Capital One Savor

Dining, groceries, entertainment and popular streaming services, all at 3%, all unlimited. The absence of a cap is what separates this from most of the high-rate cards here: U.S. Bank Cash+ pays 5% but caps at $2,000 a quarter, Chase Freedom Flex pays 5% but caps at $1,500 a quarter, Bank of America Customized Cash pays 6% but only for a year and with a cap.

Groceries at 3% uncapped is the standout. It's the largest recurring category in most household budgets, and it's precisely where capped cards run out: a family spending $800 a month on groceries would exhaust U.S. Bank's combined quarterly cap in under three months.

5% on travel booked through Capital One Travel sits on top, with the usual portal caveat, and 1% on everything else.

Against a flat 2% card, Savor wins if roughly 40% or more of your spending falls in those four categories, because the 1% base costs you a point on everything else. For a household that cooks, eats out sometimes and pays for streaming, that share is often comfortably met.

Against Wells Fargo Autograph, the other broad no-fee category card here: Autograph covers six categories at 3x including gas, transit and phone plans but not groceries; Savor covers four including groceries but not driving. Which one wins depends on whether your money goes into a car or a kitchen.

APR is 18.49% to 28.49%. There's no verified intro 0% period, unlike Quicksilver's 15 months.

Dining, groceries, entertainment and popular streaming services all earn 3%, with no quarterly cap, no enrolment and no rotation. Among the no-fee cards in this catalog that combination is unusual: most cards paying above 2% pay it inside a cap, a chosen category or a calendar.

Groceries and dining together are the largest discretionary line in most household budgets, so an uncapped 3% across both is worth more in practice than a capped 5% on categories chosen by someone else.

Everything outside those four categories earns 1%, which is the lowest base rate among the no-fee cash-back cards here and half of what the flat 2% group pays on the same purchases.

That makes this a second card more naturally than a only card. Paired with a flat 2% for everything else, the combination beats either alone; used on its own for all spending, the 1% base gives back a good part of what the 3% categories earn.

Dining, groceries, entertainment and popular streaming services all earn 3%, with no quarterly cap, no enrolment and no rotation. Among the no-fee cards in this catalog that combination is unusual: most cards paying above 2% pay it inside a cap, a chosen category or a calendar.

Groceries and dining together are the largest discretionary line in most household budgets, so an uncapped 3% across both is worth more in practice than a capped 5% on categories chosen by someone else.

Everything outside those four categories earns 1%, which is the lowest base rate among the no-fee cash-back cards here and half of what the flat 2% group pays on the same purchases.

That makes this a second card more naturally than a only card. Paired with a flat 2% for everything else, the combination beats either alone; used on its own for all spending, the 1% base gives back a good part of what the 3% categories earn.