Capital One Venture vs. Venture X: An overview
Why you might want to get the Venture X
Overall, we’d recommend the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card over the regular Venture for multiple reasons. The biggest one— the $300 annual travel credit. If you factor that in, the $395 annual fee is essentially dropped to $95, the same cost as the Venture Rewards. Then, factor in the unlimited lounge access, higher reward rate, and anniversary bonus miles, and it’s clear that Venture X is the winner.
▶︎ Read more: Venture X Card review
Why you might want the Venture instead
If you don’t travel enough to utilize the $300 annual travel credit and unlimited lounge access of the Venture X, it may make more sense to get the regular Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card. You’ll still get a solid reward rate and a couple of lounge visits a year, which may be enough for the infrequent traveler.
▶︎ Read more: Venture Card review
Should you get both the Venture and the Venture X?
We don’t recommend it. The rewards overlap almost entirely, so outside of earning a second welcome bonus, there would be no added benefit in getting both of them.
Capital One Venture vs Venture X: Welcome bonus
Winner: Tie!
Capital One offers the same sign-up bonus for the Venture credit card and the Venture X credit card. If you spend at least $4,000 within three months of opening your account, you’ll receive 75,000 bonus miles. This is worth $750 in travel!
Since the welcome offers are the same, we recommend that you choose a card based on other factors, such as the number of miles earned per dollar or the availability of additional consumer benefits.
Capital One Venture vs Venture X: Rewards
Winner: Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card
Before you apply for one of these cards, find out which one is better under each of the circumstances listed below.
Which is better for earning rewards?
Overall, the Capital One Venture X Rewards credit card is better for earning rewards.
The Venture card gives you 5X miles on certain travel purchases and 2X miles on all other purchases. If you have the Venture X, however, you get 10X points on hotels and rental cars booked through the Capital One Travel portal.
Imagine you’re planning a 7-day trip to Amsterdam. You spend $1,800 on the hotel, $2,800 on airline tickets for two people, $940 on a rental car and $1,400 on meals.
Here’s how many miles you’d earn with each card:
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Capital One Venture: You’d earn 9,000 miles on the hotel stay, 5,600 miles on the airline tickets, 4,700 miles on the rental car and 2,800 miles on meals. This is a grand total of 22,100 miles.
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Capital One Venture X: You’d earn 18,000 miles on the hotel stay, 14,000 miles on the airline tickets, 9,400 miles on the rental car and 2,800 miles on meals. This is a grand total of 44,200 miles, double what you’d earn with the Venture card.
Which is better for redeeming rewards?
When it comes to redeeming rewards, it’s a bit of a toss-up. Both the Capital One Venture Card and the Capital One Venture X card come with the same redemption options. For example, you can transfer your Capital One miles to certain hotel and airline loyalty programs, redeem them for a statement credit or even transfer them to someone else. Both rewards cards also give you access to Capital One Shopping, which features flat-rate discounts, coupon codes and other deals.
Which is better for transferring rewards?
The Venture and Venture X are evenly matched when it comes to transferring rewards.
Neither are specifically airline credit cards but they allow you to transfer your bonus miles to one of 15 airline loyalty programs, including British Airways Executive Club, Qantas Frequent Flyer and Virgin Red. Capital One also allows you to transfer miles to Choice Privileges, Accor Live Limitless and Wyndham Rewards, making it easier to get discounted hotel stays.
The Capital One Venture card and the Capital One Venture X Rewards credit card also have the same redemption rates:
- 500 Accor Live Limitless points for every 1,000 Capital One miles
- 750 Infinity MileageLands (EVA Air) miles for every 1,000 Capital One miles
- 1,000 miles/points for every 1,000 Capital One miles for every other transfer partner
How much are Capital One Miles worth?
The value of Capital One Miles varies depending on how you choose to redeem them. The chart below shows the average value of miles based on how they are redeemed:
| Redemption option |
Value of 1 mile |
Value of 20K miles |
| Travel purchases with Capital One Travel |
1 cent |
$200 |
| Outside travel purchases (as statement credit) |
1 cent |
$200 |
| Gift card |
0.8 cents |
$160 |
| Cash back (as statement credit or check) |
0.5 cents |
$100 |
| Transfer partners |
Average 1.4 cents but up to 2.6 cents, depending on the transfer partner |
Average $280, up to $520 |
Capital One Venture vs Venture X: Travel perks
Winner: Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card
Both credit cards offer many of the same travel benefits, but the Venture X comes out slightly ahead when you account for the $300 annual travel credit and expanded access to airport lounges.
Here’s how the two cards stack up against each other.
Airport lounge access
The Capital One Venture X Rewards credit card beats the standard Venture card in this category, as you get unlimited visits to Capital One Lounges, Plaza Premium lounges and Priority Pass lounges. You can also bring two guests at no additional charge. With the Venture credit card, you only get two complimentary lounge visits per year. Additionally, lounge access is limited to Capital One Lounges and Plaza Premium lounges.
