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It’s difficult to argue that cash-back isn’t the most liquid form of credit card rewards you can earn. Additionally, many cash-back credit cards do not charge an annual fee. This combination can be appealing when you’re just starting out and looking for a rewards-earning card.
Keeping this desirable combination in mind, we’ve selected 2 popular credit cards for our comparison today. Both offer nice earning potential for everyday purchases, lack the expense of an annual fee, and have good-value redemption options and benefits you can use.
The Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express and the Chase Freedom Unlimited® are similar in that both offer the ability to earn rewards via cash-back. When it comes time to redeem those rewards, however, you’ll find differences that could affect which card is more appropriate for your situation.
In our article today, we’ll cover all of the earning and redemption details, plus give you an overview of the benefits you can expect to receive on each card.
If you’re interested in the combination of a cash-back earning card that doesn’t charge an annual fee, you’ll find our comparison useful.
We will cover a lot of information on our featured cards, but before we do, we’ll briefly summarize and compare all the attributes of the cards, side-by-side.
| Feature or Benefit | Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express | Chase Freedom Unlimited® |
| Welcome Offer | Earn a $200 statement credit after spending $2,000 in purchases in the first 6 months. | SPECIAL OFFER: Unlimited Matched Cash Back. Chase will automatically match all the cash back you earned at the end of your first year! There is no limit to how much cash back you can earn. |
| Earnings |
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| Redemption Options |
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| Travel Benefits and Protections | Secondary car rental insurance, with access to Premium Car Rental Protection | Secondary car rental insurance, travel emergency assistance, roadside dispatch |
| Shopping Benefits and Protections |
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| Annual Fee and Authorized User Fee |
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Bottom Line: While the Amex Blue Cash Everyday card may have the earning edge on everyday purchases, the Freedom Unlimited card offers greater redemption flexibility, especially if you have a premium Chase credit card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or Chase Sapphire Reserve® to facilitate transferring Ultimate Rewards points and receiving greater potential value.
Terms Apply / Rates & FeesThis cash-back card offers a capped 3% at U.S. supermarkets, 3% at U.S. gas stations, and 3% on U.S. online retail purchases!
When it comes to cash-back credit cards, there are dozens of options to choose from. So what sets the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express apart from the rest?
This card is excellent at earning cash-back on your everyday purchases at U.S. supermarkets, U.S. gas stations, and on U.S. online retail purchases. So if you regularly spend money on everyday purchases, this could be the perfect card to add to your wallet.
This all-purpose cash-back card offers great bonus categories, including bonus points for every purchase you make!
The Chase Freedom Unlimited® is easily one of the best cash-back credit cards on the market. There aren’t many no-annual-fee credit cards that offer multiple great bonus categories like 5% back on travel purchased through Chase, 3% back on dining and drugstore purchases, and 1.5% back on all other purchases.
When paired with other Chase cards in the Ultimate Rewards family, you can transfer that cash back into points if you wish – making it one of the most lucrative cards in your wallet.
Cash-back is earned on each of our featured cards first in the form of a specific rewards currency. The Amex Blue Cash Everyday card earns cash-back in the form of Reward Dollars and the Freedom Unlimited card in the form of Ultimate Rewards points.
The Amex Blue Cash Everyday card offers elevated earning on select bonus categories while the Freedom Unlimited card has a flat-rate earning structure (with a few exceptions) where every purchase earns a flat rate of cash-back. Here’s how the cards compare:
| Card | Earnings |
| Amex Blue Cash Everyday Card |
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| Freedom Unlimited Card |
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Let’s look at some spending examples to see which might be the better card when it comes to earnings.
Spending Breakdown:
| Amex Blue Cash Everyday Card | Freedom Unlimited Card |
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| $324 Total Earnings | $282 Total Earnings |
Spending Breakdown:
| Amex Blue Cash Everyday Card | Freedom Unlimited Card |
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| $276 Total Earnings | $306 Total Earnings |
The Amex Blue Cash Everyday card offers elevated bonus earnings on purchases such as those at U.S. supermarkets, U.S. gas stations, and U.S. online retailers. If you spend heavily in these categories, the Amex Blue Cash Everyday card could offer better earnings.
The Freedom Unlimited card earns bonus cash-back on travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards, dining and drugstore purchases, Lyft purchases, and a flat rate on every other purchase. The actual mix of your spending will determine the total earnings for each card.
While reward-earning rates are important, the value of the rewards at redemption time is equally, if not more, important.
| Card | Redemption Options |
| Amex Blue Cash Everyday Card |
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| Freedom Unlimited Card |
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The Amex Blue Cash Everyday card has higher earning potential on everyday spending, however, the ability to transfer Ultimate Rewards points earned on the Freedom Unlimited card to Chase premium cards results in Ultimate Rewards points having more potential value.
Transferring Ultimate Rewards points to cards such as the Chase Sapphire Preferred card and the Chase Sapphire Reserve card offers redemption values of up to 1.5 cents per point for travel and the additional option to transfer to Chase airline and hotel partners for even greater potential value.
Additionally, Ultimate Rewards points are also more flexible in that you can redeem them for cash at 1 cent per point.
Bottom Line: If your priority is to use your points for statement credits, both featured cards offer the same 1-cent value per point. However, if you have a premium Chase Ultimate Rewards-earning card, you’ll receive far better value by transferring your points to one of those cards and redeeming them for travel. You can receive up to 1.5 cents per point for travel via the Chase travel portal or even greater potential value through travel transfer partners.
