The world of cash back credit cards is packed with options, but one card always gets attention because of its amazing earning rate: the Blue Cash Preferred Card from American Express. Its best feature is an incredible 6% cash back rate on U.S. supermarkets and certain U.S. streaming subscriptions, which almost no other card can match. However, this high reward rate comes with an important thing that every potential cardholder needs to think about. We need to answer the main question right away: Is the excellent cash back worth the annual fee?
This guide will give you a complete breakdown of the American Express Blue Cash Preferred credit card. We will look at its rewards, study its benefits, and figure out exactly when the annual fee pays for itself. We will also compare it directly with its no-fee version, the Blue Cash Everyday card, and give you a final answer about who this powerful card is really for. By the end of this analysis, you will have all the information you need to make a smart and confident decision.
A Quick Verdict
For readers who need a fast answer, we’ve put our findings into this quick summary. This will help you right away see if the Blue Cash Preferred, often called the BCP, might work for your wallet before you read the detailed analysis.
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YES, it’s likely worth it if: Your household spends over $3,100 per year at U.S. supermarkets. This equals roughly $60 per week. If your grocery bills always go over this amount, the card’s rewards will more than pay for its annual fee. We will show you the exact math behind this later in the guide.
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YES, it’s a powerhouse if: You are a “cord-cutter” or simply pay for multiple eligible U.S. streaming services. The 6% cash back in this category adds up quickly. Also, if you travel to work often and use public transit, pay for parking, or fill up at U.S. gas stations, the 3% rewards in those categories make the card even more valuable.
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PROBABLY NOT, if: You really don’t want to pay an annual fee for any credit card. If your grocery spending changes a lot or falls below the break-even point we found, the fee will likely eat up your earnings. In this case, the no-annual-fee American Express Blue Cash Everyday card might be a better choice.
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CONSIDER, if: You can easily meet the requirements for the welcome offer in your first year. The annual fee is often waived for the first year, giving you a risk-free trial. This lets you experience its powerful rewards structure firsthand and decide if the benefits are worth the cost in following years.
Deep Dive: Rewards
To really understand the Blue Cash Preferred card, we need to start with a detailed breakdown of its main selling point: the cash back rewards program. This structure is the foundation of the card’s entire value. A clear understanding of how you earn cash back, and what limits exist, is essential for estimating your potential returns.
The 6% Categories
The main appeal of this card is its top-level 6% cash back rate, which applies to two specific categories. The first and most important is on purchases at U.S. supermarkets. This is a game-changer for families and individuals with large grocery budgets. It’s important to note a key detail here: this 6% reward rate applies to up to $6,000 in spending per year. Once you hit that cap, the earning rate drops to 1% on U.S. supermarket purchases for the rest of the year. In practical terms, this means you can earn a maximum of $360 in cash back from this category annually ($6,000 x 0.06).
The second 6% category is on select U.S. streaming subscriptions. This is a modern and highly relevant benefit that appeals to a broad audience. Unlike the supermarket category, American Express has not published an annual spending cap for the streaming benefit, making it a profitable way to get a discount on services you already use. We will explore the specifics of this benefit in greater detail in the next section.
The 3% and 1% Categories
Beyond the headline rate, the card offers strong supporting rewards. You will earn an unlimited 3% cash back in two broad categories: transit and U.S. gas stations. The transit category is comprehensive, including rideshares like Uber and Lyft, parking fees, tolls, trains, subways, and buses. This makes the BCP a valuable tool for daily commuters and city dwellers.
For all other eligible purchases that do not fall into these bonus categories, the card earns a flat 1% cash back. This ensures that every dollar you spend on the card continues to generate rewards, although the primary strategy should be to maximize spending in the 6% and 3% categories.
Receiving Your Rewards
The rewards you earn are accumulated as Blue Cash Reward Dollars. These can be redeemed for a statement credit, effectively lowering your credit card bill. American Express allows redemptions in increments of $25. This process is straightforward and can be managed easily through your online account.
