AwardWallet receives compensation from advertising partners for links on the blog. The opinions expressed here are our own and have not been reviewed, provided, or approved by any bank advertiser. Here's our complete list of Advertisers.
Offers for the Chase Freedom® and Chase Freedom Flex℠ are not available through this site. Some offers may have expired. Please see our card marketplace for available offers
Each quarter, Discover it® Cash Back and Discover® More® Card cardmembers can earn 5% cash back on up to $1,500 of purchases in select categories. And now you can start earning on your purchases for October-December, as Discover's 5% cash back bonus categories are now active for the fourth quarter of 2025.
By maximizing your Discover quarterly bonus, you'd earn $300 cash back on $6,000 in purchases over the calendar year. That's a solid return. Here's a look at the current quarter's offerings and how to ensure you're earning 5% back.
Page Contents
Discover 5% Cash Back Overview
- You need to activate your 5% cash-back earnings before making purchases.
- Earn 5% back on up to $1,500 of purchases in select categories each quarter. That's a max of $75 cash back per quarter.
- Earn 1% on all spending after that.
- Allow up to two billing periods for the rewards to post to your account.
- Payments made using digital wallets and certain third-party payment accounts may also be ineligible if “the technology does not provide sufficient transaction details or a qualifying MCC.”
Related: Does Your Discover Cash Back Bonus Expire?
Discover cash back categories for Q4 2025
- Activation opened on September 1, 2025.
- Q4 runs from October 1 through December 31, 2025.
- Next quarter's Discover cash back bonus categories are:
- Amazon.com
- Drug stores
Here are some additional details on how Discover defines each category:
- Amazon.com purchases include those made through the Amazon.com checkout, like digital downloads, Amazon Fresh orders, Amazon Local Deals, Amazon Prime subscriptions, and items sold by third-party merchants through Amazon.com’s marketplace. This also includes purchases in-store at Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh. Purchases made online and in-store with Whole Foods Market are not included in the promotion. Amazon, the Amazon.com logo, the smile logo, and all related marks are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. Listed merchants are in no way sponsoring or affiliated with this program.
- Drug Store purchases include those made at stand-alone drug stores, pharmacies, and online pharmacies. Pharmacies inside of other retail stores may not qualify.
Caution: Discover Cash Back Activation Isn't Retroactive
Unlike Chase's 5% cash back bonus categories, Discover's bonus activation is not retroactive.
Chase requires cardholders to activate the rotating 5% cash back quarterly bonus on the Chase Freedom Flex℠ and Chase Freedom®. However, members can activate their bonus as late as the 14th day of the last month of the quarter (e.g., December 14 for Q4 2025). Doing so earns them 5% cash back from day one of the quarter.
However, this is not the case with Discover; you only start earning your 5% cash back from the day you activate. So that's something you should do now — if you haven't already.
Related: Credit Cards Featuring Rotating Bonus Categories
How To Figure Out if Your Purchase Will Be Eligible for 5% Cash Back
To trigger the 5% cash back, you need to make a purchase at a merchant that qualifies. This will be based on the merchant's Merchant Category Code (MCC). If the MCC doesn't match the bonus category, your purchase will be ineligible.
This can be an issue because some larger stores that sell home improvement-related items may not reflect a home improvement MCC, making purchases ineligible. Likewise, some food vendors may not have an MCC to indicate that either, again making your purchases ineligible.
Finding the MCC for a nearby merchant typically requires some trial and error. You can make a purchase and then check your credit card statement to see how it earned.
AwardWallet has a tool that can help shortcut your research. The AwardWallet Merchant Category Code Lookup tool shows you how purchases code at any store you want based on anonymized AwardWallet user data.
