American Express Business Platinum Card
American Express, American Express, $895 annual fee. Earns Amex Membership Rewards, valued at 2.00¢ a point.
Rates checked against the issuer 2026-10. Foreign transaction fee: none.
The short version
- Best at: home improvement (#1, $4.00 per $100).
- A year's rewards: about $529, or −$366 after the fee.
Is the annual fee worth it?
It earns about $529 a year on the illustrative household's spending, which is −$366 once the fee is paid. The best card with no fee, American Express Blue Business Plus, nets $1,058 on the same spending — so this card is $1,424 a year behind. On earning alone it does not catch up at any level of spending this looks at — its credits and perks have to make up the difference, or the fee is not paying for itself.
Priced on an illustrative household spending $2,205 a month on a card — the assumption, in full. Credits and perks are not priced: they are worth their face value only if you would have spent that money anyway.
What it earns, category by category
| Earns on | Rate | ConditionsWhat the issuer attaches to this rate: a spending cap, a category you have to switch on, or a booking you have to make through its travel portal. |
|---|---|---|
| Flights, Hotels | 5x | Only through the issuer's travel portal. Flights and prepaid hotels booked through American Express Travel |
| Home Improvement | 2x | Up to $2,000,000 per year, then the base rate. U.S. construction material and hardware suppliers |
| Everything else | 1x |
Where it ranks
Against every card in the catalogue, scored in dollars per $100 with no rotating categories switched on:
- #1 of 117 for home improvement — $4.00 per $100
Where a year's rewards come from
| Spending on | Earns a yearWhat this card earns on each kind of spending over a year, for the illustrative household on the method page. Before the annual fee. |
|---|---|
| Groceries | $120 |
| Everything Else | $120 |
| Restaurants & Bars | $72 |
| Gas Stations | $36 |
| Online Shopping | $36 |
| Utilities | $36 |
Priced on an illustrative household spending $2,205 a month on a card — the assumption, in full. Credits and perks are not priced: they are worth their face value only if you would have spent that money anyway.
What the issuer lists besides rewards
- 2x also at U.S. electronics, software and cloud providers, U.S. shipping providers, and on any single purchase of $5,000 or more — all within the same $2 million a year
Similar cards
- American Express Platinum Card — annual fee $895 a year
- Chase Sapphire Reserve — annual fee $795 a year
- Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business — annual fee $795 a year
- Citi Strata Elite — annual fee $595 a year
- Every travel card, ranked
- When an annual fee pays for itself
- The best two- and three-card combinations
Point values: published industry valuations, read 2026-09. How every number here is worked out.