For quick reference, here is a summary of the card’s rewards structure.
| Category | Cash Back Rate | Annual Cap/Notes |
|---|---|---|
| U.S. Supermarkets | 6% | On the first $6,000 spent per year |
| Select U.S. Streaming | 6% | No cap mentioned by Amex |
| U.S. Gas Stations & Transit | 3% | No cap mentioned by Amex |
| All Other Purchases | 1% | No cap |
Guide to Streaming Benefits
One of the most unique and valuable aspects of the Blue Cash Preferred card is its 6% cash back on streaming. While many cards offer bonus rewards on broad categories like dining or travel, this specific benefit is often mentioned but rarely explained in full. This section aims to be the most comprehensive resource available for this particular BCP feature, eliminating confusion and helping you calculate your exact savings.
Qualifying Subscriptions
The key to maximizing this benefit is understanding what American Express considers a “select U.S. streaming subscription.” For a purchase to qualify, it must be made directly from an eligible service provider. The merchant must be classified correctly in the Amex network as a streaming provider. This means that if you bundle a streaming service through another company, such as a phone company (e.g., Verizon) or a tech company (e.g., Apple App Store), it may not code correctly and therefore might not earn the 6% cash back. The most reliable method is to pay for the subscription directly on the service’s website using your Blue Cash Preferred card.
The Official Services List
To provide maximum clarity, American Express publishes a list of eligible streaming services. It is important to remember that this list can change, so it is always a good practice to verify the most current list on the official American Express website. As of our 2025 review, the list of qualifying services includes a wide array of popular options. Here is an alphabetized list of some of the major providers that are typically included:
- Amazon Music Unlimited
- Apple Music
- Audible
- Disney+
- ESPN+
- Fubo TV
- HBO Max (now Max)
- Hulu
- Kindle Unlimited
- Luminary
- MLB.TV
- Netflix
- Pandora
- Peacock
- Prime Video
- Showtime
- SiriusXM Streaming
- Sling TV
- Spotify
- Stitcher
- Tidal
- YouTube Music Premium
- YouTube Premium
- YouTube TV
A Real-World Example
Let’s calculate the annual savings for a hypothetical user, “The Cord-Cutter Family,” to show the power of this benefit. This family subscribes to several popular services:
- Spotify Family Plan: $16.99/month
- Netflix Standard Plan: $15.49/month
- The Disney+/Hulu (No Ads) Bundle: $19.99/month
The family’s total monthly streaming spend is $52.47. Over the course of a year, this amounts to an annual spend of $629.64. By paying for these subscriptions with the Blue Cash Preferred card, their cash back calculation is simple: $629.64 multiplied by 0.06. This results in $37.78 in cash back per year, earned just from services they were already using. This is a direct, real saving that helps offset the card’s annual fee.
Calculating Your Break-Even
The most important question for any potential BCP cardholder is whether the rewards justify the cost. This requires moving beyond generic advice and giving you the tools to determine if the card is financially viable for your personal spending habits. Here, we provide a practical, personalized formula for making that decision.
The Annual Fee
First, let’s state the fee itself. The Blue Cash Preferred card has a $95 annual fee. It is important to note that American Express often runs a promotion where the annual fee is $0 for the first year. This introductory offer is a key part of the card’s value proposition, as it allows new cardholders to test the card’s earning power for a full year without any cost. After the first year, the $95 fee will be charged to your account annually.
The Break-Even Formula
To justify the annual fee, the extra rewards earned on the BCP must exceed $95 when compared to a similar no-fee alternative. The most logical comparison is with its sibling card, the American Express Blue Cash Everyday (BCE) card. The primary difference in their rewards structure is in the U.S. supermarket category. The BCE offers 3% cash back, while the BCP offers 6%. Therefore, the BCP gives you an additional 3% back on every dollar you spend at U.S. supermarkets (up to the $6,000 cap).
The formula to find your break-even point is straightforward:
Annual Fee / (BCP Supermarket Rate – BCE Supermarket Rate) = Required Annual Grocery Spend
Let’s plug in the numbers:
$95 / (0.06 – 0.03) = $95 / 0.03 = $3,166.67 per year.
