American Express Business Gold Card – Full Review [2021]

Is the Amex Business Gold Card Worth It?

For business owners who have high monthly business expenses, and are looking for a card to help maximize those purchases, you’re in the right place!

The American Express® Business Gold Card earns 4x points per $1 in the 2 categories (from a list of 6) that your business spends the most money on each month. There’s no need to opt-in or preselect your categories, so you can focus on what matters most — running your business. In this review, we’ll dive in further and look at the top benefits and perks of the card.

• 4x Membership Rewards points per $1 on the 2 categories where your business spends the most:
  • 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
• 25% airline bonus when using Pay With Points
• Access to Amex’s The Hotel Collection
• Purchase protection and extended warranty protection
• Trip delay insurance
• Car rental insurance
• No foreign transaction fees

• $295 annual fee
• No elite travel benefits like airport lounge access or elite status

The Amex Business Gold card is a perfect fit for small business owners who have significant spending in 1 or more of the cards 6 bonus categories, and want a card that will help them rack up the points on those purchases.

Further, the card is a great option for traveling business owners as the card comes with several great perks like trip delay insurance and car rental insurance, and it does not charge foreign transaction fees.

• Your business spends a lot of money on 1 or more of the cards 6 bonus categories
• You want a card that earns transferable rewards
• You want a card that offers purchase protection and warranty protection

• You want a card with a lower or no annual fee
• You prefer a card that offers cash-back rewards
• The bonus categories don’t fit your business needs

Card Bonus Categories

Amex Business Gold cardholders earn 4x Membership Rewards points per $1 spent on the 2 categories where your business spent the most each billing cycle from the following categories:

• Airfare purchased directly from airlines
• U.S. purchases for advertising in select media (online, TV, radio)
• U.S. purchases made directly from select technology providers of computer hardware, software, and cloud solutions
• U.S. purchases at gas stations
• U.S. purchases at restaurants, including takeout and delivery
• U.S. purchases for shipping

The 4x per $1 earnings applies to the first $150,000 in combined purchases from these 2 categories each calendar year. This gives cardholders the opportunity to earn a massive 600,000 Membership Rewards points per year (worth over $13,000 by our valuations) for those whose business needs meet that threshold.

All Other Purchases

Once you’ve met the $150,000 bonus category threshold, or for any purchases falling outside of the 6 bonus categories, you’ll still earn 1x point per $1 spent. While this is much lower than the 4x you’ll earn on bonus categories, it still provides a great way to earn extra points.

Amex Offers

Amex Offers are available to all American Express cardholders and present a great option to earn extra value out of your card. Each month, you’re presented with dozens of offers from different merchants that can be added to your card.

These offers give you the opportunity for you to either earn additional Membership Rewards points or statement credits for attaching the offers to your card and then making purchases you were planning to make anyway.

To add an Amex Offer to your card, simply scroll to the bottom of your card’s homepage to find all of the offers that are available to you. Then you can click to add whichever make the most sense for you (or all of them if you want), then just pay with your Amex Business Gold card to redeem the offer.

Refer-a-Friend

If you know someone else that you think might benefit from the Amex Business Gold card, or another American Express card, you can refer them to apply for the card and then receive bonus Membership Rewards points if they’re approved.

Hot Tip: American Express allows you to receive a bonus for referring friends even if they don’t apply for the same card that you hold. So if another American Express card is a better fit for their needs, you can still receive bonus points for referring them.

Adding More Membership Rewards Cards

A great way to earn even more American Express Membership Rewards points is by adding more Membership Rewards earning cards to your wallet.

Take The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express, which offers 2x Membership Rewards points per $1 on all purchases — up to $50,000 in spending per year.

In this case, you could use your Amex Business Gold card to earn 4x points per $1 in the 2 categories where your business spends the most each month, and then Amex Blue Business Plus card to earn 2x points per $1 on all other purchases.

If you’re interested in learning about some other American Express card options, here are some of our favorite Amex business cards and personal cards.

Bottom Line: For even more ways to rack up extra Amex points, check out our best ways to earn Membership Rewards points! 

Cardholders have several different options when it comes to deciding how to redeem your Membership Rewards points.

Travel Partners

American Express Membership Rewards points are by far one of the most valuable credit card point currencies out there. This is due to their ability to be transferred to one of Amex’s many airline transfer partners.

We think this is the absolute best option to get the maximum value out of your Membership Rewards points. When you redeem your points this way, you can book award flights in business class and first class (that would otherwise cost you thousands of dollars) for next to nothing!

Hot Tip: If you need help getting started on how to use the American Express transfer partners, check out our detailed guide on how to use them.

Amex Travel

If you prefer to use your points for travel, but not through travel partners, you can use your points to offset travel purchases made through the Amex Travel portal.

When using your points toward an airline ticket you’ll receive 1.25 cents per point (a 25% bonus) when you Pay With Points from Amex for all flights on a single carrier of your choosing.

Keep in mind that you can only select 1 carrier each year. Fortunately, you can still earn the 25% points rebate with other carriers booked through Amex Travel, but this will only apply to business and first-class tickets — which will be significantly more expensive in terms of the number of points needed.

Based on this, you will most likely be better off using airline transfer partners for award flights, unless you find an exceptionally great fare deal.

As far as other travel redemptions go, like hotel stays or rental cars, your Membership Rewards points are worth just 0.7 cents per point.

Statement Credit

American Express gives you the option to use your points to cover purchases you’ve made with your card via a statement credit — just like cash-back.

However, unless you really need, or really prefer the cash, this certainly won’t be your best option as your points are worth just 0.6 cents per point.

Gift Cards

American Express offers you the option to redeem your points for gift cards with dozens of retailers. This may seem like a convenient option if there are a handful of stores, restaurants, etc. that you frequent. But given that you’ll receive just 0.7 to 1 cent per point in value, you’d be better off redeeming your points in a way that will offer you a greater return.

Shop With Points

If your card is linked to your Amazon, Best Buy, or Grubhub accounts, American Express gives you the option to use your Membership Rewards points at checkout instead of charging the item to your card. When you redeem points this way you’ll receive 0.7 cents per point in value. Again, this is a much lower value than you can get with other options.

Bottom Line: Unless you do not have time to, or interest in, travel, we highly recommend using your points with American Express transfer partners. This option by far offers you the best value for your Membership Rewards points. So to maximize value for your points, we do not advise you to use their points for statement credits, gift cards, Shop With Points, or any option that only earns 1 cent per point or less. 

Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card

This card is a great choice for those looking for a more well-rounded option. While it doesn’t earn 4x points like the Amex Business Gold card, it does earn 3x points per $1 on up to $150,000 in combined purchases on travel, shipping, ad purchases made with social media sites or search engines, internet, cable, and phones services, and you’ll earn those points on every category — instead of 2 with the Amex Business Gold card.

Further, the annual fee is just $95, making it significantly more affordable than the $295 on the Amex Business Gold card.

American Express Blue Business Cash™ Card

If you’re someone who prefers a no annual fee, cash-back credit card, then the Amex Blue Business Cash card could be a great option for you. The card offers 2% cash-back on all eligible purchases on up to $50,000 per calendar year, then 1%.

We’ve also compared the Amex Business Gold with a number of other leading business credit cards in the posts below:

• Chase Ink Business Preferred vs Amex Business Gold Card
• Amex Business Gold Card vs Amex Business Platinum
• Amex Business Gold Card vs Amex Gold Card
• Amex Business Gold Card vs Business Green Rewards Card from American Express
• Amex Business Gold Card vs Amex Plum

For rates and fees for The American Express® Business Gold Card, click here.