Best Corporate Credit Cards of April 2026
Corporate cards help businesses control and benefit from their spending. The best options pair expense management features — like card-level controls and receipt matching — with easy to earn rewards.
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Best corporate cards
Here are our complete picks, in alphabetical order:
- BILL Divvy Corporate Card: Best for businesses with smaller bank balances.
- Brex Card: Best for venture-funded startups with travel expenses.
- Corpay World Elite Mastercard®: Airport lounge access.
- IO Card: Best for venture-funded startups who want flat-rate cash back.
- Ramp Card: Best for cash back.
- Rho Corporate Card: Best for flexible qualification requirements.
- Rippling Corporate Card: Best for companies operating internationally.
You can apply for the cards highlighted below via NerdWallet's partners. Those relationships do not influence our editorial team's selections. Our small-business writers and editors chose the best corporate cards based on their independent research and ratings.
Rippling Corporate Card
Best for Companies operating internationally
Annual fee
$0
Rewards rate
1.75%
Cashback
Intro offer
$500
on Rippling's website
Pros
- High rewards rate
- Card-level spending controls
- Supports employee reimbursements in more than 100 countries and receipt collection in multiple languages
- Rippling’s software suite includes HR, payroll and digital security tools
Cons
- Subscription may be required for businesses with more than 25 employees.
- Multiple recent changes to pricing, rewards offerings.
Ramp Card
Best for Cash back
Annual fee
$0
Rewards rate
1%-1.5%
Cashback
Intro offer
$1,000
on Ramp's website
Pros
- No annual fee or foreign transaction fees
- No personal guarantee or credit check
- Direct integrations with tools and card-level spending controls
- Rewards do not expire
- Card-level spending controls
Cons
- Not available to sole proprietors
- Rewards rate varies and is determined per customer
Corpay World Elite Mastercard®
Best for Airport lounge access
Annual fee
$0
Rewards rate
1.5%
Cashback
Intro offer
N/A
on Corpay's website
Pros
- No annual fee
- High rewards rate
- Airport lounge access via Priority Pass
- Card-level spending controls
Cons
- No phone support on evenings or weekends
- Some features, including reimbursements and budget controls, require add-on software with additional fees
Rho Corporate Card
Best for Flexible qualification requirements
Annual fee
$0
Rewards rate
1.5%
Cashback
Intro offer
$500
on Rho's website
Pros
- Potential for 2% cash back
- Full suite of spend controls
- Direct integration with QuickBooks
Cons
- Must use Rho's checking account and make daily repayments to get the highest rewards rate
- Rewards expire if unused
BILL Divvy Corporate Card
Best for Businesses with smaller bank balances
Annual fee
$0
Rewards rate
1x-7x
Points
Intro offer
N/A
on BILL Spend & Expense's website
Pros
- No annual fee
- Card-level spending controls
- No personal guarantee
- Available to sole proprietors
Cons
- Complicated rewards structure with limits on redemption
- Rewards rate varies depending on user activity
Brex Card
Best for Venture-funded startups with travel expenses
Annual fee
$0
Rewards rate
1x-7x
Points
Intro offer
10,000
Points
on Brex's website
Pros
- No annual fee or foreign transaction fees
- New cardholder bonus offer
- No personal guarantee
- Card-level spending controls
Cons
- Complicated rewards structure
- High capital requirement for approval
- Daily repayment may be required
- Not available to sole proprietors
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Rippling Corporate Card
Best for Companies operating internationally
Annual fee
$0
Rewards rate
1.75%
Cashback
Intro offer
$500
on Rippling's website
Pros
- High rewards rate
- Card-level spending controls
- Supports employee reimbursements in more than 100 countries and receipt collection in multiple languages
- Rippling’s software suite includes HR, payroll and digital security tools
Cons
- Subscription may be required for businesses with more than 25 employees.
- Multiple recent changes to pricing, rewards offerings.
Rippling's corporate card pays a competitive 1.75% cash back if you meet a certain spending threshold. A required software subscription eats into its value, but the software may still be a good choice if you have employees in multiple countries and need to manage finances in multiple currencies.
- Pays up to 1.75% cash back with minimum spending and rewards do not expire.
