The Best Credit Cards, According to People Who Know Everything About Credit Cards

that’s best for you, whether your specific lifestyle involves a lot of travel or ride-share services or even just — if we’re talking about the current moment — streaming Netflix. And while there’s a lot of personal-finance-focused content out there these days to help you wade through your options, we at the Strategist have decided to come at the subject in our own way. That is, by talking to a lot of people about the credit cards they use and why they use them.

For the list that follows, we consulted plenty of professionals, including money managers and finance authors, but we also turned to less expected sources who happen to be obsessive (and exceptionally informed) about the world of credit cards. The more traditional of our dozen or so experts include credit-card journalists. Beyond this core group, we spoke to editors on the masthead at Condé Nast Traveler, analysts at places like Goldman Sachs and Barclays, and even a couple of 20-something buddies who have such passion for their respective favorite credit cards, they agreed to let us moderate them in a high-intensity debate about which is better. The recommendations that emerged include those for frequent flyers, Amazon shoppers, and restaurantgoers — or takeout-orderers, given the current moment. (But then again, in the time of a pandemic, a very straightforward cash-back card may well be your best bet.) Read on to decide for yourself; as always, we’ve broken the recommendations and advice into sections, so if you want to jump to something specific, you can by clicking any of the below links.