The Amex Blue Cash Everyday card outshines the Freedom Unlimited card in the area of statement credits. You’ll find the following statement credits on the Amex Blue Cash Everyday card:
Neither card charges an annual fee and there is no cost to add authorized users.
While each of our featured cards comes with several of its own travel benefits and protections, both cards share some common perks.
The following benefits come on both the Amex Blue Cash Everyday card and the Freedom Unlimited card:
Both cards provide access to assistance 24/7 when you’re traveling, including medical and legal referrals, help with a stolen or lost passport, emergency transportation assistance, and more. Cardholders are responsible for the cost of actual services received but referrals are complimentary.
Each card also offers an additional set of unique benefits.
Both of our featured cards offer an introductory 0% APR on purchases for 15 months from the date of card approval. After that, regular APR as listed in the tables above will apply.
Additional shopping benefits and protections offered by each card include the following:
Our list is not a fully inclusive list of every benefit, and the descriptions have been abbreviated. You’ll want to access each card’s guide to benefits for full information and terms and conditions.
Bottom Line: While neither of our featured cards charges an annual fee, the cards still offer plenty of travel and shopping benefits and protections. To explore alternative credit cards that do not charge annual fees, check out our list of recommendations.
If you currently have credit cards with high-interest balances, the introductory 0% APR on balance transfers that comes on both cards could save you money.
Transferring high-interest balances to either of our featured cards allows you to pay back the balance over time without incurring interest charges. Here’s how the cards compare in providing this benefit.
Balance transfers to the Amex Blue Cash Everyday card qualify for the 0% APR period which extends for 15 months from the date of card approval. After that, regular APR as listed in the tables above applies (rates & fees).
Balance transfers to the Freedom Unlimited card qualify for the 0% APR period which extends for 15 months from the date of card approval. After that, regular APR as listed in the tables above applies.
For balance transfers that are made within the first 60 days after card approval, a 3% fee based on the total transfer amount or $5 (whichever is greater) will apply. For balance transfers made after 60 days from card approval, the fee will be the greater of 5%, or $5.
Bottom Line: A 0% APR period for balance transfers can save you money. High-interest credit card balances transferred to either of our featured cards can be paid back over time while no interest charges are incurred.
For those consumers who spend mostly at U.S. supermarkets, U.S. gas stations, and U.S. online retailers, the better choice for this spending mix may be the Amex Blue Cash Everyday card with its bonus earning categories that align with those purchases.
If you spend a lot on travel, and categories other than supermarkets, gas, and online retailers, you may find greater potential in leveraging Freedom Unlimited card rewards with a premium Chase partner card such as the Chase Sapphire Preferred card or the Chase Sapphire Reserve card. Doing so allows you to redeem for up to 1.5 cents per point on travel and to transfer points to travel partner loyalty programs.
Additionally, with both of our featured cards lacking annual fees, you can keep either card indefinitely and add to the longevity of your credit history.
For the car rental collision damage coverage benefit of the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express, eligibility and benefit level varies by card. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. Visit americanexpress.com/
For rates and fees of the Blue Cash Everyday® from American Express, click here.
If you spend a lot on everyday purchases such as shopping at supermarkets, gas, and online retailers, the Amex Blue Cash Everyday card has the edge on earnings in those categories.
If you spend more on travel, dining, drugstores, and non-bonused purchases, or if your preference is to use your rewards for travel, the Freedom Unlimited card may be a better fit.
If you currently have a premium Chase Ultimate Rewards-earning card, the Freedom Unlimited card is a wise choice to leverage the rewards earned on the card by using the transfer option for greater potential value.
Every purchase you make on our featured cards earns cash-back first in the form of an associated rewards currency. For example, the Amex Blue Cash Everyday card earns cash-back in the form of Reward Dollars and the Freedom Unlimited card earns cash-back as Ultimate Rewards points.
Each statement period, the Dollars or Points you earned are deposited into your rewards account and can then be redeemed for cash-back statement credits and more. Terms and conditions apply to each rewards program.
An introductory 0% APR period is a specific length of time from the date of your card approval during which you can purchase items using your applicable card, carry a balance between statement periods for those purchases, and pay back the purchase over time without incurring interest charges.
Once the 0% APR period expires, however, you will be charged the normal APR charges. The interest rate charged at that time is based on your creditworthiness as determined by the card issuer — normally variable and quite high.
It’s therefore prudent to be sure to pay off any purchases prior to the expiration of the 0% APR period.
If you have balances on credit cards that are charging high interest rates, a 0% APR period for balance transfers allows you to transfer those balances to either of our featured cards and then pay back those balances over time without interest charges.
There is normally a fee of 3% to 5% of the amount of the transfer (or a minimum of $5, whichever is greater) for the transfer transaction. Even with the fee, the savings can be significant since you will not be charged interest for the entire 0% APR period.
Some cards require that the balance transfer be made within the first 60 days after card approval. Additionally, when the 0% APR period ends, normal interest rates apply.
For that reason, you should be sure your transferred balance is paid off prior to the expiration of the 0% APR period.
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Christine ran her own business developing and managing insurance and financial services. This stoked a passion for points and miles and she now has over 2 dozen credit cards and creates in-depth, detailed content for UP.
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