Costs & Pricing

Metric	Ink Business Cash® Credit Card	Spark 1% Classic
Annual fee	$0	$0 (ongoing; no intro-year structure)
Employee card fee	$0	$0 (free employee cards; no per-card fee published)
Purchase APR	16.74%–24.74% variable (Prime + 9.99% to +17.99%; max 29.99%; Prime 6.75% as of 2/3/2026 pricing box)	28.99% variable on the product page and pre-approval rates block (Sept. 3, 2026). Not published as a range; no Prime + margin table on the Classic page. Review sites still show 29.49%–30.74% — treat as stale vs issuer page.
Intro APR (purchases)	0% fixed for first 12 months the account is open (lost if minimum payment missed; Default APR then applies)	Not offered
Foreign transaction fee	3%	$0
Late payment fee	$40	Not on the official Classic page. Bankrate (Dec 19, 2025): up to $39. Do not apply Cap One charge-card 2.99%-of-unpaid-minimum language to Classic.

Rewards & Value

Metric	Ink Business Cash® Credit Card	Spark 1% Classic
Base earn rate	1% cash back on eligible purchases (1 Ultimate Rewards point per $1; unlimited)	Unlimited 1% cash back on every purchase. Marketing: no limits or category restrictions; no minimums. Rewards will not expire for the life of the account.
Welcome bonus	$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)	None. Live public offer as of September 3, 2026: no cash bonus, no spend threshold. Historical typical offer: also none.
Redemption value	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.	Cash at face value on statement credit or check (1¢ per 1% dollar). Official FAQ: redeem for any amount / no minimums. Gift-card rates may vary. Do not assume portal 5% unless the user actually books hotels/cars in Capital One Business Travel. Do not assume World Elite travel credits or transferable miles.
Transfer partners	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.	None on this cash-back product. Official FAQ: cash rewards earned through spending on Spark Classic are not taxable (issuer still says consult a tax expert).

Credit & Eligibility

Metric	Ink Business Cash® Credit Card	Spark 1% Classic
Personal guarantee	Required — Chase states Ink cards require joint and several liability of the individual cardmember and the business	Not quoted on the Classic product page. Commonly reported as required; official Classic sentence missing. Secondary sources (NerdWallet, Ramp, WalletHub) treat Cap One small-business cards, including Classic, as PG required.
Credit check	Hard pull on the owner/guarantor (SSN required; not printed as “hard pull” on the product page)	Pre-approval advertised as no impact to personal score. Submitted application treated by reviewers as a hard pull on personal credit (commonly all three bureaus). Official: application may be declined if you have a freeze with credit bureaus.
Employee cards	Unlimited number at $0 extra fee (no published numeric cap). Individual spend limits, lock/unlock, alerts. Same liability pool.	Free; add with name, DOB, phone; option to issue plastic or not; custom spend and cash limits, reset mid-cycle. Number allowed not disclosed. Primary account / guarantor remains responsible (Classic page does not spell joint and several).
Product type	Revolving business credit card	Revolving business credit card (balance may be carried; interest applies). Not a charge card. Contrast siblings: Spark Cash Plus and Venture X Business are pay-in-full / NPSL charge cards.

Pros & Cons

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

Spark 1% Classic

Pros

• $0 annual fee with no year-2 surprise
• Explicitly underwritten for fair personal credit — rare in the Spark/Ink/Amex Business set
• Unlimited 1% + 5% Capital One Business Travel hotels/cars; rewards do not expire while the account is open
• $0 foreign-transaction fee on a fair-credit product
• Free employee cards with spend limits, virtual numbers, QBO/Excel export, year-end summaries, and $0 fraud-liability language covering employee cards

Cons

• 28.99% variable purchase APR and no intro 0% — carrying a balance is expensive
• No welcome bonus
• 1% base lags Spark Cash Select (1.5%) and Spark Cash (2%)
• Balance transfers not available
• Likely reports full activity to personal credit — utilization risk

Verdict

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.

Spark 1% Classic

Spark Classic is a credit-access card, not a rewards engine and not a 0% working-capital tool. Do not confuse it with Spark Cash Select (1.5%, $750 bonus, 9-month 0%) or Spark Cash Plus (2% NPSL charge card). Do not copy Venture X or World Elite Spark insurance onto this SKU until Classic’s own Guide to Benefits is confirmed. If you can qualify for Select or Ink Unlimited, those are better earners. If you cannot, Classic is a reasonable builder — only if you pay in full.