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Chase Sapphire Preferred? Card vs. Capital One Venture Rewards: Sapphire Prevails

Chase Sapphire Preferred? Card Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card
Chase Sapphire Preferred? Card
LEARN MORE
4.8
Annual Fee?
$95
Welcome Offer?
60,000 points + $300 travel credit
Regular APR?
21.49% to 28.49% variable
Recommended Credit?
Good/Excellent (690 - 850)
EARNING REWARDS
Earn 5X points on Chase Travel? purchases, 3X points on dining, online grocery purchases, and select streaming services, and 1X points on other purchases.
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Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card
LEARN MORE
4.5
Annual Fee?
$95
Welcome Offer?
75,000 miles
Regular APR?
19.99% to 29.99% variable
Recommended Credit?
Good/Excellent (690 - 850)
EARNING REWARDS
Earn 5X miles per dollar on hotel stays, vacation rentals or rental cars booked through Capital One Travel and 2X miles on all other purchases.
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Summary

Two of the most popular mid-tier travel credit cards, the Chase Sapphire Preferred? Card and the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card come with equal annual fees and similar benefits.

The Venture Rewards card has a simpler reward structure and more airport-centric benefits, while the Sapphire Preferred has more reward-earning categories and a higher point value. The best one for you depends on what benefits you value, but we think the Sapphire Preferred is slightly better overall.

Wondering which of these two cards would make a good addition to your wallet? Let our experts help you decide in this comprehensive comparison of the Chase Sapphire Preferred vs. Capital One Venture Rewards.

Highlights

Chase Sapphire Preferred? Card

  • Comes with a $50 annual hotel credit, a 10% annual points bonus, various partner benefits and solid travel insurance perks.
  • Has a $95 annual fee.
  • Earns points on dining, select streaming services and Lyft rides, in addition to travel purchases.

Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

  • Comes with up to a $120 fee credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck and two Capital One lounge visits per year.
  • Has a $95 annual fee.
  • Earns miles on travel and entertainment.

Chase Sapphire Preferred? Card vs. Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card: Editorial reviews

What we think of Chase Sapphire Preferred

The Chase Sapphire Preferred card tops our list of the best travel credit cards for many reasons. It earns flexible Chase Ultimate Rewards? points which can be transferred to a wide range of travel partners, redeemed for cash back or redeemed for travel directly through Chase Travel?. It also has a low $95 annual fee, so it isn’t this huge burden on your wallet.

One of the best things about the Sapphire Preferred card is that its points are worth 25% more when redeemed through Chase Travel, meaning each point is worth 1.25 cents. This helps your points stretch even further to help you make the most of your dollar. Plus, you’ll get a 10% annual points bonus, which is pretty sweet if you ask us.

The travel protections on the Sapphire Preferred are also a standout feature, offering trip cancellation insurance, car rental insurance and baggage delay coverage. While these aren’t as comprehensive as a standalone travel insurance plan, they provide valuable peace of mind on every trip you take, as long as you pay with this card.

Where Chase Sapphire Preferred falls short is in its premium benefits— it has no TSA PreCheck? or Global Entry fee credit and no airport lounge access, limiting its value for frequent, high-end travelers.

What we think of Capital One Venture Rewards

The Capital One Venture Rewards card stands out for its simplicity and affordability. With straightforward rewards on all purchases, there’s no need to keep track of bonus categories. Like the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card, you’ll only need to pay a $95 annual fee to own this card, which is pretty easy to justify.

Venture Rewards offers up to a $120 TSA PreCheck or Global Entry fee credit every four years, allowing you to take advantage of these Trusted Traveler programs. Capital One Miles earning cards also have the added benefit of allowing you to use your miles retroactively to cover travel purchases you’ve already made. You can use your miles directly if you purchase travel in the Capital One Travel portal. If you make travel purchases outside the portal, you can use your miles for a credit on your statement.

A few things bring the Venture card a few notches down in our books. Redemption value isn’t as stellar as the Sapphire Preferred, with a value of only 1 cent per mile for travel and only 0.5 cents per mile for cash back. Capital One travel partners are also limited to non-U.S. airlines, which isn’t ideal.

Where Chase Sapphire Preferred? wins?

Travel insurance

Chase Sapphire offers comprehensive travel protections, including trip cancellation, trip interruption and delay coverage, baggage delay coverage, emergency assistance and rental car insurance.

These are the travel insurance perks you can benefit from with the Sapphire Preferred?:

These protections only kick in under certain circumstances and if you’ve paid for your trip with your eligible card.?

?? Learn more about Chase Sapphire travel insurance.

Venture Rewards comes with a few travel insurance protections as well, but nowhere near as comprehensive as the Sapphire Preferred.?

With Venture, you can access:

Transfer partners

Chase boasts a solid list of valuable transfer partners through the Chase Travel? platform. All points transfer at a 1:1 ratio.

Chase partners include:

Capital One has a decent list of travel partners as well, but none are U.S. airlines. Miles transfer at a 1:1, 2:1 or 4:3 ratio.

