Chase’s Sapphire Preferred® and Sapphire Reserve® cards are popular travel rewards cards that share many similarities.
Both earn Chase Ultimate Rewards points, which are transferable to multiple hotel and airline partners. Both earn bonus points for travel and dining. Both can use rewards to pay for some travel at a better-than-1-cent-per-point value. Both offer excellent travel protections and no foreign transaction fees. Finally, both can make points earned on Chase Freedom® cards and select Chase Ink® cards more valuable because you can move those “cash back” points to your Sapphire Preferred or Sapphire Reserve card to book travel or transfer points to airline and hotel partners.
Last year, Chase launched a drastic reboot of the Sapphire Reserve, with a revised earning structure, oodles of new coupon-like credits, and a jaw-dropping $795 annual fee.
Each card has its pluses and minuses, along with the wildly different annual fees. In this post, you’ll find a side-by-side comparison of each card’s benefits, perks, and travel & purchase protections that will appeal (or not appeal) to different people in drastically different ways.
However, before diving into the details of each card, it’s important to mention that the best card for you right now may very well be whichever one offers the better welcome offer. Later, you can always call Chase to ask about changing to the other card after the first year.
Overview
If there is such a thing as a “classic” credit card, the Chase Sapphire Preferred card is it, and it’s not hyperbole to say that it changed the world of credit card rewards when it was originally launched in 2009. Not only was it novel to have multiple spending-category bonuses, but it also offered the ability to earn flexible Chase Ultimate Rewards points, allowing cardholders to transfer earnings to hotel and airline loyalty programs.
However, when the Sapphire Reserve card debuted several years later, it was clearly a better choice than the Sapphire Preferred for most travelers. It sported 3X rewards on travel and dining, compared to the Preferred card’s 2X earnings in both categories (at the time). The Sapphire Reserve offered cardholders 1.5 cents per point toward travel booked through Chase, compared with 1.25 cents per point on the Preferred card. The Reserve also had a slew of benefits not available to Preferred cardholders, including a Priority Pass membership.
Initially, the Sapphire Reserve cost $450 per year, but the card’s automatic $300 yearly travel credit made it feel more like a $150 card. In this light, the $95 Sapphire Preferred card didn’t fare well by comparison. After all, with only a net $55 per year extra, you could get better perks, better point earnings, and better value for your points.
Things started changing when Chase increased the Sapphire Reserve annual fee to $550, and now up to $795. Now, the Sapphire Reserve is more like a $ 495-per-year card after the $300 rebate, making it substantially more expensive than the Sapphire Preferred. Chase has also increased the Sapphire Preferred card’s dining earnings to 3X, matching the Reserve card’s offer. The new Reserve card’s earnings on flights and hotels have been bumped up to 4X, but as part of that change, the travel category is now limited to just those two types of purchases; all other travel earns a paltry 1X.
Sapphire Reserve and Preferred Current Welcome Offers
| Card Offer |
|---|
 ⓘ $1919 1st Yr Value Estimate$300 travel credit valued at $285, $300 StubHub credit ($150 Jan-Jun and again Jul-Dec) valued at $75, $500 Chase The Edit credit (2x per calendar year) valued at $125, $300 Chase Dining credit for dining at Sapphire Reserve Tables restaurants ($150 Jan-Jun and again Jul-Dec) valued at $75 Click to learn about first year value estimates 150K Points ⓘAffiliateThis is an affiliate offer. Frequent Miler may earn a commission if you are approved for this offer 150K points after $6K spend in the first 3 months. $795 Annual Fee Recent better offer: None FM Mini Review: Good all-around card for frequent traveler. Best when paired with no annual fee Chase Freedom Flex, Freedom Unlimited & Chase Ink Cash cards. Click here for our complete card review |
 ⓘ $985 1st Yr Value Estimate$50 prepaid hotel credit valued at $35 Click to learn about first year value estimates 75K Points ⓘAffiliateThis is an affiliate offer. Frequent Miler may earn a commission if you are approved for this offer Earn 75,000 bonus points after spending $5,000 within the first three months from account opening.$95 Annual Fee Recent better offer: Expired 5/14/25: 100K after $5K spend FM Mini Review: Great welcome offer. Unlocks ability to transfer points to hotel & airline partners. Solid option to pair with no annual fee Ultimate Rewards cards such as the Freedom cards, Ink Business Cash, and Ink Business Unlimited. |
Annual Fee & Statement Credits
| Sapphire Reserve | Sapphire Preferred | |
|---|---|---|
| Annual Fee | $795 | $95 |
| Authorized User Fee | $195 | $0 |
| Annual Travel Rebate | $300 | $50 towards hotels booked through Chase. |
| Credit towards hotels in the Edit (2-night minimum required) | $250 twice per year | N/A |
| StubHub/viagogo credit | $150 per 6 months | N/A |
| Chase Exclusive Tables Credit | $150 per 6 months | N/A |
The Sapphire Reserve card’s annual $300 travel rebate is easy to maximize. It’s hard not to earn it, since all travel purchases made with the card are automatically rebated up to $300 in total. Note that you don’t earn points on that $300 of spend, so the rebate is arguably worth slightly less than $300.
