ARE YOU A BIG SPENDER? If you’re wealthy, or can run business expenses through your card, you can earn six figures in miles from card spending alone each year. A huge mileage balance gives you the ability to exchange those miles for premium-class overseas tickets, which could cost $10,000 or more if you bought them with cash. Miles are worth a lot more if you redeem them for this sort of travel.

DO YOU VALUE UPGRADES? It can be easier to get upgrades from coach using miles than it is to book free seats. Business travelers value the ability to get better seats when employers won’t pay for them, and leisure travelers may be willing to burn piles of miles for upgrades to seats they wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford.

So if you’re a big spending frequent traveler and think the value is still there in trading miles for upgrades, you may want to keep collecting miles via credit card spending. If you’re ready to switch to a new primary credit card, however, here are three other types of rewards cards that will probably be most appealing:

CASHBACK CARDS These cards give you money back based on what you charge. Sometimes the money comes as a credit toward your balance, and sometimes you get a check. You may get the money quickly, or it can take more than a year. The average card gives you 1 percent of everything you spend, but others offer much higher yields.

The American Express Blue Cash card is good for big spenders. Once you’ve spent $6,500 in a year, starting on the date you got the card, you get 5 percent back for purchases at gas stations, drug and grocery stores and 1.5 percent everywhere else. For that first $6,500, you get 1 percent at those three types of stores and 0.5 percent elsewhere. There’s no limit on what you can earn in a year and no annual fee.

If you spend a bit less and patronize merchants who don’t take American Express, the Pentagon Federal Credit Union’s Visa Platinum Gas Cash Reward card is a good choice. You earn 5 percent back for gas purchases you make at the pump, 2 percent back at grocery stores and 1.25 percent everywhere else. There’s no limit on what you can earn in a year.

If you don’t meet the normal eligibility requirements, you can still qualify for PenFed credit union membership by joining the National Military Family Association for $20, a good investment for this otherwise fee-free credit card.

One other footnote here: Issuers of the Delta and United credit cards have made it possible to essentially trade each mile for a penny that can be used to buy seats on a plane. A good cashback card will yield a better return than availing yourself of this particular option, though.