Chase Sapphire Preferred vs Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

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If you’re looking for a lucrative travel rewards credit card with a reasonable annual fee, two of the most popular travel rewards credit cards are the card_name and the card_name. Both cards are great choices, especially for beginners. There are some differences that you need to know before deciding which card is right for you, though.

A few years ago, this post never would have happened

That’s because the Capital One Venture card was nothing more than a cash-back credit card. For that reason alone, I never gave the card much attention on this blog. Cash rewards may be simple to use, but the most valuable credit card rewards are those that are transferable to airline and hotel programs. Chase Ultimate Rewards and Amex Membership Rewards points are two examples of these types of rewards. In 2018, Capital One stepped up the rewards earned on the Venture card by adding transfer partners. At first, the ratios and partner options weren’t great, but they’ve gradually improved, so much so that it’s 2022 and I’m rethinking my whole strategy!

With transfer partners on the table, I want to analyze how the card_name stacks up against the card_name. I’ll discuss earn rates, redemption options and transfer partners, and other benefits of each card.

Welcome bonus offers

card_name: Earn 60,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months. Value: $750 or 60,000 airline miles or hotel points. (Read my post that lists some ways to redeem the welcome bonus)

card_name: Earn 75,000 miles after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months. Value: $750 or 37,500-75,000 airline miles or hotel points.

The winner here is a tie on paper if you look at the values redeeming via their respective portals ($750). I personally prefer Chase transfer partners, though (more on that in a moment)

Annual fees on Chase Sapphire Preferred® and Capital One Venture

Annual fees on premium travel credit cards are a deterrent for many people. This is understandable, especially if you’re new to award travel. It makes sense to start with credit cards that have reasonable annual fees.

Both the card_name and the card_name have reasonable annual fees. For the average person, the rewards earned are valuable enough to offset an annual fee of $95.

Chase Sapphire Preferred: $95. Click here for more information.

Capital One Venture: $95 Click here for more information.

With identical annual fees, this is a tie.

Earn rates on Chase Sapphire Preferred and Capital One Venture

Before you open ANY credit card, I encourage you to learn about the reward currency said card earns.  The Chase Sapphire Preferred card earns Chase Ultimate Rewards points. The Capital One Venture card earns Capital One Venture miles.

card_name:

In 2021, bonus categories were added and/or improved!

• Earn 5 points per dollar on all travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards
• 2 points per dollar on all other travel
• Instead of the old earn rate of 2, you can now earn 3 points per dollar on dining (including eligible delivery services and takeout)
• 3 points per dollar on online grocery purchases (this excludes Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
• 3 points per dollar on select streaming services
• Earn 1 point per dollar on all other purchases

card_name: Earn 2 miles per dollar on every purchase.

CSP wins for dining, online groceries, steaming services, and travel purchased though Ultimate Rewards. Capital One Venture is the winner for non category bonus spend.

When it comes to redemption, not all miles and points have equal value. A card that earns 2 points per dollar on all purchases is not necessarily better than a card that earns 1 point per dollar. You have to consider the redemption potential of each of the currencies.

Redemption options

There are two ways to redeem either Chase Ultimate Rewards or Venture miles for travel:

1. Redeem miles/points at a fixed value for travel purchases.
2. Transfer to airline or hotel partners. Chase Ultimate Rewards points and Venture miles become airline miles or hotel points. You can redeem them according to the rules and redemption prices of the airline or hotel program to which you transfer.

Option 1: Redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards or Capital One Venture miles at a fixed value for travel purchases

The first way to redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards and/or Venture miles for travel is to use the points/miles for travel purchases. The way this works is different for each card. More importantly, the fixed values of points are also different.

The advantage to this (as opposed to transferring to airline partners) is that you have lots of options. Also, some prefer this because it’s a little less complicated than learning the ins and outs of transfer partners.

The disadvantage is that you will be redeeming the points at a fixed value. Sure, there are no blackout dates to worry about. You also don’t have to worry about award seat availability. The problem is, a more expensive plane ticket (think holidays) is going to require more miles/points.

Chase Ultimate Rewards

You can ‘pay’ for all or part of your hotel, airfare, rental car, and more by redeeming Chase Ultimate Rewards points through the Ultimate Rewards redemption portal. This portal is powered by Expedia, so they should have the same options for flights, hotels, rental cars, and tours as what Expedia.com offers.

