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While certain consumers are willing to sign up for premium credit cards that come with high annual fees, excellent perks and flexible rewards, others would rather keep things simple with a no-annual-fee card that earns cash back. If the latter sounds more appealing to you, then you should be familiar with the Citi Double Cash® Card and the Chase Freedom Unlimited®—two of the best $0 annual fee cashback credit cards available on the market today.
When it comes to deciding between these two cards, it really comes down to your personal preferences and spending patterns. However, in general, both of these cards are excellent choices for consumers who don’t want to pay an annual fee, need to make a balance transfer from another credit card and/or want to earn solid cashback rewards on every purchase.
Let’s compare the specific features of the Citi Double Cash Card and the Chase Freedom Unlimited by looking at their welcome bonuses, spending bonuses and other perks. By the end of this article, you should be able to decide which of these cards is the better choice for your wallet.

Citi Double Cash® Card
$200
cash back
after you spend $1,500 on purchases in the first 6 months of account opening. This bonus offer will be fulfilled as 20,000 ThankYou® Points, which can be redeemed for $200 cash back.
Earn an additional 1.5% cash back on everything you buy
(on up to $20,000 spent in the first year) - worth up to $300 cash back!

Getting to Know the Contenders
Card name | Citi Double Cash® Card | Chase Freedom Unlimited® |
---|---|---|
Annual fee | $0 | $0 |
Spending bonuses | • 5% cash back on hotel and car rental purchases booked on the Citi Travel℠ portal (through Dec. 31, 2024) • 2% cash back on all purchases (1% cash back when you swipe your card and an additional 1% cash back when you pay off the balance) | • 5% cash back on Lyft rides (through March 31, 2025) • 5% cash back on purchases through Chase Travel℠ • 3% cash back on dining (including takeout and eligible delivery) • 3% cash back on drugstores • 1.5% cash back on all other purchases |
Other notable benefits | • Special access to presale tickets and exclusive experiences through Citi Entertainment | • Purchase protection for 120 days up to $500 per claim and up to $50,000 per account • Trip cancellation/interruption insurance up to $1,500 per person and up to $6,000 per trip • Extended warranty protection of an additional year on manufacturers’ warranties of three years or less • Auto rental collision damage waiver • Complimentary three-month membership to DoorDash DashPass (activate by Dec. 31, 2024) and then 50% off for the next nine months |
As you can see, in terms of spending bonuses, the Citi Double Cash Card earns a higher baseline rewards rate of 2% cash back, 1% at the time of purchase and 1% when you pay for those purchases (compared to the 1.5% cash back baseline rewards rate offered by the Chase Freedom Unlimited). However, the Chase Freedom Unlimited credit card earns 3% cash back on dining and drugstore purchases whereas the Citi Double Cash doesn’t offer any such spending bonuses.
Additionally, both cards offer 5% cash back on travel purchases made through their respective travel portals, but the Chase Freedom Unlimited includes this spending bonus permanently whereas the Citi Double Cash includes this as a limited-time spending bonus, which is guaranteed only through Dec. 31, 2024. Also, the Citi Double Cash offers 5% cash back only on hotels and rental cars through Citi Travel, and the Chase Freedom Unlimited offers 5% cash back on hotels, rental cars and flights through Chase Travel℠.
Also, the Chase Freedom Unlimited offers purchase protection, extended warranty, trip cancellation/interruption insurance and auto collision damage waiver. While these kinds of benefits are often overlooked, they could save you thousands of dollars if you put them to use. The Citi Double Cash Card doesn’t offer any benefits like these.
Finally, the limited-time perks offered by the Chase Freedom Unlimited, including 5% cash back on Lyft rides and a complimentary DoorDash DashPass membership, add even more value to this card.

