Amex Blue Cash Preferred vs. Everyday: A Head-to-Head Comparison

If you want an American Express card that earns cash back, the Blue Cash Preferred^® Card from American Express and Blue Cash Everyday^® Card from American Express provide two excellent options. But it might be unclear whether one of them offers more value than the other.

In this Amex Blue Cash Preferred vs. Blue Cash Everyday comparison, you’ll get a chance to consider the benefits of both cards as they’re stacked up against each other. This side-by-side look can help you decide which card might be the better option for you.

Amex Blue Cash Preferred vs. Blue Cash Everyday

The table below gives you a quick look at how the benefits and features of the Amex Blue Cash Preferred and Blue Cash Everyday compare. This can help you decide which card might better align with your spending habits and financial goals. However, a deeper dive into the similarities and differences between the two cards can be found below the table.

	Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express	Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express
Card type	Cash Back	Cash Back
Annual fee	$0 intro annual fee for the first year, $95 per year thereafter (Terms apply)	$0 (Terms apply)
Welcome bonus	Earn a $250 statement credit after spending $3,000 on eligible purchases in the first 6 months	Earn a $200 statement credit after spending $2,000 in purchases in the first 6 months
Earning rate	6% cash back at U.S. supermarkets (for first $6,000 per year, after that 1%) and on select U.S. streaming services, 3% cash back at U.S. gas stations and on eligible transit, and 1% cash back on other eligible purchases	3% cash back at U.S. supermarkets, U.S. gas stations, and U.S. online retail purchases (up to $6,000 per year on purchases in each category, then 1%); and 1% cash back on other eligible purchases
Redemption methods	Cash back is received in the form of Reward Dollars that can be redeemed as a statement credit or at Amazon.com checkout	Cash back is received in the form of Reward Dollars that can be redeemed as a statement credit or at Amazon.com checkout
Intro APR	0% intro APR on purchases for 12 months, then 18.24% - 29.24% (variable) 0% intro APR on balance transfers for 12 months, then 18.24% - 29.24% (variable)	0% intro APR on purchases for 15 months, then 18.24% - 29.24% (variable) 0% intro APR on balance transfers for 15 months, then 18.24% - 29.24% (variable)
Annual credits	None	None
Travel perks	Car rental loss and damage insurance that can cover damage to or theft of eligible car rentals Global Assist Hotline services for emergency assistance when you’re traveling over 100 miles away from home	Car rental loss and damage insurance that can cover damage to or theft of eligible car rentals Global Assist Hotline services for emergency assistance when you’re traveling over 100 miles away from home
Other benefits	Amex Offers program Free ShopRunner membership Extended warranty protection for extending eligible warranties up to one additional year; offers up to $10,000 per covered purchase and up to $50,000 per card per calendar year Purchase protection for up to $1,000 per covered purchase and up to $50,000 per card per calendar year Return protection for up to $300 per eligible item and up to $1,000 per card per calendar year Select benefits require enrollment	Amex Offers program Free ShopRunner membership Purchase protection for up to $1,000 per covered purchase and up to $50,000 per card per calendar year $7 back each month in the form of a statement credit after you spend $9.99 or more each month on an eligible subscription (subject to auto renewal) with your Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express. Enrollment required. Up to $15 in Home Chef credits each month Select benefits require enrollment
Foreign transaction fee	2.7%	2.7%
Credit needed	Excellent, Good	Excellent, Good
	Learn how to apply	Learn how to apply

What both cards excel at

Both the Amex Blue Cash Preferred and Blue Cash Everyday are some of the best cashback credit cards offered by American Express. Being in the same rewards card category and coming from the same credit card issuer can help explain why the Blue Cash Preferred and Blue Cash Everyday have plenty of similarities.

Here are the ways both cards overlap:

