- Comparison
- How we picked the best Discover credit cards
- Sources
- About the author
- User questions & answers
- Expert opinions
Best Discover Cards Comparison
| Credit Card | Best For | Annual Fee | Editor's Rating |
| Discover it® Miles | Overall | $0 | 4.5/5 |
| Discover it® Chrome | Cash Rewards | $0 | 3.6/5 |
| Discover it® Cash Back | Cash Back Categories | $0 | 3.9/5 |
| Discover it® Balance Transfer | Balance Transfers | $0 | 4.2/5 |
| Discover it® Student Chrome | Student Cash Back | $0 | 4.3/5 |
| Discover it® Secured Credit Card | Bad Credit | $0 | 5/5 |
You can learn more from WalletHub’s full review of the year’s best Discover credit cards. We also recommend checking to see which Discover credit cards made the list of the best credit cards overall.
How We Picked the Best Discover Credit Cards
WalletHub monitors the latest Discover credit cards, in addition to more than 1,500 other credit card offers, in order to help people find and get approved for the best credit card for their needs, whatever those needs may be. Given that many different types of people are in the market for a Discover credit card, we select the best options in a handful of popular usage categories.
In making our picks for the best Discover credit cards by category, we consider the terms and card features most important to the particular type of user or transaction in question, based on WalletHub Rating components. With most rewards-based categories, for example, we consider the average person’s expected net rewards earnings after two years of use, based on spending data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. On the other hand, when considering big-ticket purchases that will take more than a month to pay off, a card’s introductory APR offer, regular APR and annual fee are the most important terms to take into account. And we use those terms to calculate the expected cost of each card when used to pay down a certain balance over the course of 24 months.
The particular parameters vary by category, but the bottom line is that we crunch the numbers to find you the best deal, so that you can maximize your savings with minimal effort.
How Two-Year Cost Is Calculated
Two-year cost is used to approximate the monetary value of cards for better comparison and is calculated by combining annual and monthly membership fees over two years, adding any one-time fees or other fees (like balance transfer fees), adding any interest costs, and subtracting rewards. Negative amounts indicate savings. When fees or other terms are presented as a range, we use the midpoint for scoring purposes.
Rewards bonuses and credits have been taken into account for two-year cost calculations. However, bonuses applicable to only a very small portion of cardholders are not considered. For example, credits and bonuses awarded for spending or redeeming rewards through a company portal with non-co-branded cards have not been taken into account. Similarly, bonuses and credits related to spending with specific merchants using a non-co-branded card have not been taken into account (for example, if Card A offers credits with DoorDash, this feature would not be factored into calculations because it is hard to assess how many cardholders would use the benefit or exactly how much value they'd get from it).
Cardholder Spending Profiles
Given that different users have different goals and are likely to use their credit cards differently, we identified spending profiles that are representative of different users’ financial priorities and behaviors. For each cardholder type, we have assumed a specific amount of monthly spending by purchase type (e.g., groceries, gas, etc.), as well as an average balance, balance transfer amount, amount spent on large purchases and average monthly payment. Spending assumptions are based on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for consumers and PEX data for businesses.
Sources
WalletHub actively maintains a database of 1,500+ credit card offers, from which we select the best Discover credit cards for different applicants as well as derive market-wide takeaways and trends. The underlying data is compiled from credit card company websites or provided directly by the credit card issuers. We also leverage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to develop cardholder profiles, used to estimate cards’ potential savings.
