Costs & Pricing

Metric	Spark Cash Plus	Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card
Annual fee	$150 ($150 statement credit if ≥ $150,000 net purchases by membership anniversary)	$125 (no first-year waiver published)
Employee card fee	$0 (free employee and virtual cards)	$0; up to 99 Employee Cards
Purchase APR	Not printed as revolving purchase APR; Pay Over Time variable APR ~25.74% (review sites, mid-2026) if balance carried	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 offered	Not offered
Foreign transaction fee	$0	$0
Late payment fee	2.99% late fee if minimum payment not paid by due date	Up to $39; will not exceed Minimum Payment Due

Rewards & Value

Metric	Spark Cash Plus	Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card
Base earn rate	Unlimited 2% cash back on net purchases (no category caps)	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	$2,000 cash after $30,000 spend in first 3 months; +$2,000 for every $500,000 in year one (repeatable)	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	1¢ per 1¢ cash back on statement credit/check	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	No native transfer partners; cash may convert to Capital One miles ($1 = 100 miles) if linked to miles-earning Cap One card	Marriott Bonvoy airline partners at ~3:1 (not Membership Rewards). Not transferable to Amex MR.

Credit & Eligibility

Metric	Spark Cash Plus	Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card
Personal guarantee	Required in practice (issuer-typical for Cap One business cards; not quoted on product page)	Required in substance. CMA: Basic Cardmember and Company jointly and severally liable for all charges, including Employee Card use.
Credit check	Hard pull on submit; pre-approval advertised as no impact to personal 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	Free; spend limits, lock/unlock, account manager role; primary remains liable	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 charge card / NPSL business card (designed pay-in-full; Pay Over Time optional)	Revolving business credit card (not a charge card; not a spend-management / net-terms product)

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

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

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.

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.