14 Best Startup Credit Cards to Consider in 2024

Nick Gallo

Certified Public Accountant

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Credit cards are essential tools for most startup founders. In addition to facilitating transactions and smoothing out your cash flow, they can also help you earn significant rewards, build business credit history, and manage your employees’ spending.

Let’s review some of the best startup credit cards in 2024, their most significant benefits, and when you should consider adding them to your credit mix.

The 14 Best Startup Credit Cards in 2024

1. Zeni Business Credit Card

The Zeni Business Credit Card is designed to transform how startups manage their finances with AI-powered spend management, 1.75% cashback, zero fees, and dedicated expert support. If you're looking for a seamless payment experience that connects with your entire financial operations, this is the card to consider.

Zeni's business credit card provides key benefits that help businesses optimize their spending and gain real-time insights into expenses. Here are the highlights:

1.75% cashback on all purchases — Get 1.75% cashback on every transaction, no matter the category.
Unlimited virtual and physical cards — Issue as many cards as needed for your team, with no extra costs. Start using virtual cards instantly while waiting for physical ones.
Real-time spend visibility —Track spending as it happens, with AI-powered auto-categorization across teams, individuals, and locations, ensuring you always know where every dollar goes.
Set customized credit limits — Control employee or departmental spending with personalized credit limits, helping to manage expenditures and prevent overspending.
All expenses in one place — Manage your business's credit cards, checking accounts, bill payments, and reimbursements all in one AI-powered dashboard, simplifying your financial operations.
Expert financial support — Get tailored advice and fast support from a team of financial experts, ensuring you're never left without answers when you need them.

The Zeni Business Credit Card is more than just a credit card—it connects directly with Zeni’s bookkeeping software, helping you have greater visibility into your spending and streamline your finances..

2. Chase Ink Business Cash Card

The Chase Ink Business Cash Card is one of the best credit card options for building business credit and earning cash back. If you’re looking for a default business card you can use for everyday expenses, it’s a good one to consider.

Chase is one of the few business credit card issuers that reports to all three of the major business credit bureaus, including Dun & Bradstreet (D&B), Experian Business, and Equifax Business.

It also reports to the Small Business Financial Exchange (SBFE), and as a result, it can benefit all of your most commonly used business credit scores.

Its Ink Business Cash Card specifically offers a healthy sign-up bonus and flexible cash-back rewards with impressive rates in certain categories. Here are the details:

Earn $350 after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first three months after account opening
Earn an additional $400 when you spend $6,000 in the first six months
5% cash back on the first $25K spent in annual combined purchases at office supply stores and on internet, cable, and phone services
2% cash back in annual combined purchases at gas stations and restaurants
1% cash back on all other purchases

In addition, the Ink Business Cash has a 0% APR intro period of 12 months, during which you won’t accrue interest on purchases. To top it off, the card has no annual fee, and you can open employee cards for no additional costs.

3. Chase Ink Business Preferred Card

The Chase Ink Business Preferred Card is another well-rounded rewards card that’s great for building business credit with each major credit bureau.

The main differences between it and the Ink Business Cash card are their rewards categories and upper limits on eligible purchase amounts.

Here’s how its rewards work:

Get 90K bonus points when you spend $8,000 on purchases in the first three months
3x points per dollar on the first $150K in annual combined purchases on shipping, travel, certain advertising, and internet, cable, and phone services
1x point per dollar on all other purchases

The $150K limit for 3x points is highly advantageous if you have enough annual spending to reach it, which could net you 540K points in the first year with the sign-up bonus.

Once earned, you can redeem your rewards points in multiple ways, including cash back, gift cards, or travel through the Chase Ultimate Rewards center.

You can set up employees as authorized users with their own cards for no additional cost, but the Ink Business Preferred itself has a $95 annual fee.

4. Southwest Rapid Rewards Performance Business Credit Card

As a Chase card that gets reported to all three major commercial credit bureaus, the Southwest Rapid Rewards card is an excellent tool for building credit. If you prefer to fly Southwest and travel often, its rewards also make it potentially lucrative.

Here’s a breakdown of its benefits:

Earn 80K points when you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first three months
4x points on Southwest purchases, including flights and inflight purchases
3x points for Rapid Rewards hotel and rental car purchases
2x points for social media and search engine advertising, internet, cable, and phone service purchases
2x points for local transit and rideshare purchases
1x point on all other purchases
9,000 bonus points each year on your card anniversary
Four upgraded boardings and up to 365 InFlight WiFi credits per year
1,500 tier qualifying points toward Southwest A-List status for every $5,000 spent
$100 statement credit every four years for Global Entry, TSA PreCheck, or NEXUS fees

As you can see, the Rapid Rewards Performance Business Card has a lot to offer. If you fly Southwest frequently, you can easily justify the $199 annual fee, especially since there’s no charge for additional employee cards.

