Amex Gold vs Chase Sapphire Preferred (2026)

Most head-to-heads between these two cards stop at the earn rates. Amex pays 4X on restaurants and supermarkets in Membership Rewards points. Chase pays 3X on dining and 5X through its own travel portal. Then the article picks a side.

That framing is out of date. On June 15, 2026, Chase rebuilt the Sapphire Preferred: new 3X categories, a doubled hotel credit, a new Global Entry credit, one benefit quietly removed. So the honest way to run Amex Gold vs Chase Sapphire Preferred is to price both against real spending data and see what survives the fee. Every figure below comes from published card terms and federal spending tables, and DollarVisor takes no payment for placement: companies cannot pay for placement in our rankings. More matchups sit in our credit card comparisons hub.

Here is a quick walkthrough of both cards before we get into the math.

1. Which Card Should You Get?

Quick Answer: Our pick is the Chase Sapphire Preferred for most people. It costs $95, hands back $130 in credits you barely have to think about, and its points are worth a clean 1.25 cents through Chase Travel. Pick the Amex Gold only if you eat out often, shop at supermarkets, and will actually use four separate monthly credits. Both sit in our credit cards coverage.

On effort, it is not close. The Sapphire Preferred asks you to book one Chase Travel hotel stay a year. The Gold asks you to spend at Grubhub, ride Uber, book a Resy restaurant and buy Dunkin’ coffee on four separate clocks, just to break even.

• Pick the Chase Sapphire Preferred if you want one card that pays well on dining, gas, travel, and streaming without a monthly checklist.
• Pick the Amex Gold if your household spends well above average at restaurants and supermarkets, and the credit partners are places you already shop.
• Pick the Sapphire Preferred if you drive. The Gold pays 1X on fuel. Chase now pays 3X on gas and EV charging.
• Pick the Gold if groceries dominate your budget. Four points per dollar at US supermarkets, up to $25,000 a year, is the single strongest earn rate either card offers.

One filter matters more than people expect: how you cash out. Chase points are worth one cent as cash. Amex points are worth 0.6 cents as a statement credit. If you never book award travel, that gap alone decides Amex Gold vs Chase Sapphire Preferred for you.

2. How Do the Two Cards Earn Points?

Quick Answer: The Amex Gold earns 4X at restaurants and US supermarkets, 5X on prepaid hotels and 3X on flights through Amex Travel, and 1X everywhere else. The Sapphire Preferred earns 5X through Chase Travel, 3X on dining, gas, EV charging, streaming, online groceries and vacation rentals, and 2X on all other travel. See more in our travel card rankings.

The shapes are different. Amex goes deep on two categories. Chase goes wide across seven. That difference is why the winner depends on your budget, not on which rate looks bigger on the page.

Rates come from the American Express Gold Card terms and Chase’s June 2026 Sapphire Preferred announcement. Neither card charges a foreign transaction fee.

3. What Changed on the Sapphire Preferred in 2026?

Quick Answer: On June 15, 2026, Chase added 3X on gas and EV charging, 3X on vacation rentals and a $120 Global Entry credit. It doubled the hotel credit to $100 and dropped the 10% anniversary bonus. For an average household that is a net gain of about $111 a year, at the same $95 fee. More context in our gas and grocery card guide.

This is the change that makes the old advice wrong. Gas was a dead category on the Sapphire Preferred for a decade. It is now one of the card’s strongest, and the average household spends more on fuel than on hotels and airfare combined.

The one real loss is the Hyatt transfer rate. Points now move to World of Hyatt at four to three, so 1,000 Chase points buy 750 Hyatt points. If Hyatt award nights were your whole strategy, that hurts. For everyone else it is invisible.

4. What Do the Points Actually Earn You?

Quick Answer: On an average US household budget, the Amex Gold earns about 58,965 points a year and the Sapphire Preferred about 44,115. But Chase points are worth 1.25 cents through Chase Travel, so the gap closes to $590 versus $551: before either fee is paid. Our rewards strategy guide covers redemption in depth.

The model household below uses federal spending data, not guesses. Restaurants, groceries and fuel come straight from the BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey for 2024. We assume 15% of grocery spending happens online, and $12,000 of other card-eligible purchases.

Look at the last two rows. The Gold earns 34% more points, but its floor is lower. Amex statement credits pay 0.6 cents while Chase points redeem at a full cent in cash. Earn more, keep less.

The Gold earns 14,850 more points a year and still ends up $87 behind if you cash both cards out for money instead of travel.

5. Is the $325 Annual Fee Worth It?

Quick Answer: Only if you use the credits. The Amex Gold hands back $424 a year, but in four separate buckets with monthly or half-yearly deadlines. Use all of it and the effective fee is minus $99. Use half and it is $113. Use none and you are paying $325 for a grocery multiplier. Our premium card guide runs the same test on bigger fees.

There are four credits: $120 at Grubhub and a few chains, $120 in Uber Cash, $100 at Resy restaurants, and $84 at Dunkin’. Each drips out monthly. Miss a month and that slice is gone.

The Gold’s best case beats the Sapphire Preferred’s best case by $103. But the Sapphire Preferred’s worst case still beats the Gold below about 60% credit usage. One card rewards attention; the other survives neglect.

