Amex Green Card vs. Capital One Venture Card [Detailed Comparison]

If you’re in the market for a new card that earns transferable rewards without a hefty annual fee, the American Express^® Green Card and the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card are strong options to consider.

Given that, how should you decide which card is the best option for you? In this guide, we will provide a detailed comparison of everything that each card has to offer, including their rewards, benefits, credits, protections, fees, and more. Without further ado, let’s jump right into the comparisons.

Amex Green Card vs. Capital One Venture Card — Overview

Before we do a deep dive into all of the details of each card, here is a quick comparison table to give you an approximation of the strengths of each card.

Benefit or Feature	American Express® Green Card	Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card
Welcome Bonus	NEW OFFER: Earn 60,000 points after spending $3,000 on purchases in your first 6 months. Plus, earn 20% back on eligible travel and transit purchases made during your first 6 months, up to $200 back as a statement credit.	Earn 75,000 miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months.
Earning Potential	– 3x points at restaurants (including takeout and delivery in the U.S.) – 3x points on transit (including rideshares, trains, subways, parking, and more) – 3x points on travel (including airfare, hotels, and car rentals) – 1x points on all other purchases	– 5x miles on car rentals and hotels booked via Capital One Travel – 2x miles on every other purchase
Redemption Options	– Amex transfer partners – Amex Travel bookings – Cash-back via statement credit – Gift cards – Shopping with select retailers	– Capital One transfer partners – Capital One Travel bookings – Redeem miles against travel purchases made with the card in the previous 90 days – Cash-back via statement credit – Gift cards – Shopping with select retailers
Statement Credits	– Up to $189 annual CLEAR Plus credit – Up to $100 annual LoungeBuddy credit	– Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit
Travel Benefits and Protections	– No foreign transaction fees (rates and fees) – Secondary rental car insurance – Baggage insurance – Trip delay insurance	– No foreign transaction fees – Rental car insurance – Baggage insurance – 2 annual airport lounge passes – Hertz Five Star status – Travel accident insurance
Shopping Benefits and Protections	– Amex Offers – Purchase protection – Extended warranty coverage – American Express Experiences	– Capital One Offers – Purchase protection – Extended warranty coverage – Capital One Entertainment
Annual Fee	$150 (rates and fees)	$95
Authorized User Fee	$0 for the first 5 cardholders, then $35 (rates and fees)	$0

For the most part, both the Amex Green card and the Capital One Venture card offer a lot of similar benefits, protections, and redemption options.

Now, let’s take an in-depth look at each category to help narrow down your search.

The Value of a Welcome Offer

Amex Green Card

Capital One Venture Card

Bottom Line:

Our valuation of Amex Membership Rewards points and Capital One miles are relatively close, at 2.2 cents per point and 1.8 cents per mile, respectively. That said, while we value Amex Membership Rewards points more, the Capital One Venture card usually offers a much larger welcome bonus than the Amex Green card.

Earning Potential

One of the best ways to determine if a card is right for you is if the bonus categories it offers matches your spending habits, allowing you to earn as many points as possible.

Bonus Category	Amex Green Card	Capital One Venture Card
General Travel	3x points	2x miles
Dining	3x points	2x miles
Transit (Trains, Ferries, Buses, Subways, Rideshares, Etc.)	3x points	2x miles
Hotels and Rental Cars Through Capital One Travel	N/A	5x miles
All Other Purchases	1x points	2x miles

As you can see, the bonus categories on both cards are quite different. Those who spend a considerable portion of their budget on travel, dining, and transit purchases are likely to fair better with the Amex Green card as you’ll earn 3x points on these purchases — 50% more than you would with the Capital One Venture card.

That said, if your purchase habits don’t regularly fall into certain categories, or you prefer to not have to worry about bonus categories at all, then earning 2x miles on all purchases with the Capital One Venture card is pretty compelling.

Redemption Options

Amex Green Card

American Express Membership Rewards points offer a variety of redemption options, including transferring them to Amex’s transfer partners, booking through the Amex Travel portal, cash-back via a statement credit, gift cards, or shopping with select merchants.

While each person should redeem their points in whatever manner works best for their situation, our favorite way to redeem our Amex points is via the Amex travel transfer partners. Thanks to these partnerships you can use your points for luxury travel experiences for a fraction of what it would normally cost.

For example, when transferring your points to Virgin Atlantic you can book one-way Delta One business class awards between the U.S. and Europe for just 50,000 points with low taxes and fees.

Capital One Venture Card

Similarly, Capital One Miles also provides multiple redemption options including transferring to the Capital One transfer partners, travel purchases through Capital One Travel, using miles to offset general travel purchases made with your card in the previous 90 days, cash-back via statement credit, gift cards, and shopping with select retailers.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, our favorite way to redeem our Capital One miles is through the Capital One transfer partners, and some of our favorites include Air Canada Aeroplan, Avianca LifeMiles, Air France-KLM Flying Blue, and Turkish Airlines.

