Compare the Features and Benefits of The Platinum Card® from American Express and
Graphite™ Business Cash Unlimited Card

💳 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

It’s easy to look at this card and wonder how it differs from the American Express Blue Business Cash™ card, with no annual fee, and wonder why you’d pay a $295 annual fee on this card.

The primary two reasons are:

1) This card is a No Preset Spending Limit card. If you put heavy spend on a business card, you would max out the credit limit on the Blue Business Cash™ very quickly.

2) Importantly, that card only earns 2% on the first $50,000 spent annually on eligible purchases and just 1% thereafter. Terms apply.

This card will earn you the full 2% on unlimited spend. You’ll earn back the $295 annual fee (in Rewards Dollars) after the first $14,750 in eligible spend. If you are spending $500,000 on the card annually, that is a rounding error on the way to 2% cash back on everything else.

Previously, you had few options for such high spend, with the Business Platinum Card® as the obvious choice.

However, the Business Platinum  earns just 1% in Membership Rewards points on all spend outside select categories. Specifically, it earns 2X Membership Rewards® points per dollar on up to $2 million in eligible purchases in the U.S., per calendar year, in the following select business categories combined:

• Electronic goods retailers
• Software & cloud system providers
• Construction materials and hardware supplies.
• Shipping providers.
• Purchases of $5,000 or more

The Business Platinum card also earns 5X per dollar on airfare and prepaid hotel purchases with American Express Travel. Terms apply.

So the cash back from an unlimited 2% on this Graphite Business Cash Unlimited may be far more worthwhile to you, especially if you don’t play the “points game.”

And don’t forget you’ll also get an unlimited 5% Cash Back on American Express Travel® on flights and prepaid hotel bookings through Amex Travel®. That can really add up for business travel collectively booked on the Amex Travel platform.

Card Members can get metal Employee Graphite™ Business Cash Unlimited Cards for $95 per year for the first 5 Cards, and $95 for each thereafter, with the ability to earn Reward Dollars on purchases and receive alerts to help Card Members know who’s spending and where.

This card competes squarely against the Capital One Spark Cash Plus and the Venture X Business which earns 2X Capital One Miles.

Rates & Fees for the Graphite™ Business Cash Unlimited Card

Rates and Fees for the The American Express Blue Business Cash™ Card

Rates and fees for The Business Platinum Card® from American Express