The 5 Best Business Credit Cards for Multiple Employees [September 2023]

Top Picks (Quick Summary)

Card	Welcome Bonus and Annual Fee	Benefits for Multiple Employees
Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card	NEW OFFER: Earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $8,000 on purchases in the first 3 months. Annual fee of $95	3x points on travel and select business categories (up to $150,000 in combined purchases per cardmember year) No additional fees for employee cards Cell phone protection, excellent travel insurance
American Express® Business Gold Card	Earn 70,000 points after you spend $10,000 on purchases in the first 3 months. Annual fee of $295 (rates and fees)	4x points on the top 2 categories where you spend the most every month (terms apply, up to $150,000 per calendar year) First employee card for $50, then up to another 98 employee cards for no authorized user fee (rates and fees) No preset spending limit Travel insurance
Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card	NEW OFFER: Earn $900 cash-back after spending $6,000 on purchases in the first 3 months. Annual fee of $0	1.5% cash-back on all purchases No additional fees for employee cards 0% intro APR on purchases for 12 months; variable 18.49% - 24.49% thereafter Travel insurance
Ink Business Cash® Credit Card	NEW OFFER: Earn $900 cash-back after spending $6,000 on purchases in the first 3 months. Annual fee of $0	5% cash-back at office supply stores and cellular phone, landline, internet, and cable TV services (up to $25,000 in combined purchases per cardmember year) 2% cash-back at gas stations and restaurants (up to $25,000 in combined purchases per cardmember year) No additional fees for employee cards 0% intro APR on purchases for 12 months; variable 18.49% - 24.49% thereafter Travel insurance

The Best Overall Business Cards for Multiple Employees

1. Ink Business Preferred^® Credit Card (Staff Pick, No Fees for Employee Cards)

The Ink Business Preferred card is our favorite pick here for a number of reasons. Simply put, it’s an incredible business credit card to help amass a ton of rewards with a mild annual fee ($95) and no fees for adding employee cards.

This card is a fantastic pick from top-to-bottom, starting with the humongous welcome bonus you can get. This welcome bonus alone could be worth up to $2,000 based on our valuations, and that benefit alone could be worth more than 20+ years of annual fees from this card!

But the best perk, arguably, is the ability to earn 3x Ultimate Rewards points per dollar spent on up to $150,000 in combined purchases every year on internet, cable, and phone services, shipping expenses, travel, and ads purchased with search engines or social media sites.

With such diverse earning categories and the ability to effectively get a 6% return on spend (2 cents per point value) across so many relevant business categories, it’s easy to see why the highlight is actually the points earning structure.

Whether you’re paying for phone bills, marketing, business travel, or logistics, you’re bound to rack up points quickly.

Let’s talk about the other benefits of this card. First, you’ll be able to access an industry-leading cell phone protection whereby you’ll get compensated if you break or damage your cell phone or if it’s stolen (note: lost phones aren’t covered). The coverage allows up to 3 claims every rolling 12 months with a $1,000 coverage limit per claim and a $100 deductible (up to $900 net payout per claim).

Bottom Line: The Ink Business Preferred card offers awesome benefits that will help you amass points quickly. Between the huge welcome bonus, the 3x earning categories, access to Chase Ultimate Rewards, and the superior cell phone insurance coverage, it’s easy to see why we love this credit card.

2. American Express^® Business Gold Card (Big Points Earnings; $50 for First Employee Card, $0 for The Remaining 98)

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. (This targeted offer was independently researched and may not be available to all applicants.)

One of our favorite mid-tier premium cards — the Amex Business Gold card — comes with a medley of perks.

This card also offers the ability to add up to 99 employee cards for an annual fee of $50 for the first card and then no authorized user fee for up to 98 remaining employee cards (see rates and fees).

The Amex Businesss Gold earns 4x Membership Rewards points per $1 spent on the top 2 categories where your business spends the most every month (up to $150,000 in combined purchases per calendar year):

• 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

Your earning categories are automatically adjusted from month to month to maximize the number of points you earn, so it’s a headache-free way to earn up to 600,000 Membership Rewards points with this structure. After that, you’ll earn 1 point per dollar.

In addition, the Amex Business Gold card can seamlessly import your expenses via integrations with QuickBooks.

