Capital One Venture X vs. Chase Sapphire Reserve

That Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card as well as Chase Sapphire Reserve® are premium travel credit cards from Capital One and Chase, respectively. Both cards offer a variety of outstanding benefits for the savvy frequent traveler to enjoy, as well as an annual fee of several hundred dollars.

To help you decide which option is best for your spending and lifestyle, we’ve put together a card comparison showing the benefits of each option, earnings structure, signup bonus, and more.

Capital One Venture X vs. Chase Sapphire Reserve

	Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card	Chase Sapphire Reserve®
Interest rate	10X miles for hotels and car rentals booked through Capital One Travel 5X miles on flights booked through Capital One Travel Double miles on all other purchases	10x points increase for hotels and car rentals purchased through the Chase Ultimate Rewards program. 5X Chase Ultimate Rewards Air Travel Points 3 times more points for regular trips and restaurants 1X points for regular purchases Note. Travel reward rates only apply after the first $300 has been spent on travel purchases.
Bonus for registration	75,000 bonus miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases within the first 3 months (equivalent to $750 travel)	50,000 points if you spend $4,000 within the first 3 months
Annual fee	$395	$550
per annum	16.99%-23.99% variable	16.99%-23.99% variable
Notable Benefits	Up to $300 refund on Capital One Travel purchases annual statement Priority Pass Select membership and access to Capital One airport lounges Up to $100 in Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credits every 4 years 10,000 bonus miles every year starting on your first anniversary	$300 annual travel credit Priority Pass Select Membership Up to $100 in Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credits every 4 years Lyft Pink and DoorDash DashPass Membership 50% increase in points when redeemed for travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards.
Transfer partners	Transfer Venture X Miles to 16 Capital One Hotels and Airlines Partners	Transfer of Ultimate Rewards points to 14 Chase partner hotels and airlines

Receiving awards

Both Capital One Venture X and Chase Sapphire Reserve earn valuable, transferable rewards. Sapphire Reserve earns Chase Ultimate Rewards points and Venture X earns Capital One miles.

They also have similar remuneration rates as above.

• Venture X offers 10x more miles on hotels and car rentals booked through the Capital One travel portal, while Sapphire Reserve offers 10x more miles on hotels and car rentals booked through Ultimate Rewards.
• Venture X offers 5X miles on flights booked through Capital One Travel and Sapphire Reserve offers 5X points on flights booked through Ultimate Rewards.
• The cards differ in their base earning rates: Venture X earns 2x miles on all other purchases, while Sapphire Reserve earns 1X points on all regular purchases.
• Sapphire Reserve is offering an additional 3X on regular travel and dining.
• Sapphire Reserve bonus rates do not take effect until you have spent your first $300 on travel purchases.

In terms of signup bonuses, Venture X is currently offering 75,000 miles after you spend $4,000 on purchases within the first three months of opening an account. This bonus is worth at least $750 per trip, although you can often get more value by redeeming your miles to one of Capital One’s partner hotels or airlines.

For Chase Sapphire Reserve, new cardholders can earn 50,000 Ultimate Rewards points by spending $4,000 in the first three months of card ownership.

Use of awards

The process for redeeming your rewards is also very similar for both Venture X and Sapphire Reserve. With both cards, you can redeem your travel rewards through Chase Ultimate Rewards or Capital One Travel, or transfer your rewards to partner hotels and airlines.

With Venture X you can redeem miles for:

• Cash back
• Gift cards
• Purchases via Amazon.com or PayPal
• Statement of credits for past travel purchases

And you can redeem your Sapphire Reserve points for:

• Gift cards
• Cash back
• Loan Application
• Items (including redeeming points for Amazon and PayPal purchases)
• Credit statement for past purchases and donations through Pay Yourself Back

Your Capital One Venture Miles are worth 1 cent per point when booking a trip through the Capital One travel portal, while Chase Ultimate Rewards points are worth 1.5 cents per point when booking through the Chase portal (thanks to the 50% bonus provided by Chase Sapphire Reserve on travel rewards received through Chase).

Savvy travelers know that one of the best ways to increase the value of your rewards is to transfer them to partner airlines or hotels. According to The Points Guy, Ultimate Rewards points are worth up to 2 cents apiece per trip with a transfer partner, while Capital One miles are worth up to 1.85 cents apiece per trip with a transfer partner.

Annual Fees

Both Capital One Venture X and Chase Sapphire Reserve charge hefty annual fees. With Venture X, you owe $395 and Sapphire Reserve is $550. While these are quite high annual fees, it cannot be denied that both of these cards have several benefits that completely offset the annual fee.

Travel allowances and credit statements

Both Chase Sapphire Reserve and Capital One Venture X provide up to $300 in annual travel credits, but the way these travel credits work differs for each card.

The Chase Sapphire Reserve Travel Credit covers just about anything that is coded as a trip. So, in addition to the cost of flights and hotels, this can apply to taxis, public transport and tolls. The Capital One Venture X travel credit only applies to trips booked through the Capital One travel portal (such as hotels, flights, and car rentals).

As noted, you cannot earn travel-related rewards with Sapphire Reserve until you earn $300 in travel credit (or in other words, until you spend $300 in travel-related purchases).

Finally, both cards offer Priority Pass Select membership, which gives you access to over 1,300 airport lounges worldwide, as well as credits of up to $100 for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck every four years. None of the options will charge you a transaction fee abroad.

Other perks

Additional benefits of Capital One Venture X include extended warranties on eligible products, return and purchase protection, mobile phone protection, emergency card replacement and more. You can also earn 10,000 bonus miles on your account anniversary.

As far as Chase Sapphire Reserve benefits go, you can count on Extended Qualifying Warranties, Return Protection, Purchase Protection, and Visa Infinite Concierge access. Sapphire Reserve also gives you a free Lyft Pink membership (when activated before March 31, 2022) and one year of DoorDash DashPass (when activated before March 31, 2022).

Capital One Venture X: Best for those looking for a big sign up bonus.

While it cannot be denied that the Capital One Venture X and Chase Sapphire Reserve cards have overlapping features and benefits, one area where there is a big difference is the signup bonus. While initial credit card welcome bonuses may change over time, right now the Venture X signup bonus is higher than Sapphire Reserve.

Venture X offers the opportunity to earn 75,000 bonus miles by spending $4,000 on purchases within the first three months – an incredible deal.

If any of these first year perks are of interest to you, Capital One Venture X may be for you.

Chase Sapphire Reserve Card: Best for those who redeem points for travel

If you have the credit score required to qualify for Chase Sapphire Reserve, which is usually excellent, you should definitely consider this card, especially if you intend to use your points for travel.

Being able to get 50% more value for your points when you redeem them for Ultimate Rewards travel is a solid bonus that can make Sapphire Reserve worthy for you.

bottom line

Choosing between Chase Sapphire Reserve and Capital One Venture X will likely depend on which of their features and benefits you like best, and perhaps whether you prefer a Chase credit card or a Capital One card.

While Sapphire Reserve charges a higher annual fee, it offers more reward categories and the ability to increase the value of your points through the Chase portal. On the other hand, Venture X offers an unbeatable signup bonus and anniversary bonus miles. Regardless of which one you choose, both passes are sure to provide long-term value.