From October 1 to December 31, 2026, the Chase Freedom Flex earns up to 7 points per dollar on dining, with no foreign transaction fee and a $250 bonus. How its points compare with the $325 Amex Gold's, in dollars.
Checked September 26, 2026, against Chase's Freedom Flex page, Chase's September 21 announcement of the card's new features, Chase's September 15 announcement of the October to December categories, and American Express's Gold Card page. Point values are our own valuations as of May 19, 2026.
TL;DR
Get the Freedom Flex if you don't want to pay an annual fee. Just know its best rates are temporary. The 7 points per dollar on dining lasts only October to December, the 5% categories change every quarter, and each quarter's bonus stops after $1,500. Outside those, it earns 3 points per dollar on dining and 1 on groceries.
Get the Amex Gold if you'll use its credits. It earns 4X points on dining and at US supermarkets all year, not one quarter at a time, on up to $50,000 a year at restaurants and $25,000 at US supermarkets. The $325 fee comes back only through the credits you actually use: up to $120 in dining credits, $120 in Uber Cash, $100 at Resy restaurants and $84 at Dunkin', $424 in all. If you'd use enough of them to cover the fee, the year-round 4X is the reason to hold it. If you wouldn't, the Flex is the better card.
Hold both to earn the most. The Flex costs nothing to keep, and the two cards earn on different spending. The Gold takes dining and groceries all year at 4X. The Flex takes its rotating 5% categories whenever the Gold would earn only 1X on them, like streaming services from January, plus 3 points per dollar at drugstores and 5 on Chase Travel. This quarter, move dining to the Flex only if you pool its points with a Sapphire Preferred, Sapphire Reserve or Ink Business Preferred; the section below has the math.
| Date | Change | Chase's words |
|---|---|---|
| September 21, 2026 | No foreign transaction fee | "Starting today, Freedom Flex cardmembers can make purchases abroad or from international online merchants without paying foreign transaction fees." |
| September 21, 2026 | $250 welcome offer | "for a limited time new Freedom Flex cardmembers can earn a $250 welcome offer after spending $500 on purchases in the first three months" |
| September 21, 2026 | Points Boost on select Chase Travel hotels | "Ultimate Rewards points worth up to 10% more on these select bookings" |
| September 21, 2026 | Next quarter shown in advance | Categories are now visible "one quarter in advance in the Chase Mobile app" |
| October 1, 2026 | Q4 categories start | Grocery stores (excluding Walmart and Target), dining and American Red Cross donations, 5% on up to $1,500 combined |
What went away: cell phone protection. Chase's September 21 release lists what it calls "a complete list of Freedom Flex card benefits," and cell phone protection isn't on it or on the card's page. If you paid your phone bill with the Flex for that coverage, move the bill to a card that still offers it and check your own Guide to Benefits for the date your coverage ended.
What stayed: $0 annual fee; 5 points per dollar on Chase Travel, 3 on dining and drugstores, 1 on everything else; purchase protection, extended warranty, auto rental coverage, and trip cancellation and interruption insurance. The page also still lists 6 months of complimentary DashPass (activate by December 31, 2027), up to $10 off one non-restaurant DoorDash order each quarter while you're a DashPass member, and 2 points per dollar on Lyft rides through September 30, 2027.
Chase explained it in the footnote of its October to December announcement: "because the 5% quarterly bonus is earned as 4% additional Cash Back on top of the 1% base Cash Back, and the 3% dining offer is earned as 2% additional Cash Back on top of the 1% base Cash Back, the base 1% Cash Back is earned only once per purchase. As a result, the most you will earn on eligible dining purchases during that quarter is 7% total Cash Back."
The cap is what decides it. The 4% quarterly part stops after $1,500 of combined spending across all three categories. That $1,500 is shared, so every grocery dollar you put on the Flex this quarter uses up room that dining could have used.
| Your Q4 spending on the Flex in the three categories | Points earned | Cashed out at 1 cent |
|---|---|---|
| $1,500 of dining | 10,500 | $105 |
| $1,500 of groceries | 7,500 | $75 |
| $750 of each | 9,000 | $90 |
| Each dollar past $1,500 | Dining 3, groceries 1 | 3 cents and 1 cent |
What counts as dining: Chase says the category covers merchants whose "primary business is sit-down or eat-in dining, including fast food restaurants and fine dining establishments," and delivery and takeout "if they classify as a restaurant merchant." Not included: food sold inside stadiums, hotels, casinos, theme parks, grocery and department stores unless the merchant codes it as a restaurant, plus "Bakeries, caterers, meal kit delivery services, and gift card merchants."
One more stack: Chase's separate Paze promotion adds 10 points per dollar on purchases checked out with Paze through December 31, 2026, on up to $1,500 a month. A restaurant that offers Paze at its online checkout could stack that on top. Our Paze write-up has the terms and the merchants.
