Chase vs. American Express: Which credit card issuer is right for you?

Chase and American Express are two of the most significant issuers in the credit card market right now. They both offer stellar products that have a place in most points and miles devotees' wallets. I personally have cards from both issuers.

If you're new to the points and miles world or looking to enhance your wallet with new cards, you may be wondering which issuer is a better fit for you.

Both issue cards that cover a range of annual fees and feature great travel perks, but neither offers a "one-size-fits-all" card.

In this guide, we'll go over the typical benefits you can expect from Chase and American Express cards to help you make the right decision for you.

Chase or Amex: Which issuer has the best transfer partners?

At TPG, there's one thing we preach time and time again: Transfer partners are the best way to maximize the value you get from your rewards.

There's no objective answer when it comes to the best transfer partners since it depends on your travel preferences and habits. I personally love flying with United Airlines and Alaska Airlines, but many TPGers prefer flying with American Airlines or Delta Air Lines.

When comparing the transfer partners available from Chase versus those from Amex, it's important to consider the airlines and hotel brands you book with the most.

Alternatively, if you're new to traveling and don't have preferences yet, consider the issuer that offers the widest range of transfer partners. In that case, the winner would be American Express. It offers 20 transfer partners, while Chase offers 14.

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If quantity isn't the most important factor to you, pay attention to the brands covered by each loyalty program.

American Express Membership Rewards transfer partners

Amex offers the following airline programs as transfer partners:

• Aer Lingus AerClub
• Aeromexico Rewards
• Air Canada Aeroplan
• Air France-KLM Flying Blue
• ANA Mileage Club
• Avianca LifeMiles
• British Airways Club
• Cathay Pacific Cathay
• Delta SkyMiles
• Emirates Skywards
• Etihad Guest
• Iberia Club
• JetBlue TrueBlue
• Qantas Frequent Flyer
• Qatar Airways Privilege Club
• Singapore KrisFlyer
• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

Plus the following hotel programs:

• Choice Privileges
• Hilton Honors
• Marriott Bonvoy

Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer partners

Chase partners with the following airline programs:

• Aer Lingus AerClub
• Air Canada Aeroplan
• Air France-KLM Flying Blue
• British Airways Club
• Emirates Skywards
• Iberia Club
• JetBlue TrueBlue
• Singapore KrisFlyer
• Southwest Rapid Rewards
• United MileagePlus
• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

And the following hotel programs:

• IHG One Rewards
• Marriott Bonvoy
• World of Hyatt

Verdict: It depends on your preferences. If having access to the widest variety of transfer partners is the most important thing, then Amex is the winner. Otherwise, pick the issuer that partners with the airlines and hotel brands you use the most.

Chase or Amex: Which issuer has the best welcome offers?

Most points and miles hobbyists shop around for the best welcome offers, but that's harder to do when Chase and Amex are involved. That's because both issuers have rather strict rules for their welcome offers.

For Chase, you probably won't be approved for a new card if you've opened five or more new accounts in the past 24 months. Plus, if you've previously earned a welcome bonus on either the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (see rates and fees) or the Chase Sapphire Reserve® (see rates and fees), or if you currently hold either card, you more than likely won't be able to earn a new welcome offer on them.

Amex doesn't care as much about how many accounts you've opened in the past 24 months, but it won't let you have more than five credit cards open with it at one time. Certain cards, such as The Platinum Card® from American Express and the American Express® Gold Card, don't count toward this rule.

Plus, you can only earn a card's welcome bonus once in a lifetime. So, it's important to wait for the best offer possible.

As far as actual offers go, let's take a look at three of the best welcome offers from each issuer.

American Express welcome offers

• Amex Platinum: New cardmembers can find out their offer and see if they're eligible for as high as 175,000 bonus points after spending $8,000 on eligible purchases in the first six months of card membership. Welcome offers vary, and you may not be eligible for an offer. According to TPG's September 2025 valuations, this welcome offer is worth up to $3,500.
• Amex Gold: New cardmembers can find out their offer and see if they are eligible for as high as 100,000 bonus points after spending $6,000 on purchases within the first six months of card membership. Welcome offers vary, and you may not be eligible for an offer. According to our valuations, this welcome offer is worth up to $2,000.
• The Business Platinum Card® from American Express: Earn 200,000 bonus points after spending $20,000 on eligible purchases within the first three months of card membership. According to our valuations, this welcome offer is worth up to $4,000.

The hard part with Amex's top consumer cards is that you have to spend a lot of time searching for the best possible welcome offer since they can vary wildly. When I applied for my Amex Platinum, I spent a week searching high and low online for the top 175,000-point offer, but I couldn't find it.

As for the Business Platinum, it's great to see a consistent welcome offer. However, the spending requirement may be difficult for small businesses or self-employed individuals to hit.

Chase welcome offers

• Sapphire Reserve: Earn 125,000 bonus points after spending $6,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening. According to TPG's August 2025 valuations, this welcome offer is worth up to $2,563.
• Sapphire Preferred: Earn 75,000 bonus points after spending $5,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening. According to our valuations, this welcome offer is worth $1,538.
• Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business℠ (see rates and fees): Earn 200,000 bonus points after spending $30,000 on purchases in the first six months from account opening. According to our valuations, this welcome offer is worth $4,100.

Unlike American Express, Chase isn't known to publicly offer different welcome offers to different prospective cardholders. That gives their top consumer cards the advantage.

The spending requirement for the Sapphire Reserve for Business' welcome offer is also easier to hit, despite being higher.

In order to reach the Amex Business Platinum's spending requirement, you'll need to spend roughly $6,700 each month. For the Sapphire Reserve for Business' welcome offer, you'll have to spend $5,000 a month. That's still a tough ask for many, but it's a meaningful difference.

