Is American Express better than Capital One?

There’s no right or wrong answer here. In general, Amex cards are better than Capital One. However, for certain niche consumers or business owners, Capital One may have a better credit card offering than Amex.

Is the Amex Platinum card the best card?

For luxury travel benefits, it’s very difficult to beat the Amex Platinum card. That’s because Amex has invested a ton of planning and research into developing a thoughtful list of perks that travelers find valuable. But if you’re looking for simple cash-back rewards without an annual fee, it’s not the best card for you.

Which is better, the Capital One Venture X card or Amex Platinum card?

We think the Amex Platinum card outperforms the Capital One Venture X card. Although the Capital One Venture X card offers specific perks such as access to Capital One Lounges and a 10,000-mile anniversary bonus every cardmember year, the Amex Platinum card just offers a whole new universe of benefits, ranging from the best airport lounge access to hotel elite status, and more. Check out our detailed comparison: Capital One Venture X card vs. Amex Platinum card.

What is better, the Capital One Venture X card or the Amex Gold card?

The Capital One Venture X card and Amex Gold card are fundamentally different products that are difficult to compare. The Amex Gold card focuses more on rewards for everyday spending, such as dining and U.S. supermarkets, while the Capital One Venture X card offers travel benefits and appeals more to the spender who doesn’t want to worry about bonus categories. They’re both great! See how these cards compare head-to-head in our article: Capital One Venture X Card vs. Amex Gold Card [Detailed Comparison].

Amex vs. Capital One Credit Cards - Which Is Best? [2023]

In the world of credit card rewards, American Express and Chase have some of the most exciting products. And although Amex is no stranger to exclusivity, luxury travel, and rewards, Capital One has recently started investing a ton of capital into beefing up its credit card products.

While American Express has offered cards with luxury travel benefits and travel rewards for as long as we can remember, Capital One is a relatively avant-garde addition to the luxury travel ecosystem.

In this guide, we help you compare American Express and Capital One cards head-to-head.

We’ve split up the various cards available into several different categories — let’s see how Capital One Miles cards stack up against Amex Membership Rewards cards!

Table of contents

Comparing Amex Membership Rewards and Capital One Miles

Lufthansa B747-8 First Class Cabin - Cherag Dubash — Lufthansa first class. Image Credit: Cherag Dubash

American Express’ rewards program is known as Membership Rewards, and we generally refer to the points you earn and redeem on Amex Membership Rewards cards as Amex points or Amex Membership Rewards points.

Similarly, Capital One’s flagship travel rewards program is Capital One Miles, and miles earned or redeemed are generally referred to as Capital One miles.

Amex has its own suite of cards that participate in Membership Rewards, and Capital One has different cards that earn Capital One miles.

Each card has different accrual structures, benefits, and conditions for participation.

Currently, Capital One miles can be used for:

Transfer partnerships with airlines and hotels
Bookings made with Capital One Travel
PayPal purchases
Amazon.com transactions
Gift cards
Cash-back

Meanwhile, Amex Membership Rewards points can be used for:

Transfer partnerships with airlines and hotels
Eligible airfare booked via Amex Travel using Pay With Points (which qualifies for an airline bonus of up to 35%)
Other airfare and travel booked through Amex Travel, including hotels and car rentals
Online merchandise
Amazon.com transactions
Best Buy purchases
Statement credits
PayPal purchases
Gift cards

Of course, we always recommend leveraging transfer partnerships for maximum value.

Outside of transfers, Amex points can generally get you around 1.53 cents per point on airfare booked with the Pay With Points airline bonus, while Capital One miles max out at 1 cent per mile of value.

Transfer Partnerships

The way to get immense value from your points is to transfer rewards to airline and hotel partners.

In this case, both Amex Membership Rewards and Capital One Miles maintain their own lists of transfer partners. Some airlines are transfer partners with both Amex and Capital One, while others are unique to just 1 of the banks.

For example, transfers to Emirates Skywards are possible with either Amex points or Capital One miles.

In most cases, American Express points are more valuable than Capital One miles. That’s because Amex has better transfer partnerships like:

That said, Capital One does have a transfer partnership with Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles that Amex does not, which boosts its value proposition slightly.

Lastly, Capital One has a transfer partnership with Wyndham Rewards that allows you to book stays at Vacasa vacation rental properties using points.

We value Amex points at around 2.2 cents each, and Capital One miles at 1.8 cents each.

