American Express® Business Gold Card review: A highflying card for everyday business expenses

The American Express Business Gold Card may be one of the best business credit cards for small-business owners who can leverage rewards from their daily business spending into worthwhile travel redemptions. Its generous rewards rates on up to $150,000 per year in spending in two of your top eligible business categories (from 6 eligible categories), including travel, select U.S. advertising, select U.S. technology providers, U.S. gas stations and U.S. restaurants, make it a great fit for business owners with a healthy mix of recurring business expenses and everyday spending habits.

However, this card may come up short for business owners looking for top-of-the-line luxury perks, and its annual fee may be more than most business owners are willing to pay. If you’re after flashy perks or won’t spend enough to offset the annual fee, a card with a lower annual fee could be more suitable.

The American Express Business Gold card’s high spending cap for purchases in everyday and business categories offers plenty of variety for business owners. There’s also the advantage of Pay Over Time, giving cardholders a flexible credit limit. Not only that, but the card’s welcome offer may put it on par with cards with similar annual fees.

Welcome offer: Valuable points for Amex points enthusiasts

The American Express Business Gold Card offers a promising 70,000-point welcome offer after you spend $10,000 on eligible purchases within the first three months of card membership (terms apply). This offer is 30,000 points lower than the previous one, but it still holds a ton of value in the right hands.

It’s worth mentioning that the upfront value of the Amex Business Gold card’s welcome offer falls short compared to the welcome bonuses of similar business cards. Some business cards offer comparable bonuses with lower spending requirements. One example, the Ink Business Cash® Credit Card, carries a great welcome offer - Earn $900 bonus cash back after you spend $6,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. Unless you maximize the Business Gold card’s offer with strategic point transfers, the Ink Business Cash card’s bonus carries more value with a lower spending commitment and no annual fee — an ideal offer for cardholders who value simplicity and low stakes.

Fortunately, American Express has one of the most flexible rewards programs: American Express Membership Rewards. Although other business cards have valuable welcome offers with lower spending requirements, the ceiling for maximum value is lower than what you can achieve with American Express Membership Rewards, which are among the most valuable credit card rewards you can earn.

You should review the American Express Membership Rewards portal and note the redemption methods available, specifically travel transfers. If you find a good transfer partner, you can calculate the value you’ll squeeze from these flexible points. On average, this welcome offer could be worth $875 toward eligible flights through the American Express travel portal. However, according to our latest points valuation, it can be worth up to $1,470 with the right American Express transfer partner.

Rewards rate: Amazing travel redemption value 

The rewards process works automatically, tracking your transactions after each billing cycle to determine which two of the following eligible categories you'll earn rewards in:

• Airfare purchased directly from an airline
• Advertising (purchased in the U.S. to promote your business online, on TV or radio)
• Electronics
• U.S. gas stations
• U.S. restaurants
• U.S. transit
• U.S. shipping costs
• U.S. computer software, hardware and cloud data purchases made directly from select providers
• Wireless

You’ll earn 4X points on those two spending categories up to $150,000 in combined bonus category spending for the calendar year (from 6 eligible categories). Afterward, you’ll earn only 1X points on those purchases. All other purchases that don’t qualify for 4X rewards will still earn 1X points. 

Like the card’s welcome offer, the maximum value of the American Express Business Gold Card’s rewards lies with the Membership Rewards point program. You can pool points with other Amex cards in the program or transfer them to travel partner loyalty programs for greater value. Although you can get the best redemption value with transfers, you’ll still retain great value with travel redemptions on AmexTravel.com.

If you want to keep it simple, booking flights through the Amex portal provides the best value since you get a 1:1 redemption rate.

If you’re looking for maximum value with strategic point transfers, your best bet is to find the right transfer partner to net around 2.1 cents per point. Other travel and non-travel options get you a value of 0.5 to 0.7 cents per point.

Perks: The Hotel Collection benefits can help offset annual fee 

Booking an eligible property within The Hotel Collection through American Express travel for at least two consecutive nights can net you a few benefits, like a $150 complimentary night/property credit and a $100 hotel credit toward qualifying activities (like eligible dining, spa and other resort activities that vary by property) and a room upgrade as soon as you arrive (if available). This perk gives you up to $250 in hotel credits, which can nearly offset the card’s annual fee.  

Overall, the American Express Business Gold Card offers solid travel and business rewards, but the Amex Business Gold’s benefits aren’t nearly as substantial. You’ll need to rely on rewards category spending to earn enough points to offset the high annual fee, which is easier for some cardholders than others. If your spending won’t push your rewards balance past a total value of $295 annually, you may want to find a more affordable card, even if it has lower rewards rates.

