Henrique Dubugras and Pedro Franceschi first came up with the idea for Brex when they participated in Y Combinator, a tech start-up accelerator. While their original idea was to build a virtual reality company, they quickly realized how difficult it was for start-ups and small businesses to secure financing from traditional banks.
Instead, they created Brex, a business credit card that didn't just consider credit scores for approval but also looked at how much money a business has raised, its existing cash balances and its revenue.
Looking at these different metrics when determining a company's eligibility for a card makes Brex stand out. For example, if you run a start-up, Brex will consider how much cash your business has on hand. If you have an e-commerce business that's low on cash because you have to constantly buy inventory, Brex will focus on your revenue. If your company doesn't have revenue and hasn't raised cash, Brex will check credit scores.
Brex also happens to be one of the few business cards that doesn't require a personal guarantee, meaning business owners aren't personally responsible for any debt they can't pay off that's been racked up on the card.
While Brex initially started as a corporate credit card for start-ups, it has since expanded its target customer to include small and large businesses, with a specific focus on e-commerce firms like ClassPass and SoFi.
Below, Select explores the different types of Brex credit cards, their rewards and other business cards available on the market to help you decide if Brex is a good fit for you.
Brex Business Card review
Brex Card
Rewards
Earn rewards and cash back on everything you spend, like 7x on rideshare, 2x on recurring software, and access exclusive events and over $400K in software discounts.
Welcome bonus
10,000 points when you spend $3,000 on your Brex card within three months of your Brex business account being opened.
Annual fee
No annual fee
Intro APR
Brex does not charge interest
Regular APR
Brex does not charge interest
Balance transfer fee
N/A
Foreign transaction fee
No foreign transaction fees, free ACH and wires worldwide, global acceptance on the Mastercard network
Credit needed
No personal guarantee or credit check. Only companies organized and registered in the United States may apply for a Brex account. See Platform Agreement for business criteria.
Pros
- No annual fee
- No foreign transaction fee
Cons
- You'll have to pay off the balance daily or monthly
*Offer available to new Brex Card customers only.
Brex Mastercard® issued by Emigrant Bank, Member FDIC. Brex Cash provided by Brex Treasury LLC, member FINRA and SIPC. Brex Treasury is not a bank; Brex Cash is not a bank account. Testimonials may not represent experiences of all clients. Terms apply, visit brex.com. Information about the Brex Card has been collected independently by Select and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer of the card prior to publication.
Types of Brex Cards offered
Brex offers two types of no annual fee corporate cards: a credit card that is paid off daily and a credit card that is paid off monthly. Brex isn't just a credit card — it also includes a cash management account called Brex Cash that's available to all companies using a Brex Card and is required for companies using the specific Brex card that is paid off daily.
Brex Cash acts like a business bank account, with no fees, minimum balances or limits to worry about. If you invest money in a Brex Cash account, it's protected for up to $500,000 by the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) although it's not FDIC-insured. As a result, Brex will deposit your cash in a partner bank or a government money market mutual fund.
Both corporate cards that Brex offers are charge cards, which require cardholders to pay off their balance in full whenever payments are due. Unlike traditional credit cards, you won't be able to revolve your balance.
The Brex Card that is paid off daily works similarly to a debit card. Purchases are deducted from your Brex bank account daily and you're only able to spend the amount of money that's currently available. This particular card is available to businesses of any size.
The Brex Card that's paid off monthly requires companies to meet certain size and revenue qualifications. You can pay off your balance using any bank account and will be eligible for a higher credit limit, even if it's more than what's currently available in your bank account.
Brex is also able to extend credit limits up to 10 to 20 times higher than those offered by traditional credit cards because of real-time underwriting. While traditional business credit cards require that an individual be able to pay off the balance in the event of bankruptcy, Brex regularly monitors the bank accounts of business owners to adjust the credit limit based on the user's available cash balances and revenue, which minimizes the risk of a business defaulting on their card.
Welcome bonus
Brex is currently offering new cardholders 10,000 points when you spend $3,000 on your Brex card within three months of your Brex business account being opened.
Benefits and perks
Brex offers a number of useful features for businesses, including integration, expense management and instant payouts, letting businesses that use vendors or payment processing networks such as Amazon, Square, Stripe, PayPal or Shopify to receive revenue instantly instead of having to wait seven to 14 days.
You're also able to utilize vendor-specific credit cards with Brex, meaning you can use different cards for different vendors. As a result, in the event that one card becomes compromised, you won't have to worry about it affecting any of the others.
There's no limit on the number of Brex Cards that are available to a business, so if a company wants a credit card for each of its 5,000 employees, it will receive 5,000 credit cards.
