Best Cashback Business Cards in Canada: Rate vs. Total Value
If you’re choosing a business card based on cashback alone, you’re starting with a flawed equation.
Cashback math is less straightforward than the headline rate suggests: the best card depends on where rewards start and stop, what fees and FX costs are deducted and what extra value the account adds.
Key takeaways
- Look beyond the headline cashback rate. Annual caps, category restrictions, foreign transaction fees, and annual fees can significantly reduce what you actually earn.
- Match your card to your spending habits. Traditional cashback cards can offer better rewards for businesses spending less than $25,000 per month per currency, while higher-spend businesses may benefit from comparing total value across rewards, interest, FX savings, and expense management.
- Calculate total value, not just cashback. Interest on business balances, lower currency conversion costs, and included software can change the overall value of a business card.
Cashback rates and their trade-offs
Base cashback rates often come with caveats, such as annual caps and category-specific rates.
Here are some of the most popular cashback business cards for Canadian businesses, the base cashback and potential catches.
Take Float, for example. In addition to cashback, Float cards offer interest on idle CAD and USD balances, currency conversion at 0.25% compared to a typical 2.5% bank markup, no-fee payments, and built-in expense management.
These added benefits show why it’s important to look beyond cashback rates alone. To understand the full value of a business card, you need to do the math across rewards, fees, and the other benefits that matter to your business.
A closer look at each credit card
Other factors make a cash-back business credit card the right choice for your business beyond the upfront percentage. Here's what each card in the ranking earns once fees, caps and categories are factored in.
BMO CashBack Business Mastercard: 0.75% base, category-dependent
BMO waives the annual fee but starts at a lower 0.75% base rate on general purchases. Categories like gas, office supplies and phone and internet bills earn 1.5%, but are capped at $1,000 per category per statement cycle.
On $100,000 of general spend, 0.75% earns $750. That’s $250 less than cards with the 1% rate. The accelerated categories can close that gap, but only if your spend fits them and stays under the monthly caps. That makes BMO a fit for steady, predictable category spend and a finance team willing to watch the limits. It’s a weaker fit for varied or seasonal purchasing or for businesses that want a single rate without monthly category math.
TD Business Cash Back Visa: 0.5% base, category-driven
TD has no annual fee, but it has the lowest base cashback rate on the list at 0.5% on general purchases. Cashback rate increases to 2% for categories such as gas and transit, office supplies, recurring bills, and streaming. Each category has a $15,000 annual cap.
On $100,000 in general spend, 0.5% earns $500, half of what 1% cards pay before caps and fees. The 2% categories can close the gap, but only if your spend concentrates there and stays under each $15,000 cap.
TD fits a business whose costs cluster in gas, office supplies and recurring bills, and whose finance team will track three separate category caps. It's a weak fit for broad, general spending, where the 0.5% cashback rate does most of the earning. Like the other bank cards, TD adds a 2.5% foreign-currency markup on top of Visa's exchange rate. Against a 0.5% base, the foreign-currency charge is five times what the card pays back. This is the widest reward-to-cost gap on this list. For USD-heavy spend, that alone can erase the cashback.
American Express Business Edge: points, not cashback
Instead of cashback, American Express Business Edge earns 1 point for every dollar spent, with the option to redeem 1,000 points for a $10 statement credit. The points-for-cash redemption is roughly equivalent to 1% cashback, but you’ll have to redeem in $10 increments against your balance.
Trading cash back for points can be worth it, depending on your category mix. The Business Edge card offers 3x points on business categories like office supplies, gas, transit and restaurants, with a 75,000 total point cap on these categories. The program is designed for redeeming points for travel and merchandise rather than cashback. To see if this card is right for you, estimate the points you would earn by category and review the redemptions you'll actually use.
Float: earn 1% cashback with prepaid and charge options
Float cards earn 1% cashback on eligible card spend above $25,000 per month. For businesses with both CAD and USD cards, the $25,000 threshold is calculated separately for each currency. Payments and reimbursements don’t count toward the cashback calculation.
For businesses with high monthly card spend, cashback scales with spending, creating a significant opportunity to earn rewards as the business grows. As businesses pay more operating expenses through Float cards, they can earn cashback on a larger share of eligible spending without changing how they manage day-to-day purchases. Over time, this can add up to meaningful returns that businesses can put back into operations, cover other expenses, or reinvest in growth.
