Top 10 credit cards for business travel in the US

Earn 50,000 miles after you spend $5,000 within the first 3 months. Earn 150,000 miles when you spend $50,000 in the first 6 months. (Move quickly: this offer just so happens to end on 1/28/2019.)

2X miles on every $1 spent.

$0 for the first year and $95 per year after that.

There are no blackout dates, restrictions or minimums when you redeem your airline miles.

Earn a $500 bonus after you spend $5,000 within the first 3 months. Earn $1,500 when you spend $50,000 in the first 6 months. (Move quickly: this offer just so happens to end on 1/28/2019.)

2% cash back on everything—yay!

$0 for the first year and $95 per year after that.

Business travel is expensive. The costs add up! So why not let the cash back add up to? Here’s an example calculation, if your company spends $80,000 on the card per month, you’re looking at almost $20,000 in cash back every year.

Get 80,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months (80,000 bonus points is the equivalent of $1,000 in travel rewards.)

3X points on travel, internet, phone and social media advertising. 1X points on everything else.

$95 per year

With 3X points on business travel, you’ll get a higher return on your travel spend than if you were to use any of the cash back cards listed here. ($80,000 per month in qualifying 3X categories equals about $36,000 in travel rewards per year.)

Get 40,000 bonus miles after you spend $2,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open.

2X miles for restaurants, hotels and United purchases. 1 mile per $1 for all other purchases.

$0 for the first year, then $95 per year after.

On United flights booked with this card, the traveler and one companion each get one checked bag. You also get 25% cash back on all United inflight purchases. If you travel United often, these cost savings will really add up. Plus, priority boarding doesn’t hurt.

60,000 bonus points when you spend $3,000 in the first 3 months.

2X points on Southwest and Rapid Rewards partners. 1 point per $1 on all other purchases. 6,000 bonus points per year on cardmember anniversary

$99 per year

Southwest is a fan-favorite airline for business travelers in the US. So if you’re going to have a team-wide preferred airline (to get more points), Southwest is a really safe bet.

Earn 50,000 points after you spend $10,000 in the first 3 months. Also, get an extra 25,000 points if you spend an additional $10,000 within the first 3 months.

1.5X points per $1 spent, 5X points on AMEX Travel

$450 per year

This card was built for business travel. Where to begin? You get $200 per year to help cover obnoxious airline fees (like checked bags), access to over 1,200 luxury airport lounges around the world, no foreign transaction fees (of course), and hotel upgrades at Hilton and Starwood Gold.

There’s no sign up bonus, but you get 0.0% APR for 9 months.

5% cash back at US office supply stores and cell phones. 3% cash back on one purchase of your choice. 1% cash back on everything else.

None

You can spend above your credit limit! Yes, really. While it’s not unlimited, you can go above your credit limit based on your payment history. For large teams using one credit card account, this can be a life saver.

25,000 bonus points after you make $1,000 in purchases after the first 60 days. (25,000 points is the equivalent of $250 in travel rewards.)

2X miles on every $1 spent.

None

If your company qualifies for the Business Advantage Relationship Rewards Program, a special add on to the card, then you could earn up to 2.62X points on all purchases (instead of 1.5X), anywhere, anytime. That higher point magnifier will really rack up the travel rewards.

Get an estimated $25,000 in value from Brex’s partner offers—$5,000 in AWS credit over a year, $150 for Google Ads, 15% off of WeWork space for 6 months, $436 in credits per month for 12 months from Zendesk and a whole lot more.

7X points on ridesharing, 4X points on Brex Travel, 3X points on restaurants, 2X points on SaaS and 1X on everything else.

$0

Ride sharing is a highly underserved component of business travel. Offsite and even in your home city, your might do quite a bit of ride sharing. This card lets you rack up points for the things that you (as a startup) spend money on the most.

Get $200 cash back after you spend $1,000 in the first 90 days.

3% cash back on cellphone, gas and office supply purchases. 1% cash back on everything else. 25% cash back on your previous year’s total Cash Rewards.

None

While you won’t rack up quite as much cash back as the Capital One Spark Cash for Business credit card (which offers 2% on everything) if you fly often, you’ll get even more cash back using this card if driving is your main way of business travel, since you get 3% on gas. This could be a winner in a lot of service-based industries.