Costs & Pricing

Metric	Spark Cash Plus	Engine X
Annual fee	$150 ($150 statement credit if ≥ $150,000 net purchases by membership anniversary)	$0
Employee card fee	$0 (free employee and virtual cards)	$0; unlimited physical and virtual cards
Purchase APR	Not printed as revolving purchase APR; Pay Over Time variable APR ~25.74% (review sites, mid-2026) if balance carried	N/A — charge card. No purchase interest if paid by due date. No published purchase APR range. Marketing “0%” means no annual fee plus charge-card float until the due date, not an intro APR.
Intro APR (purchases)	Not offered	Not offered (not a revolving product)
Foreign transaction fee	$0	$0 (International Transaction Fee: $0 / None). Ordinary Visa FX conversion still applies (rate not separately itemized).
Late payment fee	2.99% late fee if minimum payment not paid by due date	$40 per late payment

Rewards & Value

Metric	Spark Cash Plus	Engine X
Base earn rate	Unlimited 2% cash back on net purchases (no category caps)	1.5% back in Engine points on Qualifying Card Purchases (everyday / off-Engine spend, including flights even if booked on Engine)
Welcome bonus	$2,000 cash after $30,000 spend in first 3 months; +$2,000 for every $500,000 in year one (repeatable)	20,000 Engine points after the company activates an Engine X card and completes $2,000 in Qualifying Off-Platform Purchases within 30 days of first Card activation. Off-platform = card spend not booked through Engine.com. Engine travel bookings do not count. Employee/additional-card off-platform spend does count (company-level). First-time Engine X customer; one bonus per company. Offer ends 11:59 p.m. ET, 31 December 2026 (incentive terms updated 1 Jun 2026).
Redemption value	1¢ per 1¢ cash back on statement credit/check	Official cents-per-point not disclosed. Points have no cash value and are redeemable only through the program. Checkout shows a point-to-dollar value before confirm. Secondary (TPG, 20 Aug 2026): statement credit described at ~50% of booking value — unofficial; do not hard-code 1¢ or 0.5¢ as issuer fact. Disclose user-selectable factor: 1.0× if redeemed for Engine bookings; 0.5× if using TPG’s statement-credit haircut.
Transfer partners	No native transfer partners; cash may convert to Capital One miles ($1 = 100 miles) if linked to miles-earning Cap One card	Not offered (no Chase/Amex/airline transfers)

Credit & Eligibility

Metric	Spark Cash Plus	Engine X
Personal guarantee	Required in practice (issuer-typical for Cap One business cards; not quoted on product page)	Official apply page: “We also do not require personal guarantees.” Program terms: company is the liable party. Owner KYC still collected. Confirm no hidden guaranty in the Issuing Bank Terms accepted at offer.
Credit check	Hard pull on submit; pre-approval advertised as no impact to personal credit	Official: no hard pull, will not impact personal credit score. Soft-pull vs none-at-all on a bureau file is not separately named. Last-4 SSN is for identity verification (CIP), not described as a full credit pull.
Employee cards	Free; spend limits, lock/unlock, account manager role; primary remains liable	Unlimited physical + instant virtual, including 1099 / temporary workers. Spend controls by employee, project, expense type, category, merchant, transaction. Physical cards ~8 business days. Company remains liable.
Product type	Hybrid charge card / NPSL business card (designed pay-in-full; Pay Over Time optional)	Business charge card + spend-management card (pay-in-full each cycle; assigned line of credit; no revolving APR). Not a consumer credit card. Sibling: Direct Bill (credit line limited to Engine hotel/flight/car bookings — not this card).

Pros & Cons

Spark Cash Plus

Pros

• Uncapped 2% cash back on all net purchases
• NPSL capacity plus free employee and virtual cards
• $150 annual fee refunded at $150,000 net spend by anniversary
• Large year-1 bonuses — $2,000 at $30k/3 mo plus $2,000 per $500k spent
• $0 foreign transaction fee; 5% on Capital One Business Travel hotels/VR/cars

Cons

• $150 fee is real if spend stays below $150k/year
• Pay-in-full design — 2.99% late fee and Pay Over Time interest if you carry
• Bonus hurdles favor very high spenders ($30k/3 mo, $500k increments)
• No 0% intro APR and no balance transfers
• Bonus often blocked for existing/previous Capital One Business cardholders

Engine X

Pros

• $0 annual fee and $0 employee/virtual-card fees
• 6% (scaling to 10%) Engine points on Engine hotel and rental-car bookings — unusual on-platform travel earn at $0 fee
• No personal guarantee and no hard personal credit pull (official apply language)
• Charge card + Autopay + spend controls + unlimited cards for employees and 1099s; travel booking, policy, and folios in one dashboard
• $0 foreign-transaction fee in the fee table

Cons

• Elevated earn does not apply to flights or off-Engine hotels; marketing “up to 10% on travel” is broader than the legal category
• Pay-in-full charge card; $40 late / $40 returned-payment fees; no revolver
• Points have no cash value; official ¢/point not published; statement-credit value may haircut vs booking (secondary)
• Sole proprietors ineligible; U.S. entity + EIN required
• No published lounge, TSA/Global Entry, or card-insurance benefits guide; product is new (Mar 2026) so limit ranges and servicing quality are thinly documented

Verdict

Spark Cash Plus

Capital One Spark Cash Plus is the go-to for businesses with serious spend who can pay in full. Uncapped 2%, NPSL flexibility, free employee/virtual cards, and a refundable $150 fee at $150k make it a premium flat-rate engine — especially with the live $2,000 welcome bonus and limited $500 travel credit (through Sep 7, 2026). Poor fit for 0% financing seekers, lounge hunters, or businesses under $150k annual card spend.

Engine X

Engine X is a TMC + charge card, not Direct Bill and not Ramp/Brex. Most SMBs stay Silver (6% / 1.5%). Skip it if travel will not move onto Engine, if you need revolving credit or transferable miles, or if you are a sole prop. Confirm the live 20,000-point offer (through 31 Dec 2026) requires $2,000 off-Engine spend within 30 days of first card activation.