When to get Amex Business Platinum instead of the personal Amex Platinum

The Business Platinum Card® from American Express is not only one of the best small-business cards, it’s one of the best cards for travel rewards in general. Cardmembers pay for all that excellence, though, since it charges a $695 annual fee (see rates and fees).

However, despite a plethora of valuable benefits and some excellent opportunities to earn bonus points, the Amex Business Platinum Card still tends to be overshadowed by its personal counterpart, The Platinum Card® from American Express — which has a $695 annual fee of its own (see rates and fees).

But if you’re only going to have one of the Amex Platinum products, there are some compelling reasons to opt for the business version over the personal one. Let’s dive into them.

Amex Business Platinum details

First, here’s a quick rundown of the Amex Business Platinum’s features:

Current welcome offer

Earn 150,000 Membership Rewards points after spending $20,000 on eligible purchases within the first three months of card membership. TPG values Amex points at 2 cents apiece, so the welcome bonus alone is worth $3,000.

Earning

The Amex Business Platinum earns points at the following rates:

• 5 points per dollar spent on flights and prepaid hotels booked through Amex Travel
• 1.5 points per dollar on up to $2 million in eligible purchases in the U.S. per calendar year of over $5,000 each, as well as on U.S. purchases with construction material and hardware suppliers, shipping providers, electronic goods retailers and software and cloud system providers (then 1 point per dollar)
• 1 point per dollar on all other eligible charges

Unique benefits

The Amex Business Platinum has several perks in common with the personal Amex Platinum Card, but it boasts the following unique perks (enrollment is required for select benefits):

• 35% rebate when you Pay with Points for a first- or business-class ticket on any airline or an economy ticket on one selected airline of your choice (up to 1 million points back per calendar year)
• Up to $400 in annual statement credits per calendar year for U.S. Dell technology purchases — up to a $200 credit for January through June and another up to $200 credit for July through December. Benefit ends Dec. 31, 2024.
• Up to $360 in annual statement credits (up to $90 per quarter) on all Indeed hiring and recruiting products and services to post open positions and find talent. Benefit ends Dec. 31, 2024.
• Up to $150 in annual statement credit on select Adobe purchases, including Adobe Creative Cloud and Acrobat Pro DC. Benefit ends Dec. 31, 2024.
• Up to $120 in annual statement credits (up to $10 per month) for purchases made directly from any U.S. wireless telephone provider

Related: 9 things to do when you get the Amex Business Platinum Card

Annual fee

The Amex Business annual fee is $695 (see rates and fees).

Related: Is the Amex Business Platinum worth the annual fee?

Amex Platinum details

Next, let’s look at the personal Amex Platinum Card, which has also undergone some major refreshes over the past few years.

Current welcome offer

Earn 80,000 Membership Rewards points after you spend $8,000 on purchases on the card in the first six months of card membership.

Also, note that you could potentially score a welcome offer as high as 125,000 bonus points if you apply using the CardMatch tool (offer subject to change at any time).

Earning

This card earns points at the following rates:

• 5 points per dollar on airfare booked directly with airlines or through Amex Travel (on up to $500,000 of these purchases per calendar year, then 1 point per dollar)
• 5 points per dollar on prepaid hotels booked through Amex Travel
• 1 point per dollar on all other eligible purchases

Unique benefits

The personal Amex Platinum Card extends these specific perks that the business version does not have (enrollment is required for select benefits):

This card far surpasses the Amex Business Platinum in terms of the sheer volume of statement credits. However, these credits aren’t for everyone — far from it. For example, if you don’t live near an Equinox gym or do not want to pay for a digital membership via the Equinox app, this credit is largely useless. Similarly, if you don’t regularly subscribe to one of the participating digital entertainment merchants, that credit is not of much value, either.

Don’t let all the dollar signs persuade you to open the card if its benefits and perks won’t be applicable to your lifestyle. If you just use them because they’re available, but they aren’t saving you money on things you’re paying for anyway, you won’t get true value from them.

Related: 10 things to do when you get the Amex Platinum

Annual fee

Like the business version, the personal Amex Platinum annual fee is $695 (see rates and fees).