Bottom Line: Amex points are generally more valuable than Capital One miles. Because Amex has many of the same transfer partners that Capital One does, plus other partners like Delta SkyMiles and ANA Mileage Club, we think Amex points are more useful. However, Capital One has a transfer partnership with Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles and Wyndham Rewards that could potentially be lucrative for certain travelers.

Best Overall Travel Rewards Card

If you’re looking for a fantastic mid-tier card to help you amass rewards as quickly as possible, Amex and Capital One both offer great options.

Winner: American Express® Gold Card

Hot Tip: Check to see if you’re eligible for a welcome bonus offer of up to 90,000 points with the Amex Gold card! (The current public offer is 60,000 points.)

The Amex Gold card is one of our favorite cards for everyday purchases, especially if you’re most concerned with racking up a ton of rewards.

This card offers a strong earning of up to 4x Membership Rewards points per dollar earned:

4x points at restaurants worldwide, including delivery and takeout in the U.S.
4x points at U.S. supermarkets (up to $25,000 per calendar year)
3x points on flights booked directly with airlines or via Amex Travel
1x points on other purchases

Earning 4x points is equivalent to an 8.8% return on spending, which is absolutely massive. If you earn 3x points, that’s equal to a 6.6% return on spending.

Even better, the Amex Gold card also offers up to $240 in statement credits every year:

Up to $120 per year in dining statement credits at participating restaurants, including Grubhub, The Cheesecake Factory, Goldbelly, Milk Bar, select Shake Shack locations, and Wine.com (enrollment required)
Up to $120 per year in Uber Cash to use for U.S. Uber rides or Uber Eats orders

The Amex Gold card also has no preset spending limit, basic travel insurance, no foreign transaction fees, and up to 5 authorized users for no additional annual fee (rates and fees).

Runner-up: Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

The Capital One Venture card finishes as the runner-up, and it offers a similarly fabulous welcome offer and the capability of earning up to 5x Capital One miles:

5x miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
2x miles on all other purchases

Earning a minimum of 2x miles on all purchases is particularly impressive with this credit card — plus, there’s a Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fee credit, 2 complimentary visits to Capital One Lounges or Plaza Premium Lounges every year, and complimentary Hertz Five Star elite status.

The Capital One Venture card also comes with travel & emergency assistance services, no foreign transaction fees, no-additional-fee authorized users, and access to Capital One Miles.

Best Overall Business Card

Business cards are some of the most competitive card products out there — business owners typically spend significantly more than ordinary consumers. In this guide, we’ll show you our 2 favorite overall business cards between Amex and Capital One.

Winner: American Express® Business Gold Card

Hot Tip: Check to see if you’re eligible for a huge welcome bonus offer of up to 110,000 points with the Amex Business Gold card! (The current public offer is 70,000 points.)

In this category, our favorite card product is the Amex Business Gold card, which offers some amazing rewards on a variety of categories.

What really turns people’s heads is that this card earns 4x Membership Rewards points per dollar spent on the first $150,000 in combined purchases every calendar year on the 2 categories from this list where your business spends the most each month:

Airfare purchased from airlines
U.S. purchases for advertising in select media
U.S. purchases made from select technology providers of computer hardware, software, and cloud solutions
U.S. purchases at gas stations
U.S. purchases at restaurants
U.S. purchases for shipping

Even better, your rewards are automatically adjusted every billing statement, which means you don’t need to worry about selecting bonus categories. If these bonus categories are maxed out every year, you’ll end up with 600,000 Amex points, which are worth around $13,200 by our valuations.

The Amex Business Gold card even comes with access to The Hotel Collection, which entitles you to a $100 property credit and a room upgrade, subject to availability, on eligible hotel stays of at least 2 consecutive nights.

Also, you can expect to get a 25% airline bonus when redeeming points for eligible airfare through Amex Travel. Lastly, the Amex Business Gold card has no preset spending limit, no foreign transaction fees, and no additional annual fees for employee cards after the first employee card fee of $50 (rates and fees).

Runner-up: Capital One Spark Miles for Business

The Capital One Spark Miles card is our runner-up business card, but this credit card has a totally different ideal cardholder than the Amex Business Gold card.

The card has the ability to earn up to 5x Capital One miles:

5x miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
2x miles on other purchases

As you can see, the Capital One Spark Miles card doesn’t have extensive bonus categories like the Amex Business Gold card has. Instead, it appeals to business owners who would rather earn fewer bonus rewards without having to worry about bonus categories.

For benefits, the card offers a Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fee credit of up to $100, 2 free visits to Capital One Lounges or Plaza Premium Lounges per year, zero fraud liability, purchase protection, extended warranty, no foreign transaction fees, and employee cards for no additional annual fee.

