Costs & Pricing

Metric	Capital One Venture X Business	Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business American Express Card
Annual fee	$395 (ongoing; no first-year waiver published)	$0 intro year 1, then $150 (first year of Card Membership only)
Employee card fee	$0 for employee cards. Optional lounge access for additional cardholders is $125/year per person (up to 4). Cards without lounge access stay free.	$0 (CMA: Annual Fee for Additional Cards: None)
Purchase APR	Marketing: 25.74% variable on the portion you elect to carry. Formal disclosure box does not print a purchase APR — it states the balance is due in full. No published Prime+ band.	19.49%–28.49% variable (Prime + 12.74% to Prime + 21.74%); placement by creditworthiness at account opening. APRs accurate as of 09/02/2026. No 0% intro.
Intro APR (purchases)	Not offered	Not offered
Foreign transaction fee	$0	$0
Late payment fee	2.99% of the unpaid portion of the minimum payment. Because the minimum equals the New Balance, a missed due date is expensive.	Up to $39 (will not exceed Minimum Payment Due)

Rewards & Value

Metric	Capital One Venture X Business	Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business American Express Card
Base earn rate	Unlimited 2 miles per $1 on net purchases (no published category cap)	1 SkyMile per $1 eligible purchases
Welcome bonus	Standard public offer (product page + disclosure 31812, 2026-09-03): 150,000 bonus miles after $30,000 spend within 3 months of rewards-membership enrollment. Posted within two billing cycles. Marketed as equal to $1,500 in travel at the 1¢ portal rate.	Conflict across official pages. Delta business-cards page: limited-time 90,000 bonus miles after $6,000 eligible purchases in the first 6 months — offer ends November 4, 2026. Amex product page (same period): evergreen-style 60,000 after $4,000 in the first 6 months with no end date. Treat 90k/$6k through 11/4/2026 as the live limited-time public offer; 60k/$4k as the fallback. Apply-flow T&Cs win.
Redemption value	1¢ per mile for portal travel and Cover Your Travel Purchases (miles needed = dollars × 100). Issuer markets 10,000 anniversary miles as $100 toward travel. Cash via check/account credit and gift cards at rates that vary and can change — not automatic.	Pay with Miles = 1.0¢ ($50 off per 5,000 miles on delta.com). Award travel is dynamic; TakeOff 15 improves award pricing ~15% on Delta-operated flights only (not partner-operated, not taxes/fees). Do not assume transfer-partner value — this card does not transfer.
Transfer partners	Capital One miles program (disclosure: may be eligible). Official 2026 list — 1:1 airlines: Aeromexico Rewards, Air Canada Aeroplan, Avianca LifeMiles, British Airways Club, Cathay Pacific Asia Miles, Etihad Guest, Finnair Plus, Flying Blue (Air France-KLM), Qantas, Qatar Privilege Club, Singapore KrisFlyer, TAP Miles&Go, Turkish Miles&Smiles, Virgin Red. 2:1.5: Emirates Skywards, EVA Air, Japan Airlines. 5:3: JetBlue TrueBlue. Hotels: Choice Privileges 1:1, Wyndham Rewards 1:1, I Prefer 1:2, Accor Live Limitless 2:1. Miles do not expire while the account is open; may be forfeited if closed.	None. Currency is Delta SkyMiles, not Membership Rewards. No transfer-out to other airlines. Miles do not expire under Delta’s published policy; Delta may still deactivate an account and remove miles.

