Fees and FX
Issuance, monthly and foreign-exchange costs on the entry tier.
Rewards
Cashback you get without staking, plus the best rate and what it takes to reach it.
Availability
Whether the card can be issued in the US, the UK and the EEA.
Security
Licensing, custody model and card controls.
Ease of use
Virtual and physical cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay.
The formula
Each criterion gets a score from 0 to 10. The overall score is the weighted average of the criteria we could score from verified sources, rounded to one decimal.
Missing data is never scored as zero. If we can’t verify the inputs for a criterion, it is left out, its weight is shared among the others and the overall score is labelled “preliminary”. If the verified criteria cover less than 70% of the total weight, the card gets no score at all (“Not rated yet”) and is listed after rated cards — so a card can’t rank higher just because less is known about it.
How each criterion is scored
| Criterion | Inputs | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| Fees and FX (30%) | Monthly fee, FX fee, issuance fee on the entry tier | Monthly fee: $0 → 10, up to $5 → 6, more → 3. FX fee: 0% → 10, ≤1% → 8, ≤2% → 6, ≤3% → 4, more → 2. Issuance: $0 → 10, ≤$10 → 7, ≤$50 → 5, more → 3. Weighted 40 / 40 / 20. |
| Rewards (25%) | Entry-tier cashback, best cashback, staking requirement | 60% from the entry rate (2.5% or more = 10), 40% from the best rate (8% or more = 10), minus 0.5 if the best rate needs staking or a paid plan. |
| Availability (20%) | Issuance in the US, UK and EEA | Available = 1, restricted = 0.5, not available = 0; averaged and scaled to 10. Needs all three regions verified. |
| Security (15%) | Licensing, custody model, card controls | Not scored yet. Our source-backed security review is in progress, so every score is currently preliminary. |
| Ease of use (10%) | Card formats and mobile wallets | Virtual card 3, physical card 2, Apple Pay 2.5, Google Pay 2.5. |
How rankings are built
Each ranking is defined by a rule, not a hand-picked list. Cards are ordered by overall score; unrated cards go last. A ranking with fewer than 3 cards is not published.
| Ranking | Rule | Cards now |
|---|---|---|
| Best crypto cards | All reviewed cards. | 35 |
| Best cashback cards | Cards whose verified terms pay cashback at some tier. | 26 |
| Best no-fee cards | Verified $0 issuance fee and $0 monthly fee on the entry tier. Cards with unverified fees are left out. | 24 |
| Best virtual cards | Issuer confirms a virtual card format. | 32 |
| Best crypto credit cards | The issuer describes the card as a credit card or a card with a credit mode. | 13 |
| Best crypto debit cards | The issuer describes the card as a debit or prepaid card, with no credit mode. | 17 |
| Best Bitcoin rewards cards | The issuer’s terms let you receive rewards in Bitcoin (by default or as an option). | 10 |
| Best self-custody cards | Custody model is self-custody according to the issuer. | 13 |
Sources and checks
We use primary sources only: the issuer’s fee schedule, terms and conditions, help centre, or a regulator’s register. Each fact shows a “source” link and the date we checked it. If a source doesn’t state a value, we show “Not verified”. Terms differ by region; we note which region a figure applies to.
The “Last checked” date on a review changes only when we actually re-check the sources. The “Updated” date on articles marks editorial changes.