Both cards are beloved. Both are in millions of wallets. But they reward you differently, and picking the wrong one costs you hundreds of dollars a year in missed points. Here's the unfiltered breakdown.

The Quick Answer

Amex Gold wins if you spend heavily on dining and groceries. Chase Sapphire Preferred wins if you want flexible travel benefits, better travel protections, and simpler redemption. Many serious points earners carry both.

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	Amex Gold	Chase Sapphire Preferred
Annual fee	$325	$95
Welcome offer (typical)	60,000–90,000 MR points	60,000–75,000 UR points
Dining rewards	4x at restaurants	3x at restaurants
Groceries	4x at U.S. supermarkets (up to $25k/yr)	3x on online grocery (excl. Walmart/Target/wholesale)
Travel	3x on flights (booked directly)	5x on travel via Chase portal; 2x all other travel
Everything else	1x	1x
Point value (portal)	1 cent (Amex Travel)	1.25 cents (Chase Travel)
Transfer partners	21 airlines, 3 hotels	14 airlines, 3 hotels
Trip cancellation/interruption	No	Yes (up to $10,000/trip)
Primary rental car coverage	No	Yes
Baggage insurance	Yes (secondary)	Yes (primary)
Lounge access	No	No

Breaking Down the Annual Fees

The Amex Gold's $325 fee sounds steep — and it is, until you use the credits:

$120 dining credit — $10/month at Grubhub, The Cheesecake Factory, Goldbelly, Wine.com, and select others
$120 Uber Cash — $10/month for Uber Eats or Uber rides (must add Amex Gold to Uber account)
$100 hotel credit — bookings through Amex Hotel Collection (requires 2+ night stay)
$84 Dunkin' credit — $7/month for Dunkin' purchases (new in 2024)

If you use all of those, you're getting $424 in value from a $325 card — net positive. The catch: the Dunkin' and dining credits require intentional use. Many people don't extract full value.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred's $95 fee is simpler:

$50 annual hotel credit via Chase Travel portal
Anniversary bonus points worth ~$10–12 in travel (10% of prior year's points, up to 10,000 points)

Net effective fee after credits: roughly $35. Hard to beat.

Rewards Earning: Where Each Shines

If you spend a lot on food

Amex Gold's 4x on dining and 4x on U.S. supermarkets is among the best earning rates available on any non-premium card. On $2,000/month in dining and groceries, that's 8,000 MR points monthly — worth $80–200 depending on how you redeem.

Chase Sapphire Preferred earns 3x on dining, which is still excellent, but Amex Gold outpaces it by 33% in the food category.

If you travel frequently

Chase edges ahead. Its 5x on Chase Travel bookings and easy-to-use travel protection benefits (trip cancellation, primary car rental coverage) make it the stronger travel card for most people. Plus, 3x on dining is still competitive.

Amex Gold earns 3x only on flights booked directly with airlines — you get 1x on hotel bookings through Amex Travel, which is surprisingly weak.

Casual spenders

If you're not maxing out specific bonus categories, Chase wins because of the simpler credit structure and slightly better portal redemption (1.25x vs. 1x).

Transfer Partners: Where Your Points Actually Go

Both programs transfer to major airline and hotel partners at 1:1 ratios.

American Express Membership Rewards top partners:

Air Canada Aeroplan (great for Star Alliance redemptions)
ANA Mileage Club (exceptional business class to Japan)
British Airways Avios (short-haul sweet spots)
Delta SkyMiles
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club (Upper Class to UK)
Marriott Bonvoy (usually poor value — avoid)

Chase Ultimate Rewards top partners:

United MileagePlus (solid domestic + Polaris Business Class)
World of Hyatt (best hotel program in the game — 1:1 transfers to potentially 2–3 cents/point value)
Southwest Rapid Rewards (domestic + Companion Pass)
British Airways Avios (shared with Amex)
Air Canada Aeroplan

The key difference: Chase → Hyatt is arguably the single best transfer in points. A Category 7 Park Hyatt can cost 40,000 Hyatt points — a cash rate of $800+/night. That's 2 cents per point easily. Amex doesn't transfer to Hyatt.