Brex also offers an expense management product, allowing business owners to easily keep track of employee, vendor and general expenses. It also helps companies identify excess spending with features like receipt matching — employees can take photos of their receipts and send them to Brex, which then matches them against lists of expenses and consolidates that information within the platform.
With the Brex Card, you'll have access to benefits associated with the World Elite Mastercard® for Business program, including the following perks:
- Cellular wireless telephone protection, including $1,000 in coverage annually if your phone gets damaged or stolen (up to $800 per claim and two claims a year) when you use your Brex Card to pay for your cell phone bill
- Discounts on popular software for businesses, such as TurboTax, Microsoft 365, QuickBooks® and Salesforce Essentials
- MasterRental Insurance, which covers damage or theft of a rental car if you use your card to pay for it
- Complimentary ShopRunner membership, worth a value of $79 per year for perks like free return shipping and unlimited free two-day shipping
- Mastercard's Easy Savings program, which lets you score rebates for hotel stays, dining, car rentals, gas and other business expenses throughout the U.S.
How to earn and redeem Brex points
Earning Brex points:
Cardholders earn Brex points that never expire, although the points-earning rates for each card are slightly different. Those with the Brex Card that's paid off monthly will receive one point less in most of the spending categories, for instance, 7X points on ride-share services, 4X points on travel booked through the Brex Travel portal. Here's the breakdown for the Brex Card that's paid off daily:
- Rewards and cash back on everything you spend
- 7X on ride-share services
- 2X on recurring software
Redeeming Brex points:
Brex points can be redeemed through the Brex Travel portal, as well as for gift cards, statement credits or airline miles through one of its eight travel partners including Aeromexico, JetBlue, Avianca, Qantas, Singapore Airlines, Air France KLM, Asia Miles and Emirates. You can also redeem Brex points for bitcoin or ethereum cyptocurrency by creating a virtual wallet, which acts like a bank account, in order to redeem and deposit it.
Rates and fees
The Brex Card has no annual fees and no foreign transaction fees.
Card comparison
While there are number of other corporate cards available on the market, there aren't too many without an annual fee. Many of the other cards also use traditional underwriting methods, so you'll need to have either a good or an excellent credit score in order to qualify.
The Capital One Spark Cash Plus is a good choice if you want a charge card that gives a 2% flat cash-back rate on all of your purchases. There is a $150 annual fee, but like the Brex Card, it comes with useful features for business owners, such as account management tools.
The Capital One Spark Cash Plus is especially rewarding for businesses with a lot of credit card spending. It offers an additional bonus the first year and an ongoing annual fee refund, but both benefits have six-figure spending requirements.
- High flat-rate rewards
- Valuable welcome offer
- Has an annual fee
- High spending requirement to earn the welcome offer and qualify for the annual fee refund
Highlights
Highlights shown here are provided by the issuer and have not been reviewed by CNBC Select's editorial staff.
- Earn a one-time cash bonus of $2,000 once you spend $30,000 in the first 3 months
- Earn an additional $2,000 cash bonus for every $500K spent during the first year. You can earn this bonus multiple times over the course of year 1!
- Earn unlimited 2% cash back on every purchase, everywhere—with no limits or category restrictions
- Enjoy big purchasing power so you can spend more and earn more rewards. The Spark Cash Plus card has no preset spending limit, so it can adapt to your needs based on your spending behavior, payment history, credit profile and other factors
- Earn unlimited 5% cash back on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Business Travel
- Streamline your accounts payable process, employee spending, and more from your online account with free business management tools
- Empower your teams to make business purchases while you earn rewards from their transactions with free employee and virtual cards
- $150 annual fee - Spend $150,000 annually and Capital One will refund this fee every year
- Your card is designed to be paid in full. However you have the option to carry over a portion of your balance with interest if needed. Pay at least the minimum payment amount by your payment due date, otherwise you'll be charged a 2.99% late fee
- For businesses that need large spending capacity and want to maximize cash back
- Top rated mobile app
The Business Platinum Card® from American Express is a good choice for business owners who can afford a higher annual fee of $895 (see rates and fees) in return for luxury perks like Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite status, up to $150 in statement credits on U.S purchases directly with Dell Technologies on the Business Platinum Card and an additional $1,000 statement credit after you spend $5,000 or more on that same Card per calendar year (enrollment required) and statement credits for Global Entry and TSA PreCheck®. That said, the Brex Card wins when it comes to rewards, as the Amex Business Platinum Card only offers 5X points on flights and prepaid hotels booked on AmexTravel.com. 1X points on other eligible purchases. Terms apply.
The Business Platinum Card from American Express is a premium business card loaded with statement credit offers for business services and travel that help justify its steep annual fee.
