AAdvantage® MileUp®

This card is worth a look if you want to earn American miles with no annual fee and you regularly buy groceries or book the occasional American Airlines flight. The setup is straightforward: 2x miles on American Airlines purchases, 2x at grocery stores, and 1x everywhere else. For someone who prefers airline miles over cash back and wants to keep costs at zero, that is a clean, easy-to-manage proposition.

The tradeoff is that this is a fairly narrow card. There are no notable built-in perks to help justify keeping it beyond the rewards, and the 3% foreign transaction fee makes it a poor choice for international travel. If you want premium travel protections, airport benefits, or stronger earning across more categories, you will likely outgrow it. But for a casual American flyer who wants a no-fee card focused on miles, it does the job well enough.