Freedom Unlimited Card vs. Quicksilver Card [Detailed Comparison]

There can be a meaningful debate as to which types of credit card rewards are better — cash-back, points, or miles. And, while each has its own pros and downsides, some consumers simply prefer cash-back.

There’s a lot to be said about keeping things simple and not having to navigate complicated earnings or redemption options. However, it’s also important to find the right card match for your personal spending mix, redemption priorities, and benefit preferences.

This brings us to today’s card comparison. We’re going to take a look at 2 popular cards that are excellent options for everyday use and make it easy to redeem the rewards you’ve earned. You’ll even find a few additional useful benefits that add value to the cards.

The Chase Freedom Unlimited^® and Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card are similar in many ways, yet each offers a unique edge that may tip the scale toward the card that is best for you.

Join us as we look closer at these 2 potential cash-back card options to find the 1 that will fit comfortably in your wallet.

The Value of a Welcome Bonus

Once you’re approved for a credit card that offers a welcome bonus, you’ll normally have a window of opportunity to meet minimum spending requirements and earn that initial bonus. Both the Freedom Unlimited card and the Quicksilver card offer a welcome bonus in the form of additional cash-back.

Always check for the most current bonus before you apply for any card. Here are the most current welcome bonuses available for our 2 featured cards:

Bottom Line: Both the Freedom Unlimited card and Quicksilver card offer the opportunity to earn additional cash-back as a welcome bonus. 

Freedom Unlimited Card vs. the Quicksilver Card — Summary

Before we look at the specific details of the Freedom Unlimited card and the Quicksilver card, let’s glance at a high-level overview of how the cards compare.

Here are the key benefits of our featured cards.

Earning Potential

The Freedom Unlimited card and Quicksilver card have similar earning structures that offer a flat rate 1.5% cash-back on every purchase you make. However, there are bonus earning categories on each card that offer additional cash-back opportunities.

Here’s how the cards break down when we look at earning potential:

The Freedom Unlimited card offers 5% cash-back on travel via the Ultimate Rewards travel portal versus the Quicksilver card that limits 5% cash-back earnings for hotel and rental car purchases via Capital One Travel. The Freedom Unlimited card also has 3 additional bonus earning categories — Lyft, dining, and drugstores.

Bottom Line: While cash-back earnings rates are similar for both the Freedom Unlimited card and the Quicksilver card, if you spend a lot on travel, dining, at drugstores, and on Lyft rides, you could fare better and earn more cash-back with the Freedom Unlimited card. 

Redemption Options

Redemption options for the Freedom Unlimited card and Quicksilver card are many, which is a plus for cards with no annual fees. And, while the most convenient option might be to take the cash-back directly at redemption time, there may be better choices available with either card.

Here are the redemption options for the rewards earned on each of our featured cards:

The Freedom Unlimited card first earns rewards as points that can then be redeemed for cash-back. The card also allows you to transfer these points to premium Chase cards such as the Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card and the Chase Sapphire Reserve^®. Your points will then be worth 25% more and 50% more, respectively, when redeemed for travel via the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal. Additionally, points can be transferred to hotel and airline partners to use for free hotel nights or award flights resulting in potentially even greater value.

While the Quicksilver card does allow you to transfer cash-back to a miles-earning card such as the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card or the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card, you will still only be able to redeem miles for 1 cent each via Capital One Travel. You will, however, gain the option of then transferring miles to Capital One hotel and airline partners and potentially receive greater value there.

Hot Tip: One lesser-known option for the Quicksilver card is the ability to transfer rewards to Capital One Venture cards to take advantage of hotel and airline transfer partners.

Travel Benefits and Protections

The Freedom Unlimited card and Quicksilver card (when issued as a World Elite Mastercard) each offer a nice collection of travel benefits and protections. Here’s what you can expect to find on both of our featured cards.

• Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver — Reserve and pay for your rental car with your card, decline the rental agency’s CDW/LDW coverage, and receive secondary car rental insurance. Secondary coverage means that you must first file a claim with any other applicable insurance first before card coverage kicks in.
• Trip Cancellation/Trip Interruption Insurance — For the Freedom Unlimited card coverage, you could receive up to $1,500 per person, $6,000 per trip, for prepaid expenses if your trip has to be canceled or is interrupted for covered reasons. The Quicksilver card offers coverage of up to $1,500 per trip.
• Roadside Dispatch — For 1 flat fee, receive roadside services such as tire changing, emergency fuel, limited towing, standard winching, jump start services, and lock-out services. Services received above those which are provided with the card will be billed to your associated card.
• Travel and Emergency Assistance Services — When traveling away from home you’ll have a direct line 24/7 to medical referrals, translation services, legal assistance referrals, emergency transportation help, and more. Cardholders are responsible for the cost of actual services received.

Quicksilver Card

Capital One cards, in general, do not have foreign transaction fees, and as a World Elite Mastercard, the Quicksilver card will have additional travel benefits and protections.

• No Foreign Transaction Fees — Your Quicksilver card travels well internationally as the card does not charge foreign transaction fees on your purchases.
• Baggage Insurance — If your baggage is delayed more than 4 hours, you could receive up to $100 per day for 3 days for necessary incidentals. If your checked or carry-on baggage is lost or damaged, you could receive up to $1,500 per incident for up to 2 claims each 12-month period.
• Travel Accident Insurance — Receive up to $1,000,000 for covered loss of life or severe injury, as described in the Guide to Benefits, during covered trips paid for entirely with the card.