The value of an Ultimate Rewards point earned from a card_name card is 1.25 cents per point when redeeming for travel via the Ultimate Rewards portal.  

For example, 60,000 points would be worth $750 if you use them in the redemption portal. The math is simple:

• 60,000 X 1.25=75,000
• 75,000/100=$750

Capital One Venture miles

To redeem Venture miles as cash for travel purchases, you use the card to book the travel. After that, you have 90 days to log in to your Capital One account and use your miles to ‘erase’ all or part of any travel purchases. People who prefer cash-back type travel rewards tend to favor this card because it is about as simple as you can get.

The value of a Venture mile is 1 cent per point when redeeming. The welcome bonus of 75,000 miles is worth $750 in travel.

• 75,000 X 1=75,000
• 75,000/100=$750

Option 2: Transfer points/miles to airlines or hotels

The second way to redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards or Capital One Venture miles is to transfer them to airline or hotel partners.

Chase has three hotel partners: IHG, Marriott, and Hyatt. You can transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to either of these programs at a 1:1 ratio. World of Hyatt has provided tremendous value for Ryan and I.

Capital One has 3 hotel partners: Wyndham, Accor, and Choice. You can transfer Venture miles to Wyndham Rewards and Choice Privileges at a 1:1 ratio and to Accor Live Limitless at a 2:1 ratio. I have not had a chance to analyze any of these programs in depth.

I’ll focus on airline partners for this comparison, but I do value Hyatt as a Chase partner very highly.

Transferring bank points such as Chase Ultimate Rewards or Venture miles to airline partners is how you can potentially get more value out of your points than 1-1.25 cents per point.

A lot of people don’t want to bother with this, but it’s how Ryan and I have stretched our points to make all of our travels happen over the past 8 years! Using transfer partners can make your points at least two times more valuable than if you redeem them as cash. More on that a little later.

Each bank program has its own set of airline transfer partners. Capital One Venture has not always had 1:1 transfer ratios for all partners, so it made the math to compare these two cards a little more complicated. As of October 2021, all Capital One Venture transfer partners except Accor (hotel) and EVA Air are 1:1. Accor and EVA Air are 2:1.

Chase Ultimate Rewards

You can transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards to 11 different airline frequent flyer programs or 3 different hotel loyalty programs.  The transfer ratio to any airline or hotel partner is 1:1. 60,000 Ultimate Rewards points=60,000 airline or hotel miles/points.

Capital One Venture miles

You can transfer Capital One Venture miles to these airline programs.

All partners except EVA Air and Accor hotels are now 1:1 (EVA Infinity Mileage Lands is 4:3 and Accor Live Limitless is 2:1.)

Airline partners:

• Aeromexico Club Premier
• Air Canada Aeroplan
• Air France-KLM Flying Blue
• Avianca LifeMiles
• British Airways Avios
• Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
• Emirates Skywards
• Etihad Guest
• EVA Infinity MileageLands (4:3)
• Finnair Plus
• Qantas Frequent Flyer
• Singapore KrisFlyer
• TAP Air Portugal Miles & Go
• Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles

This is what 75,000 Venture miles would yield:

• 75,000 miles for 1:1 partners OR
• 37,500 miles for 2:1 partners

Update 2022: Virgin Red is now a 1:1 partner also.

Which card has better transfer partners?

There isn’t really a clear winner because it depends on your home airport, where you want to fly, etc. In my opinion, Chase Ultimate Rewards has better transfer partners if I had to choose between the two. Southwest, United, and Hyatt are three valuable Chase partners that no other bank currency, including Capital One Venture miles, has.

Capital One’s airline partners are mostly foreign carriers, which I don’t mind, but using them will require more steps when you’re trying to book flights on US airlines like American Airlines or Delta*.

*Some people may look at the partners and immediately write off a card based on the fact that their preferred airline isn’t a partner. That is where indirect partners come into play, though!  For example, I used Etihad miles to book American Airlines flights to Japan.  The best part is that the amount of miles required by Etihad was less than if I had used AAdvantage miles. So in that case, I would have wanted to use Etihad even if AA was a transfer partner.

Which card wins overall for redemption options?

