Head to head · issuer terms as read 2026-08-30
Citi Double Cash vs Active Cash
Both charge $0 a year. Citi Double Cash earns cash back (redeemable as ThankYou Points via conversion); Active Cash earns cash rewards. Both have a cash floor we can stand behind at 1.0¢, so the receipts below compare them in the same unit.
On the published earn tables, Citi Double Cash leads on travel booked through the issuer's portal; Active Cash leads on no category; the rest tie. Neither page states a statement credit we could put a dollar figure on.
The terms, side by side
| Citi Double Cash | Active Cash | |
|---|---|---|
| Annual fee | $0 | $0 |
| Foreign transaction fee | Foreign fee unconfirmed | Foreign fee unconfirmed |
| Earns | cash back (redeemable as ThankYou Points via conversion) | cash rewards |
| Transfers to partners | No | No |
| Credits stated | 0 | 0 |
| Welcome offer, as stated | Not shown on the public page we read | Earn a $200 cash rewards bonus when you spend $500 in purchases in the first 3 months |
Earn rates by category, as stated
| Category | Citi Double Cash | Active Cash |
|---|---|---|
| Travel booked through the issuer's portal | 5% | base rate |
| Everything else | 2% | 2% |
Green = the higher stated multiplier. Brand-specific, promotional and rotating rates are on each card page, not modeled here.
What each nets at sample spend
Three sample monthly budgets, every point at 1.0¢ (the Pay-with-Points floor we paid), fee subtracted, no credits counted. Estimates, not promises — your spend is the input that matters.
Run your own spendQuestions people ask
- Which has the lower annual fee, Citi Double Cash or Active Cash?
- They're the same: $0 a year, as stated on the issuers' pages on 2026-08-30.
- Does Citi Double Cash or Active Cash charge foreign transaction fees?
- Citi Double Cash: foreign fee unconfirmed. Active Cash: foreign fee unconfirmed. Read off each issuer's page on 2026-08-30.
- Can I transfer points to airline and hotel partners?
- Citi Double Cash: no (20 partners on the official list). Active Cash: no.
- Which is better for me?
- It depends on where your spend goes. The receipts on this page use sample spend profiles at 1.0¢ per point; the Card Stack Optimizer runs your own numbers against every card we track, net of the annual fee.
- Citi Double Cash: Foreign transaction fee: page states 'Fee for foreign purchases – % of the U.S. dollar amount of each purchase' but the percentage rendered as an unfilled placeholder in every fetch attempted. Could not confirm the exact percentage from the issuer page, so set to null rather than use a remembered/third-party figure.
- Citi Double Cash: Welcome offer: page's bonus text also rendered as unfilled placeholders ('Earn $ cash back bonus after spending $ on purchases in the first months'). Could not confirm exact dollar amount or spend requirement from citi.com itself (third-party sites report $200/$1,500 in 6 months, but this is unconfirmed on the issuer page), so welcomeOffer.summary set to null.
- Citi Double Cash: transferPartners set to false: the fetched page describes redeeming as cash, gift cards, Amazon, or travel, and did not state that points/cash back from this card can be transferred to airline/hotel ThankYou transfer partners (that capability is generally reserved for Citi Premier/Strata Premier/Prestige-tier cards); this card's cash back can be pooled with a transfer-eligible Citi card per general Citi ThankYou program rules, but that was not stated on the fetched page itself.
- Citi Double Cash: Network confirmed via on-page statement: 'The Citi Double Cash® Card is a Mastercard credit card that provides Cardmembers with cash back rewards.'
- Active Cash: Foreign transaction fee was not mentioned anywhere in the fetched page content (main body, fine print, rates & fees section, or footnotes checked specifically); set to null rather than assume none.
- Active Cash: Network confirmed on-page as 'Wells Fargo Active Cash Visa® Card,' also described as carrying Visa Signature privileges; recorded base network as 'Visa' per the card's own product name.
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