Blue Cash Everyday Card vs. Blue Cash Preferred Card: Which American Express Card Is Best for You?
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Written by
Melanie Pincus
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Edited by
Emily Gadd, CCC
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Reviewed by
Jasmin Baron
Two cash-back credit cards, both advertising partners, that offer strong rewards on groceries come under the “Blue Cash” moniker. You’ll find stronger rewards and benefits with the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express, but for a price — a $0 intro annual fee for the first year, then $95.
Although the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express rewards are weaker, the card might still come out on top thanks to its lack of an annual fee.
Let’s compare the Blue Cash Everyday Card vs. Blue Cash Preferred Card to help you decide which is better for your wallet.
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How the Cards Compare: American Express Blue Cash Everyday Card vs. Blue Cash Preferred Card
Side By Side Comparison
Annual Fee
Purchase and Balance Transfer APR
Welcome Offer
Ongoing Rewards
Earn 3% cash back on U.S. online retail purchases, on up to $6,000 per year, then 1%.
Earn 3% cash back at U.S. gas stations, on up to $6,000 per year in purchases, then 1%.
Cash back is received in the form of Reward Dollars that can be redeemed as a statement credit and at Amazon.com checkout.
Earn 6% cash back on select U.S. streaming subscriptions.
Earn 3% cash back at U.S. gas stations and on transit (including taxis/rideshare, parking, tolls, trains, buses and more).
Earn 1% cash back on other purchases.
Cash back is received in the form of Reward Dollars that can be redeemed as a statement credit and at Amazon.com checkout.
Pros & Cons
- Long intro APR period for purchases and balance transfers
- Well-rounded cash back with no annual fee
PROS
- Once the Intro APR period expires, the APR is high
- Spending caps on bonus rewards
- Categories limited to the U.S.
CONS
- Lucrative welcome offer
- Steller ongoing cash back on everyday purchases
- Introductory APR on purchases and balance transfers
PROS
- Spending caps on bonus rewards
- Annual fee may be high for some
CONS
Learn More
Welcome Offers
Each card provides cardholders with a statement credit if they spend a certain amount in their first several months with the card.
Blue Cash Everyday Welcome Offer
With the Amex Blue Cash Everyday Card, you can earn $200 back after spending $2,000 on purchases within your first six months with the card. This offer is competitive with other no-annual-fee credit cards. The $200 is awarded as a statement credit.
Blue Cash Preferred Welcome Offer
New Amex Blue Cash Preferred Card holders can earn $250 back, also as a statement credit, after spending $3,000 on purchases within their first six months with the card.
CardCritics™ Opinion
The Blue Cash Everyday Card is better for lower spenders. You’ll need to spend about $333 on the card each month to hit the spending requirement to unlock the welcome offer, compared to $500 per month on the Blue Cash Preferred Card. That said, if you can hit the spending minimum, the Blue Cash Preferred Card has a higher welcome offer.
Earning Rewards
Both cards offer rewards on spending, starting with a 1% base rewards rate, with a higher rewards rate in bonus categories. On each card, at least one top bonus category is capped, and spending reverts to the base rate if you hit the cap.
How To Earn Rewards With Blue Cash Everyday
You can earn 3% cash back in each of the following categories on up to $6,000 spent each calendar year with the Blue Cash Everyday Card:
- U.S. supermarkets
- U.S. gas stations
- U.S. online retail purchases
All other eligible purchases, and purchases in those categories above $6,000 in a year, earn 1% back.
How To Earn Rewards With Blue Cash Preferred
With the Blue Cash Preferred Card, you can earn:
- 6% cash back on up to $6,000 spent each calendar year (then 1%) at U.S. supermarkets
- 6% back on select U.S. streaming services
- 3% cash back on transit
- 3% cash back at U.S. gas stations
All other spending earns 1% back.
