Business vs. Corporate Credit Cards: What’s the Difference?

While businesses of any size can open business credit cards, corporate cards are typically only available for large or highly profitable companies. If you qualify for both, choosing which is best for your business depends on how you want to spread liability, the number of authorized users you’d like to have, the fees you’re willing to pay and the rewards you wish to earn, among other factors.

• What Is a Business Credit Card?
• What Is a Corporate Credit Card?
• When Should a Business Switch to a Corporate Card?

In many ways, a typical business credit card works like a conventional personal credit card. As the business owner who opens the card account, you’re liable for all charges — even those incurred by authorized users. When you apply, the credit card issuer evaluates your personal credit report. If your business has its own credit file, you may expect the card provider to check that as well. Depending on what you need from a business credit card, you may be able to get one with no annual fees, category-based rewards, travel benefits and added lines of credit.

Typically, you need good to excellent credit to qualify for a business credit card. If you have a low credit score or are in the process of building your credit, you may consider applying for a secured credit card. In this case, you’ll pay a deposit that functions as your credit limit.

You might consider getting a business credit card if you need assistance with managing short-term debts. The high APRs on these cards make them unsuitable for purchases you plan to repay over a long period. Applying for one also makes sense if you want to build your business’ credit file.

>> MORE: Compare the Best Business Credit Cards of 2023

Corporate credit cards are typically meant for businesses registered as C or S corporations. Additionally, a company needs to have annual revenue of $4 million or more, at least $250,000 as projected yearly credit card charges and no fewer than 15 authorized users to qualify. When you apply for a corporate card, you can expect the card provider to check your company’s credit history.

In most cases, liability to make repayments rests with the business. However, companies may choose to get corporate credit cards with individual liability — in this case, authorized users are liable for the charges they make. Joint liability is also an option, and implies that a business and its corporate cardholders are both responsible for charges.

If you want to simplify how your employees make business-related transactions, earn rewards through employee spending, streamline tracking and analysis of business-related expenditure and can justify the cost, opening a corporate credit card might work well for your business.

Some credit card providers require that your business be at least one year old to qualify for corporate cards. While these cards are typically made available for large companies with millions of dollars in revenue, some mid-sized and larger small businesses might also benefit from a corporate credit card.

While rewards that come with business cards might be appealing at first, you might benefit more through the control, data-driven insights and system integrations that corporate cards have to offer once your business starts to grow.

To help you make an informed decision for your business, MoneyGeek answered other commonly asked questions about corporate and business credit cards.

Once you understand the differences between business and corporate credit cards and have evaluated the pros and cons of each, you can make an educated decision between the two. After you decide what type of card is best (and is viable) for your business, we recommend comparing options from several providers to choose the best for you.

The experts at MoneyGeek continuously review and analyze business-based spending trends with Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data. We have studied the rates, fees and offers of almost 550 credit cards for businesses so you can find the best option for you.

The MoneyGeek editorial team remains up-to-date on the latest business and corporate cards trends to provide our readers with helpful information and recommendations. Whether you're looking for information about how to qualify for a corporate card or want to learn more about how reward cards work, you can count on us to guide you in the right direction.