About CardCove and how we rank cards

CardCove is a free calculator that shows what 45 popular U.S. credit cards are worth for your own spending, in dollars. It never asks for personal details and never checks your credit.

How we work out a card's value

• Sign-up bonus — counted only if your monthly spending is enough to reach the bonus's spending requirement in time.
• Rewards — what the card earns on the spending you enter, category by category, respecting the card's yearly caps.
• Credits — a realistic share of each credit's face value, because most people don't use every dollar. You can count them in full or ignore them.
• Fees — the annual fee (or $0 when the first year is waived), and foreign transaction fees if you spend abroad.

Points and miles are valued at our estimates of 0.5–1.5¢ each, depending on the program. In the calculator you can switch to simple redemptions (about 1¢) or transfer partners (about 2¢). "Year 2+" leaves out the bonus, so it shows whether a card is worth keeping once the bonus is spent.

Where the numbers come from

Card terms come from each issuer's own pages, cross-checked against major card-review sites. Offers were last checked Nov 4, 2026; we re-check them about once a month. Welcome offers change often and many are targeted, so where sources disagreed we show a note on the card. Rules like Chase's 5/24 are widely reported by applicants, not official policy. Interest rates (APRs) aren't listed because they depend on the applicant.

How CardCove makes money

It doesn't. No card issuer pays to be listed or ranked, and the "check the current offer" links go straight to issuers' own sites with no affiliate tracking. Rankings come only from the math above.

Not financial advice

CardCove gives estimates to help you compare cards, not personal financial advice. Always read the issuer's terms before you apply, and remember that rewards rarely outweigh the cost of carrying a balance.

Updated Nov 4, 2026.