The Amex Gold Card earns 4x Membership Rewards points at restaurants worldwide and 4x at U.S. supermarkets. That's the headline. The details that decide whether it beats a travel card for you sit underneath: the 4x restaurant rate stops at $50,000 a year, the 4x supermarket rate stops at $25,000, and Amex doesn't count superstores or warehouse clubs as supermarkets.
This guide puts the Gold, at $325 a year, against the travel cards readers usually weigh it against: the $95 Chase Sapphire Preferred, the $795 Chase Sapphire Reserve and the $395 Capital One Venture X. The argument is narrow. If most of your spending happens at restaurants and real supermarkets and you'll use credits shaped around food and Uber, the Gold earns more on that spending than any of them. If you book flights and hotels directly, the Sapphire Reserve earns more, and if you want lounge access or strong travel protections, a travel card wins.
The Amex Gold Today: Fee, Earning and Caps
The Gold's annual fee is $325. Amex's welcome offer is as high as 100,000 Membership Rewards points after $8,000 in purchases in the first 6 months, and Amex tells you your exact offer after you apply, so yours may be lower or there may be none.
Here's how it earns, from Amex's card page and terms:
4x at restaurants worldwide, on up to $50,000 in purchases per calendar year, then 1x. 4x at U.S. supermarkets, on up to $25,000 in purchases per calendar year, then 1x for the rest of the year. 5x on prepaid hotels booked through AmexTravel.com or the Amex Travel App. 3x on flights booked directly with airlines or through Amex Travel. 2x on prepaid car rentals booked through Amex Travel and cruises booked and paid through AmexTravel.com. 1x on everything else.
That last line covers a lot. Gas, hotels booked directly with the hotel, rideshare, streaming and warehouse club runs all earn 1x on the Gold.
What Counts As a Supermarket and a Restaurant
This is where the Gold either works or quietly underperforms. Amex's terms say superstores, convenience stores, warehouse clubs and meal-kit delivery services are not considered supermarkets. If a big share of your grocery money goes to a warehouse club or a superstore, that share earns 1x, and your real 4x spend is smaller than your grocery bill.
The restaurant rate has exclusions too. Amex won't pay the extra points at a restaurant inside another establishment, such as a hotel, casino or event venue, or at bars, nightclubs, cafeterias, caterers, breweries and bakeries. Purchases through third-party food delivery services outside the U.S. are also excluded.
Amex also notes that bonus points may not post when a merchant sells through a third party, processes the charge on a mobile card reader, or when you pay with a mobile or digital wallet. If a charge you expected at 4x posts at 1x, check how the merchant ran it.
The Gold's Credits and What It Takes to Use Them
Amex says the Gold's benefits can add up to "$500+ in annual value." Most of the credits below are paid in monthly or semi-annual pieces, and each has a rule you need to follow:
- $120 Uber Cash. $10 in Uber Cash each month once you add the Gold to your Uber account, for Uber rides and Uber Eats orders in the U.S. It expires at the end of each calendar month, and unused Uber Cash doesn't carry over.
- $120 Dining Credit. Up to $10 in statement credits each month at Grubhub, Buffalo Wild Wings, Five Guys, The Cheesecake Factory and Wonder, at U.S. locations. Enrollment required.
- $100 Resy Credit. Up to $50 in statement credits from January through June and up to $50 from July through December at qualifying U.S. Resy restaurants. Enrollment required.
- $84 Dunkin' Credit. Up to $7 in statement credits each month at U.S. Dunkin' locations. Enrollment required.
- The Hotel Collection. A $100 credit toward eligible charges when you book two nights or more with The Hotel Collection through AmexTravel.com.
The card also comes with a complimentary upgrade to Hertz Five Star status (enrollment required).
Say you only use the Uber Cash and the Dunkin' credit every month, and skip the rest. That's $120 plus $84 back against the $325 fee, and the 4x categories have to cover the remainder. Say you use all four monthly and semi-annual credits in full instead. That's $424 back, more than the fee, before you earn a single point. Most people land somewhere between, so be honest about which merchants are already in your routine.
How the Travel Cards Earn
Each issuer's page today shows a very different shape:
- Chase Sapphire Preferred, $95. 5x on Chase Travel; 3x on dining; 3x on gas stations, EV charging and vacation homes at top brands; 3x on top streaming services and online grocery (exclusions apply); 2x on all other travel; 1x on everything else. It includes a $100 Chase Travel hotel credit each account anniversary year.
- Chase Sapphire Reserve, $795. 8x on purchases through Chase Travel; 4x on flights booked direct; 4x on hotels booked direct; 3x on dining worldwide; 1x on everything else. It includes a $300 annual travel credit and access to Chase Sapphire Lounges by The Club and 1,300+ Priority Pass lounges, with up to two guests.
