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You may be on the hunt for a business card that earns travel and business rewards but also comes with a variety of benefits. One of the top card issuers, American Express, has some valuable options that are worth considering—The American Express® Business Gold Card and The Business Platinum Card® from American Express. Here’s a preview of their bonus offers:
70,000 Bonus Membership Rewards® points: American Express® Business Gold Card
120,000 Bonus Membership Rewards® points: The Business Platinum Card® from American Express
Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more.
Business Gold vs Business Platinum
Both cards cater to different types of business purchases, but you can still redeem your Membership Rewards® points for award travel or cash rewards. Let’s not only see what is the best option for you, but we’ll also compare the two cards. Who wins between the Amex Business Gold vs. Amex Business Platinum?
Earning Membership Rewards Points
Now onto the fun part of this Amex Business Gold vs. Amex Business Platinum review—spending categories. You’ll find that there is a variety of ways to earn Membership Rewards points on these cards. The key to finding the best card is to look at which category your business spends more in on a monthly and annual basis.
American Express Business Gold Card
American Express Business Gold Card allows you to earn 4x Membership Rewards points on the 2 select categories where your business spent the most each month*. To calculate your top 2 categories for each billing cycle, Amex looks at your account transactions that fall into the 6 categories below. They then issue additional points based on your 2 highest categories of total spending. These select categories include:
- Airfare purchased directly from airlines
- Advertising in select media (online, TV, radio) (U.S. purchases only)
- Select technology providers of computer hardware, software, and cloud solutions (the current list of select technology providers is available at americanexpress.com/rewards-info) (U.S. purchases only)
- Gas stations (U.S. purchases only)
- Restaurants, including takeout and delivery (U.S. purchases only)
- Shipping (U.S. purchases only)
Note that these 4x points apply to the first $150,000 in combined purchases from these 2 categories each calendar year. All other purchases earn 1x point per $1 spent.
American Express Business Gold cardholders also have access to a Pay Over Time Option that lets cardholders decide whether they want to pay for their eligible purchases in full each month or pay over time with interest (terms apply).
Related Article: Best Business Credit Cards for Advertising Spending
The Business Platinum Card from American Express
The purchase rewards tiers are more straightforward with The Business Platinum Card from American Express:
- 5x Membership Rewards® points on flights and prepaid hotels booked on AmexTravel.com
-
Earn 1x points for each dollar spent on eligible purchases.
Cardholders earn 1.5x points (that’s an extra half point per dollar) on eligible purchases at US construction material, hardware suppliers, electronic goods retailers, and software & cloud system providers, and shipping providers, as well as on purchases of $5,000 or more everywhere else, on up to $2 million of these purchases per calendar year.
Frequent flyers benefit the most from the Business Platinum because of the 5x bonus, and it’s the highest reward rate for any travel rewards card when it comes to airline purchases.
Big spenders can also benefit greatly from the 1.5x large purchase bonus too.
Welcome Bonus Offers
This review of the Amex Business Gold vs. Amex Business Platinum can help determine which welcome offer is going to be better suited for your business spending.
Amex Business Gold: New American Express® Business Gold Card cardholders can earn 70,000 points after spending $10,000 on eligible purchases with the Business Gold Card within the first 3 months of Card Membership.*
*Terms apply.
Amex Business Platinum: New The Business Platinum Card® from American Express cardholders have the opportunity to earn 120,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $15,000 on eligible purchases with your Card within the first 3 months of Card Membership.
These are some of the best credit card offers available.
Redeeming Membership Rewards Points
How can you redeem your Membership Rewards points? There are several redemption options. These include:
- Covering card charges
- Pay with points at checkout at select merchants (including PayPal and Amazon)
- Redeem for gift cards
- Book or upgrade travel
- Transfer points
- Use them to go shopping
Cards that earn Membership Rewards points come with the above options.
American Express Business Gold Card
Business Gold Card members can also enjoy a 25% airline bonus. Simply book your flight with American Express Travel using Membership Rewards® Pay with Points and get 25% of those points back. You can get up to 250,000 points back per calendar year.
Business Platinum Card from American Express
Additionally, The Business Platinum Card from American Express cardholders can get a 35% airline bonus when using their points to pay for all or part of a flight with a qualifying airline booked on amextravel.com, up to 500,000 bonus points annually. So, if you redeem 5,000 points on an award flight, you will get 1,750 points back for future redemptions.
You can compare the American Express Business Platinum vs Chase Ink Business Preferred Credit Card if you want to learn about another business card that has a travel redemption bonus.
