Costs & Pricing

Metric	American Express® Business Gold Card	Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card
Annual fee	$375	$125 (no first-year waiver published)
Employee card fee	Employee Business Gold $95 (first 5 then $95 each); Employee Business Expense Cards $0; max 99 additional cards	$0; up to 99 Employee Cards
Purchase APR	17.74%–28.49% variable on Pay Over Time only (Prime + 10.99% to +21.74%)	Prime + 12.74% to Prime + 21.74% (marketing 19.49%–28.49% variable at Prime 6.75% as of 1–2 Sep 2026). Placement by creditworthiness at opening. No intro APR.
Intro APR (purchases)	Not a standard public offer (some targeted pages have shown 0% for 6 months on POT-eligible purchases)	Not offered
Foreign transaction fee	$0	$0
Late payment fee	$39 or 2.99% of any past-due Pay In Full amount, whichever is greater	Up to $39; will not exceed Minimum Payment Due

Rewards & Value

Metric	American Express® Business Gold Card	Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card
Base earn rate	1X Membership Rewards point per $1 on other eligible purchases	2 Marriott Bonvoy points per $1 on other eligible purchases (no published cap). Card-side points only — Marriott member-stay points are a program overlay, not a card rate.
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)	Up to 125,000 Bonvoy bonus points: 75,000 after $6,000 eligible purchases + 50,000 after an additional $3,000 ($9,000 total) within the first 6 months of Card Membership (live public offer, 3 Sep 2026). Rotates — 3+2 Free Night Awards have appeared in other cycles. Offer end date not printed on the Business page.
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¢.	Issuer does not publish a cent value. Do not invent one. Industry write-ups often use ~0.6–0.9¢ on paid-night replacement; airline transfers often lower. Do not assume 1¢.
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.	Marriott Bonvoy airline partners at ~3:1 (not Membership Rewards). Not transferable to Amex MR.

Credit & Eligibility

Metric	American Express® Business Gold Card	Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card
Personal guarantee	Required (standard small-business Amex model; no published no-PG path)	Required in substance. CMA: Basic Cardmember and Company jointly and severally liable for all charges, including Employee Card use.
Credit check	Apply with Confidence — no personal-score impact to learn approval; accepting the card may impact personal credit. Submitting may affect business credit.	No personal-score impact to learn if approved. Personal score may be impacted if approved and the Card is accepted. Business credit may be impacted on submit.
Employee cards	Up to 99 total; Gold employee cards $95 structure; Expense Cards $0; spend limits and alerts	Up to 99 at $0 AF. Spend limits, merchant-type limits, real-time alerts, freeze/unfreeze, account graphs. Liability remains on Basic Cardmember + Company.
Product type	Hybrid small-business charge card with revolving Pay Over Time (NPSL on purchases)	Revolving business credit card (not a charge card; not a spend-management / net-terms product)

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

Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card

Pros

• $125 fee with an automatic annual Free Night (≤35,000 points) that can exceed the fee if redeemed against a high cash rate
• Complimentary Gold Elite + 15 ENCs without 25 paid nights
• 4X on four real small-business categories (worldwide restaurants, U.S. gas, U.S. wireless, U.S. shipping) with no published cap
• Up to 99 employee cards at $0 with limits and alerts; $0 FTF
• Apply-to-decision path that does not hit personal credit unless the Card is accepted

Cons

• $125 fee with no statement-credit offset; 35k Free Night cap plus dynamic pricing and resort fees
• Points are Marriott-locked; airline transfers are 3:1
• Purchase APR 19.49%–28.49% variable and no 0% intro — a poor revolver
• Personal / joint-and-several liability
• No lounge access, no Global Entry/TSA credit, thin trip-insurance stack vs premium Amex business cards

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.

Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card

This is the live U.S. Marriott business cobrand — not Bevy/Brilliant, not Chase Marriott Business (closed to new applicants), and not the Canadian $150 / 5X/3X/2X card. It pays when the firm actually sleeps Marriott and uses the Free Night. A hotel-agnostic shopper should use Ink Preferred, Business Gold, or a $0 2% cash card instead. Do not put Bonvoy member-stay points in the card earn column.