The two versions of the Chase Sapphire card have helped catapult travel rewards into a mainstream obsession. The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is still one of the most popular rewards credit cards despite debuting more than a decade ago, and the Chase Sapphire Reserve® was so in-demand that Chase ran out of metal cards when it launched in 2016.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card and Chase Sapphire Reserve® recently got makeovers, adding new or improved bonus categories and additional benefits. Neither card got an annual fee increase: You’ll still pay $550 per year for the Chase Sapphire Reserve® and $95 for the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card.
Chase Ultimate Rewards points are some of the most valuable credit card rewards around, so having either the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or the Chase Sapphire Reserve® is a smart move, especially if you want to use points to travel. But while it used to be relatively easy to make a case for the Reserve’s higher fee, the pandemic travel downturn changed the equation a bit.
Let’s dig into the Chase Sapphire cards’ biggest differences — including the newest updates — to help make your choice easier.
Comparison: Chase Sapphire Preferred vs Chase Sapphire Reserve
Chase Sapphire card benefits and rewards
Regular APR
16.24% – 23.24% Variable
Recommended Credit Score
Good to Excellent
- Earn 80,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That’s $1,000 when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards®.
- Enjoy benefits such as a $50 annual Ultimate Rewards Hotel Credit, 5x on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards®, 3x on dining and 2x on all other travel purchases, plus more.
- Get 25% more value when you redeem for airfare, hotels, car rentals and cruises through Chase Ultimate Rewards®. For example, 80,000 points are worth $1,000 toward travel.
- With Pay Yourself Back(SM), your points are worth 25% more during the current offer when you redeem them for statement credits against existing purchases in select, rotating categories
- Count on Trip Cancellation/Interruption Insurance, Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver, Lost Luggage Insurance and more.
Aside from the annual fee, the biggest differences are their earning rates and that the Chase Sapphire Reserve® comes with up to a $300 annual travel credit, access to more than 1,300 airport lounges through the Priority Pass network, a trip delay insurance policy that takes effect after shorter delays, elite benefits with a few car rental agencies, and access to new Chase Sapphire airport lounges (when they open) and Reserved by Sapphire restaurant reservations.
Meanwhile, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card recently added up to $50 per year in statement credits for hotels booked through the Chase Travel Portal. Cardholders will also receive an anniversary bonus equal to 10% of all purchases made in the previous year.
Read more: How to earn, redeem, and maximize Chase Ultimate Rewards points
Both the Chase Sapphire Reserve® and Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card cardholders also get a complimentary DashPass membership, which waives delivery fees on orders of $12 or more (activation required, through December 31, 2024).
Through March 2025, the Chase Sapphire Reserve® offers 10x points on Lyft rides — a great return on spending — while the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card offers 5x points. Both cards also offer $10 per month in Gopuff credit through December 2023.
Redeeming Chase Ultimate Rewards points
Chase offers cardholders great options for redeeming points, including several that don’t involve travel. You can exchange them for cash back at 1 cent per point, or use them to purchase travel through the Chase Travel Portal — with a 25% bonus for Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card cardholders. Best of all, you can transfer points to Chase’s airline and hotel partners.
Read more: 4 reasons to apply for the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card now
With the Chase Sapphire Reserve®, you can redeem points the same way as with the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card — with one difference. When using them to purchase travel through Chase, you’ll get a 50% bonus, instead of 25% with the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card.
The Pay Yourself Back option is an especially good way to use points during the coronavirus pandemic if you want to cut down on costs but aren’t ready to book travel.
Which Chase Sapphire card should you get?
Regular APR
17.24% – 24.24% Variable
Recommended Credit Score
Excellent
- Earn 50,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That’s $750 toward travel when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards®
- $300 Annual Travel Credit as reimbursement for travel purchases charged to your card each account anniversary year.
