Best Gas Credit Cards of December 2024

Before applying, confirm details on the issuer’s website.

Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express

Our pick for: Families & households

If your household spends a lot on groceries, gas, transit and streaming, the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express is for you. The rewards it pays in those categories — particularly at U.S. supermarkets and on select U.S. streaming subscriptions — are among the richest of any card. There's a nice welcome offer for new cardholders and an introductory APR period, too. The generous benefits come at a cost, though: Unlike most cash-back cards, this one charges an annual fee. Terms apply. Read our review.

Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express

Our pick for: Families — no annual fee

The Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express pays elevated rewards at U.S. supermarkets, at U.S. gas stations and on U.S. online retail purchases. The rewards might not be as rich as on the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express, but this card doesn't charge an annual fee either. New cardholders get a decent welcome offer and an introductory APR period. Read our review.

U.S. Bank Altitude® Connect Visa Signature® Card

Our pick for: Travelers

The U.S. Bank Altitude® Connect Visa Signature® Card is one of the most generous cards on the market if you're taking to the skies or the road, thanks to the quadruple points it earns on travel and purchases at gas stations and EV charging stations. It's also a solid card for everyday expenses like groceries, dining and streaming, all for a $0 annual fee. Read our review.

Citi Custom Cash® Card

Our pick for: Up to 5% cash back

The Citi Custom Cash® Card offers a lot of value for a $0 annual fee: 5% back automatically in your eligible top spending category on up to $500 spent per billing cycle (1% back on other spending). The list of eligible 5% categories is varied and includes biggies like restaurants, grocery stores and more. And unlike with its competitors, there's no activation schedule or bonus calendar to keep track of. Read our review.

Wells Fargo Autograph℠ Card

Our pick for: 3X on gas and much more

The Wells Fargo Autograph℠ Card offers so much value, it's hard to believe there's no annual fee. Start with a great bonus offer, then earn extra rewards in a host of common spending categories — restaurants, gas stations, transit, travel, streaming and more. Read our review.

Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards credit card

Our pick for: Smaller spenders

The Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards credit card gives you a little more control over your credit card rewards by letting you choose which category earns the highest cash-back rate, from a list that includes gas stations, restaurants, travel, home improvement and more. You also get bonus rewards at grocery stores and wholesale clubs, plus a great new-cardholder bonus offer. Read our review.

Chase Freedom Flex®

Our pick for: Strategic quarterly use

The Chase Freedom Flex® offers bonus cash back in quarterly categories that you activate, as well as on travel booked through Chase, at restaurants and at drugstores. Category activation can be a hassle, but if your spending matches the categories — and for a lot of people, it will — you can rack up hundreds of dollars a year. There's a fantastic bonus offer for new cardholders and an intro APR offer, too. Read our review.

Discover it® Cash Back

Our pick for: Quarterly use + cash-back match

The Discover it® Cash Back earns bonus cash back in quarterly categories that you activate. In past years, those categories have included common spending areas like grocery stores, restaurants, gas stations and specific major retailers. Category activation can be a hassle, but if your spending aligns with those categories (and for most households, it probably will), you can rake in serious rewards. You also get the issuer's signature "cash-back match" bonus in your first year. Read our review.

Sam's Club® Mastercard®

Our pick for: Wholesale club members

The Sam's Club® Mastercard® delivers terrific cash back on gas, EV charging and restaurants, and extra rewards on Sam's Club purchases if you're a "Plus" member. There's no annual fee for the card, but you have to be a Sam's Club member, and that does involve a fee. Read our review.

PenFed Platinum Rewards Visa Signature® Card

Our pick for: Credit union fans

For many people, the credit card that will give them the best rewards on gas will not be a card from a gas station — meaning, a credit card with the name of an oil company or gas station chain on it. That’s because of how these cards typically provide value.

A traditional gas station credit card offers you a discount on each gallon of gas you buy — typically between 5 cents and 10 cents per gallon. On a 15-gallon fill-up, therefore, such a card might save you 75 cents to $1.50. Is that a good rewards rate? It all depends on the price of gas:

• If gas is $2 a gallon, then a 5-cent discount represents a savings of 2.5%, and a 10-cent discount is 5%. 

• If gas is $3 a gallon, then a 5-cent discount represents a savings of 1.67%, and a 10-cent discount is 3.33%.  

• If gas is $4 a gallon, then a 5-cent discount represents a savings of 1.25%, and a 10-cent discount is 2.5%. 

In other words, the more expensive gas gets, the less of a break on the price you’re actually getting from one of these oil company cards that fix your rewards to the number of gallons you pump rather than the price you pay for gas.

