Card Showdown: Capital One Venture X Business vs. The Business Platinum Card® From American Express

Two of the most well-known premium business credit cards on the market today are the Capital One Venture X Business and The Business Platinum Card® From American Express (Rates & Fees). Both of these credit cards are the top-of-the-line business cards from their respective issuers, offer a host of premium benefits and charge fairly high annual fees.

Additionally, both of these credit cards earn flexible rewards (Capital One Miles and American Express Membership Rewards points) that can be earned by making purchases on your card and can be redeemed in a variety of ways, from receiving cash back to booking travel. When redeemed in most ways, these miles or points are worth exactly one cent apiece. However, by transferring Capital One Miles or Amex points to airline partners, it’s possible to find outsized value redemptions that offer far more than one cent per point.

The Capital One Venture X Business card and the Amex Business Platinum Card have many similarities. However, these two cards also differ in many important ways. The Amex Business Platinum has a significantly higher annual fee, offers inferior spending bonuses and comes with far more statement credits than the Venture X Business. The Venture X Business, on the other hand, is more affordable and offers better spending bonuses, but has fewer statement credits (although it still comes with some impressive annual statement credits).

The Amex Business Platinum Card is the better option if you’ll use the majority of the statement credits that are available with it. However, if you’re unsure of whether you’ll take advantage of these statement credits, then it’s almost certainly better to go with the Venture X Business card.

In this article, we’re going to look at these two premium business credit cards side-by-side to help you determine which one is the better option for your business.

Requirements for a Business Credit Card

To be eligible for either the Venture X Business Card or the Amex Business Platinum Card, it is essential that you are a business owner.

You may not think of yourself as a business owner, but you may be considered a small business owner based on the definition employed by credit card issuers.

For instance, you could potentially be approved for a business credit card if you make money from mowing lawns, babysitting, driving for Uber or selling on eBay.

Common types of small businesses include:

• Partnerships
• Corporations
• Limited liability companies (LLCs)
• Sole proprietorships

If you own a partnership, corporation, or LLC, you probably think of yourself as a business owner. However, if your business falls under the umbrella of a sole proprietorship, then you may be legally considered a small business owner without even realizing it.

The legal definition of a sole proprietorship includes:

• Self-employed business owners (including Airbnb managers, online sellers on platforms like eBay and Etsy, farmers, landscapers, babysitters, etc.)
• Freelancers and independent contractors (including freelance content writers, social media managers, freelance consultants, bookkeepers, plumbers, electricians, real estate agents, web developers, etc.)
• Gig economy workers (including delivery workers for services like DoorDash and GrubHub, ride-share drivers for services like Uber and Lyft, task-based gig workers, dog walkers, online teachers, etc.)

In essence, if you engage in any money-making activity outside of a formally organized business, you are considered a sole proprietorship and be able to qualify for a business credit card.

However, you will be required to provide information about your business, including your business address (which can be your home address) and your annual business income (which can be an estimate).

Side-By-Side Comparison

Let’s begin by briefly looking at the different features of both the Venture X Business and the Amex Business Platinum Card side-by-side. The chart below includes many of the important aspects of both cards, including annual fees, spending bonuses and other important benefits:

*Receive either a statement credit every 4 years after you apply for Global Entry ($120) or a statement credit every 4.5 years after you apply for a five-year membership for TSA PreCheck (up to $85 through a TSA PreCheck official enrollment provider) and pay the application fee with your Platinum Card^®. If approved for Global Entry, at no additional charge, you will receive access to TSA PreCheck.

As you can see, the list of benefits that come with the Amex Business Platinum Card is very extensive. If you’re able to use all of these benefits to the fullest, you can easily make up for this card’s high annual fee of $695.

The Venture X Business, while not offering quite as many benefits as the Amex Business Platinum, also has some valuable statement credits and other benefits that can help cardholders quickly make up for the $395 annual fee. Plus, the spending bonuses offered by the Venture X Business are potentially far more valuable than those offered by the Amex Business Platinum.

The Venture X Business is a pay-in-full credit card. As you might assume, this means that you’re required to pay your entire Venture X Business Card balance off every month or else you’ll incur a penalty fee equal to 2.99% of the outstanding balance. Your account will also be considered past due until the balance is paid off entirely.

By contrast, the Amex Business Platinum Card functions like most other cards, meaning that you aren’t required to pay off your balance in full. However, you will be charged an APR on any unpaid balance at the end of each month.

