Free interactive tool
Points vs Cash Calculator
The points-vs-cash calculator computes the value per point of a specific award booking: the cash fare you avoid, minus the award’s taxes and fees, divided by the points the award consumes — including, optionally, the points you would have earned by paying cash. The result is expressed in cents per point and compared against your own baseline for that currency, giving a use-points, pay-cash, or too-close-to-call verdict for the booking in front of you.
The formula
cpp = (cash price − award taxes & fees)
÷ (points required + points forgone by not paying cash)
× 100The “points forgone” term is optional but honest: paying cash would have earned miles, so redeeming gives those up too. Leave it at zero for the simple version of the formula.
Run your numbers
The fare you would actually pay, all-in.
The cash due at award checkout.
Redeeming forgoes these, so they add to the award's real points cost.
What you reliably get from these points elsewhere. 1.4¢ is a placeholder example, not a valuation.
- Cash saved by using points
- $408.80
- Real points cost (required + forgone)
- 25,000 pts
- Value per point
- 1.64¢
The pre-filled numbers are a hypothetical example, not a quote. Pull today’s cash fare and award price from the actual checkout screens before deciding.
Worked example (hypothetical numbers)
A flight costs $420 cash, or 25,000 points + $11.20 in taxes (hypothetical numbers, not a quote). cpp = (420 − 11.20) ÷ 25,000 × 100 = 1.64¢ per point. Against a 1.4¢ baseline, points win; against a 1.8¢ baseline, pay cash and spend the points where they do better.
For a hotel stay, where the award usually covers room tax but a resort fee and a free night can change the result, use the hotel points vs cash calculator.
What baseline should you compare against?
Your baseline is what the same points are worth to you without an award: the best fixed rate you would actually use. For card points the banks publish one; the Points Value Index keeps them with their sources (checked September 15, 2026):
- Chase Ultimate Rewards: 1¢ as cash back or on a standard Chase Travel booking. A Points Boost offer can pay up to 1.5¢ or 2¢ on select bookings, depending on the card.
- Amex Membership Rewards: 1¢ on flights booked through Amex Travel, 0.7¢ on other Amex Travel bookings, 0.6¢ as a statement credit.
- Citi ThankYou: 1¢ through Citi Travel on every card Citi lists; cash back is 0.5¢ to 1¢ depending on the card.
- Capital One miles: no fixed rate is published. Use the rate your own rewards screen shows.
- Airline miles already in an account: there is no cash-out, so the baseline is the value of the next award you would book with them. If you have none planned, use the lowest value you would accept.
If the award is paid with bank points that must be transferred first, the baseline is the bank’s rate, not the airline’s. A transfer that returns less than the bank’s own travel portal is a loss. The which-points-to-transfer calculator runs the same check across several banks at once.
When should you pay cash even if the points win?
- The margin is thin and the cash fare is refundable. A refundable fare keeps your plans open; an award’s change and cancellation rules depend on the program and can cost points or fees. Compare the two sets of rules before counting a small cpp lead as a win.
- The cash ticket earns something you need. Put the miles you would earn in the “Points you’d earn by paying cash” field. If you are chasing elite status, the qualifying credit a cash fare earns may matter more than the cpp.
- Using the points would strand the rest. If the award leaves a balance too small for any other award in that program, count the stranded points as part of the cost.
The calculator does not cover points-plus-cash awards priced at a floating rate, or fares you cannot book with the points you hold. For those, compare the exact cash each option asks for, the same way.