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Capital One is undoubtedly a worthy competitor in the credit card space, issuing dozens of cards. These vary from student and secured cards designed to help build credit to premium rewards cards offering great travel benefits.
With a wide selection of Capital One transfer partners and credit-card products on offer, Capital One has established itself as one of the top rewards-card issuers in the U.S.
In today’s post, we’ll review the seven best Capital One credit cards for every purchase. This will include welcome offers, earning rates, and key benefits of our favorite Capital One cards.
7 Best Capital One Credit Cards
Capital One has an expansive rewards card portfolio, including top student cards and plenty of options for folks looking to build their credit file. However, rather than list out all the Capital One cards, we’ve focused our attention on the seven that we think offer top value for points-and-miles fans.
Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card
- Earn 75,000 Miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within the first 3 months of account opening
- 5X miles on hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
- 2X miles on all other purchase
- Fee credit for Global Entry or TSA Pre✔® (up to $120)
- No foreign transaction fees
- $95 annual fee
- 5X miles per dollar on purchases through Capital One Entertainment
- 5X miles per dollar on hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
- 2X miles per dollar on all other purchases
The Capital One Venture is one of the best travel cards available for a modest annual fee. This flagship consumer rewards card from Capital One combines solid ongoing benefits with some of the easiest-to-use and most valuable miles out there.
In addition to operating as traditional fixed-value points redeemable for 1 cent per mile towards any travel purchase, Capital One miles earned on your Capital One Venture can be transferred to 18 airline and four hotel partners. Check out our guide to the best Capital One transfer partners for inspiration on how to make the most of your miles.
Cardholders receive an application-fee statement credit of up to $120 for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck®, travel insurance benefits, and pay no foreign transaction fees. If you're curious to learn more, check out our full Capital One Venture card review.
Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card
- 10X miles per $1 on hotels and rental cars booked via Capital One Travel
- 5X miles per $1 on purchases through Capital One Entertainment
- 5X miles per $1 on flights when booking via Capital One Travel
- 5X miles per $1 on vacation rentals booked via Capital One Travel
- 2X miles per $1 on all other eligible purchases
The Capital One Venture X is Capital One's luxury consumer card and comes stacked with benefits. You'll get up to $300 in travel credits each year for purchases made through Capital One Travel and 10,000 bonus miles on each account anniversary. The Capital One Venture X also gives you access to participating Priority Pass™ lounges, Capital One Lounges, and Landings locations, Hertz President's Circle elite status, and up to $120 TSA PreCheck or Global Entry fee credit.
You'll earn 10X miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel, 5X miles on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Travel, and 2X miles on other eligible purchases. In addition to operating as traditional fixed-value points redeemable for 1¢ apiece towards any travel purchase, just like with the Capital One Venture, Capital One miles earned on your Capital One Venture X also can be transferred to Capital One's 22 transfer partners.
Related: Capital One Venture X Full Review
Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card
- Earn a one-time $200 cash bonus once you spend $500 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening
- $0 annual fee and no foreign transaction fees
- Earn unlimited 3% cash back at grocery stores (excluding superstores like Walmart® and Target®), on dining, entertainment and popular streaming services, plus 1% on all other purchases
- Earn 8% cash back on Capital One Entertainment purchases
- Earn unlimited 5% cash back on hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
- No rotating categories or sign-ups needed to earn cash rewards; plus cash back won't expire for the life of the account and there's no limit to how much you can earn
- 0% intro APR on purchases and balance transfers for 12 months; 18.49% - 28.49% variable APR after that; balance transfer fee applies
- Top rated mobile app
- 8% cash back on purchases made via the Capital One Entertainment ticketing platform
- 5% cash back on hotels, vacation rentals, and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
- 3% cash back on dining and entertainment
- 3% at grocery stores (excluding superstores like Walmart® and Target®)
- 3% on popular streaming services
- 1% on all other purchases
The Capital One Savor Cash is a great no-annual-fee credit card option and ranks high on our best rewards cards for dining and restaurants.
New cardholders can earn $200 cash bonus after you spend $500 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening. Plus, the card offers a solid 3% Cash Back at grocery stores (excluding superstores like Walmart® and Target®), on dining, entertainment and popular streaming services. 5% Cash Back on hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel. 8% Cash Back on Capital One Entertainment purchases. 1% Cash Back on all other purchases. This is a great card to hold if you’re looking to supercharge your cash-back strategy.
