Amex Business Gold vs. Amex Business Platinum
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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 |
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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 |
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Annual fee | $375 | $695 |
Amex Business Platinum vs. Amex Business Gold highlights
Amex Business Platinum
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Welcome offers entice new cardholders by rewarding them with a large number of points after meeting a spending requirement. But it’s important to consider not only the benefit you’ll receive, but also whether you can comfortably meet the minimum spend required during the given time period.
For the Amex Business Gold, you can earn 70,000 Membership Rewards points after spending $10,000 on eligible purchases within the first three months of account opening. According to our points valuations guide, where we estimate Amex points to be worth 2.0 cents each, this welcome bonus could be worth about $1,400 when transferred to a high-value travel partner.
For the Amex Business Platinum, you can earn 120,000 points — worth about $2,400 through high-value travel partner transfers — after spending $15,000 on eligible purchases within the first three months. Therefore, the Amex Business Platinum wins in this category since it offers a higher bonus.
The Business Gold bonus, however, is more attainable with its lower spending requirement. Be sure your business can meet the higher $15,000 spend in three months if you decide to open the Business Platinum.
It depends
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The winner in this category depends on your business’ spending needs. You’ll want to focus on rewards structures that reward your specific spending habits, rather than picking the card that offers the most possible rewards. Even the best rewards rates won’t be of much use if your typical spending doesn’t match a card’s bonus categories.
The Amex Business Gold earns 4X points in the top two categories from among a list of six in which your business spends the most each billing cycle (on up to $150,000 in combined purchases per 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. You’ll also earn 1X points on all other eligible purchases.
The Amex Business Platinum earns 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). Business categories include U.S. construction material and hardware suppliers; electronic goods retailers; software and cloud system providers; and shipping providers. You’ll also earn 5X points on flights and prepaid hotels booked through American Express Travel and 1X points on all other eligible purchases.
Business Platinum heavily skews its rewards toward travel and large purchases, but Business Gold could be more rewarding for businesses with less travel and more varied spending that falls within 4X categories.
Amex Business Gold
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The Amex Business Gold comes with an annual fee of $375, while the Amex Business Platinum includes a much higher annual fee of $695.
The Amex Business Gold card costs $400 less per year than the Amex Business Platinum, but if you make the most of the latter’s many benefits and statement credits, it will pull ahead in this race.
Tie
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Neither card charges foreign transaction fees, so you won’t pay more when traveling internationally or making purchases with vendors in a foreign currency.
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.
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?
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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
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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.
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A good to excellent credit score (670 to 850) is recommended for the Amex Business Gold.
Why should you get the Amex Business Platinum?
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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.
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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.
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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.