Compare the Features and Benefits of Business Green Rewards Card from American Express and
Citi Rewards+®

The Business Green Rewards Card from American Express is clearly the “starter” card in the Amex ecosystem for small businesses looking for No Preset Spending Limit (which means your spending limit is flexible. Unlike a traditional card with a set limit, the amount you can spend adapts based on factors such as your purchase, payment, and credit history) without the heftier annual fees of the American Express® Business Gold Card or The Business Platinum Card® from American Express.

However, with this card earning just 1 point per eligible dollar spent (2 points per dollar only for Flights & Prepaid Hotels booked on AmexTravel.com) and lacking any annual statement credits or rich benefits, we struggle to see the value in paying a $95 annual fee.

Although it doesn’t have No Preset Spending Limit, if you truly can’t make the annual fee work on the American Express® Business Gold Card or The Business Platinum Card® from American Express cards, then we would recommend The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express which earns 2x bonus points on all eligible purchases up to a $50,000 annual limit (1x on all eligible purchases thereafter) and has no annual fee.

If you need a much higher credit limit, then we’d advise considering the American Express® Business Gold Card or The Business Platinum Card® from American Express.

Rates and Fees for the Business Green Rewards Card from American Express

The Citi Rewards+ card comes with no annual fee but offers a unique value proposition among the sea of rewards credit cards on the market. In fact, it’s the only credit card to automatically round up to the nearest 10 points on all purchases made with the card. This can be vastly beneficial for small purchases you make on the card, as you’ll get to supercharge your ThankYou points® earning ability with the Citi Rewards+.

The card’s only bonus categories are gas stations and grocery stores, which will be useful for most households. You’ll earn 2x points on the first $6,000 spent every year in these categories combined, which breaks down to roughly $500 in monthly spend. If you exceed this spending cap, you’ll only earn 1x points per $1 spent.

Redeeming your ThankYou points is easy through your online Citi account, where you’ll get the best redemption value from travel or gift cards at 1 cent per point. While other rewards like “Shop with Points” or redeeming for a statement credit may be enticing, these redemption options present a poor value at just 0.8 cents and 0.5 cents, respectively. (Note: When we value the “minimum” redemption value of this card in our calculator at 1 cent per point, we are assuming you will take the maximum redemption option of gift cards.)

No matter how you redeem your points, you’ll get to earn 10% of all the points you redeem every year — up to the first 100,000 points annually. That’s a nice little boost to your ThankYou points balance.

Not only is the Citi Rewards+ a good choice for everyday purchases, but it also makes for a great supplementary card to any other Citi rewards cards you may have in your wallet since you can pool your points together.

If you already have the Citi Premier, a popular travel rewards card, you’ll earn 3x points on restaurants, supermarkets and gas stations, air travel and hotels, and 1x point on all other purchases. That’s where the Citi Rewards+ comes in: you can use the card for small purchases or non-bonus categories to take advantage of that favorable 10% automatic round-up feature.

Plus, if you also have a Citi Premier, you can cash out all of your Citi ThankYou points for 1 cent each or transfer them to ThankYou airline and hotel transfer partners.

(Please note: Without also holding a Citi Premier or Citi Prestige card, you will not be able to transfer these points to Citi’s ThankYou® airline and hotel transfer partners.)

Finally, you’ll have peace-of-mind with important coverages like purchase protection and extended warranty that can come in handy when your eligible card purchases are damaged or stolen.