Capital One travel partners include:

Redemption options and value

One of Chase Sapphire Preferred’s top benefits is in its redemption value. After earning a pile of points, those points can be redeemed in various ways. Most notably, 1:1 for cash back (1 point = 1 cent), or 1:1.25 for travel through Chase (1 point = 1.25 cents). This gives you the unmatched flexibility to choose what you want to do with your points. So, for example, if you’re in a travel lull, you can cash them in for a statement credit and not lose a ton of value.

Capital One Venture Rewards has a solid redemption rate for travel, with miles cashing in 1:1 (1 mile = 1 cent). You can even use your miles to retroactively cover travel purchases you make outside the travel portal via statement credit. However, the value of your miles decreases exponentially if you redeem them for cash back— it’ll only get you 0.5 cents per mile. This limits you if you’ve racked up a mountain of miles and aren’t traveling soon; you can either let them sit around until you’re planning your next trip or you can try to deal with a substantial depreciation.?

Annual points boost

Let’s say you spend $30,000 in the next cardholder year (e.g. November 2024 to November 2025). You’ll automatically get an additional 3,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards? points at your cardholder anniversary to boost your rewards balance.?

The Venture Rewards card has no comparable benefit.

Partner benefits

DoorDash lovers can access a complimentary DashPass membership with their Sapphire Preferred card, entitling them to perks like $0 delivery fees and reduced service fees for a minimum of 1 year when activated by December 31, 2027. To access this benefit, link your Chase Sapphire Preferred to your DoorDash account and click the activation button.

Venture Rewards currently has no partner benefits.

Where Capital One Venture Rewards wins

TSA PreCheck? credit

Enrolling in trusted traveler programs like Global Entry and TSA PreCheck may help you avoid the stress of airport security, allowing you to bypass certain security procedures to speed up the process. While these programs aren’t too expensive to enroll in, you won’t need to worry about the cost with the Capital One Venture Rewards Card. With Venture, you can access up to a? $120 credit every four years to cover the application fee for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck when you pay with this card.

Chase Sapphire Preferred has no such benefit.

Simple rewards

Tracking bonus categories can be a frustrating and tedious process. Needing to figure out which card has which category and whether a purchase even falls into that category is not a fun process. The Venture Rewards Card keeps things simple, with 5X miles on hotel, rental car and vacation rental purchases through Capital One Travel and 2X miles on all other purchases.?

Sapphire Preferred has quite a few bonus categories, from travel to dining to streaming services. If you spend a lot in these categories, it could be worth it. If you don’t, however, the fallback rate of Sapphire Preferred is a measly 1X points per dollar on all other non-bonus purchases.

Lounge access

This Capital One Venture Rewards card benefit is ending soon, but until the end of 2024, you can access the Capital One Lounge two times for free. Capital One Lounges are— how do you say— **chefs kiss**, so this benefit is amazing. We’re sad it’s leaving soon but our fingers are crossed that it comes back in the future.

Chase Sapphire Preferred doesn’t have any credit card lounge access benefits.?

Where there’s no clear winner

Hotel credits

Both the Sapphire Preferred and Venture Rewards cards have somewhat similar hotel benefits.?

With Sapphire Preferred, you can get a $50 statement credit each anniversary year for hotel stays booked through Chase Travel?. You’ll get your first $50 credit as soon as you’re approved and another one every cardholder anniversary after.

With Venture Rewards, if you use Capital One Travel to book a hotel in the Lifestyle Collection, you’re entitled to a $50 experience credit on every booking and possible room upgrades, late checkouts and early check-ins.

We think these benefits are tied because of flexibility vs. value. The Chase hotel credit is significantly more flexible, applying to any hotel stay booked through Chase Travel?.?

On the other hand, the Capital One benefit offers more value, with the possibility of additional benefits and multiple redemptions. However, it’s limited to hotels in the Lifestyle Collection, and there aren’t very many.

No foreign transaction fees

You can use either of these cards abroad without incurring pesky international transaction fees. While a foreign transaction fee of 3% or 2.7% or whatever doesn’t seem like a ton, if you’re like me, you’re prone to spending a lot while in a different country.

If a card had a 3% transaction fee and you made $1,000 in purchases while traveling, you’d be charged an additional $30. But there’s no need for you to worry about that with the Sapphire Preferred or Venture Rewards cards.

Card-pairing value

The infamous Chase Trifecta pairs three Chase credit cards for ultimate value, capitalizing on their unique bonus categories to boost reward potential. You don’t need to get all three though, you can still benefit from having two (and that makes it easier to track categories).?

Let’s say you get the Sapphire Preferred and the Chase Freedom Unlimited? cards.?

You can maximize rewards by structuring your purchases like so:

Note: Freedom Unlimited’s cash back is also via Chase Ultimate Rewards? points, so 1.5% back equals 1.5X points per dollar.?

