Best Credit Card Sign-Up Bonuses

We’ve vetted some of the most popular offers on the market and narrowed down the list to a select number that fit with what we value in a credit card -- namely, balancing rewards with Swiss Army knife-style perks that help you ascend to conquer your money goals. Explore our picks for best credit card sign-up bonuses, some of which are from our partners.

People who have good to excellent credit scores can cash in on sign-up bonuses valued at hundreds of dollars just for opening a new credit card account and using it for purchases. In a competitive card market, many of the best credit cards are paying out some of the largest sign-up bonuses in recent memory.

In this new “golden age” for credit card rewards, sign-up bonuses remain one of the best ways to get a fast start toward earning high rewards. You can think of a sign-up bonus as a way to earn elevated rewards shortly after opening a new credit card account.

Big dollar bonuses, the quality of the cards rewards program, justifiable fees, and promotional APR offers are all major ranking factors for inclusion on this list. What’s also important are both the absolute size of the bonus and the spending requirement to qualify. It’s common for no-annual-fee cards to include cash bonuses ranging from $150 to $200 when spending $500 to $1,000 within three months. Cards with annual fees should generally offer a bonus valued at $500 or higher, with most requiring $3,000 to $4,000 in spending within three months to qualify. Our picks either match or beat these ranges, while also delivering in other important categories outlined above.

A credit card sign-up bonus is a financial incentive you receive for opening a new credit card account and using it for a certain amount of spending shortly after account opening. A typical sign-up bonus might offer cardholders $150 in cash after spending at least $500 in the first 90 days after account opening.

Credit cards with the best sign-up bonus opportunities generally carry an annual fee and require more spending to qualify. For example, the best card on the market currently offers $750 in sign-up bonus travel value, though it carries an annual fee and requires $4,000 of spending in the first three months after account opening. In contrast, no-annual-fee credit cards offer sign-up bonuses worth $150 or $200 and typically require only $500 to $1,000 in spending in the first three months after account opening.

We tend to think that new cardholder bonuses can be divided into two categories. There are what we call “front-loaded bonuses,” which offer a certain amount of rewards for meeting a minimum spend, and “back-loaded bonuses,” which pay bonuses based on your spending over longer periods of time.

• Front-loaded bonuses -- These cards offer nearly immediate rewards in the form of a bonus for making a certain amount of spend in the first three months after account opening. Front-end bonuses are the most common.
  
• Back-loaded bonuses -- Discover cards tend to have back-end bonuses where you receive a bonus calculated from your spending over a full year. For example, Discover matches all rewards earned in the first year of having the card, effectively doubling rewards you earn. If you spend heavily, such offers can be very lucrative, though you’ll have to wait longer to collect your bonus rewards.

The financial value of a sign-up bonus may not be as obvious as it appears, particularly if the sign-up bonus is denominated in “points” or “miles” rather than cash because the value of a point or mile may vary based on the redemption method.

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card offers a sign-up bonus of 60,000 points and the Capital One® Venture® Rewards Credit Card offers a sign-up bonus of 50,000 miles. That said, though the numbers look similar, the actual value of the sign-up bonus varies greatly when these rewards are redeemed for travel.

Redeemed through Chase's travel portal.

Of course, there are other ways to measure rewards. Some people like to compare sign-up bonuses based on the value of the bonus as a percentage of the spending requirement to get it. Viewed in this way, Capital One® Venture® Rewards Credit Card actually offers more value.

All this is to say that sign-up bonuses should be compared to how much spending you can reliably expect to put on a card during the sign-up bonus period. If you can only spend $2,000 in a three month period, then it makes little sense to sign up for a credit card that requires $3,000 of spending to get the sign-up bonus, for example.

The largest sign-up bonuses are typically offered by credit cards that have annual fees and large minimum spending requirements to get the bonus. If that's what you value, then paying an annual fee may be table stakes.

If you intend to carry a card for the long haul, then it would be wise to consider the cost of the annual fee when making a decision on which card is best. We tend to think the best way to look at annual fees is to consider them as a fee you pay for an increased rewards rate on your spending.

Choosing which sign-up bonus card is best for you really comes down to a few key features. Here’s what you should analyze when making the decision on which sign-up bonus card is worthy of your application:

• Look at the minimum spending requirement -- Sign-up bonuses require you to meet a certain minimum spending amount to qualify. If you have lower spending needs, it may be smart to apply for cards that have a $500 or $1,000 minimum spending requirement vs. a card that requires $4,000 or more of spending to qualify.
  
• Consider on-going rewards rates -- The sign-up bonus is just one part of a rewards program. You should also look for a card that offers a rewards program that fits well with your budget, rewarding you the most for what you spend on.
  
• Take note of the annual fee -- The cards that offer the highest sign-up bonuses also come with the highest annual fees.

A credit card that offers a sign-up bonus may appear to be a no-brainer, but there are a few instances in which prospective applicants might want to pass on a lucrative bonus offer. If all of the following statements apply to you, then you’re probably a good candidate for a card that offers a sign-up bonus:

You can meet the minimum spend requirement -- New cardholder bonuses are all or nothing perks that require a certain amount of spending to qualify. If you can’t meet the spend requirement, you should probably pass on the card.

You will redeem through the preferred method -- Bonus points or miles you earn from a travel card are usually worth much more when redeemed for travel rather than cash. Redeem travel card bonuses for travel to get the most value from them. As a general rule, travel cards make sub-par cash-back credit cards.

You will redeem through the preferred method -- Bonus points or miles you earn from a travel card are usually worth much more when redeemed for travel rather than cash. Redeem travel card bonuses for travel to get the most value from them. As a general rule, travel cards make sub-par cash-back credit cards.

You won’t carry a balance -- If you plan on carrying a balance, a sign-up bonus card probably isn’t the best choice. That’s because the interest you pay on the balance can easily exceed the benefit of the new cardholder bonus. A card that offers 0% intro APRs on purchases or balance transfers would be a smarter pick since the 0% intro APR can help you avoid hundreds of dollars in interest charges over the life of the balance.

You have good or excellent credit -- Cards that offer sign-up bonuses require good to excellent credit. A credit score above 720 is ideal since that puts applicants in a cohort of “prime” borrowers who are most likely to get approved for a high-end rewards card. Of course, people with lower scores can also get approved, since there are more factors (such as income) that play into credit decisions, but these cards generally aren’t open to people who have recent blemishes on their credit reports.

To recap, here are the best sign-up bonus credit cards