Capital One Venture Card vs. Capital One Venture X Card [Detailed Comparison]

Capital One is traditionally known for issuing credit cards that focus on simplicity. While the issuer has consistently offered a respectable collection of cards, you historically wouldn’t find the bells and whistles of lounge access, complicated bonus-category earning structures, or a long list of statement credits for specific purchases.

But fast forward to today and you’ll find Capital One’s products refreshing, exciting, and much more robust. But will the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card dethrone the popular Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card?

Read along as we find out. We’ll need to look closely at the earning potential of each card, your options at redemption time, and any features or benefits that may add additional value for a cardholder.

Let’s jump right in and look at how the 2 cards compare in all the key categories.

Capital One Venture Card vs. Capital One Venture X Card — Overview

While you’ll find some similarities when comparing the Capital One Venture card to the Capital One Venture X card, there are some distinct and valuable differences.

Here’s how our featured cards compare side-by-side in all the key categories:

The Value of a Welcome Bonus

Welcome bonuses can add a lot of value in a short amount of time. Welcome bonuses are typically awarded after meeting minimum spending requirements within the first few months of opening up a credit card. Both cards consistently offer welcome bonuses.

We value Capital One miles around 1.8 cents each, which means a 75,000-mile welcome bonus is worth around $1,350. Welcome bonuses and minimum spending requirements do vary, however, so you’ll want to confirm the amount and terms of the offer before applying for any card.

Here’s a snapshot of the current welcome bonuses on each of our featured cards.

Bottom Line: Meet minimum spending requirements within the required period after card approval to qualify for a generous welcome bonus on either of our featured cards. 

Earning Potential

No need to keep track of complicated earning structures when you have a Capital One card. The Capital One Venture card and the Capital One Venture X card both follow a simple earning format with flat-rate rewards on every purchase you make.

However, there is an exception. If you’re using your Capital One Venture card or Capital One Venture X card for travel purchases, you’ll want to use Capital One Travel, as the earnings can be exceptional.

Here’s how the 2 cards compare when we look at earning potential:

When we look at just the earning potential of both cards, the key difference is the 10x earnings on hotels and rental cars and 5x earnings on flights via Capital One Travel on the Capital One Venture X card. The anniversary bonus on the card is also an edge over the Capital One Venture card.

But earning potential is just 1 factor to consider. Let’s look at how redemption options and other tangible benefits play a role in determining the ultimate value of each card.

Bottom Line: The Capital One Venture X card demonstrates its true advantage as a travel rewards card by offering elevated earnings of up to 10x on travel purchased via Capital One Travel. Both the Capital One Venture card and Capital One Venture X card, however, earn 2 miles per dollar spent on all other purchases. If you won’t be using Capital One Travel, the Capital One Venture X card’s 10,000-mile anniversary bonus would be the only key earning edge.

Redemption Options

The Capital One Venture card and Capital One Venture X card both earn Capital One miles that function more like rewards “points” rather than frequent flyer miles. Fortunately, you’ll have the same flexible redemption options with either card.

Here are the redemption options for the miles earned on either card:

One of the best redemption options is to transfer miles to airline partners and purchase award flights. This method can result in the greatest potential value for your miles.

Some additional redemption options result in receiving a value of less than 1 cent per mile and are not recommended.

Bottom Line: The Capital One Venture card and Capital One Venture X card have the same flexible redemption options, of which transferring miles to airline partners can result in the best potential value for your miles. 

Travel Benefits and Protections

The Capital One Venture card and Capital One Venture X card offer several useful travel benefits and protections.

Here are the key offerings that come on both of our featured cards:

• Global Entry/TSA PreCheck Fee Reimbursement — Pay for your application or renewal fee with your card and receive reimbursement, up to $100 every 4 years.
• Capital One Lounge and Plaza Premium Lounge Access — While the Capital One Venture X card offers unlimited free access for the cardholder and up to 2 guests, you’ll receive 2 free one-time passes annually with the Capital One Venture card. Additional visits for Capital One Venture cardholders are $45 each.
• Hertz Car Rental Perks — The Capital One Venture X card comes with Hertz Gold Plus President’s Club Elite status while the Capital One Venture card offers Five Star status.
• Lost Luggage Reimbursement — Pay for your entire common carrier ticket with your card and receive up to $3,000 if your luggage is lost or stolen.

Note that coverages listed for the Capital One Venture card are applicable when your card is issued as a Visa Signature card.

Additional Travel Benefits and Protections — Capital One Venture X Card

The Capital One Venture X card, as a premium travel rewards card, offers several additional travel benefits/protections you won’t find on the Capital One Venture card.

• Priority Pass Select Membership — Enjoy access for the cardholder and up to 2 guests to over 1,300 properties worldwide with a complimentary membership.
• $300 Capital One Travel Credit — Use your card to purchase travel via Capital One Travel and receive a $300 statement credit each cardmember year.
• Trip Delay Coverage — If your trip is delayed for a covered reason for 6 hours or more, or overnight, you could receive up to $500 per purchased ticket.