- Earn 5x total points on air travel and 10x total points on hotels and car rentals when you purchase travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards® immediately after the first $300 is spent on travel purchases annually. Earn 3x points on other travel and dining & 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases
- Get 50% more value when you redeem your points for travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards®. For example, 50,000 points are worth $750 toward travel
- With Pay Yourself BackSM, your points are worth 50% more during the current offer when you redeem them for statement credits against existing purchases in select, rotating categories
- 1:1 point transfer to leading airline and hotel loyalty programs
- Access to 1,300+ airport lounges worldwide after an easy, one-time enrollment in Priority PassTM Select and up to $100 application fee credit every four years for Global Entry, NEXUS, or TSA PreCheck®
- Count on Trip Cancellation/Interruption Insurance, Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver, Lost Luggage Insurance and more
Along with the perks, though, the Chase Sapphire Reserve® comes with a higher annual fee. While the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card costs only $95 a year, the Chase Sapphire Reserve® has an annual fee of $550.
So what, if anything, makes the Chase Sapphire Reserve® worth the higher annual fee compared to the $95? Which one is right for you?
Here are a few questions to ask yourself when deciding between the two cards.
How much do you spend on travel, dining, and other bonus categories?
To start, let’s keep it simple and focus on the points earning.
Without considering any other perks or benefits, the deciding factor between the two cards should be your spending habits. Each card offers bonus rewards in different categories, but if you spend enough in categories where the Chase Sapphire Reserve® earns more points (for example, hotels and car rentals purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards), it may be worth paying a higher annual fee.
Keep in mind the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card offers a couple of categories that aren’t available on the Chase Sapphire Reserve® at all — 3x points on online grocery purchases (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs) and on select streaming services. If you spend a lot in these categories, you’ll likely do better with the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card fee is $95, while the Chase Sapphire Reserve® fee is $550. However, if you factor in the $300 travel credit that the Sapphire Reserve includes each year — which is good on everything from taxis, parking, tolls, and subway fares to flights, cruises, and hotels — the card’s fee is effectively only $250.
With the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, you can effectively pay only $45 a year when you factor in the $50 hotel credit ($95 – $50). So the difference between the Preferred’s fee (effectively $45) and the Reserve’s (effectively $250) is $205.
For argument’s sake, let’s assume you value your points at 1.5 cents each (that’s the value of points used to purchase travel through Chase or for paying yourself back for eligible purchases, with the 50% bonus if you hold the Sapphire Reserve). You would need to earn an additional 13,667 points per year ($205 / $0.015) to make up for the effective annual fee difference between the two cards.
The amount of spending required to generate that difference in points depends on whether or not you’ll be able to take advantage of the Chase Sapphire Reserve®‘s higher bonus categories. For example, if you spend a lot on hotels and car rentals booked through the Chase Travel Portal, you’ll earn 10x points with the Reserve on these purchases, versus 5x points with the Preferred.
If you value Chase points higher because you transfer them to partners like British Airways, Hyatt, Marriott, and United to book higher-value redemptions, simply substitute your valuation of Chase points for $0.015 in this equation to find your breakeven point.
Of course, this will still require you to pay the $550 annual fee every 12 months. Even though you’ll get the travel credit applied to the first $300 of relevant spending each cardmember year, that can be a lot of money to pay upfront.
Whether you want to front $550 is a personal decision, so make sure you weigh the cash outlay against the higher earning potential.
Moving on from points earning …
Will you use the Chase Sapphire Reserve’s benefits?
In exchange for a higher annual fee, the Chase Sapphire Reserve® offers the following benefits that you won’t find on the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card:
- Access to Chase Sapphire Lounges by The Club (when open)
- Access to Reserved by Sapphire restaurant reservations
- Priority Pass Select airport lounge membership
- Global Entry, TSA PreCheck, or NEXUS application fee credit
If you can make use of these perks, the higher annual fee could be worth it.
But if you don’t want to travel right now or aren’t interested in ordering food delivery through DoorDash, these perks won’t move the needle much — and you’ll still have to pay $550 a year. In that case, it really comes down to how much you spend in each card’s bonus categories, and how you value the extra Chase points you’ll earn with either card.
You’ll also want to evaluate the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card‘s new benefits — including the 10% anniversary points bonus and $50 hotel credit — because you won’t receive those on the Chase Sapphire Reserve®. Again, depending on your travel and spending habits, these perks could be more worthwhile to you, and for a much lower annual fee.
How do you value the Sapphire Preferred’s higher sign-up bonus?
Despite the higher annual fee, the welcome bonus on the Chase Sapphire Reserve® is actually quite a bit lower than the bonus on the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card.