Why We Like Earning Amex Membership Rewards Points

We love what Amex has done with its proprietary rewards program, Membership Rewards. Because of its abundance of transfer partners (both airlines and hotels), Amex has the most valuable points out there.

If you maxed out the $150,000 in bonus categories every year, your 600,000 points would be worth around $13,000+! With those points, you can:

But of course, if your goal is luxury award travel, you’ll want to stick to transfer partners!

3. Ink Business Unlimited^® Credit Card (Best No Annual Fee, LOW Intro APR, Unlimited Number of Employee Cards for No Fee)

The Ink Business Unlimited card is one of our top choices for a number of reasons. First of all, this card has no annual fee and almost always has an awesome welcome bonus.

Second of all, you can add an unlimited number of employee cards for no fee.

Third, the card will earn you an unlimited 1.5% cash-back on all your business purchases, regardless of which category they fall under.

You won’t need to worry about any bonus categories, bonus caps, or annual fees for yourself and your employees.

This card’s 1.5% cash-back is convertible to 1.5x Ultimate Rewards points if you have an Ultimate Rewards card such as the Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card. That could double the value of your points, ultimately earning you a return on spend of approximately 3%!

There are some other superb benefits for Ink Business Unlimited cardholders, such as an introductory 0% APR perk that’ll help you defer paying interest on balances.

This card also offers primary rental car insurance, which is a travel benefit that some ultra-premium cards don’t even offer! Other benefits include zero liability fraud protection, purchase protection, and extended warranty protection.

The 2 Best Alternative Business Credit Cards for Multiple Employees

Now that we’ve gone over our biggest top picks that range across the spectrum of card offerings from $0 annual fee to $295 annual fee options, let’s talk about some of the alternative choices you should consider.

1. Ink Business Cash^® Credit Card (No Annual Fee for Employee Cardholders, LOW Intro APR)

The Ink Business Cash card is also an option worth talking about.

This credit card also has no annual fee for the primary and authorized employee cardholders.

You can earn up to 5% cash-back on these bonus categories:

• Office supply stores
• Cellular phone, landline, internet, and cable TV services

You’ll be capped at $25,000 in combined purchases every account anniversary year.

Also, you’ll earn 2% cash-back (up to $25,000 in combined purchases) on gas stations and restaurants.

Your 5% cash-back and 2% cash-back could be converted to 5x and 2x Ultimate Rewards points, respectively, if you have a card such as the Chase Sapphire Preferred card.

You’ll gain access to travel insurance and purchase protection as an added benefit on these cards.

However, because of the relatively low bonus category caps, you might find yourself easily meeting the ceiling for bonus points! Still, it’s a card to consider if you find yourself transacting a lot in the categories above.

2. The Blue Business^® Plus Credit Card from American Express (No Annual Fee for Employee Cardholders)

The Amex Blue Business Plus card is an underrated credit card that gets you some exceptional rewards on everyday business expenditures.

On up to $50,000 in purchases per year, you can earn 2x Membership Rewards points per $1 spent on purchases. After that, you’ll earn 1x.

We love this card for plenty of reasons, but at the top of the list is the ability to earn an excellent 2x points without fussing about merchant categories. Also, this is a no-annual-fee card, so you also won’t need to worry about authorized user fees for employee cards (see rates and fees)!

The card is one of the lowest-cost ways to access a transferable rewards program, thanks to Membership Rewards.

There are numerous other benefits like expanded buyer power, and access to the famous Amex Offers ecosystem.

The only drawback of this card is that the $50,000 yearly purchase limit that qualifies for 2x points is relatively low — you could max this out with $4,167 in monthly spending.

Final Thoughts

Having a growing business is a great problem to have. And as your business needs grow, so will your business spending requirements. That’s why we put together this guide of the best cards to have if you have multiple employees.

In general, the card recommendations above avoid annual fees for employees, but you should weigh the trade-offs before gravitating towards a card with no authorized user fee for employee cards.

If you can get a higher value than the annual fee from an employee card, then it might be worth it.

For instance, the Amex Business Gold card comes with a $50 annual fee for the first employee card and then no authorized user fee for up to 98 additional employee cards, but it enables your business to seamlessly earn lots of Amex points!

Nevertheless, we hope you enjoyed our favorite picks of business credit cards for businesses with multiple employees.

For rates and fees of the American Express^® Business Gold Card, click here.
For rates and fees of The Blue Business^® Plus Credit Card from American Express, click here.