Capital One has been on an upward trend recently, ever since it added the ability to transfer miles earned on the Spark and Venture card families to airline partners. We’ve seen Capital One launch several limited-time transfer bonuses and the transfer partner options have expanded to include two hotel partners and an improved transfer rate to JetBlue. Now is a great time to take a closer look at Capital One’s best cards.
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Best Capital One credit cards of 2020
- Capital One® Venture® Rewards Credit Card: Best for travel rewards
- Capital One® Spark® Miles for Business: Best for business travel
- Capital One® Spark® Cash for Business: Best for flat-rate business spending
- Capital One® Savor® Cash Rewards Credit Card: Best for dining and entertainment
- Capital One® Quicksilver® Cash Rewards Credit Card: Best for flat-rate cash back
Today we’ll take a look at some of the best Capital One credit cards, including those underrated credit cards that don’t always get the attention they deserve. Note that all of the cards on this list also have no annual fee versions — such as the Capital One® VentureOne® Rewards Credit Card and the Capital One® SavorOne® Cash Rewards Credit Card. These cards have fewer perks and lower earning rates. But Capital One’s top cards offer significant value and have modest annual fees, so we’ll focus on the big leagues here.
The information for the Capital One cards has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
In This Post
Comparison of the best Capital One credit cards of 2020
| Credit Card | Best For | Bonus | Annual Fee |
| Capital One Venture Rewards Card | Travel Rewards | 50,000 miles after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first three months | $95 (waived the first year) |
| Spark Miles from Capital One | Business Travel | Earn 50,000 bonus miles after you spend $4,500 in the first three months | $95 (waived the first year) |
| Spark Cash from Capital One | Flat-rate Business Spending | Earn $500 after you spend $4,500 in the first three months | $95 (waived the first year) |
| Savor Rewards from Capital One | Dining and Entertainment | $300 after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first three months | $95 (waived the first year) |
| Quicksilver from Capital One | Flat-rate Cash Back | $150 after you spend $500 on purchases in the first three months | $0 |
How do these five cards help you maximize your points, miles, and cash back on spend? Here’s a rundown of the major card benefits:
Best Capital One credit cards
Capital One Venture Rewards Card
Sign-up bonus: Earn 50,000 miles after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first three months.
Rewards: 5x miles on hotels and rental cars booked on Capital One Travel and 2x miles per dollar spent on all purchases, all with no annual caps or limits
Benefits: While the Capital One Venture Rewards Card first earned its place by offering a consistent 2x miles on all purchases and a simple fixed-value “purchase eraser” redemption structure, the addition of transfer partners put it in a league of its own. Miles transfer at a 2:1.5 ratio to the following programs, effectively giving the card an earning rate of 1.5x partner miles or points per dollar spent on 2x purchases:
- Aeromexico Club Premier
- Air Canada Aeroplan
- Air France-KLM Flying Blue
- Alitalia MilleMiglia
- Avianca LifeMiles
- Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Etihad Guest
- EVA Infinity MileageLands
- Finnair Plus
- Hainan Fortune Wings Club
- JetBlue TrueBlue
- Qantas Frequent Flyer
- Qatar Airways Privilege Club
- Wyndham Rewards
Miles transfer to these three additional partner programs at a 2:1 ratio:
- Accor Live Limitless
- Emirates Skywards
- Singapore KrisFlyer
While you can still use your miles to erase travel purchases from your statement at a fixed rate of one cent each, these transfer partners led TPG to value Capital One miles at 1.4 cents each, giving the Venture card an earning rate of 7% on hotels and rental cars booked on Capital One Travel and an astounding earning rate of 2.8% on all other purchases.
Flexibility is one of the most valuable elements of a good points strategy, and the Venture card delivers loads of it by allowing you to decide on a case-by-case basis whether to use it as a fixed-value or transferable-points card. Getting all of that from a card that waives it’s modest annual fee for the first year and offers a Global Entry/TSA PreCheck application fee credit (up to $100) every four years is a great deal. For more updates on the Capital One Venture card, visit our Capital One Venture card hub.
Annual fee: $95 (waived the first year)
Further Reading:
Spark Miles from Capital One
Sign-up bonus: Earn 50,000 bonus miles after you spend $4,500 in the first three months.
Rewards: Earn 5x miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel; 2x miles on all other purchases.
Benefits: The Spark Miles from Capital One is a business credit card that gives you access to the same great airline and hotel transfer partners as the Venture family of cards. Businesses can enjoy free employee cards and no foreign transaction fees. You also get up to $100 in credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck enrollment fees every four years, along with rental collision coverage and emergency travel assistance.
Annual fee: $95 (waived the first year)
Further Reading:
Spark Cash from Capital One
Sign-up bonus: Earn $500 after you spend $4,500 in the first three months.
Rewards: Earn cash back at a fixed 2% rate.
