Capital One and Chase both sell cash-back business cards, but the Spark Cash Plus and the Ink Business Cash are built for completely different kinds of companies. One rewards volume, the other rewards category discipline — and choosing wrong can cost you hundreds or thousands of dollars a year in rewards.
The Spark Cash Plus charges a $150 annual fee, though Capital One refunds it once you spend $150,000 in a year. In return, you get unlimited 2% cash back on everything and no preset spending limit, which helps when expenses swing month to month. Its welcome offer is hefty: $2,000 after spending $30,000 in three months, plus another $2,000 for every $500,000 spent in the first year. There are no foreign transaction fees, which matters for businesses buying abroad.
The Ink Business Cash, by contrast, has no annual fee and a much gentler welcome bonus — $750 cash back after $6,000 of spending in three months. Its appeal sits in the bonus categories: 5% back at office supply stores and on internet, cable and phone services (on the first $25,000 in combined purchases each anniversary year), then 2% at gas stations and restaurants up to the same cap. Max that $25,000 cap in the 5% categories and you earn $1,250 — the Spark would return just $500 on the same spend. But everything outside those categories earns a flat 1%, so a $10,000 misc purchase nets $100 versus the Spark's $200.
There's a handy break-even math point here: the Spark earns one percentage point more than the Ink's baseline rate, so about $15,000 of non-bonus spending generates an extra $150 — enough to cancel out the Spark's fee. Heavy spenders essentially get the card for free.
Where it gets interesting for travellers is redemption. Neither card is technically a travel card, but both can become one with the right companion. Pair the Spark with an eligible Capital One miles card and you can convert cash back into transferable Capital One miles — valued by The Points Guy at 1.85 cents each, which would put a 200,000-mile haul around $3,700. The Ink works the same way in the Chase ecosystem: hold a card like the Sapphire Preferred and its Ultimate Rewards points (2.05 cents each by TPG's math) can move to airline and hotel partners. If you only want cash back, the two are effectively identical — a cent is a cent.
The two cards also aren't mutually exclusive. Since they come from different issuers, you can hold both: run office supplies and phone bills through the Ink at 5%, and route everything that would earn just 1% to the Spark for 2%. For businesses with modest spending and little in the bonus categories, a no-annual-fee flat-rate card is probably the better call.
The short version: if your company spends big and broadly, the Spark Cash Plus's simple 2% and spending flexibility win. If your expenses cluster in office supplies and telecom, the Ink Business Cash extracts far more value for nothing. And if travel redemptions are the goal, either card can punch above its weight when paired with the right points-earning sibling. Full details via The Points Guy.
