Credit Card Comparison

Net rewards/yr = Σ(category reward) × 12 − annual fee, across groceries, gas & transit, dining, recurring bills, and everything else. Each category earns the card's boosted rate up to its annual spend cap, then the card's base rate above the cap, so a "5% up to $6,000/yr, then 1%" card is credited honestly once your spend clears the cap.

Recurring bills: subscriptions, phone, insurance and utilities earn each card's dedicated recurring/pre-authorized rate (e.g. Scotia Momentum and CIBC Dividend boost this category); cards with no special recurring rate simply earn their "everything else" rate on it.

Welcome bonus: with the toggle on, the estimated bonus is added only when your spend meets the required minimum within the bonus window (e.g. $9,000 in 12 months). Cards whose minimum you don't reach show "bonus not counted", so a big first-year number never assumes spending you won't do.

Point value: earn rates are quoted at a conservative ~1¢/point, so the default 1.0¢ leaves every figure unchanged. Raising the cents-per-point value only lifts transferable points cards (Membership Rewards on Amex Cobalt/Platinum/Business Edge, Aeroplan on TD). Cobalt-style transfers to airline partners routinely reach 1.5–2¢. Cash-back cards and fixed-value programs (Scene+, PC Optimum ~1¢) are never scaled.

Income: enter your annual income to dim cards whose stated minimum you don't meet (they drop to the end of the list for reference, with no apply link, and are excluded from the #1 pick). Leave it at $0 to skip the check. A card qualifies once your income clears its lowest stated bar. Personal income is usually the easier path than the household figure.

Which caps are modelled: clean per-category caps are applied (BMO CashBack World Elite groceries $6,000/yr; Simplii dining $5,000/yr). Combined annual caps that span several bonus categories at different rates (Scotia Momentum, CIBC Dividend, Amex Cobalt) are not modelled, so at high spend those cards' figures are optimistic ceilings, check the issuer's combined cap.

Low interest view: ranked by purchase APR, not rewards, if you carry a balance, a 12.99% rate beats any cash back. Pair with the payoff calculator and debt payoff planner.

What each card earns you: each bar splits a card's figure into its parts, rewards on your spend + welcome bonus counted − annual fee = net, so you can see whether a card wins on earn rate, on its bonus or on a low fee. The number at the end of each bar is the same net figure the list shows; when a card in the chart costs more than it earns, the figures move to each bar's tooltip, because a negative total cannot be printed legibly on the bar. Only cards your income qualifies for are drawn (all of them when the income filter is off; when no card in view qualifies, the best cards overall, and the chart says so). A card whose fee is bigger than what it earns shows a negative net, never $0.

Is the annual fee worth it: both lines are ongoing years, without welcome bonuses, because the fee comes back every year and the bonus does not. Every category of your spending is scaled by the same factor (0 to about 3 times your current spending), so your mix stays the same while the total changes, and each point is the full ranking math above, caps included. When your top pick charges a fee, the other line is the best $0-fee card at each spending level, so the break-even is the spending above which your pick beats every $0-fee card, not just the one that is best today. When your top pick has no fee, the other line is the best card with a fee at each level. Cards that earn no rewards on your spending are left out, since they can never pay for a fee. Break-evens are solved exactly (to the cent), not read off the drawn lines, out to 10 times your spending or $20,000 a month, whichever is higher: scaling your mix makes every card's yearly net a straight line that bends only where a category reaches its cap, so every change of lead is found, however narrow. A lead that rounds to $0 a year counts as a tie. A second crossing means a spending cap, or a $0-fee card that earns more per dollar, takes the lead back. Combined caps that span several categories are not modelled, on cards with a fee and without, so at high spending either line can be an optimistic ceiling.

Which card pays most where you spend: each cell is the card's yearly reward on that category ÷ your yearly spending in it, at your point value and before annual fees, so a "5% up to a cap" category blends down once your spending passes the cap. Categories you spend nothing on are left out. A card where you choose the boosted categories (Tangerine) is shown with the categories it would pick on its own: your biggest ones.

Best two-card combo: every pair of eligible cards in view is tried, putting each category on whichever card pays more on it, minus both annual fees. Each welcome bonus is counted only on the spending that pair actually routes to that card. For a card where you choose the boosted categories, every choice it allows is tried, because next to a card that already pays more on your groceries, the best picks are the categories it actually gets (and, with welcome bonuses counted, leaving a category unpicked can send it to the other card and meet that card's minimum spend). The combo is shown when it beats the best single card by more than $15 a year.

What this doesn't model: combined/shared caps, insurance packages, per-card point valuations, first-year-free promos, and credit approval odds. Issuer pages are the source of truth.