Best credit cards in Canada, by what they actually pay

Every card in the Canada catalogue, ranked by what it genuinely returns on each kind of spending — after the monthly cap, and after the minimum spend some cards require before any bonus rate applies.

21 cards · catalogue v101 · 3 of 21 read from the issuer's own terms

The best rate here with nothing attached to it

American Express Platinum pays 2.00% on travel with no monthly cap and no minimum spend to unlock it — which is rarer, and worth more over a year, than most of the larger numbers in the table below.

The 3 Canada cards read off the issuer

Every rate on this page came from somewhere. These ones came from the bank's own published terms, read by a person on the date shown, with the cap and the minimum spend that the comparison tables leave out. Each has its own page.

CIBC Dividend Visa InfiniteCIBC · checked 16 Sep 2026
Scotia Momentum Visa InfiniteScotiabank · checked 16 Sep 2026
Scotiabank Gold American ExpressScotiabank · checked 16 Sep 2026

Every category in Canada

In the order people spend, not biggest number first. The highest rate on a card is routinely the one that means least, so what limits it is shown beside it.

Best published return per category in Canada, from 21 cards. The headline rate is one that covers the whole category; where a bigger rate covers only part of it, that is shown underneath with what it covers.
Spending on	Best return	Card
groceries	5.00%	MBNA Rewards World EliteMBNA
dining	5.00%	MBNA Rewards World EliteMBNA
fuel	4.00%	CIBC Dividend Visa InfinitecheckedCIBC · CAD 120 a year
online and delivery	5.00%on food and grocery delivery in Canada	American Express CobaltAmerican Expressthis rate covers the first CAD 2,500 of spending a month
travel	2.00%or 3.00% (public transit), with TD Cash Back Visa Infinite	American Express PlatinumAmerican Express
phone and internet	5.00%on household utility	MBNA Rewards World EliteMBNA
entertainment	3.33%or 5.00% (membership), with MBNA Rewards World Elite	Scotiabank Gold American ExpresscheckedScotiabank · CAD 120 a yearthis rate covers the first CAD 50,000 of spending a year
pharmacy	2.00%	Scotia Momentum VisaScotiabank · CAD 49 a year
everything else	2.00%or 4.00% (recurring payments $10,000+ balance), with Neo World Mastercard	Wealthsimple Cash CardWealthsimple · CAD 240 a year

How these were worked out. 3 of the 21 cards here have been read against the issuer's own terms line by line and are marked checked in the tables below. The rest come from each issuer's published material and have not been checked that way. Every rate is converted to what the card actually returns — points and miles are valued at the redemption rate the programme publishes, using the rate anyone can take rather than the best one available after a transfer. Where a card's programme publishes no redemption value, the card is left off this page rather than listed at a number that would be a guess. Caps and minimum monthly spends are shown because they are usually what decides whether a headline rate is real.

This is a table. Your wallet is a decision.

PayperWIZ holds the cards you actually own and names the right one at the till — after the cap you have already used this month, and after the foreign-currency fee. It works offline and needs no bank connection.

Download on the App Store See how it works

Other markets

The same working, for the other countries in the catalogue.