Chase Freedom Q4 2026 Categories: Earn 5x on Groceries and Dining

The Chase Freedom Q4 2026 categories are here, and this quarter has two categories that should be pretty easy for many people to use: grocery stores and dining.

From October 1 through December 31, 2026, Chase Freedom (Original) and Chase Freedom Flex cardholders can earn 5% cash back, or 5x Ultimate Rewards points, on up to $1,500 in combined purchases across the quarterly bonus categories after activation.

For Q4, the categories are:

• Grocery stores
• Dining
• American Red Cross donations

There is also an extra benefit if you have the Chase Freedom Flex. Since the Flex always earns 3x on dining, eligible dining purchases can earn a total of 7% cash back, or 7x Ultimate Rewards points, during the quarter. Chase outlines the math as follows: 1x on everything + 2x additional on dining (always) + 4x quarterly category = 7x earnings.

I also like looking beyond just the credit card bonus categories. If you’re collecting United miles, there are a few ways to use United MileagePlus X alongside your grocery and dining spending to earn even more rewards.

Here’s a closer look at the Chase Freedom Q4 2026 categories and how I plan to use them plus ideas on how you can maximize your earnings.

Chase Freedom Q4 2026 5x Categories at a Glance

The Chase Freedom Q4 2026 bonus categories are:

• Grocery stores
• Dining
• American Red Cross donations

These categories are valid from October 1 through December 31, 2026.

After activating the categories, you can earn 5% cash back, or 5x Ultimate Rewards points, on up to $1,500 in combined purchases across the three categories. You must activate the categories by December 14th to earn the 5x. If you forget, no extra points for you. You also must activate on each card if you carry both the original Freedom and the Freedom Flex like P2 and I do.

If you spend the full $1,500, you’ll earn:

7,500 Ultimate Rewards points

or

$75 cash back

The $1,500 limit is per card. If you have both a Chase Freedom and Chase Freedom Flex, each card has its own $1,500 quarterly limit, meaning you can earn 15,000 (or more) Chase Ultimate Rewards points this quarter.

How Chase Freedom Quarterly Categories Work

If you’re new to the Chase Freedom cards, the rotating categories are pretty simple.

Every quarter, Chase announces a new group of categories that will earn 5% cash back or 5x Chase Ultimate Rewards points for travel.

You always need to activate the categories before you can earn the bonus.

The bonus applies to the first $1,500 in combined purchases each quarter. Once you reach that limit, additional purchases in the bonus categories earn the card’s standard rate.

I don’t look at the quarterly categories and try to force $1,500 of spending just because the bonus is there. I look at what we’re already going to spend and figure out where I can use the Freedom cards instead of a card that would only earn 1x.

That’s especially easy with Q4 because grocery stores and dining are already part of most people’s regular spending.

Grocery Stores: A Great Category for Q4

Grocery stores are probably the category most people will be interested in this quarter. After all, pretty much everyone buys groceries, but not everyone dines out.

We all have to buy groceries, and Q4 has a lot of opportunities to spend more than you normally would. Between Thanksgiving, Christmas, holiday parties, increased travel and regular weekly grocery trips, grocery spending can add up quickly.

Chase’s grocery category includes supermarkets and merchants that offer a full-service grocery line, including stores with things like a deli and bakery. Some grocery delivery services can qualify if the merchant classifies the purchase as a grocery store.

There are some important exclusions, though.

Walmart and Target are specifically excluded from the Q4 grocery category. Wholesale clubs, warehouse clubs, discount stores and some other merchants that sell groceries are also excluded.

That distinction is important because plenty of stores sell groceries without actually coding as a grocery store for purposes of the Chase bonus.

So if you’re buying groceries at Walmart, for example, don’t assume you’re getting 5x just because you’re buying food. If you’re not sure about your local grocery store, check a previous purchase on any Chase card to see the coding and whether you’ll be able to earn 5x this quarter.

How I Plan to Use the Grocery Category

For me, this is one of those categories where I don’t need to change my spending habits. And really you shouldn’t change your spending habits just to earn points for travel. Spending more money to earn points defeats the purpose of using points to travel more while spending less.

I’ll use the Freedom cards for regular grocery trips throughout the quarter and pay particular attention to larger purchases around the holidays.

If you’re hosting Thanksgiving or Christmas, those grocery bills can get pretty large. Buying ingredients, drinks, baking supplies and everything else that goes along with a holiday meal can help you get closer to the $1,500 cap without buying things you don’t need.

You can also look at gift cards sold directly by qualifying grocery stores if you’re already planning to use them. The important distinction is that the purchase needs to qualify based on the merchant and how Chase codes it. Chase’s grocery category has exclusions for gift cards and certain merchants, so I wouldn’t assume every gift card purchase made at a grocery store will earn 5x.