What This Means For You
We can round that number up to $3,167 per year. To make this figure more relatable, let’s translate it into a weekly budget. Dividing $3,167 by 52 weeks gives us approximately $61 per week.
The conclusion is simple and powerful: if your weekly spending at U.S. supermarkets is consistently over $61, the Blue Cash Preferred card’s extra rewards begin to pay for the annual fee. Every dollar you spend above this threshold makes the BCP mathematically more valuable than its no-fee counterpart. This calculation does not even factor in the additional value from the 6% streaming benefit or the 3% transit rewards, which further tip the scales in the BCP’s favor for many users.
BCP vs. BCE
Choosing between the Blue Cash Preferred and the Blue Cash Everyday card is a common dilemma. Both are excellent cards from American Express, but they are designed for different types of spenders. To help you make the right choice, we’ve created a direct, head-to-head comparison that clearly shows the trade-offs. This is where we will naturally compare the American Express Amex Blue Cash Preferred credit card benefits and cash back with the American Express Amex Blue Cash Everyday card benefits and cash back, also known as the BCE.
The following table provides a structured, side-by-side view of the two cards, making it easy to see where each one shines.
| Feature | Blue Cash Preferred (BCP) | Blue Cash Everyday (BCE) |
|---|---|---|
| Annual Fee | $95 ($0 intro for the first year) | $0 |
| Welcome Offer | Typically higher value | Typically lower value |
| U.S. Supermarkets | 6% on up to $6,000/year | 3% on up to $6,000/year |
| Select U.S. Streaming | 6% | N/A |
| U.S. Gas Stations | 3% on up to $6,000/year | 3% on up to $6,000/year |
| U.S. Online Retail | N/A | 3% on up to $6,000/year |
| Base Cash Back | 1% on everything else | 1% on everything else |
| Key Benefits | Car Rental Insurance, Purchase Protection | Purchase Protection |
| Ideal User | High spender on groceries & streaming | Moderate spender, fee-averse |
Who Should Choose BCP?
The analysis is clear. The Blue Cash Preferred card is built for those who can easily surpass the ~$61 per week grocery spending threshold we calculated earlier. If your budget for U.S. supermarkets is significant, the 6% cash back is unbeatable. Furthermore, if you subscribe to multiple streaming services and frequently use transit or pay for gas, the cumulative rewards from the BCP will almost certainly outweigh its annual fee, making it the superior choice. The typically more generous welcome offer and the inclusion of car rental insurance add to its overall value.
Who Should Choose BCE?
The Blue Cash Everyday card is the logical choice for several types of users. If you are strictly against paying an annual fee, the BCE is the obvious winner. It is also the better option for individuals whose grocery spending is below the break-even point. A key advantage of the BCE is its 3% cash back category for U.S. online retail purchases (on up to $6,000 per year), a benefit the BCP lacks. If you are a heavy online shopper but a moderate grocery spender, the American Express Blue Cash Everyday card benefits might align better with your cash back strategy.
Beyond Cash Back
While the rewards structure is the main attraction, the Blue Cash Preferred card also comes with a suite of other valuable benefits. These perks, which include various consumer and travel protections, can provide significant peace of mind and financial savings. For some users, these additional benefits can be the tie-breaker when deciding if the annual fee is worth it.
Travel and Purchase Protections
We’ve organized the key protections into a simple list to highlight the added value that comes with being a cardholder.
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Car Rental Loss and Damage Insurance: This is a key travel benefit. When you use your BCP to reserve and pay for a car rental, you can be covered for damage to or theft of the rental vehicle. It is important to understand that this is secondary coverage, which means it applies after your personal auto insurance policy. However, it can cover your deductible and other costs not handled by your primary insurer.
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Global Assist Hotline: When you travel more than 100 miles from home, this hotline becomes a valuable resource. It can provide 24/7 emergency assistance and coordination services, including medical and legal referrals, passport replacement assistance, and missing luggage support.
