Whether you've got a simple side hustle or are the CEO of a major company, having a business credit card is a great way to manage your expenses and extend your company's purchasing power – all while earning valuable points and miles in the process to fuel your work (or personal) travel.
Not sure if you're eligible for a business credit card? You might be surprised to find out just what the banks consider a small business.Â
Just like with personal cards, getting ahead with a business credit card is all about timing: Getting a new card when the welcome bonus is at its highest is what it's all about. If you're in the market for a business credit card, this is the place to start.
When it comes to picking out a new business card there are plenty of options to choose from. To help with your decision we've assembled a list of the absolute best business card offers available right now. A handful of banks are out with some eye-popping bonuses on their best business cards this month – some are mainstays while others are limited-time offers that are only available for a while longer.
But remember:Â Credit cards are serious business. You should never apply for a credit card if you're already in debt, and never charge more to a credit card than you can afford to pay off immediately. However many points and miles you can earn, they're not worth it.
For more information on the best current offers, make sure to head to our Top Credit Cards Page.
1. Chase Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card
Current Offer
The *chase ink preferred* is currently offering 100,000 Ultimate Rewards points after spending $8,000 in the first three months of card membership. These points are worth a minimum of $1,250 for future travel – if not much, much more.
Annual Fee: $95
Learn more about the *chase ink preferred*.
Why This Offer Makes the List
The Chase Ink Preferred has long been one of the best business cards for big spenders, but its mouth-watering welcome bonus offer used to require a huge chunk of spending. Well, you can kiss those days goodbye: Chase recently slashed the spending requirement in half, opening the door for far more small business owners to get the Ink Preferred and earn a juicy welcome offer.
So what makes this card so special? Think of it as the business version of the longtime-favorite *csp*.
First off, the card is a good one for racking up Chase Ultimate Rewards points well beyond the initial welcome offer. It earns bonus points in several key business categories such as travel, shipping expenses, phone & internet bills, and online advertising.Â
On top of that, it offers some rock-solid travel benefits and other protections for your business. And when it comes time to reap your rewards, the Ink Preferred allows you to redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards in a variety of ways.
You can use them to book travel at 1.25 cents per point in the Chase travel portal, or they can be transferred at a 1:1 ratio to any of Chase’s travel partners. That means if you use them towards travel, this huge 100,000-point offer is worth a minimum of $1,250. If travel isn’t your goal, Ultimate Rewards can also be cashed at a rate of 1 cent per point: applied to your bill as a statement credit, or even used for gift cards.
The lucrative points-earning opportunities, versatility when redeeming rewards, and a low annual fee are just some of what makes this card so valuable and worthy of our top spot.
Check out our full review of the Chase Ink Preferred for a complete card breakdown!Â
2. The Capital One Venture X Business
Current Offer
The *venture x business* is out with a limited-time offer for new cardmembers to earn up to 300,000 bonus miles when meeting the card's minimum spending requirement. It's a tiered-bonus that works a little differently than most other welcome offers. Here's what you can earn:
- Earn 150,000 miles once you spend $20,000 in the first three months from account opening.
- Earn an additional 150,000 miles (for 300,000 miles in total)Â once you spend $100,000 in the first six months from account opening.
If you're able to meet both of these spending requirements in the first six months and earn the full bonus, you'll have over half a million Capital One Venture miles when all is said and done. That's because like all of Capital One's travel rewards cards, the Venture X Business card earns an unlimited 2x miles on every purchase. So in addition to the 300,000 miles you'll earn from the bonus, you'll also earn a minimum of 200,000 miles on all that spending.
Even if you only qualify for the 150,000-mile bonus, this is still a fantastic offer and one that requires less spending than it did yesterday. Considering tax season is right around the corner, most businesses will have little issue meeting the card's $20,000 spending requirement without needing to get creative.
Annual Fee: $395
Learn more about the *venture x business*.
Why This Offer Makes the List
With the official launch of the Venture X Business Card back in September, the bank essentially hit copy and paste on the personal *venture x* that's chock full of premium travel benefits: Access to Capital One Lounges, Priority Pass lounges, Plaza Premium lounges, a $300 annual travel credit, a credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck, and more.
While the spending requirement to earn the big welcome bonus is larger than most, you'll be hard-pressed to find a better business card offer right now.
And all that with a price tag of just $395 a year. While that may seem steep, that automatically makes this card a compelling alternative to premium competitors which cost as much as $695 per year.
