Best Capital One Credit Cards of January 2025

In addition to its 2% flat-rate earnings, the card offers an attractive sign-up bonus: Earn a one-time cash bonus of $2,000 once you spend $30,000 in the first 3 months and an additional $2,000 cash bonus for every $500K spent during the first year. You'll also get business-specific perks like an itemized expense summary at year's end (great for tax time).

It's got an annual fee of $150, which could be unpalatable to some. (You may be able to deduct it as a business expense on taxes, though.) If your business spends heavily in specific areas, you might do better with a card offering higher rewards in those categories.

The card earns 2 miles per $1 spent on most purchases, among the best rewards rates in its class. The sign-up bonus is similarly generous: Enjoy a one-time bonus of 75,000 miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within 3 months from account opening, equal to $750 in travel. And redemption is easy: Go through Capital One's travel center, or simply book however you want and redeem miles for statement credit against the purchase. There’s no minimum redemption amount, either.

There's an annual fee of $95. If you'd rather have cash back, your miles will be worth less. Capital One says cash redemption values "may vary and are subject to change." As of April 2024, Venture cardholders were seeing a redemption rate of 0.5 cent per point.

Miles can be redeemed for statement credit against travel purchases at a value of 1 cent per mile, with no restrictions on when you travel. There's a sign-up bonus, too: Earn a bonus of 40,000 miles once you spend $1,000 on purchases within 3 months from account opening, equal to $400 in travel..

The ongoing rewards rate is lower than the 1.5 points or miles per dollar offered by some competitors in the no-annual-fee travel card field.

As with the regular Venture-branded card, you earn 2 miles per dollar on purchases. But when booking through Capital One Travel, you also get 5X miles on airfare and 10X miles on hotel and rental cars. There's up to $300 a year in statement credit for bookings through the portal, a 10,000-mile annual bonus, airport lounge access and a jumbo sign-up offer.

The value you'll get from this card is highly dependent on whether you use Capital One to book your travel. If you prefer to reserve directly with airlines or hotels, best to stick with the standard Venture card. The bonus offer is big, but so is the spending required to earn it.

This might be the perfect dinner-and-a-movie credit card, but it's also pretty darn good even for those who tend to cook at home and watch Netflix. The sign-up bonus is also quite nice: Earn a one-time $200 cash bonus once you spend $500 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening.

If you're a one-card kind of person rather than someone with a card for every occasion, you might get more value from a card that pays 1.5% or 2% cash back on every purchase.

Easy-peasy describes this card's simple earning and redemption structure. There are no bonus categories to keep track of, no limit to how much you can earn, and rewards don't expire. There's a nice sign-up bonus: Earn a one-time $200 cash bonus after you spend $500 on purchases within 3 months from account opening.. Plus, you'll get a great intro 0% APR period.

If you're willing to keep track of rotating bonus categories, or if you spend heavily on things like gas and groceries, you might do better with a card that pays higher rewards on select purchases.

With its cash back rewards rate and $0, this card is like a "Quicksilver for business." You also can earn a solid sign-up bonus.

If you expect to put more than $19,000 a year on the card, you'd come out ahead with the Capital One Spark Cash, described above, even with its annual fee.

The annual fee is $0. Pay your bill on time, and you can be automatically considered for a credit limit increase in as little as six months. You can choose your own due date, which lets you schedule payment for the time of the month that best suits your cash flow. If you do make a late payment, the card doesn't impose a penalty APR. And the card doesn't charge foreign transaction fees.

There are no rewards. Plus, the ongoing APR is on the high end at 29.99% Variable APR. That's not an issue if you pay in full every month, but look elsewhere if you expect to carry debt from month to month.

The $0-annual-fee card earns 1.5% cash back on all purchases.

You can find student cards that outearn this one in specific bonus categories.

The annual fee is $0. For a starter credit line of $200, your deposit may be $49, $99 or $200. Plus, Capital One will let you pay off that deposit in installments within a certain amount of time after approval. Pay your bill on time, and you can be automatically considered for a credit limit increase in as little as six months with no additional deposit.

Like most secured cards, this card doesn't earn rewards. The ongoing APR is 29.99% Variable APR, so carrying a balance is not ideal.

The $0-annual-fee card earns 8% cash back on Capital One Entertainment purchases; 3% back on dining, entertainment purchases, popular streaming services and grocery store purchases; and 1% back on all other purchases.

A flat-rate rewards card would be more straightforward and easier to manage.

Capital One's miles are easy to use. They can be redeemed for any travel expense — no blackout dates or restrictions — at a rate of 1 cent apiece and you receive a rate of 2 miles per dollar on purchases. There's a great sign-up bonus, too.

The card has an annual fee of $0 intro for the first year, then $95. After the first year, you'd have to spend at least $4,750 a year on the card before the rewards would outweigh the cost. But keep in mind that this fee could be deducted as a business expense on your taxes.

The card pays unlimited 1.5% cash back on all spending. You can redeem those rewards at any time, in any amount. Pay your bill on time, and you can be automatically considered for a credit limit increase in as little as six months.

There's an annual fee of $39, so you'd have to spend at least $2,600 a year on the card to break even. The APR on this card is high.

The $0-annual-fee card earns a flat 1.5% cash back on all purchases, a solid rate even compared with many traditional "unsecured" cards. It also offers an automatic credit limit review, plus the possibility of an upgrade path to a higher-tier Capital One card eventually.

There's a minimum security deposit of $200. And while you can get eventually get the money back when you upgrade to a regular card or close the account in good standing, for many it still represents a sizable sum of cash to lock up.