Key takeaways

  • Both the American Express® Business Gold Card and The Business Platinum Card® from American Express allow business owners to earn valuable Membership Rewards points in categories common to many businesses.
  • The Amex Business Gold makes more sense if most of your card’s activity will be for everyday business expenses, instead of flights and hotels.
  • However, if you travel frequently for work, the Amex Business Platinum offers an incredible number of benefits to make business travel more comfortable, along with rewarding you for eligible business expenses.

American Express consistently ranks as one of the top issuers for customer satisfaction. This is one of the reasons why the issuer’s cards are frequently at the top of must-have lists — including mine. I’ve wanted an American Express business card for a while, and I’ve narrowed it down to two cards: The American Express® Business Gold Card and The Business Platinum Card® from American Express.

Neither card has a preset spending limit, but rather the amount you can spend adjusts based on factors including your purchase, payment and credit history. While you’re expected to pay your balance in full each month with both of these Amex cards, they both will allow you to pay off eligible charges over time through the Amex Pay Over Time option (terms and limits apply). Both Business Gold and Business Platinum also feature excellent rewards and welcome offers, not to mention an impressive set of perks (some of which overlap). So, how do you decide between the two?

Main details

Cards American Express Business Gold Card The Business Platinum Card from American Express
Welcome bonus 70,000 points after spending $10,000 on eligible purchases within the first 3 months of card membership 120,000 points after spending $15,000 on eligible purchases within the first 3 months of card membership
Rewards rate
  • 4X points in the top 2 categories your business spends the most in each billing cycle from among six categories (on up to $150,000 in combined purchases per calendar year, then 1X points; categories include directly purchased airfare; select U.S. advertising purchases; U.S. gas stations; U.S. restaurants; U.S. shipping costs; and directly purchased U.S. computer software, hardware and cloud solutions from eligible providers)
  • 3X points on flights and prepaid hotels booked through Amex Travel
  • 1X points on all other eligible purchases
  • 5X points on flights and prepaid hotels booked through Amex Travel
  • 1.5X points on eligible purchases of $5,000 or more and 1.5X points on eligible purchases in key business categories (on up to $2 million per calendar year; categories include U.S. construction material and hardware suppliers; electronic goods retailers; software and cloud system providers; and shipping providers)
  • 1X points on all other eligible purchases
Annual fee $375 $695

Amex Business Platinum vs. Amex Business Gold highlights

Amex Business Platinum

It depends

Amex Business Gold

Tie

Which card earns the most?

As you use either card, you’ll earn points. But the best Amex business card for you depends on which card better matches your spending habits. For example, if you’re a small business that spends more in certain business categories than on travel, then you’ll likely earn more with the Amex Business Gold than with the Amex Business Platinum.

You’ll also want to take redemption methods into account. According to our points valuations, Amex Membership Rewards points can be worth 2.0 cents when you transfer your points to high-value airline and hotel partners. Other redemption methods — like paying with points at checkout or gift cards — might only net you around 0.7 cents per point.

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Spending example


Let’s imagine that you travel a lot for business each month, spending $2,000 on airfare, $1,000 on hotels and $500 on car rentals.


With the Amex Business Gold, you’ll earn 4X points on directly purchased airfare and 3X points on hotels and rental cars booked through American Express Travel. Assuming airfare is one of your top spending categories, you could earn 8,000 points on airfare, 3,000 points on hotels and 1,500 points on car rentals — for a total of 12,500 points per month.


For the Amex Business Platinum, you’ll earn 5X points on flights and prepaid hotels booked through American Express Travel and 2X points on prepaid rental cars booked through American Express Travel. If you book everything through American Express Travel, you could earn 10,000 points on airfare, 5,000 points on hotels and 1,000 points on car rentals — for a total of 16,000 points per month.

Why should you get the Amex Business Gold?

  • Some of the Amex Business Gold’s benefits include:

    • Up to a $100 experience credit for qualifying dining, spa and resort activities when you book at least two consecutive nights with The Hotel Collection through American Express Travel
    • Business perks like free employee cards, QuickBooks integration and year-end summaries
    • Protections like baggage insurance, car rental loss and damage insurance, trip delay insurance, extended warranty coverage and purchase protection
  • You can redeem your Amex Membership Rewards points for travel through American Express Travel, transfers to Amex airline and hotel partners, statement credits, gift cards, shopping with merchant partners or paying with points at checkout at eligible retailers.
  • A good to excellent credit score (670 to 850) is recommended for the Amex Business Gold.

Why should you get the Amex Business Platinum?

  • The Amex Business Platinum offers many perks that aren’t associated with the Amex Business Gold card, including:

    • 35 percent of your points back when you book a first or business flight or an economy class flight with a pre-selected airline through American Express Travel (capped at 1 million points back per calendar year)
    • Free access to over 1,400 global airport lounges across 140 countries
    • Up to a $100 or $85 statement credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck (once every four years for Global Entry and once every four and a half years for TSA PreCheck)
    • Up to $120 in statement credits per year (up to $10 per month) for direct purchases with any U.S. wireless telephone provider (enrollment required)
    • Up to $150 in statement credits per year on select Adobe purchases
    • Up to a $189 statement credit per year for CLEAR Plus Membership
    • Up to $200 in statement credits per year for qualifying airline fees with a pre-selected airline
    • Up to $360 in statement credits per year on Indeed hiring and recruiting products and services (up to $90 per quarter; enrollment required)
    • Up to a $400 statement credit per year on Dell purchases (up to $200 semi-annually; enrollment required)
    • Up to $600 worth of complimentary perks for eligible bookings with Fine Hotels + Resorts
    • Complimentary Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite Status and Hilton Honors Gold Status

    Other card benefits include trip delay insurance, trip cancellation and interruption insurance, car rental loss and damage insurance, baggage insurance, employee cards, QuickBooks integration, year-end summaries, cellphone protection, extended warranty protection and purchase protection.

  • Like the Amex Business Gold, you can redeem your points for travel, transfers to Amex airline and hotel partners, statement credits, gift cards, shopping with merchant partners or paying with points at checkout with eligible merchants.
  • A good to excellent credit score (670 to 850) is recommended for the Amex Business Platinum.

The bottom line

Both the American Express Business Gold Card and American Express Business Platinum Card provide helpful and money-saving perks as well as the ability to charge what you need for your business. However, if most of your card’s activity will be for everyday business expenses instead of flights and hotels, the Amex Business Gold makes more sense. You’ll earn points quickly, and you won’t pay more for services you won’t be using.