American Express Platinum vs. Business Platinum: How They Compare & Should You Get Both?

Both The Platinum Card® from American Express and The Business Platinum Card® from American Express are heavyweight travel rewards cards.

Not only are they among American Express’s premium travel rewards cards, they offer some of the most lucrative card perks on the market.

However, the cost of receiving a slew of luxury travel perks is high annual fees. Both the personal Platinum (see rates & fees) and Business Platinum (see rates & fees) cost a not-so-small annual fee of $695 to hold.

If you’re in the market for premium travel rewards, both cards have a lot going for them. But how exactly do they compare? And would it ever make sense to hold both cards simultaneously?

Let’s compare the Amex Platinum vs. Amex Business Platinum to see which one comes out on top and whether you can justify holding both cards.

Welcome Offers

It’s no surprise that both the personal Platinum and Business Platinum cards boast lucrative welcome offers.

The personal Platinum card typically has a welcome offer between 75,000 and 150,000 Membership Rewards points after spending between $5,000 and $8,000 within the first six months of card membership.

The Business Platinum card usually has a welcome offer between 75,000 and 150,000 after spending between $15,000 and $20,000 within the first six months of card membership.

Winner: The Platinum Card from American Express

Given the lower spending requirement on the personal card, that equates to more bang for your buck.

Let’s say you spent $5,000 and received 75,000 Membership Rewards points with your personal Platinum card. At this rate, you’re effectively earning 15X points per dollar spent. However, if you had to spend $15,000 to receive the same 75,000 points with the business Platinum card, you’re effectively earning a rate of just 5X points per dollar spent.

So while both cards have similar welcome offers in terms of points, the personal Platinum card has lower spending requirements on average, letting you stretch your dollar further.

Bonus Spending Categories

Solid bonus spending categories are a key way to ensure you use your card regularly. They help you offset the annual fee with greater ease, as well as accumulate points faster.

The Platinum Card from American Express offers the following bonus spending categories:

• 5X points on flights purchased directly from airlines or American Express Travel® on up to $500,000 per calendar year (1X points thereafter)
• 5X points on prepaid hotels (booked and paid in advance) on AmexTravel.com
• 1X points on all other purchases

In contrast, The Business Platinum Card from American Express offers the following bonus spending categories:

• 5X points on flights and prepaid hotels booked through AmexTravel.com
• 1.5X points on purchases of $5,000 or more, and in key business spending categories, including: U.S. construction material and hardware suppliers, shipping providers, electronic goods retailers, software and cloud system providers. You can earn 1.5X points on up to $2,000,000 in combined purchases per calendar year, then 1X points thereafter
• 1X points on all other purchases

While Amex’s Platinum cards have an array of travel perks, they aren’t the most competitive when it comes to bonus spending categories.

This is especially the case with the personal Platinum card.

Although you can earn 5X points on prepaid hotels booked through AmexTravel.com and 5X points on flights booked directly with airlines or through AmexTravel.com, with a generous spending cap, the card is lacking when it comes to everyday purchases. Categories like dining, gas stations, streaming services and other regular expenses are missing.

This means that offsetting the card’s annual fee through regular everyday spending will be difficult—it earns a measly 1X points on non-bonus category spending. Instead, you’ll need to offset the annual fee either through large flight and hotel purchases or through the card’s statement credit perks (more on this to come).

Assuming a redemption value between 1 cent and 2 cents per point, you’d need to spend between $6,950 and $13,900 in the 5X points bonus categories to break even on the annual fee. Alternatively, you could focus on using the card for its statement credit perks to offset its annual fee.

The Business Platinum card also isn’t top-notch when it comes to bonus spending categories. However, it could offer more opportunities for earning points on everyday spending compared to the personal Platinum card.

The Business Platinum earns 1.5X points on U.S. construction material and hardware suppliers, shipping providers, electronic goods retailers, software and cloud system providers. These categories could be considered everyday spending for many small business owners, giving them a higher rate of return on their spending. While 1.5X points isn’t really a competitive points multiplier, the breadth of the spending category can forgive this.