5. Brex Card

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Brex is a fintech company that aims to provide a comprehensive financial management platform for startups, midsize companies, and large enterprises. Its offerings include expense management software, business banking services, and a corporate card.

Known as the Brex Card, the corporate card is a great option if you’re interested in consolidating your financial tech stack and like Brex’s other products –especially its flagship expense management tool–since it integrates seamlessly with them.

One of its other major advantages is that Brex doesn’t emphasize traditional underwriting methods. Instead, it uses revenue, funding, expenses, and company size, often contributing to a higher credit limit.

Brex also doesn’t require a personal guarantee, and you can apply with just an Employer Identification Number (EIN).

The Brex Card also offers attractive cash-back rewards, including:

7x points on rideshare purchases
4x points on travel booked with Brex Travel
3x points on restaurant purchases
2x points on software purchases
1x points on all other purchases

Lastly, the Brex card comes with several partner-based perks, including $5,000 in AWS credits, 30% off your first 12 months of QuickBooks, and 50% off UPS shipments.

You can also gain access to Brex's corporate cards, business checking account, and expense management software for free with its Essentials plan.

6. Capital One Spark 2% Card

Like Chase, Capital One reports its business credit cards to all three major commercial credit bureaus, putting its cards in the top tier for building business credit. Fortunately, it also offers several cards with excellent benefits, including the Spark 2% Cash Card.

Here are the account’s most significant rewards:

Earn a $750 cash bonus when you spend $7,500 in purchases in the first three months
Unlimited 2% cash back on every purchase, with no limits or category restrictions
Unlimited 5% cash back on hotels and rental cars booked via Capital One Travel

The unlimited 2% back on every purchase makes the Spark 2% card an excellent catch-all option for business expenses that don’t fall into any of your other business credit card’s reward categories.

Though it’s waived the first year, the card does carry a $95 annual fee.

If you’d prefer to avoid it, there’s another Capital One Spark Cash Card that offers much of the same benefits, except it earns 1.5% cash back on every purchase and offers a $500 sign-up bonus for spending $4,500 in three months.

7. Capital One Venture X Business Card

As a Capital One credit card, the Venture X Business Card is another competitive option if you’re interested in building business credit with D&B, Equifax Business, and Experian Business. It’s also an excellent travel card with above-average reward rates.

Here are its most significant rewards:

Earn 150K bonus miles when you spend $30K in the first three months
10,000 bonus miles every year, starting on your first card anniversary
$300 annual travel credit for bookings through Capital One Travel
10x miles on hotel and rental cars booked via Capital One Travel
5x miles on flights booked via Capital One Travel
2x miles on all other purchases

The Venture X Business Card is typically best for startups with significant travel expenses. You’ll need a relatively high spending rate to meet the sign-up bonus threshold and accrue enough points to justify the $395 annual fee.

Traveling frequently will also help you take advantage of its other travel benefits, such as TSA PreCheck or Global Entry statement credits and access to a network of more than 1,300 airport lounges.

Be aware that the Venture X card has some unusual terms. Most notably, there’s no preset credit limit on the account, and you must pay off your balance in full each month.

8. Capital One Spark 2% Cash Plus Card

The Spark 2% Cash Plus Card isn’t the best card for everyone, but it can be incredibly lucrative for the right startup due to its unrivaled sign-up bonuses and unlimited cash back.

As a Capital One card, it’s also excellent for building business credit since it reports to all three major credit bureaus.

Here’s how its rewards work:

Earn $2,000 when you spend $30K in the first three months
Earn an additional $2,000 for each $500K you spend in the first year
5% cash back on hotels and rental cars through Capital One Travel
Unlimited 2% cash back on every purchase
Waive the $150 annual fee when you spend $150K each year

Like the Venture X Card, the Spark 2% Cash Plus has a flexible spending capacity.

Combined with Capital One’s biggest bonus offer ever, it can be a tempting option if you know you’ll have sufficient expenses to reach them.

However, it’s also a pay-in-full card, which means you can’t carry a balance from month to month. That significantly limits its utility, but if you can manage that, you could earn unlimited cash bonuses in your first year.