What's next: Chase has already named January to March 2027: "top streaming services and grocery stores (excluding Walmart and Target)." Dining goes back to 3 points per dollar on January 1.
| Chase Freedom Flex | American Express Gold Card | |
|---|---|---|
| Annual fee | $0 | $325 |
| Welcome offer | $250 after $500 in 3 months (limited time) | Amex shows each applicant its own offer; check yours on Amex's site |
| Dining | 3 points per dollar all year; up to 7 from October to December on the shared $1,500 | 4X points "at restaurants worldwide," on up to $50,000 a year |
| Groceries | 1 point per dollar; 5 from October to March on the shared $1,500 each quarter (not Walmart or Target) | 4X points "at US supermarkets," on up to $25,000 a year |
| Travel | 5 points per dollar on Chase Travel | 3X on flights booked directly with airlines or Amex Travel; 5X on prepaid hotels through Amex Travel |
| Foreign transaction fee | None (since September 21) | None |
| Credits | DashPass perks and the DoorDash discount above | Up to $10 a month dining credit (Grubhub, Seamless, Buffalo Wild Wings, Five Guys, The Cheesecake Factory, Wonder), $10 a month Uber Cash, up to $100 a year at Resy restaurants ($50 each half-year), up to $7 a month at Dunkin'; enrollment required |
| What you earn | Ultimate Rewards points that Chase calls cash back: 1 cent each cashed out; transferable to partners only after moving them to a Sapphire Preferred, Sapphire Reserve or Ink Business Preferred | Membership Rewards points, transferable to Amex's airline and hotel partners from this card |
The fair comparison is in dollars, and both cards pay in points. Chase's Flex terms say "Cash Back rewards are tracked as points and each $1 in Cash Back rewards earned is equal to 100 points," and they cash out "through an account statement credit or an electronic deposit." On their own, Flex points can't go to airline or hotel partners; Chase says that takes a Sapphire Preferred, Sapphire Reserve or Ink Business Preferred, and that "you can transfer points between your cards." So a Flex point is worth 1 cent cashed out, or 2 cents at our valuation once it's on one of those cards. The Gold's Membership Rewards points transfer from the Gold itself, and we value them at 1.9 cents, which makes 4X worth about 7.6 cents per dollar.
This quarter, on dining: the first $1,500 on the Flex earns 10,500 points: $105 cashed out, or about $210 at our valuation if you hold a Sapphire or Ink Business Preferred. The same $1,500 on the Gold earns 6,000 points, about $114. Without a Sapphire, the Gold edges it, $114 to $105. With one, the $0 Flex earns nearly twice as much on those dollars.
On groceries, it depends on the Sapphire. $1,500 at US supermarkets earns 7,500 Flex points: $75 cashed out, or about $150 moved to a Sapphire. The Gold earns 6,000 points, about $114. So without a Sapphire the Gold wins groceries even this quarter; with one, the Flex wins inside the cap. Groceries stay a Flex category through March 2027, always inside the shared $1,500 a quarter, and earn 1 point per dollar past it.
Past $1,500, the Gold pulls ahead. Once the Flex's cap is used, it earns 3 points per dollar on dining and 1 on groceries against the Gold's 4X on both. The Gold's caps are $50,000 on restaurants and $25,000 at US supermarkets a year, far above what most households spend.
Whether the Gold's fee pays off depends on the credits you'd actually use. The fee is $325. If you'd use the Uber Cash and the Resy credit anyway, that's $220 back, which leaves $105 to earn back. Year-round, the Gold beats the Flex's 3 points on dining, cashed out, by about 4.6 cents per dollar, so $105 takes roughly $2,300 a year in dining. If you move Flex points to a Sapphire, the gap shrinks to about 1.6 cents and the break-even rises to about $6,600 a year. If you use every credit, the credits alone cover more than the fee. If you'd use none of them, the Flex is the better card for most spending.
Using both, spending by spending:
| Spending | Use | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Groceries (US supermarkets) | Gold | 4X all year; the Flex's 5% is capped and quarterly |
| Dining | Gold, except this quarter if you pool Flex points with a Sapphire | The Flex's 7 points is 7 cents cashed out against the Gold's 7.6 at our value, but about 14 cents pooled |
| The Flex's rotating 5% categories outside dining and groceries | Flex | The Gold earns 1X there; January to March adds top streaming services |
| Drugstores | Flex | 3 points per dollar against the Gold's 1X |
| Travel | Either | The Flex earns 5 on Chase Travel; the Gold earns 3X on flights and 5X on prepaid hotels through Amex Travel |
| Abroad | Either | Neither charges a foreign transaction fee, and the Flex is a Mastercard, a second network if a merchant doesn't take American Express |
Chase's page shows the $250 offer "after you spend $500 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening," up from $200, and adds that the card "is available to you if you do not have this card and have not received a new cardmember bonus for this card in the past 24 months." Chase calls it a limited-time offer and doesn't give an end date, so if you want it, don't wait on it. The intro APR is 0% for 15 months from account opening on purchases and balance transfers, then a variable APR of 18.24% to 27.74% as Chase's page showed it on September 26, 2026. A balance transfer fee applies.
Related reading: Chase Freedom 5% categories for October to December 2026