11 Best No-Annual-Fee Travel Credit Cards in 2024

The Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card is the best travel credit card with no annual fee, because its rewards and sign-up bonus offer the most potential savings out of any general no-annual-fee travel card. You’ll earn an unlimited 1.25 Miles per dollar on every purchase, every day; 5 Miles per dollar on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel.

Your miles can be used to book travel, erase travel purchases or transfer to Capital One’s 15+ airline and hotel partners for possibly even higher value. And when you book through Capital One Travel, you’ll receive a price match guarantee to help you get the best price — even after booking your trip.

Offering travel insurance and reimbursement up to $6,000 per trip, the Chase Freedom Unlimited^® is one of the few no-annual-fee travel cards that offer trip protection. You’ll also get great, flat-rate rewards, plus bonus cash back on drugstores, dining and Chase travel. Rewards never expire, and they can be used to book travel, get cash back, buy gift cards or shop at Amazon.

The best way to get the most value out of your Chase Ultimate Rewards® points is to transfer them to Chase transfer partners (if you own a premium card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card). With over 10 airline and hotel partners, your points transfer at a 1:1 ratio, which means you can travel the world and fly or stay for free.

The United Gateway℠ Card is the best no-annual-fee airline card, as it offers the best combination of flexibility, value and card benefits of any no-annual-fee airline card. Cardholders earn bonus miles on a wide variety of categories, including transportation expenses, like gas, rideshare, taxis and tolls.

It also gives you a pretty good welcome bonus with a relatively small minimum spend requirement, good travel insurance benefits and no foreign transaction fees. Plus, unlike some competitors (such as American Airlines AAdvantage), United Mileageplus miles never expire. This means that you won’t have to fret about keeping your account active if you are only an occasional United flyer.

The Delta SkyMiles^® Blue American Express Card is the only no-annual-fee card from Delta Air Lines, so it wins by default. If you’re an occasional Delta flyer who wants to dip your toe into the Delta SkyMiles program, you’ll find some value in this card. You’ll earn a decent rate on dining and Delta Air Lines purchases, and you’ll get a handful of travel perks like no foreign transaction fees and a 20% discount on in-flight Delta purchases.

That said, you’ll get a much better deal with a general travel card like the Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card. And if you fly more frequently with Delta, you should strongly consider an annual fee Delta credit card, like the Delta SkyMiles^® Gold American Express Card, to earn better rewards and bona fide benefits like a free checked bag on Delta flights.

The American Airlines AAdvantage^® MileUp^® is the best — in fact, the only — no-annual-fee option from American Airlines. And thanks to the high value of AAdvantage miles, it may be the most rewarding of no-annual-fee airline cards. It gives you 2x miles on grocery and American Airlines purchases. Plus, since it’s the only credit card to offer bonus AAdvantage miles on groceries, it’s possibly even a good option for owners of other AAdvantage cards looking to stack up additional miles.

On the downside, as a Citi card, it doesn’t come with many additional travel benefits. You’ll get a 25% discount on in-flight purchases on American Airlines, but you won’t find many of the purchase and travel protection available on other cards. It also charges a foreign transaction fee, so you won’t want to use it while traveling abroad. And for the occasional American Airlines flyer, beware: AAdvantage miles expire if you don’t keep your account active every 24 months.

The JetBlue Card is a solid no-annual-fee pick for JetBlue flyers. It comes with a decent rewards rate: Earn 3x points on eligible JetBlue purchases, 2x points at restaurants and grocery stores and 1x points on all other purchases. Plus, there are no foreign transaction fees, and you’ll get 50% off in-flight purchases while flying JetBlue.

And if you want to extend your points further and travel with others, consider JetBlue’s Points Pooling program. With Points Pooling, you can earn faster by combining your TrueBlue points with a group of friends or loved ones, then redeem them on travel together.

The Hilton Honors American Express Card is the best no-annual-fee hotel card due to its great rewards and better-than-usual hotel benefits. It’s welcome offer alone makes it one of the most rewarding no-annual-fee cards you can find. You’ll earn points at a high rate on a variety of lucrative categories, including Hilton hotels, U.S. restaurants, U.S. gas stations and U.S. supermarkets.

It also grants you elite status benefits, which is rare for a no-annual-fee card. Cardholders receive automatic Hilton Honors Silver status, which grants bonus points and your fifth night free on award stays (enrollment required). And if you spend at least $20,000 per year, your elite status is upgraded to Gold — this level of status provides additional benefits, like complimentary upgrades and a daily food and beverage credit (enrollment required).

While there are far better no-annual-fee cards — for that matter, far better hotel cards — than the Marriott Bonvoy Bold^® Credit Card, it is the only no-annual-fee option you’ll find for Marriott. Still, it does offer a higher-than-average sign-up bonus for a no-annual-fee card. It also gives you 15 elite night credits, automatically qualifying you for Silver Elite status with Marriott — with that tier of status, you’ll get perks including 10% more points on stays and priority late check-out. Further, you can continue to be eligible for higher tiers of elite status the more you stay with Marriott.

It may be worth applying for if you’re set on avoiding an annual fee. However, you’ll probably better off applying for a general travel card, or doling out the fee for a higher-tier Marriott credit card to cash in on some genuinely valuable benefits.

If you’re not keen on travel rewards and looking for a cash back card that you can use for international travel, you can’t do much better than the Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card. It has a couple key features that make it a great no-annual-fee card for travel: It offers a bonus on dining and doesn’t charge a foreign transaction fee.

It also may be your go-to card when you aren’t traveling, since it offers an equally impressive rate on entertainment and grocery store purchases.

The Bilt World Elite MasterCard^® is a unique no-annual-fee credit card that allows you to earn points on paying rent without a transaction fee. You’ll earn Earn 1X points on rent payments without the transaction fee, up to 100,000 points each calendar year; up to 5X Bilt points on Lyft rides when you link your Bilt account and pay with your Bilt card; 2X points on travel, 3X points on dining, 1X points on other purchases. Use the card 5 times each statement period to earn points..

This card also comes with a number of travel benefits like trip cancellation and interruption reimbursement, trip delay protection, Lyft credits, auto rental collision damage waiver and no foreign transaction fee.

The Wells Fargo Autograph^℠ Card offers good value for a $0-annual-fee card —and it’s all because of the rewards you can earn in popular spending categories. You’ll earn unlimited 3X points on restaurants, travel, gas stations, transit, popular streaming services and phone plans. Plus earn 1X points on other purchases. There’s also an easy-to-earn sign-up bonus and an intro APR on purchases and you’ll get up to $600 of cellphone protection (subject to a $25 deductible) when you pay your cellphone bill with your card.