Overall, Capital One Venture probably wins on paper for cash-back travel redemptions. But in reality, the potential to earn extra points per dollar dining, travel, and other bonus categories with the card_name can make a big difference (math to follow). Also, my personal opinion is that for the average traveler, Chase Ultimate Rewards has better transfer partners. Capital One has some great partners for long haul international business class, but it does take a little time to learn the ins and outs and I understand that not it’s not for everyone.

Since redeeming points by transferring to partners is the method I use most, transfer partners are important to me. Therefore, even though the Capital One Venture may have better numbers, I still consider the Chase Sapphire Preferred a better card for redemption options.

Those who don’t spend a lot on travel or at restaurants and/or those who favor simplicity will probably find the rewards earned with Capital One Venture more lucrative.

Analyzing your spending habits and doing a little math will help you decide which card is best. It is important to consider the earning and redeeming sides of both cards.

Is the Venture earn rate of 2 miles per dollar better than 1 Ultimate Rewards point per dollar?

I used the welcome bonuses for the examples in the redemption section, but now I want to show what your potential is going to be on everyday spending. There are two different values I’ll discuss, and they are NOT interchangeable. It’s important to understand the difference.

• Cents per point value: this is exactly what it says. It’s the value you get out of a point when you redeem. Usually I try to redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards points for value of at least 2 cents per point, but higher is better! Your cents per point value is always going to be a fixed value if you choose to redeem rewards from either card as cash/through the redemption portal. The only way to get a higher cpp is to use transfer partners.
• Return rate: this looks at both sides of the equation (earning and redeeming). Your return rate is the cash value of your redemption compared to how much money you spent on a credit card to earn the points needed for that redemption. Again, the higher, the better.

The math

I’m going to use non-category bonus earn rates first. Remember, with the Capital One Venture, you earn 2 miles per dollar on all purchases. With the card_name, you earn 1 point per dollar on non-category bonus purchases.

This is what $10,000 in non-category bonus spend would yield with each card:

Chase Sapphire Preferred: $125 or 10,000 miles

• 10,000 X 1=10,000 Ultimate Rewards points
• 10,000 Ultimate Rewards points=10,000 miles to any of the 11 Ultimate Rewards airline partners or
• If you redeem 10,000 Ultimate Rewards points for travel in the redemption portal, they’re worth $125 (1.25 cents per point).

Capital One Venture: $200 or 10,000-20,000 miles

• 10,000 X 2=20,000 miles
• 20,000 Venture miles=10,000 miles for 2:1 partners or
• 20,000 Venture miles=20,000 miles for 1:1 partners or
• If you redeem 20,000 miles as cash for travel purchases, they’re worth $200 (1 cent per point)

Capital One Venture wins for non-category bonus everyday spending. Obviously, $200 is better than $125. As far as transfer partners, your net return on spending is 2 miles per dollar on the Capital One Venture (for most partners-the exceptions are EVA Air and Accor).  That is better than non-category bonus spend on the card_name.

Those numbers were for non-category bonus spending. Remember, Chase Sapphire Preferred earns extra points per dollar on travel, dining, and other bonus categories. If you have a lot of travel and dining expenses, extra points per dollar could make a big difference.

This is what $10,000 in spend for online groceries and restaurants would yield with each card:

Chase Sapphire Preferred: $375 or 30,000 miles

(online groceries and dining is 3 points per dollar)

• 10,000 X 3=30,000 Ultimate Rewards points
• 30,000 Ultimate Rewards points=30,000 miles to any of the 11 Ultimate Rewards airline partners or
• If you redeem 30,000 Ultimate Rewards points for travel in the redemption portal, they’re worth $375.

Capital One Venture: $200 or 10,000-20,000 miles

• 10,000 X 2=20,000 miles
• 20,000 Venture miles=10,000 miles for 2:1 partners or
• 20,000 Venture miles=20,000 miles for 1:1 partners or
• If you redeem 20,000 miles as cash for travel purchases, they’re worth $200 (1 cent per point)

Now card_name wins

If you redeem Ultimate Rewards points earned from spend in the categories that earn 3 points per dollar in the redemption portal, your net return on spending is 3.75%. Travel purchases at Ultimate Rewards (5x) would result in an even higher return.

