
Historical Discover cash back calendar: Every category offered since 2020
Knowing previous bonus categories can help you determine how much value you might get from a card with rotating categories in the future. While there is no guarantee that Discover will offer 5% rewards on any particular spending category until it announces its cash back categories, typically spending categories don’t change much year-to-year.
Here is what the Discover it® Cash Back has offered 5% rewards on in the past.
Discover cash back calendar for 2025
- January-March: Restaurants, Home improvement stores, and Select streaming services
- April-June: Grocery stores and Wholesale clubs
- July-September: Gas stations & EV charging, Public transit, and Utilities
- October-December: Amazon.com and Drug stores
Discover cash back calendar for 2024
- January-March: Drugstores and Restaurants
- April-June: Gas stations, electric vehicle charging stations, home improvement stores, and public transit
- July-September: Grocery stores and Walmart
- October-December: Amazon.com and Target
Discover cash back calendar for 2023
- January-March: Grocery, Drugstores, Streaming
- April-June: Restaurants and Wholesale Clubs
- July-September: Gas and Digital Wallets
- October-December: Target and Amazon.com
Discover cash back calendar for 2022
- January-March: Grocery stores, fitness clubs and gym memberships
- April-June: Gas stations and Target
- July-September: Restaurants and PayPal
- October-December: Amazon.com and digital wallets
Discover cash back calendar for 2021
- January-March: Grocery stores, Walgreens and CVS
- April-June: Gas stations, wholesale clubs and select streaming services
- July-September: Restaurants and PayPal
- October-December: Amazon.com, Walmart.com and Target.com
Discover cash back calendar for 2020
- January-March: Grocery stores, Walgreens and CVS
- April-June: Gas stations, Uber, Lyft and wholesale clubs
- July-September: Restaurants and PayPal
- October-December: Amazon.com, Walmart.com and Target.com