Best Premium Travel Rewards Card

Airport lounge — Image Credit: Max Harlynking via Unsplash

If you’re the type of person who doesn’t cut any corners on the best experiences while traveling, you might like the idea of a premium travel rewards card.

These cards offer the best luxury travel perks out there, and in this section, we’ll show you which cards we love for this consumer segment.

Winner: The Platinum Card® from American Express

Hot Tip: Check to see if you’re eligible for a welcome bonus offer of up to 150,000 points with the Amex Platinum card! (The current public offer is 80,000 points.)

The Amex Platinum card is, without a doubt, the undisputed winner in the premium travel rewards card sector. You can get up to 5x Membership Rewards points on purchases:

5x points on flights purchased directly with the airline or through Amex Travel (on up to $500,000 of these purchases every calendar year)
5x points on prepaid hotels booked with Amex Travel
1x points on other purchases

Earning up to 5x points is equivalent to a return on spending of around 11%, based on our valuations.

But the main reason why we love this card is the luxury travel benefits. To start, the Amex Global Lounge Collection is accessible with the Amex Platinum card, which confers the best airport lounge access available from a single card. It covers these lounges:

Aspire Lounge
Centurion Lounges (U.S. and international)
Delta Sky Clubs (when flying Delta on a same-day boarding pass)
Escape Lounges — The Centurion Studio Partner
Plaza Premium Lounges
Priority Pass lounges (upon enrollment)
Select Lufthansa Lounges (when flying on a same-day Lufthansa Group flight)
Select Virgin Clubhouses

Furthermore, this card gets you access to the incredible Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts program, as well as The Hotel Collection.

It even gets you fantastic elite status with Hilton Honors (Gold) and Marriott Bonvoy (Gold Elite) upon enrollment, as well as rental car status and/or privileges with Avis, Hertz, and National.

Even better, you’ll enjoy a Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fee credit and a series of statement credits that could pay for the annual fee every year:

Up to $200 in airline fee credits
Up to $200 in prepaid hotel credits
Up to $200 in Uber Cash
Up to $189 in CLEAR credits
Up to $155 in Walmart+ credits
Up to $300 in Equinox credits
Up to $200 in digital entertainment credits
Up to $100 in Saks Fifth Avenue credits

This card also has no preset spending limit, no foreign transaction fees, excellent travel insurance, and more (rates and fees).

Runner-up: Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card

The Capital One Venture X card is Capital One’s flagship premium credit card. With a fantastic welcome offer and unique benefits, it’s no wonder that it’s one of the hottest cards on the market.

Expect to earn a maximum of 10x Capital One miles on purchases:

10x miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
5x miles on flights booked through Capital One Travel
2x miles on all other purchases

Additionally, you’ll get a Capital One Travel statement credit of up to $300 and a 10,000-mile anniversary bonus every year. This is on top of the Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fee credit, unlimited complimentary visits to Capital One Lounges, Priority Pass Lounges, and Plaza Premium Lounges, and top-tier Hertz President’s Circle status.

The Capital One Venture X card also comes with cell phone protection, no foreign transaction fees, up to 4 authorized users for no additional annual fee, purchase protection, extended warranty, and superb travel insurance.

Best Premium Travel Rewards Business Card

What if you love premium travel perks, but you happen to be a business owner? That’s what this section is for!

Unfortunately, Capital One doesn’t currently have a premium credit card offering for travel rewards. However, we are absolutely obsessed with Amex’s card offering in this space.

Winner: The Business Platinum Card® from American Express

Hot Tip: Check to see if you’re eligible for a huge welcome bonus offer of up to 150,000 points with the Amex Business Platinum card! (The current public offer is 120,000 points.)

The Amex Business Platinum card shares a lot of similarities with the Amex Platinum card, but these are 2 totally different products with different benefits.

You’ll earn up to 5x Membership Rewards points on purchases:

5x points on flights and prepaid hotels booked through Amex Travel
1.5x points on purchases in key business categories and on purchases of $5,000 or more elsewhere (on up to $2 million in purchases every year)
1x points on other purchases

Just like the Amex Platinum card, there’s no preset spending limit, plus luxury travel benefits including access to the American Express Global Lounge Collection, Fine Hotels & Resorts, The Hotel Collection, complimentary Hilton Honors Gold and Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite status upon enrollment, and car rental perks with Avis, Hertz, and National.