Head-to-Head: Citi Double Cash® Card vs. Chase Freedom Unlimited®
Now that you’ve seen a general overview of both of these cashback cards, we’re going to take a closer look at each aspect of these cards and compare them head-to-head in each category.
Earning Potential: Which Card Offers the Best Rewards?
In comparing the spending bonuses offered by these two consumer credit cards, it’s hard to say which one is definitively better. While the Citi Double Cash Card offers a better baseline spending bonus, the Chase Freedom Unlimited offers better category-specific spending bonuses.
The Citi Double Cash Card offers 2% cash back on all purchases. You’ll receive 1% cash back when you make the purchase and an additional 1% cash back when you pay off the balance. Earning 2% cash back is excellent for a credit card that doesn’t charge an annual fee and is better than the 1.5% cash back on all purchases offered by the Chase Freedom Unlimited.
The Citi Double Cash Card is also offering 5% cash back on hotel and rental car purchases made through the Citi Travel portal. Unfortunately, this is a limited-time earning rate offered through Dec. 31, 2024. While there’s a decent chance that the Citi Double Cash Card may continue to offer this bonus after that date, there’s no guarantee.
By contrast, the Chase Freedom Unlimited offers 5% cash back on all travel purchases through Chase Travel℠, including flights. Additionally, the 5% cashback bonus offered by the Chase Freedom Unlimited is a permanent feature of this card.
The Chase Freedom Unlimited also offers 3% cash back on dining purchases whether you’re dining in, taking out or placing eligible takeout orders (which includes most third-party delivery apps, such as DoorDash, Uber Eats and Grubhub) and 3% cash back on drugstore purchases. The Citi Double Cash Card doesn’t offer any elevated spending bonuses in these categories. So, if a large portion of your expenses are for dining or drugstore purchases, then the Chase Freedom Unlimited is almost certainly the better credit card for you.
The Chase Freedom Unlimited is also offering 5% back on Lyft rides through March 31, 2025. This limited-time bonus could earn you a ton of cash back if you utilize ride-hailing services often. Plus, there’s a chance that this spending bonus may still be available after March 31, 2025, but there’s no way to know for sure.
So, to summarize, the Citi Double Cash Card offers a better baseline rewards earning rate than the Chase Freedom Unlimited. So, if the majority of your expenses are in categories other than dining, travel or drugstores, then the Double Cash Card probably has better spending bonuses for you. However, the Chase Freedom Unlimited has better spending bonuses for travel, dining and drugstores. So, if you spend a fair amount of money in these categories, then the Chase Freedom Unlimited probably has better spending bonuses for you.
Welcome Aboard: Comparing Welcome Bonuses and Their Value
In addition to the ongoing spending bonuses offered by each of these credit cards, both the Citi Double Cash Card and the Chase Freedom Unlimited also offer welcome bonuses for new cardmembers who meet certain spending requirements on their card in a certain time period after account opening.
These welcome offers are subject to change often. So, before you decide between these two credit cards (or any other credit cards), make sure to check the most updated welcome bonus offer.
Here’s the most current welcome offer for the Citi Double Cash Card:

Citi Double Cash® Card
$200
cash back
after you spend $1,500 on purchases in the first 6 months of account opening. This bonus offer will be fulfilled as 20,000 ThankYou® Points, which can be redeemed for $200 cash back.
Here’s the most current welcome offer for the Chase Freedom Unlimited:
Earn an additional 1.5% cash back on everything you buy
(on up to $20,000 spent in the first year) - worth up to $300 cash back!
Regardless of which of these credit cards you decide to sign up for, you should make absolutely certain that you’re able to meet the spending requirement to earn the welcome bonus. These bonuses are an excellent way to earn a lot of cash back quickly.
Additional Benefits
As both the Citi Double Cash and the Chase Freedom Unlimited are $0 annual fee credit cards, neither of them offers particularly impressive benefits (such as those you might find with a high-annual-fee premium credit card). Nonetheless, it’s clear that the Chase Freedom Unlimited has better benefits than the Citi Double Cash Card.
The Citi Double Cash Card’s only other notable benefit is access to Citi Entertainment through which you can find presale tickets to certain events and exclusive access to experiences. This benefit is nice if you go to concerts or sporting events frequently.
The Chase Freedom Unlimited, on the other hand, comes with a bevy of benefits that could potentially save you a ton of money. These benefits include the following:
- Purchase protection for 120 days up to $500 per claim and up to $50,000 per account
- Trip cancellation/interruption insurance up to $1,500 per person and up to $6,000 per trip
- Extended warranty protection of an additional year on manufacturers’ warranties of three years or less
- Auto rental collision damage waiver up to the actual cash value of the vehicle
These types of benefits are often overlooked. However, they could end up saving you thousands of dollars in some cases. For instance, with this card’s auto collision damage waiver benefit, you can decline the insurance offered by car rental companies as long as you pay with your Freedom Unlimited card, which could save you hundreds upfront. Then, if you get into an accident in a rental car, this benefit could save you hundreds or thousands in repair charges.
Finally, the Chase Freedom Unlimited is also offering a complimentary three-month DoorDash DashPass membership (a value of about $30) and then 50% off a DashPass membership for the next nine months (an additional value of about $45).
All in all, the benefits offered by the Chase Freedom Unlimited are far better than those offered by the Citi Double Cash Card.
The Annual Fee Factor: Is It Worth the Cost?
Neither of these credit cards charges an annual fee, so any rewards that you earn from either the Citi Double Cash Card or the Chase Freedom Unlimited credit card come with no strings attached. So, when calculating the value of these credit cards, you can factor in the value of their welcome offers, spending bonuses and other benefits.
For instance, let’s say that the welcome bonus for the Citi Double Cash Card offers new cardmembers $200. Then, you expect to earn $400 in cash back each year (based on your previous year’s expenses). Thus, the value of this card for the first year would be $600.
So, when doing these sorts of calculations for cards with annual fees, you’d have to subtract out the annual fee to get the net annual value of each credit card. However, since neither the Citi Double Cash Card nor the Chase Freedom Unlimited charges an annual fee, this step is not necessary.

