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Shelling out hundreds of dollars in annual fees for premium credit cards is not for everyone, especially when you’re new to the points and miles world. Fortunately, plenty of travel credit cards will set you back less than $100 a year and still earn you lucrative rewards to help you book that epic trip of your dreams.
Among the top cards in this category are the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card and the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card. Both come with manageable annual fees for beginners and experts, at $95 per year.
Let’s look at how these two cards stack up in a head-to-head comparison.
Comparing the Capital One Venture vs. Chase Sapphire Preferred
Here are the basics of each of these two cards in the major categories:
Card details | Chase Sapphire Preferred | Capital One Venture Rewards |
---|---|---|
Annual fee | $95. | $95. |
Sign-up bonus | Earn 80,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening. | Earn 75,000 bonus miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening. |
Everyday spend earning rate | 1 point per dollar. | 2 miles per dollar. |
Bonus categories | 5 points per dollar on all travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards.
5 points per dollar on Lyft rides (through March 31, 2025). 3 points per dollar on dining, select streaming services and online grocery purchases (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs). 2 points per dollar on all other travel. 1 point per dollar on all other purchases. |
5 miles per dollar on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel.
2 miles per dollar on all other purchases. |
Value of points/miles | 1.25–2 cents each. | 1–1.85 cents each. |
Foreign transaction fees | None. | None. |
Travel protections | Primary auto rental coverage, trip cancellation and interruption insurance, baggage delay insurance, trip delay reimbursement, travel and emergency assistance services, lost luggage insurance. | Secondary auto rental coverage, travel accident insurance, roadside assistance (fees apply), 24-hour travel assistance services.* |
Other benefits | $50 annual hotel credit, 10% annual points bonus, extended warranty protection and purchase protection. | Two complimentary visits to Capital One or Plaza Premium lounges annually, Global Entry/TSA PreCheck application fee credit up to $100 every four years, extended warranty protection.* |
* Benefits only available to accounts approved for the Visa Signature card. Terms apply.
Sign-up bonus
Both cards are currently offering solid sign-up bonuses that can provide a ton of value to new cardholders.
Capital One Venture: The Venture Rewards card offers 75,000 bonus miles after spending $4,000 on the card within the first three months of account opening. This bonus is worth $750 in travel if you redeem at a fixed value directly through Capital One or up to $1,388* if you transfer your miles to Capital One’s airline or hotel transfer partners, since TPG values Capital One miles at 1.85 cents each.
*Bonus value is an estimated value calculated by TPG and not the card issuer. View our latest valuations here.
Chase Sapphire Preferred: The Sapphire Preferred is currently offering 80,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening. Since points are worth 1.25 cents apiece when redeemed through the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal, the bonus is guaranteed to be worth at least $1,000 in travel (before factoring in the statement credits). However, TPG values Chase Ultimate Rewards at 2 cents each, so you can get an even greater return by leveraging Chase’s airline or hotel transfer partners.
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Winner: Chase Sapphire Preferred. It’s a close call but given the array of valuable transfer partners with Chase, the Sapphire Preferred gets the nod.
Related: How (and why) you should earn transferable points
Earning
Capital One Venture: 5 miles per dollar on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel; and 2 miles per dollar on all other purchases.
Chase Sapphire Preferred: 5 points per dollar on all travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards; 3 points per dollar on dining, including eligible delivery services, takeout and dining out; 3 points per dollar on select streaming services; 3 points per dollar on online grocery purchases (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs); 2 points per dollar on all other travel; and 1 point per dollar on all other purchases.
Travel is defined quite broadly with the Sapphire Preferred and includes some everyday expenses, such as tolls, parking and subway tickets. Dining includes standard restaurants, bars and coffee shops, food delivery services, and even most vending machines.
Winner: Tie. The Capital One Venture comes out ahead on everyday spending but falls behind in specific categories, where the Sapphire Preferred shines.
Related: Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card review
Redeeming rewards
Both cards allow you to redeem rewards toward many purchases — but travel redemptions always provide the best value.
Capital One Venture: Capital One miles have become much more valuable over the last few years. If you want a simple redemption option, you can redeem your Venture miles at a fixed value of 1 cent each toward travel bookings made through Capital One Travel or use them for statement credits to offset any travel purchase within the last 90 days (again, at a rate of 1 cent per mile).
