Head to head
ether.fi Cash vs MetaMask Card
Both leave your funds in your own wallet. ether.fi pays 3% up to its tier cap and adds a credit line against ETH; MetaMask pays 1% in its mUSD stablecoin on the free card, with the 3% Metal tier currently paused. MetaMask is simpler if you already use the wallet.
| Feature | ether.fi Cash | MetaMask Card |
|---|---|---|
| Our score | 9.1 / 10 | 8.1 / 10 |
| Card type | Credit | Debit |
| Custody | Self-custody | Self-custody |
| Cashback | 3% to tier cap | 1% · 3% Metal (paused) |
| Paid in | USDC | mUSD |
| Annual fee | $0 | $0–199 |
| FX fee | 0% USD/EUR · 1% other | 1% cross-border (free tier) |
| Availability | EU excl. NL, FI, EE, HU · UK · US · UAE | EU · LATAM UK, US sign-ups paused |
| Net value, eurozone* | +€522/yr | +€162/yr |
| Net value, Romania* | +€387/yr | +€27/yr |
*At €1,500 a month with a typical foreign-currency share for each place (10% in the eurozone, 85% in Romania, where local lei spending counts as foreign currency). Run your own numbers.
Who wins at €500, €1,500 and €3,000 a month
Net value per year from the same calculator that powers the country pages: cashback minus FX, conversion and annual fees, with €1,000 kept on the platform for balance-based cards. Category bonuses and promotions are not counted.
| Scenario | ether.fi Cash | MetaMask Card |
|---|---|---|
| Eurozone, 10% foreign · €500/mo | +€174 | +€54 |
| Eurozone, 10% foreign · €1,500/mo | +€522 | +€162 |
| Eurozone, 10% foreign · €3,000/mo | +€804 | +€324 |
| Romania, 85% foreign · €500/mo | +€129 | +€9 |
| Romania, 85% foreign · €1,500/mo | +€387 | +€27 |
| Romania, 85% foreign · €3,000/mo | +€534 | +€54 |
Where the difference comes from
Both keep your assets in your own wallet until you pay, and both pay in a stablecoin. The rate gap is three to one: ether.fi’s 3% on the first $2,000 a month against MetaMask’s 1% in mUSD on the free card. MetaMask’s 3% Metal tier would narrow that, but Metal orders have been paused since June 2026, so new users cannot get it.
Fees now cut the same way. MetaMask’s free tier charges 1% on any merchant outside your country and 0.5% when your stablecoin is in neither your currency nor the merchant’s; ether.fi charges 1% outside USD and EUR. In the eurozone MetaMask spends mostly fee-free, but in Romania its 1% cancels its 1% cashback, which is what the Romania row shows. ether.fi is missing from four EU countries and paused nowhere; MetaMask is offered across the EU but has paused UK and US sign-ups.
Choose ether.fi if…
you want the higher rate and the option to borrow against ETH.
Choose MetaMask if…
you want the lowest-friction setup and already live in MetaMask.