American Express Cobalt® Card vs American Express® Green Card

Deciding whether to go for the American Express Cobalt and Green is an important choice because choosing the right card over the other might cost you hundreds of dollars in rewards and benefits!

Let's start by discussing their main differences and similarities and giving you a step-by-step guide to choosing the right one for you.

The Main Similarities of Amex Cobalt vs Green

1. Both these cards are points-based, meaning they will earn you American Express reward points on your purchases. The points values and redemption methods are identical for both cards, so they have the same reward flexibility.
2. Both these cards offer the purchase protection and extended warranty benefits.

The Main differences between Amex Cobalt and Green

The main difference between these two cards is that the American Express Green card has no annual fees, whereas the American Express Cobalt has an annual fee of $155.8.

Now, in exchange for this annual fee, American Express Cobalt provides a much better reward structure and many benefits. For the majority of people, the Cobalt earns so many more points than the Green card that it makes sense to get the Cobalt card. Let's get into the details of why this happens:

Our choice for: Best travel points earning credit card in Canada

American Express Cobalt® Card

American Express Cobalt® Card

4.9

Finly Rating

APPLY NOW

Apply with Confidence — won't impact your credit score

on American Express' website

View T&Cs

Welcome Bonus

Up to 15,000 Membership Rewards® points

Rewards Rate

1x - 5x

Points

Annual Fee

$191.88⁕

$15.99 Paid Monthly

⁕ For Quebec, $191.88/year

Interest Rates

21.99%* / 21.99%*

RECOMMENDED CREDIT SCORE

300

Poor

693

Fair

743⁎

Good

790⁎

Very Good

833⁎

Excellent

⁎Estimates based on TransUnion scoring

Get your free credit score

Our Rating

4.9/5

This card was voted one of the Best Credit Card in Canada by FinlyWealth. The rewards earned on this card for a person with average spending exceed those of other credit cards in Canada by a huge margin! In addition, this card has a good benefits coverage, a flexible amex cobalt bonus points redemption program (1:1 transfer to Aeroplan® or Avios), making it the best candidate to become the main credit card for the majority of people.

Awards & Recognition

Best Travel Rewards Credit Card

2026

Pros & Cons

Pros

---

• Impressive optimization
• 1:1 Aeroplan point transfer
• Generous welcome bonus
• Flexible high value redemptions
• Comprehensive coverage
• Highly ranked
• Instant decision. No credit impact.

Cons

---

• Limited acceptance
• Lacks valuable coverage categories

Card Details

Rewards

• 5x points per $1 spent on eligible eats and drinks in Canada, including groceries and food delivery (up to 12,500 points per month)
• 3x points per $1 spent on eligible streaming subscriptions in Canada
• 2x points per $1 spent on eligible gas, transit & ride share in Canada
• 1x point per $1 spent on all other purchases

Insurance

Coverage

• 

  Travel Medical Insurance (64 & under)

  15 days, up to $5M (if under age 65)
• 

  Flight Delay

  $500
• 

  Baggage Delay

  $500
• 

  Hotel Burglary Insurance

  $500
• 

  Lost or Stolen Baggage

  $500
• 

  Common Carrier Travel Accident Insurance

  $250,000
• 

  Car Rental Damage & Theft

  yes
• 

  Mobile Device Insurance

  $1,000
• 

  Purchase Protection

  90 days
• 

  Extended Warranty

  1 year

Benefits

Details

• 

  Amex Experiences™

  Access Front Of The Line® Amex Presale & Reserved Tickets to some of your favourite concerts and theatre performances and special offers and events curated for Cardmembers with Amex Experiences™

Eligibility

• Credit Score

  Good
• Annual Income

  N/A

The cobalt card gives 5x the points on Foods and Groceries, which is the category most people spend the most on. Each American Express point could be redeemed for $0.02 on average, meaning you would gain an extra 4 points ($0.08) for each dollar spent using cobalt instead of Green for groceries.

Because of Cobalt's excellent reward structure, this card is voted the Best Credit Card in Canada by FinlyWealth, and with average spending amounts, this card has massive rewards. We recommend using this card as your primary card for most people. The only case we recommend using Green instead of Cobalt is if you have very little spending (less than $3K/year) on your credit cards because the spending would be too low to generate enough rewards to cover the Annual fee.

American Express® Green Card

American Express® Green Card

2.8

Finly Rating

APPLY NOW

Apply with Confidence — won't impact your credit score

on American Express' website

View T&Cs

Welcome Bonus

Up to 10,000 Membership Rewards® points

Rewards Rate

1x

Points

Annual Fee

$0

Interest Rates

21.99%* / 21.99%*

RECOMMENDED CREDIT SCORE

300

Poor

693⁎

Fair

743⁎

Good

790⁎

Very Good

833⁎

Excellent

⁎Estimates based on TransUnion scoring

Get your free credit score

Our Rating

2.8/5

The American Express® Green Card is a great option for those looking for a no-frills card that earns rewards on all purchases without any annual fee or minimum income requirement. It's an accessible card with no cap on rewards, making it ideal for those who want to earn points without the higher costs and complexities of premium cards. However, it does come with lower rewards earnings across most categories and a modest welcome bonus.

Pros & Cons

Pros

---

• No spending limits
• Flexible redemption options
• VIP perks
• Eco-friendly plastic
• Instant decision. No credit impact.

Cons

---

• Lower reward rates
• Limited travel perks
• Limited acceptance

Card Details

Rewards

• 1x point per $1 spent on all purchases

Insurance

Coverage

• 

  Purchase Protection

  90 days
• 

  Extended Warranty

  Up to a year

Benefits

Details

• 

  Amex Experiences™

  With Amex Experiences™ and Front Of The Line® Amex Presale Tickets, American Express Cardmembers get access to amazing events in Canada
• 

  Extra points

  2 points on Amex Travel Online purchases

Eligibility

• Credit Score

  Fair
• Annual Income

  N/A

Doing simple math, if you spend around $2K per year on Groceries and Food, then the cobalt card would be just better than green just from that. But even if you don't spend that much on Food and Groceries, the other categories need to be considered as well.

To see exactly your net reward for these cards, you can use our cobalt reward calculator and green reward calculator tools to compare the rewards in detail and the breakdown of redemption categories and see for yourself which card is better for you.

Extra benefits Amex Cobalt provides compared to Amex Green

Putting aside the much better Coblat reward structure, you will have access to many more benefits when you get the Cobalt card.

• Out of Province Medical insurance

• Flight delay and Baggage delay insurance

• Hotel Burglary insurance

• Lost or stolen baggage insurance

• Travel Accident Insurance

• Car Rental Theft and damage insurance

• Mobile Device Insurance

Other than mobile device insurance, the rest are mostly related to travel. So, if you don't travel by plane a lot, then these benefits might not be that interesting for you. Our main recommendation in that scenario is to decide based on the rewards.

Conclusion

While the Green card is a great card for very low spenders, the American Express cobalt beats American Express Green both in rewards and benefits for users with average spending levels. If you want to see the numbers yourself, you can use our rewards calculator tool to compare the rewards.