Best Credit Cards of February 2026
- Written by
- Eric Baker,
- Reviewed by
- Monica Stankowski,
- Edited by
- Robert Paulsen
- Fact Checked
- Last updated on January 21, 2026
- Fact Checked
- EDITORIAL INTEGRITY
Many or all of the products on this page are from partners who compensate us when you click to or take an action on their website, but this does not influence our evaluations or ratings. Our opinions are our own.
The best credit card is one that’s best aligned with your specific needs. MarketReview’s credit card experts have reviewed and rated hundreds of options for the top credit cards of 2026 – from generous rewards and giant sign-up bonuses to long 0% APR periods and credit-building help, so you can find the best fit for your needs.
Why can you trust MarketReview.
- 400+ credit cards reviewed by our team of experts
- (See our top picks)
- 80+ years of combined experience covering credit cards and personal finance
- 27,000+ hours spent researching and reviewing financial products in the last 12 months
- Objective comprehensive ratings rubrics
- (Methodology)
Show Summary
MarketReview's Best Cash Back Credit Cards of February 2026
Wells Fargo Active Cash® Card: Best for Flat-rate cash back
Chase Freedom Unlimited®: Best for All-around cash back
Discover it® Cash Back: Best for Quarterly categories + matching bonus
Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card: Best for Going out & staying in
Citi Double Cash® Card: Best for Simplicity + high rate
Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express: Best for Families & households
Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express: Best for Popular 3% categories
Chase Freedom Flex®: Best for Quarterly categories + cash bonus
Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card: Best for Simplicity + 0% APR offer
Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards credit card: Best for Adjustable 3% categories
PayPal Cashback Mastercard®: Best for Regular PayPal users
Prime Visa: Best for Amazon Prime shoppers
Apple Card: Best for Apple Pay users
Synchrony Premier World Mastercard®: Best for High rate + hassle-free redemption
Annual fee
$0
Rewards rate
1.5%-5%
Cashback
Intro offer
$200
Purchase intro APR
0% intro APR on purchases for 15 months
Balance transfer intro APR
0% intro APR on balance transfers for 15 months
Regular APR
18.24%-27.74% Variable APR
Rewards breakdown
Card details
- Earn a $200 Bonus after you spend $500 on purchases in your first 3 months from account opening
- Enjoy 5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, our premier rewards program that lets you redeem rewards for cash back, travel, gift cards and more; 3% cash back on drugstore purchases and dining at restaurants, including takeout and eligible delivery service, and 1.5% on all other purchases.
- No minimum to redeem for cash back. You can choose to receive a statement credit or direct deposit into most U.S. checking and savings accounts. Cash Back rewards do not expire as long as your account is open!
- Enjoy 0% Intro APR for 15 months from account opening on purchases and balance transfers, then a variable APR of 18.24% – 27.74%.
- No annual fee – You won’t have to pay an annual fee for all the great features that come with your Freedom Unlimited® card
- Keep tabs on your credit health, Chase Credit Journey helps you monitor your credit with free access to your latest score, alerts, and more.
- Member FDIC
- View Rates & Fees
Our Take/Opinion
Pros
- No annual fee
- Intro APR period
- High rewards rate
- No minimum redemption amount
Cons
- Requires good/excellent credit
on Chase's website
Annual fee
$395
Rewards rate
2x-10x
Miles
Intro offer
$75,000
Purchase intro APR
19.49%-28.49% Variable APR
Balance transfer intro APR
0% intro APR on balance transfers for 15 months
Rewards breakdown
Card details
- Earn 75,000 bonus miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening, equal to $750 in travel
- Receive a $300 annual credit for bookings through Capital One Travel, where you’ll get Capital One’s best prices on thousands of trip options
- Get 10,000 bonus miles (equal to $100 towards travel) every year, starting on your first anniversary
- Earn unlimited 10X miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel and 5X miles on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Travel
- Earn unlimited 2X miles on all other purchases
- Enjoy access to 1,300+ lounges worldwide, including Capital One Lounge locations and Priority Pass™ lounges, after enrollment
- Use your Venture X miles to easily cover travel expenses, including flights, hotels, rental cars and more—you can even transfer your miles to your choice of 15+ travel loyalty programs
- Enjoy a $100 experience credit and other premium benefits with every hotel and vacation rental booked from the Premier Collection
- Receive up to a $120 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck®
- Top rated mobile app
- View Rates & Fees
Our Take/Opinion
Pros
- High rewards rate
- New cardholder bonus offer
- Lounge membership
- Anniversary perk
- Flexible rewards redemption
Cons
- High annual fee
- Requires excellent credit
Annual fee
$0
Rewards rate
1%-5%
Cashback
Intro offer
Cashback Match™
Purchase intro APR
0% intro APR on purchases for 6 months
Balance transfer intro APR
0% intro APR on balance transfers for 18 months
Regular APR
17.49%-26.49% Variable APR
Rewards breakdown
Card details
- INTRO OFFER: Unlimited Cashback Match for all new cardmembers. Discover will automatically match all the cash back you’ve earned at the end of your first year! There’s no minimum spending or maximum rewards. You could turn $150 cash back into $300.
- Earn 5% cash back on everyday purchases at different places you shop each quarter like grocery stores, restaurants, gas stations, and more, up to the quarterly maximum when you activate. Plus, earn unlimited 1% cash back on all other purchases.
- Redeem cash back for any amount. No annual fee.
- Get a 0% intro APR for 18 months on balance transfers. Then 17.49% to 26.49% Standard Variable APR applies, based on credit worthiness.
- Terms and conditions apply.