Try Float for free
Business finance tools and software made by Canadians, for Canadian businesses.
Float offers two funding models to suit different business needs:
- Prepaid: Float’s Prepaid cards let businesses spend from their available Float balance
- Float Charge: Charge provides eligible businesses with access to unsecured, interest-free credit with flexible repayment terms.
Both options come with Float’s full spend management platform, including corporate cards, customizable spending limits, approval workflows, receipt collection, expense tracking and accounting integrations. This gives businesses more flexibility in how they fund purchases while keeping spending visible and under control as they grow.
Run your own numbers
Float cashback (each currency): 1% × (monthly card spend − $25,000), floored at $0
Interest: 2.5% × average CAD/USD balance
FX advantage: (2.50% − 0.25%) × amount you convert
Software: monthly cost of any tool the Float Essentials plan replaces × 12
Add the four numbers you get, then subtract what your current card's cashback would have paid. This shows whether the savings across other offerings outweigh a pure cashback credit card.
The best card isn’t always the one with the highest cashback rate
The cashback percentage is the easiest number to compare, but it can’t be looked at on its own. Two cards with the same headline rate can pay out very differently when you factor in spending caps, category restrictions, annual fees, and how redemption actually works.
The real comparison is the full picture: what you earn back, what you pay in fees, how FX and cross-border spend are handled if that applies to you, and whether the card's structure actually matches how your business spends.
If your business spends more than $25,000 a month in either CAD or USD, Float offers a way to earn 1% cashback on eligible spending above that threshold, with no cashback cap. Combined with flexible funding options and a full intelligent finance operations platform, Float helps businesses get more value from everyday purchases while keeping spending organized and under control. Explore Float corporate cards.
Frequently asked questions
1. What is the best cashback business credit card in Canada?
The best cashback business card depends on your monthly spending, purchase categories, and fees. Some cards offer a flat cashback rate on general purchases, while others offer higher rates in specific categories, with annual or statement-cycle caps. Compare the rewards you can realistically earn against fees and foreign currency costs to find the best fit for your business.
2. How much cashback can a business earn with a business credit card?
Your cashback earnings depend on the card's reward rate, eligible spending, and any applicable caps or thresholds. For example, a card paying 1% cashback on all eligible purchases would earn $1,000 on $100,000 in eligible spending, assuming no caps or other restrictions. Cards with spending thresholds or category-specific rewards may produce different results, so check how the rate applies before estimating your returns.
3. Is a higher cashback rate always better?
No. A higher advertised rate doesn't necessarily translate into greater overall value. Annual fees, spending caps, category restrictions, and foreign currency markups can reduce your effective return. A card with a lower base rate may offer better value if its rewards match your spending habits and its fees are lower.
4. Is a business credit card with no annual fee better?
Not necessarily. A no-annual-fee card can be a good choice for businesses that want to keep costs down, but a card with an annual fee may offer better rewards or benefits that offset the cost. Compare the rewards you expect to earn after fees rather than choosing based on the annual fee alone.
5. How does Float cashback work?
Float Charge and Pre-funded corporate cards offer 1% cashback on eligible monthly card spending above $25,000 per currency. The threshold is calculated separately for CAD and USD spending, and cashback applies only to the amount above the threshold. For example, $40,000 in eligible CAD card spending in one month earns $150 in cashback. Bill Pay and reimbursements don't count toward the cashback calculation.
Float also offers additional value through interest on eligible CAD and USD balances, currency conversion at a 0.25% rate, and expense management tools. Businesses should weigh these benefits against their existing card's rewards and costs to determine which option provides better overall value.
6. What should businesses compare beyond cashback rewards?
Businesses should consider several factors beyond the advertised cashback rate, including:
- Spending caps: Whether rewards stop accumulating after a certain amount.
- Annual fees: How much the card costs to keep.
- Foreign currency fees: Whether conversion markups offset rewards on international purchases.
- Interest on business balances: Whether the associated account earns interest on available funds.
- Additional tools and fees: Whether expense management, payment processing, and other included features can replace existing paid services.