You can also squeeze more value from your miles by transferring them to Capital One’s 17 airline and hotel transfer partners. Most transfers are now at a 1:1 ratio. Since the card earns 2 Capital One miles per dollar on everyday spending, you’re basically earning up to 2 airline miles or hotel points per dollar spent on every purchase — depending on the specific program to which you transfer your miles.
If you’re not seeking travel rewards, you can redeem your miles for gift cards, cash back or on Amazon and PayPal purchases — but know it will be at subpar redemption rates.
Related: How to use your Capital One miles for maximum value
Chase Sapphire Preferred: As with the Venture card, Ultimate Rewards points can be redeemed toward travel at a fixed value or transferred. As previously mentioned, if you book travel reservations through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal, points have a fixed value of 1.25 cents each.
However, the way to get top value from your points is by transferring them to one of Chase’s 11 airline and three hotel partners, all at a 1:1 ratio.
You can also redeem points for gift cards and cash back, but you’ll only get 1 cent per point in value.
Related: The best ways to use Chase Ultimate Rewards points
Winner: Chase Sapphire Preferred.
Chase Ultimate Rewards gets the edge for offering more lucrative transfer options (namely United and Hyatt, which are not Capital One partners). Plus, you’ll get a more favorable 1.25 cents per point when redeeming for travel at a fixed rate, while you can also get a rate of 1 cent per point when redeeming for cash rewards or statement credits.
While the ability to redeem Capital One miles to cover any travel purchase you make is nice, the Chase Sapphire Preferred still offers the best long-term value when it comes to redemption choices.
Related: Review of the Capital One Venture Rewards credit card
Other benefits
Understandably, you aren’t going to get as many perks with a $95-a-year card as you will with a premium card that costs hundreds of dollars each year. Still, both cards offer an array of benefits that add even more value.
Capital One Venture: This card’s benefits include no foreign transaction fees, extended warranty protection for original manufacturer’s warranty on eligible purchases, purchase security for a covered loss that occurs within the first 90 days of purchase, and Visa Signature travel benefits, such as lost luggage reimbursement for common carrier tickets and secondary auto rental coverage. You’ll also get two complimentary visits to Capital One or Plaza Premium lounges annually and an up to $100 Global Entry/TSA PreCheck application fee credit. This is a perk generally seen on cards with higher annual fees, and it can make a huge difference in speeding up your journey through the airport. (Benefits only available to accounts approved for the Visa Signature card. Terms apply.)
Chase Sapphire Preferred: Since this is also a Visa Signature card, it offers practically the same benefits but kicked up a notch. Most notably, it includes primary rental car coverage rather than secondary, meaning you can submit claims directly to your card’s benefits provider without involving your own personal insurance policy. Plus, the Sapphire Preferred’s travel benefits are also superior — up to $500 in trip delay reimbursement if you’re delayed more than 12 hours or overnight, up to $10,000 in trip cancellation and interruption insurance per person ($20,000 per trip) and up to $100 per day for up to five days in baggage delay reimbursement if your bag is delayed more than six hours.
On top of that, the card offers an annual $50 statement credit on hotel stays purchased through the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal and a 10% anniversary points bonus.
Winner: Chase Sapphire Preferred.
The card offers an annual hotel credit and more extensive travel protections, including trip delay and baggage delay reimbursement. Most importantly, the Sapphire Preferred offers primary rental coverage, while the Venture Card’s benefit is secondary. If you’re ever involved in a fender bender while in a rental car, the protection offered by the Sapphire Preferred can save you a lot of hassle and money.
While it’s nice that the Venture Card offers the two airport lounge visits and Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fee credit, several other cards also offer this.
Bottom line
In the Chase Sapphire Preferred versus the Capital One Venture Card battle, the Chase Sapphire Preferred comes out ahead of the Capital One Venture Rewards. On paper, it offers a more valuable sign-up bonus, better travel protections and superior redemption options.
But the two cards aren’t mutually exclusive. After all, the Capital One Venture Card is one of the best Capital One credit cards, and the Chase Sapphire Preferred is one of the best Chase credit cards on the market today. They actually complement each other if you got both. Use the Venture card for everyday purchases and the Preferred for dining and travel spending.
Between the two sign-up bonuses, you could get nearly $3,000 worth of travel in the first year for less than $200 in annual fees — a win-win if you sign up for both cards.
Official application link: Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card with 75,000 bonus miles after meeting minimum spend requirements
Official application link: Chase Sapphire Preferred with 60,000 bonus points after meeting minimum spend requirements
For Capital One products listed on this page, some of the above 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
Additional reporting by Emily Thompson and Ryan Wilcox.
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