Amex Gold vs Chase Sapphire Preferred — which is worth it to you?
The American Express Gold Card ($325/yr) and the Chase Sapphire Preferred ($95/yr) side by side: credits, earning rates against a flat 2% cash-back baseline, and protections — with your spending deciding which card actually wins each category.
The Amex Gold charges $325 a year against the Chase Sapphire Preferred's $95, so it starts $230 behind. The Amex Gold earns Membership Rewards while the Chase Sapphire Preferred earns Chase Ultimate Rewards. A point in one program isn't automatically worth a point in the other, so the calculator below turns everything into dollars against a flat 2% card.
Both cards pay a bonus on dining (4x vs 3x) and flights (3x vs 2x). Past the overlap, the Amex Gold has bonus rates on groceries (4x), while the Chase Sapphire Preferred has them on hotels (2x), other travel (2x), streaming (3x) and gas & ev charging (3x).
The Amex Gold comes with 5 statement credits, the biggest being $120 Dining Credit, $120 Uber Cash and $100 Resy Dining Credit, plus 2 more. The Chase Sapphire Preferred has 4 statement credits: Complimentary Apple TV (12 months) ($156/yr), $10/month DoorDash Promo ($120/yr) and $100 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit, plus 1 more. All of these are face values, and a credit only really pays out if it covers something you were buying anyway.
Both cards carry extended warranty, lost luggage, no foreign transaction fees, purchase protection, rental car collision coverage and trip delay. The Amex Gold alone has elite status; the Chase Sapphire Preferred alone has emergency evacuation, memberships, travel accident insurance and trip cancellation.
American Express Gold Card
American Express · $325 annual fee · earns Membership Rewards
Earning rates
- 4x Restaurants worldwide (on up to $50,000/yr, then 1x)
- 4x US supermarkets (on up to $25,000/yr, then 1x)
- 3x Flights booked direct or via AmexTravel
- 5x Prepaid hotels via AmexTravel
- 2x Prepaid car rentals via AmexTravel
- 1x Everything else
Statement credits (5)
- $120 Dining Credit — $10/month at Grubhub (incl. Seamless), Buffalo Wild Wings, Five Guys, The Cheesecake Factory, and Wonder.
- $120 Uber Cash — $10/month in Uber Cash for US rides or Uber Eats.
- $100 Resy Dining Credit — $50 per half-year at US Resy restaurants.
- $84 Dunkin' Credit — $7/month at Dunkin' in the US.
- The Hotel Collection $100 Credit — $100 credit toward eligible on-property charges on each prepaid 2+ night Hotel Collection stay booked via AmexTravel.
Full American Express Gold Card breakdown — 7 more benefits on the full page.
Chase Sapphire Preferred
Chase · $95 annual fee · earns Chase Ultimate Rewards
Earning rates
- 5x Chase Travel portal bookings
- 2x Flights booked direct
- 2x Hotels booked direct
- 2x Other travel
- 3x Dining worldwide
- 3x Online grocery purchases
- 3x Select streaming services
- 3x Gas stations & EV charging
- 3x Vacation home rentals at top brands
- 5x Lyft rides
- 5x Peloton purchases over $150
- 1x Everything else
Statement credits (4)
- $100 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit — Up to $100 in statement credits each account anniversary year for hotel stays booked and prepaid through Chase Travel.
- $10/month DoorDash Promo — A $10 promo credit each month ($120/year) on DoorDash, with DashPass enrollment.
- Complimentary Apple TV (12 months) — At least 12 months of complimentary Apple TV, if you activate by Dec 31, 2026.
- Global Entry / TSA PreCheck / NEXUS Credit — $120 application-fee credit once every 4 years (~$30/yr).
Full Chase Sapphire Preferred breakdown — 10 more benefits on the full page.
Card data verified against issuer sources: American Express Gold Card on 2026-08-24, Chase Sapphire Preferred on 2026-08-20.
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