Amex EveryDay vs. Preferred: What's the Difference?

Amex EveryDay vs. Amex EveryDay® Preferred Credit Card comes down to rewards vs. fees.

The Amex EveryDay has a $0 annual fee, while the Amex EveryDay Preferred charges $95 per year. But the Amex EveryDay Preferred offers better rewards: Higher initial bonus offer, earn rates, and a bigger bonus for frequent use. So, it really depends on how much you plan to use your card and what you plan to buy.

Here’s the breakdown for Amex EveryDay vs. Amex EveryDay Preferred:

• Annual fee: $0 for the Amex EveryDay, $95 for the Amex EveryDay Preferred.
• Initial bonus: The Amex EveryDay offers 10,000 points after spending $2,000 in the first 6 months. The Amex EveryDay Preferred offers 15,000 points after spending $2,000 in the first 6 months.
• Rewards: The Amex EveryDay offers 2 points per $1 spent on travel booked through amextravel.com and at supermarkets (up to $6,000 per year), and 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases. The Amex EveryDay Preferred offers 1 - 3 points per $1.
• Frequent buyer bonus: The Amex EveryDay gives you 20% extra points for using your card 20 times. The Amex EveryDay Preferred gives you 50% extra points for making 30 purchases in a billing period.
• Benefits: The one notable benefit offered by Amex EveryDay Preferred and not Amex EveryDay is return protection. Amex EveryDay Preferred covers you up to $300 per item up to a maximum of $1,000 per year for purchases the seller won't take back up to 90 days from the date of purchase.

Both Amex EveryDay and Amex EveryDay Preferred allow you to redeem points for Amex travel, gift cards and Uber rides. You get one cent per point those ways. Or you can transfer your points to a partner airline’s miles. Transfers are done at a 1:1 ratio, but airline miles values can vary widely.

Assuming you’re redeeming for one of the standard options, you’d only need to spend a few thousand dollars in groceries to make the Amex EveryDay Preferred card worth it. But if groceries, gas, and travel aren’t big spending categories for you, Amex EveryDay is a better way to go.

I think Everyday is better. With no annual fee, and pretty decent stats as far as rewards go, I'd say Preferred is for people who use the card a lot.

The two cards are very similar – they both offer a high rate of cash back on gas and grocery purchases, but the Preferred version of the card offers even more cash back on gas purchases and the cash back rate on grocery purchases, for a $95 fee. Bottom line, it really depends how much you spend to make the annual fee worth it.

It's just how those airline cards work. If you use the card a lot, you can go with Preferred despite the annual fee (more rewards). If not, go with Everyday.