Bank Bonus Tracker Showdown: Spreadsheets vs. Notion vs. Dedicated Apps

You've got three checking accounts with pending direct deposits, a savings bonus that expires in 22 days, and you can't remember whether you already used Alliant for a DD at Citi. Sound familiar?

Tracking bank bonuses is a different beast than tracking credit card SUBs. The requirements are more varied (direct deposits, debit transactions, bill pays, minimum balances, holding periods), the deadlines are less forgiving, and the details that matter — which direct deposit method you used, when the bonus posted, how long you need to keep the account open — don't fit neatly into a simple list.

In our previous comparison of tracking tools, we covered the landscape broadly. This post goes deeper — a feature-by-feature breakdown specifically for bank bonus tracking, comparing the options side by side.

The Contenders

We're comparing five approaches that bank bonus hunters actually use:

1. Google Sheets — The DIY spreadsheet, usually built from a community template
2. Notion — Databases with views, popular among the productivity crowd
3. Airtable — Relational databases with automations
4. Travel Freely — The most well-known dedicated churning tool
5. PointsDB — Purpose-built for bank bonus and credit card tracking

Let's break it down by the things that actually matter when you're managing a pipeline of bank bonuses.

Requirement Tracking

Bank bonus requirements are complex. A single bonus might need: a $500 direct deposit within 60 days, 10 debit card transactions, and maintaining a $1,500 minimum balance for 90 days. You need to track each requirement independently.

Google Sheets

You'll typically have a single "Requirements" column with freeform text like "$500 DD x2, 10 debit txns, $1500 min bal 90d." It works, but there's no way to check items off or track partial progress without adding more columns (and more manual upkeep). Most community templates from Doctor of Credit or r/churning use this approach.

Notion

Notion lets you create relation databases and checklists within pages, so you could theoretically build a sub-table of requirements per bonus. In practice, most people use a single rich-text field with checkboxes. It's more visual than a spreadsheet but still fully manual.

Airtable

Similar to Notion but with true relational linking. You could create a separate "Requirements" table linked to each bonus, with fields for type, target, progress, and status. The downside: you're building a small application from scratch. Most people don't go this far.

Travel Freely

Travel Freely was built around credit cards. Bank bonus support is limited — you can log bank accounts, but there's no structured requirement tracking for things like direct deposit counts, debit transaction thresholds, or holding periods. You'd end up putting these in a notes field.

PointsDB

Each bank bonus has a structured requirement checklist where you can add items like "Direct Deposit $500," "10 Debit Transactions," or "Maintain $1,500 Balance," then check them off individually with completion dates. Requirements from known offers are pre-populated when you add a bonus from the database.

Winner: PointsDB for structured tracking. Airtable if you want to build it yourself.

Deadline Management

Missing a bonus deadline is the most expensive mistake in this hobby. A $300 checking bonus with a 90-day window doesn't send you a reminder on day 85.

Google Sheets

No built-in reminders. You'd need to manually check your sheet regularly, or set up a separate Google Calendar event for each deadline. Some advanced templates use conditional formatting to highlight rows where the deadline is within 30 days, but that only helps if you're looking at the sheet.

Notion

Notion has a calendar view that can display deadlines visually, and you can set reminder notifications on individual pages. However, reminders require manual setup per bonus — there's no "remind me 7 days before every deadline" automation without a third-party tool like Zapier.

Airtable

Airtable's automations can send email alerts when a deadline is approaching. This is genuinely useful but requires setup: you need to create an automation that checks a date field against today's date and triggers an email or Slack message. The free tier limits automation runs.

Travel Freely

Travel Freely offers deadline reminders for credit cards, but its bank bonus support doesn't provide the same level of notification.

PointsDB

Email reminders are sent automatically at configurable intervals (30, 15, 7, and 1 day before deadline). No setup required — enable notifications in settings and every bonus with a deadline is covered. The dashboard also shows a visual timeline of upcoming deadlines sorted by urgency.

Winner: PointsDB for zero-setup reminders. Airtable if you need custom automation logic.

Data Entry Speed

When you find a new bonus on Doctor of Credit, how fast can you get it into your tracker?

Google Sheets

Type everything manually: bank name, account type, bonus amount, requirements, dates. Copy-paste from the offer page. For a detailed entry, this takes 2–3 minutes per bonus.

Notion

Same as Sheets — manual entry into your database. Notion's templates can pre-fill some fields, but the bonus-specific data is always manual. Slightly faster if you've set up select fields for common banks.

Airtable

Marginally faster than Sheets if you've configured linked records for banks (select from a dropdown instead of typing). But requirement details, dates, and amounts are still manual.

Travel Freely

For credit cards, Travel Freely has a card database you can select from. For bank bonuses, you're entering most details manually.

PointsDB

Paste a URL from Doctor of Credit, a bank's offer page, or any blog post, and AI extracts the bank name, account type, bonus amount, requirements, and expiration date automatically. You can also select from a database of known bank offers that pre-fills everything. A new bonus entry takes under 30 seconds.

