8 Best Credit Cards With Annual Fees Under $100

8 Best Credit Cards With Annual Fees Under $100

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Over the years we’ve seen a lot of credit card annual fee inflation, as card issuers have raised the annual fees on some cards while also adding perks. The good news is that you don’t need to spend hundreds of dollars per year to get a card that’s extremely rewarding.

In this post I wanted to share some great credit cards with annual fees of under $100. I’ve chosen these cards for different reasons — some for the long term perks they offer, some for the return on everyday spending they offer, and some for offering both.

Of course it’s important to note that everyone is looking for different things in credit cards, so there’s not going to be a “one size fits all” best cards for everyone, since it all depends what your goals are. However, I consider the below to be some of the options with the widest appeal.

The best low annual fee personal credit cards

When it comes to personal credit cards with annual fees of under $100, I tend to think the best options are those that can earn you the most points, those that can get you the most travel protection, and those that can get you perks that more than justify the annual fee. So below are my top five recommendations, in no particular order.

Chase Sapphire Preferred Card

The $95 annual fee Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (review) is probably the gold standard of reasonable annual fee cards. It’s ideal if you’re looking for a well-rounded travel rewards card that offers fantastic travel protection, and it’s especially good if you spend a lot on dining and travel.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred Card offers the following, among other things:

Redeem Chase points for a stay at Alila Jabal Akhdar

Capital One Venture Card

The $95 annual fee Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card (review) (Rates & Fees) is one of the best cards for everyday spending, so it’s an excellent option if you just want an easy and super rewarding credit card that you can use everywhere.

The Capital One Venture Card offers the following, among other things:

Redeem Capital One miles toward virtually any travel purchase

Citi Strata Premier Card

The $95 annual fee Citi Strata Premier℠ Card (review) can hold its own among reasonable annual fee cards earning transferable points. This card has the best bonus categories of any mid-range card, so if you’re looking to rack up points as quickly as possible, this is the card to go with.

The Citi Strata Premier Card offers the following, among other things:

Earn 3x Citi points on dining spending

IHG Premier Card

The $99 annual fee IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card (review) isn’t a card I’d get because of the return on spending it offers, but rather because the perks just for being a cardmember more than justify the annual fee.

The IHG Premier Card offers the following, among other things:

Even if you’re not in any way loyal to IHG, it should be possible to get outsized value here if you stay at hotels with any frequency. Given hotel rates nowadays, personally I think it’s easy to justify the card purely based on the annual free night certificate, and everything else is the icing on the cake.

Receive an anniversary free night certificate

World of Hyatt Credit Card

The $95 annual fee World of Hyatt Credit Card (review) is another card that I think is worth having for the perks alone.

The World of Hyatt Card offers the following, among other things:

While there are other perks, the free night award should be worth way more than $95 per year, given hotel prices nowadays.

Receive an anniversary free night certificate

The best low annual fee business credit cards

There are lots of great business credit cards out there, but which cards are “no brainers” and have annual fees of under $100? That narrows it down a bit, but there are still some great options. Below are my top three recommendations, in no particular order.

Chase Ink Business Preferred Card

The $95 annual fee Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card (review) is the single best business credit card out there, in my opinion. If you’re looking for a card with a huge bonus, great return on spending, and useful perks, this is it.

The Ink Business Preferred Card offers the following, among other things:

Get cell phone protection with the card

Capital One Spark Miles Card

The $95 annual fee (waived for the first 12 months) Capital One Spark Miles for Business (review) (Rates & Fees) is essentially the business card equivalent of the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card. This is one of the best business cards for everyday spending, so it’s an excellent option if you just want an easy and super rewarding credit card that you can use everywhere.

The Capital One Spark Miles Business Card offers the following, among other things:

Redeem Capital One miles for travel in Emirates first class

IHG Premier Business Card

The $99 annual fee IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card (review) is the business version of the IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card, and the perks are virtually identical.

The IHG Business Premier Card offers the following, among other things:

Get a fourth night free award at an IHG property

Bottom line

There are a lot of great credit cards out there, though the above are my five favorite personal and three favorite business cards with annual fees of under $100 each. As you can see, some of these cards are great because of the return on spending that they offer, some are great because of the travel protection they offer, and some are great because of the perks that they offer.

Of course there are lots of other great low annual fee cards out there as well.

What’s your favorite credit card with an annual fee of under $100?

For Capital One products listed on this page, some of the above benefits are provided by Visa® or Mastercard® and may vary by product. See the respective Guide to Benefits for details, as terms and exclusions apply.

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  1. iamhere Guest

    Obviously a promotion for those cards. There are a handful of other great cards with annual fees less than $100 and the benefits are more than that.

    1. Anthony Diamond

      Assuming this post excludes no annual fee cards (Lucky has another post for those)

      - Amex Hilton Surpass ($95 fee, decent Hilton earnings structure, Hilton Gold status, ability to spend for a free night). This is a very underrated card IMO
      - Various Chase hotel and airline cards (Marriott, United, British Airways, Aeroplan, Southwest, etc)
      -

  2. David Guest

    Ben, just wanted to inform you on a covert devaluation to mileage plan. I have looked at flights from SFO to Tokyo on JAL through Alaska for a few months just to get a gage on last minute availability of business class, well, today for the first time ever there was a lot more availability than usual, the downside... it was for 120k one way. There was still 60k availability but it was very much less than usual. Dynamic pricing on this award has come.

Featured Comments Most helpful comments ( as chosen by the OMAAT community ).

The comments on this page have not been provided, reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any advertiser, and it is not an advertiser's responsibility to ensure posts and/or questions are answered.

David Guest

Let's hear them then!

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Anthony Diamond

Assuming this post excludes no annual fee cards (Lucky has another post for those) - Amex Hilton Surpass ($95 fee, decent Hilton earnings structure, Hilton Gold status, ability to spend for a free night). This is a very underrated card IMO - Various Chase hotel and airline cards (Marriott, United, British Airways, Aeroplan, Southwest, etc) -

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iamhere Guest

Obviously a promotion for those cards. There are a handful of other great cards with annual fees less than $100 and the benefits are more than that.

0
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