Verdict: Chase wins here. Even though it recently introduced stricter rules for its consumer Sapphire cards, its best welcome bonuses are easier to obtain.

Chase or Amex: Which issuer has the best benefits?

Welcome bonuses are a great incentive to get a card, but a credit card needs a good roster of benefits to make it worth keeping in the long term.

Both Chase and Amex have a reputation for offering travel-oriented perks. With Chase's recent overhaul of the Sapphire Reserve, the gap between the two issuers' benefits has narrowed.

Amex and Chase offer merchant-specific statement credits for their cards in a coupon book style that draws the appreciation of some and the ire of others. Much like how transfer partners are subjective depending on your travel habits, how useful these statement credits are depends on your lifestyle.

I appreciate the Uber Cash and Resy credit I get from my Amex cards (enrollment is required, Resy credits available for purchases in the US; terms apply) and the complimentary DoorDash DashPass membership I get from my Sapphire Preferred (activate by Dec. 31, 2027) because I live in a foodie's paradise and don't have a car. But if I lived in a more rural area, I'd struggle to regularly use these credits.

Where Amex and Chase start to differ is in two major areas: hotel elite status and whether they offer a flexible travel credit.

Amex's cobranded hotel cards, the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card and the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card, are the best way to get high-level hotel elite status with those chains.

While they both come with high annual fees (see the Hilton Honors Aspire's rates and fees and the Bonvoy Brilliant's rates and fees), their benefits allow the right cardmembers to get substantially more value than the cards cost.

Chase offers midlevel Marriott status through some of its cards and lower-tier Discoverist status in the World of Hyatt program through the World of Hyatt Credit Card (see rates and fees).

However, the only brand that you can get high-level status with through Chase is IHG. With the Sapphire Reserve and the Reserve for Business, as well as two of Chase's IHG cards, you'll get Platinum Elite status in the IHG One Rewards program through Dec. 31, 2027.

If you're chasing hotel status, Amex is likely your better bet unless you're a huge IHG fan. However, Chase punches back with its flexible travel credit.

Both the Sapphire Reserve and the Reserve for Business have a $300 travel credit available for cardholders to use each year. This credit is well known in the points and miles world for how flexible it is. As long as a purchase codes as travel, you can use your credit for it. Just keep in mind that you won't earn any bonus points on charges covered by this credit.

Amex doesn't offer anything like this. Its travel credits are either tied to its travel portal, American Express Travel®, or to a specific airline or hotel. If you're the type of person who favors campgrounds, Airbnbs and boutique hotels over airlines and hotel chains, Chase's flexible credit is a better fit for you.

Verdict: If you're interested in upper-level status with Hilton or Marriott, go with Amex. If you're an IHG loyalist or need a flexible travel credit, Chase is the better choice. Aside from these points, the right issuer for you depends on whether you naturally use the merchants its statement credits cover.

Chase or Amex: Which issuer has the best bonus categories and redemption options?

After you earn a card's welcome bonus, you'll be reliant on its bonus categories to net you a nice stash of rewards going forward. Both Amex and Chase do a good job of covering dining and common travel categories, but then they start to diverge.

A common gripe you'll hear with Chase is its lack of gas and grocery categories across its Ultimate Rewards cards. While the Sapphire Preferred has a grocery category, only online grocery orders count (excluding wholesale centers, Target and Walmart). Grocery stores occasionally show up as a quarterly category on the Chase Freedom Flex® (see rates and fees), but this only lasts for part of the year.

Meanwhile, the Amex Gold is known for its grocery category. Cardmembers can earn bonus points on U.S. supermarkets (on up to the first $25,000 in spending each calendar year, then 1 point per dollar thereafter).

If you're open to cash back, the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express and the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express offer bonus cash back on U.S. gas stations (on up to $6,000 spent each calendar year for the Blue Cash Everyday, then 1% back).

Cash back is received in the form of Reward Dollars that can be redeemed as a statement credit and at Amazon.com checkout.

As far as nonbonused spending goes, Amex wins here, too. Chase's best offering is the Chase Freedom Unlimited® (see rates and fees); it's a great no-annual-fee card, but it only offers 1.5% back on all nonbonused spending.

Amex has The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express as a competitor, which earns a flat 2 points per dollar spent across all purchases (on the first $50,000 spent each calendar year, then 1 point per dollar thereafter). While it may not seem like a huge difference, earning an extra half a point per dollar spent can add up over time.

As far as redemptions go, both issuers have very similar redemption options. You can redeem Ultimate Rewards and Membership Rewards points for travel, cash back, gift cards, statement credits and Amazon purchases.

Chase offers a unique feature called Points Boost that Amex doesn't match with any of its programs. Through Points Boost, you can redeem points through Chase Travel for up to 2 cents per point in value, depending on your card and the redemption.

We always recommend sending your points to transfer partners, since you'll get better value that way.

Verdict: Since Amex offers better categories for groceries and gas and higher earning potential for nonbonused expenses, it's the winner here.

Bottom line

In many ways, the choice between Amex and Chase comes down to your lifestyle and travel habits. However, some important areas to pay attention to include differing earning rates, transfer partners and hotel elite status opportunities.

Frankly, I recommend applying for cards from both issuers. However, if that isn't an option, refer to this guide while you try to decide between Amex and Chase's cards. Our individual card reviews are another great resource, as they'll break down each card to the fine details so you can know exactly what you're getting before you apply.

Related: Amex Platinum vs. Chase Sapphire Reserve: Which top-of-the-line travel card is right for you?

For rates and fees of the Bonvoy Brilliant, click here.

For rates and fees of the Hilton Honors Aspire, click here.