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Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card vs Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card
One of the questions I get most often…Zach, should I get a Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or a Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card. Well, simply put, I think Chase has made the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card so good…they kind of killed the Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card. Let’s take a look at two leviathans of the transferrable credit card point space and then you can make a decision on which is best for your wallet.
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Table of Contents
Current Welcome Offers and Annual Fee
Remember both cards come with travel credits that lower the effective cost, but there is still over $200 of difference after you take that into account.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 75,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Points Boost
- each account anniversary you’ll earn bonus points equal to 10% of your total purchases made the previous year
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Complimentary DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees & lower service fees for a min. of one year when you activate by 12/31/27. Plus, a $10 promo each month on non-restaurant orders
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
Chase Sapphire Reserve®
The Chase Sapphire Reserve® is the grandaddy of all Chase cards. It’s a super premium card that comes with a bevy of benefits, travel credits, increased earn rates, and points worth up to 2c in Chase Travel℠ when using PointsBoost.
Eligibility: If you have ever gotten a Sapphire Reserve bonus or you currently hold a Sapphire product, you’re ineligible for the bonus. If you currently have a Sapphire product, you can downgrade and once that product converts, you are then eligible for this bonus.
Welcome Offer
Earn 125,000 bonus points after you spend $6,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
Annual Fee
$795
Points Earned
Transferrable Ultimate Rewards
Annual Fee
- Annual Fee of $795
- Authorized Users are $195
Credits
- $300 Annual Travel Credit
- Get up to $500 annual The Edit℠ credit
- Chase Travel℠’scollection of over 1,100 hand-picked hotels and resorts
- Get up to $250 in statement credits from January through June, and again from July through December for a maximum of $500 annually for prepaid bookings made with The Edit℠.
- Two-night minimum
- Purchases that qualify will not earn point
- Get up to $300 annual dining credit and primetime reservations at Sapphire Reserve Exclusive
- Tables, available for booking on OpenTable
- Split into 2 $150 credits every 6 months
- Get Up to $250 annual value through complimentary subscriptions to Apple TV+ and Apple Music
- Get up to $300 annual StubHub credit on concert and event
- Get up to $120 application fee credit every four years for
- Global Entry, NEXUS, or TSA PreCheck(R).
- Get up to $120 Peloton credit
- $10 monthly credit
- Get up to $120 Lyft credits
- $10 monthly credit
Earning + Benefits
- 8x points on all Chase Travel℠ purchases
- 4x on hotels and airfare booked direct
- 3x on dining
- 1x on everywhere
- Redeem points via Chase Travel℠ and new program Points Boost where members may get up to 2x
- IHG One Rewards Platinum Status
- Lounge
- Enjoy complimentary access to every Chase Sapphire Lounge by The Club with up to two guests,
- Access to 1,300+ Priority PassTM airport lounges worldwide.
- Also get access to select Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounges and Air Canada Cafés in the U.S., Canada and Europe with an eligible boarding pass
- No Fx fees
- Trip Cancellation/Interruption Insurance, Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver, Lost Luggage Insurance and more.
Spend over $75k annually
- IHG One Rewards Diamond status
- Southwest Airlines A-List status
- $500 Southwest credits
- redeemable within Chase Travel℠
When the Chase Sapphire Reserve® first hit the market in 2016 it had a 100k offer, but the highest in recent years has been 80k after $4k spend in 3 months.
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists what the highest offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The new Chase Sapphire Reserve® comes with a bevy of benefits, travel credits, and increased earn rates. It also comes with a new $795 annual fee, a litany of credits, 4x on hotels and airfare booked direct, 3x dining, lounge access with 2 guests
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash , Ink Business Unlimited you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners.
Personally, I think the Chase Sapphire Preferred® may offer more value for the annual fee, and if you want the super premium benefits, take a look at the Capital One Venture X to pair with it.
Earn Rates
This is where the Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card used to really pull away from the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card. Not so much anymore. The biggest differences are within the Chase Portal on travel and on Peloton.
Personally, I don’t book much of my travel within portals, and typically I never book hotels within a portal since you don’t earn hotel points or get elite credit. Airline purchases could still give you elite miles and credit, but the CSP and CSR earn the same rate on airlines, 5x.
The biggest difference is when it comes to travel outside of the portals whereChase Sapphire Reserve® Card gets 3x and Sapphire Preferred gets 2x. Preferred even has 3x categories for online groceries and select streaming.
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| 1x on every single purchase without limit | 1x on everything |
Purchases in the Chase Travel℠ Portal
| Purchases in the Chase Travel℠ Portal
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Annual Credits
As mentioned earlier, both of these cards give credits towards travel. The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card gives a $50 hotel credit when you book through the Chase Travel℠ Portal vs the Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card which gets a broader $300 travel credit that is valid on travel purchases outside the Chase Travel℠ portal.
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You could use the travel credit at hotels that don’t have elite programs, like Peninsula Bangkok
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 75,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Points Boost
- each account anniversary you’ll earn bonus points equal to 10% of your total purchases made the previous year
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Complimentary DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees & lower service fees for a min. of one year when you activate by 12/31/27. Plus, a $10 promo each month on non-restaurant orders
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
Chase Sapphire Reserve®
The Chase Sapphire Reserve® is the grandaddy of all Chase cards. It’s a super premium card that comes with a bevy of benefits, travel credits, increased earn rates, and points worth up to 2c in Chase Travel℠ when using PointsBoost.
