Amex Gold vs Chase Sapphire Preferred: Which popular travel rewards card is best for you?

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Savvy travelers know that having the right credit card can make a huge difference in their rewards earning and, in some cases, actually save them money. Two top travel rewards cards — the American Express® Gold Card and the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card — are fixtures in the wallets of frequent flyers, and for good reason.

Along with hefty welcome bonuses, both cards offer handy statement credits and excellent travel and purchase protections that can be a lifesaver when things go awry. Both also come with excellent earning rates in popular categories that are easy to maximize whether you’re at home or on the road.

The American Express® Gold Card has a American Express® Gold Card annual fee American Express® Gold Card – Rates & Fees, but it can be well worth it if you make the most of the card’s earning categories and benefits. Meanwhile, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card comes with a more moderate Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card annual fee, so it may be a better choice for those looking to minimize their upfront costs.

Read more: Guide to the best travel rewards credit cards

Either of these cards would be a good pick if you want to make the most of your travel rewards, but there are other significant differences to consider. Here’s what to know if you’re trying to decide between the American Express® Gold Card and Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card.  

Comparison: Amex Gold vs Chase Sapphire Preferred

	American Express® Gold Card	Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Annual fee	American Express® Gold Card	Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome bonus	American Express® Gold Card	Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first three months of account opening
Rewards rate	4x points at restaurants and at US supermarkets* 3x points on flights booked with the airline or Amex Travel  1 point per dollar on all other purchases	5x points on Lyft rides through March 2022 5x points on all travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards 3x points on dining, including eligible delivery services, takeout, and dining out  3x points on select streaming services 3x points on online grocery purchases (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs) 2x points on other travel  1 point per dollar on everything else
Card benefits	Up to $10 in Uber Cash each month (up to $120 per calendar year)**** Secondary car rental insurance Baggage insurance Trip delay insurance Purchase protection Extended warranty Global Assist Hotline The Hotel Collection (property credits and upgrades) Discounts and bonuses through Amex Offers**	10% anniversary point bonus Primary car rental insurance Trip interruption/cancellation Trip delay insurance Baggage delay insurance Lost luggage reimbursement Extended warranty Purchase protection No foreign transaction fees
Statement credits	Up to $10 in dining credits each month (up to $120 per year)***	Up to $50 in statement credits toward hotel stays booked through Chase Complimentary year of DoorDash DashPass membership (activation required by March 31, 2022)
Foreign transaction fee	No American Express® Gold Card – Rates & Fees	No
Review	American Express Gold card review	Chase Sapphire Preferred card review

*on up to $25,000 spent at U.S. supermarkets per calendar year, then 1x

***up to $10 in statement credits per month when you use the Amex Gold card at Grubhub, Seamless, The Cheesecake Factory, Ruth’s Chris Steak House, Boxed, and participating Shake Shack locations. Enrollment required.

****up to $10 in Uber Cash per month (this is only applicable to U.S. Eats orders and Rides, and the Gold Card needs to be added to the Uber app to receive the Uber Cash benefit)

Welcome bonuses

The American Express® Gold Card and Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card are equally matched in terms of their welcome bonuses. With the American Express® Gold Card, you’ll earn American Express® Gold Card. The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, meanwhile, offers Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first three months of account opening.

Read more: American Express Gold Card review

You can expect to get a similar value from each of these bonuses. Insider’s points and miles valuations peg Amex Membership Rewards and Chase Ultimate Rewards points as worth 1.8 cents apiece, on average.

Redemption options

The exact value you’ll receive depends on how you redeem your points, but both cards offer numerous redemption opportunities, including transferring points to airline and hotel partners, using rewards to book travel through the bank’s respective travel portals, and cashing in rewards for gift cards or statement credits.

