Capital One Savor vs Wells Fargo Active Cash: category cash back or a flat rate
Savor has no annual fee and Active Cash has no annual fee. The question is: does enough of your spending land in Savor’s categories to beat a flat rate on everything? Savor pays 3% cash back on groceries, 3% on dining and 3% on entertainment, and 1% on the rest. Active Cash pays 2% cash rewards on purchases.
What the issuers list today
| Capital One Savor | Wells Fargo Active Cash | |
|---|---|---|
| Annual fee | Capital One Savor$0 | Wells Fargo Active Cash$0 |
| Groceries | Capital One Savor3% at grocery stores, excluding superstores such as Walmart and Target | Wells Fargo Active Cash2% |
| Dining and entertainment | Capital One Savor3% on dining, 3% on entertainment | Wells Fargo Active Cash2% |
| Everything else | Capital One Savor1% | Wells Fargo Active Cash2% on net purchases; the terms list transactions that don’t earn, such as cash advances and balance transfers |
| Listed credits | Capital One Savornone listed | Wells Fargo Active Cashno statement credits listed; cell phone protection, secondary auto rental coverage, travel and emergency assistance, roadside dispatch |
Verified Oct 4, 2026.
The math
Split your yearly spending in two:
- Category spend: what Savor pays 3% on groceries, 3% on dining and 3% on entertainment
- Everything else: what Savor pays 1% on
On category spend, Savor earns 3% on groceries, 3% on dining and 3% on entertainment, and Active Cash earns 2%. On everything else, Savor earns 1% and Active Cash earns 2%. So the yearly gap is:
Savor − Active Cash = grocery spend × (3% − 2%) + dining spend × (3% − 2%) + entertainment spend × (3% − 2%) − everything else × (2% − 1%)
It breaks even when the category parts add up to the everything-else part. Savor comes out ahead once grocery spend × (3% − 2%) + dining spend × (3% − 2%) + entertainment spend × (3% − 2%) is more than everything else × (2% − 1%). Below that, Active Cash’s flat 2% comes out ahead.
Not a recommendation.
Count groceries carefully. Savor’s 3% excludes superstores such as Walmart and Target, so a grocery run there counts as everything else on Savor.
Spending abroad changes it. Active Cash lists a foreign transaction fee. On a purchase charged that fee, the fee comes off Active Cash’s 2%. Count that spend separately.