Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card vs. Chase Sapphire Reserve®
🔥 Update 8/21/25: The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card’s welcome offer is currently 75,000 points bonus when you spend $5,000 in 3 months from account opening. Additionally, the Chase Sapphire Reserve® is now offering a 125,000 points bonus for $6,000 spend in 3 months from account opening.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card and Chase Sapphire Reserve® are easily two of the best card options you can invest in towards your free travel goals. Both cards offer big value, earning you thousands of points in a short period of time that you can easily transfer to 14 travel partners via Chase Ultimate Rewards® points.
Regardless of your choice between the Chase Sapphire Preferred and Chase Sapphire Reserve, both cards offer great value, but with a slight difference depending on who’s using it and how they’re using it.
So, if you want to choose only one card out of these two options, we’ve broken down both cards in terms of annual fees, signup bonuses, credits, earnings, and more to give you a deeper insight into which card best fits your needs.
Chase Travel℠
The easiest way to redeem Chase points is in the Chase Travel portal.
The portal offers Points Boost, a variable points redemption system offering up to 1.5 cents – 2 cents per point on select bookings depending on the card used for booking (otherwise 1 cent per point). Points Boost is only available for eligible flight and hotel bookings made within the portal. All other travel booking made within the portal are 1 cent per point.
Also remember, points transfer to the 14 travel partners at the same 1-to-1 ratio.
Winner for this round: Sapphire Reserve (since Points Boost bookings can be up to 2 cents per point.)
Annual Fees
The most notable difference between the Chase Sapphire Preferred and Chase Sapphire Reserve is the annual fee costs.
While the Chase Sapphire Preferred only charges an annual fee of $95, the Chase Sapphire Reserve charges an annual fee of $795 ($700 more expensive). Both fees are not waived during the first year, so the Chase Sapphire Reserve’s $795 annual fee might be considered heavy.
Winner for this round: The Chase Sapphire Preferred
Annual Credits
The Chase Sapphire Reserve offers more credits than the Chase Sapphire Preferred, and they can make a significant difference in the card’s overall value. Despite the $795 annual fee, the Chase Sapphire Reserve includes a $300 annual travel credit that applies to a wide range of travel expenses (airlines, hotels, Uber, and more). That credit brings the effective annual cost gap down to roughly $400 compared to the Chase Sapphire Preferred – though only if you actually use it toward travel.
Bonus Tip: The good news on the $300 travel credit: it works automatically. Any purchase that codes as travel – airlines, hotels, Uber, even some parking – gets credited back to your statement without any activation or tracking on your part. For most people, this credit gets used up quickly without any extra effort.
Additionally, cardholders receive a variety of premium statement credits, including an annual $500 The Edit by Chase Travel credit (a luxury hotel portal for select properties), a $300 annual dining credit for restaurants available through Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables, a $300 StubHub credit for purchases through 12/31/27 (activation required), and more. Keep in mind: most of these credits apply only through Chase-specific portals or participating vendors. Their real-world value depends on how well they match your actual spending habits – so it’s worth reviewing each one before factoring them into your decision.
The Chase Sapphire Reserve also provides a credit of up to $120 that can go towards a Global Entry, TSA PreCheck, or NEXUS application fee (once every four years). Being a Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholder, you also have a complimentary Priority Pass Select membership, which gives access to 1,300+ lounges in more than 500 airports around the world. As long as you are a Chase Sapphire Reserve holder, you can use the lounges regardless of the airline you are flying, your ticket class, or your membership in any club, and you can bring 2 guests.
Those with the Chase Sapphire Reserve will also have access to the fairly new Chase Sapphire Lounges (currently located in Boston, Austin, LaGuardia, JFK, Dulles, and Hong Kong). Access is available to the cardmember (once they link their card to a complimentary Priority Pass membership) and two guests. Authorized users (the cost to add an authorized user is $195/year) also receive this benefit.
Winner for this round: The Chase Sapphire Reserve
Extra Points Earning
When it comes to earning points, there is also a considerable difference between the Chase Sapphire Preferred and the Chase Sapphire Reserve.
With the Chase Sapphire Preferred, you can earn 3x the points per dollar spent on all dining (including takeout and delivery), online grocery purchases (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs), and select streaming services, 2x points on travel-related expenses, and 1x points on all other purchases. However, with the Chase Sapphire Reserve, you can earn 4x points on flights and hotels booked directly, 3x points for dining (including takeout and delivery), and 1x point on everything else.
Additionally, with the Chase Sapphire Preferred, you’ll earn 5x total points on travel purchased through Chase Travel. With the Chase Sapphire Reserve, you’ll earn 8x on all travel booked through the Chase Travel portal (after the first $300 is spent on travel purchases annually).
This puts the Chase Sapphire Reserve card at an advantage, especially for members who spend more on travel.
