Chase Sapphire Reserve® vs. Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card: Editorial reviews
What we think of the Chase Sapphire Reserve®
The Chase Sapphire Reserve® card is a fan-favorite travel card (and one of our favorites), and for good reason. It earns points generously on travel and non-travel purchases and points are worth 50% more for travel booked through Chase Travel℠. Plus, if you own another Ultimate Rewards® earning credit card, you can pool all your points together to capitalize on those other cards’ bonus categories.
Sapphire Reserve cardholders can also benefit from a $300 annual travel credit, access to Priority Pass™ lounges and Sapphire Lounges, travel insurance perks and various partner statement credits.
Where this card falls flat— the $550 annual fee and the caveats associated with the annual travel credit. The fee is difficult to stomach if you aren’t a dedicated traveler who can maximize its benefits. The travel credit adds an element of frustration since you won’t start earning points on travel purchases until you’ve utilized the entire credit each year.
What we think of the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card
Capital One Venture X is a winner in our books for simplicity and value. Its annual fee is only $395 and its rewards are significantly easier to track, with 10X miles on hotels and rental cars through Capital One Travel, 5X miles on flights and vacation rentals through Capital One Travel and 2X miles on all other eligible purchases. While limited bonus categories also limit your earning potential, the 2X miles on non-bonus spending means you can rack up rewards on everything you buy without thinking about it.
Venture X also has a $300 annual travel credit but you can earn miles while using it up, unlike with the Sapphire Reserve’s credit. You also get Priority Pass™ lounge access and Capital One Lounge access for you and up to two guests. On top of that, for every account anniversary, you automatically get 10,000 bonus miles!
The Venture X falls short when it comes to redemption options and value. When redeeming for travel, your miles are worth 1 cent apiece, which is a pretty solid rate. You can even use Capital One Miles to retroactively cover travel purchases not made in the Capital One Travel portal. But if you’re interested in redeeming for cash back, think again— miles are worth 0.5 cents apiece this way, effectively chopping their value in half.
Sapphire Reserve and Venture X: Shared benefits
The Sapphire Reserve and Venture X have similar benefits, including:
$300 annual travel credit
Both cards have a $300 annual travel credit, one of their most alluring perks. However, the way they work differs slightly.
The Sapphire Reserve’s travel credit automatically applies to the first $300 worth of travel purchases per year, whether made in or outside Chase Travel℠. You won’t earn any points on travel purchases until after using up the travel credit though.
Capital One Venture X’s travel credit is only applicable to purchases made in the Capital One Travel portal, limiting your search. However, you can earn miles while utilizing the credit, one way Venture X has a leg up over Sapphire Reserve.
Travel insurance
Travel insurance comes standard on both of these Visa cards; each includes coverage for trip cancellation and interruption, car rental collision damage and lost luggage. Venture X also comes with cell phone protection.
Chase’s travel insurance wins this category thanks to its higher coverage limits. It offers up to $10,000 per person and $20,000 per trip, while Venture X caps out at $2,000. The Sapphire Reserve card also provides up to $100,000 in coverage for an emergency evacuation.
TSA PreCheck credit
If you’re looking to enroll in a Trusted Traveler program like TSA PreCheck® or Global Entry, both cards will reimburse your application fee.
With the Venture X, you can get up to a $120 credit every four years when you apply for TSA PreCheck or Global Entry and pay the application fee with this card.
Sapphire Reserve’s credit extends to NEXUS in addition to PreCheck and Global Entry, up to $120 every four years when you use your card to pay the application fee.
Airport lounge access
A Priority Pass™ membership is included with both cards; you’ll get unlimited access for yourself and two guests. Priority Pass gains you access to over 1,400 airport lounges worldwide. Whether the lounges are any good honestly varies by location.
Capital One Venture X also provides entrance to Plaza Premium Group lounges and the three Capital One lounges at the Denver, Dallas-Fort Worth and Dulles airports. The Capital One lounges are top-tier so if you’re lucky enough to be at one of these three airports, you’re set. The amenities of these lounges vary based on location, but apparently, they’re all worth the hype.
Chase Sapphire Reserve gets you into the Chase Sapphire Lounge by The Club. There are four locations open currently — New York John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), New York LaGuardia Airport (LGA), Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) and Hong Kong International Airport (HKG). You can also access the Sapphire Terrace at Austin (AUS) and The Etihad Lounge at Dulles Airport (IAD).
If you add authorized users to either card, they receive the same lounge-access benefits. This is where Capital One pulls ahead; it’s free to add users to your card, while Sapphire Reserve has a fee.
Hotel benefits
Both cards offer similar hotel benefits within different hotel networks.
Through booking with the exclusive The Edit by Chase Travel℠, Sapphire cardholders can access complimentary room upgrades (if available at check-in), a $100 property credit, daily breakfast for 2 and more.
Venture X cardholders can book hotels in the Premium Collection and enjoy a $100 experience credit for each stay, early check-in, complimentary room upgrades and late checkouts (when available).
