Capital One Venture X Vs. Chase Sapphire Preferred: A Comparison More Should Consider

On the surface, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (learn more) and Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card (learn more) are in different leagues. One is sort of the benchmark mid-range travel card, and it was refreshed in June 2026. The other is a premium card that’s well known for being a great value, given that it doesn’t actually “cost” that much to hold onto. That makes this a more interesting matchup than the fee gap suggests, because both cards can end up costing close to nothing once you use their credits (and we’re not talking about some coupon book with dozens of credits).

I think both cards can make sense for certain people, but given how different they are, it’s worth understanding which card is better for your situation (and this is a pairing where “both” is a common and acceptable answer). In this post, I’d like to compare the two cards across a variety of factors.

For context, I hold the Venture X myself (personal and business), and it’s an incredible card for everyday spending, and one that I find to represent a good value. Meanwhile I have the Sapphire Reserve rather than the Sapphire Preferred, even though I have had it in the past, and continue to think it makes sense for a lot of people.

Welcome bonuses: Chase Sapphire Preferred vs. Capital One Venture X

Chase Sapphire Preferred: The card offers a welcome bonus of 100,000 Ultimate Rewards points after spending $5,000 within the first three months. At a minimum, Ultimate Rewards points can be redeemed for one cent each toward the cost of a travel purchase (potentially way more), giving the 100,000 points a minimum value of $1,000. However, I value them significantly more than that, at 1.7 cents each, meaning the bonus is worth $1,700 to me.

Capital One Venture X: The card is offering a welcome bonus of 75,000 Capital One miles after spending $4,000 on purchases within the first three months. Personally, I also value Capital One miles at 1.7 cents each, so to me, the 75,000 miles are worth $1,275.

Winner: The Sapphire Preferred wins, since I value the points currencies equally, and the Sapphire Preferred currently has a bigger bonus. By my valuations that’s $1,700 versus roughly $1,275. The Venture X bonus requires less spending, though ($4,000 versus $5,000), and its bonus is among the better ones you’ll find on a premium card.

Annual fees & credits: Chase Sapphire Preferred vs. Capital One Venture X

Chase Sapphire Preferred: The card has a $95 annual fee, and there’s no cost to add authorized users. Its credit structure is simple. There’s a $100 annual Chase Travel hotel credit with no minimum stay required. That’s one credit, once a year, and it alone can more than offset the annual fee. The June 2026 refresh also added an up to $120 Global Entry, TSA PreCheck, or NEXUS credit once every four years, and a complimentary year of Apple TV (activation required by December 31, 2026), and the card includes DoorDash DashPass perks.

Capital One Venture X: The card has a $395 annual fee, and you can add up to four authorized user cards at no extra cost. Two annual benefits can basically help you recoup the fee, as I see it. There’s a $300 annual credit that can be used through Capital One Travel (starting your first year), which I’d consider to more or less be worth face value, and 10,000 anniversary bonus miles every year starting on your first anniversary, worth a minimum of $100. There’s also a TSA PreCheck or Global Entry fee credit once every four years, plus Hertz President’s Circle status for the primary card member and authorized users .

Winner: Both cards have annual fees that can essentially be covered by the credits, which is unusual for this kind of a matchup. The real difference is what your spending and travel patterns look like. The Sapphire Preferred just requires booking one $100+ hotel through Chase Travel each year, and the fee is small to begin with. The Venture X has a much larger fee, and requires booking $300 of travel through Capital One Travel annually. If you’d book that travel anyway, the credit plus the anniversary miles more than offset the fee, and you’re effectively being paid to hold a premium card. Want the smallest fee with the smallest to do list? That’s the Sapphire Preferred. Want the richest net math if you book travel every year? That’s the Venture X.

Ability to earn points: Chase Sapphire Preferred vs. Capital One Venture X

Chase Sapphire Preferred: The card offers 5x points on travel booked through Chase Travel, 3x points on dining, online groceries, select streaming services, gas stations, EV charging, and vacation rentals, 2x points on all other travel, and 1x points on everything else.

Capital One Venture X: The card offers a minimum of 2x miles on all purchases, plus 10x miles on hotels and rental cars booked via Capital One Travel and 5x miles on flights booked via Capital One Travel. The flat 2x miles makes it one of the best cards for everyday spending.

Winner: This is the classic floor-versus-ceiling tradeoff. The Venture X’s 2x miles floor beats the Sapphire Preferred’s 1x points everywhere the card doesn’t bonus. The Sapphire Preferred’s 3x points categories beat the Venture X’s 2x miles everywhere it does. So you have to crunch the numbers based on your own spending patterns. If dining, groceries, gas, and streaming dominate your spending, the Sapphire Preferred earns more. If your spending is inconsistent, the Venture X wins without any effort.

Lounge access: Chase Sapphire Preferred vs. Capital One Venture X

Chase Sapphire Preferred: The card offers no lounge access. Within the Chase lineup, that’s the Sapphire Reserve’s territory. See my Sapphire Preferred vs. Sapphire Reserve comparison if lounges are what you’re shopping for on the Chase side.

Capital One Venture X: The card offers the primary card member a Priority Pass™ Select membership with access to 1,300+ lounges around the world, unlimited access to Capital One Lounges, and unlimited access to Capital One Landings. If you fly out of DEN, DFW, IAD, JFK, or LAS with any frequency, there’s big value to having access to a Capital One Lounge.

Winner: The Venture X wins by a long shot, and it isn’t even a contest. This is the dimension where the fee gap between the cards is evident. After all, you don’t expect a sub-$100 annual fee card to offer a material lounge access benefit.