Related: High annual fee with big rewards: A full review of The Platinum Card from American Express

Perks offered by both cards

For context, here are the main benefits that both cards offer their members in common (enrollment is required for select benefits):

Related: Guide to lounge access with the Amex Platinum and Business Platinum

Comparison of the Amex Platinum and Amex Business Platinum

Here’s an overview of the key differences between the two cards:

	The Platinum Card from American Express	The Business Platinum Card from American Express
Welcome offer	Earn 80,000 points after spending $8,000 within the first six months of card membership	Earn 150,000 points after spending $20,000 in the first three months of card membership
Annual fee	$695	$695
Earning rates	5 points per dollar on airfare booked directly with airlines or through Amex Travel (on up to $500,000 of these purchases per calendar year, then 1 point per dollar) 5 points per dollar on prepaid hotels booked through Amex Travel 1 point per dollar on all other eligible purchases	5 points per dollar spent on flights and prepaid booked through Amex Travel 1.5 points per dollar on up to $2 million in eligible purchases in the U.S. per calendar year of over $5,000 each, as well as on U.S. purchases with construction material and hardware suppliers, shipping providers, electronic goods retailers and software and cloud system providers (then 1 point per dollar) 1 point per dollar on all other eligible purchases
Unique benefits	Up to $200 in Uber Cash for U.S. rides or Uber Eats orders each calendar year Up to $100 in annual Saks Fifth Avenue statement credits per calendar year Up to $200 annual hotel statement credits Up to $300 annual Equinox credits Up to $240 in annual digital entertainment credits Up to $155 in annual statement credits to cover the cost of a monthly Walmart+ membership (subject to auto-renewal) Up to $300 in statement credits when purchasing one SoulCycle at-home bike Enrollment is required in advance for some benefits	35% rebate when you Pay with Points for a first- or business-class ticket on any airline or an economy ticket on one selected airline of your choice. Up to $400 in annual statement credits per calendar year for U.S. Dell technology purchases through Dec. 31, 2024 Up to $360 in annual statement credits with Indeed through Dec. 31, 2024 Up to $150 in annual statement credit on select Adobe purchases through Dec. 31, 2024 Up to $120 in annual wireless provider statement credits Enrollment is required in advance for some benefits

Related: Platinum showdown: Amex Platinum vs. Amex Business Platinum

Reasons to choose the Amex Business Platinum over the Amex Platinum

Now that their similarities are out of the way let’s focus on their differences and how those might sway you to choose the Amex Business Platinum instead of the Amex Platinum.

You have or already had the personal Amex Platinum

Like many other issuers, American Express has increasingly restricted who is eligible for the welcome bonuses on its cards. The offer terms for the Amex Platinum Card, for instance, say the following:

“You may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer if you have 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. You also may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer based on various factors, such as your history with credit card balance transfers, your history as an American Express Card Member, the number of credit cards that you have opened and closed and other factors.”

So, if you already have the Amex Platinum, or even if you carried it in the past but have since closed it, you might be precluded from taking advantage of its current welcome offer. If you want to regain some of its benefits and the chance of scoring tens of thousands of additional Membership Rewards points, you might have to opt for the Amex Business Platinum instead.

The information for the Platinum Amex for Charles Schwab and the Amex Exclusively for Morgan Stanley has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

You can spend enough to earn the Amex Business Platinum’s higher welcome offer

The Amex Business Platinum’s welcome bonus terms are fairly straightforward: Earn 150,000 bonus points after spending $20,000 within the first three months. That’s a considerable amount, but it’s not outside the budget of many small businesses. After meeting the minimum spending requirements, you’d end up with at least 170,000 points.

By contrast, the Amex Platinum Card currently offers a lower welcome bonus: 80,000 points after spending $8,000 within the first six months of card membership.

On the surface, the personal card’s terms might seem better. Consider you have twice the time to spend less than half the amount of money for the bonus points. Still, if you can meet the spending requirement to earn the Business Platinum bonus, you’ll get 40,000 more bonus points — worth $800 according to TPG valuations.

You spend a lot on flights and hotels

The two cards have very similar earning structures with two subtle (but significant) differences.

First, the personal Amex Platinum Card earns 5 points per dollar on flights booked not just through Amex Travel but also directly with airlines, while the Amex Business Platinum only earns 5 points per dollar on flights booked through Amex Travel.

Second, the personal card’s bonus-earning on flights is capped at $500,000 in spending per calendar year (then 1 point per dollar), while the business version has no such ceiling. Both accrue 5 points per dollar on prepaid hotel bookings with Amex Travel.

If you tend to just book flights directly with airlines, the personal card is a better choice. However, if you use Amex Travel for a lot of your travel plans — or if you have that option — then you at least won’t be missing out by charging your reservations to the Amex Business Platinum.

Plus, if you book a lot of flights — more than $500,000 worth per year — with your card, then you’re definitely better off with the business card since its bonus-qualifying spending isn’t capped at that amount.

