Chase Sapphire Reserve vs. Chase Sapphire Preferred – Which Is Best For You?

In this post we’ll compare Chase’s two travel cards: the Sapphire Preferred and the Sapphire Reserve.

In this comparison, I’ll contrast the various features of each of the cards, go through the various advantages of each, and discuss which card would be the better fit for various people.

If you’d prefer, you can see nearly all of the same information in my video review.

Chase Sapphire Preferred vs. Chase Sapphire Reserve Sign-Up Bonus

I previously reviewed both of these cards, so if you’re interested in more details on one or the other, you can check out my full reviews of the Chase Sapphire Preferred and of the Chase Sapphire Reserve.

Today, though, I’m comparing the cards to help you decide which is the better fit for you based on your spending and travel habits.

Sign-Up Bonuses for Each Card

Both cards offer signup bonuses if you spend $4,000 on the card within three months of getting it.

Sign-Up Bonus for Preferred

Read Review

Welcome Offer

80,000 PointsMust spend at least $4,000 in first 3 months

Annual Fee

$95

Redemption Bonus

25%

Currently, the Sapphire Preferred is offering its highest ever welcome offer of 60,000 points if you spend at least $4,000 on your card within three months of opening it.

Sign-Up Bonus for Reserve

Read Review

Welcome Offer

60,000 PointsMust spend at least $4,000 in first 3 months

Annual Fee

$550

Redemption Bonus

50%

The Reserve’s bonus is the same as the Preferred, offering 60,000 bonus points if you spend the same $4,000 within three months.

Reserve vs. Preferred Sign-Up Bonuses

Although the sign-up bonuses are the same, the Reserve’s bonus is superior if you take into account its higher redemption bonus.

That being said, you shouldn’t apply for cards based on the welcome bonus alone; it’s important to consider every feature of the card.

In this case, the Reserve comes with numerous other perks you should be aware of.

Further, if you’ve received a welcome bonus from a Sapphire card in the last 48 months, you won’t be eligible for either bonus.

If that’s the case, I would recommend waiting for those 48 months to expire before you open the other card.

There are several exceptions to this, but in my opinion, the amount you can get from the introductory offers is generally worth the wait.

Rewards and Points Comparison

Travel and Dining

The dining category includes dine-in, takeout, and delivery services, and, according to Chase, the travel category includes:

• Airlines
• Hotels
• Motels
• Timeshares
• Car rental agencies
• Cruise lines
• Travel agencies
• Discount travel sites
• Campgrounds
• Passenger trains
• Buses
• Taxis
• Limousines
• Ferries
• Toll bridges and highways
• Parking lots and garages

Thus, both of these categories are quite broad, with the travel category even extending to rideshare services such as Uber and Lyft.

You earn more points when you book through Chase Ultimate Rewards, the Chase travel, dining, and shopping platform.

Earning Points With the Preferred

With the Preferred, you earn 5 points for every dollar spent in the travel category, if you book through Chase Ultimate Rewards.

If you book travel through another platform or site, you earn 2 points per dollar spent.

Dining purchases with the Preferred card earn you 3 points per dollar spent, whether booked through Chase Ultimate Rewards or not.

Points spent on other categories earn you 1 point.

You get 2.5% back on spending in bonus categories with a redemption bonus, and 2% back on spending in bonus categories without a redemption bonus (I’ll explain what that is below).

Percentage back on spending on non-bonus categories is 1.25% with a redemption bonus, and 1% without.

Earning Points With the Reserve

With the Reserve, you earn a whopping 10 points for every dollar spent on hotels, car rentals, and dining — when booked through Chase Ultimate Rewards.

Air travel purchases booked through Chase Ultimate Rewards earn you 5 points for each dollar spent.

If you book travel through another platform or site, you earn 2 points per dollar spent.

Other travel or dining purchases with the Preferred card, booked outside of Chase Ultimate Rewards, earn you 3 points per dollar spent.

Points spent on other categories earn you 1 point.

You get 4.5% back on spending in bonus categories with a redemption bonus, and 3% back on spending in bonus categories without a redemption bonus (I’ll explain what that is below).

Percentage back on spending on non-bonus categories is 1.5% with a redemption bonus, and 1% without.

How to Redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards Points

Chase credit card points are known as Chase Ultimate Rewards points, and the value of each point varies depending on what you choose to redeem it for.