- Total Control. Zero admin work: Rippling allows you to stop out-of-policy spending before it happens, so you can issue cards to employees without having to worry about purchasing things they shouldn’t. Unlike most Corporate Cards, Rippling allows you to build hyper-customizable policies using any HR data in your company. You can create policies based on the typical things – like vendor and dollar amount – as well as data within your org, like location, title, department, level, office location, tenure, and more. If you can think it, you can build it. This way, you don’t have to worry about an employee buying alcohol at a conference or the marketing team spending more than $X per month on AdWords.
- Global-Ready: Corporate Cards work seamlessly across 200+ countries and territories, and expenses are reimbursed quickly in 37+ currencies.
- Automatically Issue, Revoke, and Re-Assign Cards: With Rippling, when you hire an employee in your HRIS, you can automatically issue corporate cards with pre-set limits and policies based on their department, level, location, and more. And when an employee leaves, Rippling automatically disables their card and asks if you’d like to re-assign it to their manager or another employee.
- Unlimited Physical Cards for Every Employee & Unlimited Virtual Cards: Admins can instantly issue physical and virtual cards and employees can even request approval for virtual cards for everything from software subscriptions to digital advertising. And both physical and virtual cards work with Apple Pay and Google Pay.
- Out-of-the-box accounting integrations: Rippling seamlessly categorizes receipts with transactions and syncs spend with Quickbooks, Xero, NetSuite, Sage Intacct and more.
- Up to 20x higher credit limits than traditional business credit cards.
- Real-Time Spend Dashboards: Rippling allows you to view all of your physical and virtual cards in a single dashboard, and cut the data by any HR data in your company — location, department, team, level, work location, and more. You can even give managers the ability to view their teams' spending, right out of the box based on their role and level.
- All-in-One Spend Management: Corporate Card + Expense Management: The Rippling Corporate Card is integrated into and can be used alongside Rippling’s Expense Management Platform.
- Provides customers with $0 booking fees on Rippling Travel.
- Does not have interest charges; balances to be paid in full per customer’s repayment cycle.
- Supports direct integrations with accounting and ERP tools and card-level spending controls.
- Does not require a personal guarantee or credit check.
Pros
- High rewards rate
- Card-level spending controls
- Supports employee reimbursements in more than 100 countries and receipt collection in multiple languages
- Rippling’s software suite includes HR, payroll and digital security tools
Cons
- Subscription may be required for businesses with more than 25 employees.
- Multiple recent changes to pricing, rewards offerings.
Rippling's corporate card pays a competitive 1.75% cash back if you meet a certain spending threshold. A required software subscription eats into its value, but the software may still be a good choice if you have employees in multiple countries and need to manage finances in multiple currencies.
- Pays up to 1.75% cash back with minimum spending and rewards do not expire.
- Total Control. Zero admin work: Rippling allows you to stop out-of-policy spending before it happens, so you can issue cards to employees without having to worry about purchasing things they shouldn’t. Unlike most Corporate Cards, Rippling allows you to build hyper-customizable policies using any HR data in your company. You can create policies based on the typical things – like vendor and dollar amount – as well as data within your org, like location, title, department, level, office location, tenure, and more. If you can think it, you can build it. This way, you don’t have to worry about an employee buying alcohol at a conference or the marketing team spending more than $X per month on AdWords.
- Global-Ready: Corporate Cards work seamlessly across 200+ countries and territories, and expenses are reimbursed quickly in 37+ currencies.
- Automatically Issue, Revoke, and Re-Assign Cards: With Rippling, when you hire an employee in your HRIS, you can automatically issue corporate cards with pre-set limits and policies based on their department, level, location, and more. And when an employee leaves, Rippling automatically disables their card and asks if you’d like to re-assign it to their manager or another employee.
- Unlimited Physical Cards for Every Employee & Unlimited Virtual Cards: Admins can instantly issue physical and virtual cards and employees can even request approval for virtual cards for everything from software subscriptions to digital advertising. And both physical and virtual cards work with Apple Pay and Google Pay.
- Out-of-the-box accounting integrations: Rippling seamlessly categorizes receipts with transactions and syncs spend with Quickbooks, Xero, NetSuite, Sage Intacct and more.
- Up to 20x higher credit limits than traditional business credit cards.