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Purchase Protection: This benefit protects your new purchases against accidental damage or theft for up to 90 days from the date of purchase. It covers up to $1,000 per occurrence and $50,000 per card account per calendar year.
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Extended Warranty: This perk adds peace of mind to your larger purchases. It can extend the original manufacturer’s warranty for an additional year on warranties of five years or less.
Access to Amex Experiences
As an American Express cardholder, you also gain access to Amex Experiences. This program provides special access to ticket presales for concerts, sporting events, and theater shows. It also includes invitations to exclusive, card member-only events, adding a lifestyle component to the card’s list of benefits.
A 3-Year Perspective
A static review can only tell you so much. To provide a unique layer of practical wisdom, we want to simulate the ownership experience over time. This narrative, framed as a three-year journey, reflects our first-hand experience and offers a realistic story of card ownership, helping you anticipate future decisions like re-evaluating the annual fee or considering a product change.
Year 1: The Honeymoon
The first year with the Blue Cash Preferred card is often the most rewarding. The primary focus is on two things: maximizing the welcome offer and enjoying the $0 introductory annual fee. From the very start, the ease of earning significant cash back is apparent. Every trip to the grocery store and every monthly streaming payment feels more efficient. We emphasize the importance of tracking spending during the first few months to ensure the welcome bonus threshold is met without changing normal spending habits. For most new cardholders, this first year feels like a period of pure profit, where all the rewards and benefits come with no upfront cost. It’s the perfect opportunity to see just how much cash back your lifestyle can generate.
Year 2: The Reality Check
The second year marks a moment of truth. The $95 annual fee posts to the account for the first time. This is when the break-even analysis we conducted earlier becomes a real-world exercise. It’s time to perform a reality check. We recommend reviewing the past 12 months of statements. Did our spending on U.S. supermarkets and streaming services generate more than $95 in extra rewards compared to a no-fee card? For our target user profile—the family or individual spending well over $61 a week on groceries—the answer is almost always a resounding “yes.” The cash back earned far exceeds the fee, confirming the card’s value. This is the year the card transitions from a “free” perk to a calculated financial tool.
Year 3 and Beyond: The Strategy
By the third year, the BCP has likely become a seamless part of a long-term financial toolkit. For those with stable household spending, especially on groceries, the card’s value remains consistent and reliable. It’s the go-to card for every supermarket run and the default payment method for all streaming subscriptions. However, this is also the stage where strategic thinking comes into play. Life changes. Kids may move out, or spending habits may shift, reducing your grocery budget. If you find that you are no longer surpassing the break-even point, you have a valuable option. You can call American Express and request a product change to the no-annual-fee Blue Cash Everyday card. This process is typically simple and allows you to keep your line of credit and account history without needing a new credit application, providing a flexible exit strategy if the annual fee no longer makes sense for you.
The Final Verdict
After a comprehensive analysis of its rewards, benefits, and costs, we can provide a strong, summary conclusion. This final recommendation synthesizes all the information from this guide to give you a confident takeaway.
The American Express Blue Cash Preferred credit card is an undisputed leader for consumers who want to maximize cash back on their U.S. supermarket spending and streaming subscriptions. Its 6% earning rate in these categories is exceptional. The entire decision of whether this card is right for you hinges on a simple, personal calculation. The key trade-off is the $95 annual fee. As we demonstrated, if you spend more than approximately $61 per week on U.S. groceries, the card’s rewards and benefits mathematically outweigh the annual fee.
Our final recommendation is clear:
We recommend the Blue Cash Preferred card for individuals and families who can confidently meet or exceed that spending threshold. For these users, it stands as one of the most rewarding and straightforward cash back credit cards available on the market today. The combination of high rewards in everyday spending categories makes it a financial workhorse.
We recommend considering the Blue Cash Everyday card for those whose spending is lower, more variable, or for anyone for whom a no-annual-fee approach is a non-negotiable principle.
Ultimately, choosing the right credit card is about aligning its strengths with your real-world spending patterns. By using the analysis and tools provided in this guide, you can be confident that you are making the right choice for your wallet.