Other shared benefits
The Venture X and Chase Sapphire Reserve cards offer a variety of additional benefits:
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Extended warranty. Both cards offer free one-year extended warranties for items with an original warranty of three years or less. The benefits are equal: $10,000 per claim and up to $50,000 per cardholder.
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Purchase protection. With either card, you’ll get purchase protection for qualified retail purchases up to $10,000. Sapphire Reserve provides this benefit for 120 days from the original purchase date; with Venture X, you’ll get 90 days of purchase protection.
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Return protection. The Capital One Venture X and Chase Sapphire Reserve cards both include 90 days of return protection with a maximum claim value of $1,000 per year. Capital One has a limit of $300 per item, while Chase caps claims at $500 per item.
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No foreign transaction fees. Neither card charges a fee on transactions made outside of the U.S.
Where Chase Sapphire Reserve wins
High redemption rate
Your points can stretch further with the Sapphire Reserve’s 50% more on travel through Chase. While you can redeem your points at a 1 cent per point rate for cash back, Chase Travel℠ purchases net a 1.5 cent per point value. That means 60,000 points can get you $600 in cash back or $900 in travel.
Venture X’s miles are worth 1 cent apiece for travel and 0.5 cents for cash back, so Sapphire Reserve wins by a landslide for this one.
Chase Trifecta
One of the best benefits offered by the Chase Sapphire Reserve card is the ability to pool points together from other Chase cards. For example, if you have the Chase Freedom Unlimited® card, you can use it for its 1.5% (equivalent to 1.5X points) fall-back rate for all other purchases instead of using the Sapphire Reserve’s 1X points on all other purchases.
Any points earned can be transferred to your Sapphire Reserve account and redeemed at its 1.5 cent per point rate for travel through Chase Travel℠.
▶︎ Learn more: Guide to the Chase Trifecta
Partner credits
One place the Sapphire Reserve shines in comparison to the Venture X is with its partner benefits. You can enjoy the following memberships with your Sapphire Reserve:
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Lyft Pink All Access. Get a complimentary Lyft Pink All Access membership for two years, a yearly value of $199. This grants you priority rides, airport pickups, relaxed cancellations and discounted fares. Even after the two years are over, you’re entitled to a 50% discount the next year. This benefit must be activated by December 31, 2024.
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DashPass. When you activate by December 31, 2027, get free DashPass for at least a year. This gives you free delivery, lower service fees and $5 DoorDash credits per month for DoorDash and Caviar.
Venture X doesn’t currently have any partner credits.
Where Capital One Venture X wins
Lower annual fee
Over $150 less than the Sapphire Reserve, Capital One Venture X’s annual fee is still high but far more manageable. The $300 annual travel credit offsets almost the entire fee, while Sapphire Reserve cardholders still need to find $250 in additional value outside of the yearly credit to offset the fee.
Anniversary bonus miles
Venture X’s benefits are more modest than Sapphire Reserve, but it comes with the unique perk of anniversary bonus miles.
Every cardholder anniversary, you’ll automatically get 10,000 bonus miles. If you redeem these miles for travel, that’s an extra $100 in your pocket every year. Add that to the $300 yearly travel credit, and you’ve covered more than the annual fee.
Sapphire Reserve offers no comparable benefit.
Capital One Venture X and Sapphire Reserve: Rewards
Welcome bonus
Venture X offers a welcome bonus of 75,000 miles after you spend $4,000 in the first three months after account opening. At the 1 cent per mile value for travel, this bonus is worth $750.
Sapphire Reserve offers a welcome bonus of 60,000 points after you spend $4,000 within three months of opening your account. At the 1.5 cents per mile value through Chase Travel℠, this bonus is worth $900.
Earning rewards
With the Chase Sapphire Reserve, you can earn:
- 10X points per dollar on hotels and car rentals purchased through Chase Travel
- 10X points on Chase Dining purchases
- 10X points on qualifying Lyft rides (through March 31, 2025)
- 10X points on Peloton equipment and accessory purchases of $150 or more, with a maximum of 50,000 points (through March 2025)
- 5X points on flights purchased through Chase Travel
- 3X points per dollar on all other travel
- 3X points on all other dining purchases worldwide
- 1X points per dollar on everything else
Keep in mind that you won’t earn any points on travel until after the first $300 of travel spending per year. The first $300 spent on travel automatically goes toward the travel credit.
The Venture X is way simpler, earning:
- 10X miles per dollar on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
- 5X miles on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Travel
- 2X miles on all other eligible purchases
Which is better, Venture X or Sapphire Reserve?
If travel expenses make up most of your spending, Chase Sapphire Reserve® has a slight advantage. You’ll earn more points than you would with the Venture X, and you’ll get more value from the rewards.
The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card is a better choice if you prefer to minimize annual fees, especially if you intend to add authorized users to the account. Not interested in playing the miles-and-points game? Capital One’s straightforward reward structure and anniversary bonus miles may be more appealing.
Note: 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.
