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Chase has some of the most sought-after travel rewards credit cards on the market.
In particular, 2 of its flagship credit cards, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card and Chase Sapphire Reserve®, are among the best — and most popular — offerings in the market.
Both of these Chase cards can help you earn lots of Chase Ultimate Rewards points, but that’s not all they offer. Let’s see what they have in common, and where they differ, so you can decide which one is right for you.
Welcome Bonus Offers
See below for the current welcome offers for both of these Chase credit cards:
Annual Fee and Credits
This is where we see a major difference between the 2 cards.
The Chase Sapphire Reserve card comes with a $550 annual fee, making this card somewhat of an investment with the initial fee hitting upfront. However, there are many valuable benefits of the Chase Sapphire Reserve card that make this card worth the cost (we’ll mention some below).
Each cardmember year, you will receive a $300 travel credit that automatically reimburses you for a wide range of travel expenses, including Uber.
Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders will also enjoy a $5 per month DoorDash credit. If your credit isn’t used within the calendar month, it will be carried over for a maximum of 2 months, and up to $15 in credit be accrued before a $5 credit expires.
These travel credits alone can provide over $400 in credits during your first year with the card.
Global travelers should be aware that a Global Entry membership also includes TSA PreCheck. Image Credit: Transportation Security Administration
The Chase Sapphire Preferred card comes with a $95 annual fee. For that, you’ll receive a $50 annual credit towards hotel stays booked via the Chase travel portal.
Bottom Line: The Chase Sapphire Preferred card is a great starter card, but the Chase Sapphire Reserve card comes with a lot of credits — such as a $300 annual travel credit and a monthly DoorDash credit — that can help offset the $550 annual fee.
Earning and Value
Both of these cards are ideal for people who regularly dine out and travel since those are the 2 main bonus categories. They do, however, come with slightly different earning rates. These 2 cards are also very similar regarding redeeming through the Chase travel portal.
The Chase Sapphire Reserve card earns 10x points per dollar on Chase dining, hotels, and car rentals booked through the Chase travel portal, 5x points on airfare booked via the portal, 3x points for each dollar spent on all dining and travel purchases, and 1x for all other purchases. The card also earns a whopping 10 points per dollar on Lyft purchases (through March 2025).
Cardholders also receive complimentary Lyft Pink All Access for 2 years as well as 50% off the price of membership for the third year.
Points redeemed that are connected to this card for travel through the Chase travel portal get a 50% bump.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred card earns 5x points for all travel booked via the Chase travel portal, 3x points on dining, select streaming services, and online groceries, 2x points for each dollar spent on all other travel, and 1x on all other purchases. Plus, the card earns 5 points per dollar on Lyft purchases (through March 31, 2025).
Hot Tip: Both cards also earn extra points on select Peloton purchases over $250 through March 31, 2025. The Chase Sapphire Preferred card earns 5x points with a maximum of 25,000 points earned and the Chase Sapphire Reserve card earns 10x points with a maximum of 50,000 points earned.
One other exceptional perk about the Chase Sapphire Preferred card is that cardholders receive a 10% points bonus after every account anniversary! The Chase Sapphire Reserve card doesn’t offer a benefit like this. This number is based on your total dollar amount spent, so it’ll bump your rewards up by another 0.1x points.
Points redeemed for travel through the Chase travel portal with this card get a 25% bump, making 60,000 points worth $750 for travel redemptions, including airfare, hotels, car rentals, and more.
Both of these cards earn Ultimate Rewards points, a valuable points currency that is extremely flexible when you are looking to redeem. You can book any flight (and other qualifying travel) at any time with your points with a fixed value of 1.25 or 1.5 cents per point directly through the Chase travel portal.
Both cards also offer the ability to transfer your points to several Chase airline and hotel partners at a rate of 1:1 almost instantly, providing you with an opportunity to maximize the value of your Chase points.
Get to Hawaii with fewer points! Transfer your Ultimate Rewards points to British Airways Avios to book a one-way flight from the West Coast for just 13,000 points in economy. Image Credit: emperorcosar via Shutterstock
Travelers will find it easy to use their Ultimate Reward points thanks to the variety of different travel partners and the flexibility of booking directly through Chase.
Hot Tip: If you have other Chase credit cards that earn Ultimate Rewards, you can combine them with the points earned from either of these cards.