Related: Capital One Savor Cash Full Review
Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card
- Earn $200 Cash Back after you spend $500 on purchases within 3 months from account opening
- 1.5% cash back on every purchase, every day
- 5% cash back on hotels, vacation rentals, and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
- No foreign transaction fees
- $0 annual fee
- 5% cash back on hotels, vacation rentals, and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
- 5% cash back on purchases through Capital One Entertainment
- 1.5% cash back on every purchase, every day
The Quicksilver Card is a simple, flat-rate rewards card with no complex bonus categories. Capital One rewards never expire as long as your account is open. In addition, there is no minimum redemption amount for your cash-back earnings. This is a great feature for folks who don’t spend a lot on their credit cards.
The Capital One Quicksilver also offers an introductory annual percentage rate (APR) if you want to fund a large purchase without paying interest. You'll also find a lengthy balance transfer period on this card.
- Purchase: 0% intro APR on purchases for 15 months, then a regular Variable APR of 18.49% - 28.49%.
- Balance transfer: 0% intro on balance transfers for 15 months. Balance transfer fee applies.
Related: Capital One Quicksilver Full Review
Capital One Venture X Business
- 10X miles per $1 on hotels and rental cars booked via Capital One Business Travel
- 5X miles per $1 on purchases through Capital One Entertainment
- 5X miles per $1 on flights booked via Capital One Business Travel
- 5X miles per $1 on vacation rentals booked via Capital One Business Travel
- 2X miles per $1 on other eligible purchases
The Capital One Venture X Business is the standard against which other business cards are measured when you consider a return on everyday spending. You'll earn unlimited 2X miles on all purchases, plus additional miles on trips booked through Capital One Business Travel. Earnings don't get simpler than this, and the fact that earnings aren't capped makes it even better.
Additional benefits on the Venture X Business include an annual $300 travel credit, 10,000 bonus miles on each account anniversary, unlimited visits to multiple lounge programs, and more. Maximizing this as an airport lounge card makes it a strong offering if you can visit Capital One Lounge and Landing locations. As a personal anecdote, I've recently been more impressed by Capital One's lounges than American Express Centurion Lounges.
Related: Venture X Business Full Review
Capital One Spark Cash Plus
- Earn a one-time cash bonus of $2,000 plus for a limited time, earn a $500 Capital One Business Travel credit once you spend $30,000 in the first 3 months
- Earn an additional $2,000 cash bonus for every $500K spent during the first year. You can earn this bonus multiple times over the course of year 1!
- Earn unlimited 2% cash back on every purchase, everywhere-with no limits or category restrictions
- 2% Cash Back on every purchase. 5% Cash Back on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Business Travel.
We consider the Spark Cash Plus the benchmark business rewards card for earning cash back. Cardholders receive a solid 2% cash back on everyday spending.
Simplicity is everything, especially when you're a small business owner. In addition, the Spark Cash Plus is a fantastic complement for earning $2,000 cash back (plus a $500 Capital One Business Travel credit) from the welcome bonus. Beware that you need to charge around $2,500 per month on the Spark Cash Plus to justify its $150 annual fee.
Related: Spark Cash Plus Full Review
Capital One Spark Cash Select
- Earn $750 Cash Back once you spend $6,000 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening
- 1.5% cashback on every purchase
- 5% cash back on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Business Travel
- No foreign transaction fees
- $0 annual fee
- 1.5% cashback on every purchase
- 5% cash back on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Business Travel
Compared to the Spark Cash Plus, the Capital One Spark Cash Select is a solid no-annual-fee alternative earning similar benefits. The cash-back card earns 1.5% Cash Back on every purchase. With a similar simplicity structure to the Spark Cash Plus, this card could fare better for businesses with modest spending.
The card also offers a generous welcome bonus for one without an annual fee. New cardholders can earn a $750 bonus once you spend $6,000 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening. Cardholders can also find helpful business benefits, like extended warranty protection and free employee cards.
Related: Spark Cash Select Full Review
Which Capital One Card Is Right for You?
Best Capital One cards for frequent travelers
If you're a frequent traveler, the miles-earning cards are the best options for your wallet. This is especially true for those willing to put in a bit of extra effort to utilize the transfer partners. If you aren't sure where to start, here are our top four Capital One transfer partners.
Even if you don't use the transfer partners, you can redeem your miles for a statement credit on any travel-related charge (from the past 90 days) at a value of one cent per mile. This makes the Capital One Venture equivalent to a 2% cash-back card if you simply redeem your miles on travel. But you also retain the huge upside of oversized value with the Capital One transfer partners.
