How we rank credit cards
Every recommendation on CardPilot is the output of one number: effective % return — the actual rupees you get back per ₹100 spent, at the best realistic redemption. No sponsored placements, no pay-to-rank.
The effective-return calculation
Headline reward rates lie. "5X points" means nothing until you know what a point is worth and where you can spend it. For every card × merchant pair we compute:
- Earn rate— the merchant-specific rate if one exists, else the category rate, else the card's base rate. A fuel card's 4% fuel rate never leaks into its grocery ranking.
- Caps— monthly reward caps are applied to the transaction amount, so a "5% cashback" card shows its real, diluted rate on spends beyond the cap.
- Redemption value — points are valued at the card's best realistic redemption (Smartbuy, EDGE, statement credit, or airline transfer), not the marketing number.
- Exclusions — wallet loads, rent, utilities, and fuel exclusions are noted per rule and reflected in rankings.
Where the data comes from
Every reward rule links to its source — the issuing bank's own product page or fee schedule (24 sourced rules across 139tracked cards). We don't copy rates from other comparison sites.
An automated pipeline re-crawls bank product pages weekly and flags any change for review before it goes live. Each rate carries its verification date — you'll see "Rates last verified" on every recommendation page (most recent: 6 July 2026). Rates older than 90 days are marked stale and queued for re-verification.
How we make money
Some "Get this card" links are referral links — if you apply through them, the issuer may pay CardPilot a commission at no cost to you. Rankings are computed from the effective-return math above before any affiliate consideration; a card with no referral program ranks exactly as high as its rewards justify. Pages may also carry ads, which are visually separated from recommendations.
What we don't do
- No pay-to-rank or sponsored positions in any ranking.
- No "eligibility checkers" that approve everyone — our eligibility tool has an honest Avoid bucket.
- No hiding devaluations — when a bank nerfs a card, the ranking moves the week our pipeline catches it.
Found an outdated rate? Tell us — corrections ship in the next weekly refresh.