Best credit cards for groceries in Canada

The first table below ranks a selection of credit cards with a grocery rate by what each would return in a year, after its annual fee, for a household that spends $600 a month on groceries, $200 on gas, $200 on dining, $150 on recurring bills, $100 on transit, $50 at drugstores, $100 on travel and $600 on everything else , an assumed pattern rather than an average. At that spending, among the cards with a yearly value, the first is Scotiabank Gold American Express Card. Welcome offers are not included; see how welcome offers work.

Best credit cards for groceries, ranked

Cash back and points cards share this table, ordered by yearly value at the spending above. Cards with a dash in the value column follow the cards that have one.

A dash means this table shows no figure for that card. Yearly values use the spending assumed above and each card's published rates and caps. Welcome offers, first-year fee waivers and fee rebates tied to a bank account, banking package, profession or another card are not included.

This card’s top grocery rate is paid in Scene+ points at the grocers Scotiabank names, such as Sobeys, IGA, Safeway, Foodland and FreshCo, and a lower rate applies to other grocery purchases. Scotiabank says it can change that list of grocers without notice. The yearly value counts each point at the Scene+ grocery redemption shown in the entry. How Scene+ points work is in the Scene+ guide.

Its grocery rate counts only at stand-alone grocery stores in Canada, and American Express states its cap as equal to a set amount of cash back a year, in a footnote that lists gas stations and grocery stores under one maximum. American Express credits the cash back once a year, on the September statement.

Neo’s card page lists groceries at this card’s top rate, ahead of recurring payments and gas.

CIBC’s top rate covers merchants the card network classifies as grocery stores and supermarkets, along with gas and electric vehicle charging. Those rates stop at the yearly limits under grocery caps, while CIBC’s card page says there is no limit on the total cash back you can earn, so purchases past the limits keep earning the base rate. The card’s full entry is in the cash back ranking.

Capital One pays its higher rate at eligible grocery stores, which leave out superstores such as Walmart and Costco, and at gas and EV charging stations, with its base rate everywhere else.

Grocery spending alone

The second table counts grocery spending alone, for readers who put their other spending on another card: $600 a month on groceries, and $0 on gas, $0 on dining, $0 on recurring bills, $0 on transit, $0 at drugstores, $0 on travel and $0 on everything else . Each value is the grocery earn minus the card’s fee.

A dash means this table shows no figure for that card. Yearly values use the spending assumed above and each card's published rates and caps. Welcome offers, first-year fee waivers and fee rebates tied to a bank account, banking package, profession or another card are not included.

Which stores count as groceries?

On the cards whose terms are quoted here, the grocery rate depends mainly on how the card network classifies the store; BMO and American Express also set conditions on what the store sells or on its main business. The TD Cash Back Visa Infinite and Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite terms tie their grocery rates to the network’s merchant category code for grocery stores and supermarkets, MCC 5411. RBC’s terms say a merchant that sells groceries may still not qualify if it isn’t classified under an eligible code. On the American Express network the same idea applies: Scotiabank’s Gold card terms rest on the codes that place a merchant in Amex’s grocery category, and a merchant whose main business isn’t groceries doesn’t qualify.

Each issuer words its own definition, and some list what they leave out. Here is how the issuers of some of the cards on this page describe an eligible grocery purchase:

Store-brand grocery cards

Some grocers and retailers have cards of their own. PC Financial’s Mastercards earn PC Optimum points and are not ranked here; the PC Optimum guide has more on how those points work. The Walmart Rewards Mastercard and Walmart Rewards World Mastercard are issued by Fairstone Bank of Canada; they are on the store and retailer card ranking with the other store cards.

The CIBC Costco Mastercard earns its base rate at Costco warehouses, while Costco gas and Costco.ca carry higher rates with their own yearly limits, and it pays its cash back as a gift certificate that is redeemable only at Costco warehouses in Canada; the CIBC Costco Mastercard review has more on it. Scotiabank’s no-fee American Express card also pays its top Scene+ rate at the grocers Scotiabank lists, such as Sobeys, IGA, Safeway and Foodland.

Grocery caps

The grocery rates on these cards are capped in different ways:

• Per statement period: 5% cash back on groceries, up to $500 spent for a given statement period, then 1%, on the BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard.
• Per year, in the category: 3% cash back on groceries, on the first $15,000 in annual purchases in that category, then 1%, on the TD Cash Back Visa Infinite Card.
• Per year, on gas and groceries together, with the cash back equivalent stated: 4% cash back at stand-alone grocery stores in Canada, up to $30,000 in purchases ($1,200 cash back) a year at the 4% rate, then 2%, on the SimplyCash Preferred Card.
• On the bonus categories, with a ceiling on all purchases: 4% cash back on groceries, until $50,000 in total net annual card purchases or $20,000 in net annual purchases in these categories (whichever comes first), then 1%, on the CIBC Dividend Visa Infinite Card.

The TD card has its own TD Cash Back Visa Infinite review.

Stores that take only some cards

Costco’s own list of the cards its warehouses, gas stations and Costco.ca take is on best Mastercards. Where American Express cards are taken is on where Amex is accepted.

How this ranking works

The tables hold the cash back and points cards chosen for this page that pay a separate grocery rate. Each yearly value is the issuer’s published rates and caps worked out on the assumed spending, less the annual fee or a year of a monthly fee, with each statement period taken as one month. Where a fee differs for Quebec residents, the value uses the fee outside Quebec. Points count at the fixed redemption value in each card’s entry; a points card with no such value shows a dash. A card that pays a higher grocery rate only at named grocers is valued at its rate for other grocery stores. Tangerine’s chosen categories are taken to be groceries and gas in the first table and groceries in the second. The full method is on best credit cards.

Related rankings

• How to choose a credit card: the steps and the card types.
• Best cash back credit cards, for the full cash back ranking, with a table of gas cards ranked by what their gas rate earns.
• Store and retailer credit cards, for cards tied to one retailer.
• Best credit cards, for points cards beyond groceries.
• Cash back or points, for how the two kinds of reward compare.
• Compare credit cards, for cards side by side by type.