American Express Business Cards for April 2024

The Business Gold Card earns Membership Rewards points at a lower annual fee than the Business Platinum. The rewards program offers a lot more flexibility and focuses less on travel, making it more widely applicable to different business types. For the flagship rewards category, you can earn 4x points on your top two eligible categories where your business spends the most each billing cycle, on up to $150,000 in combined purchases each calendar year (then 1x). Only the top two categories each billing cycle will count toward the $150,000 cap. The qualifying rewards categories include:

• Transit purchases (including trains, taxicabs, rideshare services, ferries, tolls, parking, buses, and subways)

• U.S. purchases for advertising in select media (online, TV, radio)

• U.S. purchases made directly from electronic goods retailers and software and cloud system providers

• U.S. purchases at gas stations

• U.S. purchases at restaurants, including takeout and delivery

• U.S. wireless telephone service charges

More akin to a consumer cash-back card, The American Express Blue Business Cash™ Card is a good option for a sole proprietorship or single-member limited liability company. There’s no annual fee and the rewards are relatively straightforward and applicable. There’s also a small welcome offer you can earn. Otherwise, this card doesn’t feature additional perks besides car rental loss and damage insurance**.

We don’t really recommend The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express when you can get The Blue Business Cash Card instead. The Blue Business Plus earns rewards in Membership Rewards points rather than giving you cash back, so the value and redemption is less flexible.  It comes with an extended warranty** and purchase protection** on eligible purchases.

The Business Green Rewards Card from American Express* isn’t a great card for general business costs. The rewards are similar to the Blue Business Plus Credit Card, but with the added burden of a $95 annual fee after the first year’s introductory $0 fee. The one redeeming quality of this card is its combination of a few extras for travel which are unique to this card: car rental loss and damage insurance** paired with a baggage insurance plan**. However, there are foreign transaction fees which limit the use of travel perks while overseas.

You’re buying a unique card proposition for the Plum Card’s $250 annual fee. There’s no traditional rewards program, welcome offer or introductory APR, but you can mold your card payments to the volatility of your cash flow. The Plum Card allows you to carry your balance interest-free for up to 60 days, or you can earn an unlimited 1.5% discount on any eligible charges when you pay within 10 days of the statement closing date if you find yourself pretty liquid. The discount will be applied to your next statement. There’s no preset spending limit with this card, either, so you can rest assured your large purchases should go through.

To maximize your savings on Amazon purchases with the Amazon Business Prime American Express Card*, you’ll have to have a Business Prime membership. Business Prime memberships start at $69 a year and include fast and free delivery.

You get the option for financing or rewards on your Amazon Business, Whole Foods Market, AWS and Amazon.com -- this is good for office supplies, software services, stocking the company refrigerator and more. The rewards program is coupled with a few travel perks like no foreign transaction fees and a baggage insurance plan**, despite most of the rewards only applying in the United States.

For more information, see our full review of the Amazon Business Prime Card.

The Amazon Business American Express Card* is the equivalent credit card for businesses that don’t have a Business Prime membership. The tradeoff for not having to pay for membership is fewer rewards or shorter promotional financing on eligible Amazon purchases. And while most Amazon cards offer an Amazon gift card upon approval as a welcome bonus, you have to earn the Amazon Business Card’s welcome bonus just like most traditional credit cards -- by reaching a set spending threshold in a certain amount of time. You can earn a $100 statement credit after spending $3,000 in the first three months, which is a pretty small welcome offer when you compare it to other credit cards.

You get a relatively modest rewards program and welcome offer when considering the annual fee, but the perks for the Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express Card are where the real value is at. You can take advantage of extra amenities for comfortable and efficient traveling -- saving you time and money. Some of these perks include Main Cabin 1 priority boarding, statement credit for TSA Precheck (up to $85) or Global Entry (up to $100) and a slew of travel insurance coverage**.

Unlike most airline credit cards, the Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business American Express Card may be a decent credit card for everyday business expenses in addition to travel costs thanks to the wide net it casts with its reward categories. The introductory $0 annual fee (followed by an annual $150 fee) and the mid level spending threshold to earn the welcome offer (earn 55,000 bonus miles after you spend $4,000 in purchases in the first six months of card membership) make this an accessible airline card or everyday credit card for even small businesses or sole proprietors.

The Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card is the best option for Delta frequent flyers who value airport lounges. With complimentary Delta Sky Club® access (Effective 2/1/2025, Reserve Card Members will receive 15 visits per year to the Delta Sky Club; to earn an unlimited number of Visits each year starting on 2/1/2025, the total eligible purchases on the Card must equal $75,000 or more between 1/1/2024 and 12/31/2024, and each calendar year thereafter) and access to The Centurion Lounge, you’ll have access to more comfortable accommodations while you await your flights. The rewards program and welcome offer aren’t as far off from that of the Delta SkyMiles Platinum Business card as you’d think for the Reserve charging nearly double the Platinum’s annual fee. The Reserve also affords you an annual Delta Annual Companion Certificate on First Class, Delta Comfort+ or Main Cabin domestic, Caribbean or Central American roundtrip flights (taxes and fees of no more than $80 for roundtrip domestic flights and no more than $250 for roundtrip international flights apply) and upgrade priority.

For a $195 annual fee, the Hilton Honors Business Card offers a strong rewards rate for Hilton purchases, a great welcome offer and up to $240 back each year for eligible purchases made directly with Hilton. The credit is enough to cover the card’s fee, so it should be relatively simple to get value from it.

However, there are no free night awards like some other hotel credit cards might offer, especially at this fee level. But that’s not to say the card isn’t worth your time if you find yourself often staying at Hilton properties while traveling for business.

The real value for booking Marriott properties with the Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card isn’t the rewards -- it’s the 7% discount off eligible standard rates for reservations of standard guest rooms at hotels which participate in the Marriott Bonvoy program when you book directly through an eligible channel for a participating property.

Marriott Bonvoy points vary in their redemption value when you’re using them to book stays at Marriott properties, but we estimate that points are worth $0.007 each based on a sample of bookings across the US. Therefore the 6x points on Marriott purchases would net a typical return of 4.2%.

You also get a Free Night Award each year after your card renewal month (up to 35,000 points), and there are opportunities to earn even more perks based on your spending.

Lowe’s Business Rewards Card from American Express* offers cash back both on Lowe’s purchases and everyday business expenses. But there are diminishing returns: While you earn 5% cash back on Lowe’s purchases for the first six months, you’ll only earn 2% back on Lowe’s purchases beyond that timeframe. The other part of this introductory offer includes a $100 statement credit upon approval.

The Lowe’s Business Rewards Card also affords you access to Lowe’s ProServices, which includes discounted delivery, bulk-rate pricing and the business replenishment program.