Amex Blue Cash Preferred Review: When a 6% Grocery Card Is Worth $95 a Year

01Who It Suits

Blue Cash Preferred is built for the family grocery bill: 6% at U.S. supermarkets on up to $6,000 a year, 6% on select U.S. streaming subscriptions, and 3% at U.S. gas stations and on transit, from rideshares to parking and tolls. Everything else earns 1%.

The $95 fee (waived in the first year) is what makes the decision interesting. Against Blue Cash Everyday, counting groceries alone, it pays for itself at about $3,167 a year of supermarket spending; Everyday's 3% on online shopping can push that well higher. Against a flat 2% card it is harder: the most the supermarket category can add is $240 a year over 2%, so the card needs streaming, gas and transit, or a lighter load on everything else, to come out ahead.

02Rewards and Costs

Rewards, the cap, the fee, the Disney credit, the 60-day balance transfer window, the foreign fee and redemption are from American Express's product page, checked November 8, 2026. Its page did not show the welcome offer, APRs or balance transfer fee; those, the supermarket exclusions and the direct-billing rule for streaming are from NerdWallet's review of the card. Offers and rates can change; the issuer's page has the current terms.

03On Your Spending

These figures assume you pay the full statement balance every month; interest and other borrowing costs are not included. The categories are the same as in the full comparison, so the same budget gives each card the same result on every page. Purchases abroad are treated as spending outside the bonus categories, and bookings through card issuers' own travel and entertainment sites are not included. Rank all six cards on every category.

What it takes to beat it

Against Blue Cash Everyday, counting groceries alone, Preferred pays more after its first year once you spend about $264 a month at U.S. supermarkets; online shopping raises that line and streaming, gas and transit lower it. Against Capital One Savor, the cap matters: above about $10,250 a year of U.S. supermarket spending (about $854 a month), counting groceries alone, Savor's uncapped 3% pays more. Against a flat 2% card, counting groceries alone: with $1,500 a month of total spending you need about $458 a month at U.S. supermarkets; at $2,000 a month or more, groceries alone cannot do it because the 6% stops at $6,000 a year, so streaming, gas and transit have to make up the rest.

04What the Headline Leaves Out

• The 6% on supermarkets stops at $6,000 a year; after that, groceries earn 1%.
• Restaurants and everything outside the bonus categories earn 1%, half a flat 2% card's rate.
• The $95 fee starts in the second year, so the first year flatters the card.
• Walmart, Target, Costco and Sam's Club do not count as supermarkets.
• The welcome offer is not the same for everyone, and American Express may decline to offer one at all.
• Purchases abroad cost 2.7%.

05Closest Alternatives

All six cards are ranked on your own spending on the cash-back cards page.

06Questions

07Sources and Changes

1. American Express, Blue Cash Preferred card page, checked November 8, 2026 (rewards, cap, annual fee, Disney credit, balance transfer window, foreign fee, redemption).
2. NerdWallet, American Express Blue Cash Preferred review, June 25, 2026 (welcome offer, intro and ongoing APR, balance transfer fee, supermarket exclusions, streaming list).

November 8, 2026: first published. Revised the same day: calculators now take every spending category from the full comparison, and comparisons and break-even figures state what they assume.