9. Stripe Corporate Card

Stripe is one of the most popular third-party payment networks in the world, processing over $1 trillion in total payment volume during 2023, up 25% from the previous year.

If you’re one of the many who already use the platform, Stripe’s corporate card may be an attractive option.

It integrates seamlessly with your Stripe account, providing spending controls and expense reporting tools that should be intuitive to those familiar with Stripe’s interface.

If you receive an invite, you only need your Stripe account to apply. No paperwork or personal guarantee is required. If approved, your credit limit is primarily based on your banking history and payment processing activities with Stripe.

In terms of rewards, the card offers an unlimited 1.5% cash back on all purchases and several partner-based benefits, including:

$5,000 in AWS credits
Three months free at Gusto
50% off Expensify for six months
$2,000 in Airtable credits for up to 5 users for 20 months

There’s also no annual fee or cost for employee cards. However, Stripe only reports to the SBFE, so it isn’t the best for building credit.

Additionally, the card is technically a charge card that requires you to pay off your balance each month, so you can’t carry a balance for more than a billing period.

10. U.S. Bank Business Platinum Card

U.S. Bank doesn’t report to all of the major business credit bureaus, so its credit cards aren’t as good for building business credit as Chase’s or Capital One’s. However, it does report to D&B and the SBFE.

Credit building aside, U.S. Bank has a diverse mix of business credit cards that offer some practical benefits. The Business Platinum Card is something of a one-trick pony, but it can be a highly useful tool in certain circumstances.

Its only meaningful benefit is that it charges 0% APR on purchases for your first 18 billing periods, which generally last between 28 and 31 days. In other words, it offers interest-free financing for a year and a half, the bank’s longest 0% APR intro period.

This can make the Business Platinum Card an attractive option if you need to finance a large purchase, such as equipment or software. It can also help you keep costs down while bootstrapping your startup. There isn’t even an annual fee.

Just be aware that the APR reverts to a variable APR that’s currently 17.49% to 26.49% at the end of the introductory period. You don’t want to get stuck still carrying a balance.

11. U.S. Bank Triple Cash Rewards Visa Business Card

The U.S. Bank Triple Cash Rewards Card also gets reported to D&B, contributing to your D&B credit report and potentially improving your PAYDEX Score. Just as importantly, it’s a competitive gas card, offering all the following benefits:

Earn $750 in cash back when you spend $6,000 in the first six months
5% cash back on car and hotel purchases through the U.S. Bank travel rewards center
3% cash back on gas station, electric vehicle charging, restaurant and delivery, office supply stores, and cell phone service purchases
1% cash back on all other purchases
$100 annual statement credit for recurring software subscription expenses, such as QuickBooks
Introductory 0% APR for the first 12 months

The Triple Cash Rewards Card doesn’t have an annual fee or charge for opening up additional employee cards.

Combined with its 3% back on gas station and electric vehicle charging purchases, plus 5% cash back on car rentals, it’s a highly competitive fuel card.

12. BILL Divvy Corporate Card

Formerly known as the Divvy Corporate Card until it was acquired by Bill.com, the BILL Divvy Corporate card is a corporate charge card that grants you access to a revolving credit line up to as much as $5M.

Its primary selling point is that it’s connected to the BILL Spend & Expense software. Among other things, it allows you to create a free employee card for every worker and set individual budgets to help track and control company spending.

In addition, the BILL Divvy card offers surprisingly high rewards rates, depending on the frequency at which you make your payments:

Weekly: 7X points on restaurants, 5X on hotels, 2X on software subscriptions, 1.5X everything else
Semi-monthly: 4X points on restaurants, 3X on hotels, 1.75X on software subscriptions, 1X everything else
Monthly: 2X points on restaurants, 2X on hotels, 1.5X on software subscriptions, 1X everything else

BILL Divvy’s underwriting emphasizes your startup’s finances as well as your credit scores, so it may be more accessible than a traditional small business credit card.

It can also help you build business credit since it recently started reporting to D&B in addition to the SBFE.

13. American Express Business Gold Card

Like U.S. Bank, American Express reports its credit cards to D&B and the SBFE, so it helps you build business credit with at least one of the major business credit bureaus.