• Everyday earning: The Blue Cash Preferred offers 6% cash back at U.S. supermarkets (for first $6,000 per year, after that 1%) and on select U.S. streaming services, 3% cash back at U.S. gas stations and on eligible transit, and 1% cash back on other eligible purchases. The Blue Cash Everyday offers 3% cash back at U.S. supermarkets, U.S. gas stations, and U.S. online retail purchases (up to $6,000 per year on purchases in each category, then 1%); and 1% cash back on other eligible purchases. If your goal is to earn cash back from purchases you frequently make, possibly on a daily basis, both cards can come in handy.
• Welcome offers: If you compare credit cards, the welcome offer is typically what first draws most people in. Getting a bunch of rewards for purchases you were already going to make is an efficient way to take advantage of a welcome offer. The offer on the Blue Cash Preferred will typically be higher than the one on the Blue Cash Everyday and you might see some variation in the requirements, including how much you need to spend after opening your card account to receive the welcome bonus.
• Simple rewards structure: These cards earn cash back, not Amex Membership Rewards. The cash back, called Blue Cash Reward Dollars, you earn with either card can be redeemed for statement credits or at Amazon.com checkout. This makes it easy to use your rewards on anything you can charge to your card. Simply make a purchase with your card and use your cash back as a statement credit to help cover the charge.
• Amex Offers: The Amex Offers program is offered freely by American Express for cardmembers. The offers will vary, but they typically involve getting discounts, extra rewards, or Reward Dollars to redeem as a statement credit or at Amazon.com checkout for making purchases with Amex partners. All you have to do is add an available offer to your card through your online account on the American Express website or on the Amex Mobile app. Then use your card to make the eligible purchase, and the offer you added will automatically be redeemed.
• Purchase protection: Both cards provide purchase protection, which covers damage to or theft of a covered purchase. This includes any eligible item you purchased with your card. An example of a situation where this could be useful is if you’re traveling and your phone is stolen or damaged. Potentially getting up to $1,000 to replace an expensive phone would be very helpful.
• Car rental coverage: Both cards offer secondary car rental coverage, which can be helpful if your primary coverage isn’t enough to cover all the costs of a rental car being damaged or stolen.

4 important differences between AmEx Blue Cash Preferred and Everyday

To get the best idea of where one card might be a better fit for you than the other, it’s helpful to compare and consider their differences. This is where you can see whether one card will offer you more value.

1. Annual fee

Annual fees immediately take away from the value of a rewards credit card because you have to earn enough rewards or use the card’s benefits to the point that you offset the annual fee. You don’t have to worry about this with the Amex Blue Cash Everyday because it has a $0 annual fee. No annual cost means all the value you get from rewards and benefits is immediately useful. You can read our Amex Blue Cash Everyday review for more details.

The Amex Blue Cash Preferred has a $0 intro annual fee for the first year, $95 per year thereafter. So if you don’t think you’ll earn enough rewards to offset this cost, it might not make sense to go with this card.

2. Earning potential

The amount of rewards you can earn is a big factor when deciding which new card to go with. Both the Amex Blue Cash Preferred and Blue Cash Everyday are two of the best credit cards for groceries, which makes it easy to pad your rewards total with an everyday expense.

But the Amex Blue Cash Preferred edges out the Blue Cash Everyday with its higher rewards rates. 

• The Blue Cash Preferred offers 6% cash back at U.S. supermarkets (for first $6,000 per year, after that 1%) and on select U.S. streaming services, 3% cash back at U.S. gas stations and on eligible transit, and 1% cash back on other eligible purchases.
• The Blue Cash Everyday offers 3% cash back at U.S. supermarkets, U.S. gas stations, and U.S. online retail purchases (up to $6,000 per year on purchases in each category, then 1%); and 1% cash back on other eligible purchases.

If you spend a lot at the grocery store and on streaming subscriptions, it could mean the Blue Cash Preferred is a better fit for you. 

For more details, read our Amex Blue Cash Preferred review.

3. Protection benefits

Both of these cards include purchase protection and secondary car rental coverage, but the Amex Blue Cash Preferred also has return protection and extended warranty protection.

Like many types of coverages, these protections aren’t necessarily helpful until the moment you need them. It can often happen that you buy an item and want to return it, but the merchant won’t take it. Unless you have return protection, you’re now stuck with an item you might not want or need, which is a waste of money.

With extended warranty coverage, getting up to an extra year of warranty protection could mean the difference between having to foot the bill for an expense or not. For example, your laptop or TV could start to malfunction after the manufacturer’s warranty has expired. But if they’re covered purchases, your Amex Blue Cash Preferred’s extended warranty protection could come into play to help reimburse you for a repair or replacement.

4. Intro APR periods

This difference will only matter if you specifically want a cashback credit card that offers a promotional APR period. The Amex Blue Cash Preferred offers cardholders a 0% intro APR on purchases for 12 months (then 18.24% - 29.24% (variable)) while the Amex Blue Cash Everyday offers 0% intro APR on purchases for 15 months (then 18.24% - 29.24% (variable)).

The difference between these intro periods is small, but it could be helpful if you want as much time as possible to avoid interest on your purchases.

