Best Visa Cards in Canada

The lists below rank Visa credit cards by need: cash back and no-fee cards by their yearly value at an assumed monthly spending after the annual fee, and points and Visa Infinite Privilege cards by annual fee. The assumed spending, a pattern chosen for the arithmetic and not an average, is $600 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 a month. On that pattern, among the cash back Visa cards with a yearly value, the first is CIBC Dividend Visa Infinite Card, and among the no-fee Visa cards with a yearly value, the first is CIBC Dividend Visa Card. Welcome offers are left out; see how welcome offers work, and a side-by-side table of every card in this site’s card data is on compare credit cards.

Best Visa cards in Canada by need

Cash back Visa cards

These Visa cards pay cash back, in order of their yearly value at the assumed spending; a card with a dash in the value column follows 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.

CIBC’s card pays its top rate on eligible gas, electric vehicle charging and groceries, a middle rate on the categories listed above and its base rate on the rest. The two higher rates, apart from the one on travel booked through CIBC by Expedia, stop at whichever comes first: a limit on all purchases on the account in the year, or a limit on purchases in the bonus categories. CIBC also says there is no limit on the total cash back the card can earn. How this card’s tiers work is in the Dividend Visa Infinite entry on the cash back ranking.

Points and travel Visa cards

These Visa cards earn points; the table orders them by annual fee and shows what each earns, the minimum income its provider asks for and, where the program publishes a fixed redemption value, a yearly value.

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.

TD’s no-fee points card earns its highest rate on travel booked through Expedia For TD, and a lower bonus rate on groceries and dining. TD caps the yearly spending that earns the grocery, dining and recurring-bill rates. TD’s eligibility line for this card asks that the applicant be a Canadian resident of the age of majority in their province or territory. How TD’s points are redeemed is in the TD Rewards program guide.

Visa Infinite Privilege cards

The table orders these Visa Infinite Privilege cards by annual fee and shows the provider of each and the minimum income or assets it asks for, as the provider states it.

Welcome offers, first-year fee waivers and fee rebates tied to a bank account, banking package, profession or another card are not included.

RBC’s card earns one points rate on all qualifying purchases. RBC states its minimum income as a personal or a household figure. The airport lounge visits in the lines above are the ones RBC states for this card, counted per membership year.

No-fee Visa cards

These Visa cards have no annual fee, in order of their yearly value at the assumed spending; a card with a dash in the value column follows 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.

No-fee cards on other networks are ranked on no-fee credit cards.

Visa card levels and what each adds

Visa’s Canadian credit card page lists these card levels, each with a short description, and Visa’s pages for Visa Infinite and Visa Infinite Privilege list what those two levels add:

Visa Infinite and Visa Infinite Privilege

Visa’s Infinite Privilege page lists entry to participating airport lounges on enrolling in the Visa Airport Companion Program, and the Infinite and Infinite Privilege pages give different concierge phone numbers. The annual fee and the minimum income of each Visa Infinite Privilege card are the ones its provider states, as the Infinite Privilege table shows.

Where to find the terms of these benefits

Visa’s Infinite page sends cardholders to their issuer’s cardholder documentation for the restrictions, limitations and other details of these benefits.

Applying for a Visa card

Visa’s credit card page lists some of the Canadian financial institutions that offer Visa cards. Each card’s table row or entry on this page links to the card’s page at its provider, and the tables with a minimum income column show the income each provider states. How approval works for a first card is on your first credit card.

How this ranking works

Each list holds Visa cards from this site’s card data that fit the list’s need. Cash back and no-fee lists are ordered by yearly value at the assumed spending: each category’s published rate and cap, minus the annual fee. Points and Visa Infinite Privilege lists are ordered by annual fee, and a points card shows a yearly value where its program publishes a fixed redemption value. The full method is on best credit cards.

Related rankings

• How to choose a credit card: the steps and the card types.
• Best Mastercards: the same lists for the other network, and Costco’s payment lists.
• Best cash back credit cards: the cash back ranking, with the Dividend card’s full entry.
• Best credit cards: its section on premium cards.
• Compare credit cards: the cards side by side in one table.
• No-fee credit cards: no-fee cards across networks.