Meanwhile, the Sapphire Preferred $50 hotel rebate isn’t nearly as easy to earn, since it only applies when you book a paid hotel stay through Chase Travel℠. The rates found through the portal may not be nearly as good as what you can obtain through other means, such as with member discounts, AAA discounts, etc. And, finally, when booking hotels through Chase Travel, you usually won’t earn extra rewards by starting in an online shopping portal.
Last year, Chase added a whole bunch of coupons to the revised Sapphire Reserve, all broken up into irritating, bi-annual chunks: $250 twice per year on bookings through Chase’s luxury hotel collection, The Edit; $150 twice per year at StubHub or viagogo; and $150 twice per year when dining at restaurants that are a part of Chase Exclusive Tables. Note that The Edit credit requires a 2-night minimum booking, and you must pre-pay for your stay.
Ostensibly, these credits give Sapphire Reserve cardholders ~1100 per year in value, and for some folks, it will legitimately provide that amount, particularly if there are lots of restaurants in your area that qualify for the dining credit and/or if you regularly buy event tickets from StubHub. If that’s not you, you’re left with the $250 Edit credits that must be used twice per year on two-night stays.
Because the value of these will vary widely from person to person, we’ll refrain from putting an exact dollar amount on them. But it’s worth asking, “Would I buy these every year for $495?”
Card Perks
Below, we’ve listed the perks for each card that we think are the most valuable. For complete details about card perks and more, see our guides to the Chase Sapphire Reserve and Chase Sapphire Preferred.
| Sapphire Reserve | Sapphire Preferred | |
|---|---|---|
| Foreign transaction fees |
No | No |
| Transfer points to partners: Transfer points 1 to 1 to a variety of airline and hotel programs | Yes | Yes |
| Point Boosts: When booking travel through Chase Travel℠, points are sometimes worth more than 1 cent each thanks to Point Boosts. |
Up to 2 cents per point | Up to 1.5 cents per point for most travel. Up to 1.75 for premium cabin tickets. |
| Grandfathered point value towards travel: When booking travel through Chase Travel℠, points earned prior to October 26, 2025, are worth more than 1 cent each, but only for cardmembers who applied prior to June 23, 2025. | 1.5 cents per point | 1.25 cents per point |
| Point earnings travel booked through Chase Travel℠ | 8x | 5x |
| Point earnings for other flights and hotels | 4x | 2x |
| Point earnings for other travel spend |
1X | 2X |
| Point earnings for dining spend | 3X | 3X |
| Point earnings for streaming services | 1X | 3X |
| Point earnings for online grocery | 1X | 3X |
| Anniversary point bonus* | N/A | 10% |
| Priority Pass & Chase Sapphire Airport Lounge Access: Free entry for the cardholder and up to two guests. This version does NOT include Priority Pass restaurants. | Yes | N/A |
| Global Entry, TSA Pre✔®, or NEXUS Fee Credit: Receive a statement credit of up to $120 every 4 years as reimbursement for the Global Entry, TSA Pre-Check, or NEXUS application fee charged to your card. | Yes | N/A |
| IHG Platinum Status through 12/31/27 | Yes | N/A |
Here again, the card’s benefits diverge even further. There are undoubtedly more benefits with Sapphire Reserve: lounge access, TSA Pre Check credits, and IHG Platinum status. However, those are all benefits that many of us already get with other cards, and the Sapphire Reserve doesn’t offer anything unique beyond access to Sapphire Lounges (which are very nice).
