Best Fuel Cards for Truckers in 2026: Credit, Network and Factoring Compared

The U.S. average on-highway diesel price was $6.276 a gallon on 19 October 2026, $2.66 higher than a year earlier, according to the EIA's weekly survey. A truck that burns 1,500 gallons a month now spends about $9,400 on diesel in that month. At that price a few cents per gallon is real money, and a card that charges a fee every time you fuel off its network can eat a discount you thought you had.

Most fuel card comparisons rank cards by the biggest advertised discount. That number is usually a maximum at a handful of stops. What decides what a card is worth to you is simpler: whether you can get it with the credit you have, whether it works where you actually fuel, and whether it comes bundled with your factoring.

Quick answer: If you have thin or no business credit, start with the Mudflap app or the RTS Self-Funded card, both of which you can use without a credit approval. If you fuel mostly at one chain, that chain's own card or a card with a deep discount at that chain will usually beat a general card. If you already factor, look at the fuel card your factor offers first: RTS, Comdata and WEX Capital all tie fuel to factoring. Read the out-of-network fee line before the discount line.

Card pages, fee schedules and announcements read on mudflapinc.com, rtsinc.com, comdata.com, efsllc.com, ta-petro.com, lovesfinancial.com, WEX's earnify fleet terms and Pilot's newsroom on 24 October 2026.

How the Discount Is Priced

Fuel card discounts come in two shapes, and the shape matters more than the size.

Retail minus is a fixed number off the pump price, such as 8¢ a gallon. You always know the discount, but the pump price at that stop is set by the stop. Comdata's tiers and Love's 20¢ a gallon are written this way.

Cost plus starts from what the stop paid for the fuel and adds a margin. You can't see the stop's cost, so you can't check the discount on the receipt. You only see the price you paid. Mudflap describes its app discounts as cost-plus and says savings "vary by stop in the Mudflap network, amount of fuel purchased, and market conditions".

Most published averages are a third shape: a result. RTS says its customers saved "an average of 45 cents per gallon" in 2025, and Pilot says owner-operator fleets on its net pricing program saved $3,876 on average that year. These describe what other carriers got at their volume and on their routes. They are a reasonable starting point for a quote. They aren't a price.

So the useful question for any card is the price per gallon at the three or four stops you use most, in writing, at your monthly gallons.

Credit: Which Cards You Can Get Today

A fuel card is a line of credit in most cases, and that is where many small carriers get stuck. A new authority has no business credit history, and some issuers ask for a personal guaranty to cover that.

No credit approval at all. The Mudflap app is "free to download" with "no application, credit check or gallon minimums". You pay with your own debit or credit card and get the app price at its in-network stops, which Mudflap puts at over 3,600. The RTS Self-Funded card is available "regardless of credit score": you load funds by debit or credit and spend what you loaded. Neither one gives you float, which is the point. You pay for fuel before you're paid for the load.

Credit, with a softer start. RTS's Fleet One option offers "credit lines up to $3,200 per truck, per week", and RTS says the card is for carriers with "good credit or no credit". The Mudflap Card, a Visa card, lets you "apply for weekly credit in 5 minutes" and is "subject to credit approval". Pilot says its card "does not require a hard credit check", though accounts are still subject to credit approval.

Full credit application. Comdata, Fleet One EDGE, EFS and the chain cards from TA/Petro and Love's are credit products with an application and terms to sign. Love's asks for a personal guaranty, and one TA card carries a five year term.

If you searched for a fleet fuel card with no credit check, the cards that truly skip the check are prepaid or pay-as-you-go. A card that gives you credit will look at something, even if it isn't a hard pull.

Network: Where the Card Works and What Other Stops Cost

A discount network and an acceptance network are two different lists. Many cards are accepted at thousands of stops and discounted at far fewer, and some charge you for using the gap.

Fleet One EDGE gives "fuel discounts at over 4,500 sites", has "no fuel transaction fees at 4,000+ in-network sites" and is "accepted at 12,000+ truck stops nationwide". The footnote is the line to read: customers "may be required to pay an out-of-network fee for each transaction". EFS says the card is for fleets with up to 50 trucks.

earnify fleet, the WEX Bank Mastercard sold through TA/Petro, saves "up to 7¢ per gallon" at bp, Amoco, Thorntons and the TA brands. Its terms list a $1.25 fee per swipe at a truck stop, up to $1.25 per transaction at out of network locations, and a $4.95 monthly account maintenance fee.

Comdata lists "$0 truck-stop fee" on every tier and says its network covers 8,000+ truck stops.

The Mudflap Card says it is accepted at 70,000+ discounted fuel stops and charges no activation, monthly, annual, per card, per swipe or out-of-network fees.

