Today, March 25, 2025, American Express released the American Express Graphite™ Business Cash Unlimited Card. And, while the card was released with the regular Amex fanfare, we’re left scratching our heads about who would want this card. Here’s our initial review and guide to this card.
Amex Graphite Business Cash Unlimited Card at a glance
The Graphite™ Business Cash Unlimited Card offers unlimited 2% cash back on all purchases for small business owners. But the card is more expensive than alternatives and offers a relatively skimpy set of benefits for the high annual fee.
Rewards
- 5% cash back on flights and prepaid hotels booked through American Express Travel® online.
- 2% cash back on all other purchases.
Cash back is earned as Reward Dollars that can be redeemed as statement credits or at Amazon.com checkout.
Benefits
Amex business benefits
- Earn up to $2,400 in statement credits for American Express One AP® in the next calendar year after spending $250,000 in eligible purchases in this calendar year.
Consumer insurance benefits
- Purchase Protection. Covers up to $1,000 per covered purchase, up to $50,000 per calendar year.
- Extended Warranty. Doubles the original manufacturer’s warranty, up to one additional year, on warranties of 5 years or less. Purchase must be a covered item and be made in the United States and its territories.
- Return Protection. Covers up to $300 per item, up to a maximum of $1,000 per calendar year, per card account.
- Cell Phone Protection.
Travel benefits
- Car Rental Loss and Damage Insurance. Provides secondary coverage. Coverage is not available in Australia, Italy and New Zealand.
- Global Assist® Hotline.
Partner benefits and statement credits
- Amex Offers.
Enrollment required. Terms apply.
Rates and fees
- Annual fee: $295
- Foreign transaction fee: None
Amex Graphite Review
Cards and Points Rating: 2.0/5.0
Read more about our star ratings.
The Graphite™ Business Cash Unlimited Card‘s headline feature—2% cash back everywhere—certainly fills a longtime hole in Amex’s product space. But the card’s high annual fee and relative lack of benefits has us wondering, “Who would want this card?”
Sure, the card offers some benefits that might be useful to small business owners like purchase protection, return protection, and extended warranty protection. And, if you’re already using, and paying for, American Express’s accounts payable service, the statement credits will give you more value than the annual fee.
But compared to other products out there, the card simply isn’t compelling. The Chase Ink Premier card has a lower annual fee and gives 2.5% cash back rewards on large purchases. The Capital One Spark 2% card’s annual fee is lower and can get credited back after $100,000 of spending on the card. And Wells Fargo offers a 2% cash back card for small business owners with no annual fee.
Overall, it looks like this card is really meant for the business owner who wants cash back rewards and has integrated into Amex’s payment infrastructure. For almost any other small business owner, there are clearly better choices out there. And the high annual fee feels like just a cash grab from Amex’s most loyal small business customers.
Likes
- Unlimited 2% cash back on an Amex card
- Amex consumer insurance benefits.
Dislikes
- High annual fee.
- Set of benefits is unimpressive, relative to the card’s annual fee.
Quick take: A product that completely ignores the competitive market
Aaron Hurd
Executive Editor of Cards and Points
I can certainly see why this product was approved. Amex didn’t have an unlimited 2% cash back card and this is a product that likely can’t lose money beyond its welcome offer. However, the card is incredibly uncompetitive when you consider that there are several small business credit cards from major banks that offer equivalent rewards and have lower annual fees.
When thinking about the clients I advise, I can think of no one who I work with who would benefit from this card. (I have a number of business-owner clients that I advise on credit card rewards.) In most cases, the business owner clients I work with are interested in cash back or managing cash flow—and for both of those objectives, there are other cards that are clearly better.
Ultimately, I expect that Amex will get a lot of new card sign-ups on this card—but not from the customers they want—because of the welcome bonus. Getting a net 5.4% rewards on $50,000 of purchases is a nice perk, but after earning the welcome bonus, there are very limited cases when this card would be the best card for you. This card will probably stick around for a few years, on the back bench of Amex’s offerings, before being quietly discontinued 15 years from now, without much fanfare.
