American Express® Gold Review

Overview

The Amex Gold is a really strong card, and if there is one Amex card I would point most people to, this is it. The rewards are excellent, the welcome bonus is one of the best in the game, and it earns transferable Membership Rewards points, so it is close to a no-brainer to pick up, at least for that first year.

Where it gets complicated is whether you keep it. The annual fee is high, the credits take real work to use, and there is no lounge access to soften the blow. So my honest read is that this is a fantastic year-one card that most people should get, use hard, and then take a serious look at before renewing.

Our 4.5 out of 5 rating

Each score weighs the rewards rate, value after the annual fee, welcome offer, points flexibility, and perks, with every point valued at a flat 1 cent. This is our editorial assessment to help you compare cards, not a guarantee of approval or of the value you will get.

Rewards: how it earns

The earning is where the Gold really shines, and it is the biggest reason to hold it while you have it. You get 4x at restaurants and 4x at U.S. supermarkets, which is about the strongest dining and grocery earning out there for stacking points. Those are the two categories most people spend the most on, and because these are transferable Membership Rewards points and not locked-in cash back, they are genuinely worth chasing. If your budget leans on food and groceries, almost nothing out-earns this card.

Every point and mile above is valued at a flat 1 cent, the same honest standard we use for every card. Run your own spending through the calculator to see what this card would actually return for you.

Pros and cons

The welcome bonus

The welcome bonus is the headline and the main reason to grab this card. Right now it is 100,000 points, which is over $1,000 of value in your first year, and that is excellent. The catch is the spend requirement: you need $8,000 in six months, which is one of the highest thresholds in the entire industry. That is a lot of spending over a long window, especially when plenty of other cards hand you a bonus for something like $4,000 in three months, which is closer to the standard. If you can hit the $8,000 through normal spending the payoff is huge, but do not stretch your budget just to get there.

Is it worth the annual fee?

This is where I would tell you to think twice. The $325 annual fee is high, almost up there with the Venture X’s $395, but you do not get the things that justify a fee that size, no lounge access and no big anchor credit like a hotel credit. The credits it does have are nice on paper but they are the fiddly kind, the Dunkin credit and the Uber and dining credits that come in monthly chunks you have to remember to use. For year one the welcome bonus more than covers the fee, so it is absolutely worth it. After that, unless you are using every credit and earning heavily in its categories, I do not think the fee is worth paying.

First-year value vs ongoing value

The welcome bonus makes year one the high point: roughly $1,697 in value once you count the bonus, this card’s rewards, and its credits, minus the $325 fee. After that, the honest figure is about $697 a year, so judge whether it earns its keep on the ongoing number, not the first-year headline.

*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, on average spending.

Benefits and protections

Beyond the rewards, the perks and protections worth knowing about include:

• $120 Uber Cash credit ($10/month for Uber Eats or rides)
• $120 dining credit ($10/month at Grubhub, The Cheesecake Factory & more)
• $100 Resy credit ($50 semi-annually at Resy restaurants)
• $84 Dunkin' credit ($7/month)
• No foreign transaction fees
• Baggage insurance plan and trip delay reimbursement
• Purchase protection and extended warranty
• Car rental loss and damage insurance

Statement credits

• $120 Uber Cash ($10/month)
• $120 dining credit ($10/month at Grubhub & more)
• $100 Resy credit ($50 semi-annually)
• $84 Dunkin' credit ($7/month)

Ecosystem and transfer partners

The American Express® Gold earns Membership Rewards, one of the more valuable currencies in rewards because of where the points can go. You can move points 1 to 1 to 10 airline and hotel partners: Delta SkyMiles, British Airways, Air France/KLM, Singapore Airlines, ANA, Avianca LifeMiles, Emirates Skywards, Marriott Bonvoy, Hilton Honors, and The Leading Hotels of the World. As a hub card, this is the one you route points through before transferring out. The sweet spots are usually premium-cabin flights and high-end hotel nights, where a single point can be worth well more than the 1 cent we value it at here.

Airline partners: Delta SkyMiles, British Airways, Air France/KLM, Singapore Airlines, ANA, Avianca LifeMiles, Emirates Skywards, The Leading Hotels of the World.

Hotel partners: Marriott Bonvoy, Hilton Honors.

See the full American Express ecosystem →

Who should get it, and who should skip it

Get the Gold for year one, full stop. The welcome bonus alone makes it worth it, and the 4x on dining and groceries is genuinely the strongest earning around while you hold it. Use it hard, burn through the credits, and rack up points that first year.

After that, I would take a hard look at cancelling. Without lounge access or a big anchor credit, the fee is tough to justify in year two for most people. The exception is if this is your only card that earns Membership Rewards, since you do not want to lose those points. My personal move would be to use up the points, or open a no-fee Amex that earns Membership Rewards, like the Blue Business Plus, move your points over there, and then cancel the Gold, so you keep the points without paying the fee.

How it compares

If the American Express® Gold is not quite the right fit, these related cards are worth weighing against it:

Frequently asked questions

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