Best Chase Credit Cards of March 2023

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Credit card points and frequent flyer miles are incredibly useful, no matter what program you earn them with or what you eventually choose to do with them. While there are a few different types of credit card rewards, you benefit regardless of which kind your card earns by collecting a rebate on your everyday spending — as long as you practice financial discipline and pay off your statement in full each month.

The Chase Sapphire Reserve is a premium rewards card that has set the standard for other credit card issuers who updated their own products to keep up with the Reserve’s top-of-the-line rewards and benefits. But even if you don’t want to pay the steep annual fee for the Reserve, Chase has other excellent rewards cards to consider, including options that earn cash back and great small-business credit cards.

For example, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card currently has a great welcome bonus offer of 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.

Take a look below at our choices of the best available Chase cards, including our overall top pick, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card.

Compare the Best Chase Credit Cards

The Best Chase Credit Cards

Methodology: How we chose the best Chase credit cards

Chase issues a lot of extremely valuable credit cards. We landed on the best of the best in this post by only including cards with one or more of the following attributes:

• A sizable welcome bonus
• Above-average return rates
• Valuable ongoing benefits

You can read other Chase credit card reviews (and a review of nearly every credit card on the market) by heading to our credit card reviews hub.

Why you should trust our recommendations

We take a look at the pros and cons of each credit card in narrow categories to determine which card has the highest upside for each financial situation. The credit cards editorial team does not communicate with Insider’s business team to push specific cards for monetary gain (though some cards are affiliates).

Here’s more about how we rate and review credit cards at Insider.

Chase Credit Cards Frequently Asked Questions

Best Chase Card Overall for Travel Rewards

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

Why the Chase Sapphire Preferred is worth it:  The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card has a reasonable annual fee and great benefits, and comes with an excellent welcome bonus offer.

The Sapphire Preferred offers a substantial welcome bonus offer for a moderate annual fee. It earns 5x points on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards® (2x points on all other travel purchases), 3x points on dining, 3x points on online grocery purchases (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs), 3x points on select streaming services, and 1 point per dollar on everything else.

Points are worth 1.25 cents on travel booked through Chase, but you can still transfer them to Chase’s frequent flyer and hotel loyalty program partners. You’ll also receive primary car rental insurance coverage, trip delay coverage, purchase protection, and a 10% anniversary points bonus. The annual fee is a manageable $95.

Chase Sapphire Preferred Card Review

Best Premium Chase Card

Points are worth 1.5 cents each toward travel booked through Chase or with Pay Yourself Back, but you can also transfer them to over a dozen Chase airline and hotel partners — typically, this gets you the most value for your points. Benefits include access to airport lounges through the Priority Pass network, trip delay coverage, purchase protection, up to $100 to cover the Global Entry, TSA PreCheck, or NEXUS application fee, primary car rental insurance, and access to the new Chase Sapphire Terrace at Austin airport.

However, while the airport lounge access can be great, most Priority Pass lounges are in international terminals, which isn’t helpful when you’re flying domestically.

The annual fee is $550, but that’s offset by up to a $300 travel credit each year, which is good for things like taxis, subway fares, parking, tolls, and flights.

There aren’t many downsides to this card — besides the upfront annual fee. Chase has invested heavily in making the Chase Ultimate Rewards® program competitive. Booking flights by transferring points to frequent flyer partners is generally more lucrative — that’s usually how people use points to fly in first and business class — but it can be complicated because you have to decipher award charts, find availability, and work around often complex airline rules.

However, because the Sapphire Reserve allows you to get 1.5 cents for each point when you book paid travel through the Chase Ultimate Rewards® travel portal, there’s a simpler and still-valuable option.

Chase Sapphire Reserve Card Review

Best Chase Card for Everyday Spending

If you have a premium card like the Sapphire Reserve, you can pool your points from the two cards. The Freedom Unlimited earns a minimum of 1.5% cash back (or 1.5 points per dollar spent), so paired with a Sapphire Reserve, it’s a great card to use for purchases that aren’t made on travel expenses or dining.

The Freedom Unlimited also earns 5% cash back on travel booked through Chase and 3% back on dining and drugstore purchases.

Best of all, the card has no annual fee and comes with a 0% intro APR on purchases and balance transfers for the first 15 months. After that, there’s a 19.49% – 28.24% Variable APR. If you have a major purchase ahead of you, that introductory offer can be useful.

The Chase Freedom Unlimited is a fantastic all-around card. However, to get the most value when it’s time to spend your points, you need the Sapphire Reserve, Sapphire Preferred, or Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card, too, so you can pool your points. Otherwise, points are only worth 1 cent each no matter how you use them and they can’t be transferred to airline or hotel partners.