When redeemed for cash, points are worth one cent each, but when redeemed for travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards or for statement credit through the Chase Pay Yourself Back program, they can be worth even more.

The relatively new Pay Yourself Back program allows you to retroactively apply your points to purchases in various categories up to 90 days after purchasing.

Currently, these categories are dining, grocery stores, home improvement stores, and select charities.

If you redeem your points through either Chase Ultimate Rewards or Chase Pay Yourself Back, the Sapphire Preferred offers a value of 1.25 cents per point, equal to a 25% redemption bonus.

For example, I have a purchase for $26.43, equal to the value of 2,643 points redeemed for cash, but through the Pay Yourself Back program, I only need 2,114 points to get a statement credit for this purchase.

On the other hand, the Reserve offers the same opportunities for extra rewards, but they come at a 50% bonus instead of a 25% bonus.

Thus, when you redeem the introductory offers for cash, you’ll get one cent per point, for a total of $600 for the both cards.

However, if you redeem these points the “smart” way, you’ll get a larger amount per point, for a total of $900 for the Reserve and $750 for the Preferred.

Transferring Points

Because both cards allow you to transfer your points to other airline and hotel rewards platforms at a one-to-one value, you can get even more value for your points if you transfer them to a platform that’s offering a better value.

Currently, the supported partners are:

• Aer Lingus AerClub
• British Airways Executive Club
• Emirates Skywards
• Flying Blue Air France KLM
• Iberia Plus
• JetBlue True Blue
• Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
• Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards
• United MileagePlus
• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
• IHG Rewards Club
• Marriott Bonvoy
• World of Hyatt

When transferring, you miss out on the bonus for redeeming through Chase Ultimate Rewards or the Chase Pay Yourself Back program.

However, you can compensate for this by taking advantage of deals available with the program you transfer your points to; if one platform has really good redemption options for their own points, you may be better off transferring your Chase points to them.

This involves careful consideration — you have to look at the cash price of the hotel stay or flight and then divide that by the number of Chase Ultimate Rewards points you’d need to transfer to purchase it.

By doing this, you can find the value you’d get per point, which you can then compare to the value you’d get if you redeemed your points through Chase Ultimate Rewards.

If the value is greater, it’s probably a good transfer, but if it’s not, you’re probably better off redeeming your points within Chase itself.

As I’ll discuss later, you can also transfer points from one of your other Chase cards to your Sapphire card.

Fees Comparison

Annual Fees

The Chase Preferred has a $95 annual fee, but no fees for additional authorized users or for foreign transactions. There is no annual travel credit.

The Chase Reserve has a $550 annual fee, which is slightly offset by the $300 travel bonus. Additional users are $300 per person. There is no foreign transaction fee.

Foreign Transaction Fee

Neither card comes with a foreign transaction fee, so you can use them around the world at no extra cost.

Authorized Users Fee

With the Sapphire Preferred, you can add authorized users for no extra cost, but with the Sapphire Reserve, each authorized user costs an additional $75.

Chase Sapphire Perks

One perk of particular note is the $300 annual travel credit granted to Sapphire Reserve cardholders. This credit somewhat offsets the considerable $550 annual fee. Both cards come with several other perks that have a decent amount of value.

Chase offers statement credits for money spent on Peloton, an online workout service that sells equipment and offers online classes.

If you have a Sapphire Preferred, Chase will cover the first $60 of your membership fee through the end of 2021, while if you have a Sapphire Reserve, Chase will cover the first $120.

Both cards also offer a full year of free DashPass, the premium DoorDash membership, as long as you activate the offer by the end of 2021.

While both cards offer the membership, the Sapphire Reserve will also cover the first $60 you spend on DoorDash through the end of 2021.

Finally, both cards offer considerable rewards back on money spent on Lyft rides through the end of April 2022.

Again, Reserve cardholders get slightly more here, with 10 points back per dollar (as opposed to the Preferred’s five) and a complimentary year-long subscription to Lyft Pink as long as it’s activated by the end of April 2022.

Overall, the perks offered are similar, but the Reserve’s benefits are significantly more valuable.

First, the Reserve comes with access to over 1,000 airport lounges through the Priority Pass program. These are member-only areas in airports worldwide where you can get complimentary refreshments, WiFi, etc.

The Reserve also offers complimentary room upgrades, complimentary meals, early check-in, late check-out, special discounts, extra amenities, etc., at participating hotels.

