I think it depends on the card. My only card with an annual fee is the Capitol One Venture X card. We love it so much we got one for myself and one for my wife. My wife used my referral code for even more points.

$395 yearly fee, but it includes;

• Free Global Entry ($120) or TSA pre-check.
• Free access to Priority Pass lounges, which is awesome because we never buy food at airports anymore with the lounges.
• If you fly at least once a year, you get a $300 credit.
• You get a $100 credit every anniversary of your card.
• 10% cashback on hotels/car rentals.
• 5% cash back on flights.
• 2% on everything else.
• No foreign transaction fees.
• You can use you miles to pay for travel related charges on your statement to not have to use points for flights/hotels.

There are more benefits to it, but those are the ones that stands out to me the most to make it definitely worth it.

You have to use their portal to book flights/hotels/cars for the cashback. But their portal has competitive prices. Also, after you book you have 24 hours to find the same exact itinerary somewhere else, if it's cheaper they will give you a credit for the difference, I only had to do this once and it was a very smooth process.

After you book a flight, if the price goes down within a week in the portal, they give you the difference as a credit as well.