In terms of earnings, the Sapphire Preferred currently offers better returns on non-flight/hotel travel, streaming, and online grocery. That last category can be particularly helpful, as many readers have found that you can get 3X by paying in a grocery store using that store’s app. In addition, the Preferred also gives you a 10% points bonus every year, effectively adding a 0.1 multiplier to all purchases.
By comparison, the Reserve wins on direct purchases of air travel and hotels, as well as purchases through Chase Travel…but not much else. It’s a shame that Chase chose to narrow what was previously a very expansive travel category into the same flight-and-hotel version that almost every “travel” card has. It makes it much harder to think of it as an “all-around travel card.” By comparison, the Preferred earns only 2x, but it applies to all travel, not just flights and hotels.
For many cardholders, the biggest reduction in the value of the “new” Reserve compared to the old one will be the nerfed ability to use points to book travel through Chase at 1.5 cents per point. Instead, Chase Travel℠ will offer rotating “points boosts” of up to 2x (with occasional promotions that may go higher). All other non-boosted travel redemptions will only provide 1 cent per point in value.
How that compares will depend a lot on the frequency and quality of the points boosts. If they’re widespread, apply to many different types of redemptions that you need, and are usually 1.5X+, it could be a win.
Travel Protections
Both cards offer very good protection for paid travel. However, the Sapphire Reserve is clearly superior:
| Sapphire Reserve | Sapphire Preferred | |
|---|---|---|
| Primary Car Rental Coverage1 | Yes | Yes |
| Roadside Assistance | Free 4 times per year | Requires paying a fee for each service |
| Trip Cancellation and Interruption Coverage | Up to $20K per trip | Up to $20K per trip |
| Trip Delay Insurance | 6-hour delay | 12-hour delay |
| Lost Luggage |
Yes | Yes |
| Baggage Delay |
Yes | Yes |
| Travel Accident Insurance | Yes | Yes |
| Emergency Evac & Transport | Up to $100K | N/A |
| Emergency Medical & Dental |
Up to $2,500 | N/A |
- Rental car insurance is not primary for New York State residents who also have a personal car insurance policy.
Purchase Protections
Here are the highlights of the purchase protections that both cards offer. Again, the Sapphire Reserve is clearly superior:
| Sapphire Reserve | Sapphire Preferred | |
|---|---|---|
| Extended Warranty: Extends the U.S. manufacturer’s warranty by an additional year for eligible warranties of three years or less. | Yes | Yes |
| Damage, Theft, Loss Protection: Covers your new purchases for 120 days against damage, theft, or accidental loss. | Max $10K per claim | Max $500 per claim |
| Return Protection: You can be reimbursed for eligible items the store won’t accept within 90 days of purchase. | Max $500 per item, $1,000 per year | N/A |
Chase Sapphire Reserve vs Preferred Summary
| Sapphire Reserve | Sapphire Preferred | |
|---|---|---|
| Annual Fee |
$795 | $95 |
| Authorized User Fee |
$195 | $0 |
| Travel Rebate |
$300 | $50 Hotel |
| Credit towards hotels in the Edit (2-night minimum required) | $250 per 6 months | N/A |
| StubHub/viagogo credit | $150 per 6 months | N/A |
| Chase Exclusive Tables Credit | $150 per 6 months | N/A |
| Point Boosts | Up to 2x | Up to 1.75x |
| Point earning for flights/hotels | 4x | 2.1x* |
| Point earning for all other travel |
1X | 2.1X* |
| Point earning for dining | 3x | 3.1x* |
| Point earning for online grocery and streaming services | 1x | 3x |
| Anniversary point bonus* | N/A | 10% |
| Perks | Better | Limited |
| Travel protection |
Best | Good |
| Purchase protection |
Better | Good |
Conclusion
Undoubtedly, many people will decide that the Sapphire Reserve card’s benefits don’t justify the sizable $795 annual fee. However, some will reasonably decide otherwise. The value proposition of the Sapphire Reserve, with its myriad credits, bears more resemblance to the American Express Platinum Card® than to the Sapphire Preferred.
