American Express® Business Gold vs Ink Business Preferred®
Side-by-side comparison
| American Express® Business Gold | Ink Business Preferred® | |
|---|---|---|
| Annual fee | $375 | $95 |
| Welcome offer | Up to 200,000 Membership Rewards® Points | 100,000 Ultimate Rewards® Points |
| Advertising | 4% | 3% |
| Shipping | 4% | 3% |
| Office supplies | 1% | 1% |
| Phone & internet | 1% | 3% |
| Travel | 4% | 3% |
| Everything else | 1% | 1% |
| Est. yearly rewards* | $1,116 | $846 |
| Points type | Transfers to airlines & hotels | Transfers to airlines & hotels |
| Network | Amex | Visa |
*Estimated yearly rewards on typical household spending, every point valued at a flat 1 cent. Verified July 2026. See your own numbers in the calculator.
Welcome bonus and value over time
| Over time | American Express® Business Gold | Ink Business Preferred® |
|---|---|---|
| Welcome bonus | Up to 200,000 Membership Rewards® Points | 100,000 Ultimate Rewards® Points |
| To earn it | $15,000 in 3 months | $8,000 in 3 months |
| Est. first-year value* | $2,981 | $1,761 |
| Est. ongoing value / yr* | $981 | $761 |
The American Express® Business Gold wins on both fronts: it comes out ahead in year one on the welcome offer and stays ahead every year after. Short term or long, it is the stronger pick on the numbers.
*First-year value counts the welcome bonus, estimated rewards, and annual credits, minus the annual fee; ongoing value is a typical year after. Every point at a flat 1 cent.
Perks, credits, and redemptions
| Perks | American Express® Business Gold | Ink Business Preferred® |
|---|---|---|
| Lounge access | None | None |
| Annual credits | ~$240/yr (1 credits) | ~$10/yr (1 credits) |
| Points & redemptions | Transferable to airline & hotel partners | Transferable to airline & hotel partners |
On perks and redemptions, the American Express® Business Gold carries the heavier credit stack (about $240 a year). Weigh those against the fee, since credits and lounge access only count if you will actually use them.
Transfer partners and point value
The American Express® Business Gold earns Amex Membership Rewards, which transfers to Delta, ANA, Air France-KLM Flying Blue, Virgin Atlantic, plus Hilton and Marriott. The Ink Business Preferred® earns Chase Ultimate Rewards, reaching World of Hyatt, United, Air Canada, Southwest, and British Airways Avios. Most transfers are 1:1 on both, so the partners themselves, not the ratios, are what separate them.
The standout difference is the crown-jewel partner: for the American Express® Business Gold it is ANA and Virgin Atlantic, the routes behind the famous business- and first-class sweet spots to Asia; for the Ink Business Preferred® it is World of Hyatt at 1:1, widely considered the single best hotel transfer in points. Pick the program whose best partners match the trips you would actually book.
Both earn transferable points and both target business expenses, but at very different fees and rates. This is a real cross-shop for a business owner deciding how much card to pay for.
The Ink Preferred keeps the fee low at $95 and covers travel, shipping, and advertising at 3x while unlocking Chase’s excellent transfer partners. The Business Gold charges $375 but earns a higher 4x on your top two categories, up to a large cap. Whether the extra rate beats the extra fee depends entirely on how much you spend.
Pros and cons
- 4x on your top two categories (up to $150,000/yr), a higher rate than the Ink Preferred’s 3x
- Adapts automatically to your biggest spending categories
- Transfers to Amex partners like ANA, Virgin Atlantic, and Air France-KLM
- Often a very large welcome bonus
- $375 fee, nearly four times the Ink Preferred’s
- 1x outside your top two categories
- No World of Hyatt transfer
- Only worth the fee at higher spending volumes
- 3x on travel, shipping, advertising, and telecom for just $95
- Transfers to World of Hyatt and United via Chase
- A large 100,000-point welcome bonus for a low-fee card
- Cell-phone protection included
- 3x trails the Business Gold’s 4x on shared categories
- Less flexible than the Gold’s top-two structure
- No lounge access or premium perks
Where each one wins
| Category | Winner | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Category rate | Business Gold | 4x on top categories vs the Ink Preferred’s 3x. |
| Annual fee | Ink Preferred | $95 vs $375. |
| Transfer partners | Split | Hyatt via Chase for the Ink; ANA and Virgin Atlantic via Amex for the Gold. |
| Welcome bonus | Depends | Both run large offers; the Gold’s can be higher but needs more spend. |
| Best for | Depends | Ink Preferred for value; Business Gold for high-volume category spenders. |
The verdict
For most small businesses, the Ink Preferred is the better buy, because it delivers most of the value at a quarter of the fee. Its 3x covers the same travel, shipping, and advertising expenses, the 100,000-point welcome bonus rivals anything in business cards, and Chase’s transfer partners, especially World of Hyatt, give the points a high ceiling. Unless your category spending is very large, the $95 card wins on value.
The Business Gold makes sense for a higher-volume business whose top categories run into the tens of thousands a year. That extra point (4x vs 3x) on a large, flexible cap can outweigh the higher fee, and Amex’s transfer partners are excellent in their own right, ANA and Virgin Atlantic sweet spots included. So: Ink Preferred for the typical business, Business Gold when your category spend is big enough that the higher rate pays for the higher fee.