Chase Sapphire Preferred vs. Capital One Venture

For a number of years, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card has been one of the top travel rewards credit cards for people who want flexibility with redemption options. With the ability to transfer points to travel partners, great travel benefits, and a relatively low annual fee, the Sapphire Preferred® Card made a name for itself in providing incredible value. With Capital One’s recently announced changes to their rewards redemption options, including the ability to transfer miles to airline partners, the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card now goes toe-to-toe with the Sapphire Preferred® Card in several categories, and even bests it in some.

Rewards earning rates

The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card makes earning rewards straightforward with two miles earned per $1 spent on every purchase. The earnings rate is not limited to travel purchases; you earn two miles regardless of what you are using the card for. The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, on the other hand has a tiered earnings rate: five points per $1 spent on travel through the Ultimate Rewards® portal; three points per $1 on dining (including takeout and delivery), select streaming services, on online grocery store purchases (excluding Walmart, Target and wholesale clubs); two points earned per $1 spent on travel; and one point per $1 spent on all other purchases. If you are doing a lot of spending on travel and dining purchases, the Chase card at least matches the number of miles earned by the Venture card (it's actually better with the Sapphire card for dining); however, if are using your card for a variety of purchases, not just travel and dining, earning two miles per dollar on every purchase quickly adds up for some huge earning potential with the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card.

Bonus offers

Both cards offer excellent bonuses for new card members. The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card is currently offering 60,000 bonus miles when you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening, worth $600 in flexible travel. The Sapphire Preferred® Card is currently offering new cardholders 60,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 on purchases within the first three months of opening an account, and that's worth up to $750 when redeemed for travel through the Chase Ultimate Rewards® program.

Redemption options

Since the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card's inception, miles were usually most valuable when redeemed as a statement credit for travel purchases made with the card. While this did provide flexibility in the sense that almost any travel purchase could have the miles applied to reduce or eliminate that part of your balance, it did limit the value of Venture miles to one cent per mile. With the recent announcement of the Venture card adding airline and hotel transfer partners though, a whole new realm of possibilities has opened up for using rewards. In addition to redeeming miles for travel purchases, Venture miles can now be transferred to one of their travel partners, which means there’s now the potential for a higher rewards value. The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card has had this partner transfer benefit for quite some time. The fact that both cards now have an option for travel partner reward transfers helps to level the playing field.

To learn more about how these two cards match up, check out the table below to compare the various rewards, benefits, features, and fees associated with each card.