- Real-Time Spend Dashboards: Rippling allows you to view all of your physical and virtual cards in a single dashboard, and cut the data by any HR data in your company — location, department, team, level, work location, and more. You can even give managers the ability to view their teams' spending, right out of the box based on their role and level.
- All-in-One Spend Management: Corporate Card + Expense Management: The Rippling Corporate Card is integrated into and can be used alongside Rippling’s Expense Management Platform.
- Provides customers with $0 booking fees on Rippling Travel.
- Does not have interest charges; balances to be paid in full per customer’s repayment cycle.
- Supports direct integrations with accounting and ERP tools and card-level spending controls.
- Does not require a personal guarantee or credit check.
Pros
- High rewards rate
- Card-level spending controls
- Supports employee reimbursements in more than 100 countries and receipt collection in multiple languages
- Rippling’s software suite includes HR, payroll and digital security tools
Cons
- Subscription may be required for businesses with more than 25 employees.
- Multiple recent changes to pricing, rewards offerings.
Ramp Card
Best for Cash back
Annual fee
$0
Rewards rate
1%-1.5%
Cashback
Intro offer
$1,000
on Ramp's website
Pros
- No annual fee or foreign transaction fees
- No personal guarantee or credit check
- Direct integrations with tools and card-level spending controls
- Rewards do not expire
- Card-level spending controls
Cons
- Not available to sole proprietors
- Rewards rate varies and is determined per customer
The Ramp Card offers cash back (rate varies by business), plus useful spend management tools.
- Get a $1,000 Ramp card upon approval. Limit one per new customer. No minimum spend required.
- Eliminate expense reports with automated receipt capture via SMS, mobile app, and integrations with Gmail, Lyft, and more.
- Control wasteful spending before it happens with built-in vendor and category restrictions.
- Complete visibility into corporate spending to help guide strategic business decisions.
- Seamless accounting and ERP integrations including QuickBooks, NetSuite, Xero, and more.
- Speed up monthly close with automated coding and reconciliation.
- Up to 30x higher credit limits than traditional business credit cards.
- Up to $350k partner rewards (AWS, UPS, Amazon Business, and more).
- No personal credit check or personal guarantee required.
- Up to 1.5% cashback on all card spend.
- Get approved in less than 48 hours.
- No annual fee or foreign transaction fees.
- Issue unlimited virtual cards and physical cards for each employee.
- Ramp is a corporate charge card powered by Visa. Businesses are required to pay the monthly balance in full by each statement period.
- Must have at least $25,000 in cash in any U.S. business bank account to qualify.
- Must have most of your operations and corporate spend in the US (although Ramp does support international transactions and will waive all related transaction fees).
- Ramp is only available to corporations, LLCs and limited partnerships. Individuals, sole proprietorships and unregistered businesses are not eligible.
Pros
- No annual fee or foreign transaction fees
- No personal guarantee or credit check
- Direct integrations with tools and card-level spending controls
- Rewards do not expire
- Card-level spending controls
Cons
- Not available to sole proprietors
- Rewards rate varies and is determined per customer
The Ramp Card offers cash back (rate varies by business), plus useful spend management tools.
- Get a $1,000 Ramp card upon approval. Limit one per new customer. No minimum spend required.
- Eliminate expense reports with automated receipt capture via SMS, mobile app, and integrations with Gmail, Lyft, and more.
- Control wasteful spending before it happens with built-in vendor and category restrictions.
- Complete visibility into corporate spending to help guide strategic business decisions.
- Seamless accounting and ERP integrations including QuickBooks, NetSuite, Xero, and more.
- Speed up monthly close with automated coding and reconciliation.
- Up to 30x higher credit limits than traditional business credit cards.
- Up to $350k partner rewards (AWS, UPS, Amazon Business, and more).
- No personal credit check or personal guarantee required.
- Up to 1.5% cashback on all card spend.
- Get approved in less than 48 hours.
- No annual fee or foreign transaction fees.
- Issue unlimited virtual cards and physical cards for each employee.
- Ramp is a corporate charge card powered by Visa. Businesses are required to pay the monthly balance in full by each statement period.
- Must have at least $25,000 in cash in any U.S. business bank account to qualify.
- Must have most of your operations and corporate spend in the US (although Ramp does support international transactions and will waive all related transaction fees).
- Ramp is only available to corporations, LLCs and limited partnerships. Individuals, sole proprietorships and unregistered businesses are not eligible.