One feature that the Amex Business Platinum and the Venture X Business have in common is that neither card has a preset spending limit. Both of these cards will automatically adjust your spending limit based on your spending behavior, payment history, credit profile and other factors.

On the one hand, this is a positive because you can get your credit limit raised without having to submit a request to your credit card issuer. On the other hand, having a spending limit that can change at any time makes it more difficult to track your credit utilization ratio, which is a major contributing factor to your credit score.

Welcome Offers

One important thing to consider when deciding between the Venture X Business Card and the Amex Business Platinum is the welcome offer from each card. These offers generally offer a large sum of points to new cardholders who spend a certain amount of money on their card within a certain time period after account opening.

When the Venture X Business Card first came on the market on Sept. 12, 2023, it included a very large welcome offer of 150,000 miles for cardholders who spent $30,000 in the first three months after account opening. While this is a very large sum of miles, the spending requirement is very high and may be unachievable for many small business owners. See the current welcome offer available with the Venture X Business Card below.

Over the history of the Amex Business Platinum, this card has typically offered welcome offers between 80,000 points and 150,000 points. The spending requirements to earn these welcome offers have typically been significantly lower than the spending requirement for the Venture X Business Card’s welcome bonus. See the current welcome offer available with the Amex Business Platinum Card below.

In general, the Amex Business Platinum’s welcome offers, while generally almost as valuable as those offered by the Venture X Business Card, have been much easier to earn as their spending requirements have been much lower. The $30,000 spending requirement that has been included with the Venture X Business Card’s welcome offer is very high, which could make this offer very difficult to earn for most small business owners.

Earning a welcome offer is a great way to accrue a large sum of rewards very quickly. So, if you’re going to sign up for one of these credit cards, we’d recommend that you make sure that you’ll be able to meet the spending requirement for the welcome offer before doing so.

Annual Fees

The Venture X Business Card and Amex Business Platinum Card have a rather large ($300) discrepancy in annual fees. The Venture X Business Card has an annual fee of $395 whereas the Amex Business Platinum Card has a significantly higher annual fee of $695 (rates & fees).

With a difference this large, the annual fee of each card is of course a major point of consideration when deciding between the two.

The $395 annual fee charged by the Venture X Business card is relatively high compared to many other business credit cards on the market (such as the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card, which charges an annual fee of $95). However, if you can take full advantage of the statement credits, welcome bonus, spending bonuses and other benefits included with this card, you can easily offset that annual fee year after year.

The Amex Business Platinum Card’s annual fee of $695 is one of the highest annual fees charged by any business credit card on the market, which puts it out of the price range of many small business owners. However, if you can afford the annual fee charged by the Amex Business Platinum Card, this card includes a myriad of statement credits and premium perks that can make that annual fee well worth it.

Spending Bonuses

When it comes to spending bonuses, the Venture X Business Card (despite having the lower annual fee) has a clear advantage over the Amex Business Platinum Card. Both card’s spending bonuses are primarily geared toward travel purchases. However, the Venture X Business offers higher potential earnings for travel spending, as well as a higher baseline rewards earning rate.

Here are the spending bonuses currently being offered by the Venture X Business Card:

• 10X miles on hotels and rental cars booked directly through Capital One Travel
• 5X miles on flights booked directly through Capital One Travel
• 2X miles on every other purchase

The ability to earn 10X miles on hotels and rental cars (as well as 5X miles on flights) booked through Capital One Travel means that small business owners who spend a lot of money on travel could potentially rack up Capital One Miles very quickly. Plus, the baseline of 2X miles on all other purchases means that you’ll earn decent rewards every time you use your card.

Here are the current spending bonuses offered by the Amex Business Platinum Card:

• 5X Membership Rewards® Points on flights and prepaid hotels on AmexTravel.com
• 1.5X points on eligible purchases in key business categories including:
  • U.S. construction material and hardware suppliers
  • U.S. electronic goods retailers and software and cloud system providers
  • U.S. shipping providers
• 1.5X points on purchases of $5,000 or more everywhere else, on up to $2 million of these purchases per calendar year
• 1X points on all other purchases

Compared to the Venture X Business card’s spending bonuses, the spending bonuses offered by the Amex Business Platinum (despite charging a much higher annual fee) are significantly less impressive.

While the Venture X Business offers 10X miles on hotel and rental car spending and 5X miles on flights through its travel portal, the Amex Business Platinum only offers 5X points on hotels and flights through its own travel portal.