The Amex Blue Cash Everyday also offers 0% intro APR on balance transfers for 15 months, then 18.24% - 29.24% (variable) and the Amex Blue Cash Preferred offers 0% intro APR on balance transfers for 12 months, then 18.24% - 29.24% (variable)

For more details, read our Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express review.

Which card should you choose?

You should choose the card that makes the most sense for your unique situation and preferences. If you don’t care to pay an annual fee, you only have one option between these two, which is the Amex Blue Cash Everyday. But if you want to earn bonus cash back on streaming services, the Amex Blue Cash Preferred is the better choice for you.

If you want to earn the most cash back possible between these two cards, the Amex Blue Cash Preferred has higher earning rates. But the amount of cash back you can earn depends on how much you typically spend.

A quick comparison of generic spending amounts over the course of a year can help you visualize the type of cash back you can earn with each card. For example, let’s say you spend $1,000 on gas, $1,000 on groceries, $1,000 on transit, and $1,000 on streaming services in a year. Here’s the amount of cash back you would earn in the form of Reward Dollars that can be redeemed as statement credits or at Amazon.com checkout with each card:

• Amex Blue Cash Preferred: Six percent of $2,000 is $120. Three percent of $2,000 is $60. Your total cash back in this example is $180, which you would receive in the form of Reward Dollars that can be redeemed as statement credits or at Amazon.com checkout.
• Amex Blue Cash Everyday: Three percent of $2,000 is $60. The other $2,000 doesn’t fit into a bonus category, so you get 1% of $2,000, or $20. Your total cash back in this example is $80, which you would receive in the form of Reward Dollars that can be redeemed as statement credits or at Amazon.com checkout.

This is only an example, but it helps to show what you typically spend your money on will determine which of these cards could offer you more value. If your spending aligns with the bonus categories on the Amex Blue Cash Preferred, it could be the best card for you, even with the $0 intro annual fee for the first year, $95 per year thereafter. If not, going with the Amex Blue Cash Everyday and a $0 annual fee might make more sense.

FAQs

Bottom line

If you compare both of these credit card offers — the Amex Blue Cash Preferred vs. the Amex Blue Cash Everyday — it’s easy to see how similar they are. Both cards earn cash back and they have similar bonus categories and benefits. But digging into the details can help you make an informed decision on which card might suit you best.

This is especially true if you seek to align each card’s features and benefits with your lifestyle and financial goals. If you typically spend more money in one card’s bonus categories over the other, then your choice is made easier. The same goes for whether you would get value from a card’s benefits, including extended warranty protection or a longer intro APR period.

Cash Back at U.S. Supermarkets

Blue Cash Preferred^® Card from American Express

5.0

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Blue Cash Preferred^® Card from American Express

Learn How to Apply

See rates and fees | Terms Apply

Current Offer

Earn a $250 statement credit after spending $3,000 on eligible purchases in the first 6 months

Annual Fee

$0 intro annual fee for the first year, $95 per year thereafter

Rewards Rate

6% cash back at U.S. supermarkets (for first $6,000 per year, after that 1%) and on select U.S. streaming services, 3% cash back at U.S. gas stations and on eligible transit, and 1% cash back on other eligible purchases

Benefits and Drawbacks

Benefits

• High cashback rates at U.S. supermarkets, U.S. gas stations, eligible transit, and U.S. streaming subscriptions (cash back is in the form of Reward Dollars that can be redeemed as a statement credit)
• Introductory APR for purchases and balance transfers
• $7 monthly statement credit toward an eligible Disney bundle subscription (subject to auto renewal) of $9.99 or more (enrollment required)

Drawbacks

• Cap on highest reward category limits what you can earn
• Welcome offer is a little lackluster compared to other cards
• Has foreign transaction fee

Card Details

• Earn a $250 statement credit after spending $3,000 on eligible purchases in the first 6 months
• 6% cash back at U.S. supermarkets (for first $6,000 per year, after that 1%) and on select U.S. streaming services, 3% cash back at U.S. gas stations and on eligible transit, and 1% cash back on other eligible purchases
• Intro purchase 0% APR offer: 0% for 12 months then 18.24% - 29.24% (variable)
• Intro balance transfer 0% APR offer: 0% for 12 months then 18.24% - 29.24% (variable)
• Terms apply

Author Details

Ben Walker, CEPF, CFEI® Ben Walker, CEPF, CFEI®, is credit cards specialist. For over a decade, he's leveraged credit card points and miles to travel the world. His expertise extends to other areas of personal finance — including loans, insurance, investing, and real estate — and you can find his insights on The Washington Post, Debt.com, Yahoo! Finance, and Fox Business.

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