Credit & Eligibility

Metric	Capital One Venture X Business	Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business American Express Card
Personal guarantee	Required in practice / exact clause not on the public product page. Capital One educational copy treats PGs as typical on business cards; secondary sources (Nav, Ramp) state Cap One business cards require a PG.	Required in substance. CMA: Basic Card Member and Company remain jointly and severally liable for all charges. Quote the live application before publishing a legal excerpt.
Credit check	Application collects SSN/ITIN, rent/mortgage, personal contact. Hard pull is the Cap One / industry norm; pre-approval tool is marketed as no-impact. Whose credit: authorizing signatory; beneficial owners/controllers also collected.	Know if you're approved with no impact on your personal credit score until acceptance. Business credit may be impacted on submit. Accepting the card may impact personal credit. Treated as a hard pull on accept in industry practice; Amex does not print “hard pull” on the marketing page.
Employee cards	Free; public copy does not numerically cap count. Roles: authorized user vs account manager (more admin rights). Custom spend limits, real-time posting, lock/unlock. Primary remains liable. No complimentary lounge access for additional cardholders unless $125/year add-on (up to 4).	$0 additional-card fee. Spend controls / alerts marketed; Account Manager role can add cards, pay, review transactions. Hard cap on number not disclosed on this product page — do not invent 99 unless the application states it.
Product type	Hybrid business charge card with no preset spending limit (NPSL). Official terms: all charges due in full; minimum payment equals New Balance. Marketing allows carrying a portion at 25.74% variable APR (Pay Over Time). Not a traditional revolving line.	Revolving small-business credit card (published purchase APR, ADB interest, minimum-payment rule). Not a charge card. Not a corporate / net-terms spend platform.

Pros & Cons

Capital One Venture X Business

Pros

• Unlimited 2X miles with no category tracking, plus 5X/10X in Capital One Business Travel and 15+ transfer partners
• $300 portal credit + 10,000 anniversary miles offset most of the $395 fee if the credit is used (fee nets about −$5 at 1¢/mile before lounge value)
• NPSL purchasing power with Confirm Purchasing Power; $0 FTF
• Free employee and virtual cards; Accounts Payable included (no platform fee)
• Primary lounge stack (Cap One + Priority Pass) with two free PP guests — better PP guest policy than personal Venture X after Feb 2026

Cons

• $395 fee and a $300 credit that only works inside Capital One Business Travel
• Welcome spend hurdle is $30,000 in 3 months; prior Capital One Business customers may get $0 bonus
• Pay-in-full design; late fee is 2.99% of the unpaid New Balance
• Carry APR 25.74% if you use the residual-balance option — poor working-capital tool
• Portal-only hotel/air bonuses; insurance/cell-phone/rental-CDW details are network-dependent and not in a public benefits PDF

Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business American Express Card

Pros

• $0 year-1 fee then $150 — lowest annual fee in the Delta business lineup
• 1st checked bag free worldwide + 2nd bag free domestic (2026 add) can offset the AF in a few team trips
• 2X on uncapped restaurants plus capped U.S. shipping and U.S. digital/TV/radio ads
• $0 foreign-transaction fee and $0 employee cards (employee spend feeds the $10k flight-credit threshold)
• TakeOff 15 reduces Delta-metal award cost 15%

Cons

• Ongoing $150 AF with credits that are conditional, portal-locked, or enrollment-gated after renewal
• Miles are Delta-only — no Membership Rewards transfers
• No lounge, no GE/PreCheck credit, thinner insurance than Platinum/Reserve Business
• No 0% intro APR; carrying a balance is expensive (19.49%–28.49% as of 09/02/2026)
• Personal guarantee / joint and several liability; advertising 2X is MCC-narrow (media providers, not any marketing vendor)

Verdict

Capital One Venture X Business

Venture X Business is the miles/lounge sibling of Spark Cash Plus — same NPSL charge-card chassis, not consumer Venture X and not Venture Business. Fee math works if the $300 portal credit is used; skip it if you will not book in Capital One Business Travel, cannot hit $30k/3 months, need 0% float, or want no-PG underwriting. Confirm the live welcome tile (150k standard vs 400k targeted) and the issued Visa vs Mastercard benefits guide.

Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business American Express Card

This is the low-fee Delta business cobrand — not personal Delta Gold (supermarkets 2X), not Platinum/Reserve Business, and not Amex Business Gold (MR). Confirm the live apply-flow welcome (90k/$6k through 11/4/2026 on Delta vs 60k/$4k still on Amex’s product URL). Skip it if you will not fly Delta, want transferable points, need 0% float, or refuse a PG.