Capital One Spark Business Credit Cards: How They Stack Up

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With five Capital One Spark Business cards available, it can be difficult to find the best one. However, by carefully reviewing your business expenses and spending patterns, you can determine which card will offer the best rewards and benefits for your company.

Here’s everything you need to know about the Capital One Spark Business credit cards.

In this review:

• How They All Compare
• Cash Back Cards
• Travel Miles Cards

How The Capital One Spark Business Cards Compare

	Spark Cash	Spark Cash Select	Spark Classic	Spark Miles Credit Card	Spark Miles Select
Sign-Up Bonus	$500 cash back	$200 cash back	None	50,000 miles	20,000 miles
Rewards Rate	2% cash back	1.5% cash back	1% cash back	2x miles	1.5x miles
Intro APR	None	0% for nine months	None	None	0% for nine months
Recommended Credit	Good to excellent	Good to excellent	Fair to average	Good to excellent	Good to excellent
Annual Fee	$0 for the first year, $95 after that	$0	$0	$0 for the first year, $95 after that	$0

Spark Cash Business Cards

Though both travel rewards and cash back can be valuable, for many small business owners, cash back offers more flexibility when it comes to both earning and using rewards. Each of the following Capital One Spark Business credit cards help you maximize everyday spending by generating rewards that you can redeem as statement credits.

Best Overall: Spark Cash Card

Highlights

With the Capital One Spark Cash for Business, you can earn an easy 2% cash back on all your purchases; there’s no need to worry about category restrictions, earning limits, or expiration dates. This Spark card offers the highest cash back rewards bonus—$500—plus there is no annual fee in the first year.

In addition, many business owners will find other perks, like fraud detection, free employee cards, and no international transaction fees, to make this card great for everyday expenses. The card is meant for business owners with good to excellent credit.

Downsides

While this card certainly is great as a basic rewards card, some business owners may find that they can earn more through other cash back cards.

Another downside that may deter some business owners is the annual fee of $95, even though it’s waived in the first year.

Best for Low-Spenders: Spark Cash Select

Highlights

Much like the Spark Cash card, this Capital One business credit card offers an easy route to cash back rewards. There’s no spending limits or category restrictions, and your rewards won’t expire. Though the Spark Cash Select card only offers 1.5% cash back and a lower $200 cash back bonus, there’s no annual fee, and new cardholders can use the 0% intro APR to finance equipment purchases or other expenses over the first nine months.

In addition, cardholders can also take advantage of basic Capital One Spark Business benefits like fraud coverage, free employee cards, and no foreign transaction fees.

This card is meant for business owners with good to excellent credit whose business expenses aren’t high enough to warrant the more expensive Spark Cash card. Generally, if your business spends more than $19,000 annually, the extra .5% you’d get with the Spark Cash card would make up for the annual fee and earn you more after that. If your company typically spends less than $19,000 per year, the Spark Cash Select may be the right choice for you.

Downsides

If your goal is to secure a Capital One Business card that gives you maximum rewards and the highest welcome offer, this isn’t the Spark card for you. Although the $0 annual fee and intro APR offer can be useful for some business owners, others may find that a higher rewards rate will be more beneficial in the long run.

Best for Businesses with Average Credit: Spark Classic

Highlights

If you’re searching for a business rewards card but don’t have great credit, then this card can be a great addition to your wallet. The Spark Classic card is designed specifically for business owners with fair to average credit. Typically, this means your card won’t offer much in the way of rewards, but the Spark Classic still allows you to earn 1% cash back while you work to build your business credit.

In addition, the Spark Select card doesn’t have an annual fee, and it offers the basic business perks as other cards in the Spark Business portfolio, such as fraud coverage, free employee cards, and no foreign transaction fees.

Downsides

Though this Spark Business credit card allows users to take advantage of cash back rewards, business owners with good or excellent credit will likely see more benefits from one of the other Capital One Spark Business credit cards.

Aside from the low 1% cash back, the Spark card also fails to provide any type of welcome bonus or intro APR offer. Further, with a standard 25.24% APR, carrying a balance with this card is costly.

Spark Miles Business Cards

If you or your employees spend a significant amount on travel every year, the Spark Miles Business credit cards may appeal to you. That’s particularly true if you want to redeem miles to book travel with one of Capital One’s 15 travel partners, which include Air Canada, Cathay Pacific, Emirates, and Jet Blue.

If, however, you want to redeem rewards for things other than travel, Spark Miles Business cards may not be the best bet. Although you can redeem miles for cash back, gift cards, and more, redemption values options vary and you may not get the full value of your miles.

Best for Businesses with Higher Travel Expenses: Spark Miles

Highlights

If your business regularly spends on travel and you want a simple, straight-forward way to earn miles, then this card may be a good fit. You can earn an unlimited 2 miles per dollar spent, and you won’t have to worry about spending limits or category restrictions. Additionally, you can earn 50,000 miles, if you spend $4,500 within the first three months.

In addition, you can also take advantage of a $0 intro annual fee, a $100 application credit for TSA PreCheck or Global Entry, fraud coverage, free employee cards, and no foreign transaction fees—all of which can come in handy if you have a lot of business travel needs.

Downsides

As you can see, this card mirrors the rates and rewards of the Spark Cash card—only with miles instead of cash back. While this difference won’t matter if you regularly fly with one of Capital One’s travel partners, it’s an unnecessary restriction on how you can redeem your rewards, without any additional value. The only additional perk you get with this card is the application fee credit for TSA PreCheck or Global Entry.

Some business owners may also find that this Spark card fails to offer the best travel benefits, especially when compared to other travel-specific business cards like the American Express Business Gold Card or the Chase Ink Business Preferred card, both of which offer higher earning opportunities and additional perks.

The card’s other downsides also mirror the Spark Cash card. Although the annual fee is waived in the first year, you’ll need to pay $95 per year after that, which means this card may not pay off if you’re not planning on using it regularly.

Best for Businesses with Lower Travel Expenses: Spark Miles Select

Highlights

With a 0% intro APR, 1.5x miles, and a 20,000-mile sign-up bonus, this card can offer a lot of upfront benefits to companies with low spending budgets but regular travel needs. Those offers become even more valuable when paired with the $0 annual fee, which makes it a bit more affordable than the Spark Miles card.

With this card, business owners also can take advantage of the Capital One Spark Business benefits that accompany their other cards, including fraud coverage, free employee cards, and no foreign transaction fees.

Downsides

The biggest downside to this card is the 1.5X miles rewards program, which makes this card slightly less desirable when compared to the Spark Miles card. However, it’s important to factor in the annual fee before determining which is more affordable. Generally, if your company spends less than $19,000 per year, you’ll be better off going with this lower-tier card.

Also, as with the Spark Miles card, some business owners would be better off going with the cash back rewards offered by the Spark Cash Select card, since reward redemption is more straightforward, and you aren’t limited to travel with one of Capital One’s partners.

Not satisfied? Check out some of the best Capital One credit cards that we have reviewed.