Pros
- No annual fee or foreign transaction fees
- No personal guarantee or credit check
- Direct integrations with tools and card-level spending controls
- Rewards do not expire
- Card-level spending controls
Cons
- Not available to sole proprietors
- Rewards rate varies and is determined per customer
Corpay World Elite Mastercard®
Best for Airport lounge access
Annual fee
$0
Rewards rate
1.5%
Cashback
Intro offer
N/A
on Corpay's website
Pros
- No annual fee
- High rewards rate
- Airport lounge access via Priority Pass
- Card-level spending controls
Cons
- No phone support on evenings or weekends
- Some features, including reimbursements and budget controls, require add-on software with additional fees
Unlike the other cards on this list, Corpay offers an important premium travel perk: Priority Pass lounge access. Users also get a generous cash-back rewards rate.
- Unlimited 1.5% cashback on all purchases.
- Priority Pass access to 1500+ airport lounges.
- Premium discounts on Lyft, Booking.com, and more.
Pros
- No annual fee
- High rewards rate
- Airport lounge access via Priority Pass
- Card-level spending controls
Cons
- No phone support on evenings or weekends
- Some features, including reimbursements and budget controls, require add-on software with additional fees
Unlike the other cards on this list, Corpay offers an important premium travel perk: Priority Pass lounge access. Users also get a generous cash-back rewards rate.
- Unlimited 1.5% cashback on all purchases.
- Priority Pass access to 1500+ airport lounges.
- Premium discounts on Lyft, Booking.com, and more.
Pros
- No annual fee
- High rewards rate
- Airport lounge access via Priority Pass
- Card-level spending controls
Cons
- No phone support on evenings or weekends
- Some features, including reimbursements and budget controls, require add-on software with additional fees
Rho Corporate Card
Best for Flexible qualification requirements
Annual fee
$0
Rewards rate
1.5%
Cashback
Intro offer
$500
on Rho's website
Pros
- Potential for 2% cash back
- Full suite of spend controls
- Direct integration with QuickBooks
Cons
- Must use Rho's checking account and make daily repayments to get the highest rewards rate
- Rewards expire if unused
Rho doesn’t have a minimum annual revenue requirement or a firm bank balance requirement. You'll just have to upload 12 months of financial statements so Rho can determine your business’s credit limit.
The Rho credit card is a complement to Rho business checking, savings and treasury accounts, but you don’t have to bank with Rho to use the card — you can pay your bill from an external account. And Rho corporate cardholders can earn up to 2% cash back by paying the card off daily or 1% cash back by paying it off monthly.
- Zero subscription, monthly, per-card, or ACH transaction fees.
- Built-in accounting integrations + the full benefits of the Rho platform including banking, cash management, bill pay automation, and expense management.
- Straightforward rewards through Rho Platinum - up to 2% cashback on all spending (up to $1M annually).
- Rho Platinum (if you use Rho for checking and corporate cards): 2% cashback with 1-day payment terms, 1.75% cashback with 30-day payment terms.
- Rho Card: 1.25% cashback with 1-day payment terms, 1% cashback with 30-day payment terms.
- Scalable credit limits that grow alongside your business.
- Mastercard - Rho Cards use the Mastercard payment network, which provides world-class security and safety for your cardholders.
Pros
- Potential for 2% cash back
- Full suite of spend controls
- Direct integration with QuickBooks
Cons
- Must use Rho's checking account and make daily repayments to get the highest rewards rate
- Rewards expire if unused
Rho doesn’t have a minimum annual revenue requirement or a firm bank balance requirement. You'll just have to upload 12 months of financial statements so Rho can determine your business’s credit limit.
The Rho credit card is a complement to Rho business checking, savings and treasury accounts, but you don’t have to bank with Rho to use the card — you can pay your bill from an external account. And Rho corporate cardholders can earn up to 2% cash back by paying the card off daily or 1% cash back by paying it off monthly.
- Zero subscription, monthly, per-card, or ACH transaction fees.
- Built-in accounting integrations + the full benefits of the Rho platform including banking, cash management, bill pay automation, and expense management.
- Straightforward rewards through Rho Platinum - up to 2% cashback on all spending (up to $1M annually).
