Costs & Pricing

Metric	American Express® Business Gold Card	Ink Business Cash® Credit Card
Annual fee	$375	$0
Employee card fee	Employee Business Gold $95 (first 5 then $95 each); Employee Business Expense Cards $0; max 99 additional cards	$0
Purchase APR	17.74%–28.49% variable on Pay Over Time only (Prime + 10.99% to +21.74%)	16.74%–24.74% variable (Prime + 9.99% to +17.99%; max 29.99%; Prime 6.75% as of 2/3/2026 pricing box)
Intro APR (purchases)	Not a standard public offer (some targeted pages have shown 0% for 6 months on POT-eligible purchases)	0% fixed for first 12 months the account is open (lost if minimum payment missed; Default APR then applies)
Foreign transaction fee	$0	3%
Late payment fee	$39 or 2.99% of any past-due Pay In Full amount, whichever is greater	$40

Rewards & Value

Metric	American Express® Business Gold Card	Ink Business Cash® Credit Card
Base earn rate	1X Membership Rewards point per $1 on other eligible purchases	1% cash back on eligible purchases (1 Ultimate Rewards point per $1; unlimited)
Welcome bonus	Personalized — marketed as high as 200,000 Membership Rewards points after $15,000 eligible purchases in first 3 months (offer varies; you may not be eligible)	$1,000 bonus cash back after $8,000 purchases in the first 4 months (Chase labels this “OUR BEST OFFER EVER”; prior $750 struck through; posts 6–8 weeks after qualifying)
Redemption value	Varies by redemption; Amex does not publish a single cpp. Treat Pay With Points / statement credit at ~1¢; transfers can be higher or lower — do not assume 2¢.	1¢ per point for cash, gift cards, and Chase Travel. Other paths may be worth more or less. Do not assume transfer value unless paired with a transferable UR card.
Transfer partners	Membership Rewards partners (most airlines 1:1; hotel ratios vary). U.S. airline transfers: excise tax offset $0.0006/point, max $99. Confirm live at membershiprewards.com/pointsinfo.	Not native. Points can be moved to another Ultimate Rewards card belonging to you, a household member, or a company owner. Airline/hotel transfers only after combining onto Ink Preferred, Sapphire Preferred/Reserve, or Sapphire Reserve for Business.

Credit & Eligibility

Metric	American Express® Business Gold Card	Ink Business Cash® Credit Card
Personal guarantee	Required (standard small-business Amex model; no published no-PG path)	Required — Chase states Ink cards require joint and several liability of the individual cardmember and the business
Credit check	Apply with Confidence — no personal-score impact to learn approval; accepting the card may impact personal credit. Submitting may affect business credit.	Hard pull on the owner/guarantor (SSN required; not printed as “hard pull” on the product page)
Employee cards	Up to 99 total; Gold employee cards $95 structure; Expense Cards $0; spend limits and alerts	Unlimited number at $0 extra fee (no published numeric cap). Individual spend limits, lock/unlock, alerts. Same liability pool.
Product type	Hybrid small-business charge card with revolving Pay Over Time (NPSL on purchases)	Revolving business credit card

Pros & Cons

American Express® Business Gold Card

Pros

• Auto-4X on whichever two of six categories lead each month, up to $150k combined — no annual category lock-in
• Transferable Membership Rewards (same partner list as other MR cards)
• Statement-credit stack can exceed the $375 fee if credits are enrolled and used
• $0 foreign transaction fee; NPSL plus optional Pay Over Time
• Personalized welcome marketed as high as 200k / $15k / 3 months

Cons

• $375 annual fee plus $95 Employee Business Gold cards
• 4X dies after $150k combined and is only two categories per cycle; 1X residual is weak
• Shipping dropped from 4X (2026 refresh); credits need enrollment and specific vendors
• No lounge, Global Entry/TSA, or airline incidental credit
• Hybrid pay-in-full + high POT APR; late fee can be 2.99% of past-due Pay In Full

Ink Business Cash® Credit Card

Pros

• $0 annual fee with 5%/2%/1% structure and a $1,000 / $8,000 / 4-month public bonus as of Sept 2026
• 12-month 0% intro APR on purchases (lost only if a minimum payment is missed)
• Employee cards $0; AU spend earns rewards and counts toward the bonus and category caps
• Cash back is Ultimate Rewards points and combinable with a transferable Chase card
• Primary business rental-car coverage up to $60,000 and solid purchase/extended-warranty terms for a no-fee card

Cons

• Bonus categories cap at $25k each per anniversary year, then 1%
• 3% foreign-transaction fee
• Base rate 1% loses to flat 1.5–2% cards outside the bonus buckets
• Personal guarantee + personal hard pull + commonly reported 5/24 filter
• Welcome bonus blocked if you ever had this card or another $0-AF Chase business card; no cell-phone protection, lounges, or TSA credit

Verdict

American Express® Business Gold Card

Business Gold is a specialist, not a simple daily driver. Auto-4X that follows whichever two categories win each month is powerful for ads, software, restaurants, gas, transit, or wireless — and the credit stack can more than offset $375 if you already buy those products. After the $150k cap, or if you will not enroll in credits, a no-fee 2% card or Ink Preferred is usually cleaner. Poor substitute for 0% capital, no-PG fintech cards, or Business Platinum travel perks.

Ink Business Cash® Credit Card

Ink Cash is the category SKU in the $0-AF Ink pair — not Unlimited (flat 1.5%) and not Preferred ($95, 3x ads/shipping/travel, $0 FTF, native transfers). It wins when office supplies and phone/internet/cable bills (plus some gas and dining) sit under two separate $25k anniversary caps. Pair it with Unlimited or Preferred rather than using it as an uncapped daily driver. Skip it for foreign spend, ad-heavy businesses, no-PG underwriting, or if a prior Ink Unlimited/Cash card already burned the $0-AF bonus.