We may receive a commission when you use our links. Monkey Miles is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com and CardRatings. This relationship may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Monkey Miles is also a Senior Advisor to Bilt Rewards. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more 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® vs Chase Sapphire Reserve®
One of the questions I get most often…Zach, should I get a Chase Sapphire Preferred® or a Chase Sapphire Reserve®. Well, simply put, I think Chase has made the Chase Sapphire Preferred® so good…they kind of killed the Chase Sapphire Reserve®. 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.
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.
Earn Rates
This is where the Chase Sapphire Reserve® used to really pull away from the Chase Sapphire Preferred®. 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® gets 3x and Sapphire Preferred gets 2x. Preferred even has 3x categories for online groceries and select streaming.
Annual Credits
As mentioned earlier, both of these cards give credits towards travel. The Chase Sapphire Preferred® gives a $50 hotel credit when you book through the Chase Travel℠ Portal vs the Chase Sapphire Reserve® which gets a broader $300 travel credit that is valid on travel purchases outside the Chase Travel℠ portal.
- Chase Sapphire Preferred® cost after using the travel credit is $45
- Chase Sapphire Reserve® cost after using the travel credit is $250
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
You could use the travel credit at hotels that don’t have elite programs, like Peninsula Bangkok
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.
The biggest distinction here is when you’d use your points in the Chase Travel℠ Portal. There, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® only gets 1.25c vs the Chase Sapphire Reserve® gets 1.5c per point when used on travel.
|
|
|
|
|
Book Lufthansa First Class for 100k points one way with Air Canada Aeroplan
Lounge Access
This is where Chase Sapphire Reserve® pulls ahead of Chase Sapphire Preferred®. The Chase Sapphire Reserve® has one of the best Priority Pass memberships in the business because it includes restaurant access. However, this is the same memberships that the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card provides which is why I keep a Venture X and a Chase Sapphire Preferred® in my wallet instead of a Chase Sapphire Reserve®.
We have heard rumblings that Chase will be rolling out their own network of lounges, but the details aren’t explicit and we aren’t fully aware of who will have access aside from knowing Chase Sapphire Reserve® members will have access. Will Sapphire Preferred members get a few passes a year? Pay for entry? We just don’t know.
The other rumor is that Priority Pass Select members will have access…so that potentially means that Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card members could access via their Priority Pass membership? That sounds too good to be true.
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® 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®, and emergency medical coverage, I’d say they are pretty tight competitors.
Overall
Personally, without this increased CSR offer, I don’t see a reason to spend the extra money to have the Chase 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 Chase 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.
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.