The best American Express credit cards
Every open American Express card in our database, ranked by the real value of its strongest printed earn rate — the headline rate times our conservative value for the points or cash it pays. A big multiplier in a weak currency doesn't get to win.
Blue Cash Preferred Card from American Express leads at 6.0¢ back per dollar on its strongest category — 6% on groceries, against a $95 annual fee. The Platinum Card from American Express follows at 5.5¢.
Reviewed: Data verified 2026-10-01 · Credit Upside editorial · Updated 2026-10-09 · How we rank
The short answer
4 of the 24 ranked cards win something here. Each is listed once, with what it wins; the full ranking follows.
- 1 Best overall for American Express cardholders · Blue Cash Preferred Card from American Express — 6% on groceries, $95 a year — 6.0¢ back per dollar
- 2 Best for transferable points · The Platinum Card from American Express — 5x on flights, $895 a year — 5.5¢ back per dollar
- 7 Best for business spending · Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express Card — 3x on hotels, $350 a year — 3.5¢ back per dollar
- 9 Best with no annual fee · Blue Cash Everyday Card from American Express — 3% on groceries, no annual fee — 3.0¢ back per dollar
The ranking
| # | Card | Top value | Top earn | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Blue Cash Preferred Card from American Express American Express |
6.0¢/$ | 6% groceries | $95 |
| 2 | The Platinum Card from American Express American Express |
5.5¢/$ | 5x flights | $895 |
| 3 | The Platinum Card from American Express Exclusively for Charles Schwab American Express |
5.5¢/$ | 5x flights | $895 |
| 4 | The Platinum Card from American Express Exclusively for Morgan Stanley American Express |
5.5¢/$ | 5x flights | $895 |
| 5 | American Express Gold Card American Express |
4.4¢/$ | 4x dining | $325 |
| 6 | Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card American Express |
3.5¢/$ | 7x flights 14x at Hilton only — not ranked |
$550 |
| 7 | Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express Card American Express |
3.5¢/$ | 3x hotels | $350 |
| 8 | Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card American Express |
3.5¢/$ | 3x hotels | $350 |
| 9 | Blue Cash Everyday Card from American Express American Express |
3.0¢/$ | 3% groceries | $0 |
| 10 | Hilton Honors American Express Surpass Card American Express |
3.0¢/$ | 6x dining 12x at Hilton only — not ranked |
$150 |
| 11 | Marriott Bonvoy Business American Express Card American Express |
2.8¢/$ | 4x dining 6x at Marriott only — not ranked |
$125 |
| 12 | Marriott Bonvoy Bevy American Express Card American Express |
2.8¢/$ | 4x dining 6x at Marriott only — not ranked |
$250 |
| 13 | Hilton Honors American Express Card American Express |
2.5¢/$ | 5x dining 7x at Hilton only — not ranked |
$0 |
| 14 | Delta SkyMiles® Blue American Express Card American Express |
2.3¢/$ | 2x dining | $0 |
| 15 | Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business American Express Card American Express |
2.3¢/$ | 2x shipping | $150 |
| 16 | Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card American Express |
2.3¢/$ | 2x dining | $150 |
| 17 | Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant American Express Card American Express |
2.1¢/$ | 3x dining 6x at Marriott only — not ranked |
$650 |
| 18 | Rakuten American Express Card American Express |
2.0¢/$ | 2% dining 4% at the Rakuten portal only — not ranked |
$0 |
| 19 | Graphite Business Cash Unlimited Card from American Express American Express |
2.0¢/$ | 2% everything else | $295 |
| 20 | Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card American Express |
1.7¢/$ | 1.5x transit 3x at Delta only — not ranked |
$650 |
| 21 | Schwab Investor Card from American Express American Express |
1.5¢/$ | 1.5% everything else | $0 |
| 22 | Hilton Honors American Express Business Card American Express |
1.5¢/$ | 3x everything else 12x at Hilton only — not ranked |
$195 |
| 23 | Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card American Express |
1.1¢/$ | 1x everything else 3x at Delta only — not ranked |
$650 |
| 24 | Blue Business Plus Credit Card American Express |
1.1¢/$ | 1x everything else | $0 |
What these actually pay on a year of dining
A rate is a promise about one dollar. This is the same ranking run over 145 real dining charges totalling $4,789 — our sample year — scored one charge at a time by the same engine the app uses on your own statement. Caps, category rules and point values all apply; nothing is annualised or rounded up.
