Should You Open an American Express Gold Card in 2024?

The American Express® Gold Card is one of the higher-end card products offered by American Express and comes with a $250 annual fee (see rates and fees). While it isn't quite as expensive as the Amex Platinum, this still puts it toward the higher end of the annual fee spectrum.

However, despite the fee, the American Express® Gold Card could be an excellent value -- for the right person. Here's a rundown of what you get for $250 per year, and whether it could be a good idea for you to apply for the card in 2024.

What do you get for $250 per year?

We'll get to the card's reward program in the next section, but there are some valuable benefits of the American Express® Gold Card (terms apply). You can read our full review of the card for details, but here's a rundown of the key points:

• $120 in annual dining credits ($10 per month) toward purchases at certain restaurants and food delivery services (terms apply).
• $120 per year in Uber Cash ($10 per month), which can be used toward Uber rides or Uber Eats deliveries (terms apply).
• $100 onsite experience credit toward things such as dining or spa treatments, when booking The Hotel Collection stays with American Express Travel (terms apply, benefit varies by property).
• Several travel and purchase protections, such as baggage insurance and extended warranty benefits (terms apply).
• No foreign transaction fees (see rates and fees). Many competitors charge a 3% fee for foreign transactions.

Don't forget about the rewards

In addition to all of these, the American Express® Gold Card offers excellent rewards rates in American Express Membership Rewards points. The card earns 4 points per $1 at restaurants and U.S. supermarkets (up to $25,000 in purchases per year), 3 points per $1 on flights booked directly through airlines or with American Express Travel, and 1 point per $1 on other purchases (terms apply).

Not only that, but Membership Rewards points have flexible redemption options, including transferring them to certain airline partners' loyalty programs, which can get you $0.02 per point in value or more.

Of course, the value of the Membership Rewards program depends on how much you spend, and what you spend it on. But it isn't tough to see how using the American Express® Gold Card as your primary method of buying groceries and paying in restaurants can deliver a ton of value.

Is it worth it to you?

Just like most other cards with an annual fee, there's no perfect answer to the question of whether the American Express® Gold Card is worth the cost or not. It depends on how much you use it. After all, if you take advantage of the Uber and dining credits every single month, you'd only need to find $10 in additional value from the card to justify paying the fee. However, I can tell you firsthand that using an Uber credit every month doesn't always happen.

The bottom line is that if you take full advantage of its benefits and use the card every time you dine out, buy groceries, or book flights, the perks of the American Express® Gold Card can be worth double the card's annual fee, or even more.