American Express Gold vs. Platinum

Given that the Amex Gold Card’s annual fee is $370 cheaper, it’s not a huge surprise that it finishes first here. The reality is that not everyone can justify paying an annual fee of $695 for a card. Considering all the perks the Amex Gold Card gives you for an annual fee of $325, this card could make more sense for many consumers.

If the annual fees remain the same, you’ll pay $1,850 more for the American Express Platinum card over the next five years. But when you do a side-by-side comparison of American Express Platinum versus Gold, you see these two cards share many of the same core benefits — with the Platinum including several valuable appealing add-ons. Deciding which card is best for you may depend on whether you’d get sufficient value from the Platinum’s additional features to justify the higher annual fee.