The Best Travel Credit Cards with No Annual Fee

One of the easiest ways to save money traveling is by using credit cards (responsibly) to collect points and miles. This essentially transforms your everyday spending into free flights, free hotel stays, and other awesome travel perks.

Not only does this stretch your travel budget but it levels up your travel experience, providing free upgrades, lounge access, and much, much more.

Whether you want to be on the road for longer, take more trips, or simply save money on your next vacation, points and miles can get you there.

However, most of the best travel credit cards have annual fees (sometimes huge ones).

While annual fees are usually worth it for frequent travelers (you can get much more value out of a card than its annual fee), if you’re new to all of this or don’t travel that much, you may want to get a card with no annual fee first.

And there are a lot of them out there. Which one do you pick?

Here is my list of the best no-annual-fee travel credit cards so you can start earning points toward free travel today:

 

1. The Bilt Mastercard®

Without a doubt my favorite no-annual-fee travel card, the Bilt Mastercard® enables you to earn points when you pay your rent, up to 100,000 Bilt Points in a calendar year (see terms and conditions). You can also earn points on everyday purchases. The card is primarily geared toward travelers and restaurant-goers since it offers 2x points spent on travel and 3x points on dining out. (You must use the card 5 times each statement period to earn points; see Rewards & Benefits.)

You can transfer points 1:1 to travel partners, including Alaska Airlines, United, Emirates, Hawaiian, Virgin Atlantic, Air Canada, Air France/KLM, Hyatt, and IHG. The fact that you can transfer Bilt points to Alaska Airlines really sets this card apart as no other card’s points transfer to this airline. Amassing Bilt points is the only way to get these points without having an Alaska card.

Bilt also integrates with point.me, a handy search and booking engine for award flights.

This card offers:

• 1x points on rental payments (up to 100,000 points per calendar year)
• 2x points on travel
• 3x points on dining
• Alaska Airlines as a transfer partner (it’s the only card that does)
• Rent Day benefits: monthly giveaways and challenges as well as 6x points on dining, 4x points on travel, and 2x on all spending on the 1st of the month (excluding rent, up to 1,000 points on each 1st of the month)
• Access to the Bilt Milestone Rewards program (where you get more perks and earning power the more points you accumulate)
• Trip Cancellation and Interruption Protection and Trip Delay Reimbursement
• No foreign transaction fees

The Bilt card is absolutely a no-brainer for renters who love to travel. To learn more, read my full Bilt Review. It is the card I use the most right now (especially on rent days).

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2. Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card

The cards in Capital One’s Venture lineup are all fantastic. While the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card and Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card are more well-known, they come with annual fees. If you’re looking for a card without one, VentureOne is an excellent option. You’ll earn 1.25x miles on all purchases as well as 5x miles on travel booked through the Capital One travel portal. Just like the other Venture cards, the miles you earn with the VentureOne card can then be transferred to Capital One’s transfer partners to redeem for flights and hotels.

This card offers:

• Earn 20,000 miles once you spend $500 on purchases within 3 months from account opening
• 1.25x miles on all purchases
• 5x miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
• Travel accident and car rental insurance
• No foreign transaction fees

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3. Chase Freedom Unlimited®

The Chase Freedom Unlimited® offers 1.5% cash back on all purchases, 3% back on restaurants and drugstores, and 5% cash back when redeeming for travel through Chase Travel^(SM). The card also offers travel protections like rental car insurance and trip cancellation/delay. While it has a $0 annual fee, it does charge foreign transaction fees, so you don’t want to use it while traveling abroad, only to book travel in advance.

This card offers:

• Earn an extra 1.5% on everything you buy (on up to $20,000 spent in the first year) — worth up to $300 cash back.
• 1.5% cash back on all purchases
• 5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Travel
• 3% cash back on restaurants and drugstores

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CARDS WITH LOW FEES

If the cards above are a little too basic for your needs and you want something more intermediate, here’s a quick list of travel credit cards with affordable fees:

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card ($95 annual fee) – 3x points on dining, online grocery purchases, and select streaming services, 2x points on travel (5x when booked through Chase Travel, travel protections, and a $50 annual hotel credit when you book and prepay through Chase Travel.

Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card ($95 annual fee) – 2x miles on all purchases, 5x miles on hotels, vacation rentals, and rental cars booked on Capital One travel, up to $120 Global Entry/TSA pre-check statement credit, 2 airport lounge visits per year.

Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card ($95 annual fee) – If you’re a business owner, this card offers 3x points per dollar on the first $150,000 spent each year on shipping, internet, phone, travel, and advertising on social media and search engines. It also offers free cards for employees.
 

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While cards with annual fees have better earning structures and travel benefits, if you’re new to the points and miles game, the idea of forking out for an annual fee might put you off from travel cards entirely. But if you love to travel (or want to travel more), not collecting points and miles is the biggest mistake you could make.

No-annual-fee cards are a great place to start so that you can begin to work towards free flights and hotel stays today, without having to think about whether you’re getting enough value out of the card to justify the annual fee.