- Capital One Venture X, $395. 10x on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel; 5x on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Travel; 2x on everything else. It includes a $300 annual Capital One Travel credit, 10,000 bonus miles every year starting on your first anniversary, and access to Capital One Lounges and 1,300+ Priority Pass lounges for primary cardholders.
On both Chase cards, in-store supermarket purchases earn the 1x rate on everything else; the Preferred's 3x grocery rate is for online grocery, with exclusions. The Venture X earns 2x at supermarkets because it earns 2x on nearly everything.
Where the Gold Wins: Restaurants and Supermarkets
Say your household spends $800 a month at restaurants and $600 at U.S. supermarkets that Amex codes as supermarkets. Here's what that $1,400 earns each month:
On the Gold, 3,200 points from restaurants and 2,400 from supermarkets, or 5,600 Membership Rewards points. On the Sapphire Preferred, 2,400 from dining at 3x and 600 from in-store groceries at 1x, or 3,000 points. On the Sapphire Reserve, the same 3,000. On the Venture X, 2,800 miles at 2x across the board.
That's the case for the Gold in one line. On food spending, nothing in this group comes close, and the Gold's annual fee sits between the Preferred's and the Venture X's.
Points from different programs aren't worth the same to everyone, and how much yours are worth depends on how you redeem them. Still, when the gap in points earned is this wide on your biggest spending lines, the Gold starts from well ahead.
Where a Travel Card Wins
The picture flips once travel is a big part of your spending.
Direct and portal travel. Say you spend $5,000 a year on flights booked directly with airlines. The Gold earns 15,000 points at 3x and the Sapphire Reserve 20,000 at 4x. Hotels booked directly with the hotel earn 1x on the Gold and 4x on the Reserve. If you book through a card's travel site, the Reserve's 8x on Chase Travel and the Venture X's 10x on Capital One Travel hotels both outrun the Gold's 5x on prepaid Amex Travel hotels.
Lounges. Amex's own Gold page says the card doesn't currently have lounge access benefits, and it points readers who want lounges to the Platinum Card or the Delta SkyMiles Reserve. The Reserve and the Venture X both include lounge networks, and the Amex Platinum's Global Lounge Collection covers over 1,550 airport lounges.
Travel credits. The Reserve's $300 annual travel credit covers travel purchases, and the Venture X's $300 credit covers bookings through Capital One Travel. Add the Venture X's 10,000 anniversary miles, and both offset a big piece of their fees if you travel. The Gold's credits only offset its fee if your food and Uber habits already line up with them.
Protections. The Gold has car rental loss and damage insurance, but Amex says it's secondary coverage. The Reserve's auto rental coverage is primary, according to Chase.
Rental car status. Both cards come with Hertz status. The Gold upgrades you to Hertz Five Star, and the Venture X offers a Hertz Gold+ Rewards status upgrade, each with enrollment.
Pairing the Gold With a Travel Card
For a lot of readers, the answer isn't either-or. The Gold's 1x categories are exactly where the travel cards are strongest.
Gold plus Sapphire Preferred. The Gold handles restaurants and supermarkets, and the Preferred takes gas and EV charging at 3x, other travel at 2x and Chase Travel at 5x. The fees are $325 and $95.
Gold plus Venture X. The Gold covers food, and the Venture X's 2x catches everything the Gold earns 1x on, with lounge access and its travel credit on top. The fees are $325 and $395.
Gold plus Platinum. Both earn Membership Rewards points. The Platinum adds 5x on flights booked directly with airlines or through American Express Travel (on up to $500,000 per calendar year), 5x on prepaid hotels through American Express Travel and the Global Lounge Collection. The fees are $325 and $895, so this one only works if you'll use the Platinum's credits too.
Who Should Get the Gold
Get the Gold if restaurants and U.S. supermarkets that Amex codes as supermarkets are your two biggest spending lines, and you'll use at least the Uber Cash and one or two of the food credits each month. Pair it with a travel card if you also travel.
Pick a travel card instead if your groceries mostly go through warehouse clubs or superstores, if you book flights and hotels directly or through a card portal, or if lounge access and primary rental coverage matter to you. The Sapphire Reserve fits the direct booker who wants lounges and strong protections, the Venture X fits someone who wants a 2x floor on everything plus lounges, and the Sapphire Preferred fits a lighter traveler who wants a low fee.
Updated September 30, 2026: rewrote this guide from the current Amex Gold, Sapphire Preferred, Sapphire Reserve, Venture X and Amex Platinum pages. Earlier versions listed the wrong set of Gold credits and misstated two Venture X benefits.