Choosing Your Ideal Credit Card
In choosing the ideal credit card for your wallet, it’s important to consider all of the factors discussed above. First of all, you should consider the spending bonuses guaranteed by each card. This process involves looking at your expenses from previous years by category. Online banking portals will typically provide users with a yearly categorized expense report, which makes this easier. Then, you can use this to figure out how much cash back (or rewards points) you stand to earn with each card.
From there, you should also consider the value that each card’s welcome offer and other benefits will provide on a yearly basis. For instance, since the Chase Freedom Unlimited includes auto collision damage waiver as one of its benefits, you should consider how much money you’ve spent in previous years for auto rental insurance coverage (and therefore how much money this benefit could save you).
Finally, once you’ve figured out how much value per year each of these cards will provide you, you should go with the card that offers more value.
Of course, while the Citi Double Cash Card and the Chase Freedom Unlimited are two of the best no-annual-fee cash back credit cards available today, you should still also examine your other options.
If you’re looking for a $0 annual fee cashback credit card, then we recommend checking out the Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards Credit Card, which doesn’t charge an annual fee and offers the following spending bonuses:
- 3% cash back in the first $2,500 in combined spending per quarter in the category of you choice, including:
- Gas and EV charging stations
- Online shopping, including cable, internet, phone plans and streaming
- Dining
- Drugstores and pharmacies
- Home improvement and furnishing
- 2% cash back at grocery stores and wholesale clubs
- 1% cash back on all other purchases
If you tend to spend a lot of money on dining and groceries, then you may want to check out the Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card, which also doesn’t charge an annual fee and earns the following spending bonuses:
- 8% cash back on purchases through Capital One Entertainment
- 5% cash back on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
- 3% cash back on dining, entertainment, popular streaming services and at grocery stores
- 1% cash back on all other purchases
Of course, there are plenty of other credit cards that charge annual fees that may be worth considering. While paying annually for a credit card may not sound appealing to some, credit cards with annual fees can often have improved spending bonuses and benefits that can easily offset their fees.
The Bottom Line
In comparing the Citi Double Cash Card and the Chase Freedom Unlimited, it seems pretty clear that the Chase Freedom Unlimited is the better credit card for most consumers. Neither of these cards charge an annual fee, and both of them earn cashback rewards.
The Chase Freedom Unlimited also offers significantly better benefits than the Citi Double Cash Card, including purchase protection, extended warranty, travel cancellation/interruption insurance, auto rental collision damage waiver and more. While these benefits may not seem like a big deal, they could potentially save you thousands of dollars in certain scenarios.
Although the Citi Double Cash Card offers a higher baseline earning rate of 2% cash back on all purchases (compared to the 1.5% cash back on all purchases offered by the Chase Freedom Unlimited), the Chase Freedom Unlimited also earns 3% cash back at dining and drugstores, which are common spending categories.
Nonetheless, before you decide which of these cards to go with, you should look at every feature of both cards and try to determine which card will provide you with more value on an annual basis based on your specific expenses. It’s also worth looking into some of the other credit cards in this same price range before you open either the Citi Double Cash Card or the Chase Freedom Unlimited.
New to the world of points and miles? The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is the best card to start with.
With a bonus of 60,000 bonus points after $4,000 in purchases in your first 3 months from account opening. , 5x points on travel booked through the Chase Travel Portal and 3x points on restaurants, streaming services, and online groceries (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs), this card truly cannot be beat for getting started!
after you spend $1,500 on purchases in the first 6 months of account opening. This bonus offer will be fulfilled as 20,000 ThankYou® Points, which can be redeemed for $200 cash back.
(on up to $20,000 spent in the first year) - worth up to $300 cash back!
Editors Note: Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.