Methodology
How Pikt decides which card to swipe
Pikt answers a single question for every purchase: which card in your wallet earns the most cash-equivalent value on this exact merchant and category? Answering it requires two pieces — a way to compare different reward currencies fairly, and a clear, consistent way to pick the winning card.
1. Comparing points and cash back fairly
Points, miles, and cash back are different units and cannot be compared directly. Pikt normalizes every reward currency to a single cash-equivalent value, so a points purchase and a cash-back purchase can be ranked head to head in plain dollars.
Valuations track industry-average redemption rates and are applied consistently across your whole wallet. See the fair point comparison glossary entry.
2. Picking the winning card
For best-card selection at checkout, Pikt weighs the signals that drive real value: active targeted offers, the best category earn rate for the purchase, progress toward any open sign-up bonus, and your credit-health signals. It then names the single card that earns you the most — named online by Pikt Checkout before you click pay today; in stores, Pikt Nearby will surface it on your lock screen when you're ready to pay (coming next).
3. Why the answer is consistent
The same wallet, merchant, and amount always give you the same answer for the same purchase, with the same dollar estimate. There is no opaque model. No guessing.
That is what lets Pikt show a plain-English reason for every swipe instead of an unexplained recommendation. Worked examples live in our case-study library.
Pikt is a personal-project preview. Point valuations are estimates, not guaranteed redemption rates, and reward programs change frequently.