After earning points, you can transfer all of them to your Chase Sapphire Preferred account to redeem at its elevated value of 1.25 cents per point for Chase Travel? purchases.

Capital One allows a similar reward-moving structure. For example, if you have the no-annual-fee Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card, you can move your rewards earned to your Venture Rewards card at a 1-cent to 1-mile conversion rate.?

Here’s how you can make the most of your dollar through pairing these two cards:

Annual fee

Both are cards with $95 annual fees.

Capital One Venture Card and Chase Sapphire Preferred: Rewards

Welcome bonus

The Chase Sapphire Preferred card has a welcome bonus of 60,000 points. This reward is only available once you spend a minimum of $4,000 on purchases within three months of opening your account. This is worth $750 when redeemed for travel through Chase Travel. Plus, cardholders can get up to $300 in statement credits on Chase Travel purchases within the first year.

The Capital One Venture card’s welcome bonus is 75,000 miles when you spend $4,000 within three months of opening your account. This is worth $750 in travel.

Earning rewards

With Chase Sapphire Preferred, you can earn the following amounts in these ways:

There are sometimes limited-time-only offers as well, such as the current promotion (as of January 2024) of 5 points per dollar spent with Lyft through March 2025.

The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card has a simpler but less exciting rewards scheme:

Which is better, Chase Sapphire Preferred or Capital One Venture Rewards?

To reach a final verdict regarding Capital One Venture vs. Chase Sapphire Preferred, we have to review every category and also take individual needs into account. Both are excellent starter travel cards, but the best one for you depends on which benefits you value.

You might be better off with the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card if you like to book through Capital One Travel, already have a Capital One card, and/or don’t want to juggle bonus categories.?

Chances are more people will be satisfied with the Chase Sapphire Preferred? Card though, given its superior rewards scheme, expansive partner list and oodles of travel perks.

Does it make sense to have both Sapphire Preferred and Venture Rewards?

It might make sense to have both— applying for and using both cards responsibly could help you maximize rewards in every possible way. Just be strategic about when and how you do your spending.

First, revel in the tingly feeling you’ll get from doubling up on welcome bonuses. Then, rely on your Chase Sapphire Preferred Card for travel, dining, online grocery shopping and other higher-reward activities. Get out your Capital One Venture Card for all “miscellaneous” purchases and take advantage of the double miles for each dollar you spend.

Keep in mind, though, that Chase has the unofficial 5/24 rule, meaning they won’t approve you for one of their cards if you’ve been approved for five or more other cards (from any issuer) in the last 24 months.

▲ Jump to top ▲

If you’ve decided neither of these cards is what you’re looking for, consider these other?travel card?options:

Or, if you want to compare these same cards to other cards, consider checking out these articles:

Note: For Capital One products listed on this page, some of the benefits are provided by Visa? or Mastercard? and may vary by product. See the respective Guide to Benefits for details, as terms and exclusions apply.

FAQ: Chase Sapphire Preferred vs. Capital One Venture

Which is better: Chase Sapphire Preferred or Capital One Venture?

When it comes to deciding between the Capital One Venture Card vs. Chase Sapphire Preferred, the top choice depends on your needs and lifestyle.?We think the Chase Sapphire Preferred has a slight edge over Capital One Venture, especially if you spend a lot on travel and dining.

Are Chase or Capital One points worth more?

Chase points are worth more at about $1.25 per point, while Capital One Venture miles are worth about $1. Other factors, like the 25% bonus Chase offers customers who redeem points for travel, can drive that $1.25 redemption rate even higher.

Should I switch from Chase to Capital One?

You can switch from Chase to Capital One at any time by applying for the Venture card and closing your Chase account. However, you might be better served by having both cards and using them depending on which offers better rewards for whatever you happen to be buying.

Is Chase Sapphire Preferred or Capital One Venture harder to get?

In terms of exclusivity, the Capital One Venture and the Chase Sapphire Preferred cards are pretty much tied. You need good credit (a score of 670 or above) for approval with Capital One, and a score of 690 or higher with Chase. These are unofficial numbers, though, and other factors, such as your debt-to-income ratio and recent payment history, may have an impact as well.

About the Author

Alana Luna (Musselman)
Alana Luna (Musselman) Writer & Content Strategist

Alana Luna (Musselman) is a versatile storyteller with over a decade of writing experience. She is passionate about helping people build their business through unique and engaging content.

Some examples of her current freelance projects include building content strategies for small businesses, completing industry research to build case studies, crafting buyer guides and more.

She has a passion and keen ability to simplify complex ideas through storytelling to make it easier for readers to understand hard-to-digest information. To accomplish this, Alana’s writing holds strong three principles – content that educates, engages and entertains.

* Opinions expressed here are those of the LA Times Compare Cards Team and have not been reviewed or approved by any advertiser or entities included within this content. See our editorial policy for more details.

All products or services are presented in this content without warranty. The information, including card details such as rates and fees, is accurate at the time of publish. Please visit each bank's website directly for the most current information.

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