» LEARN MORE: The rise and fall of oil company credit cards

By contrast, bank credit cards that offer bonus rewards on gas do so as a percentage of the purchase price — you get, say, 3% or 4% or 5% cash back on the amount you spend. With these cards, the rewards rate stays constant while the cents-per-gallon benefit changes with the price of gas. The higher the price, the more money you get back on each gallon:

• If gas is $2 a gallon, then a 3% rewards rate gives you 6 cents off per gallon, and a 5% rate gets you 10 cents off. 

• If gas is $3 a gallon, then a 3% rewards rate gives you 9 cents off per gallon, and a 5% rate gets you 15 cents off.

• If gas is $4 a gallon, then a 3% rewards rate gives you 12 cents off per gallon, and a 5% rate gets you 20 cents off. 

In other words, no matter how expensive gas gets, your break on the price remains the same as a percentage of the total cost.

You can experiment further by running some numbers through our calculator above. As you do, you’ll see the trade-offs involved in choosing a gas station card versus a regular credit card that offers bonus rewards on gas. When gas is cheap, the gas station card might be the better value, but as prices rise, your discounts on a gas station card shrink as a percentage of the total cost.

If gas prices didn’t change much, the choice would be pretty simple. But, of course, gas prices fluctuate wildly. In mid-2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic nearly put a stop to commuting and demand for gas plummeted, the average nationwide price (all grades and formulations) fell to $1.91 a gallon, according to the Energy Information Administration. Just two years later, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine upended world energy markets, the average price peaked at $5.10.

Let’s say you bought 10 gallons at each of those prices — 20 gallons for a total cost of $70.10:

One area in which a bank card will always have an edge on gas station cards is flexibility. If you’re carrying a Shell card or a BP card, you’ll get your discount only at a Shell or BP station. If you’ve got a bank card that pays bonus rewards on gas, you’ll get your 3% (or whatever) anywhere you buy gas. Well, maybe not anywhere. Read on for more about that.

» LEARN MORE: How to choose a gas credit card

Different credit card issuers have different standards for which purchases will qualify for bonus rewards in their “gas” or “gas station” categories.

Fuel purchases made at the pump at stand-alone gas stations will almost invariably count. However, many cards specifically exclude gas purchases at supermarkets, superstores like Target and Walmart, and wholesale clubs like Costco and Sam’s Club.

What about if you pay for your gas in advance inside the little store at a regular gas station? Or what if, after filling up, you go into the store for a soda and a hot dog, or a jug of windshield wiper fluid? Will those purchases count? That depends on the issuer policy as well as the merchant category code used in the store. If transactions inside the store are coded as coming from a gas station (merchant code 5541), they’ll usually count. If they’re coded as a “convenience store” (5549), they might or might not. Your card issuer might specify that the only code that counts is “automated fuel dispensers” (5542).

And then there’s electrical vehicle charging — some cards offer matching rewards for EV charging and gas, while others do not.

Since merchants don’t display the category codes they use, you may have to test things out by trial and error. But card issuers’ websites do provide some guidance. For example, here’s how American Express describes the bonus rewards it offers at “U.S. gas stations,” as of June 2023:

"To earn additional rewards on gas purchases, the gas station where you purchase gasoline must be located in the U.S. A gas station is defined as a merchant that is in the primary business of selling gasoline to consumers. Gas stations may sell other convenience items, but its primary business must be selling gasoline to consumers. (Superstores, supermarkets, and warehouse clubs that sell gasoline are NOT considered gas stations.) … You will NOT earn additional rewards for gas stations that are part of supermarkets or warehouse clubs, unless specifically stated. … You may earn additional rewards if the gas station is also a convenience store. You will NOT earn additional rewards for marina or any type of commercial fuel (e.g., jet fuel)."

That’s a pretty comprehensive definition. The Citi Custom Cash® Card , meanwhile, says only that it’s “gas” category:

"Excludes gasoline purchases at warehouse clubs, discount stores, convenience stores or other merchants that do not use the gas station merchant category code."

And for the Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards credit card card, the issuer says:

"The Gas category includes purchases in a wide variety of merchant categories including:

• Automated Fuel Dispensers

• Fuel Dealers for Coal, Fuel Oil

• Liquefied Petroleum and Wood

• Marinas and Marine Service and Supplies

• Service Stations, with or without Ancillary Services.

Wholesale clubs that offer pay at pump locations could also appear in this category.

NerdWallet's Paul Soucy contributed to this article.