While the Amex Business Platinum does offer an elevated spending bonus of 1.5X points in certain common business categories and on all purchases of over $5,000, the Venture X Business offers a baseline of 2X miles on all purchases, which is obviously more impressive.

Redeeming Rewards

In comparing the Venture X Business and the Amex Business Platinum Card, it’s important to remember that these two cards earn different rewards currencies: Capital One Miles and American Express Membership Rewards points.

Both of these rewards currencies can be redeemed in different ways, including hotel stays, cash back, rental cars, online shopping purchases and more. But, if you want to maximize the value of your rewards, we’d recommend transferring them to airline partners and then redeeming them for flights. That’s because, with both Capital One Rewards and American Express Membership Rewards, most redemption options offer just one cent per point/mile in value. However, by transferring miles to airline partners, it’s possible to get far more than one cent per point/mile in value.

When it comes to transferring rewards to airline partners, the Amex Business Platinum and the Venture X Business are more-or-less even. While American Express Membership Rewards technically has 18 airline partners while Capital One Rewards technically has only 15, Capital One Venture cardmembers can also access three additional partners by moving Avios between programs, which will be explained in more detail later. The following chart includes the airline transfer partners of both programs:

While American Express lists three more airline transfer partners than Capital One, it’s important to note that Aer Lingus AerClub, British Airways Executive Club, Iberia Plus and Qatar Airways Executive Club all use the Avios currency, which can be transferred freely at a 1:1 ratio. Thus, since British Airways is a transfer partner of Capital One, you can transfer Capital One Miles to British Airways and then transfer them to Aer Lingus, Iberia and Qatar Airways for free, essentially expanding the number of Capital One transfer partners to 18.

It is worth noting, however, that American Express has Delta Air Lines as a transfer, which might be a selling point for some U.S.-based travelers. Capital One, on the other hand, doesn’t have any of the “Big 3” U.S. airlines as a transfer partner.

All in all, the Venture X Business and the Amex Business Platinum Card are pretty evenly matched when it comes to transfer partners. Both Capital One Rewards and American Express Membership Rewards allow you to redeem rewards in a multitude of other ways, including cash back, gift cards, hotel stays, car rentals and more. However, if you want to maximize the value of your rewards with either program, it’s best to avoid these other redemption options and stick to redeeming through airline transfer partners.

It’s also worth noting that the Amex Business Platinum Card offers a 35% points rebate when redeeming certain flights through AmexTravel.com with points. This rebate applies to all First Class and Business Class flights purchased through AmexTravel.com and to all flights (regardless of cabin class) on one airline of your choice purchased through AmexTravel.com. So, if you were to redeem 10,000 points for a flight on your selected airline through AmexTravel.com, you would receive a rebate of 3,500 points. This means that each of your points is essentially worth 1.35 cents apiece when redeemed this way.

While you can still get more value by transferring your points to airlines transfer partners, this 35% bonus is great for those who don’t want to bother with points transfers and would rather just redeem their points through AmexTravel.com. The Venture X Business has no such bonus for redemptions made through Capital One Travel.

Card Benefits

As both the Venture X Business and Amex Business Platinum are premium travel-focused business credit cards, where they really shine is in the benefits that they offer. As to be expected due to the Amex Business Platinum Card’s significantly higher annual fee, the Amex card has the advantage when it comes to benefits.

While the Venture X Business comes with impressive travel benefits like lounge access and $300 in annual statement credits toward travel purchases through Capital One Travel, the Amex Business Platinum Card offers a host of statement credits totaling over $1,000 annually as well as other impressive premium benefits like lounge access, reciprocal elite status with hotel rewards programs and more.

In the following sections, we’ll take a look at the different benefits offered by both of these cards.

Capital One Venture X Business Benefits

The Venture X Business card offers several amazing perks that can help cardmembers quickly offset the card’s $395 annual fee.

$300 Annual Travel Credit

Among the best benefits offered by the Venture X Business Card is the $300 annual statement credit toward travel purchases made through the Capital One Travel portal. To use these credits, you can use your Venture X Business Card to purchase flights, hotels or rental cars through Capital One Travel.

Then, you’ll receive a statement credit for any eligible Capital One Travel purchases made up to $300 per cardmember per year. These statement credits typically take between one and seven days to apply. However, in some cases, they can take up to two billing cycles.