- Rho Platinum (if you use Rho for checking and corporate cards): 2% cashback with 1-day payment terms, 1.75% cashback with 30-day payment terms.
- Rho Card: 1.25% cashback with 1-day payment terms, 1% cashback with 30-day payment terms.
- Scalable credit limits that grow alongside your business.
- Mastercard - Rho Cards use the Mastercard payment network, which provides world-class security and safety for your cardholders.
Pros
- Potential for 2% cash back
- Full suite of spend controls
- Direct integration with QuickBooks
Cons
- Must use Rho's checking account and make daily repayments to get the highest rewards rate
- Rewards expire if unused
BILL Divvy Corporate Card
Best for Businesses with smaller bank balances
Annual fee
$0
Rewards rate
1x-7x
Points
Intro offer
N/A
on BILL Spend & Expense's website
Pros
- No annual fee
- Card-level spending controls
- No personal guarantee
- Available to sole proprietors
Cons
- Complicated rewards structure with limits on redemption
- Rewards rate varies depending on user activity
The BILL Divvy Corporate Card is the most accessible card on our list; you may be able to qualify with a bank balance of just $20,000. Its rewards are complicated, though.
- Earn up to 7x rewards on restaurants and 5x on hotels with weekly billing. Terms apply.
- Credit lines up to $15 million but based on revenue, cash balance, business history and personal and business credit score.
- No annual fee or foreign transaction fees.
- Unlimited free virtual cards.
- Spend management platform allows business owners to easily set and adjust individual and team budgets.
Pros
- No annual fee
- Card-level spending controls
- No personal guarantee
- Available to sole proprietors
Cons
- Complicated rewards structure with limits on redemption
- Rewards rate varies depending on user activity
The BILL Divvy Corporate Card is the most accessible card on our list; you may be able to qualify with a bank balance of just $20,000. Its rewards are complicated, though.
- Earn up to 7x rewards on restaurants and 5x on hotels with weekly billing. Terms apply.
- Credit lines up to $15 million but based on revenue, cash balance, business history and personal and business credit score.
- No annual fee or foreign transaction fees.
- Unlimited free virtual cards.
- Spend management platform allows business owners to easily set and adjust individual and team budgets.
Pros
- No annual fee
- Card-level spending controls
- No personal guarantee
- Available to sole proprietors
Cons
- Complicated rewards structure with limits on redemption
- Rewards rate varies depending on user activity
Brex Card
Best for Venture-funded startups with travel expenses
Annual fee
$0
Rewards rate
1x-7x
Points
Intro offer
10,000
Points
on Brex's website
Pros
- No annual fee or foreign transaction fees
- New cardholder bonus offer
- No personal guarantee
- Card-level spending controls
Cons
- Complicated rewards structure
- High capital requirement for approval
- Daily repayment may be required
- Not available to sole proprietors
The Brex Card offers standout rewards rates on travel, rideshares and restaurants, but you'll generally need venture funding to qualify.
- Get 10,000 points when you spend $3,000 on a Brex Card within your first 3 months.
- No personal guarantee needed – Brex does not ask for a personal credit check or security deposit during the application.
- Credit limits 10-20x higher than traditional small business corporate cards.
- Minimum bank balance of $50,000 from professional investors may be required to qualify for Brex.
- Exclusive signup offers from the best products and tools for your business (e.g. AWS, Google Ads, WeWork, Salesforce) worth up to $150,000 in value.
- Earn points on every dollar spent with industry-leading multipliers: 7x on rideshare, 4x on Brex Travel, 3x on restaurants, 2x on software subscriptions and 1x on all other transactions.
- Earn 3x Brex Rewards points on all eligible Apple purchases through the link or your Brex dashboard.
- Miles transfer program to 7 airlines (including Singapore Airlines, Qantas, Air France, and more) and their loyalty programs, giving Brex customers access to book travel across all of the major global airline alliances - Star Alliance, Oneworld, and SkyTeam.
- 30-day charge card running on the Mastercard network. Enjoy global acceptance with no foreign transaction fees.
- Build business credit: Brex partners with Dun & Bradstreet and Experian to report your on-time payments.
- Make employee expenses seamless - automated receipt-capture and expense matching and reconciliation via text, email, and mobile app. Instantly add new users and set spending limits.
- Contactless pay with Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay.