Rates and fees: Possibly difficult to offset the annual fee 

One drawback to the American Express Business Gold Card is that it carries a $295 annual fee ($375 if the application is received on or after 2/1/24), higher than most business credit card annual fees. Although you can offset that cost with rewards, you must spend at least $300 in your 4X categories each billing cycle (based on our 2.1-cent-per-point value) to earn enough in rewards value to offset the annual fee. That also assumes you're able to get a high redemption value by transferring to a top airline or hotel travel partner. With a more straightforward redemption method, such as travel via the Amex portal, you’ll need to spend around $615 each billing cycle over the course of the year in 4X categories to break even with your points (assuming you get a value of 1 cent per point when you redeem for eligible flights on AmexTravel.com).

You also earn points from employee card spending, making it appear relatively easy to offset the card’s annual fee. However, your card also shares the same $150,000 spending cap for earning 4X points with employee cards, and your point value drops when you redeem points for options other than travel. 

At the lowest rewards redemption rate of 0.5 cents per point, you’ll need to spend at least $1,250. Unsurprisingly, rewards redemptions that award less than 1 cent each are impractical and require substantial card spending to offset upfront costs, like annual fees. If you aren’t regularly redeeming your points for travel, this card’s annual fee is a steep cost to offset. 

Insurance: Travel and purchase protections aren’t impressive for price point 

Paying with your card provides a few solid insurances for your baggage (up to $1,250 for carry-on and up to $500 for checked baggage) and your covered trip if it’s delayed longer than 12 hours (up to $300 per occurrence, up to two claims in a 12-month period). Eligible purchases are also protected by accidental damage or theft for up to 90 days from the purchase date (up to $1,000 per occurrence and up to $50,000 per account per calendar year), and it will extend any original manufacturer’s warranty of five years or less by a year. 

These are solid protections but don’t make the Business Gold the best credit card for travel insurance. It’s missing a few key valuable travel insurances you can find on less expensive cards, like a $100 Global Entry or TSA Precheck credit.

The Business Gold doesn’t carry as many recurring benefits or credits as some luxury business cards, so offsetting the card’s annual fee will mostly depend on how much you can earn in rewards via spending. 

The $295 annual fee may seem overwhelming, but it shouldn’t be too difficult to offset if you spend heavily in the card’s 4X categories. 

The average small-business owner should earn a little under $700 in rewards per year via card spending based on a redemption value of 1 cent per point and our business card value scoring formula, which assumes a $40,000 annual spend. Big spenders who maximize the card’s 4X rewards rate could earn even more — around $6,000 in annual rewards value by spending $150,000 in the card’s 4X bonus categories with a redemption value of 1 cent per point. 

Here’s a look at how your earnings could shake out in the first year and beyond based on our business card value scoring formula and a redemption value of 1 cent per point:

The Amex Business Gold card is a great choice if you have large business expenses that fall into the card’s select bonus categories. But the following might be better options for small-business owners looking for premier perks, like lounge access or a card with a lower annual fee that still earns decent rewards.

For maximum value, you should only use the American Express Business Gold Card for spending that falls within two of the card’s six bonus categories. When covering the other four categories and purchases that would only earn 1X points, you should find a rewards credit card that charges no annual fee and offers high rewards on all purchases or in specific categories relevant to your business.

Business owners with large budgets and a lot of travel planned will find that the American Express Business Gold Card can be worth it. Businesses with dedicated spending in two top bonus categories may easily offset the annual fee while taking advantage of a generous welcome offer and a robust portfolio of travel partners.

However, if you’re unsure whether you can offset the annual fee, this may not be the best choice for a business credit card. Additionally, owners with lower business budgets or fewer travel needs will not reap the full rewards of this credit card.

Dig deeper: Is the Amex Business Gold worth it?

For rates and fees of the American Express® Business Gold Card, please click here
For rates and fees of the Business Platinum Card from American Express, please click here.

Eligibility and benefit level varies by card. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. Please visit AmericanExpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by Amex Assurance Company.

Our proprietary card rating system takes into account a mix of factors when scoring business credit cards, including each card’s rewards rate, estimated annual earnings, welcome bonus value, APR, fees, perks and more.

We analyzed over 50 of the most popular business credit cards and scored each based on how its key features stacked up compared to those of other cards in its category.

Here are some of the key factors that gave this card its score: