Best business credit cards for Canadian sole props and small businesses

A Smithville sole prop does not need a US “best business card 2026” list because a blog ranked Spark. They need a CAD card they can actually apply for, published annual fees, spend categories that match Canadian bills, and an honest FX line for US SaaS. US lists skip sole-prop notices of assessment, skip Scotia Momentum, and skip the week a personal Visa is still enough.

This comparison is what Canadian SMBs actually open: RBC Business Credit Cards Cash Back, TD Business Credit Cards Cash Back, Scotiabank Business Credit Cards Momentum for business, and American Express Canada Business Gold — plus travel SKUs and honesty on Capital One Canada Spark. Business credit-card fees checked against public issuer pages, 7 September 2026. This is not a cardholder lab.

Who this page is for

• A Canadian sole prop paying Adobe, Google Workspace, or OpenAI in USD and wondering what the FX line actually is.
• Someone who incorporated last month and wants a card in the company name — or employee cards that are not the owner’s personal Visa.
• Anyone who googled Capital One Spark for Canada and needs the official no.
• Not a $10-million travel-points RFP. Not a personal-card churn guide.

Snapshot (public pages, 7 September 2026)

Sources: RBC small-business cards; RBC business card agreement; TD Business Cash Back; Scotia Momentum for business; Amex CA small-business hub. Capital One Spark sits below so this table does not invent a Canadian SKU.

When a personal card is still enough

Stay on the personal Visa or Mastercard you already pay if you are unincorporated, you are the only person charging the card, CAD volume is modest, and the accountant can already split groceries from software on one statement. A business card does not create a CRA-ready ledger. Mixing Home Depot and a client lunch on a Gold card still needs expense tracking and accounting software.

Move when you incorporate and want the card in the company name, when a staff member needs a supplementary card that is not your personal limit, when printed CAD categories (gas, office, recurring bills) will beat a $0 personal earn table after the annual fee, or when the issuer’s printed FX line is clearer than the personal agreement you have never opened. The account those payments clear from is still the business bank account— or the personal chequing account that page says is still enough.

RBC — Cash Back $0, then Avion if the lineup fee is the point

Business Cash Back Mastercard: $0 annual fee, $0 additional card. Purchase interest 19.99%; cash advance 22.99%. Official cash-back T&Cs: 1% on net purchases, maximum $650 cash-back reward per annual period. Official services PDF: extra 1% welcome bonus for the first 3 full monthly statement periods (2% combined) inside that $650 cap. Official FAQ: qualification depends on the card and whether you are already an RBC client. As a small-business owner you will need identification and a notice of assessment for the last 2 years. Official RBC Business Credit Card Agreement and digital-application T&Cs: foreign-currency transactions convert at 2.5% over a benchmark rate RBC pays on the conversion date.

Avion Visa Business: $120 annual / $50 additional. Avion Visa Infinite Business: $175 / $75. Both 19.99% purchases / 22.99% cash advances on the lineup page. The lineup page does not print an Avion earn rate — do not invent one. WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard for Business: $175 annual / $75 additional (max 9 additional cards). 19.99% / 22.99%. Visa Business: $12 / $12. Visa CreditLine for Small Business: $0 / $0, purchase rate from Prime + 2.9% to 11.9%. Sources: RBC lineup; agreement (FX 2.5%); cash-back T&Cs.

Pick Cash Back when you want $0 and a printed 1% with a $650 cap. Do not invent an Avion earn rate because a US blog quoted one. Confirm Avion points on the live product page before you pay $120 or $175.

TD — Cash Back $0, Travel $149, Aeroplan $149

TD Business Cash Back Visa: $0 annual fee, $0 additional cards. 19.99% purchases / 22.99% cash advances. 2% Cash Back Dollars on gas, EV charging, and public transit; 2% on recurring bills and streaming / digital gaming & media; 2% on eligible office supplies; 0.5% on all other purchases. Credits as an automatic statement credit annually. Eligibility: Canadian resident and age of majority.

TD Business Travel Visa: $149 annual, $49 additional. 19.99% / 22.99%. Earn 9 TD Rewards Points per $1 on ExpediaForTD.com travel; 6 per $1 on dining, EV charging, public transit; 6 on streaming / digital gaming & media and recurring bills; 6 on foreign-currency purchases; 2 on other business purchases. TD Aeroplan Visa Business: $149 annual, $49 additional on the compare table. 14.99% purchases / 22.99% cash advances on that table. TD Business Select Rate Visa: $0 annual on the compare table. 11.99% purchases and cash advances. Official TD Business Travel Visa Cardholder Agreement: foreign currency converts at a Visa-established rate plus a fixed percentage shown in the Disclosure Statement. The 7 September 2026 marketing pages do not print that percentage — this page does not invent one. Sources: Cash Back; Travel; compare cards.

Cash Back is the $0 door for gas, EV, transit, recurring bills, streaming, and office supplies at the printed 2%. Travel is the $149 door if those 9/6/6/6/2 point rows match how you actually spend — including 6 points per $1 on foreign-currency purchases, which is a rewards line, not an FX-fee waiver. Select Rate is the published 11.99% / $0 option on the compare table if interest, not rewards, is the decision.

Scotia Momentum for business — $79, printed 3%/3%/2%/1%

$79 / year primary; $29 / year each additional card (including co-borrowers and supplementary). Physicians and dentists: rebate on the annual fee (page copy). Purchase interest 20.99%; cash advance 22.99%. Minimum credit limit $500. Up to 3% cash back on eligible gas, EV charging, restaurants/dining, and office supplies; 3% on eligible recurring bills (phone, internet, utilities, insurance); 2% on eligible professional services (shipping, accounting, bookkeeping); 1% on everything else. Redeem from $25; no annual cash-back limit; does not expire while the account is open. Official Scotia Momentum for business Visa Card Disclosure: foreign-currency conversion mark-up 2.50% on each foreign-currency transaction, on top of the Visa settlement rate. Sources: Momentum for business; disclosure PDF (FX 2.50%).

The $79 fee is the price of uncapped cash back and a printed 2% on accounting and bookkeeping invoices — useful if those bills are real CAD spend, not a hope. Physicians and dentists: the page copies a rebate on the annual fee; confirm it on the application, do not assume it.

Amex Business Gold — $199, plus the cards the hub actually lists

$199 annual fee on the American Express Business Gold Rewards Card (Small Business Hub, T&Cs apply). Hub copy: 1 Membership Rewards point for every dollar in purchases. Plus 10,000 bonus points when you charge $20,000 in net purchases each calendar quarter (up to 40,000 extra points in a calendar year). Official employee-card page: $50 annual fee per Supplementary Business Gold Rewards Card; applicant must be the age of majority; maximum 99 Supplementary Cards. Charge Card: interest applies if the New Balance is not paid by the Payment Due Date. Official Amex CA help (“exchange rates and foreign fees”): a non-CAD charge is converted to Canadian dollars; “Please refer to your Cardmember Agreement for specific details.” This page does not invent an Amex FX percentage.

Hub lists The Business Platinum Card (1.25 Membership Rewards points per $1, Global Lounge Collection). The 7 September 2026 hub retrieve did not print a Platinum annual fee on that page — do not invent one. Marriott Bonvoy Business American Express Card: $150 annual fee. 3 Marriott Bonvoy points per $1 on eligible gas, dining, and travel. American Express Aeroplan Business Reserve Card: $599 annual fee. 3X Aeroplan on eligible purchases made directly with Air Canada and Air Canada Vacations; 2X on eligible hotels and car rentals; 1.25X on everything else. Sources: small-business hub; Gold employee cards; exchange rates help.

Gold is the published $199 Membership Rewards door. The quarterly 10,000-point bonus needs $20,000 net purchases in that quarter — do not count it as a signup gift. Platinum’s fee stays off this page until Amex prints it on the hub or product page you can open. Marriott and Aeroplan Reserve are the printed $150 and $599 hotel/airline SKUs, not a default for a Smithville shop.

Capital One Spark — not a Canadian business card

capitalone.ca’s compare page (retrieved 7 September 2026) lists Guaranteed, Guaranteed Secured, Smart Rewards, Aspire Travel Platinum, and Aspire Cash Platinum consumer Mastercards. It does not list Spark Cash, Spark Cash Plus, or any business card. Do not paste a US Spark 2% / $0 FX table onto a Canadian sole prop. Source: Capital One Canada compare.

If a US “best business cards” list sold you Spark Cash for 2% and $0 FX, that is a US product. capitalone.ca’s compare page is consumer cards. Do not apply those numbers to a Canadian sole prop, and do not treat Aspire or Smart Rewards as a business SKU this page forgot to rank.

FX on US SaaS — only the printed percentages

A lot of Canadian shops pay US tools in USD every month. The conversion mark-up is a cost of that invoice, not a reward category. Printed, as of 7 September 2026:

• RBC business cards: 2.5% over the benchmark in the official agreement.
• Scotia Momentum: 2.50% on each foreign-currency transaction, on top of Visa’s settlement rate (disclosure PDF).
• TD: Visa rate plus a fixed percentage in the Disclosure Statement. Marketing pages did not print the %. This page does not invent 2.5%.
• Amex CA: convert to CAD; refer to the Cardmember Agreement. This page does not invent a %.

TD Travel’s “6 points per $1 on foreign-currency purchases” is an earn row. It is not a promise that FX is free. If the agreement you are about to sign does not print a percentage, stop guessing and open that PDF.

The account, the receipt, and the books

Pay the card from a CAD account the ledger can see — business bank accounts for Canadian sole props, or the personal chequing account that page still allows. Capture the supplier invoice so the GST/HST line survives CRA: expense and receipt tracking. File the year in accounting software for Canada. Registering to charge tax is how to register for GST/HST. None of those pages is this card.

A practical pick

1. Unincorporated, one spender, modest CAD, accountant already splits the statement: keep the personal card.
2. Want $0 and a printed cash-back table: RBC Business Cash Back (1%, $650 cap) or TD Business Cash Back (2% on printed categories, 0.5% else).
3. Will actually spend on gas, dining, office, recurring bills, and accounting invoices, and you will keep the card open: Scotia Momentum at $79 — uncapped, 2.50% FX printed.
4. Want Membership Rewards and will hit $20,000 net in a quarter before you count the bonus: Amex Business Gold at $199. Confirm FX in the agreement.
5. Travel points: TD Travel $149 or RBC Avion $120 / $175 — confirm Avion earn on the live page. Air Canada-heavy: TD Aeroplan Business $149 or Amex Aeroplan Business Reserve $599.
6. Care about the purchase rate more than points: TD Select Rate $0 at 11.99% on the compare table, or RBC CreditLine at Prime + 2.9% to 11.9%.
7. Googled Spark: stop. Not on capitalone.ca.
8. The account: business bank accounts. The receipt: expense tracking. The books: accounting. This page will not invent an unpublished APR or FX percentage.