Citi Strata Premier
Citi, Mastercard, $95 annual fee. Earns Citi ThankYou Points, valued at 1.60¢ a point.
Rates checked against the issuer 2026-08. Foreign transaction fee: none.
The short version
- Best at: gas (#3, $4.80 per $100).
- A year's rewards: about $855, or $760 after the fee.
- Weighing it up against: Strata Elite, Sapphire Preferred.
Is the annual fee worth it?
It earns about $855 a year on the illustrative household's spending, which is $760 once the fee is paid. The best card with no fee, American Express Blue Business Plus, nets $1,058 on the same spending — so this card is $298 a year behind. It pulls ahead of the free card once spending passes about $7,403 a month.
Price its credits, perks and sign-up bonus your way — tick what you would use and say what it is worth to you.
Priced on an illustrative household spending $2,205 a month on a card — the assumption, in full. Credits and perks are not priced: they are worth their face value only if you would have spent that money anyway.
What it earns, category by category
| Earns on | Rate | ConditionsWhat the issuer attaches to this rate: a spending cap, a category you have to switch on, or a booking you have to make through its travel portal. |
|---|---|---|
| Hotels, Car Rental, Entertainment | 10x | Only through the issuer's travel portal. Hotels, car rentals and attractions via Citi Travel |
| Restaurants & Bars, Food Delivery, Groceries, Gas Stations, Flights, Hotels | 3x | |
| Everything else | 1x |
Where it ranks
Against every card in the catalogue, scored in dollars per $100 with no rotating categories switched on:
- #3 of 117 for gas — $4.80 per $100
Where a year's rewards come from
| Spending on | Earns a yearWhat this card earns on each kind of spending over a year, for the illustrative household on the method page. Before the annual fee. |
|---|---|
| Groceries | $288 |
| Restaurants & Bars | $173 |
| Everything Else | $96 |
| Gas Stations | $86 |
| Flights | $58 |
| Hotels | $43 |
Priced on an illustrative household spending $2,205 a month on a card — the assumption, in full. Credits and perks are not priced: they are worth their face value only if you would have spent that money anyway.
What the issuer lists besides rewards
- Annual hotel savings benefit on a qualifying booking
- No foreign transaction fees
- Citi withdrew extended warranty, return protection and rental car coverage from its cards in September 2019
Similar cards
- American Express Amex EveryDay Preferred — annual fee $95 a year
- Wells Fargo Autograph Journey — annual fee $95 a year
- Bilt Obsidian Card — annual fee $95 a year
- American Express Business Green Rewards Card — annual fee $95 a year
- Every travel card, ranked
- When an annual fee pays for itself
- The best two- and three-card combinations
Point values: published industry valuations, read 2026-09. How every number here is worked out.