You could pre-buy gift cards to your local grocery store to use in future quarters when the category isn’t 5x. That way, you’ve already earned 5x. Or you could check out the gift card display: places like Apple, REI, Netflix, and Target are frequently on sale at my local grocery store, so if the $1,500 just on groceries is out of reach, you could buy gift cards to other stores you’ll shop at that don’t earn elevated points.

The same rule applies here as with all rotating categories: don’t buy something just to earn points. If you’re going to spend the money anyway, look for a way to earn more points on that spending.

Dining: 5x With Freedom, 7x With Freedom Flex

Dining is the other Q4 category that should be easy for many people to use. It’s interesting Chase included dining as a Q4 category because it was already a 5x category in Q1 2026. I’ve had these cards for many years and can’t remember when they’ve had a repeat category in a given calendar year.

Some people are happy because dining is easy to hit, but I’ve heard some frustration because it’s very easy to max out grocery or dining at $1,500, meaning people will potentially earn less points than if these were in two separate quarters.

Both Chase Freedom and Freedom Flex cardholders can earn the 5% quarterly bonus on eligible dining purchases.

The Freedom Flex has a unique advantage.

The Freedom Flex already earns 3% on eligible dining purchases throughout the year. During Q4, dining is also a 5% rotating category, so eligible dining purchases can earn 7% total cash back, or 7x Ultimate Rewards points, until the applicable spending cap is reached.

So because I have the Freedom Flex in my wallet, that’s the card I’d use for eligible dining purchases during Q4 until I hit the cap.

What Counts as Dining?

Chase defines dining as merchants whose primary business is sit-down or eat-in dining, including fast food and fine dining restaurants.

Eligible takeout and delivery can also qualify when the transaction is classified as a restaurant purchase.

There are some exclusions.

Food purchased at places like stadiums, hotels, casinos, theme parks, grocery stores and department stores generally won’t qualify unless the merchant has the transaction set up to code as a restaurant.

Bakeries, caterers, meal kit delivery services and gift card merchants are also excluded.

Buying a restaurant gift card from a gift card merchant isn’t the same thing as buying a meal directly from the restaurant, so I wouldn’t count on the 5x or 7x dining bonus for that purchase. But, if there’s a local restaurant you love and you know for a fact it codes as dining (check your credit card statement), you can buy a gift card to use in the future.

Takeout and Delivery Can Count

The dining category doesn’t have to mean sitting down at a restaurant.

Eligible takeout and delivery can qualify when the transaction is processed as a restaurant purchase, like through Doordash.

If you’re using the Freedom Flex, getting 7x on eligible dining purchases is much better than putting those purchases on a card that only earns 1x or 3-4x (like the Freedom Unlimited or Amex Gold).

This is also where I start looking at other ways to earn on spending we’re already doing.

Using United MileagePlus X to Earn Even More Miles

If you collect United MileagePlus miles, Q4 is a good time to look at United MileagePlus X alongside the Freedom categories.

MileagePlus X (my favorite travel hacking app) allows you to purchase gift cards from participating merchants through the app and earn United miles on those purchases. The number of miles varies by merchant and offer.

The nice thing about this strategy is that the credit card you use to purchase the gift card can still earn its normal rewards. MileagePlus X purchases generally code as the merchant (when purchased with a Chase card) rather than as United, so you can choose your credit card that earns the most amount of credit card points based on the type of purchase.

There is also a 25% MileagePlus X bonus for people who have an eligible United co-branded credit card. Importantly, you don’t have to use the United card to pay for the MileagePlus X purchase. Having the eligible United card linked to your MileagePlus account is enough to receive the bonus.

That opens up some interesting options.

Instacart Gift Cards

One example is Instacart.

You can purchase an Instacart gift card through MileagePlus X and use it for future Instacart purchases, which is something I’ll definitely be doing this quarter.

This is useful if you know you’ll be ordering groceries through Instacart anyway. You can buy the gift card ahead of time, earn the United miles through MileagePlus X and then use the gift card when you need groceries delivered.

There’s another potential layer here if you use Rakuten.

Rakuten currently lists Instacart as a shopping partner (typically for 1x, but I’ve sometimes seen 2x), and Rakuten allows members to choose American Express Membership Rewards points instead of cash back when that option is available.

So before an Instacart purchase, I would check both programs.

You could earn United miles through MileagePlus X on the gift card purchase and Amex Membership Rewards points through Rakuten when shopping through an eligible Rakuten link. Not all Rakuten purchases earn Amex points when you pay using a gift card, but I can say from experience that Instacart does allow you to earn Rakuten points even when you’re paying with a gift card loaded to your account.