- Simplify reconciliation with built-in integrations with QuickBooks, Xero, NetSuite, and more.
Pros
- No annual fee or foreign transaction fees
- New cardholder bonus offer
- No personal guarantee
- Card-level spending controls
Cons
- Complicated rewards structure
- High capital requirement for approval
- Daily repayment may be required
- Not available to sole proprietors
The Brex Card offers standout rewards rates on travel, rideshares and restaurants, but you'll generally need venture funding to qualify.
- Get 10,000 points when you spend $3,000 on a Brex Card within your first 3 months.
- No personal guarantee needed – Brex does not ask for a personal credit check or security deposit during the application.
- Credit limits 10-20x higher than traditional small business corporate cards.
- Minimum bank balance of $50,000 from professional investors may be required to qualify for Brex.
- Exclusive signup offers from the best products and tools for your business (e.g. AWS, Google Ads, WeWork, Salesforce) worth up to $150,000 in value.
- Earn points on every dollar spent with industry-leading multipliers: 7x on rideshare, 4x on Brex Travel, 3x on restaurants, 2x on software subscriptions and 1x on all other transactions.
- Earn 3x Brex Rewards points on all eligible Apple purchases through the link or your Brex dashboard.
- Miles transfer program to 7 airlines (including Singapore Airlines, Qantas, Air France, and more) and their loyalty programs, giving Brex customers access to book travel across all of the major global airline alliances - Star Alliance, Oneworld, and SkyTeam.
- 30-day charge card running on the Mastercard network. Enjoy global acceptance with no foreign transaction fees.
- Build business credit: Brex partners with Dun & Bradstreet and Experian to report your on-time payments.
- Make employee expenses seamless - automated receipt-capture and expense matching and reconciliation via text, email, and mobile app. Instantly add new users and set spending limits.
- Contactless pay with Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay.
- Simplify reconciliation with built-in integrations with QuickBooks, Xero, NetSuite, and more.
Pros
- No annual fee or foreign transaction fees
- New cardholder bonus offer
- No personal guarantee
- Card-level spending controls
Cons
- Complicated rewards structure
- High capital requirement for approval
- Daily repayment may be required
- Not available to sole proprietors
Other picks: Best corporate credit cards
Before applying, confirm details on the issuer’s website.
IO Card
Best for: Venture-funded startups who want flat-rate cash back
NerdWallet star rating: 5.0.
The IO Card is offered by the financial technology company Mercury, which specializes in software, e-commerce and biotech startups (though other businesses can qualify). This card includes 1.5% cash back across the board, and cash back is automatically deposited into your account; you don’t have to redeem points. You’ll need a Mercury business account to be eligible, but you can qualify with a balance as low as $25,000. Your credit limit will be determined by your account balance.
Mercury
Mercury Business Account
NerdWallet Rating
4.5
Annual Fee
$0
at Mercury, Deposits are FDIC Insured
Mercury is a fintech company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided through Choice Financial Group and Column N.A., Members FDIC.
» MORE: Best banks for startups
What is a corporate card?
Corporate cards are credit cards issued to a company rather than a business owner. Because of this, corporate cards don’t require a personal guarantee. Instead, the corporation often assumes all financial liability for purchases made on the card by its employees.
Corporate cards from issuers like American Express, JP Morgan Chase and U.S. Bank are generally geared toward large corporations with millions in annual revenue. Smaller businesses and startups may be better suited for cards from financial technology companies, like Brex or Ramp.
How do you qualify for a corporate card?
To qualify for a corporate credit card, your company typically needs annual revenue in the millions and a dozen or more employees authorized to make spending decisions. Your business also needs to be incorporated as an S-corporation or a C-corporation, or structured as a limited liability company (LLC).
Specific requirements can vary from one card issuer to another. Historically, corporate card programs from major card issuers have required millions of dollars in annual revenue and at least six figures in annual credit card spend.
Corporate credit cards from fintech companies may have more attainable requirements. The Ramp Card, for example, is available to incorporated businesses with at least $25,000 in a business bank account, and the Rho Card doesn’t have a specific bank balance or revenue requirement (though both are underwriting criteria). Neither have spend requirements, though Ramp asks you to estimate your card spend on your application.
Corporate card applications may also consider your business history, revenue and how much capital you’ve raised during the underwriting process.
