American Express Gold
100,000 points welcome · 5x on hotels (via portal) · $325/yr
The Gold is the strongest card on the market for food spending, earning 4x points at restaurants on up to $50,000 a year and 4x at U.S. supermarkets on up to $25,000, which is why it sits at number 2 with our Best Premium badge on the Best Credit Cards for Dining and Groceries list. Travel earning is respectable too, with 5x on hotels prepaid through Amex Travel, 3x on flights, and 2x on prepaid car rentals and cruises, and there is no foreign transaction fee. The $325 annual fee is offset on paper by a stack of monthly and semiannual credits worth well over the fee: $120 a year in Uber Cash, $120 in dining credits at Grubhub, Cheesecake Factory, Goldbelly, Wine.com, and Five Guys, $84 at Dunkin, and $100 at Resy restaurants. Be honest about the catch: those credits arrive in small monthly or semiannual chunks at named merchants and require enrollment, so if you would not otherwise spend there, the real fee is closer to the full $325. The current 100,000 point welcome offer after $8,000 in six months is a generous entry, and the card also ranks number 6 on both our signup bonus and travel lists.
Earn rates & credits
| Category | Rate |
|---|---|
Hotels (via Portal) Hotels prepaid through Amex Travel | 5x |
Dining on first $50,000/yr, then 1x | 4x |
Groceries on first $25,000/yr, then 1x | 4x |
Airlines | 3x |
Travel (via Portal) Prepaid car rentals and cruises booked through AmexTravel.com | 2x |
Everything Else | 1x |
| Benefit | Value |
|---|---|
Uber Cash $10/month in Uber Cash for Uber Eats orders or Uber rides | $10 /mo |
Dining Credit $10/month in statement credits at Grubhub, The Cheesecake Factory, Goldbelly, Wine.com, and Five Guys | $10 /mo |
Dunkin' Credit Up to $7/month in statement credits on eligible purchases at U.S. Dunkin' locations | $7 /mo |
Resy Credit Up to $50 semiannually at U.S. Resy restaurants and other eligible Resy purchases | $50 / 6 mo |
The Hotel Collection Credit $100 credit towards eligible charges at over 1,300 upscale hotels worldwide every time you book through AmexTravel.com or Amex Travel App (requires two-night minimum). | $100 |
| Total annual credits | $424 |
Card details
Regular APR | 19.49%–28.49% variable |
Foreign transaction fee | None |
Approval odds
Product changes
Where cardholders came from before landing on this card, and what they moved it to afterwards. Thicker flows carry a larger share of the changes in that direction.
Based on 4 reported product changes. Percentages are shares of each direction, not of all cardholders, and a small sample can swing a long way.