Benefits: Even if your business prefers cash back over travel rewards, you can still get great value out of your credit card usage. The Spark Cash from Capital One is similar to the Spark Miles card; the main difference is that it earns cash back instead of transferable miles. That saves you the trouble of having to identify travel purchases made in the last 90 days to redeem your miles for a statement credit. Instead, you’ll easily get cash in your pocket. Just remember you’re unable to transfer rewards to Capital One’s airline and hotel partners with this card.
Annual fee: $95 (waived the first year)
Further Reading:
Savor Rewards from Capital One
Sign-up bonus: $300 after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first three months.
Rewards: The card earns 4% back on dining and entertainment, 2% back at grocery stores and 1% on everything else.
Benefits: The Savor Rewards from Capital One is a pure cash-back card that aims to compete on its earning rates, not on perks and benefits. There are credit cards out there with more valuable individual bonus categories, but if you’re looking for a no-frills, no-nonsense card with multiple solid bonus categories all in one package, the Savor is a great choice to consider. Just make sure you’re getting more than $95 worth of cash back from it after the first year — otherwise, you might want to consider the no annual fee Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card instead. With its solid earning rates for dining and entertainment spending, the Capital One Savor Rewards card earns a spot as one of our picks for the best cash back credit cards.
Annual fee: $95 (waived the first year)
Further Reading:
Quicksilver from Capital One
Sign-up bonus: $150 after you spend $500 on purchases in the first three months.
Rewards: Earn a fixed and unlimited 1.5% cash back on all purchases.
Benefits: The Quicksilver from Capital One is about as simplified as you can get, so for people who don’t want to spend time learning award charts and maxing out transfer bonuses, it can be a decent option. Its rewards are not the best rate on the market, but are passable, especially for a no-annual-fee card. While the sign-up bonus isn’t massive, the spending requirement is low. That said, if you’re in the market for a no-annual-fee cash back card like this, you’d likely be better off picking the Citi® Double Cash Card instead. There’s also the Capital One® QuicksilverOne® Cash Rewards Credit Card but that comes with a $39 annual fee.
Annual fee: $0
Further Reading:
Main benefits of Capital One credit cards
Capital One made its Venture and Sparks Miles cards more valuable when it added the ability for cardholders to transfer miles to travel partners at a 2:1.5 – 2:1 ratio. And, now Capital One has added two additional hotel transfer partners and improved the transfer rate for JetBlue.
The flat miles and cash back earned on Capital One Venture, Miles and Quicksilver cards makes things simple for cardholders, since you don’t have to worry about remembering which spending categories offer higher rewards. If you spend regularly on dining and entertainment, the 4% cash back on the Savor card is a good deal. And, if you don’t want to pay an annual fee and prefer a fixed earning rate, the Quicksilver is a reasonable choice.
Plus, none of these cards charge foreign transaction fees.
How to redeem Capital One rewards
Redemptions on all the cards is pretty simple. You can redeem your Savor, Spark Cash or Quicksilver cash back as a check, set up automatic redemptions at a set time or at specific cash thresholds or redeem it for statement credits or gift cards.
With the Venture or Spark Miles, you can use the Purchase Eraser to receive a statement credit for the cost of travel booked with either card. You can also go to capitalone.com or call the Capital One Rewards Center to book a flight, car rental or hotel and use your miles to pay for them. Or, you can transfer your miles to airline or hotel partners in increments of 1,000 Capital One miles and then use the partner program to book a hotel stay or flight.
How we choose the best Capital One credit cards
We reviewed the entire Capital One credit card lineup for the best offers and studied their pros and cons. Our method for assigning value to these cards relied upon assessing the real value of the sign-up bonus, rewards, perks and annual fees. As always, head to our Best Cards and Best Rewards Cards pages to see the best credit cards and best rewards credit cards currently available across all banks and issuers.
Bottom line
While premium credit cards are all the rage these days, $400 -$500+ annual fees aren’t right for everyone. Capital One has taken a different approach. None of these cards offer a lengthy, exhausting list of perks that you may or may not remember to use. None of them cost more than $100 a year to carry and they’re all annual-fee-free for the first year.
Capital One has focused on providing a good value proposition in terms of earning and redeeming, instead of complicating things with flashy and expensive perks. Whether you’re an individual or a business, and whether you are looking for miles or cash back, Capital One has a card that can help you achieve your travel goals.
Related rewards card guides
- To transfer or not to transfer: What to do with Capital One miles
- How to redeem Capital One miles at a fixed value
- These are the Capital One credit cards that earn transferable miles
- Best ways to maximize Capital One miles
- Best ways to redeem Capital One miles for domestic flights, Oneworld airlines, SkyTeam airlines and Star Alliance airlines
- Best travel credit cards
- Best cash-back credit cards
Additional reporting by Benét J. Wilson and Katie Genter.
Featured photo by The Points Guy.
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