Travel protections: Chase Sapphire Preferred vs. Capital One Venture X

Chase Sapphire Preferred: The card offers primary rental car coverage both in the US and abroad, trip cancellation and interruption insurance up to $10,000 per person, trip delay reimbursement up to $500 per traveler for delays of 12+ hours, lost luggage coverage up to $3,000 per traveler, and (new as of June 2026) emergency evacuation coverage.

Capital One Venture X: As a Visa Infinite card, the Venture X offers primary rental car coverage (just decline the collision damage waiver offered by the car rental company, and pay for the full price of the rental with your card), cell phone protection with a $50 deductible when you pay your monthly bill with the card, trip delay reimbursement of up to $500 when you’re delayed by more than six hours or have an overnight stay, and lost luggage reimbursement.

Winner: Far closer than you’d expect for a $95 card against a premium one. Both offer primary rental car coverage, which is the most valuable perk, as I see it. The Venture X also offers cell phone protection and a faster six hour trip delay trigger, while the Sapphire Preferred counters with trip cancellation and interruption coverage up to $10,000 per person, plus the new emergency evacuation coverage. So I’d say this is a toss-up, depending on which risks matter more to you.

Value of points: Chase Sapphire Preferred vs. Capital One Venture X

Chase Sapphire Preferred: Chase Ultimate Rewards points have a guaranteed floor of one cent each toward the cost of a travel purchase through Chase Travel℠, or up to 1.75 cents with Points Boost, and can be transferred to Ultimate Rewards airline and hotel partners, most at a 1:1 ratio (World of Hyatt transfers at 4:3 on this card as of June 2026). Points also pool with other Chase cards, like the no annual fee Freedom cards and the Ink business lineup.

Capital One Venture X: Capital One miles can be redeemed for one cent each toward the cost of a travel purchase. You make an eligible travel purchase using your card, then use your miles to cover it within 90 days. Or you can transfer to Capital One’s nearly 20 airline and hotel partners, typically at a 1:1 ratio. A one-way Air France business class award across the Atlantic starts at just 60,000 miles, which is how I’ve flown a countless number of flights in Air France’s excellent business class across the Atlantic. That’s a ticket that would cost thousands of dollars in cash, booked for the equivalent of $600 worth of travel.

Winner: Nowadays I value both Chase Ultimate Rewards points and Capital One miles equally, at 1.7 cents each. Ultimate Rewards has the Hyatt access and the Points Boost upside (though with Hyatt not being 1:1, it’s less lucrative than in the past), while Capital One counters with the very simple ability to cover any travel purchase. Each side has its non-1:1 exceptions. On the Chase side it’s Hyatt at 4:3 for this card, while on the Capital One side it’s a few partners like EVA Air, JetBlue, and Accor.

Approval odds: Chase Sapphire Preferred vs. Capital One Venture X

Chase Sapphire Preferred: It’s theoretically subjected to the 5/24 rule, meaning you may not be approved if you’ve opened five or more new card accounts in the past 24 months, though anecdotally this rule is no longer consistently enforced. The welcome bonus is once per lifetime on this exact card, and you can’t be approved if you currently have it open.

Capital One Venture X: Capital One doesn’t seem to have any consistent rules when it comes to getting approved, at least not like Amex and Chase. You’re eligible for the Venture X (including the bonus) even if you have the standard Venture, and if you’re an authorized user on someone else’s Capital One card, you’re still eligible to apply yourself. One quirk is that Capital One pulls your credit from all three bureaus when you apply.

Winner: It depends on your situation, but more people will be locked out by the Sapphire Preferred’s rules than the Venture X’s.

Should you get the Sapphire Preferred, the Venture X, or both?

Get the Sapphire Preferred if:

• Your spending is concentrated in its 3x points categories, like dining, groceries, streaming, and now gas, EV charging, and vacation rentals
• You want the smallest fee, trip cancellation coverage, and the Chase ecosystem, including pooling with Freedom and Ink cards, and Hyatt access
• Lounge access isn’t worth paying for in your travel pattern

Get the Venture X if:

• You want lounge access without a painful net cost, since the $300 travel credit and anniversary miles effectively erase the fee if you book travel every year
• Your spending isn’t concentrated in any one category, where the 2x floor beats chasing categories
• You fly out of DEN, DFW, IAD, JFK, or LAS, or rent from Hertz with any frequency

Get both if the math fits, and for a lot of people it does, because these cards barely overlap. The Sapphire Preferred covers the bonus categories and trip coverage, while the Venture X covers everything else with 2x miles and offers airport lounge access perks. Since both are effectively self-funding, the pairing costs little to maintain. And if you’d rather stay mid-range with Capital One, see the Sapphire Preferred vs. Capital One Venture comparison instead.

Bottom line

The Chase Sapphire Preferred and Capital One Venture X are both lucrative cards, and while their annual fees are very different, I think they could both be lucrative to a similar type of consumer. The Sapphire Preferred is the best version of the mid-range category card, with a bigger bonus, broad 3x points earning after the June 2026 refresh, travel coverage, and a fee the hotel credit potentially wipes out. The Venture X is the rare premium card that pays for itself while delivering lounge access and a 2x miles floor on everything.

If you’re choosing exactly one, pick based on your spending shape and how much lounges matter. But this is one of those matchups where the two cards complement each other, so holding both could make sense.

Which do you prefer, the Chase Sapphire Preferred or the Capital One Venture X? And if you hold both, how do you split your spending?

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