If you’re someone who spends a lot of money on travel annually, this statement credit is very valuable. If you use the $300 in Capital One Travel statement credits every year, it’s almost as if the Venture X Business Card’s $395 annual fee is instantly reduced to $95.

10,000-Mile Anniversary Bonus

Every cardmember anniversary, Venture X Business cardholders receive 10,000 Capital One Miles as an anniversary bonus. When redeemed through Capital One, these miles are worth as much as $100. So, if you use the entire $300 annual Capital One Travel credit and receive the 10,000-mile anniversary bonus (which is worth $100 through Capital One), then you’ve already received $400 in value from your Venture X Business Card, more than enough to offset the card’s $395 annual fee.

Additionally, by transferring Capital One Miles to airline partners, it’s possible to get far more than one cent per mile in value, which means that your 10,000-mile anniversary bonus could be worth considerably more than $100.

Unlimited Complimentary Access to Partner Lounge Network

Venture X Business cardholders receive unlimited complimentary access to Capital One’s entire Partner Lounge network for themselves and up to two guests. The Partner Lounge Network includes all Capital One Lounges, Priority Pass lounges (more than 1,300 worldwide) and Plaza Premium lounges (more than 100 worldwide). In order to gain access to Priority Pass and Plaza Premium lounges, you must enroll in these programs (free of charge) using your Venture X Business card number.

$120 Application Fee Reimbursement for TSA PreCheck or Global Entry

Like most other premium travel-focused credit cards, the Venture X Business includes a reimbursement credit for the application fee for either TSA PreCheck or Global Entry. That means if you pay for the application fee for either of these programs with your Venture X Business card, you’ll receive a statement credit for that purchase within two billing cycles.

The membership term for both of these programs is five years. However, to make sure that you’ll never have a lapse in your enrollment, Capital One makes this credit available every four years.

Since the current application fee for TSA PreCheck is $85 and the current application fee for Global Entry is $120, this credit is worth a maximum of $120 every four years.

$100 Experience Credit at Premium Collection Properties

Capital One released its own portfolio of luxury hotels and resorts known as the Premium Collection in late 2022 as an added perk for Venture X and Venture X Business cardholders. To access these hotels, visit the Capital One Travel portal and click on the ”Premium Stays” tab on the home screen. Currently, this tab will only appear if you have a Venture X or Venture X Business account.

The Premium Collection is made up of luxurious properties including private villas, private island retreats, penthouse suites in popular cities and more. Plus, when you book one of these stays with your Venture X or Venture X Business card, you’ll enjoy the following on-site benefits:

• 10X miles per dollar
• Daily breakfast for two
• Free Wi-Fi
• Additional premium perks upon arrival, such as early check-in, late checkout, space-available room upgrades and more
• On-site experience credit worth up to $100 to use on dining, spa and other activities

Most of the activities that the $100 experience credit can be used for are subject to availability. So, if you book a stay at a Premium Collection property, make sure to contact that property and reserve your experience as soon as possible.

Add Authorized Users for Free

The Venture X Business Card allows members to add up to 99 authorized users to their account free of charge. If you want to add more than 99 authorized users to your account, you can contact Capital One’s Spark Business team.

Each authorized user on your account will receive their own physical Venture X Business card with a unique card number and will be able to earn 2X miles for your account with every purchase that they make. However, authorized users do not have access to the Capital One Travel portal (so they won’t be able to earn 5X miles on flights or 10X miles on hotels and rental cars).

No Foreign Transaction Fees

The Venture X Business Card doesn’t charge cardholders any additional foreign transaction fees for using their card outside of the United States. You can use your card anywhere in the world that accepts Visa cards without incurring additional fees.

$0 Fraud Liability

The Capital One Venture X Business Card, like all other Capital One credit cards, includes $0 fraud liability. This feature protects you from being responsible for any fraudulent purchases made on your account.

If Capital One detects any fraudulent activity, you’ll be notified via text, email and phone. Then, if you identify the charge as fraudulent, you won’t be responsible for paying off that purchase.

Visa Infinite Benefits

The Venture X Business Card is a Visa Infinite card, which means that Venture X Business cardholders have access to the entire suite of Visa Infinite benefits, including (but not limited to) the following:

• Auto rental collision damage waiver
• Travel and emergency assistance services
• Trip cancellation and interruption insurance
• Trip delay reimbursement
• Worldwide automatic common carrier travel accident insurance
• Lost luggage reimbursement

If you have the Venture X Business Card (or any other Visa Infinite card), it’s worth familiarizing yourself with these benefits as they could save you a lot of money in certain scenarios.

