The Blue Business Plus Credit Card from American Express

Rewards by category

Our take

The Blue Business Plus is built for businesses whose spending refuses to cluster: it earns a flat 2x Membership Rewards points on everything, with no annual fee to justify. There are no bonus categories at all, yet the card still lands at number two in SwipeCaddy's Superstores, Department Stores, and Wholesale Clubs rankings — a flat rate doing the work that bonus categories normally do.

The catch is the cap: 2x applies to your first $50,000 in purchases each year, then earning drops to 1x. Rewards also arrive as Membership Rewards points, not cash — SwipeCaddy ranks this card at a conservative one cent per point, which makes 2x behave like 2% back. There is no sign-up bonus, so the case rests entirely on that everyday earn rate.

In a small wallet, this is the floor card: pull it out whenever no bonus-category card applies, and let specialist cards handle the spend they cover better. If your business runs well past $50,000 a year, plan for the overflow — once the cap hits, purchases earning 1x are better routed to whatever ranks next in your wallet.

Common questions

Does The Blue Business Plus Credit Card from American Express have an annual fee?

No — The Blue Business Plus Credit Card from American Express has no annual fee.

What rewards does The Blue Business Plus Credit Card from American Express earn on everything else?

2x on all other purchases, in American Express Membership Rewards.

What happens after you spend $50,000 in a year on the Blue Business Plus?

The 2x rate applies to your first $50,000 in purchases each year; beyond that, everything earns 1x Membership Rewards point per dollar. Since the card has no annual fee, keeping it past the cap costs nothing, but heavy spenders should route overflow purchases to another card once earning drops, then come back when the rate resets.

Are Membership Rewards points from the Blue Business Plus worth the same as cash back?

Not automatically — points need to be redeemed, and their value depends on how you use them. SwipeCaddy's rankings price Membership Rewards at a conservative one cent per point, so the card's 2x rate is treated as roughly 2% back. Compare it against flat cash-back cards on that basis, and treat anything above one cent per point as upside, not a promise.

Related reading

• How we value points and miles (and why our numbers are lower than everyone else's)SwipeCaddy ranks cards by reward rate × a conservative cash value per point: 1¢ for cash back and transferable points (Chase, Amex, Citi, Capital One, Bilt), 1.1–1.3¢ for airline miles, 0.4–1.4¢ for hotel points, and 0.8–0.9¢ for store currencies. Optimistic transfer values are recorded for context but never ranked, because most people never achieve them.