Cash-back card face-off: The Citi Double Cash versus the Chase Freedom Unlimited

• The Citi® Double Cash Card and the Chase Freedom Unlimited® both earn cash back with no annual fee, but there are some key differences.
• The Citi Double Cash card doesn't come with a welcome bonus, while you can get $200 after spending $500 in the first three months from account opening with the Freedom Unlimited. 
• You can also earn 5% cash back on up to $12,000 spent on grocery purchases (excluding Target and Walmart) in your first year with the Freedom Unlimited.
• The Freedom Unlimited earns bonus cash back on select spending categories, while the Citi Double Cash earns 1% back when you buy and another 1% when you pay, no matter the purchase.
• See Business Insider's list of the best cash-back credit cards »

The Citi® Double Cash Card and Chase Freedom Unlimited® cards are two cards with no annual fees and powerful benefits. Both of these cards offer an above average earning rate on all purchases. The earning rate on the Citi Double Cash is slightly higher (2% compared to 1.5%), but the Chase Freedom Unlimited makes up for that with even higher rates in some categories. Both of these cards also allow you to convert your cash back into transferable points for even more value. You can see why these two cards are some of our best credit cards with no annual fees.

Citi Double Cash versus the Chase Freedom Unlimited: The biggest differences

Here is a comparison of the biggest features and rewards of these different cards in table form:

*excluding Target and Walmart purchases

Welcome bonus

The Citi® Double Cash Card is an outstanding no-annual-fee credit card, but one area where it falls short is its lack of welcome bonus. Many credit card issuers have rules and restrictions on how many credit cards you can open, so you'll want to think twice before spending one of your applications on a card with no welcome bonus.

The welcome bonus on the Chase Freedom Unlimited® card is solid and achievable. You can get $200 after spending $500 in the first three months from account opening. Additionally, you can earn 5% cash back on all grocery purchases (excluding Target and Walmart) in the first year of having the card, up to a maximum of $12,000 spent.

Most households will be able to get 5% back on all of their grocery purchases for a year, though larger families with higher grocery spend may run into the maximum. The 5% cash back at grocery stores makes the Freedom Unlimited as one of the best credit cards for grocery spending.

Earning rates on purchases

The earning rate on the Citi® Double Cash Card is a flat 2% cash back on all purchases, providing you pay your monthly bill on time. You'll earn 1% back when you make a purchase, and another 1% back when you pay your bill.

The Chase Freedom Unlimited® earns cash back as follows:

• 5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards
• 3% cash back on dining and drugstore purchases
• 1.5% cash back on all other purchases

One important note for both of these cards is that in both cases the cash back that you earn can be transferred into more valuable rewards points. However, the manner in which that happens is slightly different for each card.

With the Citi® Double Cash Card, your rewards are issued as cash back, and one of the ways that you can redeem your cash back is by converting them to Citi ThankYou points at a rate of 1 cent per point. With the Chase Freedom Unlimited®, your rewards are issued directly as Chase Ultimate Rewards points. You can choose to redeem your Ultimate Rewards at a value of 1 cent per point, but if you have a premium Chase credit card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, Chase Sapphire Reserve®, or Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card, you can combine your Ultimate Rewards and get even more value.

Which card is right for you?

Whether the Chase Freedom Unlimited® or Citi® Double Cash Card is right for you depends on how much of your spending is in the bonus categories for the Freedom Unlimited.

If you plan on spending $10,000 on your credit card and none of the purchases would qualify you for bonus cash back on the Chase Freedom Unlimited®, the difference between 2% on the Double Cash and 1.5% on the Freedom Unlimited would be $50 ($200 to $150).

Especially during the first year of having the card, the Chase Freedom Unlimited®'s $200 welcome bonus and bonus categories would make sense for most people. After the first calendar year, it will depend on your specific spending patterns.

Because there is no welcome bonus on the Citi Double Cash, it may make sense to do a product change from a different Citi credit card rather than signing up for the Double Cash as a new card. 

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