Amex Blue Cash Preferred vs Blue Cash Everyday vs Capital One Savor: The Best Grocery Card by Spend Level

The Amex Blue Cash Preferred pays the highest grocery rate in this comparison, and it is the only one of the three cards that eventually charges you to keep it. The Amex Blue Cash Everyday and the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards never cost a cent. So the decision is not which card earns more per swipe, because the Preferred does, but whether your cart is big enough to out-earn a fee the other two never charge.

The break-even is one subtraction

Line up the grocery rates and the whole comparison collapses into a single number. The Preferred earns 6% at US supermarkets; the Everyday and the Savor earn 3% on the same spend. The gap is 3 percentage points, which means every $1,000 you run through the Preferred's grocery bonus returns $30 more than the same $1,000 on a 3% card.

Now bring in the fee. The Preferred waives it the first year, so for the first twelve months it out-earns both no-fee cards for essentially any grocery shopper. The math only bites in year two, when the ongoing fee kicks in. To find your break-even, multiply your annual groceries plus streaming by 3% (the extra you capture over a no-fee card) and compare the result to that ongoing fee. If the extra rewards clear the fee, the Preferred wins. If they do not, you are paying to earn less.

Two caveats keep the 6% honest. It applies at US supermarkets specifically, so where you shop matters, and it runs up to $6,000 a year in purchases, after which supermarket spend drops to the base rate. A very large grocery budget does not scale the 6% advantage forever.

Where each card wins by spend level

Light grocery spenders should not touch the Preferred. If your extra 3% never clears the fee, a no-fee card keeps more of your money, full stop. The only question left is Everyday or Savor.

Heavy grocery and streaming households are the Preferred's home turf. Stack a full monthly grocery bill on 6%, add streaming subscriptions at 6%, and the extra rewards clear the fee with room to spare. The 6% on streaming is the highest rate in the group and a real edge for anyone paying for several services.

The middle is where it gets personal. If your groceries land in the band where 3% of your annual spend roughly equals the ongoing fee, the tiebreakers below decide it.

The categories beyond groceries

The Everyday is the balance-and-basics card. It matches 3% on groceries, adds 3% on gas and 3% on online retail, each on up to $6,000 a year, and carries a 15-month 0% intro APR window, which matters if you are financing a large purchase or carrying a balance while you pay it down. It does not list streaming as a bonus category.

The Savor is the going-out card. Its 3% covers dining, entertainment and streaming on top of groceries, and it is uncapped, so a shopper with a huge grocery budget who would blow past the Preferred's 6% cap may quietly earn more here. If you eat out and go out as much as you cook, the Savor's spread is hard to beat at no fee.

The Preferred, beyond its headline 6% on groceries and streaming, adds 3% on gas and transit. Transit is a category the Savor does not reward, so commuters have one more reason to run the numbers.

Bottom line

Buy a lot of groceries, pay for streaming, and plan to keep the card past the first free year: the Amex Blue Cash Preferred earns the most, and it is not close once your cart is big enough to clear the fee. Want zero fee forever and spend as much on dining and entertainment as on groceries: the Capital One Savor's uncapped 3% across four categories is the cleaner pick. Carrying a balance, financing a purchase, or spending heavily on gas and online retail: the Amex Blue Cash Everyday's 3% spread plus its 15-month 0% window does the job for nothing. Run your own grocery number through the 3% gap first; the fee decides the rest.

FAQ

Does the Blue Cash Preferred have an annual fee?
It is $0 the first year, then $95 a year. To break even in year two, your extra 3% on groceries and streaming (versus a no-fee 3% card) has to clear that fee.

Which card earns the most on streaming?
The Blue Cash Preferred at 6%, the highest here. The Savor also rewards streaming at 3%. The Blue Cash Everyday does not list streaming as a bonus category.

Is the 6% grocery rate unlimited?
No. It applies at US supermarkets up to an annual cap, and spend above the cap earns the base rate. The Savor's 3% on groceries, by contrast, is uncapped.

What is the best no-fee grocery card of the three?
Both the Everyday and the Savor pay 3% on groceries with no fee. Pick the Savor for uncapped dining, entertainment and streaming; pick the Everyday for gas, online retail and its 15-month 0% intro APR window.

Which card is best if I eat out a lot?
The Capital One Savor. Its uncapped 3% covers dining and entertainment alongside groceries and streaming, all with no annual fee.