Sure, a $395 annual fee may still immediately turn off many travelers. But in practice, it's actually far cheaper. Consider the fact that you get an automatic $300 credit a year towards travel booked through the Capital One Travel portal. Then, starting in year two, you get a 10,000-point bonus every year: these points are worth a minimum of $100.
Are you the kind of person who plans to spend $300 a year or more on travel? If so, do the math and you’ll see that in reality, you’re paying $95 a year for this card – or much less when you add in the other perks and welcome bonus.
Read our full review of the Venture X Business Card
3. The Chase Ink Business Unlimited® and Cash® Cards
Current Offer
The *chase ink unlimited* and the *chase ink cash* both allow new applicants to earn $750 in bonus cash back (75,000 Ultimate Rewards) after spending $6,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening. If either card has been on your radar, picking up a big bonus like this makes now a great time to apply.
Even though these cards earn cash back, it's actually rewarded in the form of Chase Ultimate Rewards points. This means you can combine your cash back with the Ultimate Rewards earned from one of Chase's premium travel rewards cards like the *chase ink preferred* or the *csp* to transfer them to travel partners or redeem them through the Chase Travel Portal. But you must have one of those points-earning cards to do so.Â
Annual Fee: None
Learn more about the *chase ink unlimited*.
Learn more about the *chase ink cash*.
Why This Offer Makes the List
With identical 75,000-point signup bonuses on both of the no-annual-fee Ink Cash and Ink Unlimited cards, business owners will have to look beyond the welcome offer when deciding which of these two cards to pick up. The good news is that if both of these cards seem to be a good fit for your business, you don't actually have to choose at all – one business can have all of the Ink cards at the same time without issue.
But if you're just looking to pick up one of these cards, you'll want to pick the one that best fits your business' spending pattern to maximize your ongoing earning potential.
The Chase Ink Cash Card is perfect for any business that spends a lot at office supply stores and on internet, cable, or phone service. In these categories, you'll earn 5% cash back (5x Chase Ultimate Rewards) for your purchases up to the first $25,000 in combined spending each year. You'll also earn 2% cash back (2x Chase Ultimate Rewards) at gas stations and restaurants, up to $25,000 in combined spending each year. All other purchases will earn you an unlimited 1% cash back (1x Chase Ultimate Rewards).
With the Chase Ink Unlimited Card, you'll earn a flat 1.5% cash back (1.5x Chase Ultimate Rewards) on every purchase. There is no cap on your earnings with this card so if your business doesn't spend a lot in a bonus category, this can be a really good option for ensuring you're getting a good return on all purchases.
Both of these cards allow you to add additional employee cards without a fee, which can help you streamline your business spending and allow you to earn rewards even faster.
Having trouble deciding which card is right? Read our comparison of the Ink Business Cash vs the Ink Business Unlimited.Â
4. The Business Platinum® Card from American Express
Current Offer
*biz platinum* has a standard welcome offer of 120,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $15,000 on eligible purchases with your card within the first three months of card membership.
While this is a fantastic offer on its own, it might not hurt to check with a friend before applying. There is currently a referral offer going around for a whopping 150,000 Membership Rewards after spending $15,000 in the first three months.If you know someone who currently has the Business Platinum Card and can send you one of these links, it would make sense to go that route instead. In the past, we've seen even bigger targeted offers for as many as 200,000 Amex points.
Annual Fee: $695 (see rates & fees)
Learn more about *biz platinum*
Why This Offer Makes the List
Beyond the initial welcome offer of 120,000 Membership Rewards points, the Business Platinum is a great card to use when purchasing flights. If your business spends a lot on airfare, this card will pay for itself time and time again – due to the unprecedented 5x Membership Rewards points you'll earn on flights purchased directly with the airlines, as well as prepaid flights and hotels booked through Amex Travel.
On top of earning additional points for flights, Business Platinum cardholders will also earn an extra .5x Membership Rewards on purchases made in select business categories and large purchases with any merchant over $5,000 (up to $2 million in purchases each year). The categories where you'll earn points at a rate of 1.5x per dollar spent are electronic goods retailers, software and cloud service providers, U.S. construction materials, hardware supplies, and shipping providers.
Alright, enough about earning points. Let's get to the real reasons you should have this card: Travel perks and business credits.
