Cashbackpacker ranks travel cashback cards by the money a traveller actually keeps: cashback minus plan fees, FX, spending and conversion fees, and the cost of any locked tokens. One formula for every card, in your country, on your trips and flights.
What we publish
- The calculator and ranking: pick a country, your monthly spending, trips and flights.
- One page per card: plans, caps, FX, availability and public sentiment.
- cards.json: the open dataset behind every number, with its build date.
- llms.txt: a plain-text summary for AI assistants.
- The Journal: guides that answer one question each, with the numbers shown.
How the ranking works
- Standard profile: $1,500 a month at home, four trips a year at $800 in a local currency, six flights a year at $450, paid plans allowed.
- Net = cashback kept per month after plan fees, FX, conversion and spending fees, and lock costs.
- FX: the card's fee or 1%, whichever is higher, plus 0.3% network rate, unless the currency settles free or the card was measured on real purchases.
- Travel bonuses count only on bookings through that card's own channel. In-kind perks are shown as a separate line and can be switched off.
- Where a source is unsure, we take the less generous number.
Sources
Crypto Card Finder (cryptocardfinder.xyz) for plans, caps, fees and measured FX. Card Map (cardmap.org) for official country lists. Issuer fee pages and help centres. Revolut and Curve plan pages.
Who runs Cashbackpacker
Cashbackpacker is run by Pelikan, a travel company, which also offers the Pelikan × ether.fi card. That card is ranked by the same formula as every other card. Rankings use one formula for every card, including ours; no card can pay for a place. Some issuer links on the main site may be affiliate links; commission never changes a rank.
General information, not financial advice. Crypto cards are not bank deposits; rewards, fees and availability change. Check the issuer's terms before you apply.