- Earn 75,000 Miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within the first 3 months of account opening
- 5X miles on hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
- 2X miles on all other purchase
- Fee credit for Global Entry or TSA Pre✔® (up to $120)
- No foreign transaction fees
- $95 annual fee
- 5X miles per dollar on purchases through Capital One Entertainment
- 5X miles per dollar on hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
- 2X miles per dollar on all other purchases
For frequent travelers who can front the higher annual fee, the best choice is the Capital One Venture X. You'll get up to $300 in annual travel credits, 10,000 anniversary bonus miles, lounge access, and high earning rates when booking travel in Capital One's portal.
Just utilizing the $300 annual travel credit and anniversary bonus (worth $100 when redeemed for travel) more than offsets the card's $395 annual fee. So you end up getting the rest of the card's premium perks for essentially free.
- 10X miles per $1 on hotels and rental cars booked via Capital One Travel
- 5X miles per $1 on purchases through Capital One Entertainment
- 5X miles per $1 on flights when booking via Capital One Travel
- 5X miles per $1 on vacation rentals booked via Capital One Travel
- 2X miles per $1 on all other eligible purchases
Best Capital One cards for dining and entertainment purchases
For dining and entertainment purchases, the Capital One Savor Cash is at the top of the list. Despite not charging an annual fee, the Capital One Savor Cash earns:
- 8% cash back on purchases made via the Capital One Entertainment ticketing platform
- 5% cash back on hotels, vacation rentals, and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
- 3% cash back on dining and entertainment
- 3% at grocery stores (excluding superstores like Walmart® and Target®)
- 3% on popular streaming services
- 1% on all other purchases
Best Capital One cards for big-spending small businesses
As alluded to above, Capital One is currently offering small business owners some massive sign-up bonuses. For small businesses where cash is king, it's hard to overlook the Capital One Spark Cash Plus. New cardholders can earn a whopping Earn a one-time cash bonus of $2,000 plus for a limited time, earn a $500 Capital One Business Travel credit once you spend $30,000 in the first 3 months plus 2% Cash Back on every purchase. 5% Cash Back on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Business Travel.
- Earn a one-time cash bonus of $2,000 plus for a limited time, earn a $500 Capital One Business Travel credit once you spend $30,000 in the first 3 months
- Earn an additional $2,000 cash bonus for every $500K spent during the first year. You can earn this bonus multiple times over the course of year 1!
- Earn unlimited 2% cash back on every purchase, everywhere-with no limits or category restrictions
- 2% Cash Back on every purchase. 5% Cash Back on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Business Travel.
Capital One Application Rules
The key Capital One application restriction is that you may only apply for one Capital One card every six months. And unfortunately, this includes both business and personal cards.
If you're interested in multiple cards featured in this post (I'm sure you are!), you'll need to decide which one will give you the most value in the immediate future. Then, in six months, you can apply for another.
Plus, you'll see these terms in many Capital One applications:
“Existing or previous Accountholders may not be eligible for this one-time bonus.”
There are few data points about not earning a welcome bonus if you've had a card in the past, but it's worth knowing that you could be rejected for this reason.
Capital One is known to pull your credit report from all three credit bureaus, different than other card issuers. For most, this isn't a big deal, but something to keep in mind, especially if you care about your Chase 5/24 status. Although there isn't a published rule, Capital One also seems sensitive to the number of recent inquiries and new accounts showing on your credit report. Lastly, Capital One is known for reporting most business cards to your personal credit report.
Related: Understanding Rewards Credit Card Application Rules and Restrictions
Final Thoughts
Capital One offers great value credit cards to maximize the rewards you earn on everyday spending. This strategy differs from the competition, which focuses more on co-branded opportunities. Instead, these value-focused credit cards offer a great mix of traditional travel rewards and cash-back cards for maximum flexibility.
No matter your travel or rewards goals, you can fill your wallet with high-earning cards with a low out-of-pocket cost, saving you personally or your small business each year.
I used to think annual fees were the dumbest thing ever, but I am starting to see that some annual fee cards actually offer a value equal to if not more than the cost of the annual fee. I currently use the no-annual-fee Venture One card. Would I still be eligible for the sign-up bonus if I wanted to instead apply for the annual-fee Venture card and transfer my points/miles to the new card?
Hey Lauren, you should be eligible to get the Venture Card. You can find Capital One application rules here: https://awardwallet.com/credit-cards/rewards-card-application-rules/
Most notably, you can’t get approved for a new card if you’ve applied for another Capital One card in the previous 6 months.
It’s been a long time since I’ve applied for a card, so I should be good on that end. I just really want to take advantage of the welcome offer if possible since I’m already a no-annual-fee Venture One cardholder and would be looking to upgrade to some of the Venture benefits.
