Chase Freedom Flex℠ review: Plenty of value packed into one card

For those looking for a winning combination of year-round rewards and rotating cash back, the Chase Freedom Flex℠ should be one of your first stops.

The Freedom Flex boasts no annual fee, solid cardholder perks, a terrific balance of practical everyday bonus categories, niche extras and one of the most flexible cash back rewards programs available. On their own, each of these benefits is impressive, but the Freedom Flex has them all, making it one of the best cash back credit cards on the market.

However, like other cards with rotating bonus cash back programs, quarterly categories may not be the best fit for you based on your spending habits. Read on to learn more about where the Freedom Flex shines, how it stacks up against other rewards credit cards and whether it makes sense as part of your cash back strategy.

Quick highlights

• Rewards rate: 5 percent cash back on activated bonus category purchases each quarter (up to $1,500 in purchases, then 1 percent) and Chase Ultimate Rewards travel purchases; 5 percent cash back on Lyft rides (through March 2025); 3 percent cash back on dining (including restaurants, takeout and eligible delivery services) and drugstore purchases and 1 percent cash back on all other purchases
• Welcome offer: $200 cash bonus after spending $500 within your first three months
• Annual fee: $0
• Purchase intro APR: 0 percent for 15 months
• Balance transfer intro APR: 0 percent for 15 months (Intro Balance Transfer Fee: $5 or 3 percent of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater in the first 60 days)
• Regular APR: 19.49 percent to 28.24 percent (variable)

Current welcome offer

The Chase Freedom Flex’s current welcome offer clocks in at $200 after you spend $500 in your first three months of card ownership. This bonus has held steady since the card’s launch and is quite generous, considering the card charges no annual fee and comes with a low spending requirement relative to competing cards. A handful of competitor options require you to spend anywhere from $750 to $2,000 to earn a comparable bonus.

A $200 return for spending $500 in your first three months is among the best minimalist spenders can hope for. If that doesn’t sound like much, think of it this way: if you spend exactly $500 in three months, your credit card issuer will give you 40 percent of what you spent back–not accounting for any cash back accrued from rewards spending.

Rewards rate

Even cardholders who prefer the ease of using flat-rate cash back cards can appreciate the mix of consistency and variety offered by the Freedom Flex. While most cash back cards earn rewards at either a flat rate on all purchases, in specific bonus spending categories or in rotating bonus categories, the Freedom Flex blends multiple cash back styles by offering a boosted rewards rate year-round in select categories and quarterly in others.

How you earn

The Freedom Flex card’s backbone is its rotating 5 percent cash back on up to $1,500 in each quarter’s activated bonus category spending (then 1 percent back). Chase’s bonus categories are announced quarterly and usually feature essential or seasonal expenses. From January through March 31, you’ll earn 5 percent cash on fitness club and gym members and qualifying purchases at Target and grocery stores (excluding Walmart).

While the card’s 5 percent cash back categories rotate quarterly and often include gas, grocery and retail purchases, you can earn in other popular categories year-round. For instance, cardholders can earn an unlimited 5 percent cash back on Chase Ultimate Rewards travel purchases and 3 percent back on drugstore and restaurant purchases, including takeout and eligible delivery services.

Other rotating category cards, like the Discover it® Cash Back, offer similar bonus categories, but the Freedom Flex sets itself apart with the additional rewards categories it shares with the Chase Freedom Unlimited®.

How to redeem

Although marketed as a cash back card, the interesting part about the Freedom Flex is that you’re not earning cash back directly — you’re earning Chase Ultimate Rewards points. You can redeem them for cash back in the form of a statement credit or direct deposit, or you can use your points for any of the following redemption options:

• Travel and event bookings through Chase Ultimate Rewards
• Pay with points at Amazon.com and PayPal
• Gift cards for 150+ brands
• Merchandise using Shop through Chase
• Apple Ultimate Rewards Store purchases

This adds a layer of flexibility to the card. Other cards marketed for their cash back rewards usually restrict redemptions to credit statements or direct deposits.