The American Express® Gold Card earns Amex Membership Rewards points, which you can transfer to 21 airline and hotel partners like Delta, Air Canada, and Hilton to book award travel. That’s usually how you’ll get the highest value for your points, but there are other options, including:

• Redeem points for flights (1 cent per point) or hotels and car rentals (0.7 cents per point) through Amex Travel
• Use points to buy gift cards (usually 1 cent per point)
• Cash in points for statement credits toward purchases made on your card (0.6 cents per point)
• Pay with points at checkout at Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart, Saks Fifth Avenue, Boxed.com, Dell.com, Staples, and more (0.7 cents per point)
• Redeem points for food delivery with GrubHub and Seamless (0.7 cents per point)
• Use points to pay for New York City taxi fare in vehicles using enabled point-of-sale devices (1 cent per point)
• Shop with points for merchandise and gifts through Amex (usually 0.5 cents per point)

Read more: How to earn, redeem, and maximize Amex Membership Rewards points

With the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, you earn Chase Ultimate Rewards points, which transfer to 14 airline and hotel partners including United, British Airways, and Hyatt. Again, you’ll typically get the most value by transferring to partners and booking award travel, but other redemption options include:

• Redeem points for flights, hotels, rental cars, and more through the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal (1.25 cents per point)
• Use points to offset eligible purchases through Pay Yourself Back (1.25 cents per point)
• Cash in your points toward a statement credit or direct deposit to your bank account (1 cent per point)
• Use points for takeout and dining experiences with Chase Dining (1.25 cents per point)
• Buy gift cards with your points (1 cent per point)
• Use points directly for Apple (1 cent each) or Amazon (0.8 cents each) purchases; the latter option isn’t a good value — you’re better off paying for your Amazon purchase with the card, then redeeming points at 1 cent apiece toward a statement credit

Read more: How to earn, redeem, and maximize Chase Ultimate Rewards points

Ongoing rewards earning

It’s important to look beyond a card’s welcome offer and see if its bonus categories and earning rates are a good fit for your spending habits. Fortunately, both the American Express® Gold Card and Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card are heavy hitters in this regard, with excellent everyday spending categories that most consumers can easily use.

With the American Express® Gold Card, you’ll earn:

• 4 points per dollar at restaurants worldwide 
• 4 points per dollar at US supermarkets (on up to $25,000 per year in spending, then 1x)
• 3 points per dollar on flights booked with the airline or Amex Travel
• 1 point per dollar on all other eligible purchases

These bonus categories are the reason the American Express® Gold Card tops our lists of the best credit cards for buying groceries and the top restaurant credit cards. If you’re a foodie, it’s hard to beat the American Express® Gold Card, even with the 4x cap on US supermarket purchases.

Read more: 3 reasons why the Amex Gold card is an easy choice for foodies, travelers, and even beginners

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is no slouch when it comes to earning, either. When the card got a makeover earlier this year, it added new bonus categories and improved earning rates in others. Cardholders earn:

• 5 points per dollar on Lyft rides through March 2022
• 5x points per dollar on all travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards
• 3 points per dollar  on dining, including eligible delivery services, takeout, and dining out
• 3 points per dollar on select streaming services
• 3 points per dollar on online grocery purchases (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs)
• 2 points per dollar on other travel
• 1 point per dollar on all other eligible purchases

If travel is a priority for you, you could do better with the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, especially if you book airfare, hotels, and rental cars through the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal. Just keep in mind there are some pitfalls to purchasing travel through a third-party site like a bank portal, including the fact that you won’t earn hotel points when you book this way.

Read more: Chase Sapphire Preferred card review

Statement and other credits

Statement credits can help offset a card’s annual fee, and both of these cards offer the opportunity to make up for some or most of the yearly cost.

American Express® Gold Card cardholders receive up to $10 per month in statement credits toward purchases made with the card at Grubhub, Seamless, The Cheesecake Factory, Ruth’s Chris Steak House, Boxed, and participating Shake Shack locations**.

Read more: The Amex Gold card just got a makeover — with up to $120 a year in Uber Cash and the return of the popular rose gold design

In addition, the card offers up to $10 per month in Uber Cash (applicable to U.S. Eats orders and Rides, and the Gold Card needs to be added to the Uber app to receive the Uber Cash benefit). Even if you don’t use Uber for rides, you can take advantage of this perk to get up to $10 in free food per month with Uber Eats.

For its part, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card also comes with valuable credits — including up to $50 per year toward hotels booked through Chase, and a complimentary year of DoorDash DashPass membership (worth $9.99 a month, activation required by March 31, 2022).

