Registration for the Q2 2026 Chase Freedom bonus categories are now active for Amazon, Chase Travel, and Feeding America.
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 this quarter
In Q2 2026, the rotating Chase Freedom bonus categories are listed below. Each of these categories will earn 5% cash back (except for the Chase Freedom Flex, which will earn 9% on Chase Travel this quarter). This counts for spend between 4/1/26 and 6/30/26. You must activate the bonus by June 14, 2026.
You are capped at $1,500 for the bonus categories.
Direct link to register for the bonus
- Amazon
The Amazon.com category includes purchases made at Amazon.com (including digital downloads, Amazon.com Gift Cards, Amazon Fresh orders, Amazon Prime subscriptions, and items sold by third-party merchants through Amazon.com’s marketplace) and Whole Foods Market (including physical Whole Foods Market, and the website accessible at www.wholefoodsmarket.com).
- Chase Travel
This category includes prepaid travel purchases made on chasetravel.com or by calling the number on the back of your card to book. Eligible travel purchases include airline tickets, hotels, car rentals, cruises, activities and tours.
- Feeding America
To ensure your charitable donation is eligible for the 5% Cash Back reward, be sure to donate directly through Feeding America’s official channels using the links provided here: https://www.feedingamerica.org/chase
A few thoughts on this collection of bonuses
Amazon
Amazon seems pretty consistently the Q2 merchant of choice for the past few years. If you anticipate spending a lot at Amazon this year, you can use it to buy Amazon gift cards. Even if you don’t use much at Amazon, you can purchase third-party gift cards on the site too. You cannot use an Amazon gift card to purchase a third-party gift card, so make sure you’re buying what you need.
Some might not value because they have the Chase Ink cards, which earn 5x points at office supply stores and you can pick up Amazon gift cards there. This at least saves a step in the process and you can do it from the convenience of your house.
Remember that buying gift cards removes some protections you might have in the event the seller stiffs you (no ability to chargeback). Also, loading up your gift card balance too high might trigger an account closure.
Chase Travel
If you have the Chase Freedom Flex, you already get 5x on the Chase Travel category. Stacking the 5x from the rotating 5% bonus category on top will give you a total of 9x points. The regular Chase Freedom will only earn you a total of 5x. In this case, you’ll get more benefits being on the Chase Freedom Flex.
Before you go out spending like crazy at Chase Travel, you’ll want to remember that you don’t get many travel protections. Things like booking your own hotel in the event of IROPS or other travel insurance protections aren’t possible with these cards. We highly value having those protections and these cards, even with the sizeable bonuses, aren’t what we would use to book flights.
That said, the protections are lighter on hotels, but you won’t earn elite status or hotel loyalty points with chain hotels if you book via Chase Travel.
Feeding America
It sure does seem like Chase is deciding it wants to include a bonus category for donations this year. Last quarter it was the American Heart Association. This quarter it’s Feeding America. If you were looking to make a donation already, this works out. We’re not sure we would make a donation strictly because the bonus exists. The bonus would need to be substantially higher to entice us to donate strictly for the miles. At 5X points, it’s the equivalent of spending 20 cents per point.
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 | ||
| 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
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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