CSP vs Amex Gold
Dining-and-travel point machines with very different fee math.
Chase Sapphire Preferred
Chase
- Our rating
- 9.0/10
- Welcome bonus
- 75,000 points
- Bonus value
- ≈$1,538
- Annual fee
- $95
- Credits, max/yr
- $50
- Foreign txn fee
- None
Top earning rates
- 5x Chase Travel purchases
- 3x Dining, online groceries, select streaming
- 2x All other travel
- 1x All other purchases
American Express Gold Card
American Express
- Our rating
- 8.8/10
- Welcome bonus
- 100,000 points
- Bonus value
- ≈$2,000
- Annual fee
- $325
- Credits, max/yr
- $424
- Foreign txn fee
- None
Top earning rates
- 4x Restaurants worldwide (up to $50k/yr)
- 4x US supermarkets (up to $25k/yr)
- 3x Flights booked direct or via Amex Travel
- 1x All other purchases
The Compound Verdict
Our ratings give it to the Chase Sapphire Preferred (9.0 vs 8.8). On current welcome offers, the Amex Gold brings the bigger first-year haul at ≈$2,000. The fee gap is $230 a year, so make sure the extra credits and multipliers actually fit your spend.
Read the full reviews for the complete math: CSP review and Amex Gold review, or put them side by side in the comparison tool.