Blue Cash Everyday Card from American Express vs Bilt Blue Card

Network

Key Benefits

Pros

• +No annual fee with solid category rewards
• +3% cash back at U.S. supermarkets up to $6,000/year ($180 max annual value)
• +Up to $84/year Disney Bundle credit for streaming subscriptions
• +0% intro APR for 15 months on purchases (3 months longer than Preferred)
• +As high as $200 cash back welcome offer after $2,000 spend in 6 months (offers vary)

• +No annual fee
• +Earn up to 1.25X points on rent and mortgage with no transaction fees
• +4% Bilt Cash on all non-housing spend (stackable with 1X points)
• +$100 Bilt Cash welcome bonus with no spending requirement
• +Transferable points to 23 airline and hotel partners (valued at 2.2 cents each by TPG)

Cons

• −3% grocery rate is half of Blue Cash Preferred's 6%
• −2.7% foreign transaction fee makes it unsuitable for travel
• −2% gas rate is below Preferred's 3%
• −1% back on non-category purchases is below average
• −$6,000 annual cap on grocery bonus limits heavy spenders

• −Only 1X points on non-housing purchases (below average for flat-rate cards)
• −Unlocking housing points requires regular non-housing spend or Bilt Cash redemptions
• −Most Bilt Cash expires at year-end (only $100 rolls over)
• −No bonus categories like dining or travel (those are Obsidian features)
• −Fewer card-specific protections than Obsidian or Palladium