DBS vs OCBC vs UOB vs Citi: we compared Singapore's top credit cards by cashback rate, monthly cap, minimum spend, annual fee and welcome bonus, so you know exactly which card to put in your wallet.
Every cashback card on this list advertises a big number, then quietly caps it.
> Quick view: the highest headline rate is the DBS yuu Card at up to 18% on yuu merchants, but its bonus stops at S$144 a month. The best household all-rounder is the OCBC 365. Spend under S$800 a month and every tiered card here falls to 0.2-0.25%, so a flat 1.5% card returns more.
The cap matters more than the rate
Almost every cashback card in Singapore has a monthly cap, and the headline rate is what you earn only until you hit it. A card advertising 8% with an S$80 monthly cap stops rewarding you after S$1,000 of category spend, so the best rate on paper is often not the one that returns the most cash for how you actually spend.
The annual fee deserves the same scrutiny. Only the HSBC Revolution is permanently free. The other six charge S$174.40 to S$196.20 once the introductory waiver runs out: two years for the OCBC 365, one year for DBS yuu, UOB One, Citi, Standard Chartered and Amex.
Which card fits how you actually spend
The right card depends far less on the advertised rate than on where your money goes each month. Here is how the seven cards above map onto the most common spending profiles in Singapore:
- Family household, roughly S$2,500 to S$3,000 a month across groceries, petrol, food delivery and utility bills: the OCBC 365 is the best single-card fit, because it is the only card here that rewards all four of those categories at once (6% petrol, 5% dining and delivery, 3% groceries and utilities), and its cap lifts to S$160 once you spend S$1,600. If most of your grocery run is at Cold Storage or Giant, DBS yuu returns more on that slice, but almost nothing outside the yuu network.
- Mostly online, on Shopee, Lazada, food delivery, streaming and contactless: HSBC Revolution, which pays 10X points on exactly this kind of spend with no annual fee. If you want the return as cash rather than miles, UOB One rewards Shopee, Grab and SimplyGo at up to 10%.
- Drivers and daily commuters: Citi Cash Back at 8% on petrol and private commute (Grab, Gojek, taxis), or OCBC 365 at 6% on petrol if you want stronger dining rates alongside it.
- Irregular or lower spending, under S$800 a month: Standard Chartered Simply Cash or Amex True Cashback. Every tiered card on this list drops to roughly 0.2-0.25% if you miss its minimum spend, so a flat 1.5% with no minimum beats a 6% card you never qualify for.
- Single card, roughly S$2,500 a month spread across many categories: take the tiered card that matches your largest category, spend up to its cap, and accept the base rate after that. Trying to hit two cards' minimums on one budget usually means missing both.
A practical rule: pick for your top two spending categories, not for the biggest number on the ad.
How we checked this
Every rate, cap, minimum spend, annual fee and welcome offer on this page was verified against each bank's own product page on 31 August 2026. Two of the sign-up offers, OCBC's and Standard Chartered's, close on that date, so confirm the current gift on the bank's page before you apply.
Related reads