Amex Green Card vs. Amex Blue Cash Everyday Card [Detailed Comparison]

American Express is known for offering great credit cards, and the American Express^® Green Card and Blue Cash Everyday^® Card from American Express are no exception.

Both cards include a great combination of bonus categories, benefits, statement credits, and more that offer plenty of benefits to cardmembers. Given that, you might be struggling to decide which card is the better fit for you. If so, read on because this detailed comparison of the two cards will help you answer just that.

Amex Green Card vs. Amex Blue Cash Everyday Card — Summary

For starters, here is a head-to-head look at the highlights of each card.

Benefit or Feature	American Express® Green Card	Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express
Welcome Bonus	NEW OFFER: Earn 60,000 points after spending $3,000 on purchases in your first 6 months. Plus, earn 20% back on eligible travel and transit purchases made during your first 6 months, up to $200 back as a statement credit.	Earn a $200 statement credit after spending $2,000 in purchases in the first 6 months
Earning Potential	3x points at restaurants (including takeout and delivery in the U.S.) 3x points on transit (including rideshares, trains, subways, parking, and more) 3x points on travel (including airfare, hotels, and car rentals) 1x point on all other purchases	3% cash-back at U.S. supermarkets (on up to $6,000 in spend each year) 3% cash-back at U.S. gas stations (on up to $6,000 in spend each year) 3% cash-back on U.S. online retail purchases (on up to $6,000 in spend each year) 1% cash-back on all other purchases
Redemption Options	Amex transfer partners Amex Travel bookings Cash-back via statement credit Gift cards Shopping with select retailers	Cash-back via statement credit
Statement Credits	Up to $189 annual CLEAR Plus credit Up to $100 annual LoungeBuddy credit	Up to $7 monthly credit toward The Disney Bundle subscription Up to $15 monthly credit toward a Home Chef subscription
Travel Protections	No foreign transaction fees (rates and fees) Secondary rental car insurance Baggage insurance Trip delay insurance	Secondary rental car insurance Travel and emergency assistance services
Shopping Benefits and Protections	Amex Offers Purchase protection Extended warranty coverage American Express Experiences	Amex Offers Purchase protection American Express Experiences
Annual Fee	$150 (rates and fees)	$0 (rates and fees)
Authorized User Fee	$0 (rates and fees)	$0 (rates and fees)

Bottom Line:

Both cards offer plenty of great perks and opportunities to earn rewards, but the biggest difference is that the Amex Green card offers flexible reward points with a variety of redemption options while the Amex Blue Cash Everyday card can only earn cash-back.

The Value of a Welcome Offer

Amex Green Card

We value Amex Membership Rewards points at 2.2 cents each due to their flexibility and the increased value you can receive when transferring your points to Amex’s transfer partners. Given that, the welcome bonus for the Amex Green card can be quite lucrative.

Amex Blue Cash Everyday Card

The Amex Blue Cash Everyday card offers a cash-back welcome bonus that usually ranges between $200 to $250 — which is quite good given that the minimum spend requirement is usually much lower than other cards.

Earning Potential

When it comes to how you will earn rewards for your purchases, here is how each card stacks up.

Bonus Category	Amex Green Card	Amex Blue Cash Everyday Card
General Travel	3x points per $1	1% cash-back
Dining	3x points per $1	1% cash-back
Transit (Trains, Ferries, Buses, Subways, Rideshares, Etc.)	3x points per $1	1% cash-back
U.S. Supermarkets	1x points	3% cash-back (on up to $6,000 in spend each year)
U.S. Gas Stations	1x points	3% cash-back (on up to $6,000 in spend each year)
U.S. Online Retail Purchases	1x points	3% cash-back (on up to $6,000 in spend each year)
All Other Purchases	1x points	1% cash-back

As you can see, the bonus categories offered on each card are quite different. The Amex Green card is the better option for travel, dining, and transit purchases while the Amex Blue Cash Everyday card is superior for supermarket, gas, and online retail purchases.

The bonus category for online retail purchases on the Amex Blue Cash Everyday card is an interesting offer since it includes retailers like Amazon, Walmart, computer and electronic stores, department stores, drugstores, furniture stores, and more — so if you have considerable spend on these purchases then this could be a great option for you.

Further, the $6,000 threshold for 3% cash-back earnings at supermarkets, gas stations, and on online retail purchases on the Amex Blue Cash Everyday card is separate for each category and not combined. On the other hand, the Amex Green card has no such caps for its bonus categories.

Redemption Options

Amex Green Card

One of the best benefits of the Amex Green card is that it earns flexible rewards, giving you multiple redemption options. These options include using Amex’s transfer partners, the Amex Travel portal, cash-back via statement credits, gift cards, and shopping with select merchants such as Apple and Amazon.

While you have a number of redemption possibilities, our favorite way to use Amex Membership Rewards points is to transfer them to Amex’s airline and hotel partners. Amex’s transfer partners, such as Delta Air Lines and Air Canada Aeroplan, allow you to book luxury travel experiences for far less than the standard cash price.

For example, you can transfer 60,000 points to Air Canada’s Aeroplan to book a business-class flight from the U.S. to Europe on a Star Alliance carrier such as United, Lufthansa, Swiss, and others. That ticket normally would cost $2,000+ if you paid with cash.

