The best Mastercard credit cards of June 2026

Mastercard is a 50-plus-year-old credit card network that facilitates transactions between merchants and card issuers, while providing extensive benefits to its cardholders, including Priceless dining and entertainment experiences.

Well-known Mastercards are primarily issued by Citi, with some offered by other major banks, such as Capital One. There are also dozens of Mastercards issued by credit unions, such as Navy Federal Credit Union, and smaller banks like Commerce Bank.

All Mastercards are designated a certain tier — Standard, World and World Elite — that provide various added perks that range from $0 liability protection to free two-day shipping with ShopRunner. The tier you receive varies by credit card, but you'll typically need to pay a higher annual fee to benefit from a higher tier.

Beyond tiers, Mastercard holders can earn competitive rewards, benefit from no annual fees and even pay off debt with an intro 0% APR depending on which card you have.

Below, CNBC Select breaks down the best Mastercard credit cards in six categories, so you can choose the best card for your needs.

Who's this for? The Citi Double Cash® Card is one of the best cash-back credit cards, and it has been since it launched in 2014. Cardholders earn 2% cash back on every purchase: unlimited 1% cash back when you buy, plus an additional 1% as you pay for those purchases.

Plus this card offers a long 18-month 0% intro APR on balance transfers (then 17.49% - 27.49% variable APR). There is an intro balance transfer fee of 3% of each transfer (minimum $5) completed within the first four months of account opening. After that, your fee will be 5% of each transfer (minimum $5).

This card also has no annual fee — but you'll still want to set up autopay so you avoid interest charges. You'll also receive access to Citi® Identity Theft Solutions, a service that will help you if you're a victim of identity theft.

Who's this for? Frequent travelers can benefit from the Citi Strata Premier^® Card with 10X points on hotels, car rentals and attractions booked through CitiTravel.com. And they'll earn 3X points on air travel, other hotels, restaurants, supermarkets, gas stations and EV charging stations.

Cardholders can qualify to receive $100 off a single hotel stay of $500 or more (excluding taxes and fees) once per calendar year on bookings through CitiTravel.com.

The Citi Strata Premier Card has a $95 annual fee, but that's in line with other travel cards and cheaper than luxury cards which can cost hundreds. This card has no foreign transaction fee and it also offers travel protections, including trip cancellation/interruption, trip delay, lost or damaged luggage and car rental coverage.

Who's this for? The Citi Rewards+® Card is one of the most unique no-annual-fee cards around. Cardholders who frequently make small purchases can benefit from this card's "round up" feature that automatically rounds up to the nearest 10 points on every purchase — with no cap. That means a $1 bag of chips earns 10 points, compared to only earning one point without this benefit.

The Citi Rewards+® Card also gives you 10% of your points back for the first 100,000 ThankYou® Points you redeem per year. For instance, if you redeem 25,000 points in a year, you get 2,500 of those points back, which is enough for a $25 gift card. Likewise, if you redeem 150,000 points in your first year, you'll get 10,000 points back, equating to $100.

Beyond unique perks, cardholders earn 2X ThankYou® Points at supermarkets and gas stations for the first $6,000 per year and then 1X points thereafter. Plus, you earn 1X points on all other purchases.

Who's this for? If you have bad credit or no credit at all, you should consider a secured card, especially one with a low deposit, like the Capital One Platinum Secured Credit Card. This card has no annual fee and minimum security deposits starting as low as $49, $99 or $200, based on your creditworthiness.

If you qualify for the low $49 or $99 deposits, you'll still receive at least a $200 credit limit. This is a great feature considering many secured cards require $200 deposits to receive an equivalent line of credit.

Even if you don't qualify for the lower deposits, you may receive access to a higher credit limit in as little as six months based on your payment history and creditworthiness with no additional deposit needed. This is a good incentive to maintain a timely payment history.

Who's this for? The Citi Simplicity® Card offers one of the longest balance transfer intro periods at 0% for the first 18 months from date of account opening (after that, the variable APR will be 17.49% - 28.24%, based on your creditworthiness. Balance transfers must be completed within 4 months of account opening). This intro period can provide you with over a year and a half to pay off a large balance.

This card has no annual fee and come with an introductory balance transfer fee: either 3% of each transfer ($5 minimum). After that, your fee will be 5% of each transfer (minimum $5). It can be worthwhile if you're paying high interest charges and need more than the usual 12- or 15-month interest-free periods.

New cardholders have four months to complete their balance transfer (longer than the typical 60 to 90 days), but the intro APR period starts at account opening — so aim to transfer your debt as soon as possible.

Beyond a balance transfer intro period, this card offers a 0% intro APR for the first 18 months on purchases (after, 17.74% - 28.49% variable APR) from date of account opening, and it has no annual fee. One thing this card is lacking, however, is a rewards program. But if you're goal is to get out of debt, that shouldn't be an issue.

To determine which credit cards offer the best value, Select analyzed popular Mastercard credit cards available in the U.S. We compared each card on a range of features, including rewards, welcome bonus, introductory and standard APR, balance transfer fee and foreign transaction fees, as well as factors such as required credit and customer reviews when available. We also considered additional perks, the application process and how easy it is for the consumer to redeem points.

Select teamed up with location intelligence firm Esri. The company's data development team provided the most up-to-date and comprehensive consumer spending data based on the 2019 Consumer Expenditure Surveys from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. You can read more about their methodology here.

Esri's data team created a sample annual budget of approximately $22,126 in retail spending. The budget includes six main categories: groceries ($5,174), gas ($2,218), dining out ($3,675), travel ($2,244), utilities ($4,862) and general purchases ($3,953). General purchases include items such as housekeeping supplies, clothing, personal care products, prescription drugs and vitamins, and other vehicle expenses.

Select used this budget to estimate how much the average consumer would save over the course of a year, two years and five years, assuming they would attempt to maximize their rewards potential by earning all welcome bonuses offered and using the card for all applicable purchases. All rewards total estimations are net the annual fee.

While the five-year estimates we've included are derived from a budget similar to the average American's spending, you may earn a higher or lower return depending on your shopping habits.