Another difference is in the annual statement credits:

Up to $200 in airline fee credits
Up to $400 in Dell purchases in the U.S.
Up to $360 in Indeed credits
Up to $189 in CLEAR credits
Up to $150 in Adobe credits
Up to $120 in wireless credits
A Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fee credits

Another fabulous benefit the Amex Business Platinum card offers is the 35% airline bonus when using Pay With Points on eligible flights through Amex Travel.

As usual, you’ll also get travel insurance and no foreign transaction fees (rates and fees).

Best No-Annual-Fee Credit Card

What if you’re in the market for a card that still earns rewards (maybe at a reduced rate) without an annual fee?

Capital One and Amex both offer great products!

Winner: Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card

The Capital One VentureOne card is the entry-level credit card in the Venture family. It has no annual fee, and it also earns up to 5x Capital One miles in addition to the solid welcome offer:

5x miles on hotels and car rentals booked through Capital One Travel
1.25x miles on other purchases

Plus, this card comes with benefits like extended warranty protection, secondary rental car insurance, no foreign transaction fees, and authorized user cards for no additional annual fee.

Runner-up: The Amex EveryDay® Credit Card

The Amex EveryDay card is our runner-up no annual fee card, and it offers up to 2x Membership Rewards points per dollar spent:

2x points at U.S. supermarkets, up to $6,000 in purchases
2x points on eligible purchases through Amex Travel
1x points on all other purchases

In addition, this credit card has a bonus of 20% extra points on purchases if you use your card 20 or more times within a billing period.

The Amex Everyday card has full access to Membership Rewards and authorized users can be added for no additional annual fee.

Best No-Annual-Fee Business Card

If you like business credit cards with no annual fee, this next section is for you!

Winner: The Blue Business® Plus Card from American Express

The Amex Blue Business Plus card is one of the leading business credit cards with no annual fee. You’ll enjoy industry-leading rewards:

2x Membership Rewards points on everyday business purchases (up to $50,000 per calendar year)

After that, you’ll get 1x points per dollar spent. That means you’ll earn 100,000 Amex points when maxing out the 2x points structure. That’s a return on spending of 4.4%!

This card comes with the ability to transfer points to travel partners, employee cards for no additional annual fee, and access to Amex Offers (rates and fees).

Runner-up: Capital One Spark Miles Select for Business

Our runner-up card is the Capital One Spark Miles Select card, which comes with up to 5x Capital One miles earned:

5x miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
1.5x miles on all other purchases

Although the rewards are uncapped (in contrast to the $50,000 cap imposed on the Amex Business Platinum card for the 2x rewards), the standard rewards structure of 1.5x miles is lower than the 2x points offered by the Amex Blue Business Plus card.

Earning 1.5x Capital One miles is equivalent to a return on spending of 2.7%.

The Capital One Spark Miles Select card comes with zero fraud liability, purchase protection, extended warranty, roadside assistance, no foreign transaction fees, secondary rental car insurance, and employee cards for no additional annual fees.

Best Card for Cash-back

Jar of coins — Image Credit: micheile dot com via Unsplash

Believe it or not, Amex and Capital One both offer some of the best cash-back rewards in the business, despite being known for their travel rewards programs.

Here are our top picks!

Winner: Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express

For cash-back, it’s a tall order to beat the Amex Blue Cash Preferred card. This is especially true considering the large welcome bonus and ability to get up to 6% cash-back:

6% cash-back at U.S. supermarkets (up to $6,000 per year; then 1x thereafter)
6% cash-back on select U.S. streaming services
3% cash-back on U.S. gas stations
3% cash-back on transit (including rideshares, parking, etc.)
1% cash-back on other purchases

Also, this impressive cash-back credit card gets you up to $120 in Equinox+ credits every year, no foreign transaction fees, and no additional annual fees for authorized users (rates and fees).

Runner-up: Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card

The oh-so-famous Capital One Savor card is the king of cash-back credit cards. It earns up to 8% cash-back and comes with an awesome welcome offer:

8% cash-back on Capital One Entertainment purchases 5% cash-back on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
4% cash-back on dining, entertainment, and popular streaming services
3% cash-back at grocery stores
1% cash-back on other purchases

Building up cash-back rewards is super easy with this credit card, and you’ll even get purchase protection, extended warranty, no foreign transaction fees, travel accident insurance, zero fraud liability, and fee-free authorized users.

Best No Annual Fee Card for Cash-back

For those who love the idea of maximizing cash-back without paying an annual fee, you’ll be impressed by what American Express and Capital One have to offer.

The aforementioned cards are the category leaders for cash-back, but they both have annual fees. Here are the best cash-back cards with no annual fee.