What if you can't get a corporate card?
You may not qualify for a corporate card if you're a sole proprietor or single-member LLC, or if your business has uneven cash flow. A traditional business credit card is probably a better fit than a corporate card in those instances.
Here’s how these options stack up:
| Corporate credit cards | Business credit cards | |
|---|---|---|
| Who they're for | Incorporated or registered businesses, such as corporations and LLCs. | All business owners, including freelancers and sole proprietors. |
| How repayment works | Typically must be paid in full every month; users can’t carry a balance over time. | You can carry a balance, allowing you to pay off purchases over time with interest. |
| Qualification requirements | Strong revenue history and bank balance, but no personal guarantee. | Good or excellent personal credit; personal guarantee required. |
| Primary benefits | Employee cards with spend controls and simplified expense reporting. | Rewards, including cash back, points and sign-up bonuses. |
Benefits of corporate credit cards
There are several advantages to choosing a corporate card program:
- Better expense reporting. Corporate credit card programs offer businesses robust ways to track expenses. Your cardholding employees typically will be able to file their expenses electronically, saving you time dealing with expense reports. Also, it will be easier for you to see where and how your employees are spending your company's money.
- Ability to set spending limits. Setting rules for spending is crucial for business success. Corporate card programs offer employee credit cards and let managers set limits on the amount of spending and the categories in which employees can spend. Many companies forbid the personal use of a corporate credit card.
- Personal credit is protected. Corporate cards do not affect your personal credit. Approval is based on your company’s revenue and business credit score (among other factors), and payments on the card — as well as any missed payments — are recorded on the company’s business credit report.
- Reduced personal risk. Unlike business credit cards, corporate cards do not require business owners to sign a personal guarantee. That means your personal assets are not on the line if an employee misuses a card or your company folds and can’t pay the outstanding balance.
Drawbacks of corporate credit cards
Corporate credit cards also have disadvantages, including:
- In-depth application process. Setting up a corporate line of credit will likely be a more involved process than applying for a business credit card online. Card issuers will evaluate your business stability to establish creditworthiness, so be prepared to share your legal and financial information for corporate card approval.
- Can’t carry a balance. Corporate cards generally require full payment at the end of each billing cycle, and those cycles can be as short as a day, so won’t be able to put a big purchase on your corporate card and then pay it off over several months. If that's a need, consider a business card with a 0% APR intro period instead.
- May require a minimum number of cardholders. Some corporate card issuers require that eligible corporations sign up for a minimum number of employee cards. If your business doesn’t need that many authorized cardholders yet, you may want to research cards that do not have that requirement — or hold off on getting a corporate card until then.
Who is liable for purchases on a corporate card?
Corporate credit cards allow multiple employees to use cards to make purchases on the employer's behalf. Who is legally responsible for those charges depends on the card; some default to corporate liability, while others give you the option to choose between corporate, individual or joint liability.
Corporate liability
The company is responsible for paying the bill. The issuer doesn't check employees' credit. Employees file expense reports so the company can reconcile charges with the card statement each month, but the employee doesn’t have to pay the bill upfront. This is the standard with most corporate card programs.
Individual liability
Employees must pay all charges on the card, and they get reimbursed when they file an expense report. The issuer will check employees' credit before giving them a card, but this check is a “soft pull,” meaning it doesn’t affect employees' credit scores.
Joint liability
The company and the employee are responsible for debt on the card. Employees are responsible for repaying personal or unauthorized spending on the corporate card but are not personally held liable for any expenses charged in compliance with company policies. However, if a long overdue balance gets reported to credit reporting bureaus, it may affect the employee’s credit.
Methodology
NerdWallet's business credit card team selects the best small-business credit cards without outside input from partners or other business interests. We evaluate business cards based on value and simplicity, weighing fees, sign-up bonuses and reward rates, alongside perks like interest-free periods, statement credits and elite status (for travel cards). Business cards that earn the highest scores deliver the most value to the greatest number of business owners.
In 2025, we began evaluating corporate cards according to their own set of factors. These ratings place a greater emphasis on features more common among such cards, including spend and expense management software capabilities and card-level spending controls. We also examine fees, rewards rates and the simplicity of earning and using those rewards, along with customer service ratings for card providers. Learn how NerdWallet rates small-business credit cards.