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If you’re the type of shopper who enjoys finding ways to squeeze discounts and savings out of every purchase, you’ll love the Discover it^® Cash Back. It’s a standout card that offers a high cash back rate in rotating quarterly categories — if you don’t mind a little card maintenance. And, it offers a solid intro APR offers on purchases and balance transfers, too.

You’ll earn 5% cash back on everyday purchases at different places each quarter like Amazon.com, grocery stores, restaurants, and gas stations, up to the quarterly maximum when you activate. Plus, earn unlimited 1% cash back on all other purchases - automatically.

5% cash back is one of the highest rates you can earn, but it’s limited to certain rotating categories. Discover’s bonus categories rotate each year and might not match up with your spending needs, so you may find that you are limited in how much you can take advantage of 5% cash back. Plus, you’ll need to remember to activate the categories each quarter — a major drawback if you want to keep things simple.

• Earns cash back at a high rate

  One of the greatest appeals of the Discover it^® Cash Back is its eye-catching rate on quarterly rotating categories. You’ll earn 5% cash back on everyday purchases at different places each quarter like Amazon.com, grocery stores, restaurants, and gas stations, up to the quarterly maximum when you activate. Plus, earn unlimited 1% cash back on all other purchases - automatically.

  The quarterly maximum is currently $1,500 in spending each quarter, so if you maximize the 5% category each quarter you’ll end up with $300 in bonus cash back.

  Discover’s 2023 categories

  January-March	April-June	July-September	October-December
  Grocery stores, drug stores and select streaming services	Restaurants and Wholesale Clubs	To be announced	To be announced

• Matches your cash back in the first year

  The Discover it^® Cash Back offers a unique sign-up bonus for new cardmembers: Unlimited Cashback Match – only from Discover. Discover will automatically match all the cash back you’ve earned at the end of your first year! There’s no minimum spending or maximum rewards. You could turn $150 cash back into $300.

  There’s no minimum spending or maximum rewards, which makes the card an especially great deal for new cardholders — you’ll basically double any cash back that you earn in the first year.

• Cash back is simple to redeem

  Unlike other cards that offer complicated redemption options or require work to truly maximize the value of their points, the rewards that you earn with the Discover it^® Cash Back are quite straightforward. You can deposit your cash back directly into your bank account or apply it as a statement credit. You can also redeem it via Paypal or Amazon.com

• You can finance a new purchase or a balance transfer

  The Discover it^® Cash Back offers a longer-than-average intro rate for balance transfers and new purchases. You get a 0% Intro APR for 15 months on purchases, followed by a 16.74% - 27.74% Variable APR. There’s also a 0% Intro APR for 15 months on balance transfers, after which a 16.74% - 27.74% Variable APR applies — making this card a solid choice if you need to pay down high-interest debt from another card. Note that there’s a 3% intro balance transfer fee, up to 5% fee on future balance transfers (see terms)*.

• Categories aren't always lucrative

  Unfortunately, the quarterly bonus categories may not always line up with your spending. For example, fitness clubs, gym memberships, PayPal purchases and streaming services have all been part of previous quarterly bonus categories. Depending on your spending patterns, it may be difficult to spend $1,500 in a quarter in these categories. Compare this to the Citi Custom Cash℠ Card, which awards you 5% back in your highest category of spend each month.

• You have to activate the categories each quarter

  Another drawback is that you have to activate your 5% bonus cash back each and every quarter. If you don’t activate the new cash back category every quarter, you’ll earn just 1% cash back on all purchases. And unlike its main competitor, the Chase Freedom Flex℠, your activation doesn’t work retroactively. If you make a bonus purchase before you activate, you’ll still only earn 1%, even if you later activate your 5% bonus for the quarter.

• There's a cap on bonus cash back

  After you’ve spent $1,500 in the bonus cash back category for the quarter, your earning rate will drop to a very low 1% on all purchases until the next quarter.

  Compare that to a card like the Chase Freedom Flex℠ — it also has rotating quarterly bonus categories, but also offers bonus earning on travel purchased through the Chase travel portal, dining and drugstore purchases.

• You can't increase the value of your rewards

  Unlike its competitors — Chase and Citi — Discover doesn’t offer card pairing or point transfer options. Combining your points and/or transferring your Chase or Citi points can help maximize the value of your points. For example, with the Chase Freedom Flex℠, you could transfer your points to the Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card or Chase Sapphire Reserve^® and redeem points through the Chase travel portal to get a 25% to 50% bonus. With Discover, you’re stuck at a 1% redemption value.

• Other benefits are limited

  While the Discover it^® Cash Back offers no annual fee, rotating quarterly bonus categories and doubling of your earned cash back in the first year, it is light on other benefits. The Chase Freedom Flex℠, in contrast, offers trip cancellation insurance, purchase protection and extended warranty, among many great perks.

• Discover has limited acceptance outside the U.S.

  Even though it doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees, the Discover it^® Cash Back isn’t the best option as a travel card. This is because acceptance is limited in countries outside the U.S. So you might want to consider a different card to use if you frequently travel outside the country.

Compare it to the Chase Freedom Flex℠

The Chase Freedom Flex℠ is another credit card that comes with $0 annual fee and similar rotating quarterly bonus categories. Like the Discover it card, the Chase Freedom Flex℠ also has a $1,500 cap on spending each quarter on its rotating categories.

However, the Chase Freedom Flex℠ is a more valuable and flexible card. Its greatest advantage is that it also offers bonus cash back on dining, drugstore and Chase travel purchases. Also, if you have a premium Chase credit card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card, you can combine the rewards you earn from the Chase Freedom Flex℠ . This allows you to redeem points through the Chase travel portal for a 25% to 50% redemption bonus, and to transfer points to hotel and airline transfer partners for even more value.

The information related to Chase Freedom Flex℠ has been independently collected by LendingTree and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer of this card prior to publication.

If you don’t mind dealing with rotating bonus categories, the Discover it^® Cash Back offers the opportunity to earn a generous amount of cash back. You’ll also want to consider the Chase Freedom Flex℠ as one alternative, since it also offers rotating quarterly bonus categories but comes with extra perks and benefits.

However, if you don’t want to deal with keeping track of rotating categories, you’ll find that there are many great cash back credit cards that are more straightforward.

The information related to Chase Sapphire Reserve^®, Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card and Chase Freedom Flex℠ has been collected by LendingTree and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer of this card prior to publication. Terms apply.