CardCritics™ Opinion
The rewards are better on the Blue Cash Preferred Card. You can earn double the cash back rate at U.S. supermarkets (though you’ll be subject to the same $6,000 cap), along with the same rewards rate, but uncapped, at U.S. gas stations. However, if you’re interested in Blue Cash Everyday Card for its U.S. online retail rewards, that perk isn’t available with Blue Cash Preferred Card.
Redeeming Rewards
Both cards come with limited redemption options. I’m not a big rewards maximizer, so this simplicity appeals to me as a Blue Cash Everyday cardholder. Others may be interested in Amex cards that earn the more versatile American Express Membership Rewards®, which can get you access to transfer partners.
How To Redeem Rewards With Blue Cash Everyday
You’ll have two redemption options with the Blue Cash Everyday Card:
- Statement credit: You can use your rewards to cover a portion of your statement balance
- Amazon payments: You can use your rewards to cover purchases at Amazon.com
How To Redeem Rewards With Blue Cash Preferred
You’ll have the same two redemption options with the Blue Cash Preferred Card:
- Statement credit: You can use your rewards to cover a portion of your statement balance.
- Amazon payments: You can use your rewards to cover purchases at Amazon.com
CardCritics™ Opinion
The Blue Cash Everyday Card and Blue Cash Preferred Card offer identical redemption options, so this won’t be a deciding factor when you’re comparing the cards.
Card Benefits
Credit card benefits go beyond rewards to include purchase protections you may not even be using. The Blue Cash Preferred Card offers more of these than the Blue Cash Everyday Card.
Blue Cash Everyday Benefits
The Blue Cash Everyday offers a small selection of benefits.
- Secondary car rental insurance: If you use this card to book a rental car, this coverage can pay out for anything your personal insurance policy doesn’t cover if your rental car is damaged or stolen.
- Disney streaming credit: If you pay for a subscription or bundle for Disney Plus, Hulu or ESPN+ with your card, you could get up to a $7 monthly statement credit.
- Purchase protection: If an eligible purchase is stolen or damaged within 90 days of purchase, American Express may be able to cover its cost.
- Home Chef credit: Pay for a Home Chef meal kit subscription with the card, and you can receive up to a $15 monthly statement credit.
Blue Cash Preferred Benefits
The Blue Cash Preferred offers a slightly more robust selection of benefits.
- Secondary car rental insurance: If you use this card to book a rental car, this coverage can pay out for anything your personal insurance policy doesn’t cover if your rental car is damaged or stolen.
- Disney streaming credit: If you pay for a subscription or bundle for Disney Plus, Hulu or ESPN+ with your card, you could get up to a $10 monthly statement credit.
- Purchase protection: If an eligible purchase is stolen or damaged within 90 days of purchase, American Express can provide up to $1,000 in coverage per purchase and up to $50,000 in coverage per year.
- Return protection: American Express will refund eligible items within 90 days of purchase if the seller doesn’t accept your return. Coverage is worth up to $300 per item and up to $1,000 per calendar year.
- Extended warranty: American Express will add a year to eligible manufacturers’ warranties on purchases made with the card. Coverage can apply to items worth up to $10,000, and coverage can’t go over $50,000 per calendar year.
CardCritics™ Opinion
The Blue Cash Preferred Card offers more robust purchase protections than the Blue Cash Everyday Card, and its Disney streaming credit is more valuable. That said, neither card offers meaningful travel protections, such as travel insurance or primary rental car coverage.
Fees and Costs
Both cards offer an introductory APR on purchases and balance transfers. These offers don’t lead the field, but they could give you helpful time to pay off a bigger purchase. The Blue Cash Everyday Card doesn’t charge an annual fee, unlike the Blue Cash Preferred Card.
Blue Cash Everyday Fees and Costs
You won’t pay to keep this card in your wallet, but other fees can still apply.
- Annual fee: $0
- Foreign transaction fee: 2.7% of each transaction
- Balance transfer fee: 3% of the transfer, or at least $5
- Late fee: Up to $40
- APR: 0% intro APR on purchases and on balance transfers for 15 months from the date of account opening, then 19.74%-28.74% Variable APR
Blue Cash Preferred Fees and Costs
You won’t have to pay an annual fee in your first year with this card, but after that, you will.