That said, for everyday spending beyond travel, the Preferred often earns more. It earns 3x on dining, 3x on online groceries, and 3x on select streaming services – categories the Reserve matches on dining but earns only 1x on groceries and streaming. If your biggest spending is on everyday life rather than flights, the Preferred’s earning structure may serve you better than it first appears.
Winner for this round on travel earning: The Chase Sapphire Reserve; Winner for this round on everyday earning: The Chase Sapphire Preferred
Finally, there’s one more Preferred perk worth knowing: every year on your account anniversary, Chase adds a 10% point bonus based on all the points you earned that year. So if you earned 75,000 points, you’d receive an extra 7,500 points automatically. The Reserve doesn’t offer this benefit.
Authorized Users
When you wish to add additional authorized users to your account, the Chase Sapphire Preferred requires no additional fees to do so; however, the Chase Sapphire Reserve charges a fee of $195 per authorized user. There are no bonus points when adding an authorized user, but the only notable benefit that you get is the additional points you earn when they use their cards for spending.
Of the two, however, the Chase Sapphire Reserve does offer an added benefit of a Priority Pass Select Card for every authorized user, which gives access to an independent program offering the same exact lounge access as the primary member including the opportunity to bring up to 2 guests per lounge visit. (NOTE: For any additional guests, your card will be charged $27 per guest, per visit.)
Winner for this round: It’s a tie!
| Chase Sapphire Preferred | Chase Sapphire Reserve | |
|---|---|---|
| Sign Up Bonus | 75,000 points when you spend $5,000 in your first three months. | 125,000 bonus for $6,000 spend in 3 months |
| Value | $750+ towards travel when you redeem points via Chase Travel℠. Get more value through transfer partners. | $1,250+ towards travel when you redeem points via Chase Travel℠. Get more value through transfer partners. |
| Annual Fees | $95/year | $795/year |
| Annual Travel Credits | $50 annual hotel credit, earn 10% of your points back each anniversary year | $300/year for Chase Travel purchases; $500/year for The Edit by Chase Travel; $300 dining credit; $300 StubHub credit (thru 12/31/27; activation required); $250 credit to Apple TV+ and Apple Music subscriptions (thru 6/22/27) |
| Other Credits or Benefits | None | $120 every 5 years for Global Entry Applications, $85 for TSA PreCheck Applications |
| Priority Pass Select Membership - offers lounge access to more than 1,300+ locations (across 500 cities) worldwide | ||
| Earning Rate | 5x points per dollar for all travel booked through Chase Travel℠ portal, 5x on Lyft (offer extended through September 2027), 3x on all dining, 3x on online groceries (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs), 3x on select streaming services, 2x on all other travel purchases, 1x points per dollar for other expenses | 8x on all travel booked through Chase Travel℠ portal, 5x on Lyft (offer extended through September 2027), 4x on flights and hotels booked directly, 3x on dining expenses, 1x for other expenses |
| Points Redemption via Chase Travel℠ Portal | 1 point = variable rate of 1 to 1.75 cents with Points Boost | 1 point = variable rate of 1 to 2 cents with Points Boost |
| Authorized Users | Free | $195 per user |
| Benefits for Authorized Users | None | Priority Pass Select Membership - offers lounge access to more than 1,300+ locations (across 500 cities) worldwide |
Final thoughts
Both cards offer real value. The better fit comes down to who you are and how you travel. The two sections below make that call easy.
Why Chase Sapphire Preferred is Best
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is the stronger starting point for anyone still getting their footing with free travel. It carries a lower $95 annual fee while still giving you access to valuable Chase Ultimate Rewards® points and strong free travel options. If you want a card that delivers meaningful rewards without a large upfront fee, this is the right place to start.
Why Chase Sapphire Reserve is Best
If you travel frequently – multiple trips per year, with regular spending on flights and hotels – the Chase Sapphire Reserve® may be worth a close look. The higher earning rates (8x on Chase Travel portal bookings, 4x on direct flights and hotels) give frequent travelers a real opportunity to accumulate points faster. Combined with the $300 annual travel credit and other benefits, many frequent travelers find the $795 annual fee offsets over time. That said, if you’re not yet traveling enough to use the lounge access and credits regularly, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is almost certainly the better starting point. There’s no reason to pay for benefits you won’t use.
A quick way to figure out which card fits you: Think about where most of your spending happens. If it’s primarily on dining, groceries, and streaming – or if you’re just getting started with one travel card – the Preferred’s earning structure and lower annual fee make it the stronger starting point for most people. If you’re regularly spending on flights and hotels and can realistically use the Reserve’s statement credits, the math starts to shift toward the Reserve.
One more difference worth noting: both cards include solid travel protections like trip cancellation coverage and lost luggage protection. The Reserve kicks in faster on trip delay insurance (6 hours vs. 12 hours for the Preferred) and also includes emergency evacuation coverage up to $100,000 – which the Preferred doesn’t offer. If travel protection matters to you, the Reserve has a meaningful edge here.
