Same fee, different airline bet
United Explorer and Delta SkyMiles Gold charge the identical $150 annual fee and sit at the entry tier of their respective airline co-brand lineups. Each card also pays a bonus on its own airline's purchases and flights (3x at United, 2x at Delta), which the optimizer models separately, so this comparison covers what both cards pay and credit outside of that — dining, one other everyday category each, and their statement credits.
What each card bonuses
| United Explorer ($150) | Delta SkyMiles Gold ($150) | |
|---|---|---|
| Dining | 2x | 2x |
| Hotels | 2x | — |
| Groceries (in-store & online) | — | 2x |
| Everything else | 1x | 1x |
| Category caps | None | None |
Both bonus dining at the same 2x rate with no cap. Past that, they split: United Explorer adds 2x on hotels, while Delta Gold adds 2x on both grocery buckets instead. A household with heavier grocery spend leans toward Delta Gold on the rate table alone; one that books more hotels outside a Delta-specific stay leans toward United Explorer.
The credit lists aren't close
United Explorer carries seven statement credits: Instacart ($120/yr, modeled at $0 because it requires a paid Instacart+ membership), a rideshare credit ($60/yr, modeled at $30), Global Entry/TSA PreCheck ($120 every 4 years, worth about $30/yr and the only credit on either card we flag as genuinely easy to use), a $100 United travel credit that only unlocks after $10,000 in calendar-year spend (modeled at $0), a $50 Avis/Budget credit tied to direct bookings (modeled at $0), a $100 United Hotels credit (modeled at $0), and a $100 JSX credit for semi-private flights (modeled at $0).
Delta Gold carries three: a $100 Delta Stays hotel credit that requires booking through Delta's own portal (modeled at $0), a $200 flight credit that only unlocks after $10,000 in calendar-year spend (modeled at $0), and a rideshare credit worth up to $120/yr that requires enrollment and — notably — doesn't even activate until after your first card renewal (also modeled at $0).
None of Delta Gold's three credits clear our bar for "easy to use." United Explorer has the same problem with six of its seven, but its Global Entry/TSA PreCheck credit is straightforward enough to count roughly $30/year of real value, and the optimizer also counts its rideshare credit ($30) at the conservative amount above, $60 in all.
What that means for the real cost
In modeled terms, the optimizer counts $60 of United Explorer's credits, so its effective fee is about $90/year (about $120/year if you count only the one easy credit, Global Entry). Delta Gold nets to close to the full $150/year sticker price, since none of its credits are counted as reliably capturable. Both cards' bigger financial case rests on the value of miles toward the airline you actually fly — which is exactly the part this app doesn't price in.
Updated October 2, 2026: the optimizer now models each card's own-airline earn rate (an earlier version of this post said it did not), United Explorer lists seven credits, not six, and the optimizer counts $120 of them ($30 Global Entry, $60 Instacart, $30 rideshare), so its effective fee is about $30 a year rather than $120.
Who should pick which
- Delta flyer with heavier grocery spend: Delta Gold's grocery bonus and airline tie make sense despite the weaker modeled credit list.
- United flyer who books hotels and dines out: United Explorer's hotel bonus plus its one usable credit edge it ahead on everything outside mile-earning.
- No loyalty to either airline: skip both. Outside their own-airline purchases, and with miles valued at a cent each, a flat-rate no-fee card like Citi Double Cash earns as much as either card's 2x categories and more everywhere else, without the annual fee or miles locked to an airline you don't fly.
Run the optimizer with your real spend to see how these compare against your actual wallet, not just the rate table.
Updated October 7, 2026: an earlier version said a flat 2% card "will out-earn" both cards. That is not true in their 2x categories when miles are worth more than a cent each, so the comparison now states the valuation it depends on.
Updated October 11, 2026: Chase lists the Instacart credit as requiring an active Instacart+ membership (three months free, then a paid membership), so the optimizer now counts it at $0 like the Southwest Priority and IHG Instacart+ credits. United Explorer's counted credits are $60 ($30 Global Entry, $30 rideshare), so its effective fee is about $90 a year rather than about $30.
Data verified as of July 20, 2026.
Want the live numbers side by side? See the United Explorer vs. Delta SkyMiles Gold comparison page — it renders current rates and fees straight from our verified card data.