Chase Sapphire Preferred vs Capital One Venture – Head to Head Review

The two most heavily advertised mile credit cards right now are the Chase Sapphire Preferred and Capital One Venture. Both are quality mile credit cards. It’s hard to go ‘wrong’ with either one in terms of value you earn per dollar you spend on the cards. Neither is rich in special perks, but they are both generous with regard to getting travel value per dollar you spend.

Both offer ‘miles as cash’ rewards that offer dollars toward travel purchases on any airline, with the Capital One Venture offering the most generous ‘miles as cash’ value. However the Chase Sapphire Preferred lets you turn your points into regular airline miles, which can open up many options with even higher value for people willing do to some homework.

Here’s a rundown..

	Chase Sapphire Preferred	Capital One Venture
Intro bonus	40,000 points ($500+ value)	10,000 points ($100 value)
Point earning	2x points dining, travel; 1x all else	2x points on all purchases
Use points as $ toward any travel	Yes, 1 point = 1.25 cents	Yes, 1 point = 1 cent
Annual fee	$95	$59
Transfer points to airline mile accounts	Yes, to United, Southwest, British Airways, Korean	No
Transfer points to hotel point accounts	Yes, to Hyatt, Marriott, Priority Club	No
Combine points with friends / family	Yes	Yes
Foreign transaction fees	None	None
	Apply Now	Apply Now

How the Capital One Venture works

It’s a pretty simple ‘miles as cash’ credit card:

• Each point you earn is worth one cent you can use for the cost of travel.
• You simply buy the travel through whatever website or agent you want and apply the points to your travel purchases after they hit your statement. Just note that you must have enough points to cover at least one full transaction to use them. You can’t use points to cover just part of a travel purchase.
• You earn double points -  2 points for every dollar you spend. So, with each point worth one cent, each dollar you spend gets you two cents in value with the double points.

How the Chase Sapphire Preferred works

The Chase Sapphire Preferred can also be simple…

• It also has a ‘miles as cash’ option. Each point is worth 1.25 cents toward travel on  any airline, hotel, car rental, or cruise. And you can use points to pay for partial amounts of travel.
• You earn 2 points per dollar on all dining and travel purchases, or 3 points per dollar for travel booked via UltimateRewards.com. You earn 1 point per dollar in all other categories.
• You can also transfer your points directly into your accounts with several airline mile and hotel point programs, including United Airlines, Southwest Airlines, British Airways, Korean Airlines, Marriott, Hyatt, Amtrak, and Priority Club. That lets you build on your existing balances and take advantage of higher value rewards only available to members of each airline and hotel program.
• You can do things like upgrade to first class, book flexible international itineraries, or take advantage of great hotel point values.
• This is what makes the Chase Sapphire Preferred the Swiss Army knife of mile credit cards. If you are the kind of traveler who is willing to put in a touch of extra effort to learn which mile rewards offer the best values, you can reap bigger rewards with this card than most any other.

When you should consider the Capital One Venture

The Capital One Venture is best suited to people new to the idea of earning points for travel who don’t want to spend any time doing homework on the best mile deals. If you don’t have a lot of miles and points stashed in other places it’s a good card to get started for basic value that gives you a good cash back rate on your travel.

1. You’re willing to cap your earnings at 2 cents per dollar spent to gain flexibility

The Capital One Venture’s points are always worth 1 cent each toward travel. Since you earn 2x points per dollar you spend, you’re getting 2 cents in value (2%) in earnings per dollar you spend. So with Capital One if you want to use points for a $500 ticket you will need 50,000 points. A $250 ticket will need 25,000 points. The price in points is always directly related to the price in dollars it would cost to buy a ticket.

However airline miles aren’t always worth 1 cent each toward travel. In some cases they can be worth much more. That’s because most airlines require one or two mileage amounts for a ticket regardless of the cash cost to buy it. For example, most domestic tickets cost 25,000 miles roundtrip with airline programs. That’s the mile cost regardless of whether the cash price of the ticket is $200, $500, or $750.

Basically the rule of thumb is — if the tickets you want generally cost $500 or less, you’re better off using Capital One points. That’s because for a 25,000 mile airline mile ticket to be worth the Capital One’s 2 cents per point you would need to use it for a $500 or higher ticket.

For international travel, you’ll also tend to find airline miles are a better value than using Capital One points.

2. You don’t want to be able to move miles from into your existing airline or hotel mile accounts.

Capital One miles can’t be transferred into your existing airline mile or hotel point accounts. So if you have a bunch lying around your credit card spend won’t be able to supplement this directly. But if you’re not someone without a lot of miles, then this shouldn’t be an issue.

3. You don’t want to fly first class

Capital One miles can’t be used for upgrades to first class. Yes, you can use them to buy first class tickets, but you’re rarely going to find a good value there. Usually first class tickets cost $1,000 or more. That costs more than 100,000 Capital One miles.

If you are using a native airline mile program you can usually get a ticket outright for 50,000 miles roundtrip. Or you can upgrade to first class from a paid ticket for 15,000 miles in many cases. That’s not possible with Capital One miles. You can do it with a card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred which lets you transfer points into airline mile accounts.

Do the math yourself

If you want to dig further, check out the Mile Credit Card Comparison Calculator. You can input your personal spending habits and it will tell you which card has the highest value for you.

And to be honest, you may want to consider both.

The introductory offer of 50,000 points on the Chase Sapphire Preferred is in itself worth at minimum $625 toward travel on any airline, hotel, or car rental provider. Or you can transfer them into participating airline mile and hotel point programs for potentially higher value.