Tool · Calculator
Which UAE card pays you back the most on your spend?
Enter your monthly spend across seven categories. We rank every card on the site by AED-equivalent monthly reward at its published earn rate. Methodology is below the calculator, not behind an email wall.
How to read this
We do not promise these rewards. We show what each card's published earn rate works out to on the spend you enter, using the AED conversion benchmarks in the methodology section. Your actual redemption value will differ; rare sweet spots beat these rates, mass-market redemptions sit below them.
Top cards — gross reward
Ranked by AED-equivalent monthly reward at our conservative conversion benchmarks. We do not promise these rewards — we show what each card's published earn rate works out to on your stated spend.
- Monthly reward48,300 % cashback≈ AED 48,300 at 1 AED/unitAnnual feeAED 998
Ranks here because groceries & supermarkets is your single biggest contributor at this card's earn rate.
- Monthly reward32,400≈ AED 32,400 at 1 AED/unitAnnual feeAED 383
Ranks here because groceries & supermarkets is your single biggest contributor at this card's earn rate.
- Monthly reward26,900 % cashback≈ AED 26,900 at 1 AED/unitAnnual feeAED 314
Ranks here because groceries & supermarkets is your single biggest contributor at this card's earn rate.
Methodology
The calculator joins your stated monthly spend to each card's
typed earnRates in our cards data file,
category-by-category. The sliders cover seven categories so
the calculator hits feature parity with the dimensions a UAE
reader expects — dining, groceries, fuel, travel, online
shopping, utilities and entertainment.
The per-card formula
Each card's monthly reward is the sum of seven products —
spend in each category multiplied by that card's earn rate
for the category. Categories the card does not bonus fall
through to its base rate (everythingElse).
Utilities and telecom bills always use the base rate; UAE
cards rarely bonus this category, and we do not want to
invent an earn rate that does not exist.
Why we ignore caps by default
We apply per-category caps only when the card declares them
in typed form (earnRates._caps). Cards that
publish caps in marketing prose but not in the schedule of
charges get the benefit of the doubt; we surface the cap on
the review page so you can read it before applying.
The AED conversion table
Each card earns in its own unit — AED cashback, Skywards Miles, FAB Rewards, Darna, and so on. To rank cards against each other we convert into AED equivalents using a single published table. Updating these rates updates both the ranking and this section.
| Earn unit family | AED per native unit | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| AED cashback | 1.00 | FAB Cashback, Mashreq Cashback, ENBD Cashback |
| Airline miles | 0.04 | Emirates Skywards, Etihad Guest, Qatar Avios |
| Bank-proprietary points | 0.01 | FAB Rewards, ENBD Plus Points, ADCB TouchPoints, U Points, Darna |
| Hotel points | 0.008 | Marriott Bonvoy |
| Unknown / no loyalty programme | 1.00 | Fallback — flagged on the result tile |
These are conservative benchmarks; your actual redemption value will differ. Skywards First-class sweet spots reach 5–7 fils per Mile; mass-market economy redemptions sit at 3 fils. See the AED valuations methodology for the underlying work.
Annual fee handling
The default view shows monthly reward AED and annual fee
separately. Toggle the "show net of annual fee" checkbox to
subtract the monthly fee accrual (annualFee / 12)
from the reward and re-rank. A fee-free card with a modest
earn rate often beats a premium card once the fee lands.
Verification dates
Every ranked card carries its lastVerified date.
Cards verified more than 90 days ago get a "data drift risk"
chip — we do not hide them, but we tell you the figures may
have moved.
What this calculator does not do
- We do not score welcome bonuses. A card's first-year value can dwarf its earn rate; check the review page.
- We do not factor in lounge access, cinema BOGO, golf, the Entertainer, or hotel discounts. Use the cards directory filters for those.
- We do not check your eligibility. Each result tile links to the full card review with salary band and salary-transfer requirements.