Bottom Line: The Capital One Venture card and the Capital One Venture X card both offer several travel benefits and protections. However, the Capital One Venture X has the edge with the additional benefits of complimentary worldwide lounge access, hundreds of dollars in travel statement credits, and trip cancellation/interruption/delay coverage. 

Shopping Benefits and Protections

When you shop, you’ll be earning 2x Capital One miles on every purchase you make with the Capital One Venture card and the Capital One Venture X card. You’ll also enjoy shopping benefits that can save you money, and protection for your purchase if something should go wrong.

Here are the shopping benefits and protections you’ll find on both featured cards:

• Capital One Offers — Similar to a shopping portal, search through available offers to earn a fixed amount or percentage of your online shopping trip back in the form of a statement credit.

Additional Shopping Benefits and Protections — Capital One Venture X Card

• Cell Phone Protection — Pay your monthly cell phone bill with your card and receive protection if your phone is stolen or damaged.
• Return Protection — Return of an eligible item purchased with your card within 90 days after the purchase date.

Bottom Line: While both of our featured cards come with purchase security and extended warranty, the Capital One Venture X card also offers cell phone protection and return protection.

Annual Fees and Authorized Users

It’s always prudent to consider any annual fee charged on a rewards card to determine if you’re receiving bottom-line value. The same is true for any fees associated with adding additional users to your card.

Here’s how the Capital One Venture card and Capital One Venture X card compare in this area:

• Annual Fees — The Capital One Venture card charges an annual fee of $95 while the Capital One Venture X card charges $395. This isn’t an apples-to-apples comparison, however, as the Capital One Venture X card has additional benefits, that if you can utilize, could add significant value.
• Additional Authorized Users — There is no charge to add additional users to either card — however, the Capital One Venture X allows you to add up to 4 authorized users with no additional annual fees.

Bottom Line: The Capital One Venture X card has a much higher annual fee than the Capital One Venture card but offers a lot more tangible benefits. Neither card charges a fee to add authorized users. 

Finding Your Capital One Offers

It’s possible to access credit card offers that may already be available to you, risk-free. Here are a couple of options to see if you have preapproved card offers, including those from Capital One.

Capital One and the CardMatch Tool

If you want to find out if you have card offers available to you without submitting an application, the CardMatch tool can offer a risk-free way to help you do just that. Capital One participates in CardMatch (as do several other card issuers), making it easy to find out if you have pending offers without having to incur a hard inquiry on your credit report.

Best of all, you only need to submit minimal information, including your basic personal information and the last 4 digits of your Social Security number, to receive results.

Capital One Preapproved Offers

An additional tool to help you find any preapproved card offers you might have is the Capital One preapproval tool. You’ll need to submit more information (including your full Social Security number) than with the CardMatch tool, but you will also not incur a hard inquiry on your credit report.

If you’re considering a Capital One card, you’ll want to utilize these tools to see if you’re prequalified. Keep in mind that being prequalified does not mean you’ll be approved, just that you are more likely to be approved for a particular card. You’ll still need to complete the credit card application.

For more information on preapproval tools for Capital One and other card issuers, check out our article on the topic.

Bottom Line: Before applying for a Capital One card, you can see if you have offers pending by utilizing the CardMatch tool or accessing the Capital One preapproval option. These tools are risk-free and do not involve a hard inquiry on your credit report. 

Final Thoughts

If you can utilize Capital One Travel to make most of your travel purchases, you’ll come out ahead with the Capital One Venture X card. The $300 in travel credits add additional value with a statement credit. If you value lounge access at all, the total value you’ll receive from the card could far offset the annual fee.

If you won’t utilize Capital One Travel and don’t value having airport lounge access, you may find better value with the Capital One Venture card that offers 2x earnings on every purchase and a lower fee.

Finally, we like that Capital One has entered the premium travel card space and is offering the Capital One Venture X card with lounge access, travel statement credits, and bonus earnings for travel purchases.

Frequent travelers who value luxury travel rewards cards should also consider cards such as the Chase Sapphire Reserve^® and The Platinum Card^® from American Express.

While these cards do charge higher annual fees, you may find significant value if you’re looking for a luxury card with premium travel benefits.

For Capital One products listed on this page, some of the above benefits are provided by Visa® or Mastercard® and may vary by product. See the respective Guide to Benefits for details, as terms and exclusions apply.

Enrollment required through Capital One website or mobile app. Upon enrollment, eligible cardholders will remain at upgraded status level through December 31, 2024.  Please note, enrolling through the normal Hertz Gold Plus Rewards enrollment process (e.g. at Hertz.com) will not automatically detect a cardholder as being eligible for the program and cardholders will not be automatically upgraded to the applicable status tier.  Additional terms apply.

For rates and fees of The Platinum Card^® from American Express, click here.