The exact Rakuten earning rate changes, so check the current offer before you shop. But one extra Amex point is better than none, right? There’s nothing to lose by shopping through Rakuten.

One thing to keep in mind is that you don’t want to buy more Instacart gift cards than you’re actually going to use. The goal is to earn additional rewards on spending you’re already planning to do.

Starbucks and DoorDash Gift Cards

The same strategy can work with merchants like Starbucks and DoorDash.

If you know you’ll be buying Starbucks throughout the fall or using DoorDash regularly, you could purchase gift cards through MileagePlus X and use them over time. Those are two I’ll definitely be stocking up on because I’ll earn base miles plus 25% thanks to my co-branded United credit card. That way, even if I don’t spend $1,500 per card on these categories in Q4 (and I likely won’t), I’ll have earned 5x points in advance when I make the purchases with my gift cards.

Other dining places on Mileageplus X include:

• Applebee’s
• Burger King
• California Pizza Kitchen
• Chipotle
• Domino’s
• Grubhub
• KFC
• Olive Garden
• Panera
• Taco Bell
• UberEats

The United Cardholder Bonus

The United MileagePlus X bonus is one of my favorite ways to maximize this quarter (and lets be honest, in any case I can use it).

If you have a United co-branded credit card, you can receive the 25% MileagePlus X bonus even when you use a different credit card to pay for the gift card.

For example, if I’m buying an Instacart gift card through MileagePlus X, I can use the card that gives me the best return on that particular purchase while still getting the United cardholder bonus on my MileagePlus X earnings. So for this quarter, I’ll use my Freedom for 5x Chase URs to buy the gift card and earn 1.25x United miles. Instacart has historically been 1x on United MileagePlus X.

This is one of the reasons I like looking at points and miles as a combination of programs rather than just focusing on the credit card in my wallet.

Before making a purchase, I can check:

Is there a MileagePlus X gift card?

Is the site on Rakuten?

Which credit card gives me the best multiplier for the purchase?

If there are multiple ways to earn, I put them together because why not earn more so I can travel more while spending less.

American Red Cross Donations

The third Q4 category is American Red Cross donations.

Eligible donations made directly to the American Red Cross can earn the 5% quarterly bonus.

Chase specifically says to donate through the American Red Cross’s official channels to make sure the transaction is eligible.

If you already planned to donate to the American Red Cross, you can use your Freedom or Freedom Flex and earn 5% cash back or 5x Ultimate Rewards points on the eligible donation.

It also gives you another way to use some of the $1,500 quarterly limit if you have significant grocery and dining expenses but still have room remaining.

How to Maximize the Q4 Categories

I’m not going to spend $1,500 just for the sake of earning 7,500 points.

Instead, I look at what we’re already going to spend and figure out where I can move that spending to earn the maximum amount of points, which thankfully is pretty easy in Q4.

Grocery spending will naturally increase for many people around Thanksgiving and Christmas. Dining is another category we frequently use. If you’re using the Freedom Flex, eligible dining purchases can earn 7x total.

If you already planned to donate to the American Red Cross, you can earn 5x on that donation as well.

If you have both a Freedom and Freedom Flex, you can use each card’s separate $1,500 quarterly limit.

Then there are the additional opportunities outside of the Chase bonus categories.

For United MileagePlus members (and you should be one, even if you don’t fly United frequently), check MileagePlus X before buying gift cards for merchants you know you’ll use. Instacart can be useful for future grocery purchases, while Starbucks and DoorDash can cover spending you’re likely to have throughout the quarter.

I’m not trying to turn every purchase into a complicated way to earn. I just check whether there’s an easy way to earn additional rewards before I spend money I was already going to spend.

What About Walmart and Target?

This is probably one of the most important things to remember about the grocery category.

Walmart and Target do not qualify for the Q4 grocery bonus. In previous years, they’ve been 5x bonus categories on their own, but they aren’t included in groceries.

The fact that you’re buying groceries doesn’t determine whether you earn 5x. The merchant category does.

So if you’re picking up groceries at Target or Walmart, don’t use your Freedom or Flex card expecting the Q4 grocery bonus. You’ll want to use another card that makes sense for that purchase. Even the Freedom Unlimited will get you 1.5x instead of 1x.

The same principle applies to warehouse clubs and other merchants that don’t qualify as grocery stores under Chase’s definition.

Pairing the Freedom With a Chase Sapphire Card

One of the reasons I like the Chase Freedom cards is that the points don’t have to stay on the Freedom card.

If you have a Chase Sapphire Preferred or Chase Sapphire Reserve, you can combine your Ultimate Rewards points and use them in the ways available through your Sapphire account, including transfers to eligible travel partners.

