Looking for the 5 percent categories for the Discover card? Here are the 2025 5% bonus categories for the Discover card.

Discover Cashback Calendar 2025 5% Bonus Categories

The Discover card 5% bonus categories for 2025 are as follows:

Discover Cashback Calendar 2025 5% Bonus Categories

1st quarter (January 1 – March 31, 2025) –  Restaurants, Home Improvement Stores, and Select Streaming Services. Activate Now.
2nd quarter (April 1 – June 30, 2025) – Coming soon. Announcing on March 1, 2025.
3rd quarter (July 1 – September 30, 2025) – Coming soon. Announcing on June 1, 2025.
4th quarter (October 1 – December 31, 2025) – Coming soon. Announcing on September 1, 2025.

The 5% only applies to the first $1,500 spent on combined purchases each quarter.

As you can see Discover has not yet released the full 2025 5% bonus categories but they will likely be similar to the Discover 5% bonus categories for 2024 which were as follows:

1st quarter (January 1 – March 31, 2024) –  Restaurants and Drug Stores.
2nd quarter (April 1 – June 30, 2024) – Gas Stations & Electric Vehicle Charging Stations, Home Improvement Stores, and Public Transit.
3rd quarter (July 1 – September 30, 2024) – Walmart and Grocery Stores.
4th quarter (October 1 – December 31, 2024) – Amazon.com and Target.

Here is the link to the Discover 5% calendar for 2025 on discover.com.

Don’t Forget to Activate!

Please note, that in order to earn the 5% you must activate the offer each quarter. If you have signed up for email reminders you should have already received an email asking you to activate this quarter’s categories. Unlike the Chase Freedom card, activation is not retroactive so you need to activate the bonus in order to start earning the 5% cashback.

(See also related post: How to Earn a Discover Refer a Friend Bonus)