Amex Gold Review: Still Worth it in 2025?

Like most things in life: it depends. However, my take is for a good chunk of readers (especially urban-ish professionals who eat out occasionally), this card is probably one of the best deals out there, despite the annual fee increase this year from $250 to $325. On top of that, you get one of the best spending multipliers (4x on groceries and restaurants) available in any credit card on the market. Furthermore, with this card, you are able to start earning Amex Membership Reward points, which you can redeem for all sorts of cool travel opportunities.

The coupon-book nature of the card is definitely annoying, however. If you’re spending out of your normal habits to make it worth it, I’d avoid this card for now. However, I find a ton of value in using and keeping this card.

Cost

This card has a fairly steep fee of $325. This puts the Amex Gold in kind of an awkward position in the credit card market. Fee-wise this is well above the entry-level premium cards like the Chase Sapphire or Capital One Venture (~$95), and almost towards the high-end luxury travel cards like the Chase Sapphire Reserve or Amex Platinum, without any of the travel perks. However, I’d argue this card is still a great deal for many people, and probably the best possible card for a certain profile of spender (more to come later).

The Amex Gold annual fee was recently increased in July 2024, from $250 to $325. This caused quite a bit of controversy and complaints online, but I generally saw these as very positive changes. However, Amex is clearly showing their hand in what type of customer they want owning this card, and who they don’t. At the end of the day, deciding to get this card should be a pure cost / benefit decision. However, with a sign up bonus right now starting at 60,000, this card is worth testing out for a year to see if you’re able to get value out of it. I value Amex points at 2 cents per point, so this sign up bonus is worth at minimum $1,200 to me (although YMMV depending on how you redeem).

Benefits

Here is the current list of benefits that you receive for the $325 annual fee:

1. (New) $100 Resy Credit: $100 in annual statement credits ($50 semi-annually) after using an enrolled American Express Gold Card on eligible purchases made at eligible U.S. Resy restaurants, Resy.com, and in the mobile Resy app. 
2. (New) $84 Dunkin’® Credit: Up to $84 per year ($7 per month) in statement credits after using an enrolled American Express Gold Card to pay at more than 9,000 Dunkin’® locations nationwide.
3. Updated $120 Dining Credit: $120 Dining Credit split into $10 monthly that includes Grubhub, The Cheesecake Factory®, wine.com and Goldbelly, and Five Guys.
4. $120 Uber Cash: Add the U.S. Consumer Gold Card to your Uber account to receive $10 in monthly Uber Cash credits (up to $120 annually) towards Uber Eats or Uber Rides in the U.S.
5. The Hotel Collection Perks: When travelers book two or more nights at these hotels through American Express Travel, they are eligible to receive a room upgrade upon arrival, noon check-in, and late check-out, which are all subject to availability. These benefits are in addition to a complimentary credit valued at $100 to use towards eligible charges, which may include food and beverage, spa, or other on-property charges.
6. Access to Amex Offers.

I don’t really place any value at all on (5), but (6) can actually be quite good. For example, there are occasional deals for common retailers or airlines for discounts after a certain spending threshold. If you would’ve spent that money anyways, you end up even further ahead.

Earnings Structure

Here’s the earnings structure for the Amex Gold:

1. 4X points at restaurants worldwide, plus takeout and delivery in the U.S. on up to $50,000 in purchases per year. 
2. 4X points at U.S. supermarkets on up to $25,000 in purchases per year. 
3. 3X points on flights booked directly with airlines or on amextravel.com. 
4. 2X points on prepaid hotels, car rentals and cruises booked on amextravel.com.
5. 1X points on other eligible purchases.
6. No foreign transaction fees. 

As laid out above, this card really shines on on restaurants and supermarkets. The average American spends $10k on food per year – and probably more in target market cities like NYC, LA, SF, and so on. $10k * 4x = 40,000 in Amex points per year, just from buying food. That alone is enough for a saver economy fare to europe from many US cities. In other words, your next trip to Paris can be funded by your Trader Joes bill.

Who This Card is For

Now, there’s a very certain profile and geography of spender that Amex is targeting.

In order to get max value from this card, consumers in and around these metro areas fare the best:

1. NYC / Boston
2. DC / Miami
3. SF / LA
4. Any other US city
5. Everywhere else

If considering this card, I’d recommend doing a quick cost benefit check to see how you’d utilize each credit.

Here’s how I value all the credits:

1. Resy Credit: $100 / $100. If you have Resy restaurants in your city and eat out even just occasionally, this is worth face value. Cities like NYC make this incredibly easy; smaller cities will be tougher. Using this credit is easy: as long as you use your Amex gold at a restaurant on Resy, you should receive your credit within a few days.
2. Dunkin’ Credit: $84 / $84. My nearest Dunkin is 3 blocks away from me, so no excuses. I value this at face value.
3. Dining Credit: $108 / $120. 10% discount because restaurants will upcharge on seamless by roughly 10% on items you could’ve just called in for. I use this credit on seamless, pickup orders only. In less walkable areas, this may not be worth it.
4. Uber Cash: $120 / $120. I use Uber at least once per month. Note this perk goes for Rides or Eats.
5. Hotel Collection $0 / $100. I will not use this perk, most likely
6. Amex Offers $25+. This one is ambiguous but there are quite good deals here all the time. Just got some new running shoes from zappos for $25 off, so have the $25 as a placeholder here, but sky’s the limit with this one

So for me, tallying up the above, I get $437 in value on a card that costs $325, so basically I receive a positive annual fee of +$102 every year (thanks Amex).

Conclusion

The Amex gold is a really great card for a specific type of consumer. If you live in a somewhat urban area and don’t need to go out of your way to spend the credits, I’d highly recommend getting the card. Plus, if you spend a decent amount on groceries or dining, this is the best earning card on that category in the credit card market.

If you do have to go out of your way to hit the credits, however, I would avoid getting this one, it’s just not worth the hassle.