American Express® Gold Card vs The Platinum Card® from American Express
The Gold and the Platinum are Amex's two flagship personal charge cards. Both earn Membership Rewards points, and both charge 0% on foreign transactions. The real choice is where your money goes and how large an annual fee you'll accept. Gold costs $325 a year and pays its best rates on food. Platinum costs $895 and pays its best rates on travel booked through Amex, then adds a long list of statement credits. They share one points currency but do very different jobs.
| Spec | American Express® | The Platinum |
|---|---|---|
| Annual fee | $325/yr | $895/yr |
| Welcome bonus | 100,000 points bonus | 175,000 points bonus |
| Base rate | 1x | 1x |
| Top earn rates |
|
|
| Foreign tx fee | None | None |
| Statement credits | 4 credits | 12 credits |
| Rewards | American Express Membership Rewards | American Express Membership Rewards |
Choose American Express® Gold
Choose the Gold if you spend heavily on food. It earns 4X at restaurants worldwide (on up to $50,000 per calendar year, then 1X) and 4X at U.S. supermarkets (on up to $25,000 per year), plus 3X on flights booked directly with airlines or through Amex Travel. The $325 fee comes with credits built around eating: up to $120 a year in dining statement credits (Grubhub, Five Guys, The Cheesecake Factory and others), $120 in annual Uber Cash at $10 a month, up to $100 a year at Resy restaurants, and up to $84 a year on Dunkin'. The welcome offer runs up to 100,000 points (around $2,000) after $8,000 of eligible spend in the first 6 months, a lower spending bar than the Platinum's $12,000. If you eat out and buy groceries more than you fly, Gold's everyday earn rates do more work for less money.
Full details →Choose The Platinum Card®
Choose the Platinum if you fly often and will actually use its credits. It earns 5X on flights (booked with airlines or through Amex Travel, on up to $500,000 per year) and 5X on prepaid hotels through Amex Travel, but only 1X on everything else, so it rewards travel and little else on the spend side. The welcome offer goes as high as 175,000 points (around $3,500) after $12,000 of eligible spend in the first 6 months. The $895 fee is backed by a deep credit stack: up to $600 a year on Fine Hotels + Resorts and The Hotel Collection stays, $400 at U.S. Resy restaurants, $300 in digital entertainment, $300 at lululemon, $300 toward Equinox, $200 in Uber Cash, $200 in airline incidental fees, $200 on an Oura Ring, $219 for CLEAR Plus, $155 for Walmart+, $120 for Uber One, and up to $120 for Global Entry. You have to redeem enough of those to justify $895 though, and most require enrollment.
Full details →Verdict
Get the Gold if your spending centers on dining and groceries and you want strong everyday earn for $325; get the Platinum if you fly enough and will work its credit stack hard enough to clear the $895 fee.