Chain cards are the narrowest network and the deepest discount at home. TA's Fleet Universal card works at 350+ TA and Petro truck stops for one monthly maintenance fee, with no transaction or annual fees. Love's lists fuel discounts of $.20 a gallon and "no application or transaction fees". Pilot's card covers over 900 Pilot, Flying J and One9 locations.

Here is a simple example of why the fee line matters. It is an illustration, not a quote for WEX or any other card. Say a truck fills up 15 times a month, buys 1,500 gallons and pays a $1.25 fee on each fill. That is $18.75 a month, or about 1.25¢ a gallon. On a card that saves 7¢ a gallon at those stops, the net saving would be closer to 5.75¢. Whether a fee applies at all depends on the card, the stop and your agreement, so check the fee schedule against the stops you actually use.

Factoring: When the Fuel Card Comes With Your Factor

For a small carrier, the fuel card and the factoring company are often the same company. That can be the cheapest way to get credit for fuel, because the factor already sees your invoices and can advance against them.

RTS sells both and says to "bundle our fuel and factoring services to get better savings and lower rates". Its fuel card partners include Pilot Flying J, Sheetz, QuikTrip, Kwik Trip, Road Ranger, Casey's, Circle K and RaceTrac.

Comdata MAX is Comdata's fuel and factoring tier. It lists up to 50¢ a gallon at TA, up to 20¢ at Pilot and 1,900+ regional chain stations, up to 10¢ at 2,500+ independents and 8¢ at Love's, and lets you "choose how you get paid, fuel card or direct to your bank account".

WEX Capital, offered on the EFS site, advertises "no fuel card funding fees, no invoice-upload fees" and says it works to get you paid within 24 hours.

A bundle can trade some flexibility for price. If the factoring agreement ends, the card's funding, credit line or discounts may change, depending on the contract and the program. Ask what happens to the card in that case before you sign.

The Cards, One by One

RTS Fuel Card. Three versions: Fleet One credit, Self-Funded and Total Fleet for large fleets. The 45¢ average is for 2025 at over 4,000 stations. Strongest fit: carriers who factor with RTS or have no credit yet.

Mudflap. The free app needs no application; the Mudflap Card adds weekly credit. Mudflap advertises cost-plus savings of up to $1.00 a gallon in the app, and its own footnote says the discount varies by stop. Strongest fit: owner-operators who want to start today.

Comdata. Four tiers from Simple Saver, with a $0 monthly account fee, to Comdata MAX with factoring. Discounts are retail minus and largest at TA/Petro. Strongest fit: fleets on TA and Petro lanes, from 1 to 81+ trucks.

Fleet One EDGE. Discounts across Pilot Flying J, TA, Petro and AMBEST, with an out-of-network fee outside its 4,000+ fee-free sites. Strongest fit: fleets up to 50 trucks that stay on those chains.

EFS. EFS positions its own cards for mid to large enterprise fleets, alongside Fleet One EDGE for smaller ones. Strongest fit: larger fleets that want one card program across many sites.

WEX. WEX issues earnify fleet through TA/Petro, with discounts at bp and TA brands and the fees listed above. Strongest fit: mixed routes with a lot of bp and TA fueling.

Pilot Flying J. No hard credit check, over 900 locations, and a published owner-operator average of $3,876 in 2025. Pilot calls its "up to 65¢" maximum "not typical". Strongest fit: Pilot and Flying J routes.

TA/Petro. The Fleet Universal card has one monthly maintenance fee and UltraONE points. Ask for the figure with the application. Strongest fit: TA and Petro lanes.

Love's. 20¢ a gallon, no application or transaction fees, and available for any size of fleet. Strongest fit: fleets already using Love's Truck Care or Speedco.

Picks by Buyer

New authority, no business credit: the Mudflap app to start, the RTS Self-Funded card if you want a card in hand. Look at the credit programs again once you have built some credit history and steady cash flow.

Owner-operator who already factors: ask your factor for its fuel card price first. If you factor with RTS, the bundle is the obvious quote to get.

Small fleet on one chain: that chain's card, or a general card with its deepest discount there, such as Comdata at TA/Petro.

Fleet that fuels everywhere: a card whose fee-free network matches your stops, then compare the out-of-network fee as closely as the discount.

The best discount is the one you collect at the stops you already use.

Card pages and terms were read on 24 October 2026: Mudflap's app, card and FAQ pages; RTS's fuel card page; Comdata's home page tiers; EFS's Fleet One EDGE, card comparison and factoring pages; TA/Petro's Fleet Universal and earnify fleet pages and WEX's earnify fleet terms; Love's Express billing page; and Pilot's 25 September 2026 announcement. Discounts and averages are each company's own figures, and we haven't checked them against a statement. This comparison doesn't cover every fuel card on the market. Fees and terms change, so confirm them on the agreement you're offered. Directory scores and review counts are TruckMyApps data as of 24.10.2026.