1:1 Point Transfers
Your points have a maximum redemption value of 1 cent on air travel or gift cards when you redeem them directly through American Express. They can be more valuable if you can transfer them to a 1:1 airline or hotel travel partner.
With the Business Gold, your transferred points need to be worth at least 1.25 cents once you factor in the 25% redemption bonus.
However, with the Business Platinum, your transferred points need to be worth at least 1.35 cents once you factor in the 35% redemption bonus.
Some of the most valuable Membership Rewards transfer partners include:
- ANA
- British Airways
- Delta SkyClub
- Emirates
- Etihad
- Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
Additional Card Benefits
The Business Platinum Card earns its weight in platinum with the additional card benefits.
However, before we cover those, let’s review which benefits both cards share:
- Purchase Protection
- Extended Warranty
- Baggage Insurance (Up to $1,250 for Gold and up to $3,000 for Platinum)
- Premium Roadside Assistance
- Employee Expense Management Tools
Additionally, both of these cards are some of the best American Express business cards.
Amex Business Gold
For the most part, the American Express® Business Gold Card primarily focuses on earning bonus points on your most common business purchases. In turn, you can redeem them for award travel on Amex Travel or transfer them to a 1:1 travel partner. You probably won’t choose the Business Gold specifically for its additional card benefits.
Platinum Business Card
The Business Platinum Card from American Express is full of additional travel benefits that primarily benefit frequent flyers:
- Up to $200 airline fee credit (terms apply; in the form of statement credits—enrollment required)
- Complimentary access to airport lounge networks (enrollment may be required)
- Global Entry/TSA PreCheck application fee reimbursement
Additionally, unlock over $1,000 in annual statement credits on a curation of business purchases, including select purchases made with Dell Technologies, Indeed, Adobe, and U.S. wireless service providers.
Plus, get up to $200 in statement credits per calendar year for incidental fees charged by your one selected, qualifying airline to your Card.
Cardholders can get up to $189 in statement credits per calendar year on your CLEAR® Plus Membership (subject to auto-renewal) when they use their Business Platinum Card®.
With complimentary access to more than 1,400 airport lounges across 140 countries and counting, with The American Express Global Lounge Collection®. You have more airport lounge options than any other credit card issuer on the market as of 03/2023. Enrollment is required for some lounges.
If you can benefit from these travel benefits, it can be worth springing for the Business Platinum.
Annual Fee
Amex Business Gold: $295 (See Rates & Fees)
Amex Business Platinum: The annual fee is $695 (See Rates & Fees).
As you might guess by the card names, the American Express Business Gold Card has a lower annual fee. Of course, you will get fewer card benefits than the Business Platinum Card, so you will have to weigh that tradeoff.
However, neither of these business credit cards charges a foreign transaction fee, making them viable options for international travel.
When to Try For the Amex Business Gold
You should go for the American Express® Business Gold Card in these instances:
- Earn more from the 4x bonus categories*
- You benefit from 25% points back after you use points for all or part of an eligible flight booked with Amex Travel (up to 250,000 points back per calendar year)*
- Won’t benefit from the Business Platinum’s additional travel benefits
- Can’t meet the Business Platinum welcome bonus spending requirements
Once again, you may also enjoy the Business Gold because of its multiple bonus categories. Here’s how hard it is to get the Amex Business Gold.
*Terms apply.
When to Try for the Amex Business Platinum
The Amex Business Platinum is the better option and can be worth it if you can enjoy these benefits:
- Want to earn 5x points on airline purchases
- Make $5,000 in purchases
- Benefit from the premium air travel benefits
- Can use the statement credits
You will benefit most from this card if you can maximize the air travel rewards and benefits. Plus, making a large purchase is also a huge bonus too (terms apply).
Here’s how hard it is to get the Amex Business Platinum.
Summary
In conclusion, both of these small business cards let you earn Membership Rewards. Additionally, you have access to 1:1 point transfers which makes each point more valuable than the average card rewards point. Pick the card that offers the most useful purchase rewards and additional benefits for you, and you can’t go wrong.
70,000 Bonus Membership Rewards® points: American Express® Business Gold Card
120,000 Bonus Membership Rewards® points: The Business Platinum Card® from American Express
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- Best Credit Cards for Excellent Credit
- How Hard Is It To Get a Business Credit Card?
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For rates and fees of the American Express® Business Gold Card, please click here.
And For rates and fees of The Business Platinum Card® from American Express, please click here.
