Among National Issuers, American Express Ranked #1 in Customer Satisfaction by JD Power 2021 Credit Card Satisfaction Survey. It’s one of the reasons why their credit cards are often at the top of must-have lists, including mine. I’ve wanted an American Express business card for a while and I’m almost ready to apply. I narrowed it down to two cards: the American Express® Gold Business Card and The Business Platinum Card® from American Express.
Both are charge cards rather than credit cards. This means that they don’t have predefined lines of credit, but the bill must be paid in full each month. Both offer great rewards, from the hefty welcome offer you’ll receive after billing a certain amount in a set number of months, to the chance to rack up big rewards when you bill your business expenses. Each card has substantial annual fees and an impressive set of benefits, many of which overlap.
So how do you decide between the two?
Main characteristics
Welcome offer
Welcome offers attract and reward new cardholders with a large number of points after meeting a spending condition. It is important to consider not only the benefit you will receive, but also whether you can comfortably meet the required minimum spend during the period.
business gold: Currently 70,000 Membership Rewards points after charging $10,000 on qualifying purchases within the first three months of account opening.
Business Platinum: Currently 120,000 Membership Rewards points after spending $15,000 on qualifying purchases with your card within the first three months of card membership.
Annual subscription
The fees for these cards go towards the cost of the benefits. In general, the higher the annual fee, the more benefits you get.
business gold: $295
Business Platinum: $695
Accumulation of rewards
As you use either card, the points accumulate. Focus on reward structures that reward your specific spending, rather than picking the card that offers the most rewards possible. Even the best rewards rate won’t do much good if your usual spending doesn’t fit the categories.
business gold: 4X Membership Rewards points on the first $150,000 of combined purchases of the two major spend categories each calendar year, which include purchases of airline tickets directly from airlines, US gas station spend, restaurants and shipping as well as advertising, hardware, software and cloud systems from certain technology providers. You also earn 2X points on rental cars booked through AmexTravel.com. After that, you will earn 1X points for every dollar you charge.
Business Platinum: 5X Membership Rewards points on prepaid flights and hotels on AmexTravel.com, 2X points on prepaid rental cars booked through AmexTravel.com, 1.5X Membership Rewards points on qualifying purchases in key commercial categories as well as on purchases of $5,000 or more anywhere else (up to $2 million of such purchases per calendar year). You earn 1X points on all other purchases.
Travel benefits
For travel, these cards share the same point value. Points are worth 2 cents each (on average) when you transfer to airlines and hotel partners or book travel, according to The Points Guy’s last monthly assessment. If you book a stay of at least two nights until The Hotel Collection, you can get a resort credit worth up to $100 and a room upgrade. You won’t pay more when traveling abroad since neither charges foreign transaction fees. On the road? You get emergency auto services up to four times a year. And both cards provide insurance coverage for checked baggage damaged, stolen or lost while traveling by air.
When it comes to the discounts associated with travel for each card, there are a few differences:
business gold: You will get 25% of your points back when you redeem them on AmexTravel.com with a cap of 250,000 points per calendar year.
Business Platinum: You will get 35% of your points back when you redeem them on AmexTravel.com with a cap of 500,000 points per calendar year.
After that, the Business Platinum card takes off. It offers benefits not associated with the Gold card, including:
- Free access to over 1,400 airport lounges
- Global Entry credit or TSA PreCheck (up to $100 every four years)
- CLEAR® Membership Credit (up to $189)
- Gold Elite status at Hilton and Marriott hotels
- Eligible to receive discounts on Wheels Up Connect & Core subscriptions
- Avis, National and Hertz car rental upgrade status
- Up to $200 in airline fee credits (per calendar year for baggage fees and more with an eligible airline)
Purchases
For items with a warranty of five years or less, American Express will add an additional warranty of up to one additional year when you make the purchase with one of these cards. You’ll also get Purchase Protection, which gives you coverage against accidental damage and theft for 90 days.
Shopping promotions are subject to change, but for now (and for the foreseeable future), Business Platinum is offering up to $400 in statement credits per year for US purchases from Dell Technologies ( get up to $200 in statement credits between January and June and up to $200 in statement credits between July and December for purchases in the United States upon sign-up), unlike the Gold card.
Business Management
Gold and Platinum cards offer the American Express Business App, and with it, you can easily manage your expenses and connect to the QuickBooks software. If you have employees, you can make them authorized users and designate an account manager to manage account activity, such as making payments and reviewing statements.
Business Platinum, in particular, offers up to $360 in annual statement credits on all Indeed hiring and recruiting products and services (up to $90 per quarter), up to $150 in credits annual statement credits on select Adobe purchases (including Adobe Creative Cloud and Acrobat Pro DC) plus up to $120 in annual statement credits for purchases made directly from any US wireless carrier (up to at $10 per month).
Although Business Gold and Business Platinum cards require payment in full by the due date, you can also take advantage of the “Pay Over Time” feature which allows you to pay in full for eligible purchases each month or pay over time with interest (conditions apply). Balances you pay on the due date will not be subject to additional interest, but if you choose to renew debts for qualifying purchases, interest will be added. Both cards have varying APRs of 16.49% to 24.49% on revolving balances. The rate you receive depends on your creditworthiness and other factors at the time of application.
How to choose between Amex Business Gold and Amex Business Platinum
Think about welcome offers first. For the Business Gold card, the welcome offer could be worth $700 while the Business Platinum card offer could be worth $1,200, assuming you use them to book travel through AmexTravel.com (although you can also redeem points for statement credits, gift cards and select merchant checkouts for a lower valuation). However, you will need to spend $10,000 in the first three months to get the 70,000 welcome offer points for the Business Gold card and $15,000 in the first three months to get the 120,000 welcome offer points from welcome to the Business Platinum card. If it’s difficult, if not impossible, to spend that much and pay it all back each month, that’s an automatic “no” for the Platinum card. The last thing you want to do is go into debt and still not get the precious bonus!
Next comes the annual fee. The Business Gold card is $400 less than the Business Platinum, but if you come out on top making the most of the benefits, it will come out on top in this race.
The Platinum card is the winner for travel, especially if you do a lot and want special luxuries. There’s nothing like an airport lounge to unwind during long layovers and delays, especially the chic Centurion Lounge. Skipping through airport security lines, getting free hotel and rental car upgrades, and having a professional to help you with dining and entertainment reservations is nice, but these perks may ring best in your mind. mind than in real life. Will you use the perks often enough to offset the higher annual fee? Only you know, so project. What does your future look like, not just in the next 12 months, but for at least a few years to come? These are annual fees, so your use of the benefits must be sustainable.
The bottom line
If most of your card activity is for day-to-day business expenses rather than flights and hotels, the Gold card makes more sense. You’ll earn points quickly and won’t pay more for services you won’t use. If you’re often on the road (or in the air) for work, Platinum offers a host of benefits to make your business trip more comfortable while rewarding you along the way.
Both Amex Business Gold and Amex Business Platinum offer great benefits and the same ability to charge what you need for your business. To be eligible, both require a solid and stable income as well as credit scores ranging from good to excellent (between 670 and 850).
