№ 1
Scotiabank
Visa
Scotia Momentum for Business Visa Card
Eligibility follows Scotiabank's standard small-business underwriting — SIN plus self-reported business income, no incorporation required.
Annual fee—Fee not confirmed
Research pick
★ BEST CARDS FOR SELF-EMPLOYED272 CANADA CARDS TRACKEDDEEP-RESEARCHED · SOURCED · NO BIAS
Best For — Self-employed & sole traders
The best credit cards for self-employed in Canada
For self-employed sole traders, the best cards are cards for the self-employed without a registered company — approval on personal identity and self-reported income, business-grade earn on software and supplies, and clean expense separation. We track 272 Canada cards.
The profile
Who this guide is for
- You're self-employed without a registered company
- You qualify on personal ID and self-reported income
- You want business-grade earn on software and supplies
- Separating business from personal spend matters
The shortlist
Top cards for self-employed in Canada
Researched · pending editorial review7 researched
High confidence
№ 2
Rogers Bank
Mastercard
Rogers Red World Elite Mastercard
It is also a purely PERSONAL card, requiring no business application, business number, or incorporation whatsoever — a clean match for 'no registered company.'
- Cash Back card
- World Elite Mastercard benefits: airport lounge access program, concierge, extended warranty/purchase protection
№ 3
Venn
Mastercard
Venn Business Mastercard
The most literal possible match to this persona's 'self-reported income' trait: Venn approves based on the business's own cash position rather than a personal credit or income check, so a sole trader's inconsistent or hard-to-document income never has to clear a bank's underwriting bar at all. It also requires no incorporation and no Business Number — a direct fit for 'no registered company.'
Annual fee—Fee not confirmed
Research pick
№ 4
TD
Visa
TD Business Cash Back Visa Card
- C$0/yr annual fee
- Business card
- Cash Back Dollars never expire (while the account stays open) and post as an automatic annual statement credit
№ 5
Tangerine
Mastercard
Tangerine Money-Back Credit Card
The single cleanest match to 'no registered company' on this entire list: it is a fully personal product requiring zero business documentation of any kind — no SIN-plus-business-revenue application, no Business Number, nothing beyond a standard personal credit card application — making it the lowest-friction option for a sole trader who hasn't registered so much as a trade name. Using it as a dedicated, business-only card is a simple, effective way to satisfy 'expense separation' without any business-card paperwork at all.
- Earns 2% on categories of your choice
- Cash Back card
- The 'Recurring Bill Payments' category explicitly covers 'utilities, internet, phone bills, subscriptions, and insurance premiums' — a direct, well-sourced hit on this persona's 'software/supply earn' trait for SaaS/software billing.
№ 6
RBC
Mastercard
RBC Business Cash Back Mastercard
A reasonable default for a sole trader who wants the least possible complexity, though it has no specific edge on the 'software/supply earn' trait the way the categorized cards above it do.
- Business card
□ 3 sources
№ 7
BMO
Mastercard
BMO CashBack Business Mastercard
- C$0/yr annual fee
- Business card
WelcomeGet 10% cash back on gas, office supplies and cellphone and internet bill payments for 3 months!** Plus, get a 0.00% introductory interest rate on balance transfers for 9 months with a 3% transfer fee.∆
Method
How we picked
These picks come from dedicated research for self-employed sole traders, which drew on issuers' published terms and independent sources — listed under “sources” on each pick. The order is the research's. Every fee, welcome offer and earn rate shown on a pick is the figure our catalogue holds for that card, the same one its card page shows. Nothing here is pay-to-rank. Business cards appear only on business guides, student cards only on student guides, and prepaid cards on none. A figure we do not hold is shown as “Not confirmed”, never as a zero. Each researched shortlist is marked as pending editorial review until the site's editor approves it.
More guides
Best cards for other people
TravelersFrequent FlyersInternational JetsettersPoints OptimizersHotel LoyalistsBudget BackpackersDigital NomadsBusiness TravelersCruise LoversRoad TrippersBusinessSole ProprietorsStartup FoundersE-commerce SellersCorporate / EnterpriseContractors & TradesReal-Estate InvestorsBuilding CreditNo Credit / First CardBad Credit / RebuildFair CreditSecured CardsThin FilePost-BankruptcyYoung AdultsStudentsUndergraduatesGrad StudentsInternational StudentsStudent Cash BackStudent TravelCash BackFlat-Rate Cash BackGrocery MaximizerGas & CommutersDining & FoodiesOnline ShoppersStreaming & SubscriptionsRent PayersProfessionalsDoctorsNursesTeachersLawyersTech WorkersGovernment / Public SectorFirst RespondersAccountants & FinanceFamiliesNew ParentsLarge HouseholdsSingle ParentsCommuter FamiliesTeens (Authorized Users)ExecutivesLuxury TravelersAffluent High-IncomePrivate BankingMulti-Card StrategistsConcierge SeekersSeniorsFixed-Income RetireesSnowbirdsRetiree Cash BackNewcomersNew ImmigrantsWork-Visa HoldersReturning ExpatsCross-BorderFreelancersRideshare & DeliveryContent CreatorsSide HustlersLow Interest & DebtBalance TransferLow Ongoing APRDebt Consolidation0% Big Purchase
Questions
Frequently asked
What is the best credit card for self-employed sole traders in Canada?
The best card for self-employed sole traders in Canada depends on your exact spending and credit. The shortlist above holds 7 cards for this profile, each chosen because it fits self-employed sole traders: cards for the self-employed without a registered company — approval on personal identity and self-reported income, business-grade earn on software and supplies, and clean expense separation.
How did you choose these cards for self-employed sole traders?
These picks come from dedicated research for self-employed sole traders, which drew on issuers' published terms and independent sources — listed under “sources” on each pick. The order is the research's. Every fee, welcome offer and earn rate shown on a pick is the figure our catalogue holds for that card, the same one its card page shows. Nothing here is pay-to-rank.
Why do some cards show no annual fee figure?
Because we hold no confirmed figure for it. Our fee column used to default to zero, and many cards still carry a zero that no check has confirmed — so a zero on its own cannot be told apart from a field nobody filled in, and printing “C$0” there would invent a price. A card shows a fee where a positive one is on record, or where a zero was confirmed against the issuer's terms; otherwise the slot reads “Not confirmed”, and the issuer's own page is the place to check before you apply.
How are these cards ranked?
In the research's order. The figures on each pick come from our catalogue, and each card's review page marks which of them a published document states.