For example, if you earn the full 7,500 Ultimate Rewards points from the Q4 categories, those points can become part of your overall Chase points balance.

If you’re using points for travel, those extra points can add up over the course of the year. We use Chase Ultimate Rewards points for travel, so that’s how I think about the Freedom cards.

I’m not earning 5x because I want $75 back. I’m earning 5x because those points will eventually become part of our travel points balance.

How Much Can You Earn in Q4?

The standard calculation is pretty simple.

Spend the full $1,500 on eligible Q4 bonus categories on one Freedom card and you’ll earn:

7,500 Ultimate Rewards points

If you use the full $1,500 on dining on the Flex, that’s actually 10,500 UR points.

Have both a Freedom and Freedom Flex?

You could earn:

15,000 Ultimate Rewards points (or possibly 18,000 Ultimate Rewards point)

That’s assuming you can actually put $3,000 of qualifying purchases across the two cards during the quarter.

Just remember that the quarterly spending limit applies to the combined bonus categories on each card, so don’t spend $1,500 on groceries and $1,500 on dining on the same card expecting 5x on all those purchases.

Chase Freedom Q4 2026 vs. the Other Quarters

The Chase Freedom categories have been pretty varied throughout 2026.

Q1 included dining, Norwegian Cruise Line and the American Heart Association. Q2 included Amazon, Chase Travel and Feeding America. Q3 included gas stations, public transit, EV charging, select live entertainment and United Way.

Q4 brings things back to categories that are much easier for many people to use:

• Q1: Dining, Norwegian Cruise Line, American Heart Association
• Q2: Amazon, Chase Travel, Feeding America
• Q3: Gas stations, public transit, EV charging, select live entertainment, United Way
• Q4: Grocery stores, dining, American Red Cross

After some more specific categories earlier in the year, grocery stores and dining are straightforward ways to finish out 2026.

Final Thoughts on the Chase Freedom Q4 2026 Categories

The Q4 Chase Freedom categories are some of the more practical ones we’ve had this year.

Grocery stores and dining are categories where most people can probably find some regular spending, and the timing works well with the holiday season.

For me, the biggest thing to remember is the Freedom Flex can earn 7x on eligible dining purchases during Q4. If you have the Flex, that’s the card I’d use when paying at restaurants, ordering takeout or getting food delivery.

For groceries, I’ll use the Freedom cards for purchases that qualify (likely Instacart) and pay attention to the $1,500 limit.

If you have both a Freedom and Freedom Flex, don’t forget that each card has its own quarterly limit.

I’ll also be using United MileagePlus X throughout the quarter. If I’m going to buy Instacart, Starbucks or DoorDash gift cards anyway, I can earn United miles through MileagePlus X and get the 25% United cardholder bonus simply by having an eligible United card. If I’m shopping through Instacart, I’ll also check Rakuten to see if there’s an Amex Membership Rewards offer available (and there usually is).

As always, I wouldn’t spend money just to hit the quarterly maximum.

Instead, look at what you’re already going to spend between October and December and make sure you’re earning as many points as possible on those purchases.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the Chase Freedom Q4 2026 categories?

The Q4 2026 Chase Freedom and Freedom Flex categories are grocery stores, dining and American Red Cross donations. The categories are valid from October 1 through December 31, 2026.

How much can I earn with the Chase Freedom Q4 categories?

You can earn 5% cash back, or 5x Ultimate Rewards points, on up to $1,500 in combined eligible purchases per card during Q4. That means a maximum of 7,500 points from the quarterly bonus on one card.

Does Chase Freedom Flex earn 7x on dining in Q4 2026?

Yes. Freedom Flex already earns 3% on eligible dining purchases, and dining is also a 5% quarterly category in Q4. Eligible dining purchases can therefore earn 7% total cash back, or 7x Ultimate Rewards points, subject to the applicable spending limits.

Does Walmart count as a grocery store for Chase Freedom Q4?

No. Walmart and Target are specifically excluded from the Q4 grocery category. Wholesale clubs and several other types of merchants are also excluded.

Do I have to activate the Chase Freedom Q4 categories?

Yes. You need to activate the quarterly categories to earn the 5% bonus. Chase says the activation deadline for Q4 2026 is December 14, 2026.

Can I earn United miles with Chase Freedom Q4 purchases?

You can potentially earn additional United miles through United MileagePlus X on participating gift card purchases. MileagePlus X earnings are separate from the Chase Freedom bonus, and United cardholders can receive a 25% bonus on eligible MileagePlus X earnings even when they use another credit card to pay.

Can I earn Rakuten points on Instacart?

Rakuten currently lists Instacart as a shopping partner, and Rakuten members can choose American Express Membership Rewards points as their reward option when available. Check the current Instacart offer before shopping because rates can change.