Head-to-Head

Ink Business Cash® Credit Card

No-annual-fee category cash-back: 5% office supplies + telecom (capped), 2% gas + dining (capped), 1% else, plus 12-month 0% intro APR on purchases

VS

Engine X

No-annual-fee travel charge card: 6–10% Engine points on Engine hotel/car bookings, 1.5% on other spend; no personal guarantee

Annual Fee
$0
$0
Base Earn
1% cash back on eligible purchases (1...
1.5% back in Engine points on Qualify...
Intro APR
0% fixed for first 12 months the acco...
Not offered (not a revolving product)
Rating
8.6/10
8.2/10

Costs & Pricing

MetricInk Business Cash® Credit CardEngine X
Annual fee$0$0
Employee card fee$0$0; unlimited physical and virtual cards
Purchase APR16.74%–24.74% variable (Prime + 9.99% to +17.99%; max 29.99%; Prime 6.75% as of 2/3/2026 pricing box)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)0% fixed for first 12 months the account is open (lost if minimum payment missed; Default APR then applies)Not offered (not a revolving product)
Foreign transaction fee3%$0 (International Transaction Fee: $0 / None). Ordinary Visa FX conversion still applies (rate not separately itemized).
Late payment fee$40$40 per late payment

Rewards & Value

MetricInk Business Cash® Credit CardEngine X
Base earn rate1% cash back on eligible purchases (1 Ultimate Rewards point per $1; unlimited)1.5% back in Engine points on Qualifying Card Purchases (everyday / off-Engine spend, including flights even if booked on Engine)
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)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 value1¢ 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.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 partnersNot 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.Not offered (no Chase/Amex/airline transfers)

Credit & Eligibility

MetricInk Business Cash® Credit CardEngine X
Personal guaranteeRequired — Chase states Ink cards require joint and several liability of the individual cardmember and the businessOfficial 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 checkHard pull on the owner/guarantor (SSN required; not printed as “hard pull” on the product page)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 cardsUnlimited number at $0 extra fee (no published numeric cap). Individual spend limits, lock/unlock, alerts. Same liability pool.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 typeRevolving business credit cardBusiness 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

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

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

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.

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.