- Annual fee: $0 intro annual fee for the first year, then $95.
- Foreign transaction fee: 2.7% of each transaction
- Balance transfer fee: 3% of the transfer, or at least $5
- Late fee: Up to $40.
- APR: 0% intro APR on purchases and on balance transfers for 12 months from the date of account opening, then 19.74%-28.74% Variable APR
CardCritics™ Opinion
The annual fee is the cost that sets these two cards apart. The Blue Cash Everyday Card is better if you want to avoid paying an annual fee.
How To Choose Between Amex Blue Cash Everyday and Blue Cash Preferred
When I was making this same decision, I chose the Blue Cash Everyday Card. That’s because I don’t spend enough on my card to make a $95 annual fee (after the first year) worthwhile.
This was the case even though I was mainly interested in the U.S. supermarket rewards category, where Blue Cash Everyday Card falls three percentage points short of Blue Cash Preferred Card. Consider your budget, expected rewards value and desire for purchase protections when weighing the two cards.
For the Car Rental Loss and Damage Insurance on the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express and Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express Car Rental Loss and Damage Insurance can provide coverage up to $50,000 for theft of or damage to most rental vehicles when you use your eligible Card to reserve and pay for the entire eligible vehicle rental and decline the collision damage waiver or similar option offered by the Commercial Car Rental Company. This product provides secondary coverage and does not include liability coverage. Not all vehicle types or rentals are covered. Geographic restrictions apply. Eligibility and Benefit level varies by Card. Terms, Conditions and Limitations Apply. Please visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by AMEX Assurance Company.
For the Purchase Protection benefit for the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express and Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express when an American Express® Card Member charges a Covered Purchase with their Eligible Card, Purchase Protection can help protect their Covered Purchases for up to 90 days from the Covered Purchase date if it is stolen or accidentally damaged. The coverage is limited up to $1,000 per occurrence, up to $50,000 per Card Member account per calendar year. Eligibility and Benefit level varies by Card. Terms, Conditions and Limitations Apply. Please visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by AMEX Assurance Company.
For the Return Protection benefit of the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express with Return Protection, you may return eligible purchases to American Express if the seller won’t take them back up to 90 days from the date of purchase. American Express may refund the full purchase price excluding shipping and handling, up to $300 per item, up to a maximum of $1,000 per calendar year per Card account, if you purchased it entirely with your eligible American Express® Card. Purchases must be made in the U.S. or its territories. Eligibility and Benefit level varies by Card. Terms, Conditions and Limitations Apply. Please visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details.
For the Extended warranty benefit of the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express, when an American Express® Card Member charges a Covered Purchase to an Eligible Card, Extended Warranty§ can provide up to one extra year added to the Original Manufacturer’s Warranty. Applies to warranties of five (5) years or less. Coverage is up to the actual amount charged to your Card for the item up to a maximum of $10,000; not to exceed $50,000 per Card Member account per calendar year. Eligibility and Benefit level varies by Card. Terms, Conditions and Limitations Apply. Please visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by AMEX Assurance Company.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Blue Cash Everyday and Blue Cash Preferred
Can I switch from Blue Cash Preferred to Blue Cash Everyday?
You may be able to downgrade a credit card by contacting the card issuer. You can consider downgrading instead of canceling your credit card.
Is Amex Blue Cash Everyday hard to get?
As with most rewards credit cards, you’ll want at least a good credit score when you apply for Amex Blue Cash Everyday Card. You can use Amex’s Apply with Confidence feature to find out whether you’ll be approved before you officially apply.
Do the Blue Cash Everyday and Blue Cash Preferred charge foreign transaction fees?
Both the Blue Cash Everyday Card and Blue Cash Preferred Card charge a 2.7% foreign transaction fee.
