Barclaycard Avios (Free)

The free Barclaycard Avios Mastercard earns 1 Avios per £1 with no annual fee. It offers the same upgrade voucher as the paid Barclaycard Avios Plus — book one cabin higher, pay the Avios of the cabin below — but triggers it at £20,000 annual spend rather than £10,000. As a Mastercard, it works everywhere that Amex does not: Aldi, Lidl, small independents, many online retailers, and virtually all non-UK merchants. For most Avios collectors, this card fills one of two roles: the essential zero-cost Amex gap-filler, or a long-term hold for someone who earns Avios from every transaction without ever paying a fee.

The Upgrade Voucher at £20,000

The voucher itself is identical to the one earned on the Barclaycard Avios Plus — same rules, same two-year validity, same cabin-up mechanics. Book a return flight for one person in Business Class (Club World) and pay only the Premium Economy Avios. Or book one leg for two people with the same cabin-up saving. Cannot be used to upgrade to First Class. BA-operated flights only.

The difference is the threshold: £20,000 versus £10,000 on the Plus card. For a household that routes most spending through an Amex (where accepted) and uses the Barclaycard only at merchants that reject Amex, hitting £20,000 on the free card alone may be difficult. This is the core trade-off — the free card saves £240/year in fees but requires double the spend to earn the voucher.

If you routinely spend £20,000+ on non-Amex transactions (groceries at Aldi/Lidl, utility bills, independent retailers, online platforms that reject Amex), the free card delivers the voucher at zero cost — making it strictly better than the Plus card. If your non-Amex spending is £10,000–£20,000, the Plus card’s lower threshold gets you the voucher that the free card would miss.

The 7,000 Avios alternative: When the voucher is offered, you can choose 7,000 bonus Avios instead. This is almost always worse value — the upgrade voucher saves 40,000–80,000 Avios on a long-haul Business Class flight. Only take the 7,000 Avios if you have no premium cabin plans within the voucher’s two-year validity.

Free Card vs Plus — The Full Comparison

On £15,000 of annual non-Amex spend, the free card earns 15,000 Avios and misses the voucher. The Plus card earns 22,500 Avios and triggers the voucher. The Plus generates 7,500 more Avios plus a voucher worth 40,000–80,000 Avios, for £240/year. The maths heavily favours the Plus at this spend level.

On £25,000 of annual non-Amex spend, the free card earns 25,000 Avios and triggers the voucher. The Plus card earns 37,500 Avios and also triggers. The Plus generates 12,500 more Avios for £240 — still worth it in pure Avios terms, but the free card now also delivers the voucher. At very high non-Amex spend, the free card becomes increasingly competitive.

The Permanent Companion Role

Even if you never trigger the upgrade voucher, the free Barclaycard Avios has a permanent role in most UK card portfolios. The UK credit card market forces a two-card minimum: Amex for its superior earn rate, and a Visa or Mastercard for merchants that reject Amex. The free Barclaycard ensures every non-Amex transaction earns 1 Avios per £1 at zero cost.

Over a year, the Avios from Aldi and Lidl groceries, utility bill payments, and the occasional independent retailer add up. A household spending £5,000/year at non-Amex merchants earns 5,000 Avios — enough for a short-haul Economy one-way — from a card that costs nothing to hold.

The card has no expiry. Hold it indefinitely as your Mastercard default. There is no reason to cancel it — no fee, no downside, and it earns on every transaction.

The Common Downgrade Strategy

Many collectors apply for the Barclaycard Avios Plus first (25,000 bonus, 1.5 Avios per £1, £10,000 voucher threshold), earn the sign-up bonus and the upgrade voucher, then downgrade to the free card via the Barclays app. The downgrade is instant, requires no waiting period, and preserves your Barclaycard account. You lose the 1.5 earn rate and the lower voucher threshold, but you keep earning 1 Avios per £1 at zero cost.

This strategy extracts maximum first-year value from the Plus card — 25,000 bonus Avios plus an upgrade voucher — then settles into the free card as a permanent, zero-cost Mastercard companion. You can upgrade back to Plus at any time if your circumstances change.