Amex has more airline transfer partners total, including some unique options (ANA, Avianca LifeMiles). If you're laser-focused on a specific aspirational redemption, Amex's network may offer routes Chase doesn't.

Travel Protections: Chase Wins Clearly

This is where Chase Sapphire Preferred distinguishes itself.

Trip cancellation and interruption: Up to $10,000 per trip ($20,000 per account per year) if you cancel for a covered reason. Amex Gold offers no equivalent benefit.

Primary rental car coverage: Chase covers up to the actual cash value of the rental, and it's primary — meaning you don't file with your personal auto insurance first. Amex Gold provides no rental car protection at all.

Baggage delay: Both cards offer coverage, but Chase's kicks in after 6 hours; Amex Gold's after 6 hours internationally.

Purchase protection and extended warranty: Both are strong. Amex Gold protects purchases up to $10,000 per occurrence (up to $50,000/year) and extends manufacturer warranties up to 1 year. Chase matches similar terms.

If you're renting cars or booking trips on your card, Chase's protections alone can be worth hundreds of dollars per year.

Which Card Wins for Travel Booking?

Booking flights: Amex Gold is better if you book directly with airlines (3x MR points vs. Chase's 2x on travel not through portal). But Chase's 5x through its portal can beat that if you're comfortable booking through Chase Travel.

Booking hotels: Neither card is ideal for hotels. Both earn just 1–2x on hotel bookings outside their respective portals. For hotels, a dedicated hotel card (Marriott Bonvoy Boundless, World of Hyatt card) or the Chase Sapphire Reserve are better options.

Using points to book travel:

Amex Travel: 1 cent per MR point — poor unless you can't transfer
Chase Travel: 1.25 cents per UR point — much better, and easy to use

Who Should Get Each Card

Get the Amex Gold if:

You spend $500+/month on dining and groceries
You'll actually use the Uber Cash and dining credits
You want a wider airline transfer partner network
You're targeting premium cabin flights via Aeroplan or ANA

Get the Chase Sapphire Preferred if:

You want simple, strong travel protections
You value the Chase → Hyatt transfer for hotel redemptions
You don't want to manage multiple monthly credits
You're newer to points and want an intuitive ecosystem

Get both if:

You're optimizing across categories (Amex Gold for food, CSP for travel protections and Hyatt)
You want access to both transfer networks
The combined ~$420 in annual fees fits your budget

The Real Math

Let's say you spend $500/month on dining, $400 on groceries, $200 on travel, and $400 on everything else — $18,000/year total.

Card	Points Earned	Est. Travel Value
Amex Gold	~57,000 MR points	~$570–1,140
Chase Sapphire Preferred	~42,000 UR points	~$630–1,050
Both cards	~99,000 combined	Maximized by category

After fees ($325 + $95 = $420 combined, minus ~$150 in used credits = net ~$270), the dual-card setup still comes out well ahead.

Planning Your Next Trip with Points

Once you've earned the points, figuring out how to use them — which transfer partner, which cabin, which dates — is the hard part. Faroway is an AI trip planner that factors in your rewards balance and helps you build an itinerary around point redemptions, so you're not leaving value on the table.

Whether you're redeeming Chase points for a Hyatt stay in the Maldives or transferring Amex MR to ANA for business class to Tokyo, Faroway helps you plan the full trip around the redemption — not the other way around.

Bottom Line

Amex Gold earns more points if you eat out and cook at home. Chase Sapphire Preferred protects you better when things go wrong and unlocks the Hyatt sweet spot. If the fees work for your budget, both in the wallet is the right answer for serious travelers.

Either way, start earning. The flights and hotels you want are already within reach.

Ready to plan the trip you're earning toward? Build your itinerary on Faroway — it's free and takes about 3 minutes.

Amex Gold vs Chase Sapphire Preferred: Which Card Wins in 2025?