Here are some reasons why it would make sense to choose the Sapphire Reserve over the Sapphire Preferred:
- The credits for The Edit, StubHub, and Chase Exclusive Tables are useful and easy to optimize
- The majority of your travel bookings are for flights, hotels, or through Chase Travel℠
- You value the Sapphire Reserve card’s Priority Pass benefit (and its ability to get you into Chase Sapphire Lounges)
- You value the Sapphire Reserve card’s better travel protections
If those don’t float your boat, and especially if you don’t find the new credits useful, the Sapphire Preferred is still an excellent way to retain transfers to Chase’s travel partners at a pricetag that’s several hundred dollars lower.
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With the Chase Sapphire reserve providing 8X points on travel and hotel, doesn’t it always make sense to book through Chase and get the multiplier. That being said, what then is the best way to utilize the points to maximize their value?
That’s a great question. I think the answer depends on whether you already have plenty of Chase points. If you already have a great big pile of points, you should be looking for high value opportunties to spend the points rather than to earn more. In that case when 1.75 or 2.0 points boosts are available, it makes sense to go for them. If you’re working on earning more points for high-value redemptions, then it makes sense to earn 8x by paying for travel.
The one thing I’d quibble with is now that travel is not 3x on CSR, I view the $300 travel as essentially a Chase Travel coupon. Sure anything that codes as travel works (and if you use Lyft for the 5x you may just chip away at it) but I’m no longer putting regular daily travel on this card because why earn 1x. So it’s easy to use, but because this card is no longer a “default travel” card, it now takes some effort.
Can I use the coupons? Yes. Do I like it nearly as much as before the refresh? No. Do I like the CSR lounges? Yes. Do I have access to plenty of lounges? Also yes.
Bottom line is that the Amex Plat is a no brainer, and unless you’re a hobbyist like some of us here, putting up with the CSR is now more of an option than a no brainer. But Chase points are still excellent, and CSP definitely has a place in your wallet if no CSR.
What was the verdict on Sapphire SUBs? Are you still eligible for a new bonus after 48 months and downgrading the currently open sapphire?
Thanks for all you do! Have taken some great trips thanks to the blog and pod
It’s once in a lifetime now like Amex but you can get both sign up bonuses on the Preferred or Reserve. TBD on what a “lifetime” means (for Amex that means 7-9 years)
It would be great to have a similar side by side comparison of all the cards with significant travel protection: Amex Platinum/Gold/Green CSR/CSP/Strata Elite/others.
Done! That already exists here.
Not trying to be annoying but should that be updated to include BILT at this point?
Love or hate them the Palladium is at least as much of a premium card as the VX
Living in San Diego, the coupons are easy to use but I’m still not thrilled about it. I’m keeping the card for now but have the ink Business Preferred in case I want to cut and run.
I completely agree. My wife got it last year, and we’ve been able to get use the coupons and have no regrets about the first-year value. Once the annual fee comes due, we’ll downgrade to the Preferred post haste.
After downgrading, how would you use it?
I pretty much pay $45/year for access to Hyatt transfers through Chase (or any other transfer bonus offers they have) with the CSP (after the $50 hotel credit)
Any other utility? Is there a better way to earn and feed Hyatt?
I have a decent stash of Chase points so it’s well worth it to pay that $45/year fee so I can slowly burn through them as needed. Chase has pretty frequent transfer bonuses to Air Canada Aeroplan and Virgin Atlantic and I’ve gotten pretty good redemptions through both programs in addition to Hyatt. I go to Europe fairly often and 60K business class (50K with 20% transfer bonus to Aeroplan) is a great deal.
As for Hyatt, I’m going to wait until May to see what redemption rates look like with the new award chart and how days are distributed across the new bands. But you can transfer Bilt points to Hyatt (I’m LOL/24 and trying to get back under to churn through the Chase hotel cards again so that hasn’t been on my radar).
