How we score
Three numbers, then one rank. Money is counted in dollars, safety in points, and missing data is shown. Formula 1.0, Oct-25, 2026.
1. What you keep a year
For every plan of every card we work out the dollars you keep in a year after all costs, for a given spender. We pick the best plan for that spender. On the Cards page you can change the spender and the ranking follows.
Assumptions
| Default spender | $1,000 a month, 20% abroad, no staking |
| Rewards in a stablecoin or cash | 100% of face value |
| Rewards in BTC or ETH | 95% |
| Rewards in the issuer's own token or points | 50% |
| Rewards that vest over 6 months or more | another −20% |
| Money locked for staking | 5% a year |
| …when locked in the issuer's own token | another 25% a year |
Token rewards lose value often enough that counting them at face value would rank the riskiest cards first.
2. Trust, 100 points
| Criterion | Points |
|---|---|
| Licence and regulator | 25 |
| Custody and fund protection | 20 |
| Incidents in the last 24 months | 20 |
| Track record and verified volume | 15 |
| Published fees and terms | 10 |
| Support and user sentiment | 10 |
Grades: A 85 and up, B 70, C 55, D 40, F below 40. Every card page shows the points given for each criterion, the reason and the source.
3. Data
The share of the 19 fields buyers need most that have a value with a source: issuer, network, custody, KYC, price, card fee, cashback and what it is paid in, FX fee, ATM fee, limits, coins, chains, Apple Pay, Google Pay, regions, app rating and Trustpilot.
Personal accounts only
This site compares cards for individuals. Business and corporate accounts are not covered.
Where the numbers come from
Plans, fees, cashback and limits come from the issuer's own fee pages, terms and help center. Other comparison sites help us find things, but a number from one of them is shown as "Not confirmed by the issuer" until the issuer's own page backs it up. Measurements only a third party has, such as a tested FX markup or on-chain spend, are cited to that third party.
When someone measured a real payment, we use that FX cost in the money calculation instead of the advertised one, and show both. Reviews and community reports, such as Cryptonoshi and Finek, can point to a test, an incident or a common complaint, but they never confirm a price, fee or limit.
Card pictures are the issuer's own artwork where we could find it, credited under the picture. Where we could not, the card is drawn in the plan's colour and labelled as an illustration.
Card Score
- What we earn from a card is never an input.
- No random noise, no floor. A bad card can score low.
- Cards graded D or F rank below every card graded C or better.
- Cards that are paused, closing, closed or on a waitlist rank last, and do not affect other cards' scores.
- Every formula change gets a new version number here.