Discover 5% Cash Back History
Curious about what might be offered next quarter? Us too. That's why we put together a full history of Discover 5% cash back categories since 2017. As you can see, Discover can be rather predictable about what categories it offers:
| Year | First Quarter (Jan–March) | Second Quarter (April–June) | Third Quarter (July–Sep) | Fourth Quarter (Oct–Dec) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | • Restaurants • Home improvement stores • Select streaming services | • Grocery stores • Wholesale clubs | • Gas stations & EV Charging • Public Transit • Utilities | • Amazon.com • Drug stores |
| 2024 | • Restaurants • Drugstores | • Gas stations & EV charging stations • Home improvement stores • Public transit | • Walmart • Grocery stores | • Amazon.com • Target |
| 2023 | • Grocery stores • Drugstores • Select streaming services | • Restaurants • Wholesale clubs | • Gas stations • Digital wallets | • Amazon.com • Target |
| 2022 | • Grocery stores • Fitness club & gym memberships | • Gas stations • Target | • Restaurants • PayPal | • Amazon.com • Digital wallets |
| 2021 | • Grocery stores • Walgreens & CVS | • Gas stations • Wholesale clubs • Select streaming services | • Restaurants • PayPal | • Amazon.com • Walmart.com • Target.com |
| 2020 | • Grocery stores • Walgreens & CVS | • Gas stations • Uber & Lyft • Wholesale clubs | • Restaurants • PayPal | • Amazon.com • Walmart.com • Target.com |
| 2019 | • Grocery stores | • Gas stations • Uber & Lyft | • Restaurants • PayPal | • Amazon.com • Target • Walmart.com |
| 2018 | • Gas stations • Wholesale clubs | • Grocery stores | • Restaurants | • Amazon.com • Wholesale clubs |
| 2017 | • Gas stations • Ground transportation • Wholesale clubs | • Home improvement stores • Wholesale clubs | • Restaurants | • Amazon.com • Target |
Our Take
The 5% Discover cash-back bonus is the main reason for holding these cards. Failing to activate your bonus in a timely manner can negate the entire reason for holding these cards. You can miss out on some substantial earnings over the year.
Fans of cash back can get even more bonus categories by also signing up for the Freedom Flex. In addition to a rotating 5% bonus cash back category, the Freedom Flex also earns 5% on travel purchased through Chase and 3% on dining at restaurants and drugstores. You can take things up to another level by combining the cash back with the points earned from the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card to further boost the value of your cash-back earnings.
However, these cards aren't exclusive. Utilizing the Freedom Flex and Discover card duo would earn you 5% cash back on up to $3,000 in purchases each quarter! Read our Discover it Cash Back Card review to learn more.
- 5% cash back at different places each quarter like gas stations, grocery stores, restaurants, Amazon.com, or wholesale clubs up to the quarterly maximum each time you activate.
- Unlimited 1% cash back on all other purchases - automatically.
The comments on this page are not provided, reviewed, or otherwise approved by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
Your Discover 5% history is incorrectly listed above for Jan-Mar 2024, it does not agree with the full article or Discovers page, Should be Restaurants and Drug Stores, not Grocery stores and Drug Stores.
Thanks for catching that. It’s updated.
I love using my Discover card because of the 5% categories they do by the quarters. Sad to see they don’t have travel listed under any of the quarters for 2021, as they have in the past and it was super helpful. On the flipside, I appreciate Discover for including restaurants in Q3, as hopefully that will be at a time that majority of restaurants would be open at near-full capacity or have more dining options as COVID restrictions lessen.
All quarters have easy to use categories this year.
Discover 5% is always a good way to earn cashback with grocery, gas, and restaurant spread out across the year. In addition to Discover, I’ve found that Chase Freedom is also very good esp. they currently (2021 Q1) have 5% cashback on wholesale clubs, such as Costco.
The only better deal I’ve found is the AMEX Blue Cash Preferred with 6% back on groceries…the advantage with Discover of course is it is a no annual fee credit card
It’s useful for planning to know each quarter’s categories in advance, especially given the overlaps that sometimes happen with other cards’ categories and credits.
the grocery bonus is now on so many cards, its practically difficult to maximize that. Wish Discover would do something like Citi Prestige and give 5x for online purchases or something. The Q3/Q4 promos are useful to maximize.
grocery is always the best.
I will certainly be able to max out each quarter with this selection. It’s a sensible split
Thanks for the reminder and look ahead. FYI, you get a $5 bonus when using the cash back reward for a gift card purchase (e.g., if you spend $20 in cash back, you can get a gift card worth $25).=
Where do you get it?
It’s a rewards redemption and the bonus varies from $25 for redeeming $20 to $50 for redeeming $45.
You’ll find all gift card redemption options (and the bonuses mentioned) by signing in from this page: https://www.discover.com/credit-cards/cash-back/cashback-bonus.html
The Discover It, Freedom Flex, and US Bank Cash+ make a fantastic combination.
But Discover IT doesn’t earn 5% cash back, does it? AFAIK, it only earns 1.5% (doubled at the end of the year).
And, it’s only doubled at the end of your *first* year.
The Discover It Cash Back card only earns a base of 1% on all purchases — plus 5% in rotating categories.
“5% Cash Back
Earn 5% cash back on everyday purchases at different places each quarter like Amazon.com,4 grocery stores, restaurants, gas stations, up to the quarterly maximum when you activate.
1% Cash Back
Earn 1% cash back on all other purchases – automatically.”