Best AwardWallet Alternatives in 2026

Last updated: May 5, 2026. Loyalty programs change rules frequently. Verify with the program before relying on this for a redemption.

If you’ve spent any time in the points and miles hobby, you’ve probably used AwardWallet. It’s been the default loyalty tracking tool for over a decade, and for good reason: it works, it supports hundreds of programs, and it has a dedicated user base.

But the landscape has shifted. AwardWallet Plus jumped from $30 a year to $49.99 a year on December 18, 2024 (and from $10 to $49.99 for grandfathered early subscribers, a much bigger hike). Major US airlines have progressively forced AwardWallet to stop tracking accounts directly. American Airlines AAdvantage was removed from AwardWallet entirely in 2023 (you can’t even forward statements). Delta SkyMiles, United MileagePlus, and Southwest Rapid Rewards are still listed but require email forwarding workarounds. The underlying password-storage model also sits less comfortably with users in 2026 than it did in 2010.

If you’re looking around, here’s a real comparison of the actual alternatives in the points-tracker space, what they do well, and where each one falls short. Not a list of business-loyalty SaaS tools that scrape SaaS comparison sites. The actual products in the consumer points hobby.

What people actually want from a tracker

Before getting into the options, it’s worth pinning down what a tracker is supposed to do. The list is short:

1. Show your balance across loyalty programs in one place.
2. Tell you when points are about to expire so you don’t lose them.
3. Stay current as balances change.
4. Not put your accounts at risk.

Everything else (mobile apps, family pooling, credit card recommendations, 5/24 tracking, itinerary management) is a bonus. The four points above are the job. With that in mind, here are the real options.

AwardWallet

The incumbent, founded in 2004. Around 600+ programs in their directory. Both free and paid tiers ($49.99 a year for Plus). The free version limits expiration date tracking to three programs and limits balance updates to 2x daily.

What it does well: breadth of program support is unmatched. From major airlines down to niche programs like Sephora Beauty Insider. Family account management for tracking spouses and kids. Free night certificate tracking with email warnings. iOS and Android apps.

Where it falls short: the password storage model. AwardWallet logs into your loyalty accounts on your behalf, which means it stores your credentials. They use 1024-bit RSA encryption for loyalty passwords, which is fine, but a third party still has the keys to your accounts. The price hike from $30 to $49.99 in December 2024 was poorly received, especially by long-tenured subscribers who had been grandfathered at $10/year. The big four US carriers have all blocked direct tracking: American AAdvantage was completely removed from AwardWallet in 2023, and Delta, United, and Southwest require you to forward monthly statement emails. 2FA has made automated updates increasingly unreliable across the rest of the program list.

Best for: people with many programs, including international or niche ones, who are comfortable sharing passwords.

PointsPulse

A Chrome extension and dashboard that tracks 10 of the major US loyalty programs (Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, American, United, Delta, Southwest, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Amex Membership Rewards, Citi ThankYou). Free for up to three programs, $4.99 a month or $34.99 a year for unlimited.

What it does well: never stores loyalty program passwords. The extension reads your balance from the page when you’re already logged in, the same way you’d read it yourself. Auto-tracks the four big US carriers (American, Delta, United, Southwest) directly, which AwardWallet can no longer do. Email alerts at 7 days for free, plus 60, 30, 14, and 1 day thresholds for paid.

Where it falls short: smaller program list than AwardWallet. No mobile app yet. No family account management. No free night certificate tracking yet. Newer product, less proven over time.

Best for: people who track major US programs and want a tracker that doesn’t expand their credential exposure.

MaxRewards

Launched 2019. Credit-card-focused app. Connects to your credit card issuers (Chase, Amex, Citi, Capital One, Wells Fargo, BoA, and others) to show points balances, automatically activate quarterly bonus categories and Amex Offers, and recommend the best card for each merchant. Free tier with paid Gold ($108/year) and Platinum ($240/year) plans.

What it does well: the offer auto-activation is genuinely useful (it remembers to enable Chase Freedom quarterly categories and click every Amex Offer). Welcome bonus tracker is a nice feature. Best-card-to-use recommendations work in real time at merchants.

Where it falls short: credit cards only. No hotel or airline loyalty tracking. So if your portfolio is half hotel/airline and half credit card points, MaxRewards covers half of it. Reviews mention frequent re-authentication issues with Chase and Amex (cards unsync 2 to 4 times per month for some users). Pricing is the highest in this list. iOS/Android only, no web dashboard.

Best for: credit-card-heavy portfolios where hotel/airline tracking isn’t important.

Travel Freely

Free app and web tool focused on credit card management for the points and miles hobby. Tracks open and closed cards, sign-up bonus deadlines, annual fee dates, and your Chase 5/24 status.

What it does well: completely free with no ads or paid tier. Doesn’t ask for any credit card numbers, bank logins, or financial credentials. The 5/24 tracker alone is worth it for anyone deep in the Chase ecosystem. Annual fee reminders prevent the “oh no, $695 just hit my card” surprise. Sign-up bonus minimum spend tracking is a real time-saver.

