Capital One Venture vs Chase Sapphire Preferred
Both cards charge a $95 annual fee. The honest answer is that the Capital One Venture wins if you want one earn rate you never have to think about, while the Chase Sapphire Preferred wins if you spend heavily in its bonus categories and want to move points to airline and hotel programs. Venture earns unlimited 2x miles on every purchase. Sapphire Preferred earns 1x on general spend but 3x on dining, so the "better" card depends entirely on where your money goes.
How it actually works
Start with the flat-rate side. The Capital One Venture pays 2x miles per dollar on everything, plus 5x on hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel and 5x on Capital One Entertainment. There are no categories to track. Capital One describes those miles as transferable to 15+ travel loyalty programs.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred is a category card. It earns 5x on Chase Travel for flights, hotels, rental cars, cruises, activities and tours; 3x on dining worldwide including takeout and eligible delivery; 3x on gas and EV charging; 3x on online groceries (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs); 3x on select streaming; 3x on vacation homes at brands like Airbnb and Vrbo; 2x on other travel; and 1x on everything else.
Now work an example. Say you put $1,000 a month, $12,000 a year, on general spending that falls outside any bonus category. Venture earns 2x, so 24,000 miles. Sapphire Preferred earns 1x, so 12,000 points. On that spend alone, the Venture is ahead by 12,000.
Flip it to dining. Say you spend $500 a month, $6,000 a year, at restaurants. Sapphire Preferred earns 3x, so 18,000 points. Venture earns 2x, so 12,000 miles. Sapphire Preferred wins that slice by 6,000. So the deciding question is how lopsided your spending is toward dining and the other 3x categories versus plain 1x purchases.
On transfers, both let you move rewards to airline and hotel partners. One Chase quirk matters if you value Hyatt: for Sapphire Preferred cardmembers, Ultimate Rewards transfer to World of Hyatt at 4:3, so 1,000 points become 750 Hyatt points. Most other Chase travel partners transfer at 1:1.
Now the fees and credits. Both cards cost $95 a year. The Sapphire Preferred gives up to $100 in statement credits each anniversary year for hotel stays booked through Chase Travel, so if you use it in full, that $100 credit more than covers the $95 fee. The Venture gives a $50 experience credit on every Lifestyle Collection stay, so two qualifying stays would return $100 against the $95 fee. Both cards also reimburse a Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fee up to $120 once every four years (the Sapphire Preferred credit also covers NEXUS).
What we're tracking lately (as of September 2026)
- Capital One may be adding a $100 hotel credit to the Venture Rewards card, mirroring the Sapphire Preferred's hotel credit. If it lands, the Venture's fee math tightens the same way Chase's does. (Frequent Miler)
- If you're weighing the personal Venture against its business sibling, this breakdown of earning and benefits between the two $95 cards is worth a read. (The Points Guy)
- Considering the Sapphire Preferred against another mid-tier favorite? Here's Sapphire Preferred versus Amex Gold on benefits and earn rates. (The Points Guy)
- On the Capital One side, Capital One Shopping/Offers has been running up to 30% back or 20X miles at StubHub. (Frequent Miler)
For the full run of past rate changes and offer alerts, browse our archive of past issues.
FAQ
Which card is better for someone who doesn't want to track categories? The Venture. A flat 2x on every purchase means you never check whether a charge codes as dining or travel. The Sapphire Preferred only beats that 2x rate where it earns 3x or 5x, so if you don't want to manage categories, the flat rate does the thinking for you.
Do both cards let me transfer points to airlines and hotels? Yes. Capital One describes Venture miles as transferable to 15+ travel loyalty programs, and Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer to most Chase travel partners at 1:1. The exception to note on Chase is World of Hyatt, which transfers at 4:3 for Sapphire Preferred cardmembers, so 1,000 points become 750 Hyatt points.
Can the credits actually cancel out the $95 fee? On the Sapphire Preferred, the up to $100 hotel credit through Chase Travel exceeds the $95 fee if you use it fully. On the Venture, two Lifestyle Collection stays at $50 each return $100 against the $95 fee. Both also add a Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit up to $120 once every four years.
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