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Are you looking for a no-annual-fee business credit card? Your two top contenders might be the Chase Ink Business Cash® Credit Card or The American Express Blue Business Cash™ Card. Either small business credit card is a great choice for your business spending, but we’ll help you pick out the best one.

Hot offer: New Ink Business Cash® Credit Card cardholders can earn up to a $750 bonus cash back! Earn $350 after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening. Then, earn an additional $400 after spending $6,000 on purchases in the first six months after account opening.

Boca Raton Resort & Club Conference Center. Credit: Johnny Jet

Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more.

Ink Business Cash vs. Blue Business Cash Signup/Welcome Bonus

You should also look at the purchase rewards and additional card benefits when comparing any credit card to another, but the initial welcome bonus can be the tie-breaking vote that helps you choose one card over the other.

New Ink Business Cash® Credit Card cardholders can earn up to a $750 bonus cash back! Earn $350 after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening. Then, earn an additional $400 after spending $6,000 on purchases in the first six months after account opening.

New The American Express Blue Business Cash™ Card cardholders can earn a $250 statement credit after they make $3,000 in purchases on their Card in their first 3 months.

Ink Cash and Amex Blue Purchase Rewards

The most valuable benefit of business credit cards without an annual fee is their purchase rewards. If you can’t earn bonus points on most of your large purchases–or most common purchases–you’re losing money because you aren’t earning the most points possible per dollar spent.

In fact, the reason why you’re probably considering a new business credit card is probably that your current one is outdated and has weak purchase rewards.

American Express Blue Business Cash Card

Cardholders earn 2% cash back on all eligible purchases of up to $50,000 per calendar year, and then 1% cash back earned is automatically credited to your statement.

There are no categories to activate or calculate.

The American Express Blue Business Cash™ Card also comes with Expanded Buying Power. This means you can spend beyond your credit limit to make bigger purchases for your business plus earn cash back on those purchases too.

Just remember, the amount you can spend above your credit limit is not unlimited. It adjusts with your use of the Card, your payment history, credit record, financial resources known to American Express, and other factors.

Chase Ink Cash

The Chase Ink Business Cash® Credit Card is quite different in that it offers tiered purchase rewards. You can earn bonus cash on four purchase categories.

Earn 5% Cash Back

You will earn 5% cash back each account anniversary year on the first $25,000 spent on these two spending categories:

  • Office supply stores
  • Internet, cable, and phone services

Earn 2% Cash Back

Chase also offers 2% cash back each account anniversary year on these two purchase types for the first $25,000 in annual spending:

  • Gas stations
  • Restaurants

Spending $25,000 in both bonus levels gives you $1,750 cash back each year. All remaining purchases in the 5% and 2% categories earn 1% when you exceed the $25,000 spending cap.

As always, your non-bonus spending earns 1% on all purchases outside of these four spending categories.

Additional Credit Card Benefits

Because neither business credit card charges an annual fee, there isn’t much to speak of when it comes to additional benefits that come with business credit cards that charge an annual fee.

Even so, you can still benefit from several of these benefits that protect your business purchases.

Blue Business Cash From American Express

  • Extended warranty protection will extend the warranty on select purchases when the manufacturer’s warranty is five years or less.
  • Purchase protection will reimburse you for purchases that are stolen or accidentally damaged within 90 days of the original purchase date
  • Amex Offers provides additional opportunities to earn bonus cash back on shopping, dining, and travel purchases. These purchases help you earn bonus cash outside of the 2% cashback.
  • Secondary car rental loss and damage waiver covers the deductible portion of any collision or theft-related damage to your rental car
  • Connect to QuickBooks lets you connect your account to make sorting your finances and taxes easier

Chase Ink Cash

  • Extended warranty protection extends the warranty on select purchases by one year when the original warranty is three years or less
  • Primary car rental loss and damage waiver covers up to the cash value of your damaged rental vehicle
  • Purchase protection reimburses up to $10,000 per claim on purchases within 120 days of the original purchase date

Possibly the most valuable benefit of the Chase Ink Cash is that you can pool your rewards points from your other Chase Ultimate Rewards® points earning credit cards like the Chase Sapphire or Ink Business to transfer them on a 1:1 basis to airline and hotel loyalty programs. Or, you can redeem them directly through Chase for award travel and receive a 25% or 50% travel redemption bonus. The Ink Cash is one of the best Chase business credit cards hands down.

If you don’t pool your rewards points, the rewards points you earn with the Chase Ink Cash can only be redeemed for cash statement credits that help boost the bottom line.

Which No Annual Fee Business Card Is Better?

Both Ink Cash and Amex Blue small business credit cards are good options, but one card will probably be better than the other depending on how you plan to use your credit card.

The American Express Blue Business Cash Card

The American Express Blue Business Cash™ Card has a $0 annual fee (See Rates & Fees) and doesn’t have specific categories in which you earn more for your spending. Since it’s 2% cash back across the board (on eligible purchases) up to $50,000 annually, this may be a bit of a downside compared to the Ink Cash. Cash back earned is automatically credited to your statement. However, since the spending cap is a little more flexible, it can be easier to earn more bonus cash.

Chase Ink Cash

You might prefer the Ink Business Cash® Credit Card because it has four bonus categories that will likely be your most common business purchases. You might prefer some of the additional card benefits like primary rental car collision damage waiver coverage as well.

The best way to determine which one is best is to review where you make your business purchases and/or if you have any big expenses, either in the near future or annually. If so, is that purchase going to earn more rewards with the Ink Business Cash or the Blue Business Cash credit card?

Summary of Ink Cash vs. Amex Blue Business Cards

It doesn’t matter if you go with Amex or Chase. Either business card can make a good primary or secondary business credit card. You’ll never have to pay an annual fee, and you can earn up to 5% on your regular business purchases.

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For rates and fees of The American Express Blue Business Cash™ Card, please click here.

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