Registration for the Q4 2026 Chase Freedom bonus categories are now active for Dining, Grocery Stores, and the American Red Cross.
The Chase Freedom / Chase Freedom Flex card is a must
If everyone only earned 1% or 2% back on each purchase, it might take a lot longer to earn enough points to make comfortable travel possible. What you really want is the ability to earn 5% on a variety of purchases. That’s where the Chase Freedom and Chase Freedom Flex (refer-a-friend link) come in. Both offer (at least) 5% back on a variety of categories each quarter. And the best part of both of these cards is there is no annual fee to do so.
Technically, what you earn isn’t just cash back but it comes in the form of Chase Ultimate Rewards. While you can’t use these directly to transfer points to airlines and hotels, you can first move them to a card that does allow transfers (like the Chase Sapphire Preferred). And in that way, these cards can help farm points for you when you spend in the right categories.
It also helps if the categories have gift cards available to other merchants to enable a broader level of high earning. Chase hasn’t historically cared as much as other issuers on what you spend on as long as it’s at the right merchant.
The rotating Chase Freedom bonus categories for Q4 2026
In Q4 2026, the rotating Chase Freedom bonus categories are listed below. Each of these categories will earn 5% cash back. This counts for spend between October 1, 2026 and December 31, 2026. You must activate the bonus by December 14, 2026.
There is a $1,500 cap in spend for the bonus categories.
Direct link to register for the bonus
The official terms of each bonus category
Grocery stores
Merchants in this category include supermarkets, merchants that offer a full-service grocery line of merchandise including a deli and bakery as well as smaller grocery stores. Delivery service merchants will be included if they classify as a grocery store merchant.
Some merchants that sell grocery items are not included in this category; for example, larger stores that sell a wide variety of goods and groceries, such as Walmart and Target, wholesale clubs, warehouse clubs, discount stores and some smaller merchants such as drugstores, and merchants that specialize in only a few grocery items. Purchases made at gas stations from merchants who also operate grocery stores are not included in this category.
Dining
This category’s merchants’ primary business is sit-down or eat-in dining, including fast food restaurants and fine dining establishments. Delivery and takeout services will be included if they classify as a restaurant merchant.
Merchants that sell food and drinks located within facilities such as sports stadiums, hotels and casinos, theme parks, grocery and department stores will not be included in this category unless the merchant has set up such purchases to be classified in a restaurant category. Bakeries, caterers, meal kit delivery services, and gift card merchants are not included in the category.
American Red Cross
To ensure your charitable donation is eligible for the 5% total Cash Back reward, be sure to donate directly through American Red Cross’s official channels using the links provided here or on the Merchant List page. https://www.redcross.org/chase
Local chapters may not be eligible due to transaction processing procedures.
A few thoughts on this collection of bonuses
Grocery stores
What immediately comes to mind is that many grocery stores offer up gift cards to other vendors. That makes this category more than just applicable at grocery stores. Perhaps you know you’ll only end up buying $750 in groceries during the quarter and you don’t want to spend on dining. Well, you can just buy $750 in gift cards at the grocery store to max it out.
If you have a future college student in your house, you might want to consider buying Gift of College gift cards if your grocery store sells them. The 5X you earn on these gift cards will offset the activation fee that comes with these gift cards (especially if you find the $500 gift cards).
Key exceptions to this category include Walmart and Target–even those with grocery stores inside–and wholesale clubs like Costco. Gas stations operated by grocery chains don’t qualify. But you could just buy a grocery store gift card inside (like at Safeway) and then use that gift card to buy gas from the Safeway pump.
Dining
First off, if you have the Chase Freedom Flex, you’ll be able to get a whopping 7X Chase UR points on each dollar spent at qualifying restaurants. If you have the original Chase Freedom, the bonus will top out at 5X–still great, but not quite as stellar. That said, there are cards that earn 6X on the dining category (like the Citi Strata Elite on Friday nights). How tempting you find this category depends on the cards you have.
Remember that “dining” doesn’t include places like the following:
- Ice cream shops (sorry, Baskin Robbins)
- Specialty drink stores (no bonuses on boba for you)
- Vendors that exist inside other places (e.g. sports stadiums or the Costco food court)
That said, I’d wager dollars to donuts that restaurants that process gift cards directly via Toast would count for this category.
American Red Cross
Chase lately has tossed in a donation category and this quarter is the American Red Cross. But can I be honest about something? I think the Red Cross would prefer you donate blood and not money. I am a blood donor and find that more satisfying than donating money could ever be. And that’s even with cash donations earning me 5X.
