Best cards at Sam's Club

In store

1. 1

   #13%

   AAA Daily Advantage Visa Signature Card

   Bread Financial · Visa · No annual fee · up to $16,667/yr (combined)

   3%
2. 2

   #23x

   Huntington Voice Rewards Credit Card

   Huntington · Mastercard · No annual fee · Choose this category · up to $2,000/qtr (combined)

   3x
3. 3

   #33x

   Sam's Club Mastercard

   Synchrony · Mastercard · No annual fee · Membership required

   3x
4. 4

   #43x

   Robinhood Gold Card

   Coastal Community Bank · Visa · No annual fee

   3x
5. 5

   #52%

   Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards

   Bank of America · Visa · No annual fee · up to $2,500/qtr (combined) · Lower rate after the cap

   2%
6. 6

   #62%

   Apple Card

   Goldman Sachs · Mastercard · No annual fee · Pay with the mobile wallet

   2%
7. 7

   #72%

   Blue Business Cash Card from American Express

   American Express · Amex · Business · No annual fee · up to $50,000/yr

   2%
8. 8

   #82x

   The Blue Business Plus Credit Card from American Express

   American Express · Amex · Business · No annual fee · up to $50,000/yr

   2x
9. 9

   #92%

   Citi Double Cash Card

   Citi · Mastercard · No annual fee

   2%
10. 10

    #102%

    Coinbase One Card

    Cardless · Amex · No annual fee

    2%

Online

1. 1

   #13%

   AAA Daily Advantage Visa Signature Card

   Bread Financial · Visa · No annual fee · up to $16,667/yr (combined)

   3%
2. 2

   #23x

   Huntington Voice Rewards Credit Card

   Huntington · Mastercard · No annual fee · Choose this category · up to $2,000/qtr (combined)

   3x
3. 3

   #33%

   PayPal Cashback Mastercard

   Synchrony · Mastercard · No annual fee

   3%
4. 4

   #43x

   Sam's Club Mastercard

   Synchrony · Mastercard · No annual fee · Membership required

   3x
5. 5

   #53x

   Robinhood Gold Card

   Coastal Community Bank · Visa · No annual fee

   3x
6. 6

   #62%

   Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards

   Bank of America · Visa · No annual fee · up to $2,500/qtr (combined) · Lower rate after the cap

   2%
7. 7

   #72%

   Apple Card

   Goldman Sachs · Mastercard · No annual fee · Pay with the mobile wallet

   2%
8. 8

   #82%

   Blue Business Cash Card from American Express

   American Express · Amex · Business · No annual fee · up to $50,000/yr

   2%
9. 9

   #92x

   The Blue Business Plus Credit Card from American Express

   American Express · Amex · Business · No annual fee · up to $50,000/yr

   2x
10. 10

    #102%

    Citi Double Cash Card

    Citi · Mastercard · No annual fee

    2%

Good to know at Sam's Club

Sam's Club doesn't restrict which card networks you can use, in store or online, so acceptance isn't the puzzle here — the rate is. The ranking is led by the AAA Daily Advantage Visa Signature Card at 3%, which scores a clean 3.00 because it pays real cash back with no annual fee. The Sam's Club Mastercard advertises the same 3% but scores 2.70, because it pays in Sam's Cash — club credit worth about 0.9 cents on the dollar and spendable only back inside Sam's Club. The Robinhood Gold Card is third at 3%, though its rate is tied to a paid Gold subscription.

The AAA card's limit is unusual and worth reading carefully. The cap is on cash back earned, not on spending: $500 per calendar year across groceries, wholesale clubs and gas combined, after which the rate drops to 1%. At 3% that's roughly $16,700 of club spending if the club were your only qualifying category — but groceries earn 5% on the same card and draw from the same pot, so about $10,000 of groceries alone would exhaust it before you ever swiped at Sam's. Check where you actually are in the year before assuming the 3% is still live.

Online the AAA card still leads, now tied on score with the PayPal Cashback Mastercard's 3% — that card earns its rate on any online checkout you push through PayPal, so at sams.com it matches without touching the AAA card's shared cap. One practical note on membership: you don't need a AAA membership to apply for the AAA card, but you do still need a Sam's Club membership to shop. If you already carry the Sam's Club Mastercard, the gap is 0.3 cents per dollar — about $9 on $3,000 of annual club spending — but the AAA card's version of that money spends anywhere, and the club card's doesn't.

The math

Spend $400 a month at Sam's Club and AAA Daily Advantage Visa Signature Card returns about $144 a year at our valuations — a flat 2% card returns $96.

Related reading

• Why Walmart and Target don't count as groceries on your credit cardNo — at most issuers, Walmart and Target don't count as grocery stores for bonus categories. They're coded as superstores, and warehouse clubs like Costco and Sam's Club are excluded too, so a 6% grocery card typically earns its 1% base rate there. Use the store's own card or your best flat-rate card instead.