October 1st brings about the beginning of quarter 4 of 2023!
The Q3 categories are no more. Both the Chase Freedom and the Discover It card offered bonus earnings on Gas Stations and EV chargers, which is a nice inclusion. The Freedom card included live entertainment as well, and the Discover included digital wallets, which is highly usable for any general retail.
For Q4, the Freedom card is the one that gets the broad retail category with PayPal. Most online merchants accept PayPal as a form of payment, so this is a good, broad category for the end of the year to include many potential gift options. The other bonus options for the Freedom cards are Wholesale clubs like Costco and Sam's Club, and select charities. The list of charities isn't very long, but it's a smart option to include this in Q4, since many people wait to the end of the year to gauge their income before settling on charitable contributions.
Also preparing for the holiday shopping season, the Discover It categories include Amazon and Target, which, frankly, you should be able to buy just about anything from. Amazon is usually the easiest category to max out the spending threshold since you can also refill your Amazon balance at the end of the quarter if you didn't use the full $1,500.
As a reminder, these cards earn 1% on most spending, but 5% in rotating quarterly categories, once you activate them. The Chase Freedom card can transfer its 5% to become 5x Ultimate Rewards points if you have a UR-earning card like any Sapphire.