Related: The best credit cards for paying taxes and fees on award tickets

You can maximize the Amex Business Platinum’s large-transaction and business category bonuses

The Amex Business Platinum has a unique earning structure. Previously, you could earn 1.5 points per dollar on purchases of $5,000 or more, up to 1 million bonus points per year (so $2 million in spending). Now, however, the card also earns 1.5 points per dollar on U.S. purchases from construction material and hardware suppliers, electronic goods retailers, software and cloud system providers and shipping providers. There is the same combined $2 million annual spending cap with these purchases and the large-transaction purchases.

If you make these types of business purchases — or regularly use your card for transactions of $5,000-plus — then the Amex Business Platinum blows the personal version out of the water.

You might also find creative ways to leverage this purchase bonus on one-off expenditures. For example, TPG contributor Jason Steele leveraged this perk to earn 1.5 points per dollar on the purchase of a new car.

Related: The best credit cards to maximize large purchases

You use Pay with Points for premium travel

One of the major ways the two cards diverge is that the Amex Business Platinum offers cardmembers a refund of 35% of the points they redeem through Amex’s Pay with Points feature, while the personal version does not. There are a few stipulations, though.

First, you only receive the 35% points refund on two types of flights: business- or first-class tickets with any airline or tickets in any class with the same airline you preselect for your annual $200 airline fee rebate. That might hamstring your options if you don’t actually plan to spend points on a ticket with the same carrier.

Even if you seldom redeem Membership Rewards this way, this one benefit can save you tens of thousands of points on a single ticket. That makes carrying the Amex Business Platinum instead of the personal card well worth it since the latter won’t provide any points rebate when you use Pay with Points.

Here’s another way to think about this perk. Instead of getting 1 cent per point in value when you use Pay with Points for flights, carrying the Amex Business Platinum and redeeming this way bumps their value up to 1.54 cents apiece — a 54% premium.

Related: Amex Business Platinum for flights: When to transfer vs. when to pay with points

You prefer the business card’s statement credits

The personal Amex Platinum and Amex Business Platinum offer many unique annual statement credits.

The personal card offers quite a few lifestyle statement credits, including credits for Saks Fifth Avenue purchases, digital entertainment subscriptions, and memberships with Clear Plus, Equinox and Walmart+. (Enrollment is required for select benefits). But if those aren’t things you actually use (or plan to), why bother trying to keep track of them or paying the personal card’s annual fee?

The Amex Business Platinum offers hundreds of dollars in annual statement credits for things like Dell purchases, Indeed services, Adobe products and U.S. wireless provider charges. However, it’s important to note that the Dell, Adobe, and Indeed statement credits end on Dec. 31, 2024, so if your business was planning on utilizing these benefits yearly, you may want to think again. It’s uncertain if the statement credit amounts will change or if Amex will replace these benefits with different ones. Nonetheless, if your business uses any of these services, the card’s benefits can help you save quite a bundle of money this year. Enrollment is required for select benefits.

Related: How to decide if a credit card’s annual fee is worth paying

You don’t use Uber that often

The personal Amex Platinum Card includes up to $15 in Uber Cash each month for rides and Uber Eats orders in the U.S. and includes an extra $20 in December. That’s a total yearly benefit of up to $200. That’s pretty substantial, but remember that these credits don’t roll over from month to month. So, if you don’t use Uber regularly, you might be unable to take full advantage of it.

Another factor to consider: You might have another card that offers significant benefits to using different ride-hailing and food delivery services. For example, if you have the American Express® Gold Card, you’re already getting $10 per month in Uber Cash for Uber rides and Uber Eats orders in the U.S. You may not want to duplicate this perk by adding the personal Amex Platinum to your wallet.

Whatever your situation, think about whether the Uber benefit would be worth carrying the personal version over the business version or whether this is one benefit you can leave on the table.

Related: Who should (and shouldn’t) get the Amex Business Platinum

Bottom line

Both the Amex Platinum and the Amex Business Platinum are excellent rewards cards with a variety of benefits from which members can reap tremendous value. Which card is right for you will come down to understanding which card has the right combination for you when considering the introductory offer, everyday bonus opportunities and ongoing benefits. Consider which card best matches your financial habits and needs and which card’s other perks you’re most likely to leverage year after year.

That said, you might want to consider carrying both the personal and business Amex Platinum cards since there are plenty of ways the two cards don’t overlap.

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Apply here: The Business Platinum Card from American Express with a 150,000-point welcome bonus

Apply here: The Platinum Card from American Express with an 80,000-point welcome bonus

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For rates and fees of the Amex Platinum Card, click here.
For rates and fees of the Amex Business Platinum Card, click here.