Best American Express® Cards — Our Picks for Every Type of Spender

If you’ve emailed me in the last year asking “which Amex should I actually get,” this page is the long answer I kept meaning to write.

I’m not going to list every card American Express prints — plenty of sites do that, and most of them read like a spreadsheet nobody bothered to turn into advice.

These are the cards I actually point friends toward, sorted by the job you’re hiring a card to do. Find the one that matches how you spend, click through for the current details, and ignore the rest with my blessing.

Here’s a quick word on why these cards punch above their weight, because it’s the part newcomers miss: most of them earn Membership Rewards points, and Membership Rewards is one of the most flexible currencies in the game. The points aren’t locked to one airline — you can move them to a long list of airline and hotel travel partners, where the outsized value lies. A points balance that looks ordinary as “cash back” can turn into a lie-flat seat to Europe once you transfer it to the right partner. (The two “Blue Cash” cards below are the exception — those earn cash back as Reward Dollars, which is its own kind of useful.) If transfer partners are a new concept, don’t worry about mastering it today; just know that’s the lever, and the cards earning these points are the ones worth a closer look.

(Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more.)

Best Travel Benefits

I’ll answer the big question right away: yes, these cards have airport lounge access! Over 1,550 of them — that’s more than any other credit card company on the market. (As of July 2025.)

If your card is mostly a travel tool — lounges, hotel status, a stack of credits you’ll actually use — the Platinum line is the category. The American Express Platinum Card® is the one for frequent flyers who basically live in airports. The Business Platinum Card® from American Express layers in business-travel perks and a points rebate on flights booked through Amex Travel. Both run $895 a year (Rates & Fees for the Platinum and Rates & Fees for the Business Platinum), which sounds brutal until you actually use the credits — and is a genuine waste if you won’t. If that makes you wince, you probably want the American Express® Gold Card instead.

Best for Earning Points

The American Express® Gold Card is the one I hand to people who cook, eat out, and buy groceries like it’s a competitive sport. It earns 4X Membership Rewards points at restaurants and at U.S. supermarkets — the two categories most people actually spend in — which makes it the best everyday-earning card in the lineup for an annual fee (Rates & Fees) that doesn’t require a spreadsheet to justify. If “best card” means “most points for the way I already live,” start with the Gold Card.

Best Business Card

For a business with lumpy, unpredictable spending, the American Express® Business Gold Card has a genuinely clever trick: it earns 4X on the two categories you spend the most in each month, automatically, so you don’t have to optimize anything. You just spend, and it sorts itself out. Mid-tier annual fee (Rates & Fees), and the right pick if your business expenses refuse to fit neatly into one bucket.

Best No Annual Fee Business Card

If you want to earn Membership Rewards points on business spending without paying for the privilege, The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express is the quiet workhorse. No annual fee (Rates & Fees), and it earns 2X points on everyday purchases on up to $50,000 per year, then 1X after. It’s not flashy (it’s not trying to be). This is the card you put recurring business expenses on and then forget about, which is exactly the point. That’s exactly how I use this card!

Best for Online Shopping

The Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express earns cash back as Reward Dollars (not points) on U.S. online retail, U.S. supermarkets, and U.S. gas — 3% in each, on up to $6,000 per year per category, then 1% — with no annual fee (Rates & Fees). Reward Dollars are redeemable toward statement credit (minimum $25) or at Amazon.com checkout. If you do most of your spending from the couch and want straightforward cash back instead of a points balance to babysit, this is the uncomplicated answer.

Best for Streaming and U.S. Supermarkets

The Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express is the grocery-and-streaming specialist: 6% cash back (as Reward Dollars) at U.S. supermarkets on up to $6,000 per year (then 1%) and on select U.S. streaming services, plus 3% at U.S. gas stations and on transit. Like its Blue Cash Everyday sibling, its Reward Dollars are redeemable toward statement credit (minimum $25) or at Amazon.com checkout. There’s a $0 intro annual fee the first year, then $95 (Rates & Fees). And here’s some “example math” to put your mind at ease: spend about $125 a month at U.S. supermarkets and $20 a month on your favorite U.S. streaming services, and the 6% back on both comes to roughly $104 a year — already past the $95 annual fee before you’ve earned a cent on anything else. Add $100 a month at U.S. gas stations (fairly easy these days) and $50 a month on transit like rideshare and subway fares, and that’s another $54 back at 3%.

The Green Card — A Soft Spot

And then there’s the American Express® Green Card, which I have a genuine soft spot for. It’s the original — the card that started the whole Membership Rewards story — and it’s quietly grown into a solid travel card with 3X points on travel and dining, plus some statement credits, all for a $150 annual fee (Rates & Fees) that’s a fraction of the Platinum’s. It won’t out-perk a Platinum Card, and it isn’t trying to. But if you want a travel rewards card with some heritage that won’t break the bank, the Green Card is an easy one to like.

Final Approach

Here’s the thing no card grid will tell you: the best Amex isn’t a card, it’s a fit. The person who’d get real value from a Platinum Card would waste money on it if they never left their zip code, and the Gold Card that’s perfect for a home cook is wasted on someone who eats every meal out on the company dime. Pick for the life you actually live, not the one in the brochure. And whatever you land on, read the current terms on the card’s own page before you apply — the offers move, and I’d rather you have the real number than my memory of it.

For rates and fees of the American Express Platinum Card®, please visit this link.
For rates and fees of The Business Platinum Card® from American Express, please visit this link.
For rates and fees of the American Express® Gold Card, please visit this link.
For rates and fees of the American Express® Business Gold Card, please visit this link.
For rates and fees of The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express, please visit this link.
For rates and fees of the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express, please visit this link.
For rates and fees of the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express, please visit this link.
For rates and fees of the American Express® Green Card, please visit this link.