Eligibility: If you have ever gotten a Sapphire Reserve bonus or you currently hold a Sapphire product, you’re ineligible for the bonus. If you currently have a Sapphire product, you can downgrade and once that product converts, you are then eligible for this bonus.
Welcome Offer
Earn 125,000 bonus points after you spend $6,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
Annual Fee
$795
Points Earned
Transferrable Ultimate Rewards
Annual Fee
- Annual Fee of $795
- Authorized Users are $195
Credits
- $300 Annual Travel Credit
- Get up to $500 annual The Edit℠ credit
- Chase Travel℠’scollection of over 1,100 hand-picked hotels and resorts
- Get up to $250 in statement credits from January through June, and again from July through December for a maximum of $500 annually for prepaid bookings made with The Edit℠.
- Two-night minimum
- Purchases that qualify will not earn point
- Get up to $300 annual dining credit and primetime reservations at Sapphire Reserve Exclusive
- Tables, available for booking on OpenTable
- Split into 2 $150 credits every 6 months
- Get Up to $250 annual value through complimentary subscriptions to Apple TV+ and Apple Music
- Get up to $300 annual StubHub credit on concert and event
- Get up to $120 application fee credit every four years for
- Global Entry, NEXUS, or TSA PreCheck(R).
- Get up to $120 Peloton credit
- $10 monthly credit
- Get up to $120 Lyft credits
- $10 monthly credit
Earning + Benefits
- 8x points on all Chase Travel℠ purchases
- 4x on hotels and airfare booked direct
- 3x on dining
- 1x on everywhere
- Redeem points via Chase Travel℠ and new program Points Boost where members may get up to 2x
- IHG One Rewards Platinum Status
- Lounge
- Enjoy complimentary access to every Chase Sapphire Lounge by The Club with up to two guests,
- Access to 1,300+ Priority PassTM airport lounges worldwide.
- Also get access to select Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounges and Air Canada Cafés in the U.S., Canada and Europe with an eligible boarding pass
- No Fx fees
- Trip Cancellation/Interruption Insurance, Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver, Lost Luggage Insurance and more.
Spend over $75k annually
- IHG One Rewards Diamond status
- Southwest Airlines A-List status
- $500 Southwest credits
- redeemable within Chase Travel℠
When the Chase Sapphire Reserve® first hit the market in 2016 it had a 100k offer, but the highest in recent years has been 80k after $4k spend in 3 months.
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists what the highest offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The new Chase Sapphire Reserve® comes with a bevy of benefits, travel credits, and increased earn rates. It also comes with a new $795 annual fee, a litany of credits, 4x on hotels and airfare booked direct, 3x dining, lounge access with 2 guests
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash , Ink Business Unlimited you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners.
Personally, I think the Chase Sapphire Preferred® may offer more value for the annual fee, and if you want the super premium benefits, take a look at the Capital One Venture X to pair with it.
Using points
Both of these cards earn premium Chase Ultimate Rewards that are fully transferrable to any of the over a dozen transfer partners. Please check out our 20 best uses of Chase Ultimate Rewards for some of our favorite uses, but transfer partners are how we are able to travel in some of the finest cabins in the world.
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Book Lufthansa First Class for 100k points one way with Air Canada Aeroplan
Lounge Access
This is where Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card pulls ahead of Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card. The Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card has a Priority Pass membership; however, this is the same memberships that the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card, Amex Platinum, amongst others.
The Reserve also gets access to the prestigious Sapphire lounges which are expanded across the country.
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Other Benefits
This isn’t an extensive list of benefits, but what you start to see is how good the coverage is on Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card for just $95 a year. While there are small differences, like trip delay starting at 12 hours vs 6 hours with the Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card, and emergency medical coverage, I’d say they are pretty tight competitors.
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| Primary Rental Car coverage excluding High Value, exotics, etc some exclusions | Primary, up to $75k, some exclusions |
Trip Cancellation
| Trip Cancellation
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Trip Delay
| Trip Delay
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Baggage delay
| Baggage delay
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Lost Baggage
| Lost Baggage
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Emergency Medical
| Emergency Medical
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Purchase Protection
| Purchase Protection
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Overall
Personally, without this increased CSR offer, I don’t see a reason to spend the extra money to have the Sapphire Reserve when the Preferred earns nearly the same rates of return, offers a bevy of benefits, has transferrable points, and you could add a Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card to your wallet to earn 2x everywhere and get some more premium benefits that the Sapphire Reserve offers for lower out of pocket total cost. Every situation is different, but for most people, this is the combo I would say would give you more options for redemption for lower out of pocket cost.
The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card comes with a $300 travel portal credit and a 10k anniversary points bonus all for a $395 annual fee.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 75,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Points Boost
- each account anniversary you’ll earn bonus points equal to 10% of your total purchases made the previous year
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Complimentary DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees & lower service fees for a min. of one year when you activate by 12/31/27. Plus, a $10 promo each month on non-restaurant orders
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.