| Card | Earned on $4,789 | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|
| American Express Gold Card | $211 | 4.40% |
| Hilton Honors American Express Surpass Card | $144 | 3.00% |
| Marriott Bonvoy Business American Express Card | $134 | 2.80% |
| Marriott Bonvoy Bevy American Express Card | $134 | 2.80% |
| Hilton Honors American Express Card | $120 | 2.50% |
On this spending the gap between top and bottom is $91 a year — the effective rate, after caps and point values, runs from 2.50% to 4.40%. Your own charges are what matter, and the app scores those rather than a sample.
How we rank
One arithmetic rule, applied by code to our maintained card database. There is no editorial pick, no hand-ordering and no sponsored slot.
- Printed earn rate. Each card's strongest printed earn rate — the highest flat rate it actually publishes, base rate included — taken from our maintained database. That is what places a card here, so a card leads on the category it is genuinely built for.
- Conservative point value. That rate is multiplied by our conservative mid-range value for the currency it pays, which is why a hotel card printing a large multiplier can finish below a plain cash-back card. Every point value we use, published →
- Annual fee. Printed against every card and used to break ties. The best fee-free card in this pool is Blue Cash Everyday Card from American Express at 3.0¢ per dollar. We never net the fee out of the rate for you — whether it is worth paying depends on how much you spend.
- Caps and limits. Where a card's headline rate stops after a spending cap, that cap is on the card's own page and in the relevant category guide. This ranking uses the printed rate, so a heavily capped bonus should be checked against the cap before you act on it.
- Pool and cutoff. 222 open US cards are in our database; 30 of them are American Express cards and qualify. The page publishes the top 24 by real value — the cutoff is #24, so 6 qualifying cards did not make it and can be found on the full card list.
- Rotating and pick-your-own categories. Kept out of the headline ranking, because they only pay in the right quarter or with the right election. Issuer-travel-portal-only rates are excluded for the same reason: they pay only if you book through the portal.
- Commission. The ranking code has no access to which cards pay us a commission — the ordering function never reads the affiliate file. Any apply link is attached after the order is already fixed, so it cannot move a card up or down. How that works.
Full methodology, including how each point value is set: how we value points and rank cards →
The honest caveat
The best American Express card for you depends on where you actually spend — a card's top rate only counts if your money lands in that category, caps bite, and premium cards carry annual fees a lighter spender won't earn out. The optimizer settles it by re-scoring your real charges against every card here.
Common questions
What's the best American Express credit card?
By the real value of its strongest printed earn rate, Blue Cash Preferred Card from American Express leads at 6.0¢ back per dollar — 6% on groceries, against a $95 annual fee. The best American Express card for you still depends on how much you spend and in which categories.
How do you rank them?
We rank each American Express card by the real value of its strongest printed earn rate — the rate multiplied by our conservative mid-range value for the points or cash it pays — never by whether a card pays us a commission.
How many American Express cards are ranked here?
24 of the 30 in our database — the page publishes the top 24. 18 of them charge an annual fee and 6 do not. Card data was last verified 2026-10-01.
Is there a no-annual-fee option?
Yes — Blue Cash Everyday Card from American Express charges no annual fee and pays 3.0¢ back per dollar at 3% on groceries, ranking #9 here. A free card that matches your spending beats a fee card that doesn't.
Does a card paying you a commission rank higher?
It can't. The function that produces this order reads printed earn rates, point values, annual fees and caps from our card database and nothing else — it has no access to which cards pay us. Apply links are attached after the order is fixed.
Which card should this spending actually be on? The demo re-scores a year of realistic spending against every card in a wallet — free, no signup. See it on sample data →
More guides
Every guide on this site is built by the same code from the same card database, so the numbers on one page mean exactly what they mean on another. Jump sideways:
All 70 best-card guides → · Best card for a specific store or bill →