That’s the right strategy. You should be in good shape to apply for the Venture as a new card and take advantage of the welcome offer.
I like the Capital One® Quicksilver® Cash Rewards Credit Card. No Annual Fee (not just in the first year). I also like cash instead of miles. Can’t always use the miles and have to keep the account active to prevent miles from expiring if it is an airline I don’t fly often. I always find a way to spend the cash and it never expires.
Capital One is getting better and better. We’ll have to acknowledge the effort, but let’s see where it will go.
It would be nice if they have the same % on everything. Because I can never predict what I will spend in the coming months.
Capital One has improved but still has to catch up to chase and amex.
They’ve got a long way to go (probably too far to catch up) but they’re at least showing that they want to be a contender.
I received a Venture mailer and a Savor One mailer. If I use the codes in the letter to check for prequalify online, does that result in a hard pull?
I can’t say for sure but usually prequalified offers don’t trigger a hard pull unless you apply for the card.
Great summary of the various cards and their earning categories for an often overlooked issuer.
I recommend the Quick Silver. If I remember correctly there is also no foreign transaction fee on this card
Correct. No Discover card and no Capital One card has transaction fees.
Great options! evaluate the benefits is appropriate. But I don’t like to change too often or even have too many cards with me.
wow! thanks for sharing
The only downside with Capital One is that they pull from all three credit bureaus. Not a deal breaker, but definitely something to be aware of.
Exactly why I’m not applying for any of their cards for quite a while.
If you can put $100,000 with Bank Of America, including their discount brokerage Merrill Edge, you get a 75% bonus on credit card rebates, which brings cash back as high as 5 1/2% on a category of your choice with their Cash Rewards card, and, for a $95 annual fee for their Premium Rewards card, a minimum of 2.625% on non bonus category purchases (with a $500 sign up bonus, $100 airline incidentals credit, TSA precheck or Global Entry fee rebate). Also a free safe deposit box and 100 free Merrill trades a month.
Thanks for pointing out this route to boosting their cashback rate to a point other card options will have a hard time competing with.
I wish Capital one was more interested in not rejecting applicants.
Thanks for mentioning this. I had a few old cards with them, that were once worthwhile, like a card that paid 1.25% back, the best at the time, and an old HSBC card they bought. They cancelled all three cards a year and a half ago, for lack of use, with an invitation to apply again for any of their cards. A few monthes later, I applied for one of their newer cards, using my 820 or so FICO, and was rejected. Now, I would be leary to waste inquiries on my credit reports to apply for any card with them.
Really? How many cards have you opened recently? I wonder if they have a policy similar to Chase’s 5/24.
Thanks for the info. I’m not wow’ed by the lineup here. I guess like the other comments, these are good secondary or tertiary cards to have.
They all have no foreign transaction fees so that has a time and a place.
Can you combine points and cash back rewards so they are all points?
Unfortunately not, the cash back rewards can’t be turned into points.
Too bad, that would have made them more valuable
Wow. the email didn’t tell me it was all 5 Cap One cards. Oh well…
Wow it looks like Capital One is determined to catch up (or even exceed) other major travel card providers like Chase and Citi.
I’m waiting for better sign up offers though.
In this instance, keeping up with the Jones is just excellent.
I remember when the Capital One card was just a cash back card that you could only use for travel. Not interesting at all. Now, with the addition of transfer partners and other perks, it has become one of the best deals in the business. Unfortunately, Capital One seems to be allergic to approving me for cards despite an excellent credit score! I do realize that I have too many cards for their liking. I certainly would get a Venture card if they would approve me but until then, I’ll have to make do with my Chase and Amex trifectas.
My favorite feature here is the ability to “erase” any travel-related charge with a statement credit at a value of one cent per mile. That’s a real plus.
I really like Capital One. The trick for me is making those spending requirements though.
That’ll be the case with 90% of sign up bonuses though.
Capital One seem to have a good range of reward cards available.
They’re definitely trying to be a contender by having a real travel card that has transfer partners.
I think it’s difficult to recommend any of these cash back cards over the Citi Double Cash, for example, which has no annual fee. The Savor has superior earning, but unless you’re a really big spender, the Double Cash is the way to go because of the Savor’s $95 annual fee.
Use these cards when you have maxed out the bonuses of the more rewarding cards.
The Savor One has no AF. If you want a single card, sure the DoubleCash is good (except overseas) but there are many cards that are better than the DoubleCash (Savor One, Amex Blue Cash, etc).
It’s at least useful in the first year when the signup bonus more than makes up for the annual fee. And you may be able to call after the annual fee posts and get it waived.