Best Amex business cards

  • Meghan Hunter

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    American Express issues a wide range of cards that earn everything from cash back to hotel points and airline miles. My favorite American Express card rewards to earn are transferable AMEX Membership Rewards points, because I can transfer them to 21 airline and hotel partner loyalty programs.

    Because Amex limits you to earning the intro offer on a card to once per lifetime, qualifying for the best Amex business cards can open up new opportunities to earn more bonuses and take advantage of valuable card perks. Here are our top picks:

    Summary

    Best Amex card for travel and intro offer

    The Business Platinum Card® from American Express

    Best Amex business card for travel and intro offer

    With the Amex Business Platinum card you can earn 120,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $15,000 on eligible purchases with your Card within the first 3 months of Card Membership.

    Many of the Amex Business Platinum card benefits mimic what you’d get with The Platinum Card® from American Express, like exceptional airport lounge access, Gold Hilton status, Gold Marriott Bonvoy elite status and up to $200 in annual airline fee credits. You’ll also get perks useful for business owners, including up to $400 in annual Dell statement credits (for U.S. purchases) and 1.5x Amex Membership Rewards points on single purchases of $5,000+ (on up to $2 million of these purchases per calendar year) and on eligible purchases in key business categories.

    One of the unique features of the Business Platinum card is the 35% rebate you’re eligible for when you use Pay With Points. With this perk, you’ll get 35% of your points back (up to 500,000 points per calendar year) when you use your Amex points to pay for any first- or business-class flight through the Amex travel site. You’ll also get the 35% rebate on coach flight Pay With Points purchases made through the Amex travel site with your selected airline, which is the same airline you chose for your up to $200 in yearly airline credits. Enrollment required for select benefits.

    The Amex Business Platinum card also earns 5x Amex points on airfare and prepaid hotels booked through the Amex travel site.

    The card has a $595 annual fee ($695 if application is received on or after 01/13/2022) (see rates and fees).

    The Amex Business Platinum card has a big annual fee and hefty minimum spending requirements, so the card doesn’t make sense for everyone. But if you can earn the intro offer, it’s the best way to earn a stack of Membership Rewards points in a hurry.

    This is also the best Amex business card for travel because you’ll get access to more airport lounges than any other card, including (enrollment required):

    To see what lounges you have access to, read our guide on how to find Amex Platinum airport lounges.

    You can find our in-depth review of the AMEX Business Platinum card here.

    The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express

    Best Amex business card for everyday purchases

    The Blue Business Plus card is the best Amex business card for everyday purchases because it earns 2x Amex Membership Rewards points on the first $50,000 spent in purchases per year, then 1x. This is a great option for business expenses that don’t fall into bonus spending categories that other cards have.

    This card has no annual fee (see rates and fees).

    I have this card and plan on keeping it forever because it has no annual fee, so with this card I can keep my Amex Membership Rewards points from expiring, even if I close other cards. It’s also free to add authorized users on a Blue Business Plus account, which is a handy feature because it then allows you to transfer Amex points directly into the airline and hotel loyalty accounts of those authorized users. (Note that before you can make any transfers, the authorized users need to have been part of your account for at least 90 days.)

    Here’s our review of the Amex Blue Business Plus card.

    The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card

    Best Amex business card for hotel stays

    With the Amex Hilton Business card, you can earn 130,000 Hilton Honors bonus points after you spend $3,000 in purchases on the card in the first three months of card membership. Plus, you can earn up to $130 in statement credits on eligible purchases made on the card at any of the Hilton family hotels in the first 12 months of Membership. Offer expires 7/6/2022.

    The Hilton Business card comes with automatic Hilton Gold status (the best mid-tier hotel status), which has perks like free breakfast, bonus points and the potential for upgrades at Hilton hotels. You’ll even get an upgrade to Hilton Diamond status if you spend $40,000 on the card in a calendar year. Also, you’ll earn a free weekend night after spending $15,000 with your card in a calendar year and an additional free weekend night after making another $45,000 in purchases in the same calendar year ($60,000 in total). The free weekend night certificates are valid on Friday, Saturday or Sunday nights at all Hilton locations except for those listed here. Enrollment required for select benefits.

    This card also comes with 10 complimentary Priority Pass airport lounge visits per year (enrollment required)

    The Hilton Business card has a $95 annual fee (see rates and fees)

    Amex issues two cobranded hotel business credit cards: the Hilton Business card and the Marriott Bonvoy Business™ American Express® Card. Both offer similar perks, so the deciding factor for most people is going to be which hotel chain you prefer. I give a slight edge to the Hilton Business for these three reasons:

    On top of that, the Hilton Business card comes with 10 Priority Pass lounge visits per year, which is more than enough for the occasional flyer. Here’s our review.

    American Express® Business Gold Card

    Best Amex business card for spending bonus categories

    Earn 70,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $10,000 on eligible purchases with the Business Gold Card within the first 3 months of Card Membership.

    The Amex Business Gold card earns 4x Amex points on two of the following categories you spend the most on each month:

    The 4x points applies to the first $150,000 in combined purchases from the two rotating categories each calendar year, then 1x points. Also, the Amex Business Gold card earns a 25% points rebate (up to 250,000 points per calendar year) when you use the Pay With Points feature (similar to the Amex Business Platinum perk) for any first- or business-class flight, or any coach flight (with your selected airline), booked through the Amex travel site.

    This card’s annual fee is $295 (See Rates & Fees).

    This is an excellent card if you spend heavily in any of the card’s bonus categories. For example, I have a friend who runs a digital marketing company and is able to put his clients’ ad spend on his Amex Business Gold card and then get reimbursed for the expenses. He earns an extra 40,000-60,000 Amex points a month this way. Here’s the full review of the Amex Business Gold card.

    How to choose the best Amex business card

    You’re only eligible to earn the welcome offer once per person, per lifetime on each American Express card. So it’s worth waiting to apply for these cards when their welcome offers are at their highest and when you know you can meet the minimum spending requirements. That makes the Amex Business Platinum card a good offer to consider right now, but for other cards (like the Delta Platinum Business and Amex Business Gold cards) you’ll want to wait for a more valuable intro offer to come along.

    Remember, it’s possible to qualify for a business card even though you’re not operating a full-time business. Freelance jobs or part-time side hustles can make you eligible for a small business card as a sole proprietor. If you’re a sole proprietor your application process can be a bit easier because you’ll most likely be able to use your Social Security number as your business tax ID and your name can be your legal business name.

    For more help on applying for a business card, check out our step-by-step guide to filling out an Amex business card application.

    For the latest tips and tricks on traveling big without spending a fortune, please subscribe to the Million Mile Secrets daily email newsletter.

    For the rates and fees of the Amex Business Platinum card, please click here.

    For the rates and fees of the Amex Business Gold card, please click here.

    For the rates and fees of Amex Hilton Honors Business card, please click here.

    For the rates and fees of The Blue Business Plus Credit Card from American Express, please click here.

    For rates and fees of the Marriott Bonvoy Business card, click here.

    Editorial Note: We're the Million Mile Secrets team. And we're proud of our content, opinions and analysis, and of our reader's comments. These haven’t been reviewed, approved or endorsed by any of the airlines, hotels, or credit card issuers which we often write about. And that’s just how we like it! :)
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