Here is the math if you want to see how I got that:

• $10,000 X 3=30,000 Ultimate Rewards points
• 30,000 UR X 1.25=37,500
• 37,500/100=$375 to spend in the redemption portal
• $375/$10,000=0.0375
• 0.0375 X 100= 3.75%

With either card, you could potentially redeem at an even higher cents per point value and overall return by transferring to partners rather than redeeming as cash for travel.

Tip: If you have a Chase Sapphire Preferred (or other transferable Ultimate Rewards earning card) you can potentially earn even more on non-category bonus everyday spending by adding an additional card to your wallet. The card_name and Chase Freedom Flex cards each have no annual fee and both potentially have better earn rates, depending on your spending habits. Click here for details.

Redeeming as cash for travel vs. transferring to partners

For this example, I will use a nonstop American Airlines roundtrip flight in economy from DFW to Cabo. I encourage you to learn how to do the math, but if math stresses you out, I understand. You can skip to the next section titled “Too much math?”.

Redeeming using the Chase Ultimate Rewards points or Capital One Venture miles as cash for travel:

This itinerary is $626.

To book a $626 plane ticket by redeeming Ultimate Rewards points in the Chase redemption portal here is how many Ultimate Rewards points you would need:

• 626/1.25=500.8
• 500.8 X 100=50,080 Chase Ultimate Rewards points

To book a $626 plane ticket with Capital One Venture miles, you would need:

• 626/1=626
• 626 X 100=62,600 Capital One Venture miles

The spend required to earn 50,080 Chase Ultimate Rewards points is between just over $10,000 and just over $50,000, depending on how much spend is in bonus categories. The spend required to earn 62,600 Capital One Venture miles is just over $31,000. That’s a lot. But you can book the exact same AA flights for significantly less by using transfer partners. Less points means less spend is required!

Redeeming Chase Ultimate Rewards points or Capital One Venture miles by transferring to airlines

This exact itinerary is also available to book as a milesAAver award ticket. This means that other airline programs that partner with American Airlines are able to book the ticket.

American Airlines is not a partner of Chase Ultimate Rewards or Capital One. But each of the two has airline partners that can book American Airlines flights. I’ll use British Airways for this example.

Chase Ultimate Rewards

British Airways Executive Club (a Chase Ultimate Rewards 1:1 transfer partner) can be used to book American Airlines flights. Click here to learn how to use British Airways to book American Airlines award flights.

For this nonstop American Airlines itinerary from DFW to Cabo, the amount of avios (their name for miles/points) required for the roundtrip economy ticket is 18,000 Avios. I can transfer 18,000 Ultimate Rewards points to my British Airways account and then use that program to book this ticket.

Note that most of the $93 in fees are collected by Mexico. An award ticket for this route on any airline would have these fees, but to keep the numbers accurate I’ll subtract that number from the ticket value. $626-93=$533. I’ll use $533 as the value.

• 533/18,000=0.03
• 0.03 X 100=3
• 18,000 points for $533 is a value of 3 cents per point. Remember, each point is worth only 1.25 cents per point if you use the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal.

Depending on how you earned the points, your overall return on card_name spending is somewhere between 3% (if all spend is earning 1 point per dollar) and up to 15% (if spend is earned in bonus categories which are 5 points per dollar; for categories that are 3 points per dollar, return is 9%).

There is no reason to redeem 50,000 points when you can get the exact flight for only 18,000 points!

Capital One Venture

Update: British Airways is now a COV partner, but at a 2:1.5 ratio. So you would need 24,000 Venture miles to get 18,000 Avios. Update October 2021: British Airways is now a 1:1 partner. This means that the exact same flight as above in the Chase Sapphire Preferred example can be booked with 18,000 Venture miles.

For this nonstop American Airlines itinerary from DFW to Cabo, the amount of Qantas miles required for the roundtrip economy ticket is 24,000 miles. I would need to transfer 24,000 Venture miles to get 24,000 miles in my Qantas account and then use that program to book this ticket.

So British Airways and Qantas both require 24,000 COV miles to book this AA ticket.

Again, I’ll use $533 as the value.

• 533/18,000=0.03
• 0.03 X 100=3
• 18,000 Venture miles for a ticket valued at $533 is a cents per point value of 3, but this is a deceivingly low number. Remember, your actual return on spending is different than the cents per point value.