Likewise, you’ll also earn 1.5X points on any purchases costing $5,000 or more, making it a great card to cover expensive business purchases falling outside of any other traditional bonus spending categories. The 1.5X points category is capped at $2,000,000 in combined purchases per calendar year, which should accommodate the spending of most small business owners.

The Business Platinum card also rewards you when it comes to non-everyday travel expenses, offering 5X points on flights and prepaid hotels booked through AmexTravel.com.

Winner: The Business Platinum Card from American Express

When it comes to bonus spending categories, the Business Platinum card takes the lead.

The card offers the best of both worlds, earning you a return on everyday business spending categories and on occasional travel expenses. And if you travel frequently, the card will offer even greater value.

Card Perks

As already mentioned, bonus spending categories aren’t the strong point of the Amex Platinum cards. However, where they truly come to shine is with the wide range of perks they have on offer.

Both cards offer at least $1,500 worth of perks, enabling you to offset the annual fee by more than double.

Let’s look at the perks that are shared by both cards and the perks that are unique to one card or the other.

Perks Common to Both the Personal and Business Platinum

Both the Amex personal Platinum and Business Platinum offer the following card perks:

• Access to The American Express Global Lounge Collection with more than 1,400 global lounges including The Centurion® Lounge, Escape Lounges – The Centurion® Studio Partner, Delta Sky Club® when flying Delta, Lufthansa Lounges when flying Lufthansa Group, Plaza Premium, Priority Pass™ Select Lounges and other participating partner lounges
• Complimentary Marriott Bonvoy® Gold Elite Status
• Complimentary Hilton Honors Gold Status
• Benefits when staying with properties in the Fine Hotels + Resorts® Program
• $100 experience credit when you book a minimum stay of two nights with The Hotel Collection through American Express Travel
• Up to $200 annual statement credit for airline incidental fees, including in-flight purchases and checked bags, to be applied to one qualifying airline
• $199 statement credit for CLEAR® Plus membership
• Receive either a $100 statement credit every 4 years for a Global Entry application fee or a statement credit up to $85 every 4.5 years for a TSA PreCheck® application fee (when applying through a TSA official enrollment provider), in each case when charged to your eligible American Express card. Card Members approved for Global Entry will also receive access to TSA PreCheck at no additional cost.
• Complimentary Avis Preferred®, Hertz Gold Plus Rewards® and National Car Rental® Emerald Club status
• No foreign transaction fees

This is an extensive range of perks for any credit card. The perks are designed with the frequent traveler—personal or business—in mind.

With access to more than 1,400 global airport lounges, the cost of Global Entry or TSA PreCheck and CLEAR Plus membership covered, as well as complimentary status with Hilton, Marriott, Avis, Hertz and National, the cards have your back in every instance.

These perks alone go a long way in offsetting the annual fee of both cards.

Let’s now compare the additional perks offered by both cards.

Unique Perks of The Platinum Card from American Express

In addition to the perks shared by both cards, the personal Platinum offers:

• Up to $200 annual hotel credit for prepaid Fine Hotels + Resorts® or The Hotel Collection bookings through American Express Travel. The Hotel Collection requires a minimum stay of two nights to qualify for the credit
• $200 in Uber Cash credits for Uber Eats and Uber Rides, issued in $15 monthly increments with a $20 bonus on top in December. Complimentary Uber VIP status is included
• Up to $240 annual digital entertainment credit, issued in up to $20 monthly credits, toward direct purchases with Disney+, a Disney Bundle, ESPN+, Hulu, The New York Times, Peacock and The Wall Street Journal (enrollment required)
• Up to $155 annual statement credit toward Walmart+ membership, given in $12.95 monthly increments
• Up to $100 annual statement credit for Saks Fifth Avenue or saks.com, given in up to $50 biannual increments
• Up to $300 annual statement credit for an Equinox+ digital subscription or membership

That works out to another $1,195 worth of statement credits, on top of the Platinum card’s core statement credits.

