Compare the Features and Benefits of Chase Freedom Unlimited® and
The Platinum Card® from American Express

This is a staple card in the Chase Trifecta, which includes a Chase Sapphire Preferred or Chase Sapphire Reserve, a Chase Freedom Flex, and this card, the Chase Freedom Unlimited.

The primary benefit of this card, from a bonus category perspective, is the ability to earn 1.5% on all purchases that don’t have a bonus category. So while you earn 3% on dining and drugstore purchases with the Freedom Unlimited, you’ll earn 1.5% cash back on anything else, like insurance or utilities.

But since the Chase Freedom Unlimited is a pure cash back credit card unless you also have a Chase Sapphire Preferred®, Sapphire Reserve®, or Ink Business Preferred® with which to combine your Chase Ultimate Rewards points, it’s ideally used as a combo.

When you hold one of these premium Ultimate Rewards-earning credit cards, you can transfer points earned on the Freedom Unlimited to the premium card. Once you’ve moved the Ultimate Rewards over to the premium credit card, you can take advantage of points transfers to 12 Chase airline and hotel partners or book travel through Chase Travel℠ where Points Boost gives you the opportunity to redeem at up to 2 cents per point in value depending on the card, or 1 cent per point otherwise.

But our absolute favorite way to redeem is always via airline and hotel transfer partners. The easiest high-value redemption is usually Hyatt. We often get better than 2 cents per World of Hyatt point. Keep in mind that Hyatt doesn’t charge any resort fees when you stay on a free night award. So let’s say you are looking at a hotel with a cash price of $259 and a $25 a night resort fee and 8% tax. That would come to $307 a night. But if that same room costs 8,000 or 12,000 Hyatt points, you could be using your points (which transfer at an even 1:1 ratio to all airline and hotel partners) with a rate of return of 3 – 4 cents.

That said, even without a card combo, it’s still a solid card to earn 1.5% cash back (plus 3% on dining, including takeout and eligible delivery services, and drugstores) since it has no annual fee. Best of all, you can accrue cash back on this card and decide to add a Chase Sapphire Preferred®, Sapphire Reserve®, or Ink Business Preferred® later on – if you suddenly decide that you’d like to delve into the world of credit card rewards that transfer to frequent flyer and hotel programs to book free award flights and hotel nights.

It comes with a solid range of benefits for a card with no annual fee, too. You’ll get Purchase Protection and Extended Warranty on the shopping side and you’ll be taken care of on canceled or shortened pre-paid trips if a covered reason arises. with the included Trip Cancellation/Interruption Insurance.

💳 This card earns American Express Membership Rewards points. American Express often runs transfer bonuses where you can get even more points when you transfer to airline or hotel partners at designated times. Transfer bonuses are awesome. Get 20%, 30%, 40% or more bonus miles when you transfer points at the right times. But they are easy to miss!

You can see all past Transfer Bonuses from American Express Membership Rewards here.

Even better? Get notified when a new transfer bonus comes out and again before it ends (either or both, your choice). Sign up for free alerts right here. 🔔

In many ways, the American Express Platinum card is the crème de la crème of premium travel rewards credit cards. A 2025 refresh of this card added a slew of additional benefits and statement credits as the annual fee rose to $895 (Rates and Fees). On balance, the additional perks well exceeded the annual fee increase.

We see at least $1,700 in “very easy to use” statement credits on top of the benefits like Centurion airport lounge access, Priority Pass Lounge access, Delta lounge access when flying Delta up to 10 times a year), hotel status in three programs, car rental status in multiple programs, access to Fine Hotels and Resorts perks, access to Resy perks (including Resy Nights – exclusive access for Platinum cardholders on top of the statement credits of up to $100 per quarter).

The “very easy to use” statement credits we used to come up with that $1,700 is as follows:

• For the target Platinum cardholder, the $600 a year in FHR / Hotel Collection is easy to use. That’s just one reservation twice a year to get your $300 X 2 back.
• For those that live in major cities, you probably already eat at a Resy restaurant once every 3 months. That is another $400 in statement credits.
• We don’t think we know anyone that doesn’t use $25 a month in streaming services given the exhaustive list of providers (Disney+, a Disney+ bundle, ESPN+, Hulu, The New York Times, Paramount+, Peacock, The Wall Street Journal, YouTube Premium, and YouTube TV). That’s $300 more back in statement credits
• If you agree you are likely to use most or all the above, you probably already ride Uber or order Uber Eats at least once or twice a month? That’s $200 more in statement credits.
• Most travelers should be using the $200 incidental airline credit easily and that’s the last $200 in credits we consider “very easy to use.”

In this scenario, you have paid an annual fee of $895, received $1,700 in value from just some of the available credits, and we haven’t even assigned any value to the airport lounge access, hotel status (Hilton Gold, Marriott Gold, and Leader’s Club Sterling), car rental program status, Resy perks, or the statement credits that many will use even if we didn’t include them in our “base case” such as the monthly Uber One membership credit, lululemon, Equinox, Oura Ring, and the Walmart+ credit.

That’s more than $1,000 in additional potential statement credit value.

Please keep in mind that enrollment is required for most benefits above, and Terms Apply; refer to the “Unique Card Benefits” section, the “Statement Credits” section, the “Grants Hotel Status” section, and the “Grants Car Rental Status” sections above for all details.

Beyond the access to Fine Hotels and Resorts and the Hotel Collection, and beyond the airport lounge access and hotel / car rental statuses, the card still earns 5X on airfare purchased directly with the airlines or through the Amex Travel portal (on up to $500,000 of airfare purchases per calendar year) as well as 5X on prepaid hotels through Amex Travel.

Since the card earns 1X on all other purchases, we recommend pairing this card with the American Express® Gold Card, which earns 4X American Express Membership Rewards points per dollar spent at restaurants worldwide (up to $50,000 a year; 1X thereafter) and 4X Membership Rewards points per dollar spent on U.S. Supermarkets* (up to $25,000 a year; 1X thereafter).

When paired, you’ve got a tremendously powerful card combo for both spend and lifestyle / travel perks.

A few notes you need to know:

Amex now has language restricting you from getting the bonus on this Card if you have or have had this card OR have had this Card, the Platinum Card^® from American Express Exclusively for Charles Schwab, the Platinum Card^® from American Express Exclusively for Morgan Stanley or previous versions of these Cards.

Additional Platinum cards are $195 each.

If you want an Authorized User card with none of the benefits, that is still available as the “Companion Platinum Card.” They will simply be able to make charges that post to your account.

Bottom Line:

Rates and Fees for The Platinum Card® from American Express