Read more: How to use the new Chase Sapphire Preferred $50 annual hotel credit to save money on your stay

And, while not exactly a credit, Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card cardholders receive a 10% anniversary points bonus each year, equal to 10% of all purchases made in the previous year. For example, if you spent $25,000 on the card in an anniversary year, you’d receive a bonus of 2,500 points.

Travel and purchase protections

Both cards offer various travel and purchase protections, but the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card comes out on top for offering primary car rental insurance (versus secondary on the American Express® Gold Card). 

Read more: The best credit cards with travel insurance

It also offers some protections you won’t find on the American Express® Gold Card, including trip cancellation/interruption insurance, baggage delay insurance, travel accident insurance, and roadside dispatch. 

The purchase protection on the American Express® Gold Card has a higher limit per claim, but keep in mind the protection timeframe is shorter (90 days versus 120 days on the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card).

Be sure to check the benefits guides for the Amex Gold and Chase Sapphire Preferred (PDF link) for important terms and exclusions.

Benefit	American Express® Gold Card	Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Car rental insurance	Secondary car rental insurance for damage due to theft or collision	Primary car rental insurance for damage due to theft or collision
Trip interruption/cancellation insurance	N/A	Up to $10,000 per person and $20,000 per trip for pre-paid, non-refundable travel expenses
Trip delay insurance	Up to $300 for reasonable expenses when your flight is delayed by 12 hours or more, up to two times per consecutive 12-month period	Up to $500 per ticket for reasonable expenses when your flight is delayed overnight or by 12 hours or more
Baggage delay insurance	N/A	Up to $100 per day for up to five days if your bags are delayed by six hours or more
Baggage insurance/lost luggage reimbursement	Up to $500 per person for checked bags and $1,250 per person for carry-on luggage	Up to $3,000 per passenger
Extended warranty	Up to one additional year added to eligible US manufacturers warranties of five years or less	Extends the time period of a US manufacturer’s warranty on eligible items by an additional year, on warranties of three years or less
Purchase protection	Up to $10,000 per occurrence and $50,000 per year for damage or theft within 90 days of purchase	Up to $500 in reimbursement per claim, and up to $50,000 per account for damage or theft within 120 days of purchase
Travel and emergency assistance	Free Global Assist hotline (third-party costs are the cardholder’s responsibility)	Free travel and emergency assistance hotline (third-party costs are the cardholder’s responsibility)
Travel accident insurance	N/A	Up to $500,000 in accidental death or dismemberment coverage
Roadside dispatch	N/A	Roadside dispatch hotline for help with arranging services like towing and flat tire repair for a set fee

Annual fees

The annual fee of American Express® Gold Card on the American Express® Gold Card is more than double that of the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, but you can easily offset most of it if you take full advantage of the card’s dining credits (up to $120 a year) and Uber Cash benefits (also up to $120 annually). That’s not even factoring in the value of the points you’ll earn and protections you’ll get when you use the card.

Read more: Annual fees aren’t always worth it, but with these 5 cards the benefits are worth more than what you’ll pay each year

Your upfront out-of-pocket cost is lower with the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card and you can shave off more than half the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card annual fee by using the $50 hotel credit each year. Otherwise, perks like DashPass membership and top-notch travel and purchase protection can more than make the cost worthwhile.

Bottom line

You can’t go wrong with either the American Express® Gold Card or Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card if you’re looking for an excellent travel rewards credit card. Both offer substantial welcome bonuses, top-notch benefits, and earning rates that can help you boost your points balances quickly.

If you’re a beginner to the world of travel rewards, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is probably a better pick. Its annual fee is lower, and Chase’s travel partners are easy to use for most US-based travelers. You’ll also get a higher value for your points if you want to keep it simple and just book travel through the Chase portal.

Read more: Why I’m convinced the Chase Sapphire Preferred is one of the best starter cards to earn points and miles

That said, if you’re a fan of Amex’s transfer partners, spend a lot on dining and US supermarkets, or prefer a card with generous credits, the American Express® Gold Card is a terrific choice. Just keep in mind the American Express® Gold Card annual fee is due upfront, so it will take some time to offset the cost if you plan on doing so by maximizing perks like Uber Cash and dining credits.

Of course, there’s no reason you can’t have both cards — many do — and using both to take advantage of each card’s bonus categories is a great way to supercharge your points earning.