It is important to remember that you would have spent $9,000, not $18,000 since you earn 2 miles on all purchases. So here’s the return rate:

• $533/$9,000=0.06
• 0.06 X 100=6%

Your overall return rate is 6% if you book this ticket by transferring Capital One Venture miles to BA. If you redeem those miles as cash for travel (purchase eraser), the return rate on the Capital One Venture is always 2%.

There is no reason to redeem 62,000 miles when you can use a transfer partner to book the same ticket for only 18,000 miles!

I know that’s a lot of tedious math but it’s important. Earning the best credit card rewards and then stretching those miles and points for 2-3 times more value when redeeming potentially means 2-3 times more plane tickets!

Too much math? Just look at these numbers:

To summarize using this specific flight itinerary here are your options:

Chase Sapphire Preferred

• Use the Ultimate Rewards portal and redeem 50,080 Chase Ultimate Rewards points. Return on spending is 1.25-6.25% (depending on how much of the spend is in bonus categories. The 5x on travel purchased through the Ultimate Rewards portal would result in a return rate of 6.25%. 3x categories such as dining result in a return rate of 3.75).

OR

• Transfer 18,000 Ultimate Rewards points to British Airways to book the American Airlines ticket. Return on spending is 3-15% (depending on how much of the spending fell into bonus categories).

Capital One Venture

• Redeem 62,600 Capital One Venture miles to cover the ticket. Return on spending is 2% when you redeem Venture miles as cash for travel.

OR

• Transfer 18,000 Venture miles to BA and then use BA to book the AA ticket. Return on spending is about 6%.

The potential return rate with card_name is higher, but maximizing that potential would mean you would have to spend in the categories that earn higher rates. Keep in mind this is just one example and using transfer partners to book premium cabin travel and other expensive itineraries will probably result in an even higher return value! The important point is that both cards give you to the option to squeeze more value out of your points and miles with transfer partners.

I mentioned this earlier but when it comes to transfer partners, there is also some value that isn’t really measurable. I find some of Chase’s transfer partners, such as Hyatt, to be extremely valuable.

Other notable travel benefits of Chase Sapphire Preferred and Capital One Venture cards

Both have no foreign transaction fees.

card_name:

• Trip delay and cancellation insurance (reimbursement of prepaid nonrefundable travel purchases up to $10,000 per trip)
• Primary auto rental collision coverage (this is one of the few credit cards on the market that has primary car rental insurance)
• Baggage delay insurance

Receive credit of up to $50 annually on hotel stays purchased through Ultimate Rewards. New cardmembers will receive this credit immediately and existing cardmembers will start earning after the next anniversary.

Each anniversary, you’ll receive bonus points equal to 10% of total purchases made the previous year. This excludes any sign up bonus points, so it’s only on points earned from spending.

card_name:

• $100 in Global Entry or TSA Precheck reimbursement
• Travel accident insurance (up to $250,000)
• Lost luggage reimbursement (up to $3,000)
• Secondary auto rental insurance

The winner is a toss-up. The Global Entry credit on the Capital One Venture card is certainly a plus. But the trip protection and insurance on the Chase Sapphire Preferred can be very valuable, plus the $50 hotel credit and anniversary bonus points are a nice enhancement.

Final Thoughts: Which card is best?

card_name is best for:

• Earning points that I (and many others) consider some of the most valuable rewards points out there
• Those who spend a lot at restaurants and on travel
• Beginners. This is due to Chase’s 5/24 rule. If you do not make this one of your first cards, you may miss out on your opportunity to open one.
• Valuable stays at Hyatt
• Those who fly Southwest often (but aren’t working towards earning the Companion Pass as Ultimate Rewards transferred to Southwest do not qualify for the Companion Pass). Click here for my argument about why Chase Sapphire Preferred is better than Southwest co-branded cards, even for Southwest loyalists.

Also, if you pair it with a no annual fee card_name card, your earning potential is even higher.

If you prefer a simple redemption system while still having the option of transferring, card_name may be a better option.

card_name is best for:

• People who are looking for a simple travel rewards credit card.
• The return rate of 2% is decent for a cash-back type card. If you decide to explore transfer partners, you have a few great partners to which you can transfer.
• If you’re over 5/24, you may still be able to get this card.

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