The Business Platinum Card® From American Express Benefits

While the Amex Business Platinum Card doesn’t offer very impressive spending bonuses for a card with such a high annual fee, where this card really shines is in the myriad of statement credits and other benefits that it offers. If you use all of the statement credits offered by the Amex Business Platinum, you’re looking at well over $1,000 in value.

All of these statement credits will typically take between six and eight weeks to post to your account.

Up to $400 in Dell Technologies Statement Credits Annually

Amex Business Platinum cardholders receive up to $400 in statement credits toward purchases with Dell Technologies annually. You can receive up to $200 in statement credits between January and June and up to $200 in statement credits between July and December each year. These statement credits only apply to purchases made directly with Dell in the U.S. or U.S. territories.

$360 in Indeed Statement Credits Annually

With your Amex Business Platinum Card, you can also receive up to $360 in statement credits toward purchases with Indeed annually. You can receive up to $90 in statement credits each quarter every year that your card remains active. Quarterly eligibility periods are defined as January to March, April to June, July to September and October to December.

$150 in Adobe Creative Solutions Statement Credits Annually

The Amex Business Platinum also offers up to $150 annually in statement credits toward yearly subscriptions to certain Adobe Creative Solutions products. These are applicable to purchases of annual prepaid business subscriptions to Adobe Creative Cloud All Apps or Single Apps for teams or Adobe Acrobat Pro for teams They can also be used for additional licenses added to an eligible annual prepaid subscription during an existing subscription term. You can’t use these statement credits to pay for Adobe Creative Cloud InCopy App.

$120 in U.S. Wireless Phone Service Providers Statement Credits Annually

As an Amex Business Platinum cardholder, you’re eligible to receive up to $120 annually in statement credits toward purchases for monthly wireless telephone service with providers in the U.S. and U.S. territories. Members are only eligible to receive up to $10 in statement credits per month and these statement credits can be applied to purchases for wireless service purchases only. Purchases for hardware and equipment are not included.

$200 in Airline Incidental Fee Statement Credits Annually

The Amex Business Platinum Card also includes up to $200 per year in statement credits toward incidental fees on one qualifying airline of your choice. Members must select a single airline to apply this benefit to. Then, all incidental fees charged by this airline for the rest of the calendar year will be eligible for these statement credits. Incidental fees must be charged separately from airline ticket charges.

Incidental airline fees can include checked bag fees, oversized baggage fees, paid seat assignments, in-flight entertainment fees, in-flight food and beverages, airline lounge passes and memberships, early boarding purchases, phone reservation fees, pet flight fees and more. Airfare, upgrades, mileage points purchases, mileage points transfer fees, gift cards, duty free purchases and award tickets are not eligible for these statement credits.

At the current moment, the airlines that you can choose for this benefit are as follows:

• Alaska Airlines
• American Airlines
• Delta Air Lines
• Hawaiian Airlines
• JetBlue Airways
• Southwest Airlines
• Spirit Airlines
• United Airlines

These airlines, however, are subject to change, so it’s best to check the updated list of eligible airlines before you make your selection each year.

$199 in CLEAR Plus Statement Credits Annually

You can receive up to $199 in statement credits toward the cost of an annual CLEAR Plus subscription with your Amex Business Platinum Card. These statement credits will only be applied to purchases of annual memberships, and membership automatically renew every year unless canceled.

$120 Application Fee Reimbursement for TSA PreCheck or Global Entry

The Amex Business Platinum Card (like the Venture X Business Card) offers a reimbursement credit for the application fee for either TSA PreCheck or Global Entry.

This credit is available every four years to ensure that you’ll never experience a lapse in your membership in either TSA PreCheck or Global Entry.

35% Flight Redemption Bonus Rebate Through AmexTravel.com

When you select your airline of choice on your Amex Business Platinum account, you’ll not only receive up to $200 in annual statement credits towards incidental fees with that airline, you’ll also receive a 35% points rebate when redeeming points for any flight with that airline through AmexTravel.com.

For instance, if you were to select Delta Air Lines as your airline of choice and booked an Economy Class Delta Air Lines flight for 20,000 points through AmexTravel.com, you would then receive a rebate of 7,000 points (35% of 20,000) after making this purchase.