Travel Protection Features

Both Sapphire cards come with extra protection features that can be extremely helpful when something goes wrong.

Unsurprisingly, the Reserve comes with more coverage, but the Preferred holds its own pretty well considering the difference in annual fee.

Bear in mind that these policies only apply to purchases you put on your Sapphire card.

Trip Cancellation

Both cards offer protection for trip cancellation or interruption of up to $10,000 per person and $20,000 per trip.

This protection covers prepaid and nonrefundable expenses if you’re forced to cancel a trip because of illness, weather, etc.

Roadside Assistance

Both cards provide some form of roadside assistance.

For Sapphire Preferred cardholders, this service still comes with a fee, but there’s a set price that covers basic services like lockouts, tire changing, and towing.

On the other hand, Reserve cardholders get up to $50 in coverage per service up to four times per year, although this is limited to once per week for the same cause.

Even with this $50, though, you’ll still probably end up paying some portion of the bill out of pocket, since I’ve been charged much more than that just for a jumpstart.

Accident Compensation

Both the Sapphire Preferred and the Sapphire Reserve offer compensation for any accident you experience while traveling.

These policies are largely the same; both generally come with up to $100,000 in coverage for loss of life. However, if an accident occurs on some type of public or commercial transportation — excluding taxis and commuter trains — this coverage limit increases to $500,000 for Preferred cardholders and $1,000,000 for Reserve cardholders.

I’m not going to discuss all the details here, but generally, these amounts are for loss of life, with lesser amounts for various injuries.

Collision Damage Waiver

Both cards provide a similar collision damage waiver for rental cars.

The key difference here is in the details — the Sapphire Preferred doesn’t come with a coverage limit, saying it will pay “up to the actual cash value of most rented cars”, but it specifically excludes some cars, particularly “high-value motor vehicles”, exotic and antique cars, cargo vans, trucks, motorcycles, limousines, and passenger vans with ten or more seats.

This means that the Sapphire Preferred doesn’t come with coverage for cars from companies like Corvette, Ferrari, Rolls Royce, and Tesla, although it does cover “selected models” from brands like Audi, BMW, and Cadillac.

On the other hand, the Sapphire Reserve has a stated limit of up to $75,000, but it has a shorter list of exclusions, with high-value cars removed from that list, meaning you can get coverage of up to $75,000 on luxury cars.

I’m not planning to rent a Ferrari anytime soon, so this doesn’t really matter to me, but if you like to rent luxury cars, I wouldn’t recommend relying on the Sapphire Preferred coverage.

Baggage Delays

Both Sapphire cards come with coverage for baggage delays of six or more hours, starting with coverage of $100 to be spent on essential items.

This amount will increase by $100 each day for up to five days and can be spent with only a few exclusions, including prosthetics, hearing aids, artificial teeth, money, etc.

Lost Luggage

Both cards also offer protection for lost, damaged, or stolen luggage of up to $3,000 in coverage per person per trip, with sub-limits of $500 for jewelry and watches and $500 for cameras and electronics.

As always, there are some exceptions for money, tickets, checks, etc., but these policies, which are exactly the same for the two cards, should apply to most situations.

Travel and Emergency Assistance

Both the Sapphire Preferred and the Sapphire Reserve come with Travel and Emergency Assistance Services, meaning if something goes wrong while you’re away from home, Chase will help you work it out.

You’ll still have to pay for the service you need, but Chase will ensure you find what you’re looking for, whether it’s a lawyer, translator, or even medicine.

Emergency Evacuation

The Sapphire Reserve also comes with up to $100,000 in coverage for emergency evacuation, available as long as some portion of the trip was booked through the Sapphire Reserve.

For this to apply, the evacuation needs to be pre-approved by a benefits administrator, but I can’t imagine they’ll give you too much of a hard time if you need an emergency medical evacuation.

If you have the Reserve, Chase will also fly a friend or family member to your location if you’re hospitalized for more than eight days and will pay up to $1,000 to bring your body back to your family if you die while traveling.

These policies do come with some restrictions; your trip must be between five and 60 days long, you have to have put some portion of the trip on your Sapphire Reserve, you can’t be in a country the US government recommends avoiding, and you can’t be evacuated for mental healthcare, pregnancy, self-harm, substance abuse, etc.

