Best Credit Cards for Small Business Owners in 2025

Your personal credit card was never designed for how a business actually spends money. Ad spend at 1.5% back. Software subscriptions getting lumped into "miscellaneous." Business travel that earns nothing on hotels because you booked through a third-party site.

Small business credit cards solve this. The best ones aren't just a shinier version of a personal card—they're built around where businesses actually put money: advertising, shipping, office supplies, phone plans, and travel. The right card can add thousands of dollars per year back to your bottom line just from spending you'd make anyway.

Here's a ranked breakdown of the best small business credit cards in 2025, organized by what your business actually looks like.

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The 8 Best Small Business Credit Cards in 2025

1. Chase Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card

Annual fee: $95

Welcome bonus: 90,000 points after spending $8,000 in 3 months (worth ~$1,125 in travel)

Best for: Businesses with ad spend, travel, and shipping

Earning rates:

• 3x on travel, shipping, advertising on social media and search engines, and internet/cable/phone services (up to $150,000/year combined)
• 1x everything else

The Ink Business Preferred is the most broadly useful small business card available. The 3x categories align with where most businesses actually spend: Google/Meta ads, recurring software with phone plans bundled in, and business travel. A company spending $50,000/year in those categories earns 150,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points annually—worth $1,875+ when transferred to airline and hotel partners.

Chase's transfer partners include United, Hyatt, Southwest, British Airways, Singapore Airlines, and Air France/KLM. Hyatt in particular is exceptional value: a Category 2 Hyatt property costs 5,000 points per night, meaning 150,000 points buys you 30 nights.

The $95 annual fee disappears against this earning potential in under a month for most businesses.

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2. American Express® Business Gold Card

Annual fee: $375

Welcome bonus: 100,000 points after spending $15,000 in 3 months

Best for: Businesses with diverse, high-volume spending

Earning rates:

• 4x on the top two spending categories per billing cycle (from a list of six: US airfare, US restaurants, US gas stations, US advertising in select media, US shipping, US computer hardware/software/cloud)
• 1x everything else

The Business Gold's adaptive 4x structure is its killer feature. Every billing cycle, Amex automatically applies 4x to your top two categories—you don't have to pre-register or think about it. For a business with variable monthly spend (sometimes heavy on ads, sometimes heavy on travel), this flexibility is worth real money.

The cap is 250,000 bonus points per year across the two 4x categories, so the math breaks down at very high spend levels, but for businesses under $500K/year in those categories it's hard to beat.

Amex Membership Rewards transfers to Delta, Air France/KLM, British Airways, Singapore Airlines, Marriott, and Hilton, among others. Delta SkyMiles through Amex remains one of the better domestic awards if you're flexible on dates.

The $375 annual fee is steep. It makes sense if you're earning enough 4x to justify it—roughly $30,000/year in qualifying spend breaks even.

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3. Chase Ink Business Cash® Credit Card

Annual fee: $0

Welcome bonus: $750 cash back after spending $6,000 in 3 months

Best for: Small businesses keeping it simple; office-heavy spending

Earning rates:

• 5% on office supply stores and internet/cable/phone (first $25,000/year)
• 2% on gas stations and restaurants (first $25,000/year)
• 1% everything else

The no-annual-fee structure makes this a default card for businesses that don't want to pay for rewards infrastructure. At 5% on office supplies and phone services, it's genuinely excellent for small offices: buy all your supplies through Staples or Office Depot, pay your business phone plan, and watch the cash back accumulate.

If you also hold the Ink Business Preferred or a personal Sapphire card, you can pool points and convert the "cash back" to Chase Ultimate Rewards points—suddenly your office supply runs are earning transferable travel currency.

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4. The Business Platinum Card® from American Express

Annual fee: $695

Welcome bonus: 150,000 points after spending $20,000 in 3 months

Best for: Businesses with heavy travel; executives flying frequently

Earning rates:

• 5x on flights and prepaid hotels booked through Amex Travel
• 1.5x on purchases of $5,000 or more (up to 1 million additional points per year)
• 1x everything else

Perks:

• $200 airline fee credit annually
• $200 hotel credit at Fine Hotels + Resorts properties
• $400 Dell credit annually (2x $200 per year)
• $360 Indeed credit
• $150 Adobe Creative Cloud credit
• Global Entry/TSA PreCheck fee credit
• Priority Pass lounge access (unlimited guests at select lounges)
• Centurion Lounge access
• Delta Sky Club access (when flying Delta, 10 visits/year)

The Business Platinum makes mathematical sense only if you actually use the credits. The $695 fee is nearly offset by the airline fee credit, hotel credit, and Dell credit alone—bringing the effective cost to roughly $95 for frequent travelers who can utilize all three. If you also use Indeed for hiring or Adobe for design, those credits push it into positive territory.

The 1.5x on large purchases is uniquely valuable for businesses making big capital purchases—equipment, inventory, event costs. A $50,000 purchase earns 75,000 Amex points instead of 50,000.

