The Quick Version
- For purchases on Amazon itself, the Prime Visa earns the highest published no-fee rate: 5% back, but only while you hold an eligible Prime membership.
- Without Prime, the same rate structure drops to 3% — the Amazon Visa earns 3% at Amazon with no membership requirement.
- Neither Chase card does anything special at other online retailers; those purchases fall to 1%.
- The Blue Cash Everyday Card covers that gap with 3% at U.S. online retailers on up to $6,000 a year, which is why the strongest setup is usually one card for Amazon and one for everywhere else.
"Online shopping" is really two separate spending categories, and no single no-annual-fee card wins both. Amazon is a walled garden with its own co-branded cards paying rates nothing else matches; the rest of the internet — clothing sites, electronics retailers, subscription boxes — is treated by most cards as ordinary spending worth 1%. That split is the whole answer to this question.
If you shop mainly on Amazon and already pay for Prime, the Prime Visa earns the highest published no-fee rate there. If your online spending is spread across many retailers, a card that pays a bonus rate on online retail generally is worth more than an Amazon card. Most heavy online shoppers do best carrying one of each. Here is what each card actually earns, and the math on when the second card pays for itself.
The 5% Ceiling on Amazon
The Prime Visa is the high-water mark for Amazon purchases. It earns 5% back at Amazon.com, Audible.com, Whole Foods Market, and on Chase Travel purchases, 2% at gas stations, restaurants, and on local transit and commuting, and 1% on everything else. There is no annual fee.
The 5% rate carries one condition worth understanding before you apply: it depends on an eligible Prime membership. Without an eligible membership, purchases at Amazon and Whole Foods earn 3% instead. The card does not stop working — the top rate simply steps down. So the 5% figure is best read as a rate for people who were going to keep Prime regardless, not a reason to start paying for it.
Chase currently advertises a $150 Amazon Gift Card loaded into your Amazon account on approval for Prime members, with no spending requirement attached. Welcome offers change, so confirm the current terms on Chase’s site before applying. The card also charges no foreign transaction fees, which matters more for online shopping than people expect — orders billed by overseas merchants can otherwise pick up a surcharge.
The Version Without Prime
If you do not have Prime and do not want it, the Amazon Visa is the same card family without the membership requirement. It earns 3% back at Amazon.com, Audible.com, Whole Foods Market, and on Chase Travel purchases, with the same 2% on gas, restaurants, and transit and 1% elsewhere, and no annual fee. The welcome offer is a $50 Amazon Gift Card on approval.
The practical difference is two percentage points on Amazon purchases. On $5,000 of annual Amazon spending that is $250 versus $150 — a $100 gap. Whether that gap justifies a Prime membership you would not otherwise buy is a calculation only you can run, since it depends on what else the membership does for you.
Everything That Isn’t Amazon
Here is where both Chase cards go quiet. Neither pays a bonus on general online retail. An order from a clothing site, an electronics store, or a specialty retailer earns the same 1% it would earn in a physical shop. If Amazon is only part of your online spending, that is a meaningful amount of unearned cash back.
The Blue Cash Everyday Card from American Express is built for that gap. It earns 3% cash back at U.S. online retailers on up to $6,000 per year in purchases, then 1%, and applies the same 3% structure and $6,000 annual cap separately to U.S. supermarkets and U.S. gas stations, with 1% on other eligible purchases. There is no annual fee.
The card also returns up to $7 back each month, up to $84 a year, as a statement credit after eligible Disney+, Hulu, or ESPN subscription purchases on the enrolled card. That is a real offset for a household already paying for those services, though it requires enrollment and only pays out on qualifying charges.
A Year of Online Spending, Costed Out
Take a household that spends $5,000 a year on Amazon and $4,000 across other online retailers. Split across two cards, each purchase lands on the card that pays the most for it:
| Spending | Amount | Card used | Rate | Cash back |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon.com | $5,000 | Prime Visa | 5% | $250 |
| Other online retailers | $4,000 | Blue Cash Everyday | 3% | $120 |
| Total | $9,000 | — | — | $370 |
Run the same $9,000 entirely through the Prime Visa and the total drops to $290: the $5,000 of Amazon spending still earns $250, but the other $4,000 falls to the 1% default rate and returns $40. The second card is worth $80 a year in this example, and since neither card charges an annual fee, that $80 is the whole story — there is no fee to earn back first.
The gap scales with how much of your online spending happens away from Amazon. A household that spends $2,000 on Amazon and $7,000 elsewhere gets far more from the Blue Cash Everyday than from either Chase card, which is worth checking before you assume the Amazon card is the obvious pick.
The Caps and Conditions That Decide It
Two limits shape the outcome. First, the Amex bonus rate is capped: the 3% online retail rate applies to the first $6,000 of qualifying purchases each year, then drops to 1%. At $6,000 the category is worth $180, and every dollar past it earns the same 1% a basic card pays. Very heavy online spenders hit that ceiling and should plan for it rather than be surprised by it.
Second, the Prime Visa’s headline rate is conditional, not permanent. It is tied to an eligible Prime membership; let the membership lapse and Amazon purchases earn 3%. If your Prime subscription is something you renew without thinking, this is a non-issue. If you are on the fence about the membership, budget the rate at 3% and treat 5% as upside.
Both caveats point the same direction: match the card to spending you already do. Neither rate is worth restructuring your shopping around.
Building the Two-Card Setup
The setup that covers the most ground costs nothing to run. Use an Amazon co-branded card for Amazon, Audible, and Whole Foods, and the Blue Cash Everyday for online purchases everywhere else, up to its annual cap. Neither charges an annual fee, so the only cost is keeping two accounts organized. Our guide to building a two-card combo covers how to split spending without turning every checkout into a decision.
If you would rather carry one card, pick based on where the money actually goes. Amazon-dominant shoppers should take the Prime Visa if they hold Prime and the Amazon Visa if they do not. Everyone whose online spending is spread out should take the Blue Cash Everyday, which also covers groceries and gas at 3%. For purchases that fall outside every bonus category, a flat-rate cash back card is still the better default, and it is worth reviewing how to maximize the cards you already hold before adding another. Rates and offers change, so confirm current terms with the issuer before you apply.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. The Prime Visa’s 5% rate at Amazon.com, Audible.com, Whole Foods Market, and on Chase Travel requires an eligible Prime membership. Without one, those purchases earn 3%. The card itself has no annual fee either way.
The earning categories are the same; the Amazon rate differs. The Prime Visa earns 5% at Amazon with an eligible Prime membership, while the Amazon Visa earns 3% at Amazon with no membership requirement. Both earn 2% on gas, restaurants, and local transit and 1% elsewhere, and both have no annual fee. The advertised welcome offers also differ: $150 versus $50 in Amazon gift card value.
The Blue Cash Everyday Card, by a wide margin. It earns 3% at U.S. online retailers on up to $6,000 per year, while both Chase Amazon cards treat non-Amazon online purchases as ordinary 1% spending. On $4,000 of other online shopping that is $120 versus $40.
The two Chase Amazon cards do not. Both state you pay no foreign transaction fees on purchases made outside the United States. That applies to online orders billed by a foreign merchant, not just travel abroad. Check the terms of any other card before ordering from an overseas site.