The Business Platinum Card® from American Express and the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card are two of the best business travel cards — but they couldn't be more different. The best choice for your business comes down to one question: Do you want more points or more perks?
The Business Platinum Card® from American Express has a massive annual fee but paltry ongoing rewards. Still, you’d be pressed to find another card with such extensive travel perks. For heavy travelers willing to pay for convenience, it's worth a look.
The Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card offers generous rewards on travel and common business expenses. And its welcome offer rivals many premium cards. But the card's travel benefits are utilitarian, at best.
How the cards compare
The Business Platinum Card® from American Express
Annual fee
$95
$895
Welcome offer
100,000
points
As High As 300,000 Points. Find Out Your Offer.
Rewards
Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card
Earn 3x points per $1 on the first $150,000 in combined annual spending in these categories:
- Travel.
- Shipping purchases.
- Advertising purchases with social media sites and search engines.
- Internet, cable and phone services.
All other spending earns a base rate of 1x point per dollar.
The Business Platinum Card® from American Express
- 1 point per dollar on all eligible purchases.
- 2 points per dollar on certain business categories and eligible purchases of $5,000 or more (up to $2 million spent per calendar year).
- 5 Membership Rewards points per dollar spent on flights and prepaid hotels booked through amextravel.com.
- Terms apply.
Still not sure?
Deciding factors: Ink Business Preferred vs. AmEx Business Platinum
Travel perks — 🏆 Winner: The Business Platinum Card® from American Express
The Business Platinum Card® from American Express is loaded with travel perks that can help offset its $895 annual fee (see rates and fees).
| The Business Platinum Card® from American Express* | |
|---|---|
| Travel credits |
|
| Airport security |
|
| Lounge access |
|
| Hotel perks |
|
| *Enrollment required. Terms and conditions apply. | |
The Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card does not offer lounge access, status or travel credits of any kind. But it does punch above its weight for travel protections. You get primary rental car coverage, trip delay reimbursement, baggage delay insurance and more.
Welcome offer — 🏆 Winner: Toss-up
Both cards have excellent welcome offers.
The Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card is easily attainable for most small businesses.
Earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $8,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
The Business Platinum card's welcome offer requires more than double the spend, but promises a nice chunk of Membership Rewards points.
You may be eligible for as high as 300,000 Membership Rewards® Points after spending $20,000 in eligible purchases on your new Card in your first 3 months of Membership. Welcome offers vary and you may not be eligible for an offer. Terms apply.
Annual Fee
$0 Ongoing rewards — 🏆 Winner: Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card
Both cards have the same base rate: 1 point per $1. It's the bonus categories that set them apart. And that's where the Chase Ink Business Preferred has a distinct advantage.
With the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card, you get 3X points on the first $150,000 in combined annual spending on:
- Travel.
- Shipping purchases.
- Advertising purchases made with social media sites and search engines.
- Internet, cable and phone services.
The American Express Business Platinum only gives you 2X points in its bonus categories:
- Construction materials.
- Hardware suppliers.
- Electronic goods retailers.
- Software and cloud system providers.
- Shipping providers.
- Single purchases of $5,000 or more (up to $2 million per calendar year).
Notably absent from that list — travel. The Business Platinum card only offers bonus points (5X) on flights and prepaid hotels booked through Amex Travel.
Starting Small: A newsletter to get your business off the ground
Subscribe for grant opportunities, product recommendations and no-nonsense advice from the Nerds.
Business credits — 🏆 Winner: The Business Platinum Card® from American Express
When it comes to business credits, these cards aren't even playing in the same league.
The American Express Business Platinum offers a string of valuable credits on software, hardware and business tools.
- $150 Dell statement credit annually. Get an additional $1,000 statement credit after you spend $5,000 or more on Dell purchases on the same card per calendar year.
- $360 Indeed statement credit (up to $90 quarterly).
- $120 in statement credits per year ($10 per month) for wireless phone service.
- $250 statement credit after you spend $600 or more on U.S. purchases directly with Adobe each year.
- $300 in statement credits per calendar year on U.S. purchases of ChatGPT Business. Subject to auto-renewal.
- Enrollment required. Terms apply.
The Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card gives you free DashPass and up to $10 off per month on DoorDash orders. But the monthly discount only applies to non-restaurant orders.
Calculate your rewards
Which card should you get?
The Business Platinum Card® from American Express and the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card are two very different cards, which makes picking between them fairly uncomplicated.
If you can easily leverage all of the Platinum card's business credits and travel perks, the American Express Business Platinum is a smart pick. Even with the $895 annual fee (which can be tax deductible).
If you aren't concerned with lounge access and status, the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card is the better travel card.
To view rates and fees of The Business Platinum Card® from American Express, see this page.