- View Rates & Fees
Our Take/Opinion
Pros
- No annual fee
- Intro APR period
- Bonus categories
- Cash rewards
Cons
- Complicated rewards
- Spending caps on bonus rewards
- Lower acceptance abroad
Navigating MarketReview.com
We have organized our material by category to make things easier for you to navigate. Click on each category to discover our topics on each section.
Best Cash Back Credit Cards
Credit card
Rating
Annual fee
Rewards rate
Intro offer
Learn more
Chase Freedom Unlimited®
Best for All-around cash back
$0
1.5%-5%
Cashback
$200
on Chase's website
Wells Fargo Active Cash® Card
Best for Flat-rate cash back
$0
2%
Cashback
$200
on Wells Fargo's website
Discover it® Cash Back
Best for All-around cash back
$0
1.5%-5%
Cashback
Cashback
Match™
Table of Contents / On this Page
Marketreview's Best Cash Back Credit Cards of February 2026
Wells Fargo Active Cash® Card
Chase Freedom Unlimited®
Discover it® Cash Back
Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card
Citi Double Cash® Card
Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express
A beginner's guide to credit cards
The idea behind credit cards is simple: When you use a credit card, you are borrowing money to pay for something. Later on, you must repay what your borrowed. If you take time to pay it back (rather than pay it in full when your credit card statement comes), you’ll be charged interest. The whole credit cards industry rests on this basic premise.
How credit cards work
A basic credit card transaction works like this:
» MORE: What is a credit card?
How credit card rewards work
Many of the best credit cards of 2026 give you rewards for your spending. Rewards programs come in two basic flavors (cash back and points/miles), with two basic structures (flat rate and bonus rewards).
Many credit card users carry multiple cards with bonus rewards in different categories, plus a flat-rate card for purchases that fall outside those categories.
» MORE: Cash back vs. travel — how to choose credit card rewards
Different types of credit cards
Credit card companies in 2026 offer different kinds of cards to meet different consumer needs. Some people put a lot of money on their cards every month and then pay them off immediately; those people benefit from a card that returns a portion of their spending in the form of rewards. Others tend to carry a balance from month to month; they’re better served with a card that offers a low ongoing interest rate. Still others are working to improve their credit; issuers have cards designed for those people, too.
Choosing the best credit card for you in 2026
If you’re a beginner to credit cards, see our step-by-step guide to choosing a credit card. It starts by helping you figure out what cards you can qualify for, then walks you through deciding what kind of card best fits your needs. The process in short:
Comparing credit card features
Every credit card delivers value in its own way, through its own unique combination of features. And there are trade-offs involved. If you want rewards, for example, you’ll probably have to accept a higher interest rate. If you want high-value perks, you’ll likely pay an annual fee. If you want a low interest rate and no fees, you shouldn’t expect much else from the card. In other words, you’re unlikely to find a single card that offers a high rewards rate, a long 0% period, a rock-bottom ongoing interest rate, generous perks and no annual fee.
Here are the main points of comparison when looking at credit cards.
Just as there is no single best credit card for everyone, there is no perfect number of credit cards to have. It depends on your needs and how much effort you want to put into managing your credit cards.
There’s no limit to how many cards you can have. Each lender evaluates your credit on its own term, but there’s no hard limit where you have “too many cards.”
You don’t need to have multiple cards to maintain good credit score. Credit scoring formulas tend to reward you for having different types of accounts — credit cards, mortgages, loans, etc. — but it’s not necessary to have multiple accounts of each type. One credit card, responsibly managed, is enough.
Methodology
MarketReview’s Credit Cards content team selected the best credit cards of 2026 in each category based on overall consumer value, as evidenced by star ratings, as well as their suitability for specific kinds of consumers. This page includes selections across multiple categories, and a single card is eligible to be chosen as among the “best” in more than one category. Learn how MarketReview rates credit cards. Factors in our evaluations include:
Frequently asked questions
What's the best credit card?
No single credit card is the best for everyone. It all depends on how you use credit and how strong your credit is.
A rewards credit card gives you a little something back with each purchase you make — usually cash back or travel points or airline miles. These cards are best for people who can pay their credit card bill in full each month. If you carry a balance from one month to the next, the interest you pay will eat up the value of your rewards.
A zero-percent credit card is ideal if you’re looking to finance a big purchase or pay down high-interest debt by way of a balance transfer. If you tend to carry a balance month to month, look for a card with low ongoing interest rate.
A credit-building card is designed for people who are just starting out with credit or are trying to bounce back from damaged credit. Rewards cards and zero-percent cards are available mostly to people with good to excellent credit; for those who aren’t there yet, there are credit-building cards. There are options for bad credit, for fair or average credit and for people with no credit history.
What's the easiest credit card to get?
Secured credit cards require you to provide a cash security deposit to open an account. Because that deposit protects the card company from risk, secured cards are much easier to qualify for than other cards. You’re not guaranteed approval for a secured card, but the bar is much lower than for regular cards. Store credit cards are also generally easier to qualify for than bank cards.
What's the best credit card company?
Just as there is no single best card for everyone, consumers have widely different opinions about the best (and worst) credit card issuers. One person could get the runaround from customer service rep and rate a bank zero stars as a result, while another has nothing but positive experiences and gives it five stars across the board. Still, some trends emerge in customer satisfaction surveys.
J.D. Power conducts an annual study of satisfaction among major national and regional credit card issuers. It regularly rates Discover and American Express at the top among mass-market issuers. In the most recent study, USAA and Navy Federal Credit Union had the highest ratings of all, but keep in mind that only people affiliated with the military are eligible for USAA or Navy Federal products.
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