Hot Tip:

Read more about the best ways to get big value from your Amex Membership Rewards points by transferring them to travel partners.

Amex Blue Cash Everyday Card

There isn’t much to think about when it comes to redeeming rewards with your Amex Blue Cash Everyday card, as the only option is cash-back. All of your cash-back rewards can be used to offset purchases you make with the card without any redemption minimums.

Statement Credits

Another great perk of both cards is that they offer statement credits to give cardholders even more value.

Amex Green Card — CLEAR Plus and LoungeBuddy

Since the Amex Green card charges an annual fee of $150, it’s great that it offers 2 statement credits to help offset that fee.

The first is an annual CLEAR Plus credit of up to $189, and if you aren’t familiar with CLEAR, it offers a faster security experience at select airports and stadiums around the U.S. using biometrics.

Cardholders also receive an annual LoungeBuddy credit of up to $100 toward any of the 300+ LoungeBuddy airport lounges worldwide. Depending on which locations you choose, this credit should cover 2 to 3 lounge visits each year.

Amex Blue Cash Everyday Card — Disney Bundle and Home Chef

The first credit the Amex Blue Cash Everyday card offers is a monthly credit of up to $7 towards The Disney Bundle, which is likely to be plenty useful given how popular streaming services are. The bundle includes Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+, all for $12.99 a month, but by paying with your Amex Blue Cash Everyday card you’ll effectively be paying $5.99 a month for a savings of $84 in a year.

Additionally, Amex Blue Cash Everyday cardmembers receive a monthly credit of up to $15 towards Home Chef subscriptions. Home Chef is a meal delivery service that ships ingredients and recipes that you get to select each week.

What’s most surprising here is that the Amex Blue Cash Everyday card is a no-annual-fee card, yet offers up to $264 worth of yearly statement credits!

Travel Protections and Benefits

Benefit	Amex Green Card	Amex Blue Cash Everyday Card
Foreign Transaction Fees	None	2.7% (rates and fees)
Rental Car Insurance	Secondary	Secondary
Baggage Protection	Up to $1,250 for carry-on baggage and up to $500 for checked baggage for bags or items that are lost, damaged, or stolen	Not offered
Trip Delay Reimbursement	If your flight is delayed by more than 12 hours, you can receive up to $300 in coverage	Not offered
Travel and Emergency Assistance Services	Not offered	Yes

When it comes to travel protections, the Amex Green card wins the day here, as the Amex Blue Cash Everyday card offers hardly any travel protections and even charges a foreign transaction fee.

Shopping Benefits and Protections

Here is how each product keeps you covered when purchasing items with your card.

Both cards offer these benefits:

• Amex Offers — Discounts and opportunities to earn more points or statement credits with 100 merchants each month
• Purchase Protection — Coverage 90 days from the date of purchase towards stolen or damaged items for up to $1,000 per occurrence and $50,000 per year
• American Express Experiences — Exclusive access to ticket presales

Additionally, the Amex Green card offers this benefit:

• Extended Warranty Coverage — Adds 1 year of additional warranty to extended warranties of 5 years or less

The biggest difference here is the extended warranty coverage the Amex Green card offers.

Annual Fees and Adding Authorized Users

Annual Fees

The Amex Green card has a $150 annual fee while the Amex Blue Cash Everyday card does not have an annual fee.

Authorized Users

With the Amex Green card, authorized user cards are free for the first 5 cards and $35 per card thereafter. There is no charge to add authorized users to the Amex Blue Cash Everyday card.

Final Thoughts

All things considered, you really cannot go wrong with either the Amex Green card or the Amex Blue Cash Everyday card. Ultimately, the question you will want to ask yourself is whether you prefer a card that is travel-focused and earns flexible rewards, or if you prefer a no-annual-fee cash-back card that rewards you for everyday purchases.

For the secondary rental car coverage benefit of the American Express^® Green Card, Car Rental Loss and Damage Insurance can provide coverage up to $50,000 for theft of or damage to most rental vehicles when you use your eligible Card to reserve and pay for the entire eligible vehicle rental and decline the collision damage waiver or similar option offered by the Commercial Car Rental Company. This product provides secondary coverage and does not include liability coverage. Not all vehicle types or rentals are covered. Geographic restrictions apply. Eligibility and Benefit level varies by Card. Terms, Conditions and Limitations Apply. Visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by AMEX Assurance Company. Car Rental Loss or Damage Coverage is offered through American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc.

For the secondary rental car coverage benefit of the Blue Cash Everyday^® Card from American Express, Car Rental Loss and Damage Insurance can provide coverage up to $50,000 for theft of or damage to most rental vehicles when you use your eligible Card to reserve and pay for the entire eligible vehicle rental and decline the collision damage waiver or similar option offered by the Commercial Car Rental Company. This product provides secondary coverage and does not include liability coverage. Not all vehicle types or rentals are covered. Geographic restrictions apply. Eligibility and Benefit level varies by Card. Terms, Conditions and Limitations Apply. Visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by AMEX Assurance Company. Car Rental Loss or Damage Coverage is offered through American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc.

For the purchase protection benefit of the Blue Cash Everyday^® Card from American Express, eligibility and benefit level varies by card. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. Visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by AMEX Assurance Company. 

---

For rates and fees of the American Express^® Green Card, click here.
For rates and fees of the Blue Cash Everyday^® from American Express, click here.