- Access to 1,550 airport lounges, including Priority Pass (Enrollment required) and Amex Centurion lounges
- Hotel and rental car elite status perks
- Earns flexible rewards you can transfer to 20+ airline and hotel loyalty programs (Enrollment required for select benefits mentioned; Benefits may be subject to auto-renewal)
- High annual fee
- Limited bonus spending categories
- Some statement credit offers are earned in small increments or only apply to purchases from a single brand
Highlights
Highlights shown here are provided by the issuer and have not been reviewed by CNBC Select's editorial staff.
- As High As 300,000 points. Find Out Your Offer. You may be eligible for as high as 300,000 Membership Rewards® Points after spending $20,000 in eligible purchases on your new Card in your first 3 months of Membership. Welcome offers vary and you may not be eligible for an offer.
- The American Express Global Lounge Collection® can provide an escape at the airport. With complimentary access to more than 1,550 airport lounges across 140 countries and counting, you have more airport lounge options than any other credit card company on the market as of 07/2025.
- See how you can unlock over $4,000 in business and travel value annually after meeting qualifying spend thresholds on the Business Platinum Card. Terms apply.
- Get up to $300 in statement credits semi-annually for up to a total of $600 in statement credits per calendar year on prepaid Fine Hotels + Resorts® or The Hotel Collection bookings through American Express Travel using the Business Platinum Card®. The Hotel Collection requires a minimum two-night stay.
- No Preset Spending Limit: The spending limit on the Business Platinum Card is flexible, so unlike a traditional credit card with a set limit, the amount you can spend adapts based on factors such as your purchase, payment and credit history.
- Make the Business Platinum Card® work even harder for you. Hilton for Business members get up to $200 back per calendar year when you make an eligible purchase at Hilton properties across the globe. Gift cards are not an eligible purchase. Benefit enrollment required.
- Fly like a pro with a $200 Airline Fee Credit. Select one qualifying airline to receive up to $200 back per year on baggage fees and other incidentals.
- Use the Business Platinum Card and get up to $209 back per calendar year on your CLEAR+ Membership (subject to auto-renewal).
- Maximize your time away with Fine Hotels + Resorts through Amex Travel™.
- Enroll and get up to $150 in statement credits on U.S purchases directly with Dell Technologies on the Business Platinum Card and an additional $1,000 statement credit after you spend $5,000 or more on that same Card per calendar year.
- Enroll and get up to $300 in statement credits per calendar year on U.S. purchases of ChatGPT Business* on the Business Platinum Card. *Subject to auto-renewal.
- Enroll and get a $250 statement credit after you spend $600 or more on U.S. purchases directly with Adobe per calendar year on the Business Platinum Card.
- Get up to $90 in statement credits quarterly for purchases with Indeed on the Business Platinum Card. That's up to $360 back per year. Enrollment required.
- Get up to $10 in statement credits per month for wireless telephone service purchases made directly with a wireless provider in the U.S. on the Business Platinum Card. That's up to $120 back per year. Enrollment required.
- 2X points on purchases at U.S. construction material & hardware suppliers, electronic goods retailers and software & cloud system providers, and shipping providers, as well as on each eligible purchase of $5,000 or more, up to $2 million of these purchases per calendar year. Purchases eligible for multiple additional point bonuses will only receive the highest eligible bonus.
- 5X points on flights and prepaid hotels on AmexTravel.com
- 1X points on other eligible purchases
- Terms Apply.
- See Rates & Fees
Who the Brex Card is best for
The Brex Card is best for start-ups and other businesses that don't want to pay an annual fee for their corporate cards but still wish to earn generous rewards for their purchases.
Brex distinguishes itself from other corporate cards by using unique underwriting criteria. If your business doesn't have the credit score to qualify for a traditional business credit card, it could be a good option since Brex takes other metrics, such as cash on hand and overall revenue, into account.
That said, because the Brex Card is a charge card, business owners won't be able to revolve their balance from month to month and will miss out on other perks such as the 0% introductory period typically offered by other business credit cards.
Bottom line
The Brex Card is so much more than just a credit card, offering a number of features that make it easier for small businesses and start-ups to manage their expenses and transactions with different vendors.
The card also offers generous rewards — up to 8X points on purchases made with the Brex Card that's paid off daily and slightly fewer, topping off at 7X points on purchases with the Brex Card that's paid off monthly. Keep in mind that if you plan on going with the Brex Card that's paid off daily, you'll have to invest your money in a Brex Cash account that is not FDIC-insured.
Overall, the Brex Card offers a number of benefits for business owners who would otherwise be unable to secure a corporate credit card without having a good credit score. As a business owner, however, you'll have to make sure you have enough money to pay off your bill either daily or monthly.
Read more
For rates and fees for the Business Platinum from Amex, click here.
Information about the Brex Card has been collected independently by Select and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer prior to publication.
