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As your business grows, you’ll be introduced to a totally new set of challenges. In addition to expanding headcount and accounting for more supplies or raw materials, your purchasing needs will undoubtedly expand.
And that’s where many people look to get a corporate card. However, corporate cards generally only make sense for a tiny fraction of companies; in fact, these really only make sense for large enterprises with hundreds of employees.
In this guide, we’ll explore the best cards for large businesses to get — but first, we’ll show you why you should consider alternatives to traditional corporate cards.
Is a Corporate Credit Card Right for Your Business?
Unless you have hundreds of employees that each requires a credit card to make purchases, it probably isn’t practical to get acorporate card.
The benefits and rewards you get from corporate cards are muted compared to business cards; most corporate cards offer benefits related to administrative tasks, such as expensing and accounting capabilities.
However, corporate cards rarely ever offer any outsized rewards, which renders them limited in value. Instead, consider getting a business card that offers excellent rewards and add employee cards.
That way, you can meet your purchasing needs while racking up lots of points.
The 7 Best Business Card Alternatives to a Corporate Credit Card
Complimentary employee cards (Business Green Rewards Card from American Express), up to 99 total employee cards (rates and fees)
5x points on flights and prepaid hotels purchased through Amex Travel
1.5x points on eligible purchases in key business categories and on purchases of $5,000 or more everywhere else (up to $2 million purchases every calendar year)
Access to over 1,400 worldwide lounges, including Amex Centurion Lounges, Priority Pass (upon enrollment), Plaza Premium Lounges, and more
Up to 99 total employee cardswith no additional annual fees after the first employee card with a $50 annual fee (rates and fees)
4x points on the top 2 categories where your business spend the most every billing cycle, up to the first $150,000 in combined purchases every calendar year
Up to 99 employee cards for no additional fee (rates and fees)
Get an unlimited 1.5% Early Pay Discount on eligible charges within 10 days of your statement closing date and see the discount applied to your next statement when you pay at the least the Minimum Payment Due by the Please Pay By date
The flexibility to carry your balance for up to 60 days with no interest
Earn 15,000 points after spending $3,000 in eligible purchases within the first 3 months
Annual fee of $0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $95
No preset spending limit*
Up to 99 employee cards for no additional fee
2x points on flights and prepaid hotels booked through Amex Travel
1x points on other purchases
*No Preset Spending Limit means your spending limit is flexible. Unlike a traditional card with a set limit, the amount you can spend adapts based on factors such as your purchase, payment, and credit history.
1. The Business Platinum Card® from American Express
The Amex Business Platinum card is one of the most heralded business cards — a must-have if you have a large business.
To start, this card has no preset spending limit and allows you to add up to 99 total employee cards (we recommend employee Amex Business Green cards to avoid additional annual fees; rates and fees).
But in terms of rewards, you’ll earn 5x points per dollar spent on flights and prepaid hotels booked through Amex Travel, plus 1.5x points on eligible purchases in key business categories and on purchases of $5,000 or more everywhere else (up to $2 million in these purchases every calendar year):
U.S. construction material and hardware suppliers
U.S. electronic goods retailers
U.S. shipping providers
U.S. software and cloud system providers
Looking at the travel benefits (enrollment required), this list will blow you away:
With a maximum earning of 5x points, the Amex Business Platinum card can earn you a return on spending of around 11%. But the best way to get the most value from those points is to use those points to book luxury award flights through the Amex travel partners, especially if your large business routinely pays for its employees to fly in business or first class anyway.
But if you don’t plan on using points for award travel, you can also redeem your points in these ways:
These other redemption methods won’t yield nearly as much value as booking award travel through transfer partners, which can net you upwards of 10 cents per point in value, especially if you book flights like Emirates first class or Lufthansa first class.
The Amex Business Gold card is our runner-up card option for large businesses. It shares a lot of similar characteristics with the Amex Business Platinum card that large business owners like.
To start, there’s the same no preset spending limit perk available — and you can add up to a total of 99 employee cards for no additional annual fees after the first employee card of $50 annually.
The Amex Business Gold card boasts the ability to earn up to 4x points spent every billing cycle on the top 2 categories from this list below, up to the first $150,000 in combined purchases every calendar year:
Airfare purchased from airlines
U.S. purchases for advertising in select media
U.S. purchases made from select technology providers of computer hardware, software, and cloud solutions
U.S. purchases at gas stations
U.S. purchases at restaurants
U.S. purchases for shipping
Your 4x earnings are adjusted from month to month automatically based on which categories you spend the most on, so you won’t need to spend any time choosing bonus categories.