Travel insurance
Both credit cards come with several types of travel insurance, including coverage for trip delays, lost or stolen baggage, trip cancellations and trip interruptions. Therefore, there’s no clear winner in this category.
Car rental benefits
The Capital One Venture X Rewards credit card pulls ahead of the Venture card in terms of car rental benefits. As a Visa Infinite card, the Venture X gives you primary rental car coverage when you’re in the United States. Primary coverage kicks in before your personal auto insurance does, while secondary coverage acts as a supplement to your personal policy.
TSA PreCheck or Global Entry
Once again, the cards are evenly matched, as they both come with a credit of up to $120 toward your TSA PreCheck or Global Entry enrollment fee.
Hotel access
The Capital One Venture X Rewards credit card offers slightly better hotel benefits than the Venture card, so it handily wins as the better hotel credit card.
When you use Capital One Travel to book a hotel in the Premium Collection, you’ll get daily breakfast for two, a $100 experience credit, complimentary room upgrades (when available) and early check-in/late checkout (when available). This collection includes high-end hotels selected for their premium features.
If you use your Capital One Venture X Rewards credit card to book a hotel in the Lifestyle Collection, you’ll receive a $50 experience credit. With the Venture card, you only get to choose from hotels in the Lifestyle Collection, and your experience credit is limited to $50 per eligible stay.
Travel credits
One of the biggest advantages of the Venture X credit card is that it comes with a $300 annual statement credit to offset some of your travel purchases. This covers almost the entire annual fee, making it a valuable benefit. The Venture credit card doesn’t come with an annual travel credit.
Capital One Venture vs Venture X: Other benefits
▶︎ Learn more: Capital One Venture Card benefits
▶︎ Learn more: Capital One Venture X Card benefits
Winner: Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card
Travel perks aren’t the only reason to get one of these Capital One travel credit cards. You also gain access to several other benefits.
Consumer protections
Both cards come with $0 fraud liability, security alerts, extended warranty coverage and emergency card replacement.
The Venture X credit card also includes return protection, purchase protection and cell phone protection, making it the clear winner in this category.
Return protection reimburses you if a retailer refuses to refund you for a damaged or defective item within 90 days of purchase. Purchase protection gives you 90 days of coverage for theft or damage. You must purchase a covered item with your Venture X credit card to use either type of protection.
Cell phone protection reimburses you in the following circumstances:
- You accidentally damage your phone.
- Someone steals your phone.
- You’re separated from your phone and can’t retrieve it. For example, if you drop your phone through a sewer grate, you probably won’t be able to get it back.
To use the cell phone protection, you must use your Venture X card to pay your phone bill.
Authorized users
Unlike many credit card companies, Capital One doesn’t charge a fee to add authorized users to an account. This applies to both the Venture card and the Venture X card.
Capital One Venture vs Venture X: Fees
Winner: Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card
The Venture card wins this category, but only because its annual fee ($95) is less than one-third of the fee for the Venture X ($395).
Otherwise, both credit cards have exactly the same fees:
- Balance transfer fee: $0 at the transfer APR, 4% of the amount of each transferred balance that posts to your account at a promo APR that Capital One may offer to you
- Cash advance fee: Either $5 or 5% of the cash advance, whichever is higher
- Foreign transaction fee: $0
- Late payment fee: Up to $40
Capital One Venture vs Venture X: Eligibility
Winner: It’s a tie!
Both of these Capital One cards are difficult to get, as they’re for consumers with high credit scores.
At a minimum, you should have a FICO score in the high 700s, although Capital One says an exceptional FICO score of 800+ may improve your chances of approval.
Should I get the Capital One Venture or Venture X credit card?
These Capital One credit cards come with many of the same benefits, such as extended warranty protection, insurance coverage for trip delays and trip cancellations, access to Capital One Shopping and up to $120 toward your TSA PreCheck or Global Entry enrollment fee.
Where the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card really shines is in the travel perks category. Once you have this credit card, you earn 5X on eligible flights and vacation rentals and 10X on eligible hotel stays and car rentals. Venture X members also get a $300 annual travel credit, making it much easier to break even on the annual fee.
The standard Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card is for consumers who don’t travel frequently or don’t want to pay $395 per year to maintain their membership. You can still earn plenty of rewards with the Venture Rewards card; it will just take a little longer to accumulate miles.
Can I upgrade from the Venture to the Venture X?
You may be able to upgrade from the Venture to the Venture X if you’ve had your Venture card for at least a year. You can check if you’re eligible by calling the number on the back of your card and speaking to an agent, or by signing into your account online and viewing your available offers and upgrades.
If you’re not sure whether either of these cards are right for you, check out our other Capital One credit card reviews.
