Consider Citi Double Cash and Capital One Savor. The former has a broad 2% total cash back structure, earned as you buy and pay. The latter advertises 3% in qualifying food and entertainment categories and 1% on other purchases. This example ignores temporary offers and assumes every purchase is eligible.
Work through a sample month
Suppose you charge $2,000 and $500 qualifies for Savor's 3% categories. Savor would earn about $15 on those purchases and $15 on the other $1,500: approximately $30. At 2% total, Double Cash would yield about $40 once its purchase and payment conditions are met.
Now suppose $1,200 of the same $2,000 qualifies for Savor's 3% rate. The estimate becomes $36 plus $8 on other purchases, or $44, versus about $40 at 2%. In this simplified model, the category card begins to pull ahead when more than half of spending qualifies for 3%.
Actual merchant coding, exclusions, payment requirements, redemption conditions and any issuer changes can alter the outcome. Neither example accounts for interest. If you carry a balance, compare borrowing costs first.
How to use this
Review a few months of transactions. Estimate how much you spend in the issuer's exact qualifying categories, not broad labels such as “groceries.” Then check the current issuer disclosures and use the comparison tool for a flat rate scenario. Because that tool does not model bonus categories, calculate category totals separately.
Sources
Citi Double Cash issuer page ↗ and Capital One Savor issuer page ↗. Editorial review: September 2026. No paid links.