Amazon Pay ICICI vs Axis ACE 2026: Which Cashback Card Earns More?

Amazon Pay ICICI and Axis ACE are two of India's most popular entry-level cashback cards, and the better one depends on how much of your money goes to Amazon. Amazon Pay ICICI wins for Prime members who spend heavily on Amazon.in, and it costs nothing to hold. Axis ACE wins for mixed spending, especially if you pay utility bills through Google Pay, because its 2% base rate is double Amazon Pay ICICI's 1%. Many people end up holding both.

Side-by-side comparison

Feature	Amazon Pay ICICI	Axis ACE
Network	Visa	RuPay
Joining fee	₹0	₹499
Annual fee	₹0	₹499
Fee waiver spend	Lifetime free	₹2,00,000/year
Base reward rate	1%	2%
Amazon.in	5% with Prime, 3% without	4% (online shopping)
Amazon Pay partner merchants	2%	4% if online shopping, else 2%
Bill payments	1% (base)	5% via Google Pay
Bonus cap	None listed in our data	₹500/month combined on 5% and 4%
Reward type	Amazon Pay balance	Cashback to statement
Forex markup	1.99%	3.5%
Domestic lounge	None	4 visits/year at select airports
Min monthly income	₹30,000	₹15,000

All figures are from BestCard's latest card data. Merchant category rules change often, so check ICICI Bank's and Axis Bank's current terms for which merchants qualify before applying.

How the rewards actually work

Amazon Pay ICICI

Amazon Pay ICICI pays 5% on Amazon.in if you have an active Prime membership, and 3% if you don't. Payments at more than 100 other Amazon Pay partner merchants earn 2%, and everything else earns 1%. Cashback is credited as Amazon Pay balance, so there's nothing to redeem, but the money stays inside Amazon's ecosystem. Our data lists no monthly cap on the 5% rate.

Axis ACE

Axis ACE pays 5% on bill payments made through Google Pay and 4% on online shopping. Those two bonuses share a ₹500 monthly cap. Everything else earns a flat 2% with no cap. Cashback is credited directly to your statement.

Worked example 1: ₹25,000 a month

Split: ₹8,000 on Amazon.in, ₹3,000 bill payments, ₹14,000 other. Annual spend ₹3 lakh.

Amazon Pay ICICI (with Prime)

• Amazon: 5% × ₹8,000 = ₹400
• Bills: 1% × ₹3,000 = ₹30
• Other: 1% × ₹14,000 = ₹140
• Total: ₹570 a month, ₹6,840 a year

Axis ACE

• Bills via Google Pay: 5% × ₹3,000 = ₹150
• Amazon as online shopping: 4% × ₹8,000 = ₹320
• Bonus total ₹470, under the ₹500 cap
• Other: 2% × ₹14,000 = ₹280
• Total: ₹750 a month, ₹9,000 a year
• ₹3 lakh clears the ₹2 lakh waiver, so no fee

Axis ACE earns about ₹2,160 more, thanks to its bills rate and higher base.

Worked example 2: ₹50,000 a month

Split: ₹20,000 on Amazon.in, ₹5,000 bill payments, ₹25,000 other. Annual spend ₹6 lakh.

Amazon Pay ICICI (with Prime)

• Amazon: 5% × ₹20,000 = ₹1,000
• Bills: 1% × ₹5,000 = ₹50
• Other: 1% × ₹25,000 = ₹250
• Total: ₹1,300 a month, ₹15,600 a year
• Without Prime, Amazon earns 3% (₹600), so the total falls to ₹900 a month, ₹10,800 a year

Axis ACE

• Bills 5% (₹250) + Amazon 4% (₹800) = ₹1,050, capped at ₹500
• Other: 2% × ₹25,000 = ₹500
• If the ₹13,750 of Amazon spend above the cap earns the 2% base, add ₹275
• Total: ₹1,000 to ₹1,275 a month, ₹12,000 to ₹15,300 a year

With Prime, Amazon Pay ICICI now wins by ₹300 to ₹3,600 a year. Without Prime, ACE stays ahead.

Lounge access and travel

Neither is a travel card, but ACE lists 4 complimentary domestic lounge visits a year at select airports, unlocked by ₹50,000 of spend in the previous three months, while Amazon Pay ICICI has none. Abroad, the picture flips: Amazon Pay ICICI's 1.99% forex markup is well below ACE's 3.5%. On ₹1 lakh of foreign spend, that's ₹1,990 against ₹3,500. Amazon Pay ICICI also offers a minimum 15% off dining bills at 2,500+ partner restaurants through ICICI's Culinary Treats programme. If travel matters, look at our best travel credit cards with lounge access.

Redemption: Amazon Pay balance vs statement cashback

This is easy to overlook. ACE's cashback reduces your card bill, so it's as good as cash. Amazon Pay ICICI's cashback lands as Amazon Pay balance, which you can spend on Amazon and at Amazon Pay merchants but can't use to pay your card bill directly. If you already spend on Amazon every month, the difference is small. If you don't, ACE's cashback is more useful. Our explainer on how credit card cashback actually works covers this in more detail.

Fees and waivers

Amazon Pay ICICI is lifetime free, with no spend target. Axis ACE costs ₹499 a year, waived on ₹2 lakh of annual spend, about ₹16,700 a month. Below that, subtract ₹499 from ACE's earnings. Remember to count Prime too: Amazon Pay ICICI's 5% depends on a paid Prime membership, so it's only free if you'd pay for Prime anyway.

ACE has the lower income bar at ₹15,000 a month, against ₹30,000 for Amazon Pay ICICI.

Who should pick which

Choose Amazon Pay ICICI if:

• You're a Prime member and spend ₹15,000 or more a month on Amazon.in
• You want a lifetime free card with no fee to protect
• You occasionally spend abroad and want a lower forex markup
• You're happy to receive rewards as Amazon Pay balance

Choose Axis ACE if:

• You pay utility bills through Google Pay
• Your spending is spread across many merchants
• You don't have Prime
• You want cashback on your statement and a few domestic lounge visits

Verdict

For mixed everyday spending, Axis ACE earns more because of its 5% on bills and 2% on everything else. For Prime members who shop heavily on Amazon, Amazon Pay ICICI pulls ahead once ACE's ₹500 bonus cap fills up, and it never costs anything to hold. The simplest setup for many people is to use Amazon Pay ICICI for Amazon orders and ACE for bills and everything else.

For more detail, read our Amazon Pay ICICI review and Axis ACE review, or see each card against its closest rival in Amazon Pay ICICI vs Flipkart Axis and SBI Cashback vs Axis ACE. Our guide to stacking cashback cards explains how to run two cards together. You can also compare both on BestCard's compare tool.