Much like *amex platinum*, the Business Platinum comes packed with travel perks, benefits, and credits that make it a mainstay in many business owners' wallets. Seriously, this card comes with so many statement credits for different travel and business-related expenses that you might need to hire another employee just to manage it all. And if you do, be on the lookout for an opportunity to earn additional Membership Rewards for adding them as an authorized user!
By simply using this card for your expenses, you can earn over $1,400 each year in statement credits for different business and travel-related purchases. Here's how it shakes out: You'll get up to $200 per calendar year for airline incidental fees at one airline of your choosing, up to $189 annually for CLEAR Plus enrollment, up to $400 annually (up to $200 twice per year) for U.S. purchases at Dell, up to $10 per month ($120 per year) to spend with U.S. wireless telephone providers, up to $360 annually ($90 per quarter) to spend on Indeed hiring and recruiting products, and $150 each year to spend on select Adobe purchases.
And then there are all the travel perks that you get with this card. I'm talking about things like airport lounge access, car rental elite status, and hotel elite status. In fact, this card is widely considered the best credit card for airport lounge access because it'll get you into Amex Centurion Lounges, Delta Sky Clubs (when flying Delta), Escape Lounges, and Priority Pass lounges.
When it comes time to use your points, you've got some great options. For starters, you can send them to the excellent stable of Amex transfer partners. But there's also arguably the card's best perk of all: Book travel through the Amex Travel portal using points, and you'll get 35% of your points back for any first or business class flights – plus all flights booked with one airline you choose.
While the card's annual fee might seem high at first glance, it's easy to come out ahead with this one … even if you only use half of the card's statement credits each year.
Read more: Earn 120K Membership Rewards with the Business Platinum Card® from American Express
5. The American Express® Business Gold Card
Current Offer
The *biz gold* currently has a welcome offer of 70,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $10,000 on eligible purchases within the first three months of card membership.
Now is an especially great time to apply for the Business Gold as the annual fee is set to increase on Feb. 1. If this card has been on your radar and you're able to get your application in before the end of January, you can lock in a whole year with the lower annual fee – all while taking advantage of the new credits and bonus categories.
Annual Fee: $295 (see rates & fees) – $375 annual fee if application is received on or after Feb. 1, 2024.Â
Learn more about the *biz gold*.
Why This Offer Makes the List
The 70,000 Membership Rewards point welcome offer is a great reason to get the *biz gold*, but you may want to keep it year after year due to its ongoing potential to earn even more points. Seriously: You'll be hard-pressed to find a more rewarding business credit card than the Amex Business Gold Card.
With this card, you'll earn 4x Membership Rewards points in your top two spending categories each billing cycle, up to a combined $150,000 in spending across all categories each year. All other eligible purchases outside of your top two categories and after reaching $150,000 in combined spending will earn unlimited 1x points.
Amex recently made some big changes to the Business Gold Card, including adding some new eligible spending categories. Here's a look at all the spending categories in which you could earn 4x Membership Rewards points.
- U.S. purchases for advertising in select media (online, TV, radio)
- U.S. purchases made from electronic goods retailers and software & cloud system providers – NEW
- Monthly wireless telephone service charges made directly from a wireless telephone service provider in the U.S. – NEW
- U.S. purchases at gas stations
- U.S. purchases at restaurants, including takeout and delivery
- Transit purchases including trains, taxicabs, rideshare services, ferries, tolls, parking, buses & subways – NEW
If your business spends a lot in any of those six categories, you can earn up to 600,000 Membership Rewards points each year with the Amex Business Gold Card. And just like the Membership Rewards earned with the Business Platinum Card, these points are super valuable and can be used in a variety of ways, including transfers to travel partners for award bookings.
And after the recent refresh, Amex added a new flexible monthly statement credit that will be sure to help your business save up to $240 each year on common expenses.
You can use this new credit for purchases at the following retailers:
- FedEx
- Grubhub
- Office Supply Stores
In order to take advantage of this new credit, you must enroll for the monthly benefit. Once you get your card, you can do this by heading to the benefits tab in your Amex online account.
Bottom Line
The banks are out with some truly show-stopping, limited-time welcome offers on their best business credit cards right now. Having one of these cards can be a great way to manage your business expenses, all while earning a ton of points and miles in the process.
If you're interested in opening one of these cards but unsure if your small business or side hustle qualifies, be sure to check out our guide to determining business eligibility beforehand.