Unique Perks of The Business Platinum Card from American Express

Here’s a summary of what the Business Platinum offers in addition to the core perks of each card:

• Up to $400 annual statement credit toward Dell Technologies purchases, issued in up to $200 biannual credits, through Dec. 31, 2024 (enrollment required)
• Up to $360 annual statement credit for Indeed purchases, issued in up to $90 quarterly credits, through Dec. 31, 2024 (enrollment required)
• Up to $150 annual statement credit for select auto-renewing business purchases with Adobe, through Dec. 31, 2024 (enrollment required)
• Up to $120 annual statement credit for wireless telephone service purchases in the U.S., issued in up to $10 monthly credits (enrollment required)
• 35% point rebate on up to 1,000,000 Membership Rewards points per calendar year, when you Pay with Points for a flight.
• Note that the airline selected for the 35% rebate and the $200 airline fee credit must be the same

That comes to $1,030 worth of additional statement credits unique to the Business Platinum card.

Winner: Tie

While the personal Platinum card offers a slightly higher dollar value worth of statement credit perks, the Business Platinum card isn’t far behind. Moreover, which statement credits are more valuable will depend highly on your personal preferences, travel goals and spending habits.

Given that the core perks shared by both Platinum cards cover a wide array of travel expenses, including complimentary status with hotels and rental car companies, both of them will set you up for success.

Travel Insurances

Both cards offer identical travel insurance, including:

• Trip delay insurance. If your trip is delayed by a covered reason for six hours or more, you can be reimbursed for reasonable expenses paid for with your card up to $500 per trip, with a maximum of two claims per 12-month period.¹
• Trip cancellation and interruption insurance. If inclement weather, terrorist action or a covered injury or illness interrupts or cancels your trip, you can be reimbursed for non-refundable common carrier fares paid for with your card up to $10,000 per trip and $20,000 per eligible card per 12 months.²
• Car rental loss and damage waiver. If you decline the CDW of the rental car company and charge the entire cost to your card, you’ll be covered in the event of theft and collision damage.³
• Cell phone protection. When you pay your wireless bill using your card, you can be reimbursed up to $800 for the repairs or replacement of your cell phone. You can make a maximum of two claims per 12-month period with a $50 deductible per approved claim.⁴
• Baggage insurance. If your bag is damaged or lost while traveling with a common carrier, you can be reimbursed by up to $3,000 per covered person. For New York state residents, the reimbursement limit is $2,000 per bag per covered person with an aggregate coverage limit of $10,000 for all bags and persons per trip.⁵

Winner: Tie

As both the Amex Business Platinum and personal Platinum card offer the same travel insurance, neither card takes the lead in this respect.

When Does the Personal Platinum Make Sense?

The Personal Platinum card is a great premium travel rewards credit card that makes sense for frequent travelers. It’s the juggernaut of travel rewards credit cards.

If you’re frequently on the road and in the skies, the personal Platinum card is a card that keeps on giving. With complimentary status with Avis, National, Hertz, Marriott and Hilton, as well as statement credits for CLEAR Plus, Global Entry and TSA PreCheck, travel will always be a luxurious experience.

Likewise, if you can take advantage of other statement credit perks, such as Walmart, Equinox and digital entertainment credits, you can offset the annual fee by a long shot.

When Does the Business Platinum Make Sense?

The Business Platinum card retains many of the core travel perks its personal card equivalent offers. However, it focuses on rewarding and supporting spending in key business categories.

For the small business owner who travels frequently, the Business Platinum card is the ideal travel rewards card.

If you can take advantage of the business-specific statement credit perks and bonus spending categories, it’s worth going for this card.

When does it Make Sense to Hold Both Cards?

Stomaching a $695 annual fee is one thing. Stomaching $1,390 in combined annual fees is a whole other ball game.

So does it ever make sense to hold both the Amex personal Platinum and Business Platinum cards simultaneously?