Additionally, the Amex Business Gold card has QuickBooks integrations, and no foreign transaction fees (rates and fees).
Bottom Line: The Amex Business Gold card offers great rewards at a lower cost, but it doesn’t have the luxury travel benefits that the Amex Business Platinum card does.
3. Capital One Spark Cash Plus Card
The Capital One Spark Cash Plus card is a fan favorite among business owners. If you don’t have time to manage your rewards and search for award travel, the Capital One Spark Cash Plus card could be an amazing product for you.
The card has no preset spending limit and you can add up to 99 employee cards for no additional annual fee, with up to1,200 virtual cards for no additional annual fee.
This fantastic card earns up to 5% cash-back:
5% cash-back on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
2% cash-back on other purchases with no caps or category restrictions
Another feature of this card is the ability to get your $150 annual fee refunded every year you spend at least $150,000!
One hidden secret about the Capital One Spark Cash Plus card is that you can convert your cash-back rewards to Capital One miles if you also have a Capital One miles credit card such as the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card. In that situation, you’d be able to convert your cash-back to Capital One miles at a ratio of 1% to 1x.
There are a bunch of other benefits available from the Capital One Spark Cash Plus card, including zero fraud liability, integrations with Quicken, QuickBooks, and Excel, as well as employee card spending limits, roadside assistance, extended warranty, no foreign transaction fees, and fraud alerts.
Why We Like Earning Capital One Miles
Capital One Miles is a transferrable rewards program just like Amex Membership Rewards, which means you can get some amazing value with your miles. We value Capital One miles at 1.8 cents each.
Obviously, the best way to use your Capital One miles is to book luxury business and first class flights through transfer partners, but you can also redeem your points for statement credits, gift cards, Amazon.com transactions, online shopping, Capital One Travel bookings, and more.
Just remember that your redemption value will be 1 cent per point or less with these alternate redemption methods compared to up to 10 cents per point with luxury award travel.
4. Capital One Spark Travel Elite
The Capital One Spark Travel Elite card is one of Capital One’s other charge cards. As we mentioned with the Capital One Spark Cash Plus card, the Capital One Spark Travel Elite card has no preset spending limit, as well as the ability to add up to 99 employee cards and 1,200 virtual cards, all with no additional annual fees.
It’s essentially the ultra-premium business version of the Capital One Venture X card. Also, the Capital One Spark Travel Elite card has no personal guarantee, which could be a huge benefit.
In any case, the Capital One Spark Travel Elite card isn’t available for public applications; rather, you must reach out to your business relationship manager at Capital One to apply for one of these cards.
You can earn up to 10x miles on your purchases:
10x miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
5x miles on flights booked through Capital One Travel
2x miles on other purchases
Also, you’ll get some fantastic travel benefits including:
Up to $300 annual Capital One Travel credit
10,000 bonus miles after each account anniversary year
Up to $100 Global Entry/TSA PreCheck application fee credit
Awesome travel insurance, including primary rental car coverage and trip cancellation and interruption insurance
Plus, you can enjoy purchase protection, extended warranty, no foreign transaction fees, and zero liability fraud protection when using the Capital One Spark Travel Elite card.
5. The Plum Card® from American Express
Another sleeper card option for large business owners is the Amex Plum card. Despite its unassuming name and its status living in the shadows of Amex’s flagship Membership Rewards cards, this is a potentially awesome choice for you.
To start off, the Amex Plum card is a business charge card, which means there’s no preset spending limit. Also, you can add up to 99 employee cards with no additional annual fees.
The Amex Plum card has a unique perk: get an unlimited 1.5% Early Pay Discount on eligible charges within 10 days of your statement closing date and see the discount applied to your next statement when you pay at the least the Minimum Payment Due by the Please Pay By date.
Alternatively, you also have extra days to pay, with the flexibility to take up to 60 days to pay without interest (just make the minimum payment by your payment due date).
Other benefits include QuickBooks integrations and no foreign transaction fees (rates and fees).
Bottom Line: We recommend the Amex Plum card to large businesses that are constrained with cash flow. Thanks to the ability to take up to 60 days to pay without interest, you can manage your finances a bit more effectively with longer grace periods.
6. Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card
The Ink Business Preferred card is an absolute behemoth credit card if you’re looking for excellent rewards from a business credit card.
The card earns 3x points on the first $150,000 in combined purchases from these select business categories:
Advertising purchases with social media sites and search engines
Internet, cable, and phone services
Shipping purchases
Travel
By earning 3x points on up to $150,000 in these categories, you’ll earn 450,000 Ultimate Rewards points every year, which is worth around $9,000 by our valuations!
Additionally, you can earn 5x points on Lyft purchases through March 31, 2025.
Keep in mind that this card does have a traditional credit limit, but we’ve seen business owners get approved for enormous credit limits upwards of $100,000.
Lastly, there’s cell phone protection, purchase protection, awesome travel insurance, no foreign transaction fees, and no-additional-fee employee cards.
Why We Like Earning Chase Ultimate Rewards Points
Chase Ultimate Rewards points are among the most valuable points, worth 2 cents each. Earning 3x points is equivalent to a 6% return on spending.
You can also redeem points for statement credits, Chase travel portal bookings, Pay Yourself Back, gift cards, statement credits, Amazon.com purchases, Apple purchases, and online shopping.
7. Business Green Rewards Card from American Express
This charge card has no preset spending limit, plus, you can add up to 99 total employee cards for no additional annual fee.
Combining these 2 benefits together makes the Amex Business Green card a worthwhile contender for large business owners.
Right now, you’ll earn:
2x points on flights and prepaid hotels booked through Amex Travel
1x points on other purchases
Other perks include access to the Global Assist hotline. Of course, you can auto-categorize your expenses in QuickBooks using this card, too.
Final Thoughts
For most businesses, getting a corporate card just doesn’t make sense. The rewards you get from true corporate cards are lackluster, and the main benefits hinge on expense and account management.
You’d only want to get a corporate card if you have more than 100 employees.
The better solution for you would probably be to get a business card with either no preset spending limit or a very high credit limit.
Even if you’re spending millions of dollars per month, you could potentially get that spending done with a charge card from Amex or Capital One, which would be huge.
Overall, the best cards for large businesses generally belong to Amex, Capital One, and Chase.
The information regarding the Capital One Spark Travel Elite, American Express® Corporate Green Card, American Express® Corporate Gold Card and Corporate Platinum Card® by American Express was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.
The information regarding the Capital One Spark Cash Plus Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer. The information regarding the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer. The information regarding the Business Green Rewards Card from American Express was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.
For rates and fees of The Business Platinum Card® from American Express, click here. For rates and fees of the American Express® Business Gold Card, click here. For rates and fees of The Plum Card® from American Express, click here.
Featured Image Credit: Sean Pollock via Unsplash
Frequently Asked Questions
A corporate card is a card specifically for corporations or some LLCs only, while a business card is generally open to sole proprietorships, gig workers, corporations, and everything in between.
Corporate cards are usually best if the company has more than 100 employees who have company purchasing needs.
However, corporate cards are much more difficult to qualify for, and they may even come with additional fees for the corporation beyond what business cards require.
Yes, some LLCs can get corporate cards. The eligibility rules vary by card issuer, so be sure to check the terms and conditions before submitting an application.
Although there’s nothing illegal about using a corporate card for personal purchases, most cardmember agreements stipulate that you’ll only use the corporate card for corporate purchases.
In general, corporate cards build your business credit, but not your personal credit. However, some business cards actually show up on your personal credit report, which can be a good thing if you’re looking to build your credit.
Yes, corporate cards are pretty difficult to get approved for. In general, you need to meet minimum revenue requirements, company size requirements, corporate credit history requirements, and transaction volume requirements.
The minimum annual fee for the Amex Corporate Green card is $75, and there’s also a $90 annual fee to participate in Membership Rewards.
The Amex Corporate Gold card has a $100 LoungeBuddy credit, which can be used towards lounge access — meanwhile, the Corporate Platinum Card® by American Express gives lounge access to the American Express Global Lounge Collection.
Stephen is an established voice in the credit card space, with over 70 to his name. His work has been in publications like The Washington Post, and his Au Points and Awards Consulting Services is used by hundreds of clients.
Disclaimer: Any comments listed below are not from the bank advertiser, nor have they been reviewed or approved by them. No responsibility will be taken by the bank advertiser for these comments.
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