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5. Capital One Spark Miles for Business

Annual fee: $95 (waived first year)

Welcome bonus: 50,000 miles after spending $4,500 in 3 months

Best for: Businesses that want simple, flat-rate travel rewards

Earning rates:

• 2x miles on every purchase, everywhere
• 5x on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel

Capital One's Spark Miles earns a flat 2x on everything without category complexity or caps. For businesses with spending spread across dozens of categories—or who resent tracking categories—this is genuinely liberating. Miles transfer to 15+ airline partners including Turkish Airlines, Avianca, Air Canada, and TAP Portugal, with occasional transfer bonuses.

The lack of tiered categories means leaving some rewards on the table versus category-optimized cards. But for businesses earning $500,000+/year on the card, even 2x across all spend adds up fast.

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6. U.S. Bank Business Triple Cash Rewards World Elite Mastercard®

Annual fee: $0

Welcome bonus: $500 cash back after spending $4,500 in 150 days

Best for: Businesses that spend heavily on software and recurring services

Earning rates:

• 3% at gas stations, office supply stores, cell phone service providers, and restaurants
• 3% on eligible software subscriptions (includes cloud, SaaS)
• 1% everything else

The software subscription category is what makes this card unusual. Most small businesses are spending meaningfully on SaaS tools—AWS, Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoom, Shopify—and most cards treat this as generic 1x spend. U.S. Bank gives you 3% on these purchases with no annual fee.

Combined with 3% at gas stations and office supply stores, this is one of the better no-fee business cards for tech-forward businesses.

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7. American Express Blue Business Plus

Annual fee: $0

Welcome bonus: 15,000 points after spending $3,000 in 3 months

Best for: Small businesses wanting transferable points with no annual fee

Earning rates:

• 2x on all purchases up to $50,000/year
• 1x after

The Blue Business Plus is the Amex answer to the Spark Miles—flat 2x on everything, no fee. The difference: it earns Membership Rewards points, not miles, which can transfer to a wider roster of airline partners (22+) versus Capital One's 15.

For a small business not yet ready to pay for the Business Gold or Business Platinum, this is the logical starting point. It builds Amex history and earns real transferable currency without an annual commitment.

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8. Bank of America® Business Advantage Customized Cash Rewards Mastercard®

Annual fee: $0

Welcome bonus: $300 cash back after spending $3,000 in 90 days

Best for: Businesses that want to choose their own top category

Earning rates:

• 3% in your chosen category (select from: gas stations, office supply stores, travel, TV/telecom/wireless, computer services, or business consulting)
• 2% on dining
• 1% everything else (cap on 3% and 2% categories: $50,000/year combined)

The customizable 3% category is its standout. Pick "travel" and every hotel, flight, and car rental earns 3% cash back—rare for a no-fee business card. Pick "computer services" if your business is software-heavy. Switch categories once per calendar month.

Bank of America Preferred Rewards for Business members can boost earnings by 25–75%, making the math even more compelling for businesses with existing BoA relationships.

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Comparison Table

Card	Annual Fee	Best Earning Rate	Welcome Bonus	Best For
Ink Business Preferred	$95	3x travel/ads/shipping	90K pts	Diverse biz spend
Amex Business Gold	$375	4x top 2 categories	100K pts	Variable high spend
Ink Business Cash	$0	5% office/phone	$750	Simple + office
Amex Business Platinum	$695	5x flights	150K pts	Heavy travel
Spark Miles	$95	2x everything	50K miles	Flat-rate simplicity
US Bank Triple Cash	$0	3% software/gas/office	$500	Tech businesses
Amex Blue Business Plus	$0	2x all purchases	15K pts	MR points, no fee
BoA Customized Cash	$0	3% chosen category	$300	Flexible cash back

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How to Pick the Right Card

If you run Google/Meta ads and travel for work: Ink Business Preferred

If your spending varies wildly month to month: Amex Business Gold

If you hate annual fees: Ink Business Cash or Blue Business Plus

If you fly 20+ times a year: Amex Business Platinum

If you want simplicity above all: Spark Miles or Blue Business Plus

If you're SaaS-heavy: U.S. Bank Triple Cash

Most established businesses should actually hold 2–3 cards: a category optimizer for high-spend areas, a no-fee backup for everything else, and potentially a premium travel card if road warriors are on the payroll.

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Using Your Points for Business Travel

The real multiplier is how you redeem. Cash back is predictable; points redeemed for premium travel can deliver 2–5× more value per point.

When you're planning a team offsite or a sales trip to a new market, Faroway helps you think through the destination and logistics. It builds personalized itineraries that can factor in point availability, budget parameters, and the kind of trip you're trying to run—whether that's a lean solo trip or a full team retreat.

Once you've decided on a destination, Faroway maps out the practical details: where to stay that's actually worth the points, how to structure the days, what neighborhoods make sense for your group size. Points open doors; a good plan decides which ones you walk through.

Start with the right card for your business, stack the welcome bonus, then use those points to take the trip that makes the work worth it.