Cash back or travel points: which earns more?
At an illustrative household's $2,205 a month, the best points card — American Express Blue Business Plus — comes out $315 a year ahead of the best cash back card, after fees. Points are counted at published valuations, which assume you redeem them well.
Half as much: $1,103 a month
The short version
- If you won't book travel with points, count them at about a cent and compare on that.
- At the illustrative household's spending, the best points card comes out ahead — see whether that holds at yours.
- Airline and hotel cards win mostly on perks, which this page does not price.
- Try your own numbers on the next-card calculator.
| Kind | Best card | Earned a yearA year of rewards at this level of spending, before the annual fee. | After the feeThe same year of rewards, minus the annual fee. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Points | American Express Blue Business Plus | $529 | $529 |
| Cash back | Robinhood Gold Card | $397 | $347 |
| Airline | Citi AAdvantage MileUp | $235 | $235 |
| Hotel | American Express Hilton Honors Card | $204 | $204 |
The illustrative household: $2,205 a month
| Kind | Best card | Earned a yearA year of rewards at this level of spending, before the annual fee. | After the feeThe same year of rewards, minus the annual fee. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Points | American Express Blue Business Plus | $1,058 | $1,058 |
| Cash back | Robinhood Gold Card | $794 | $744 |
| Airline | Citi AAdvantage MileUp | $471 | $471 |
| Hotel | Chase IHG One Rewards Premier | $555 | $456 |
Twice as much: $4,410 a month
| Kind | Best card | Earned a yearA year of rewards at this level of spending, before the annual fee. | After the feeThe same year of rewards, minus the annual fee. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Points | American Express Blue Business Plus | $2,058 | $2,058 |
| Cash back | Robinhood Gold Card | $1,588 | $1,538 |
| Hotel | Chase IHG One Rewards Premier | $1,111 | $1,012 |
| Airline | Citi AAdvantage MileUp | $941 | $941 |
Yearly figures are priced on an illustrative household spending $2,205 a month on a card — an assumption, not a statistic. The assumption, in full. Credits and perks are not priced.
What the valuation assumes
A dollar of cash back is a dollar. A point is worth what somebody gets for it, and the published figures used here assume transfers to airline and hotel partners at good rates. Redeemed for a statement credit instead, most bank points are worth about a cent, and the order above can reverse. What transferable points are and what sets their value.
Point values: published industry valuations, most recently read 2026-09. We track The Points Guy, Upgraded Points, NerdWallet, Frequent Miler and AwardWallet. Every figure on this page is recomputed from that data when the site is built, so it cannot quietly disagree with what Cardful tells you at a checkout.