The Business Platinum Card® from American Express vs. Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card

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For business travelers, both of these cards are excellent options. One comes with a big price tag but a ton of perks and credits. The other has a much smaller annual fee but still offers big value. Business owners who travel often will want to consider adding one or even both to their wallets. Here’s The Business Platinum Card® from American Express vs. Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card.

The Business Platinum Card® from American Express vs. Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card: Side-By-Side Comparison

Both of these cards made our list of the best business credit cards. Here are the details of each card:

Welcome Offer Winner: Ink Preferred card

The Business Platinum Card® from American Express has this offer for new cardholders: Earn 150,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $20,000 in eligible purchases on the Card within the first 3 months of Card Membership. Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card offers this: Earn 90,000 bonus points after you spend $8,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.

American Express membership points are worth between 0.6 cents and a penny each, depending on how you redeem them. That makes this offer worth about $1,200 if you use it for travel. It’s possible to squeeze more value out of your points if you transfer them to American Express’s travel partners, but for comparison purposes, we’ll consider $1,200.

Ink Preferred points are worth 25% more when you redeem the points for travel through Chase Travel(SM) so Chase wins this round.

Rewards Winner: Amex Business Platinum

The Business Platinum Card® from American Express offers cardholders 5x Membership Rewards® points on flights and prepaid hotels on AmexTravel.com, 1.5x points on each eligible purchase at US construction material, hardware suppliers, electronic goods retailers, and software & cloud system providers, and shipping providers, as well as on purchases of $5,000 or more everywhere else, on up to $2 million of these purchases per calendar year. Earn 1x points on other eligible purchases. There are some other rewards and credits that come with this card:

• $400 statement credit  through 12/31/24 toward U.S. purchases with Dell Technologies
• $360 credit  through 12/31/24 for purchases with Indeed
• $150 credit  through 12/31/24 for Adobe business subscriptions
• Up to $120 credit per year for purchases with U.S. wireless telephone service providers
• $200 airline fee credit (select one qualifying airline and receive up to $200 in credits per year for incidental fees)
• $199 CLEAR® Plus Credit
• *Terms Apply

Another important benefit, hidden in the fine print is the 35% point rebate you get when booking an airline with points through American Express Travel. So, if you book a flight for 100,000 points, you get 35,000 points back. Terms Apply.

Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card offers cardholders 3x points per $1 spent on travel and select business categories each account anniversary year including:

• Shipping purchases
• Advertising purchases made with social media and search engines
• Internet, cable, and phone services
• Travel

Plus you get 5x points on Lyft rides through March 2025 and 1x points on all other purchases. The Ink card does not have an extensive list of credits you can enroll in, but some might prefer the more straightforward structure. Your points are also worth 25% more with this card when you use them to book travel through Chase Travel(SM).

Here are the details for each card.

The Business Platinum Card® from American Express Rewards

Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card Rewards

Interest Rates Winner: Ink Preferred card

Both cards offer similar interest rates. Neither has foreign transaction fees or 0% introductory APR. We’ll give the win to the Ink Preferred card for having a slightly lower regular APR.

Fee Winner: Ink Preferred card

The biggest difference between these two cards is the annual fee. The Business Platinum Card® from American Express has an annual fee of $695, whereas Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card has an annual fee of $95. Since neither card offers 0% introductory APR and neither has foreign transaction fees, based purely on the annual fee (and the value for the money) we give the win to Chase.

Features and Benefits: Amex Business Platinum

For features and benefits, Amex Business Platinum wins. It offers several travel perks, including airport lounge access, that the Ink Preferred card can’t match.

Amex Business Platinum

Ink Preferred card

Who the The Business Platinum Card® from American Express is Best For

The Business Platinum Card® from American Express is an excellent card for high-spending business owners who travel frequently. You get 1.5x points cash back on every purchase over $5,000 with no cap. If you can take advantage of the many business credits you get, the card practically pays for itself. Business owners will appreciate the airport lounge access, which makes travel more comfortable and less hectic. And there’s the 35% point rebate on flights booked through the Amex portal, which is a valuable benefit.

Who the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card is Best For

Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card offers good rewards on typical business expenses. The welcome offer is generous, especially for a card with only a $95 annual fee. Your points are worth 25% more when you use them to book travel through Chase Travel(SM). Or you can transfer your points to Chase’s travel partners, which could potentially boost their value. If you don’t spend enough money on a credit card to justify the The Business Platinum Card® from American Express, the Chase card is an excellent choice.

Does it Make Sense to Get Both Cards?

Maybe. You could put expenses that earn 3x points on the Chase card and purchases over $5,000 on the American Express card. If you were going to get the The Business Platinum Card® from American Express anyway, getting the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card is only another $95, so it’s probably worth it. It doesn’t work as well the other way, though: if you were getting the Chase card, adding the American Express card for an extra $695 is a lot.

Approval Odds

The Business Platinum Card® from American Express

Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card

Both cards require excellent credit. Technically, business cards don’t count towards Chase’s 5/24 rule, but you must be below 5/24 to get approved for a Chase business card. American Express doesn’t have this rule, so if you are going to apply for both cards, apply for the Chase one first.

Bottom Line

Both the Amex Business Platinum and the Ink Preferred card offer excellent value for business owners. However, for business owners that don’t need the credits or travel perks offered by the Amex Business Platinum , the Ink Preferred card will be the better choice.