Chase Ultimate Rewards points are worth 1 cent apiece when you redeem for cash back, travel, gift cards and merchandise through the Ultimate Rewards store. However, paying with rewards on Amazon.com slightly devalues your rewards to 0.8 cents per point.

Want more than 1 cent apiece? You can increase the value of your rewards by pooling them with a premier Chase travel card.

Your points are worth more if you redeem them for travel in the Ultimate Rewards portal using either the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (which makes points worth 1.25 cents apiece) or the Chase Sapphire Reserve® (which makes them worth 1.5 cents apiece). However, both cards charge annual fees ($95 and $550, respectively). So if you’re looking to boost your rewards this way, be sure you’ll get enough value out of the cards’ perks or rewards rates to offset their annual fees.

If you’re feeling generous, your Freedom Flex rewards can also bump up to 1.25 cents per point when you contribute them to participating charities using Chase’s Pay Yourself Back feature.

Compared to other no-annual-fee cards, the Freedom Flex offers an impressive variety of benefits that carry everyday value. A few standout features include its light travel perks, shopping protections and World Elite Mastercard benefits.

Some of its most eye-catching benefits are temporary, such as the sign-up bonus, the 5 percent back on Lyft rides and the complimentary three-month DashPass subscription. Despite this, the Freedom Flex’s ongoing perks may be more than enough to compete with those of other rotating category cards.

Travel insurance benefits

The Freedom Flex’s trip cancellation and interruption insurance is a valuable perk rarely seen on cards with no annual fee. The protection is downgraded a bit from its premium Sapphire sibling cards, but a $1,500 per person/$6,000 per trip reimbursement for nonrefundable passenger fares is enough coverage to provide some peace of mind that’s hard to find on other cards with no annual fee.

In case you’re renting a car during your travels, the Chase Freedom Flex card also provides an auto rental collision damage waiver. That can save you money in the event of an accident or theft. You also receive travel and emergency assistance if you’re in a pinch.

World Elite Mastercard benefits

The Freedom Flex is a World Elite Mastercard, meaning it comes with a few extra benefits worth learning about. For instance, cardholders who take three Lyft rides in one month can earn a $5 credit toward their next ride. The card also comes with a free membership to ShopRunner, which provides complimentary, two-day shipping from dozens of major retailers.

Cellphone protection

The cellphone protection benefit is one of the most valuable on the Freedom Flex since it saves you money on the road and at home. In fact, this is the only personal Chase card to carry cellphone protection because it’s in the Mastercard network.

Your phone is covered for up to $800 per claim ($1,000 yearly coverage, up to two claims per year) in the event it’s stolen or needs repairs, and you qualify simply by paying your cellphone bill with your credit card (a $50 deductible per claim applies).

Free/discounted DashPass membership

Fans of food delivery service DoorDash will also enjoy a special perk with the Freedom Flex. Cardholders can sign up for a free DashPass membership, which covers three months of membership fees. After the first three months, you’ll be automatically enrolled at a 50-percent discount for nine more months.

With DashPass, cardholders get $0 delivery fees and reduced service fees on qualifying orders. DoorDash estimates this can save users an average of $4 to $5 per order, which can add up significantly for takeout enthusiasts. Even after the initial three months of free membership, the reduced membership cost is around $5 a month for the remainder of the year, meaning you only have to order delivery twice a month to cover the cost.

The no-annual-fee Freedom Flex card comes with a generous zero-interest intro APR on new purchases and balance transfers. Cardholders can save on interest for 15 months with a 0 percent intro APR before the normal 19.49 percent to 28.24 percent variable APR kicks in — the low end of which is a bit below the current average interest rate.

This introductory rate is particularly valuable for cardholders who need to pay off a large purchase or a previous balance over time and want to avoid interest charges for the first year and a few months after. Not only will you save on fees, but you can also earn rewards along the way. Make sure to account for the balance transfer fee (3 percent, $5 minimum, for the first 60 days, 5 percent after that) and pay off your balance before the intro period ends, or interest can add up fast.

This card also has a 3 percent foreign transaction fee when you use your card abroad or make online purchases with a foreign merchant. This is a little disappointing since some issuers like Capital One or Discover don’t charge foreign transaction fees on any of their credit cards. However, there are better choices than this card for travel anyway. 