Chase Freedom Unlimited Card Review

Best Chase Card for Bonus Categories

The key feature of the Chase Freedom Flex℠ is that it earns 5% cash back (5x points) on up to $1,500 spent per quarter once activated in rotating quarterly bonus categories. In the past, quarterly categories have included Amazon, grocery stores, and gas stations. From January 1 to March 31, 2023, the Chase Freedom bonus categories are grocery stores (excluding Walmart), Target, and gym/fitness memberships. And from April 1 to June 30, 2023, the categories are Amazon.com and Lowe’s.

However, that’s not where the bonus cash back ends; the Chase Freedom Flex℠ also earns 5% cash back (with no cap) on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards®, 3% back on dining and drugstore purchases, and 1% back on everything else.

It doesn’t have an annual fee, and there’s a 0% intro APR on purchases and balance transfers for the first 15 months (with a 19.49% – 28.24% Variable APR afterward).

Chase Freedom Flex Card Review

Best Chase Card for Small-business Travel Rewards

The Ink Preferred is an excellent rewards credit card for small-business owners — and you don’t have to run a multi-million dollar corporation to qualify for a business credit card.

The card, which has a $95 annual fee, earns 3 points per dollar on the first $150,000 you spend each cardmember year in select categories, including travel, shipping, internet/cable/phone, and advertising on social media sites or with search engines, such as Google Ads. Purchases after you reach $150,000, or in any other category, earn 1 point per dollar.

Unless you operate a small business that’s on the larger side, chances are you won’t hit that cap for bonus rewards. The card’s welcome bonus is a great value — you’ll earn 100,000 points after spending $15,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening — worth $1,250 toward travel booked through Chase Ultimate Rewards®.

Like with the Sapphire Preferred, you’ll get a 25% bonus when using points from your Ink Preferred to book travel directly with Chase or through Pay Yourself Back. Of course, if you pool them on your Sapphire Reserve card, that bonus will be 50% instead.

The card comes with a handful of other perks, many of which overlap with the Sapphire Preferred and Sapphire Reserve, such as trip cancellation and interruption insurance, primary car rental coverage, and various purchase protections. It also comes with cell phone insurance when you use the card to pay your phone bill, offering up to $1,000 for each covered claim, with a $100 deductible, up to three times per 12-month period.

Ink Business Preferred Card Review

Best Chase Card for Small-business Bonus Categories

Although this card is marketed as a cash-back credit card, it actually earns Chase Ultimate Rewards® points, which are worth 1 cent each when you redeem them for cash back, gift cards, or travel through the Chase travel portal. However, if you also have the Ink Preferred, Sapphire Preferred, or Sapphire Reserve, you can combine your points and unlock more valuable redemptions, including transfers to airline and hotel partners. 

Cardholders also receive a good selection of benefits, including primary car rental insurance (when renting for business purposes), extended warranty, purchase protection, and travel emergency assistance services. There’s a 0% intro APR on purchases for the first 12 months, followed by a 17.74% – 23.74% Variable APR.

Ink Business Cash Card Review

Best Chase Card for Small-business Flat-rate Rewards

Chase Ink Business Unlimited Card Review

Best Chase Card for Students

Chase Freedom® Student credit card

Why the Chase Freedom Student card is worth it: College students who don’t qualify for regular credit cards because of their limited credit history can have an easier time getting approved for the Chase Freedom® Student credit card, and unlike some student credit cards, it comes with a welcome bonus offer and incentives for keeping your account in good standing.

While the Chase Freedom® Student credit card doesn’t offer the best rewards rate — 1% cash back on all purchases —  it’s a good starting point if you’re a college student who is new to credit cards. Some student cards don’t add a welcome bonus offer at all, but the Chase Freedom® Student credit card comes with a $50 Bonus after first purchase made within the first 3 months from account opening. 

It’s also easy to earn the bonus — you don’t have to spend a certain amount within a specific timeframe. Instead, you’ll trigger the offer after your first purchase as long as you make it within the first three months of opening the account. Cardholders also receive a $20 Good Standing Reward (2,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards® points) each year on their account anniversary for up to five years from account opening, as long as the account stays open and is not in default.

The Chase Freedom® Student credit card comes with surprisingly good benefits for a no-annual-fee student card, including trip cancellation/interruption insurance, purchase protection, and extended warranty. Be aware that the card charges foreign transaction fees, so it’s not a good choice to use if you study abroad or take an international summer trip.

Chase Freedom Student Credit Card review