The best Mastercard in Canada for everyday spending is the BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard if you can use its bonus categories and justify the $139 annual fee, which is waived for the first year, and the Tangerine Money-Back World Mastercard if you want strong rates without paying anything. Both beat the usual 1% flat card by a wide margin. Which one wins for you comes down to where your money actually goes each month — and whether you hit the spending caps.
The Best Mastercard in Canada for Everyday Spending
| Card | Annual fee | Headline everyday rate | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| BMO CashBack World Elite | $139 (waived year one) | 5% groceries, 4% transit, 3% gas | Biggest category rates |
| Tangerine Money-Back World | $0 | 2% in categories you choose, uncapped | No fee, no caps |
| PC World Elite | $0 | 4.5% at Shoppers, 3% at Loblaw banners | Loblaw and Shoppers shoppers |
| Capital One Quicksilver World Elite | $0 | 3% groceries, 3% gas, 1% else | Uncapped cash back, no FX fees |
| Rogers Red World Elite | $0 | Up to 5% on Rogers, Fido and Shaw bills | Rogers customers only |
Best Mastercard in Canada for Groceries and Gas: BMO CashBack World Elite
This is the highest-earning everyday Mastercard in Canada right now, and also the only one here with a fee.
- 5% on groceries, on the first $500 of spending per statement period
- 4% on transit, including ride sharing and taxis, on the first $300
- 3% on gas and EV charging, on the first $300
- 2% on recurring bill payments, on the first $500
- 1% on everything else, with no cap
The fine print that matters: the annual fee is $139, waived for the first year. You need $80,000 personal or $150,000 household income. The purchase interest rate is 21.99%, and the card includes eight days of out-of-country emergency medical coverage and roadside assistance, per BMO’s own card page.
Full details are in our BMO CashBack World Elite review.
Does a $139 Annual Fee Actually Pay for Itself?
Year one is free either way — BMO waives the $139 fee for the first year, so the real question is whether you keep the card into year two. Here is the math on a household that maxes groceries and gas every month:
- $500 a month groceries at 5% = $300 a year
- $300 a month gas at 3% = $108 a year
- Total: $408, minus the $139 fee = $269 net
Against a no-fee card paying 2% on the same spending (about $192, no fee), the BMO card is ahead — but the gap narrows fast if you spend less. At $250 a month on groceries and no transit or gas spending, you earn $150 and the fee eats most of it.
Quick tip: add up last month’s grocery, gas and transit spending before you apply. If groceries alone are under about $300 a month, a no-fee card is probably the better card for you.
Best No-Fee Mastercard in Canada: Tangerine Money-Back World
The Tangerine card takes the opposite approach: lower headline rates, but you choose where they apply and nothing is capped.
- 2% in two categories you pick from a list of about a dozen — groceries, restaurants, gas, bills, pharmacy, entertainment, home improvement and more
- A third 2% category if you have the cash back deposited into a Tangerine Savings Account
- 0.5% on everything else
- $0 annual fee; $50,000 personal or $80,000 household income; 20.95% purchase rate
Why it suits irregular spending: you can change your categories every 90 days, and there is no monthly cap to bump into. Someone spending $900 a month on groceries earns more here than on a 5% card that stops at $500.
The trade-off: that 0.5% base rate is poor. This card rewards people who keep their spending inside their chosen categories and use something else for everything else.
Best if You Shop at Loblaw and Shoppers Drug Mart: PC World Elite
If your groceries come from Loblaws, No Frills, Zehrs or Independent, the no-fee PC World Elite Mastercard is hard to beat:
- 45 points per $1 at Shoppers Drug Mart (about 4.5%)
- 30 points per $1 at Loblaw-banner grocery stores (about 3%)
- 30 points per litre at Esso and Mobil
- 10 points per $1 everywhere else (about 1%)
- $0 fee, but $80,000 personal or $150,000 household income
The catch: PC Optimum points are not cash. You redeem them in 10,000-point blocks ($10) at participating stores — they cannot be applied to your statement. Our guide to what PC Optimum points are worth explains where the value holds up.
Two More Mastercards Worth a Look
Capital One Quicksilver World Elite — no fee, 3% on groceries and 3% on gas and EV charging with no caps at all, 1% elsewhere, and no foreign transaction fees. Walmart and Costco purchases are excluded from the 3% grocery rate, which matters if that is where you shop — see our best credit cards for Costco shoppers and our Capital One Quicksilver review.
Rogers Red World Elite — worth it almost exclusively if you pay Rogers, Fido or Shaw bills. From November 18, 2026 it earns up to 5% on those bills, but Rogers is also removing the 1.5x redemption bonus that made it effectively a 3% card for broad spending, and annual bonus-earning caps arrived in August 2026. We tracked all of it in the Rogers Red changes.
Key Takeaways
- The BMO CashBack World Elite earns the most on everyday categories — 5% groceries, 4% transit, 3% gas — but caps each one per statement and charges $139 after the first year.
- The Tangerine Money-Back World is the best no-fee pick: 2% in two or three categories you choose, uncapped, with a weak 0.5% base rate.
- The PC World Elite wins for Loblaw and Shoppers shoppers, but pays in points you can only spend in store.
- The Capital One Quicksilver is the simplest uncapped option and charges no foreign transaction fees.
- Run your own numbers: a fee pays for itself only if you actually fill the bonus categories every month.
The bottom line: pick the card that matches where you already spend, not the one with the biggest number on the page. For most households that is Tangerine if you want nothing to pay, and BMO if your grocery and gas spending is heavy enough to clear the fee. If you would rather compare across all networks, see our best credit cards for everyday spending.
Rates, fees and income requirements were verified against each issuer’s own pages on October 15, 2026, with Costco Canada’s accepted-payment rules confirmed via Finder Canada and the Tangerine category list via Milesopedia. Card terms change often — confirm current details before you apply.