It could be worth earning the higher bonus with the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, then upgrading it to the Chase Sapphire Reserve® after your first year — especially if you plan to do more traveling after the pandemic.
How do you value the trip delay insurance?
A lot of discussion around the Chase Sapphire Reserve® focuses on the points and more obvious perks, like lounge access, but personally, I think the trip delay insurance is one of the most valuable features. I live in New York, where delays are fairly frequent, whether because of mechanical issues, intense weather, or other problems.
Read more: The best credit cards with trip delay insurance
That’s why I like the extra layer of security added by the Chase Sapphire Reserve®. The card’s trip delay coverage becomes effective after just six hours, or if you end up stuck overnight. Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card coverage is also activated when there’s an overnight delay; if the delay is entirely during the day, the coverage takes effect after 12 hours.
If the trip delay insurance activating sooner is worth the higher annual fee, then you should consider the Chase Sapphire Reserve®. After a seven-hour delay on a trip, I was able to submit a claim for expenses including lunch, a phone backup battery, and even a pair of headphones I needed. However, any stay that incurs major expenses, like a hotel room and a change of clothes, would probably involve an overnight stay and therefore be covered by the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card insurance.
Will you use the airport lounge access?
The Chase Sapphire Reserve® includes a complimentary Priority Pass Select membership for as long as you have the card. Priority Pass is a network of more than 1,300 airport lounges around the world. A Select membership grants access to member lounges for you and up to two travel companions.
While amenities vary by lounge, most of them tend to offer private Wi-Fi, free hard and soft drinks, snacks, and comfortable seating. Some lounges also feature heartier food options, sometimes included or sometimes for an additional charge.
Read more: Guide to the best credit cards with airport lounge access
You can take a look at Priority Pass’s full network of lounges by clicking “Find a Lounge” on the upper-left corner of this page to gauge whether the membership will be useful for you. The network is more robust abroad as the number of US locations is relatively limited and they tend to be found in international terminals, so you may not always be able to access lounges before domestic trips.
Several airports also have restaurants that are part of the Priority Pass network. At these restaurants, you’ll get a certain amount credited on the bill for you and each guest. For example, at Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH), two restaurants — Landry’s Seafood and Cadillac Mexican Kitchen and Tequila Bar — participate in Priority Pass.
If you don’t think you’ll have much use for the Priority Pass membership, you might prefer the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card and its lower annual fee.
Do you already have Global Entry/TSA PreCheck?
If you don’t have Global Entry and TSA PreCheck, you should really get it. With PreCheck, you can use special security lines at most US airports. In those lanes, you can keep your shoes, belt, and light jacket on, leave your laptop in your bag, and only go through a metal detector instead of a full-body scanner. The process is much quicker than regular security, and it’s much less uncomfortable.
With Global Entry, you can skip the immigration line when returning from the US and scan your passport at an unmanned kiosk instead. It prints a receipt you bring to the customs stop after baggage claim, and just like that, you’re good to go.
You can apply to either program, but Global Entry usually includes TSA PreCheck and the $100 application fee is only a bit more than the $85 you’d pay to just apply for PreCheck. Plus, the Chase Sapphire Reserve® offers a credit for either program (or NEXUS, which includes expedited customs and immigration into Canada). If you aren’t enrolled in one of these programs yet, you may want to consider the Chase Sapphire Reserve®. Otherwise, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card might be your best bet, unless you’re due to renew your membership soon.
Will you add any authorized users to your account?
If you’re looking to add authorized users, like a spouse or child, keep in mind that the Chase Sapphire Reserve® charges an annual fee of $75 to add anyone to your account.
Each authorized user gets his or her own Priority Pass Select membership at least. There’s no fee to add an authorized user to your Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card account.
Bottom line
Ultimately, the two biggest things to consider when deciding between the cards are whether you’re willing to pay the higher annual fee for the Chase Sapphire Reserve®, and whether the card’s additional benefits and bonus categories make it worth that higher fee.
You’ll also want to factor in the difference between the cards’ welcome bonuses, since the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card has a significantly higher offer — 80,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening, versus 50,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening on the Chase Sapphire Reserve®.
Beyond that, take a look at the difference in perks and see which is best for you.