Winner: Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express

Our favorite cash-back credit card without an annual fee is the Amex Blue Cash Everyday card, which has a great welcome bonus and up to 3% cash-back rewards:

3% cash-back at U.S. supermarkets (on up to $6,000 per year, 1% after that)
3% cash-back at U.S. gas stations (on up to $6,000 per year, 1% after that)
3% cash-back at U.S. online retailers (on up to $6,000 per year, 1% after that)
1% cash-back on everything else

The Amex Blue Cash Everyday card also offers statement credits upon enrollment:

Up to $7 back monthly after using your Amex Blue Cash Everyday card to spend $12.99 or more each month on an eligible subscription to The Disney Bundle, which includes Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+
Earn up to $15 back monthly – an annual savings of up to $180 – when you order online at Home Chef

Lastly, you’ll find fee-free authorized users with the Amex Blue Cash Everyday card (rates and fees).

Runner-up: Capital One SavorOne Rewards Credit Card

The no annual fee version of the Capital One Savor card is the Capital One SavorOne card, which offers:

5% cash-back on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
3% cash-back on dining, entertainment, popular streaming services, and grocery stores (excluding superstores like Walmart® and Target®)
1% cash-back on all other purchases

Currently, the Capital One SavorOne card has a welcome bonus, which also includes a 0% introductory APR promotion on purchases and balance transfers.

Of course, this card has no foreign transaction fees, extended warranty coverage, zero liability fraud protection, and authorized users for no additional annual fees.

Best Business Card for Cash-back

The very last category in this guide is the cash-back business credit cards. And it’s definitely one worth discussing, so without further ado, here are the best options!

Winner: Capital One Spark Cash Plus Card

The Capital One Spark Cash Plus card is one of the most popular business cards in the world, and it happens to be one of Capital One’s few charge cards.

It has a substantial welcome bonus and the ability to earn up to 5% cash-back:

5% cash-back on hotels and rental cars booked via Capital One Travel
2% cash-back on all other purchases

What’s awesome about this card is that it has no preset spending limit, which makes it work more like a charge card than a traditional credit card.

There’s huge potential to get 2% cash-back on all your business purchases, and you can even get an annual $200 cash bonus every year you spend $200,000 or more.

Of course, the standard perks apply, such as zero fraud liability, purchase protection, no foreign transaction fees, roadside assistance, extended warranty coverage, and employee cards for no additional annual fee.

Runner-up: The Plum Card® from American Express

Our runner-up card is one of the most under-the-radar choices available: the Amex Plum card. But don’t sleep on it because it could be one of the most useful cards in your wallet.

Sure, there’s no welcome bonus, but you’ll enjoy an Early Pay Discount, which allows you to earn an unlimited 1.5% cash-back on the portion of your balance that you pay within 10 days of your statement closing date without any caps or purchase categories.

Plus, the Amex Plum card lets you have up to 60 days to pay without interest (only the minimum payment is due by your payment due date).

It has no preset spending limit, no foreign transaction fees, access to Amex Offers, and employee cards for no additional annual fee (rates and fees).

Final Thoughts

From the list of credit cards and charge cards above, you’ll probably have the opportunity to max out your rewards and benefits with a selection of different options.

Which card is best for you will ultimately depend on whether you’re looking for top-shelf rewards, luxury travel benefits, cash-back rewards, low or no annual fees, or specific niche perks.

At the end of the day, both Amex and Capital One bring a lot of value to the table, so the choice is yours!

The information regarding the Capital One Spark Miles for Business, The Amex EveryDay® Credit Card, Capital One Spark Miles Select for Business, Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card, Capital One SavorOne Rewards Credit Card, and Capital One Spark Cash Plus Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.

For Capital One products listed on this page, some of the above benefits are provided by Visa® or Mastercard® and may vary by product. See the respective Guide to Benefits for details, as terms and exclusions apply.

Enrollment required through Capital One website or mobile app. Upon enrollment, eligible cardholders will remain at upgraded status level through December 31, 2024. Please note, enrolling through the normal Hertz Gold Plus Rewards enrollment process (e.g. at Hertz.com) will not automatically detect a cardholder as being eligible for the program and cardholders will not be automatically upgraded to the applicable status tier. Additional terms apply.

For rates and fees of the American Express® Gold Card, click here.
For rates and fees of the American Express® Business Gold Card, click here.
For rates and fees of The Platinum Card® from American Express, click here.
For rates and fees of The Business Platinum Card® from American Express, click here.
For rates and fees of The Blue Business® Plus Card from American Express, click here.
For rates and fees of the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express, click here.
For rates and fees of the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express, click here.
For rates and fees of The Plum Card® from American Express, click here.