However, the more significant reason to open an American Express credit card is that it offers more than a dozen accounts with highly attractive rewards. The American Express Business Gold Card is one of its most popular, offering the following benefits:

Earn 150K rewards points when you spend $15K in the first three months
4x points on your top two of the following six categories each billing cycle: select advertising costs, electronic goods and software retailers, restaurants, gas stations, transits, and cell phone services (applies to the first $150K in annual combined purchases)
3x points on flights and prepaid hotels booked through AmexTravel.com
1x points for all other purchases
Get up to $20 in monthly statement credits for purchases at FedEx, Grubhub, and Office Supply Stores
Get a monthly statement credit up to $12.95 plus taxes for Walmart+
0% intro APR for six months

The Business Gold Card’s rewards are highly lucrative, but you have to maximize them to justify its $375 annual fee. There’s also a $95 annual fee for the first five employee cards, then an additional $95 for each additional card, up to 99 cards.

14. American Express Blue Business Cash

Much like the Capital One Spark Cash Cards, the American Express Blue Business Cash is an excellent catch-all cash-back card. Here are its most significant benefits:

Earn $250 cash back when you spend $3,000 in the first three months
2% cash back on all purchases up to $50,000 per year
1% cash back on all other purchases
0% introductory APR for the first 12 months

The Blue Business Cash Card is worth considering if you’re looking for a straightforward cash-back rewards system.

It offers a flat cash-back rate across all spending and automatically credits your earnings to your monthly statements, saving you the hassle of having to redeem the points yourself.

While it doesn’t report to as many business credit bureaus as the Spark Cash Cards, it still reports to D&B and the SBFE.

In addition, it has no annual fee, making it more affordable than the Spark 2% Cash Card. The Spark 1.5% Card doesn’t have an annual fee, but its rewards rate is lower.

How To Build Your Business Credit With Startup Credit Cards

One of the primary benefits of a startup business credit card is that it can help you establish your business credit. That’s essential if you want to qualify for more significant financing in the future, such as a business loan.

Here are the most important steps you should take to ensure that your startup credit cards contribute to your business credit:

Separate your business entity: Separating your business’s identity from your own identity helps you build its credit scores without using your personal credit. Start by aquiring an EIN and a DUNS Number, then consider taking steps like opening a business bank account and forming a separate legal entity.
Make business payments early or timely: The most important factor in most business credit scores is your payment history. In fact, you can only get a perfect D&B PAYDEX Score by making payments early, so make sure you always submit yours on or before your due date.
Choose issuers that report to all three bureaus: Your credit-building effort will only benefit your scores if you open accounts that get reported to the commercial credit bureaus. The best ones get reported to D&B, Equifax Business, and Experian Business.

Most traditional credit accounts, or financial tradelines, are hard to qualify for when you lack business credit history. However, credit cards are often still available to new business owners if you have good personal credit.

You’ll often be asked to sign a personal guarantee to qualify, which puts your personal credit and assets at risk, but it may be worth it.

Alternatives to Startup Credit Cards

If your primary goal is to build business credit, but you’re struggling to qualify for startup credit cards due to bad personal credit or some other limitation, then vendor tradelines may be your best alternative.

Vendor tradelines are credit arrangements with businesses that don’t specialize in extending credit. For example, it might refer to net 30 or net 60 invoice payment terms with an office supply company like Quill.

Generally, a vendor tradeline is easier to qualify for, even without a good personal credit score.

It might not improve your business credit as quickly as a financial tradeline on its own, but you can often acquire and maintain multiple vendor tradelines without much trouble.

Beyond net 30 accounts, you can get vendor tradelines through certain subscription services. For example, eCredable can report certain ongoing expenses to the bureaus as vendor tradelines, such as rent, utilities, and your subscription to the service itself.

How Zeni Can Help Your Business

Zeni is an all-in-one fintech company that aims to provide all the financial products and services your startup needs on a single platform, including a startup credit card that earns 1.75% cash back on all purchases.

Some of our other AI-enhanced offerings include:

AI bookkeeping: Outsource your bookkeeping with our virtual bookkeeping service that combines AI technology with a team of dedicated experts.
Payroll management: Get comprehensive payroll support for everything from employee onboarding to termination.
Fractional CFO: Get guidance from an experienced financial professional when you’re facing challenges beyond your expertise, such as fundraising.
Startup taxes: Get tax planning and compliance support from a team of experts with decades of startup experience.
Business checking: Deposit your funds in a bank account that earns up to 3.73% APY on balances and provides $3M in FDIC insurance coverage.
AI bill pay and reimbursements: Streamline your accounts payable and employee reimbursement processes with Zeni’s AI capabilities.

Stop juggling disjointed products and service providers. Schedule a demo to learn how Zeni can consolidate your financial management, make your processes more efficient, and save you both time and capital.

Learn More: Outsourced Bookkeeping

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