Bottom Line: Both the Freedom Unlimited card and Quicksilver card offer travel benefits and protections that can save you money and provide assistance should something go wrong during your journey. The Quicksilver card has the additional benefits of no foreign transaction fees, baggage insurance, and travel accident insurance. 

Shopping Benefits and Protections

We don’t often think of shopping benefits and protections when selecting a rewards-earning credit card. However, you’ll find money-saving benefits and protection for eligible items purchased with your card on both the Freedom Unlimited card and Quicksilver card.

Here are some of the key benefits you’ll find on both cards:

Purchase Protection/Purchase Assurance — Purchase an eligible item with your Freedom Unlimited card and receive coverage for damage or theft for up to 120 days from the date of purchase, up to $500 per claim, $50,000 per account. The Quicksilver card has coverage for up to 90 days from the date of purchase for up to $500 per loss and $25,000 per cardholder per 12-month period.

Extended Warranty — For eligible purchases made with the Freedom Unlimited card that have manufacturer’s warranties of 3 years or less, the warranty will be extended by 1 additional year. Coverage limits are $10,000 per claim, $50,000 per account. For purchases made with the Quicksilver card, items that have manufacturer’s warranties of 2 years or less will have the warranty doubled, up to 2 additional years, and up to $10,000 per item.

Here are the additional shopping benefits and protections you’ll find on each specific card:

Freedom Unlimited Card

• Chase Offers — Log in to your online card account and review the available offers. Add the offers to your card, make the required purchase, and receive a statement credit for the associated offer amount.
• Shop through Chase — Earn more rewards and enjoy unique savings by logging into your online Ultimate Rewards account and select Earn Bonus Points at the top of the page.
• Complimentary 3-month DoorDash DashPass — The DashPass gives you free delivery on qualifying orders and normally costs $9.99 per month. After your complimentary 3-month subscription expires, you can choose to continue for an additional 9 months at 50% off. You must activate the offer by December 31, 2024.
• Instacart Benefits — Cardholders are eligible for a free 3-month Instacart+ membership plus a $10 quarterly credit. Activate by July 31, 2024.

Quicksilver Card

• Capital One Offers — Log in to your online card account to review available offers.
• Mastercard Digital Merchant Offers — Enjoy perks such as ShopRunner for free 2-day shipping and retailer discounts, a 3-month DoorDash DashPass, discounts on Lyft rides, Fandango, Priceless Golf, and more.
• Price Protection — It’s rare to find price protection coverage on a credit card anymore. However, the Quicksilver card includes a benefit of up to $250 if an eligible item you purchase with your card drops in price within the first 120 days after the purchase date. Terms and conditions apply.

Bottom Line: Both the Freedom Unlimited card and Quicksilver card come with shopping benefits and protections that can save you money, help you earn more rewards, and provide protection should something go wrong with eligible items purchased with your card. One key feature of the Quicksilver card is the additional price protection coverage. 

Additional Benefits

Introductory 0% APR Period for Balance Transfers

Both the Freedom Unlimited card and Quicksilver card include an introductory 0% APR period on balance transfers made during the 15 months after card approval. If you have high credit card balances, you may be able to save money on interest charges by transferring your existing balance to either card.

Note that there are fees associated with transferring balances. The Quicksilver card charges 3% of the amount of the transfer made within the 15-month period. The Freedom Unlimited card charges $5 or 3% of the amount of the transfer, whichever is greater, for transfers made within the first 60 days. Transfers made beyond the 60 days to the Freedom Unlimited card, incur a fee of 5% of the transfer amount.

Annual Fees and Authorized Users

Neither the Freedom Unlimited card nor the Quicksilver card charges an annual fee. There is also no fee for adding authorized users to either card.

Hot Tip: Capital One allows you to find out if you are targeted for any credit card offers without impacting your credit score. Along with other card issuers, Capital One lists available card offers specifically for you via the CardMatch tool or you can use Capital One’s proprietary preapproved card offers.

Final Thoughts

If you travel internationally and do not have a travel rewards card, the Quicksilver card may be the better card for you as it does not charge foreign transaction fees. Outside of this situation, however, the Freedom Unlimited card is a better card overall.

The Freedom Unlimited card has the additional bonus-earning categories of dining, drugstores, and Lyft, so you’ll earn more rewards if you spend in those categories. You’ll also earn 5% cash-back on travel purchased via the Chase travel portal versus just hotels and rental cars via Capital One Travel with the Quicksilver card.

Additionally, you can receive up to 50% more value for points earned on the Freedom Unlimited card when transferring to Chase premium Ultimate Rewards-earning cards such as the Chase Sapphire Preferred card and Chase Sapphire Reserve card. These premium cards also offer the additional benefit of allowing transfers to airline and hotel partners for even greater potential value.

Prior to applying for any credit card, you’ll want to be aware of Chase’s unwritten 5/24 rule that can affect your ability to be approved for Chase cards in the future.

Finally, please note that the list of benefits we’ve provided is not all-encompassing and we’ve also abbreviated any associated descriptions. You’ll want to review each card’s Guide to Benefits for complete information.

The information regarding the Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.
The information regarding the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.
The information regarding the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.
The information regarding the Chase Freedom Unlimited^® was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.