This 35% points rebate is also available for any flight in First Class or Business Class booked through AmexTravel.com with an Amex Business Platinum Card, regardless of what airline you book with. For instance, even if Delta Air Lines was your selected airline, if you booked a First Class flight on American Airlines for 100,000 points through AmexTravel.com, you’d receive a rebate of 35,000 points (35% of 100,000 points).

This points rebate can take between six and 10 weeks to land in your Membership Rewards account. Flights that are part of package deals are not eligible for the 35% rebate.

Unlimited Complimentary Access to The Global Lounge Collection

As an Amex Business Platinum cardmember, you’ll receive unlimited complimentary access to The Global Lounge Collection, Amex’s network of partner airport lounges that includes over 1,400 lounges in over 500 airports worldwide.

The Global Lounge Collection includes all Centurion Lounges, Escape Lounges, Delta Sky Club lounges (when flying with Delta), Lufthansa Lounges (when flying with Lufthansa), Plaza Premium lounges (enrollment required), Priority Pass lounges (enrollment required) and certain other partner lounges.

For most of the lounges in The Global Lounge Collection, members can bring up to two guests with them free of charge. However, for Centurion Lounges, only Amex Business Platinum members who have spent at least $75,000 on their card during that calendar year can bring two guests free of charge. Cardmembers who have not met that spending threshold may bring guests into Centurion Lounges at a rate of $50 per guest (or $30 for children under the age of 17).

To get full access to The Global Lounge Collection for one of your employees is to add a Platinum Employee Card to your account, which comes with an additional fee of $350 per year. You can also add Executive Employee Cards to your account for $200 annually and Gold Employee Cards for $45 annually. However, neither Executive nor Gold Employee Cards include access to The Global Lounge Collection.

Fine Hotels & Resorts Program Access

When you book stays at hotels that are part of the Fine Hotels & Resorts program (which includes over 1,500 properties worldwide) through AmexTravel.com with your Amex Business Platinum Card, you’ll receive a suite of special benefits that can equal hundreds of dollars in value. These benefits include daily breakfast for two, 4pm late checkout, room upgrades when available, $100 amenity credit and more.

Automatic Elite Status with Marriott Bonvoy and Hilton Honors

As an Amex Business Platinum cardholder, you’re automatically eligible to receive Gold elite status with Marriott Bonvoy and Hilton Honors. In order to receive either of these elite statuses, you’ll need to enroll through American Express, either by calling the number on the back of their card or by entering their information in the “Benefits” section of their online account.

Marriott Bonvoy Gold status comes with plenty of great benefits including 25% bonus Bonvoy points on stays and in-hotel purchases, enhanced room upgrades (subject to availability), late 2pm checkout (subject to availability), complimentary Wi-Fi and more.

Hilton Honors Gold status also comes with some excellent perks including 80% bonus points on stays, enhanced room upgrades (subject to availability), daily food and beverage credits or free continental breakfast, fifth night free on rewards stays, complimentary Wi-Fi and more.

If you’re an Amex Business Platinum cardholder, you should definitely enroll in both of these programs before your next stay with either Marriott or Hilton.

No Foreign Transaction Fees

As expected, the Amex Business Platinum Card doesn’t charge any foreign transaction fees on purchases made outside of the United States. So, when you travel, you can rest assured knowing that you won’t incur any additional fees for using your card outside of your home country.

Fraud Protection Guarantee

The Amex Business Platinum (just like all other American Express credit cards) comes with Amex’s Fraud Protection Guarantee, which states that, as a cardmember, you won’t be held liable for any fraudulent charges made on your account so long as you’ve taken reasonable care to protect your account details, PIN and any device on which you’ve added your account details.

If your Amex card or eligible device is lost or stolen or you suspect that someone has been using your account without your permission, you should notify Amex immediately.

Add Authorized Users (For an Additional Annual Fee)

The Amex Business Platinum Card does allow the primary cardholder to add authorized users (or employee cards) to their account. However, unlike the Venture X Business Card, the Amex Business Platinum charges an additional annual fee for each authorized user that you add to your account.

There are three types of employee cards that you can add to your Amex Business Platinum account: Gold Employee, Executive Employee and Platinum Employee. Each of these types of employee cards has a different annual fee and offers different benefits.

