Capital One Venture X Vs. Chase Sapphire Reserve

The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card joined our list of best travel credit cards more recently than the Chase Sapphire Reserve®. Despite its lead, the two premium cards are neck and neck and boast comparable benefits.

Key details

Capital One Venture X vs. Chase Sapphire Reserve Highlights

While these cards have some overlap in their features, they also have notable differences, and you might prefer one or the other based on how they perform in the following categories:

Which card will earn you the most?

The best card for you will depend on a few factors, including whether you spend enough to qualify for the welcome bonus and how well your spending fits into rewards categories.

Capital One Venture X and Chase Sapphire Reserve spending examples

Let’s say you schedule your purchases through your card’s portal whenever possible and your annual spending is as follows:

• Travel and miscellaneous expenses: $3,300
• $4,000 for hotel and car rental
• Airfare: $5,500
• $2,500 in restaurants
• Other expenses were $2,700.

Let’s say you use Venture X. If you spend $4,000 in the first three months, you’ll earn 75,000 bonus miles. You’ll also earn 40,000 miles on hotel and rental car expenses, 27,500 miles on airfare, and 17,000 miles on other expenses.

In total, you’ll earn 159,500 miles in the first year, which Bankrate values ​​at about $2,711 with the right Capital One travel partner and $1,595 when redeemed at Capital One Travel’s standard rate of 1 cent per point. After paying the $395 annual fee, you’ll be left with a value of about $2,316 with the right transfer partner or $1,200 at Capital One Travel’s standard redemption rate.

Now let’s crunch the numbers for the Sapphire Reserve: If you spend $4,000 in the first three months after opening your account, you’ll earn 60,000 bonus points. The first $300 you spend on travel doesn’t count toward earning points, so if your first $300 was from other travel, your spend in that category would be $3,000. You’ll earn 40,000 points on hotels and rental cars, 27,500 points on flights, 7,500 points on restaurants, 9,000 points on other travel, and 2,700 points on the rest of your spending.

In total, you’ll earn 146,700 points, which would be worth about $2,934 if you transfer the points to an appropriate Chase travel partner, or $2,200 if you redeem them at 1.5 cents per point in the Chase travel portal. After paying the $550 annual fee, you’ll be left with a value of about $2,384 if you transfer the points to an appropriate transfer partner, or $1,650 at Chase’s standard travel redemption rate.

Which card offers better value in the first year depends on how you redeem your rewards. If you find a high-value transfer partner, the Venture X and Sapphire Reserve offer comparable value, with the Sapphire Reserve coming in slightly better in this example. If you redeem through an issuer portal, however, the Sapphire Reserve easily offers better value, despite its lower welcome bonus and higher annual fee.

Things change even more in year two. After subtracting the rewards you’ll earn in welcome bonuses on both cards and factoring in annual fees, here’s what you get:

• 84,500 miles earned on Venture X (potential value of about $1,041 with Capital One’s top travel partners, $450 in Capital One Travel redemptions);
• 86,700 points earned on the Sapphire Reserve (worth about $1,184 with top Chase travel partners or $750 in Ultimate Rewards travel awards).

If you find a great transition partner, Venture X could potentially offer better value than Sapphire Reserve after the first year, but Sapphire Reserve’s higher base exchange value will likely give it the edge in the long run.

Why should you buy Capital One Venture X?

In addition to a generous welcome bonus and strong rewards on travel expenses, Venture X offers some credits and perks that make the $395 fee worth it: You get a $300 annual credit on Capital One Travel purchases and earn 10,000 bonus miles (worth $100 in base points value) on each account opening anniversary.

Additional Benefits

Venture X travel perks include Priority Pass Select membership ($329 if paid direct) with unlimited entry to over 1,300 airport lounges, access to Capital One lounges, and up to a $100 credit every four years to cover your Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fees.

Through Capital One Entertainment and Capital One Dining, you can enjoy a variety of event-related benefits, including early access to tickets and the opportunity to purchase exclusive passes to sports games, concerts, restaurant stays and invitations to exclusive Cardmember experiences.

Plus, if your phone is lost or stolen, the card’s protection plan will cover you for up to $800.

Exchange Options

Miles can be redeemed for credit on past travel purchases (within the past 90 days), used to book new travel on the Capital One Travel portal, transferred to any of Capital One’s 15+ travel loyalty program partners, or cashed for check or statement credits or exchanged for gift cards (although this may result in a loss of redemption value).

Recommended Credit Score

You need excellent credit to be approved for Venture X, and a FICO score of 740-850 is typically required for approval.

Why should you buy the Chase Sapphire Reserve?

While the card’s $550 annual fee might seem steep, it’s easy to get at least that much value out of the Chase Sapphire Reserve if you take full advantage of the card’s perks. For starters, you’ll receive a $300 annual travel credit that’s automatically applied to eligible purchases, and it also counts toward everyday travel expenses like bus fare and road tolls.

Additional Benefits

As for the Chase Sapphire Reserve perks, you’ll get two consecutive years of Lyft Pink All Access for free if you use your card to activate your membership by the end of December 2024. If you buy the membership on your own, it would typically cost $199 or more per year. If you activate your card within that time frame, you’ll also get 12 months of DashPass membership for free.

Like Venture X, Sapphire Reserve also offers complimentary Priority Pass Select membership and, once every four years, you can receive a statement credit of up to $100 to cover the cost of applying for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck.

Finally, this Chase credit card offers a variety of protections, including rental car accident coverage, trip cancellation/interruption insurance, emergency evacuation and transportation coverage, purchase protection, and extended warranty protection.

Exchange Options

You can redeem your points for travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards (where points value has increased by 50% to 1.5 cents per point), or for cash via direct deposit or statement credit at a rate of 1 cent per point, and you can also transfer your points to various partner loyalty programs on a 1:1 basis.

You can redeem your points for gift cards, pay with your points when shopping on PayPal or Amazon.com, use your points for admission to events and experiences, and finally, you can use your points to shop on Apple and even redeem your points for restaurant reservations and takeout through Chase Dining.

Recommended Credit Score

To get approved for Sapphire Reserve, you’ll likely need excellent credit, which means if your FICO score is between 740 and 850, you’ll have the best chance of being approved.

Conclusion

The Capital One Venture X and Chase Sapphire Reserve are both great cards for the avid traveler, but which one offers the most value for you will depend on how you plan to use them.

Venture X benefits from a lower annual fee and its attractive welcome bonus and 2x base rewards rate could make it an attractive option, although Sapphire Reserve offers higher rewards rates on dining and select travel purchases.

To choose between these cards, you’ll need to think about how much you plan to spend and what category it falls into. Even then, you might need to use a calculator to determine which card is best for you.