If you’re interested in a travel card, the Chase Sapphire Preferred is a great choice because you can pool points from both cards. Even though it costs $95 per year, the Sapphire Preferred will increase the potential value of your rewards on both cards because you gain access to Chase’s airline and hotel transfer partners.

With an eye-catching combination of year-round and rotating bonus categories, the Freedom Flex remains a leader at the top of the no-annual-fee cash back card pack. Nevertheless, there might be better cards for some spenders. Depending on where you spend most and how you like to earn rewards, the following alternatives might make more sense for you:

Chase Freedom Flex vs. Chase Freedom Unlimited

The choice between the Chase Freedom Flex and the Freedom Unlimited will likely come down to your spending habits and how much work you want to put into earning rewards. If you get a kick out of strategizing ways to maximize your rewards and prefer a straightforward sign-up bonus with an easy spending requirement, the Freedom Flex can be a great fit. But if you favor consistency and ease of use, the Freedom Unlimited is likely a better choice for you, though you’ll need to spend quite a bit more to get the full value of the sign-up bonus.

While the Freedom Flex offers a 5 percent cash back rate on the first $1,500 you spend per quarter in a variety of rotating categories (upon enrollment, then 1 percent), you won’t have any control over which categories Chase offers, and you may struggle to maximize your earnings in the card’s categories each quarter.

Meanwhile, with the Freedom Unlimited, you’ll earn 1.5 percent cash back even on purchases outside the Chase travel, restaurant and drugstore categories. That’s lower than the cash back rate offered in the Freedom Flex card’s rotating categories, but you won’t be at the mercy of the Chase cash back calendar and won’t need to track or enroll in specific categories. As such, it could be a better long-term option for everyday spending.

Chase Freedom Flex vs. Citi Custom Cash

If you’re looking for an easier way to earn cash back rewards, the Citi Custom Cash℠ Card could be a terrific alternative. You’ll automatically earn 5 percent cash back in whichever eligible category you’ve spent the most in each billing cycle (on the first $500 spent per billing cycle, then 1 percent), making the Custom Cash a great customizable cash back credit card.

While using the Custom Cash as your standalone rewards card could mean leaving some cash back on the table in your second- and third-highest spending categories, you’ll have a chance at the highest cash back rate you can get in a ton of categories without paying an annual fee, including restaurants, gas stations, grocery stores, select travel, select transit, select streaming services, drugstores, home improvement stores, fitness clubs and live entertainment.

Best cards to pair with Chase Freedom Flex

Thanks to its diverse earning categories, the Freedom Flex also makes for a great card to stack with other products. By pairing the card with another that earns a better flat rate on general purchases or offers more diverse redemption options, you can ensure you’re maximizing your rewards.

For example, you could pair the Freedom Flex with the Chase Sapphire Reserve to take advantage of the Reserve card’s 50 percent bonus on Ultimate Rewards when redeemed for travel in the Ultimate Rewards portal. Alternatively, the Reserve lets you transfer to one of Chase’s many travel partners — another way to potentially boost point value. By pooling all your Chase points onto the Reserve, you reap the benefits of more earning categories and a competitive redemption value.

Another great option is to pair the Freedom Flex with a flat-rate cash back card that offers a higher rewards rate on general purchases. The Wells Fargo Active Cash® Card is one of the most valuable flat-rate cards on the market. It not only earns one of the highest flat rates available — an unlimited 2 percent cash rewards on purchases — but is also one of the rare flat-rate cards with a sign-up bonus: $200 cash rewards after spending $1,000 within the first three months of account opening.

The Chase Freedom Flex card is at the top of the cash back game. Its familiar rotating categories appeal to rewards maximizers who are okay with shopping around to get the most value, while year-round earning categories ensure you can always find ways to earn significant cash back.

Plus, the card is a World Elite Mastercard packed with under-the-surface benefits that make it easy to find extra value — all for no annual fee.

The information about the Chase Freedom Flex℠ and Chase Freedom Unlimited® has been collected independently by Bankrate.com. The card details have not been reviewed or approved by the card issuer.