Cardful

When does an annual fee pay for itself?

When the extra rewards are worth more than the fee, and whether they are depends almost entirely on how much you spend. Of the 18 pairs below, the dearer card comes out ahead for four of them at an illustrative household's $2,205 a month — and the last column says where each one flips.

The short version

  1. Add up your monthly card spending and compare it with the flip point in the table.
  2. Count a credit only if you would have spent that money anyway.
  3. Judge the second year, not the first — the sign-up bonus pays once and the fee every year.
  4. Check with your own numbers on the next-card calculator.
Fee cardAgainstDifference a year, net of feesWhere it flips
Chase Sapphire Reserve
$795 a year
 Chase Sapphire Preferred
$95 a year
 −$714 Behind at every level looked at
American Express Platinum Card
$895 a year
 American Express Gold Card
$325 a year
 −$1,098 Behind at every level looked at
Chase Sapphire Reserve
$795 a year
 American Express Gold Card
$325 a year
 −$824 Behind at every level looked at
American Express Gold Card
$325 a year
 Chase Sapphire Preferred
$95 a year
 +$110 Pays for itself above $1,493 a month
Capital One Venture X
$395 a year
 Capital One Venture Rewards
$95 a year
 −$300 Behind at every level looked at
Chase Sapphire Reserve
$795 a year
 Capital One Venture X
$395 a year
 −$553 Behind at every level looked at
American Express Platinum Card
$895 a year
 Capital One Venture X
$395 a year
 −$827 Behind at every level looked at
American Express Blue Cash Preferred
$95 a year
 American Express Blue Cash Everyday
No annual fee
 +$80 Pays for itself above $1,196 a month
Capital One SavorOne
$39 a year
 Capital One Savor
No annual fee
 −$39 Behind at every level looked at
American Express Delta SkyMiles Platinum
$350 a year
 American Express Delta SkyMiles Gold
$150 a year
 −$178 Pays for itself above $20,417 a month
American Express Hilton Honors Aspire
$550 a year
 American Express Hilton Honors Surpass
$150 a year
 −$467 Behind at every level looked at
American Express Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant
$650 a year
 Chase Bonvoy Boundless
$95 a year
 −$564 Behind at every level looked at
Chase United Quest
$350 a year
 Chase United Explorer
$150 a year
 −$190 Behind at every level looked at
Chase Rapid Rewards Priority
$229 a year
 Chase Rapid Rewards Plus
$99 a year
 −$11 Pays for itself above $2,418 a month
Citi Strata Elite
$595 a year
 Citi Strata Premier
$95 a year
 −$634 Behind at every level looked at
Wells Fargo Autograph Journey
$95 a year
 Wells Fargo Autograph
No annual fee
 −$162 Behind at every level looked at
American Express Blue Cash Preferred
$95 a year
 Citi Costco Anywhere Visa
No annual fee
 +$104 Pays for itself above $1,052 a month
Chase Sapphire Preferred
$95 a year
 Bilt Mastercard
No annual fee
 +$3 Pays for itself above $2,129 a month

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. The spending is scaled up and down with its proportions held, and caps are honoured, which is why some cards are ahead only in a band rather than above a line.

What the number leaves out

Credits and perks. A travel credit, a lounge, a free night: each is worth its face value only if you would have spent that money anyway. None is counted above, so a card whose case rests on its perks looks worse here than on its issuer's page — deliberately.

Sign-up bonuses. They pay once, and a fee is charged every year. A bonus can make the first year worth it on its own, and says nothing about the second.

Your valuation. A fee card that pays in points is only ahead if a point is worth what the published valuation says to you. What sets a point's value.

Related

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.

It knows what you actually spend.

Cardful values a fee card against the cards you already carry, on your own point values.

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