Costs & Pricing

Metric	Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card	The Business Platinum Card® from American Express
Annual fee	$0	$895 (new accounts since 09/18/2025; existing accounts moved to $895 on first renewal on or after 12/02/2025). Refundable if closed within 30 days of the Closing Date the fee posted.
Employee card fee	$0	$400 each Additional Business Platinum Card; $0 each Additional Business Expense Card; max 99 additional cards. Legacy accounts opened before 09/18/2025 and not notified of the change may still be billed $350.
Purchase APR	16.74%–24.74% variable (Prime + 9.99% to +17.99%; cap 29.99%)	Pay Over Time only: Prime + 10.99% to Prime + 21.74% (marketed 17.74%–28.49% variable); cap 29.99%. Does not apply to Pay In Full charges paid by the due date.
Intro APR (purchases)	0% fixed for first 12 months (lost if minimum payment missed)	Not offered
Foreign transaction fee	3%	$0
Late payment fee	$40	$39 or 2.99% of any past-due Pay In Full amount, whichever is greater

Rewards & Value

Metric	Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card	The Business Platinum Card® from American Express
Base earn rate	1.5% cash back (1.5 Ultimate Rewards points per $1)	1X Membership Rewards point per $1 on other eligible purchases
Welcome bonus	$1,000 cash back after $8,000 in purchases within first 4 months (100,000 points; as of 9/3/2026)	Personalized — marketed as high as 300,000 Membership Rewards points after $20,000 eligible spend in the first 3 months. Welcome offers vary and you may not be eligible. Do not treat 300k as a guaranteed public offer.
Redemption value	1¢/point for cash, gift cards, and program travel; Amazon Shop with Points 0.8¢/point	Issuer does not publish a single cpp. Do not invent one. Pay-with-Points airfare is often treated near 1¢; hotel portal is frequently lower. Transfers can be higher or lower.
Transfer partners	Not native on this card; points can be moved to another Ultimate Rewards account for transfer-partner access when paired with eligible cards (e.g., Ink Preferred)	Membership Rewards program (not card-unique; ratios change). Most airlines 1:1; commonly cited exceptions include Aeromexico 1:1.6, JetBlue 250:200, Hilton 1:2, Marriott 1:1, Choice 1:1, LHW 4:1. Re-check membershiprewards.com. Typical minimum 1,000 points. One-way. No expiration while the account remains open / program rules are met.

Credit & Eligibility

Metric	Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card	The Business Platinum Card® from American Express
Personal guarantee	Required — joint and several liability of authorizing officer and business	Required in substance. CMA: “The Basic Card Member and the Company remain jointly and severally liable for all Charges.” Not a no-PG product.
Credit check	Hard pull on authorizing officer's personal credit (SSN required)	Marketed “Know if you're approved with no personal credit score impact.” Secondary: decision often before a hard pull; hard personal inquiry commonly reported if the card is accepted. Business bureau review may occur when an EIN is used.
Employee cards	Free; number not capped in public copy; individual spend limits, lock/unlock, and alerts	Up to 99 additional. Platinum AU $400 with fuller travel benefits (lounge, hotel status, GE/PreCheck commonly reported as individual). Many statement credits remain account-pooled. Expense cards $0 without the full perk stack. Spend limits, alerts, freeze.
Product type	Revolving business credit card	Charge card with No Preset Spending Limit plus optional Pay Over Time (hybrid charge / limited-revolve)

Pros & Cons

Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card

Pros

• $0 annual fee on primary and employee cards
• Uncapped 1.5% on eligible purchases — simple flat-rate earn
• 12-month 0% intro APR on purchases
• Elevated $1,000 / $8,000 / 4-month welcome bonus (as of 9/3/2026); AU spend counts
• Primary business-use rental CDW up to $60,000 on a no-fee card

Cons

• 3% foreign-transaction fee
• No native bonus categories — loses to 2% flats and Ink Cash/Preferred in bonus buckets
• Personal guarantee + hard personal pull + unofficial 5/24 rule
• Welcome bonus blocked if you ever held this or another $0-AF Chase business card
• No balance-transfer intro APR; no cell-phone protection or premium travel credits

The Business Platinum Card® from American Express

Pros

• 5X on Amex Travel flights / prepaid hotels / prepaid STRs, transferable MR, and 35% Pay-with-Points airline rebate
• 2X on defined U.S. construction, electronics/software/cloud, shipping, and $5k+ tickets up to $2M
• Global Lounge Collection plus $600 hotel credit and FHR/Hotel Collection access; $0 FTF; NPSL
• Business credit stack (Dell up to $1,150, Indeed $360, Adobe $250, wireless $120, ChatGPT Business $300) if those vendors are already in use
• CLEAR+, Global Entry/PreCheck, hotel elite status, and cell-phone protection on a charge card

Cons

• $895 primary fee and $400 perk-bearing employee cards
• 1X on most everyday spend; 5X does not apply to flights booked direct with airlines
• Credits are fragmented, enrollment-gated, and easy to miss; marketing “$4,000+ value” assumes utilization the business may not have
• Pay-in-full late fee can be 2.99% of past-due PIF; POT APR is high if used as working capital
• Personal / joint-and-several liability; welcome bonus is personalized (“as high as”) and generally once per this product

Verdict

Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card

One of the strongest no-annual-fee business cards for flat-rate earn. The Ink Business Unlimited combines uncapped 1.5% cash back, a generous intro APR window, free employee cards, and a elevated welcome bonus — all without an annual fee. Best for domestic spenders who don't need category bonuses or premium travel perks. Poor fit for foreign spend, no-PG seekers, or businesses that would earn more with Ink Cash or Ink Preferred in their bonus categories.

The Business Platinum Card® from American Express

Business Platinum is the lounge-and-credits SKU — not consumer Platinum (different credits, broader direct-airline 5X) and not Business Gold (lower fee, auto-4X ads/restaurants/gas). It pays when portal travel, 2X categories, and enrollment credits are real spend you already have. Unused credits make $895 a net loss versus Ink Preferred or a 2% cash card. Poor daily driver for flat cash back, 0% capital, no-PG underwriting, or flights ticketed direct with airlines.