Winner: PointsDB. AI extraction and a known-offer database eliminate most manual data entry.

Multi-Player Support

If you and a partner (or business entity) are both opening accounts, you need to track who owns what without duplicating your entire system.

Google Sheets

Add a "Player" column (P1, P2) and filter by it. Works, but filtering a wide spreadsheet by player is clunky, and you can't easily see household-level totals without pivot tables.

Notion

Notion's filter views handle this well. Create a "Player" select field and save filtered views for each person. You can also create a rollup to show total bonuses per player. This is one of Notion's strengths.

Airtable

Same approach as Notion, with the added benefit of grouped views that visually separate players within a single table.

Travel Freely

Built-in multi-player support for credit cards. Each household member has their own profile. This is a genuine strength of the platform, though it's more credit-card-focused.

PointsDB

Built-in owner profiles with custom names, colors, and icons. Every account is assigned to an owner, and the dashboard shows per-owner breakdowns. Works for P1/P2, business accounts, or any custom grouping.

Winner: Tie between Travel Freely and PointsDB for built-in support. Notion is the best DIY option.

Direct Deposit Tracking

The most common bank bonus requirement is direct deposit — and the most common question is "Does [payroll provider] code as a direct deposit at [bank]?" Your tracker should help you remember what you've already tried.

Google Sheets

A "DD Method" column works, but you're typing freeform text. No way to cross-reference across bonuses (e.g., "I used Gusto at Chase, does it work at US Bank too?").

Notion / Airtable

You could build a separate "DD Methods" database and link it to bonuses. This is powerful if you set it up, but most people don't — they use a text field.

Travel Freely

No structured DD tracking for bank bonuses.

PointsDB

Direct deposit details are tracked per bonus via requirements and notes. The system stores your DD source and amount, so you have a record of what method you used at which bank.

Winner: A well-built Airtable or Notion setup wins here, but it requires significant upfront work. PointsDB covers the basics without any setup.

Mobile Experience

You're at the bank, about to open a new account, and you need to quickly check which bonuses you have pending at this institution.

Google Sheets

Google Sheets on mobile is functional but frustrating. Wide tables require constant horizontal scrolling, and editing cells is fiddly. You'll probably open it, squint, and give up.

Notion

Notion's mobile app is solid. Database views work well, pages are readable, and you can toggle between views. It's one of the best mobile experiences among the DIY options.

Airtable

Airtable's mobile app is good but can feel cluttered with complex bases. Simple views work well; heavily relational setups are harder to navigate.

Travel Freely

Decent mobile experience for credit cards, limited for bank bonus tracking.

PointsDB

Mobile-first PWA (Progressive Web App). Install it to your home screen and it behaves like a native app — fast, responsive, works offline for viewing. Designed for quick checks and updates on the go.

Winner: PointsDB and Notion are the best mobile experiences. Google Sheets is the worst.

The Comparison Matrix

Feature	Google Sheets	Notion	Airtable	Travel Freely	PointsDB
Price	Free	Free (limited)	Free (limited)	Free / Paid	Free / Pro
Setup time	30–60 min	30–60 min	1–2 hours	10 min	2 min
Bank bonus focus	You build it	You build it	You build it	Minimal	Native
Requirement checklist	Manual	Manual	Manual (or build it)	No	Built-in
Deadline reminders	No	Manual per-item	Automation (paid)	Limited	Automatic
AI data entry	No	No	No	No	Yes
Offer database	No	No	No	Credit cards only	Banks + Cards
Multi-player	Column filter	Filter views	Grouped views	Built-in	Built-in
Mobile experience	Poor	Good	Good	Decent	Excellent
Customization	Unlimited	High	High	Low	Moderate

Which One Should You Use?

Use Google Sheets if you already have a system that works and you don't mind maintaining it. If you've been tracking bonuses in a spreadsheet for years and it's not causing you problems, there's no reason to switch.

Use Notion if you already live in Notion for other things and want your bonus tracking integrated with your broader productivity system. The learning curve is lower if you're already a Notion user.

Use Airtable if you enjoy building systems and want the most powerful DIY option. Airtable's automations and relational data model can create something genuinely sophisticated — if you invest the time.

Use Travel Freely if you're primarily focused on credit card rewards and don't do many bank bonuses. It's the most mature dedicated tool for the credit card side.

Use PointsDB if you track both bank bonuses and credit cards and want something that works immediately without a setup phase. It's the only tool built specifically for the full spectrum of bonus tracking — bank accounts, credit cards, and recurring benefits — in a single dashboard.

The right tool is the one you'll actually use consistently. A perfect Airtable setup you never open is worse than a simple spreadsheet you check every morning. Pick the tool that fits your workflow, not the one that sounds most impressive.

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Want to try the purpose-built approach? Start tracking your bonuses on PointsDB — it's free to get started.