Where it falls short: doesn’t track points or miles balances at all. You enter the cards you have, not the points in those programs. So it’s a complement to a balance tracker, not a replacement. No expiration alerts since there’s no balance data.

Best for: churners and people who are heavy on credit card sign-up bonuses. Use it alongside AwardWallet or PointsPulse, not instead of.

TripIt Pro

Travel itinerary management tool ($49 a year) with points tracking as a secondary feature. Forward confirmation emails to plans@tripit.com and TripIt builds your itinerary. Their Point Tracker covers 130-plus reward programs.

What it does well: the itinerary management is the real product, and it’s excellent. Real-time flight alerts often beat the airline by minutes. Airport maps, security wait times, lounge info. If you travel often, the Pro features pay for themselves in saved time and missed-flight prevention.

Where it falls short: Point Tracker is clearly a side feature, not the focus. Like AwardWallet, can’t auto-track American, Delta, or United (forwarded email statements only). Program list is much shorter than AwardWallet’s. No deep expiration alerting. The points tracking exists more as a convenience than a primary tool.

Best for: people who want one app for itineraries plus light points tracking. Not for people who want serious balance management.

Kudos

Free browser extension and iOS app. Helps you pick the best credit card at checkout based on the merchant. Shows reward balances across linked cards and stacks merchant offers.

What it does well: free with no paid tier. The “best card to use” recommendation is solid for online checkout. Shows credit card statement credits and benefits in a single view. No major friction to install and try.

Where it falls short: like MaxRewards, this is credit-card-only. No hotel or airline loyalty tracking. Their browser extension monetizes via shopping commissions, which means they’re optimizing for affiliate revenue, not necessarily for the absolute best card recommendation in every case (though they claim to pass commissions back to users).

Best for: people who want to optimize which credit card they use online. Not a points tracker in the AwardWallet sense.

Spreadsheets

Worth mentioning because a lot of serious hobbyists actually use them. A Google Sheet with rows for each program, columns for balance, last activity date, and a calculated expiration date.

What it does well: total control, zero third-party risk, free, fully customizable. Some hobbyists build elaborate sheets that put any commercial tracker to shame.

Where it falls short: fully manual. Every balance update is a copy-paste from each loyalty website. People with the discipline to actually keep this current are rare. For the rest of us, the sheet is accurate the day we set it up and slowly decays from there. No expiration alerts unless you build them yourself with conditional formatting and email triggers.

Best for: technical hobbyists who genuinely enjoy maintaining the sheet, or people with under five programs.

Mint and traditional personal finance apps

Mint shut down in March 2024, so it’s no longer an option. Empower (formerly Personal Capital) and similar finance apps have light loyalty support but it’s clearly not their focus. They tend to be one to two years behind on program changes and miss the loyalty-specific things that matter (free night expirations, elite tier progress, transfer partner tracking).

Verdict: not a serious option for points hobbyists. Use them for what they’re good at, which is bank and brokerage tracking.

Quick comparison

How to choose

The honest framework, by what you actually need:

Want broad program coverage including international and niche programs: AwardWallet Plus ($49.99/yr).

Want major US programs with no password storage: PointsPulse ($34.99/yr or free for 3 programs).

Want credit card category optimization and offer activation: MaxRewards Gold ($108/yr) or Kudos (free).

Want help managing card applications, 5/24, and annual fees: Travel Freely (free). This pairs with anything else.

Want one app for travel itineraries plus light points tracking: TripIt Pro ($49/yr).

Want zero third-party exposure and don’t mind manual updates: spreadsheet.

What most serious hobbyists actually use

If you ask 10 active points hobbyists what they use, the answer is usually a stack:

• Travel Freely for card tracking and 5/24 (free)
• AwardWallet or PointsPulse for balance and expiration tracking
• MaxRewards or Kudos for category optimization at checkout

These tools cover different parts of the workflow and most don’t fully overlap. Picking one to “rule them all” is a mistake. Building a stack of two or three free or low-cost tools generally beats trying to find the one perfect product.

Bottom line

AwardWallet is no longer the only option, and for many users it’s not the best option. The category has fragmented in a healthy way: balance trackers, credit card managers, application trackers, itinerary apps, and checkout optimizers each have their own leaders.

If you’re moving away from AwardWallet specifically, the closest replacement for the major US programs is PointsPulse (lower price, no passwords, auto-tracks the big four US airlines that AwardWallet has lost) plus Travel Freely for card management (free). Total cost $34.99 a year vs AwardWallet’s $49.99, with arguably better coverage of what most US users actually need.

If you’re building from scratch, start free: Travel Freely plus the PointsPulse free tier (3 programs) plus Kudos. See what gaps you hit, then upgrade where it matters. The worst tracker is the one you abandon after a month, so the right choice is whichever one you’ll actually keep using.