This. The aeroplan deals to Europe are just outstanding. Just snagged 4x at 50k with the 20% bonus with very low fees. And Virgin has high fees but when you can snag 29k business (less with the transfer bonus) it’s still worth it.
Arguably, Bilt + Rakuten is a better way to earn and feed Hyatt, but only if you trust Bilt.
Talk about TPG level shill posts! This is getting ridiculous here.
No shill tells all the ways a credit card might not be right for you.
If Frequent Miler is shilling, it’s the worst shill ever.
False dilemma. Chase is a passe ecosystem.
Greg,
Not sure if you remember me. I wanted to put closure to a thread you and I had months ago in regards to you stating in a coffee Break video and in one of your posts that if anyone signed up for/or product changed to the Chase Reserve card before the new change launch date, that they would get an additional $300 travel credits at renewal. Well I wanted you to know that this is definitely NOT the case. At least not for me. I feel that It might have been possible,had it not been brought up in your post. Making me believe that there must be people at Chase and AMEX who’ s job title is to read all this stuff that anyone writes about Credit Card and Airline Miles use on the Boarding Area website and if hurry to close any potential “mistake loop holes” that are noticed so nobody can utalized these mistakes.
I am curious though, if you know of anyone who has gotten the double dip of $300 travel credit the card offers for renewing before the changes. But then you might not want to shine the light that someone who did benefit from this. Or maybe you realize that your were just incorrect in your prognostication on this one point.
Not trying to open up an old wound, because you already did your Mea Culpa last time we chatted. I was only reporting back, since you said you were interested in if I got it or not. Unfortunately, I will not get it.
Still enjoy reading your posts and watching coffee bread videos, It’s just now, I’ll proceed with caution before I act.
All the best,
Keith
Thanks for closing the loop on this! Yeah, it looks like I was completely wrong about how that would work. I’m very sorry about that!
For what it’s worth, the trip delay benefit on my new CSP says 6 hours, not 12. Dunno when it changed, but I was surprised to see that.
Thanks for pointing this out. You’re right that if you go to the benefits page for your Sapphire Preferred, it claims that trip delay is 6 hours, but if you download the benefits guide you’ll see that it says 12 hours. So, I believe the benefits page is wrong.
Here’s what’s on the benefits page:
Benefit Overview
If your common carrier travel is delayed more than 6 hours or requires an overnight stay, you are covered for unreimbursed expenses, such as meals and lodging, up to $500 per covered traveler.
And here’s what’s in the benefits guide:
This benefit applies if the Covered Traveler’s Common Carrier is delayed for more than twelve (12) hours or requires an overnight stay. T
Plus when you move to an appartement in Paris you will want all your grocery staples delivered for the 3X. Preferred is the slam dunk winner for Paris Hyatt Globalist!
If you are a Hyatt Globalist fanboy then the extra earnings on the Reserve are meaningless because you are using your Hyatt card to pay your bill. And then grocery puts Preferred over the top and you don’t have to carry that heavy card.
FYI, the IHG Platinum Status through 12/31/27 won’t be available until October for old card holders (like me- old AF and I’m an old man!!!).
Additionally after hitting $75 k additional spend, that can but bumped up to IHG DIAMOND! That spend also adds SWA $500 credit and A List status if I remember correctly. These may be important to some people…
This is probably the best summary of the historical CSR benefits. As someone who got the grandfathered card a day before it changed on June 23rd, it’s been hard to figure out what benefits I’m eligible for beyond the headline ones ($300 TC, 3x Dining/Travel). For example, I’m pretty sure I get a DoorDash monthly credit but not sure about Chase/Opentable Tables or Lyft credits.
Help me out here please. I’m probably going to downgrade to the Preferred.
Thanks
1. Call the number on the back of your card
2. Yes
Thanks!
I could maybe justify the annual fee difference if the points earning was as good. But getting 3x streaming and 3x online grocery (I can pay in app and it codes as online) far more than offsets the 1x difference in travel.
I have other cards with Priority Pass and now that Chase doesn’t cover restaurants, the value proposition, unless you have a Ritz card, comes down to whether you would use a Chase lounge regularly.