Need to fly from New York to Los Angeles? You can do so in style aboard United Polaris business class for just 25,000 miles each way using the Air Canada Aeroplan program.

Hot Tip:

Read more about the best ways to use Amex Membership Rewards points and how to maximize their value and the best ways to use Capital One Miles to get outsized value. 

Statement Credits

Amex Green Card — CLEAR Plus and LoungeBuddy

While the annual fee of the Amex Green card is $150, it offers an annual CLEAR Plus credit of up to $189. Depending on how much you value having a CLEAR Plus membership, this perk can help offset the annual fee rather easily.

For those unfamiliar, CLEAR provides expedited security experience at select airports and stadiums nationwide using biometrics, which allows you to jump right to the front of the ID check line.

Amex Green cardholders also receive an annual LoungeBuddy credit of up to $100. This credit can be used toward any of the 300+ LoungeBuddy airport lounges worldwide. The cost to enter an eligible lounge can vary, but at the very least the credit should get you at least 2 to 3 visits per year.

Capital One Venture Card — Global Entry or TSA PreCheck

Global Entry and TSA PreCheck are an absolute must-have for anyone who travels often, so much so that we feel that the $100 membership fee for both Global Entry and TSA PreCheck combined is a steal. Thankfully many travel rewards cards offer a statement credit for this membership and the Capital One Venture card is one of them.

Travel Benefits and Protections

Benefit or Protection	Amex Green Card	Capital One Venture Card
Foreign Transaction Fees	None	None
Rental Car Insurance	Yes	Yes
Baggage Protection	Up to $1,250 for carry-on baggage and up to $500 for checked baggage for bags or items that are lost, damaged, or stolen	Up to $3,000 for your checked luggage or carry-on baggage and their contents in the event of theft or loss by the carrier when you pay for your flight with your card
Trip Delay Reimbursement	If your flight is delayed by more than 12 hours, you can receive up to $300 in coverage	Not offered
Travel and Emergency Assistance Services	Not offered	Yes
Airport Lounge Access	$100 annual LoungeBuddy credit	2 complimentary visits per year to Capital One Lounges or select Plaza Premium Lounges
Rental Car Status	Not offered	Hertz Gold Plus Rewards Five Star

Neither the Amex Green card nor the Capital One Venture card is one of the best cards for travel protection and benefits, but they both offer some useful benefits.

The main perks of the Amex Green card here are its trip delay coverage, baggage protection, and annual LoungeBuddy credit of up to $100. The Capital One Venture card offers 2 complimentary lounge visits per year, baggage protection, and Hertz Gold Plus Rewards Five Star status.

Fortunately, both cards offer secondary rental car insurance and no foreign transaction fees.

Shopping Benefits and Protections

Here is how each option keeps you covered when purchasing items with your card.

The Amex Green card offers these benefits:

• Amex Offers — Discounts and opportunities to earn more points and statement credits with 100 merchants each month
• Purchase Protection — Coverage 90 days from the date of purchase towards stolen or damaged items for up to $1,000 per occurrence and $50,000 per year
• Extended Warranty Coverage — Adds 1 year of additional warranty to extended warranties of 5 years or less
• American Express Experiences — Exclusive access to ticket presales

The Capital One Venture card offers these benefits:

• Capital One Offers — Discounts with select merchants
• Purchase Protection — Coverage 90 days from the date of purchase towards stolen or damaged items
• Extended Warranty Coverage — 1 year of additional warranty protection on eligible items purchased with your card
• Capital One Entertainment — Exclusive access to ticket presales

Annual Fees and Adding Authorized Users

Annual Fees

The annual fee of the Amex Green card is $150 while the annual fee of the Capital One Venture card is $95. The 2 fees are relatively close, but since the Amex Green card is higher, you’ll want to be certain that the benefits you value in the card outweigh that additional cost.

Authorized Users

When it comes to authorized users, you can add up to 5 cards to your Amex Green card for no additional cost, and any additional cards are $35 each. As for the Capital One Venture card, authorized user cards are always free and there is no limit to the number of authorized users you can have.

Final Thoughts

It is clear that both the Amex Green card and the Capital One Venture card are excellent options for points and miles travelers.

Both have relatively similar benefits, so deciding which card is better for you might come down to the smaller details like the rewards ecosystem you prefer, the bonus categories, or a particular benefit that stands out to you.

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For the car rental loss and damage insurance benefit of the American Express^® Green Card, car rental loss and damage insurance can provide coverage up to $50,000 for theft of or damage to most rental vehicles when you use your eligible card to reserve and pay for the entire eligible vehicle rental and decline the collision damage waiver or similar option offered by the commercial car rental company. This product provides secondary coverage and does not include liability coverage. Not all vehicle types or rentals are covered. geographic restrictions apply. Eligibility and benefit level varies by card. Terms, conditions and limitations Apply. Please visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by AMEX Assurance Company. Car Rental Loss or Damage Coverage is offered through American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc.

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 American Express^® Green Card, click here.