The Platinum Employee Card has an annual fee of $350 and offers essentially the same benefits as the primary Amex Business Platinum Card without any of the statement credits. Employees with a Platinum Employee Card have access to The Global Lounge Collection, can get automatic Gold elite status with Marriott Bonvoy and Hilton Honors, receive a 35% point rebate for certain flight purchases through AmexTravel.com, get reimbursed for the application fee for TSA PreCheck and Global Entry and more.

The Executive Employee Card has an annual fee of $200, and the Gold Employee Card has an annual fee of $45. Both of these employee cards come with almost none of the premium features available to the Amex Business Platinum primary cardholder. However, Platinum, Executive and Gold Employee cardholders can earn Amex points the same way that the primary cardholder can.

In general, the fact that the Amex Business Platinum charges an annual fee for each employee card added to your account is a major disadvantage when compared to the Venture X Business, which allows you to add up to 99 employee cards completely free. If you’re considering adding an employee card to your Amex Business Platinum account, you’ll want to make sure that that employee generates enough Amex points to offset the annual fee.

Other Benefits

The Amex Business Platinum Card comes with a variety of other standard credit card benefits (similar to the Visa Infinite benefits that come with the Venture X Business card), which we’ll quickly list off here:

• Car rental loss and damage insurance
• Business Platinum travel service
• Trip cancellation and interruption insurance
• Trip delay reimbursement
• Baggage insurance plan for lost, damaged and stolen luggage

If you’re an Amex Business Platinum cardholder, it’s worth getting familiar with these benefits (as well as all of the other previously mentioned benefits) as they could help you save a lot of money in certain scenarios.

Which Card Is Right for You?

Now that you’re familiar with the different features of each of these premium travel-focused business credit cards, you can make a more informed decision about which one of these cards may be right for you.

In our opinion, in deciding between these two cards, one of the biggest factors is whether or not you think you’d use all of the statement credits that come with the Amex Business Platinum. If you were to use all of the statement credits included with this card every year, it would equal well over $1,000 in value and easily offset the $695 annual fee. So, if you think you’d use most of these statement credits year after year, then the Amex Business Platinum may be the superior card for your wallet.

The Amex Platinum Card also has several other perks, including complimentary elite status with popular hotel programs and access to The Global Lounge Collection that add serious value to this card.

However, if you don’t think that you’d use most of the statement credits included with the Amex Business Platinum, then the Venture X Business Card is probably the better card for you and your company. First off, the Venture X Business Card’s annual fee is $395 (a whole $300 less than the Amex Business Platinum). Plus, the Venture X Business comes with $300 in statement credits toward Capital One Travel purchases and 10,000 Capital One Miles every cardmember anniversary (a value of at least $100), the two of which instantly offset the card’s annual fee.

On top of that, the Venture X Business Card comes with other premium perks such as a reimbursement credit for TSA PreCheck or Global Entry and access to the Partner Lounge Network that add a ton of value to this card.

Finally, the Venture X Business card unquestionably beats out the Amex Business Platinum in its spending bonuses and its ability to add authorized users for free (compared to the Amex Business Platinum, which charges up to $350 annually for employee cards).

So, for big spenders who can weather the Amex card’s high annual fee of $695 and will use all of the premium benefits and statement credits, the Amex Business Platinum Card might be a solid option.

However, for most small business owners, it’s going to be a lot easier to make up for the Venture X Business Card’s lower annual fee of $395 with this card’s $300 in travel statement credits, 10,000-mile anniversary gift, lounge access and other premium perks.

The Bottom Line

The Capital One Venture X Business Card and the The Business Platinum Card from American Express are two of the most coveted high-end business credit cards on the market. Both of these cards charge high annual fees and come with premium benefits such as travel-related statement credits and airport lounge access.

Even if you don’t consider yourself a small business owner, you may still be able to qualify if you engage in almost any self-employed money-making activity (including dog walking, babysitting, freelancing, blogging and more).

If you can qualify for either of these cards, then you should familiarize yourself with the features of both to decide which card is the better choice for your business.

For businesses with a lot of cash flow that are willing to pay the Amex Business Platinum Card’s high annual fee and are willing to use all of this card’s many statement credits (which can total over $1,000 in value), then the Amex card may be the better choice.

However, for most businesses, the Venture X Business Card is going to be the better option due to its lower annual fee, better spending bonuses and more generous policy on adding employee cards to your account.

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.

For Capital One products listed on this page, some of the above benefits are provided by Visa® or Mastercard® and may vary by product. See the respective Guide to Benefits for details, as terms and exclusions apply.