Amex Gold vs Blue Cash Preferred: Which Pays More for Food Spending?

The American Express Gold Card and the Blue Cash Preferred card both reward food spending. They do it in different ways. The Gold pays points at restaurants and supermarkets. Blue Cash Preferred pays cash back, mainly at supermarkets.

The fees differ too. The Gold costs $325 a year. Blue Cash Preferred costs $95. This guide shows which card pays more on three real spending patterns.

Want to try your own numbers first? Run these two cards on your own spending with our card-vs-card calculator.

The two cards side by side

These figures come from American Express's card pages and our approved card records as of November 2026.

Amex Travel is American Express's own booking site. The Gold's 5x on prepaid hotels only counts there.

Sign-up bonuses change often. Check the current offer before you apply.

What the Gold Card gives back each year

The Gold Card comes with several credits. Each one only has value if it pays for something you would buy anyway.

• Dining credit: up to $10 a month, or $120 a year, at eligible partners. Enrollment required.
• Uber Cash: $10 a month, or $120 a year, once you add the card to your Uber account.
• Resy credit: up to $50 from January to June and $50 from July to December, or $100 a year. Enrollment required.
• Dunkin' credit: up to $7 a month, or $84 a year, at U.S. Dunkin' locations. Enrollment required.
• The Hotel Collection: a $100 credit when you book two nights or more through Amex Travel.

These add up to $424 a year, plus the hotel credit. But most come in monthly pieces. A month you skip is lost. Use our perks value calculator to count only what you would really use.

Blue Cash Preferred also lists a Disney streaming bundle credit. Check the issuer's current terms for the amount.

The point value where each card pays more

Groceries: 1.5 cents per point. Blue Cash Preferred pays 6 cents per dollar on the first $6,000 a year. The Gold pays 4 points per dollar. Four points match 6 cents only if each point is worth 1.5 cents. If your points are worth less, Blue Cash Preferred wins on that first $6,000. Past $6,000, it drops to 1% and the Gold wins.

Dining: a quarter of a cent per point. Blue Cash Preferred pays 1 cent per dollar at restaurants. The Gold pays 4 points. Four points beat 1 cent if each point is worth more than 0.25 cents. Almost any way you use points gets more than that.

A Membership Rewards point does not have one fixed value. See our observed points values for what points have been worth in real use. To see how different ways of using points change their value, try our points redemption calculator.

In the examples below we assume a point is worth 1.25 cents. That is an example, not a promise. Cash back is worth its face value.

Three spending profiles

Each profile shows one year of rewards, credits used and the annual fee. It does not include sign-up bonuses.

Profile 1: A family that cooks at home

You spend $24,000 a year. That is $9,000 at U.S. supermarkets, $2,000 at restaurants, $600 on streaming, $2,400 on gas and $10,000 on everything else. You would use the Gold's $120 Uber Cash, but not the other credits.

Blue Cash Preferred comes out $15.50 ahead. Its 6% on the first $6,000 of groceries pays $360. It also earns 6% on streaming and 3% on gas, where the Gold pays 1x.

The point value matters a lot here. At 1 cent a point, the Gold leaves you $365. Blue Cash Preferred then wins by $158.

Profile 2: A couple who eats out often

You spend $22,800 a year. That is $8,000 at restaurants, $4,000 at U.S. supermarkets, $1,500 on flights, $300 on streaming, $1,000 on gas and $8,000 on everything else. You use the Gold's dining credit, Resy credit and Uber Cash in full.

The Gold comes out $419.50 ahead. Most of that comes from restaurants. The $8,000 of dining earns 32,000 points on the Gold, or $400 at our example value. On Blue Cash Preferred it earns $80.

Even with no credits at all, the Gold leaves you $447.50 here. That still beats Blue Cash Preferred by $79.50.

Profile 3: A light spender

You spend $11,940 a year. That is $5,000 at U.S. supermarkets, $1,500 at restaurants, $240 on streaming, $1,200 on gas and $4,000 on everything else.

Blue Cash Preferred comes out $242.40 ahead. Using $240 of Gold credits, such as the dining credit and Uber Cash, would bring the Gold to $308. Blue Cash Preferred would still win by $2.40. At this spending level, the Gold's fee is hard to cover.

Who should pick Blue Cash Preferred

• Most of your food money goes to groceries, and your supermarket spending is near or under $6,000 a year.
• You pay for streaming services, gas or transit.
• You want cash back you can count on, with no point values to think about.
• You do not want to track monthly credits.

Who should pick the Amex Gold

• You spend several thousand dollars a year at restaurants.
• You spend well over $6,000 a year at supermarkets.
• You will use the dining credit, Uber Cash and Resy credit most months.
• You travel abroad, since the Gold has no foreign transaction fee.

When to hold both

Holding both costs $420 a year in fees. The routine would be:

1. Use Blue Cash Preferred at supermarkets until you reach $6,000 for the year.
2. Use Blue Cash Preferred for streaming, gas and transit.
3. Use the Gold at restaurants and at supermarkets after the first $6,000.
4. Use the Gold for everything else, if your points are worth more than 1 cent each.

We ran this on Profile 1, the family that cooks at home. Blue Cash Preferred earned $468 in cash back. The Gold earned 30,000 points, or $375 at 1.25 cents. Add $120 of Uber Cash and take off $420 in fees. The pair left $543.

That is just $20 more than Blue Cash Preferred alone. Holding both only pays well if you also use more of the Gold's credits, or you spend heavily at both supermarkets and restaurants.

How to decide in four steps

1. Pull last year's statements. Add up supermarkets, restaurants, streaming, gas and transit.
2. List the Gold credits you would use every month. Count only spending you already do.
3. Pick a point value you trust from our observed points values.
4. Run both cards through our card-vs-card calculator. Choose the card that leaves you more after its fee.

For a broader view, see our guide to cash back, points or miles by situation. To compare the Gold with a Chase travel card, see Sapphire Preferred vs Amex Gold.

Sources

• American Express Gold Card page: earn rates, caps, credits and foreign transaction fee, checked November 2026.
• American Express Blue Cash Preferred page: fee, rates, caps and foreign transaction fee. Taken from our approved card records, verified August to October 2026.

Card terms change. Check the issuer's current terms before you apply. This is educational information, not personal financial advice.