Travel Benefits and Protections
The SkyTeam Lounge at Vancouver (YVR) is just one of 1,300+ lounges worldwide that can be accessed using your Priority Pass membership. Image Credit: SkyTeam
Each of these cards comes with a wide variety of travel benefits. Like many other cards, there are no foreign transaction fees, plus additional insurance will protect your trips and purchases with some of the best travel coverage available.
While some of the levels of travel protections are similar, let’s highlight the main differences:
Both cards offer primary car rental insurance, which insures your car rental before going through your personal car insurance. Any differences here are minor and wouldn’t be noticed by the normal traveler.
The main difference, when it comes to car rental insurance, is that the Chase Sapphire Preferred card doesn’t cover expensive or “exotic” cars, and the Chase Sapphire Reserve card offers additional rental coverage with up to $75,000 in reimbursement for theft or collision.
Both cards also offer roadside assistance, but the Chase Sapphire Preferred card charges $69.95 per service call, while the Chase Sapphire Reserve card offers 4 free service calls valued up to $50 each per year.
Purchase protection adds additional peace of mind for purchases made with your card. Both offer up to $50,000 in claims per year, but the Chase Sapphire Reserve card protects up to $10,000 per item while the Chase Sapphire Preferred card offers $500 per item.
Travel protections that cover lost or delayed luggage and trip cancellation are identical, while the trip delay coverage and travel accident coverage comes with slightly enhanced insurance benefits on the Chase Sapphire Reserve card.
Bottom Line: Both cards offer significant travel protections for the average traveler and solid purchase protections. The Chase Sapphire Reserve card is ideal for those who will benefit from the enhanced perks and 3x bonus categories.
Authorized Users
The Chase Sapphire Preferred card does not charge additional annual fees for authorized users, however, the Chase Sapphire Reserve card charges $75 for each authorized user added to your account.
Both of these cards offer incredible benefits and travel protections while offering a flexible rewards program with fantastic value and earning potential for almost everyone.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred card is perfect for anyone looking for their first travel rewards credit card. Earn up to 3x points per dollar spent on popular categories like dining, online grocery purchases, and select streaming services.
This is also a great card for someone who may not have immediate travel plans but wants to start saving a valuable and flexible rewards points currency. With a lower annual fee, keeping this card long-term is not as much of an investment, and it will keep your points from expiring as long as you keep the card open.
The Chase Sapphire Reserve card is the perfect card for the frequent traveler who will take full advantage of all the travel credits (remember, Uber counts as travel, too!), enhanced travel benefits, and protections.
Frequent travelers will also be able to take greater advantage of the increased earning potential with the 3x points for all travel and dining purchases.
The bottom line is that the Chase Sapphire Preferred card is a great place to start. If you get the card (or already have it) and notice that you could benefit from an increase to 3x points on travel and dining or some perks that would make your travel better, then you can apply for a Chase Sapphire Reserve card.
Featured Image Credit: Upgraded Points
Frequently Asked Questions
The Chase Sapphire Reserve card offers better earnings, benefits, and travel protections than the Chase Sapphire Preferred card. But, it also comes with a $550 annual fee instead of $95.
The Chase Sapphire Reserve card is definitely worth keeping if you can maximize the value you get from it. That should be fairly easy because it has a $300 annual travel credit, which would make the annual fee effectively $250.
There’s a rule called the One Sapphire Rule that says that you can only have 1 Sapphire-branded card at a time. If you have the Chase Sapphire Preferred card but want the Chase Sapphire Reserve card, we would encourage you to consider upgrading your credit card.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred card is so good because of how much value it delivers with a low annual fee of $95. You’ll get a huge welcome bonus that may be as high as 100,000 points which covers the annual fee for many years, plus the ability to earn lots of points on dining, online groceries, travel, and much more.
You’ll even get a $50 annual hotel credit on stays purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards!
To us, the Chase Sapphire Preferred card is a no-brainer.
Founder and CEO of Upgraded Points, Alex is a leader in the industry and has earned and redeemed millions of points and miles. He frequently discusses the award travel industry with CNBC, Fox Business, The New York Times, and more.
Disclaimer: Any comments listed below are not from the bank advertiser, nor have they been reviewed or approved by them. No responsibility will be taken by the bank advertiser for these comments.
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