Chase Sapphire Preferred vs. Chase Sapphire Reserve
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BLUEPRINT
Updated 10:37 a.m. UTC Nov. 14, 2023
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Both the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card and Chase Sapphire Reserve® offer generous rewards for spending on travel and dining. The Reserve has a wider array of premium perks, while the Preferred has a much more reasonable annual fee.
While the Chase Sapphire Preferred and Chase Sapphire Reserve both stand out for their generous travel and dining rewards and boosted welcome bonuses, these cards have some major differences. The Chase Sapphire Preferred comes with a more reasonable $95 annual fee, while the Reserve costs $550 each year to keep in your wallet. This hefty fee comes with premium perks that may appeal to more frequent travelers, such as airport lounge access and an up to $300 annual statement credit toward travel purchases. For those looking for a more reasonable yearly fee, however, the Chase Sapphire Preferred still offers solid value, including rewards on travel, dining, streaming services and groceries that you can redeem for travel or cash back.
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Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Chase Sapphire Preferred vs. Chase Sapphire Reserve side-by-side comparison
Annual fees
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card has an annual fee of $95.
The Chase Sapphire Reserve® has an annual fee of $550.
With its hefty annual fee, the Reserve offers premium benefits, including a Priority Pass Select membership (enrollment required) that gains access into eligible airport lounges and an up to $300 statement credit you can use each year toward any travel purchase. Plus, your points are worth more with the Reserve than the Preferred when you redeem them for travel through the Chase Travel portal.
If these extra perks don’t make the $550 fee worth it, though, you may be better off with the $95-annual-fee Chase Sapphire Preferred, whose perks more than justify the annual price tag.
Winner on annual fees: Chase Sapphire Preferred
Rewards rates
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card earns 5 points per $1 on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, 3 points per $1 on dining, select streaming services, and online grocery purchases (excluding Walmart, Target and wholesale clubs), 2 points per $1 on all other travel purchases and 1 point per $1 on all other purchases.
The Chase Sapphire Reserve® earns 5 points per $1 on flights and 10 points per $1 on hotels and car rentals purchased through Chase Travel℠ after the first $300 is spent on travel purchases annually. Earn 3 points per $1 on other travel and dining and 1 point per $1 on other purchases.
The Chase Sapphire Reserve offers better rewards for cardholders who tend to spend on dining and travel. However, the Preferred also gives you a 10% anniversary bonus on your purchase spending throughout the year. If you spent $30,000, for instance, you’d automatically get a bonus of 3,000 points. The Chase Sapphire Reserve doesn’t come with this bonus reward. Still, the Reserve has higher overall earning rates, making it the stronger choice in this category.
Winner on rewards rates: Chase Sapphire Reserve
A quick guide to Chase Ultimate Rewards®
If you open a Chase Sapphire Preferred or Reserve card, you’ll earn Chase Ultimate Rewards® on your purchases. You can redeem Ultimate Rewards in a number of ways, including as cash back, gift cards, shopping with Chase, and booking travel and dining through the Chase Travel portal.
Your points are worth more when you redeem them through the Chase Travel website than when you redeem them for cash back. Cash-back redemption is worth 1 cent per point, whereas a point is worth 1.25 cents each on the Preferred card and 1.5 cents on the Reserve card when you book travel through Chase.
You can also transfer points to Chase’s transfer partners, which include British Airways Executive Plan, JetBlue TrueBlue, United Mileage Plus, Marriott Bonvoy, and World of Hyatt. This can often be a more valuable use of your rewards than booking through the issuer’s rewards site.
Travel rewards and benefits
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card offers rental car and trip insurance, as well as a $50 statement credit each year for hotel stays booked through Chase Travel.
The Chase Sapphire Reserve® offers rental car and trip insurance, emergency medical and dental benefits, reimbursement for TSA PreCheck, Global Entry, or NEXUS, Priority Pass airport lounge access upon enrollment, and $300 in statement credits each year for any travel purchases.
Both the Chase Sapphire Preferred and Reserve both offer an array of travel rewards and benefits, though the Reserve packs more of a punch. Whether you have the Preferred or the Reserve, you’ll get perks like a primary auto rental collision damage waiver, trip cancellation or interruption insurance, travel and emergency assistance services, and extended warranty and purchase protection. The Chase Reserve additionally offers return protection and emergency medical and dental benefits.
The Reserve also reimburses you up to $100 every four years for TSA PreCheck, Global Entry, or Nexus and gives you a $300 statement credit each year toward any travel purchase, not just those booked through Chase Travel. Plus, it comes with Priority Pass lounge access for cardholders upon enrollment, authorized users, and up to two guests, a membership valued at $469 per year.
The Sapphire Preferred doesn’t offer lounge access, but it does give you $50 in statement credits each year for hotel stays purchased through Chase Travel.
Winner on travel rewards and benefits: Chase Sapphire Reserve
Other benefits
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card comes with a DoorDash DashPass, six months of Instacart+ and earns 5 points per $1 spent on Lyft.
The Chase Sapphire Reserve® comes with a DoorDash DashPass and $5 in monthly credits, 12 months of Instacart+ and earns 10 points per $1 spent on Lyft.
In addition to the above perks both cards also come with valuable welcome offers of 60,000 points after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first three months of account opening for the Preferred and 60,000 points after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first three months of account opening for the Reserve.
These welcome bonuses can be worth more than the cash-back value if used to book travel through Chase or transferred to loyalty partners. But between the two, the Reserve has the edge since it offers a longer Instacart+ subscription and earns more on Lyft.
Winner on other benefits: Chase Sapphire Reserve
Which card is right for you?
Although the Chase Sapphire Reserve emerges as the winner in several categories, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the better choice for you. The Reserve has a variety of premium perks that can appeal to frequent travelers, especially those who will make the most of its airport lounge access and annual travel credit.
However, the Chase Sapphire Preferred still offers great perks, including generous rewards, travel protection, and a 10% anniversary points bonus each year. If you’d prefer a more reasonable annual fee, the Preferred may be the better (and more cost-effective) travel rewards card for your wallet.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
The Chase Sapphire Preferred card is most worthwhile to cardholders who spend a fair amount of their income on travel and dining. If you don’t spend on travel, you may find better rewards from another credit card, such as the Wells Fargo Active Cash® Card which earns a flat 2% cash rewards on purchases and doesn’t charge an annual fee.
You must have good or excellent credit to qualify for both the Chase Sapphire Preferred and Chase Sapphire Reserve credit cards. The Chase Sapphire Preferred may be slightly easier to get, since its lower annual fee could mean a lower income requirement for cardholders.
To upgrade from the Chase Sapphire Preferred card to the Chase Sapphire Reserve card, call the customer service number on your card and speak to a representative. The customer service agent will check if you qualify for the Reserve and if so, issue your new card.
However, you won’t qualify for any welcome bonus if you choose to upgrade rather than apply for the Reserve card directly. A glitch you may run into if you want to apply for the Reserve is that Chase does not allow you to own both the Preferred and the Reserve at the same time. The Sapphire cards have a 48-month rule to be aware of as well, which means that if you’ve earned the welcome bonus on a Sapphire card within the last 48 months, you won’t be eligible to earn the welcome bonus on another Sapphire card until that time has passed.
Chase doesn’t disclose a specific income requirement for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, but it will consider your credit, income, current debt obligations and other factors when you apply for the card.
You’ll generally need a good or excellent credit score to qualify for the Chase Sapphire Reserve card. A good score starts at 670 on the FICO scoring model, while a very good score starts at 740 and an exceptional score starts at 800.
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