In short: yes. But as with all things credit-card-related, it depends highly on your spending habits.

Both cards offer core travel-related perks. From this perspective, holding both cards doesn’t give you any advantage over holding just one card.

However, both cards also come with separate statement credit perks worth more than $1,000 each. That means even if you ignore the core shared travel perks, you can still offset the annual fees of both cards using their unique statement credit perks alone.

To put it into perspective, the personal Platinum card offers $1,195 worth of card-specific statement credit perks, while the Business Platinum offers $1,030 worth of statement credit perks.

So if you could take advantage of Equinox, Uber Cash, Walmart and hotel credits on the personal card while taking advantage of Dell, Indeed, Adobe and wireless bill credits on the Business card, you could easily justify holding both cards simultaneously.

However, if you’re motivated more by the core travel perks offered by both cards than their unique perks, then holding just one card will be the smarter option.

Final Thoughts

If a premium travel rewards credit card is in your plan, you can’t go wrong with the personal or Business Platinum cards from Amex.

If you’re a small business owner who can benefit from the unique business statement credit perks and bonus spending categories, the Business Platinum card will be your best bet.

Otherwise, if you’re simply after solid travel perks, the personal Platinum card will be the better option.

And if you want to maximize both travel perks and business spending categories and perks, as well as unique personal Platinum statement credits, then you could even consider going for both.

Once you’re equipped with the premium card you’ve been dreaming about, stay tuned with 10xTravel for more tips on how to maximize your points and redeem them for outsized value.

¹ Up to $500 per covered trip that is delayed for more than 6 hours; and 2 claims per eligible card per 12 consecutive month period. Eligibility and Benefit level varies by Card. Terms, Conditions and Limitations Apply. Please visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by New Hampshire Insurance Company, an AIG Company.

² The maximum benefit amount for Trip Cancellation and Interruption Insurance is $10,000 per Covered Trip and $20,000 per Eligible Card per 12 consecutive month period. Eligibility and Benefit level varies by Card. Terms, Conditions and Limitations Apply. Please visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by New Hampshire Insurance Company, an AIG Company.

³ Car Rental Loss and Damage Insurance can provide coverage up to $75,000 for theft of or damage to most rental vehicles when you use your eligible Card to reserve and pay for the entire eligible vehicle rental and decline the collision damage waiver or similar option offered by the Commercial Car Rental Company. This product provides secondary coverage and does not include liability coverage. Not all vehicle types or rentals are covered. Geographic restrictions apply. Eligibility and Benefit level varies by Card. Terms, Conditions and Limitations Apply. Please visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by AMEX Assurance Company. Car Rental Loss or Damage Coverage is offered through American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc.

⁴ Coverage for a Stolen or damaged Eligible Cellular Wireless Telephone is subject to the terms, conditions, exclusions and limits of liability of this benefit. The maximum liability is $800, per claim, per Eligible Card Account. Each claim is subject to a $50 deductible. Coverage is limited to two (2) claims per Eligible Card Account per 12-month period. Eligibility and Benefit level varies by Card. Terms, Conditions and Limitations Apply. Please visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by New Hampshire Insurance Company, an AIG Company.

⁵ Baggage Insurance Plan coverage can be in effect for Covered Persons for eligible lost, damaged, or stolen Baggage during their travel on a Common Carrier Vehicle (e.g. plane, train, ship, or bus) when the Entire Fare for a ticket for the trip (one-way or round-trip) is charged to an Eligible Card. Coverage can be provided for up to $2,000 for checked Baggage and up to a combined maximum of $3,000 for checked and carry-on Baggage, in excess of coverage provided by the Common Carrier. The coverage is also subject to a $3,000 aggregate limit per Covered Trip. For New York State residents, there is a $2,000 per bag/suitcase limit for each Covered Person with a $10,000 aggregate maximum for all Covered Persons per Covered Trip. Eligibility and Benefit level varies by Card. Terms, Conditions and Limitations Apply. Please visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by AMEX Assurance Company.