6. Which Card Wins in Your State?

Quick Answer: With every Gold credit used, the Gold edges ahead in eight of ten major metros, but by only $5 to $64 a year. Drop Gold credit usage to half and the Sapphire Preferred wins all ten, by $42 to $110. Where you live changes the size of the gap, never the direction.

Detroit households spend $3,250 a year eating out. San Francisco households spend $7,143. That spread is why national averages hide the real answer. The table below uses the BLS metro-area Consumer Expenditure tables, covering eight of our ten launch states.

Two patterns stand out. Dining-heavy, low-driving metros like New York and Philadelphia are the Gold’s best ground, because Chase’s new 3X fuel category earns least there. Car-dependent metros like Dallas, Houston and Atlanta swing hardest toward Chase.

7. Which Card Is Better for Travel?

Quick Answer: The Sapphire Preferred, and it is not close. It covers trip cancellation, trip delay, primary-style auto rental coverage and up to $100,000 in emergency evacuation. The Gold covers trip delay and baggage but has no trip cancellation and no lounge access. Compare more options in our hotel card rankings.

People buy the Gold for restaurants, then discover it is a thin travel card. Here is what separates them on the road.

• Trip cancellation. Chase reimburses prepaid, non-refundable bookings when a covered reason cancels the trip. The Gold has no equivalent.
• Emergency evacuation. New in June 2026, Chase covers up to $100,000 if you are hurt or ill over 100 miles from home.
• Redemption ceiling. Chase points buy 1.25 cents of travel through Chase Travel. Amex points buy one cent on flights and 0.7 cents on prepaid hotels.
• Acceptance abroad. Visa is taken in more places than Amex outside the United States, which beats any earn rate when a card is declined.
• Transfer partners. Amex offers 20 airline and hotel partners. This is the one lane where the Gold clearly leads.

Neither card charges foreign transaction fees, so that is a wash.

8. Should You Carry Both Cards?

Quick Answer: Only if your household spends more than roughly $10,000 a year at restaurants and supermarkets combined. Below that, $420 in combined fees eats the benefit. Above it, the Gold handles groceries and dining while the Sapphire Preferred handles gas, travel and protections. Our guide on how many credit cards to hold covers the tradeoffs.

The pairing works because the overlap is small. Amex covers what Chase pays 1X on, and Chase covers what Amex pays 1X on. But you are then managing four monthly credit clocks plus a hotel credit.

1. Start with the Sapphire Preferred. Lower fee, broader coverage, and the travel protections you want first.
2. Track dining and supermarket spend for six months. Annualize it. Above $10,000, the Gold’s 4X starts paying its own fee.
3. Add the Gold only after a full year of using Chase credits. If you skipped one hotel booking, four Amex credits will beat you.

If the answer is one card, keep it one card. A second annual fee recurs whether or not you optimize.

9. The Short Version

Quick Answer: Take the Chase Sapphire Preferred. It returns roughly $586 a year on average spending against a $95 fee, wins in all ten metros we modeled once Gold credit usage drops to half, and asks almost nothing of you. Reach for the Amex Gold only when restaurants and supermarkets dominate your budget. Browse every matchup in our credit card reviews.

The Gold is not a bad card. It is a demanding one. It pays the most points in its class on food, then asks you to redeem carefully and spend at four partners every month so the fee does not swallow the gain.

The Sapphire Preferred, after June 2026, is the opposite. It pays a little less at the top, protects you far better at the bottom, and covers gas, EV charging, streaming and vacation rentals: where household money actually goes. That is why it wins Amex Gold vs Chase Sapphire Preferred for most readers.

10. Frequently Asked Questions

1. Is the Amex Gold worth $325 a year?

Only if you use the credits. The Gold returns $424 a year across its dining, Uber, Resy and Dunkin’ credits, making the effective fee minus $99 at full usage. At half usage it is $113. At zero usage you pay $325 for a grocery and restaurant multiplier and little else.

2. Which card earns more points on groceries?

The Amex Gold, by a wide margin. It pays 4X at US supermarkets on up to $25,000 per calendar year. The Sapphire Preferred pays 3X on online grocery orders only and 1X in the store, so the Gold earns roughly three times as many points.

3. Are Amex points or Chase points worth more?

Chase points have the better floor: one cent as cash, 1.25 cents through Chase Travel. Amex points are worth 0.6 cents as a statement credit and up to one cent for gift cards or Amex Travel flights. Amex wins only on transfers to its 20 partners.

4. Did the Chase Sapphire Preferred get better in 2026?

Yes. On June 15, 2026, Chase added 3X on gas and EV charging, 3X on vacation rentals and a $120 Global Entry credit, and doubled the hotel credit to $100, at the same $95 fee. It also dropped the 10% anniversary bonus and cut Hyatt transfers to 4:3.

5. Can you have both the Amex Gold and Sapphire Preferred?

Yes. They come from different issuers with no conflicting rules. The pairing pays once combined restaurant and supermarket spending passes roughly $10,000 a year. Below that, $420 in combined fees usually costs more than the second card earns back.

This article is information, not financial advice. Card terms change; confirm current rates and fees with the issuer before applying. See our disclaimer.