Historical rotating categories by quarter
For posterity, here are the historical rotating categories for the Chase Freedom / Freedom Flex card since 2022.
| Year | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Norwegian Cruise Line Dining American Heart Association | Amazon Chase Travel Feeding America | Gas Stations / EV Charging Public Transit Select Live Entertainment United Way | Grocery Stores Dining American Red Cross |
| 2025 | Grocery Stores Fitness Clubs Hair/Nail/Spa Services Norwegian Cruise Line Tax Prep (March Only) | Amazon Select Streaming Services Internet/Phone (June Only) | Instacart Gas Stations / EV Charging Select Live Entertainment | Chase Travel Department Stores Old Navy PayPal (December Only) |
| 2024 | Grocery Stores Fitness Clubs Hair/Nail/Spa Services | Amazon Chase Travel (Hotels) Restaurants | Gas Stations / EV Charging Movie Theaters Select Live Entertainment | PayPal Pet Stores Select Charities McDonald’s (Flex Only) |
| 2023 | Grocery Stores Fitness Clubs Target | Amazon Lowe’s | Gas Stations / EV Charging Select Live Entertainment | PayPal Wholesale Clubs Select Charities |
| 2022 | eBay Grocery Stores | Amazon Select Streaming Services | Gas Stations Car Rentals Movie Theaters Select Live Entertainment | Amazon Wholesale Clubs Streaming Services |
There are some general themes:
- Q1 tends to have bonuses on grocery stores and fitness clubs
- Amazon tends to dominate Q2
- Entertainment is the usual category in Q3
- Q4 usually has PayPal as an option (but not in 2026!)
FAQ with the Chase Freedom / Chase Freedom Flex
You might think that when you make a charge on your card on March 31, that it will post on March 31. However, that’s not always the case. The merchant might be in a different time zone, or the charge doesn’t process until the next day. Potentially, it doesn’t process until you pick it up from the store, which could be days away.
This is relevant because you don’t want to wait until the last minute to make a purchase that would be eligible for the 5% bonus. The charge might post at a later date and you’d be out of luck–only earning 1% on the purchase because it processed outside the eligible period.
Do yourself a favor and don’t procrastinate if you’re looking to make a purchase that qualifies.
Chase doesn’t have any known internal limits on how many Freedom cards you can hold at once… for now. That means you can in theory have multiple Chase Freedom cards to help maximize these categories if you’re a big spender. That’s because there is a limit of 5% cash back on the first $1,500 spend in that quarter. But if you have multiple Freedom cards, that limit could effectively be raised to $3,000, $4,500, or beyond.
To achieve this, you shouldn’t apply for the cards directly. Instead, what you should do is either downgrade or product change from a different card to this one. After your first renewal, contact Chase and let them know you have no use for the current card (such as potentially the Chase Sapphire Preferred). Instead of canceling the card, suggest a product change to a more useful card like the Chase Freedom.
Yes, each Freedom account you have must be individually registered before you can earn the bonus multiplier.
The “OG” Chase Freedom card is a Visa while the Chase Freedom Flex is a Mastercard. For years, once Chase introduced the Freedom Flex, you used to be able to switch between the two cards at will. However, we’ve heard reports in 2025 that it’s no longer possible to do so. At this time, until more data points speak to the opposite, we’ll say it’s not possible.
Why would someone want to make the change? While the Visa and Mastercard acceptance rate amongst merchants is nearly identical, it’s not truly equivalent (see Costco). Also, the Freedom Flex has standing category bonuses that the “OG” Freedom doesn’t have:
– 5% back at Chase Travel
– 3% back on dining
– 3% back at drugstores
If you want the Freedom Flex, the best advice is to apply for it directly (refer-a-friend link). And if you want the “OG” Freedom, you should still be able to product change to it from other Visa cards (like the Freedom Unlimited or Chase Sapphire Preferred).
Yes, as long as the spend is in the appropriate quarter and you register before the deadline. It’s great that you can retroactively earn the 5x multiplier.
You don’t need to manually add up spend you made in the quarter; there’s a tracker that conveniently shows you your progress. Just head over to https://ultimaterewardspoints.chase.com/home and select your Chase Freedom card. You’ll immediately see your progress on the screen here. This will show you the 5% cash back progress, so divide what you earned by 0.05 to see how much more you can do.
Example: this quarter you earned $15 cash back so far. Dividing by 0.05 gives you $300, which then means you have $1,200 of more spend you could potentially make this quarter.
Suggested reading:
- New Rules for Chase in 2025: Should You Be Worried?
- Earning Points From Taxes: Easy Money?
- What to Understand With Visa and Mastercard Settlement
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