If you are eligible for coverage, though, you can be reimbursed up to $100,000 for evacuation-related expenses and up to $2,500 for emergency medical or dental expenses.

The Emergency Evacuation benefit is not available to Preferred cardholders.

Purchase Protection Features

These features ensure that you can recoup your costs if something you bought with your Sapphire card is lost, stolen, defective — or even if you just want to return it.

Extended Warranties

Both cards offer identical one-year extended warranty policies for most items except vehicles, medical equipment, etc.

In other words, if you use your Sapphire card to purchase something, you’ll get an extra year of coverage on top of the original manufacturer’s warranty.

This coverage has a maximum of $10,000 per claim and $50,000 total over the life of your account.

If this policy is something you may need to use for a particular item, you should register your warranty immediately after purchasing through Chase’s platform at www.cardbenefitservices.com to avoid the hassle of tracking down the original receipt and warranty documentation several years in the future.

Other Purchase Protection

Chase also offers reimbursements for the theft, damage, loss, etc. of most items purchased on your Sapphire card.

Both cards have a maximum of $50,000 in coverage over your account lifetime, but the Reserve allows a maximum of $10,000 per claim, while the Preferred limits individual claims to just $500.

Thus, while you could theoretically get the same amount of coverage with both, you’d have to file at least 100 successful claims to reach the lifetime limit with the Preferred, making the Reserve’s purchase protection coverage significantly more robust.

Return Protection

The Sapphire Reserve also offers return protection, meaning you can get refunds for purchases you made on the Reserve and want to return, regardless of the seller’s return policies.

This policy must be used within 90 days of purchase and is limited to $500 per item and $1,000 per year.

To claim this refund, you have to let Chase know you don’t want to keep your purchase and fill out some information.

After Chase approves your claim, you can ship the item to them and then claim your full refund minus the cost of shipping.

Your returns must be in good condition, and certain items aren’t protected, but overall, this policy is one of the premium perks that distinguishes the Reserve from the Preferred.

Why Choose the Chase Sapphire Preferred Credit Card?

These are my top reasons for selecting the Preferred over the Reserve.

The Preferred Has a Much Lower Annual Fee

The Preferred comes with a much lower fee than the Reserve.

While there are situations where the Reserve is a better option, it’s important to remember that the Preferred’s annual fee is $455 less than the Reserve’s.

The Preferred Allows Additional Authorized Users for Free

If you want your spouse or other family members to help build up points, they won’t have to pay a fee to get the card.

If you choose the Reserve, you pay a $300 fee for additional users.

Why Choose the Chase Sapphire Reserve Credit Card?

Here’s why you might go with the Reserve.

The Reserve Has Many Useful Benefits for Frequent Travelers

The Sapphire Reserve comes with many travel benefits that can be extremely useful if you’re a frequent traveler.

The Sapphire Preferred has some of the same policies, but the Reserve comes with extra bonuses like airport lounge access, lost luggage reimbursement, emergency evacuation coverage, and more robust rental car coverage.

The Reserve also comes with a $300 annual travel credit, which offsets more than half the Reserve’s annual fee if you spend at least $300 on travel per year.

The Reserve Has Larger Reward Percentages

The Sapphire Reserve also comes with slightly larger reward percentages than the Preferred, offering:

• 10% percent back on some bonus categories rather than the 5% max of Preferred
• 10% back on Lyft rides and subscriptions rather than 5%
• A 50% bonus on Pay Yourself Back and travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards as opposed to the Preferred’s 25%.

If you’re a big spender, those extra points can add up extremely quickly, making the Reserve a better option for you.

Types of People Who I’d Tell to Choose The Preferred

Here’s who I think should pick the Preferred over the Reserve.

People Who Don’t Spend That Much, But Still Want Decent Travel Rewards

If you don’t spend that much, especially on travel and dining, but still want a solid travel card, I would probably recommend the Sapphire Preferred to you.

As I noted previously, the Reserve’s rewards increase in value the more you spend, but it can be hard to justify the fee if you don’t spend at least $8,425 a year on travel and dining.

Thus, if you spend considerably less than that and don’t care as much about the Reserve’s secondary benefits, you’re probably better off with the Sapphire Preferred.

People Who Plan to Add More Users

I would also recommend the Sapphire Preferred to you if you’re hoping to add several authorized users since, unlike the Reserve, it doesn’t charge an annual fee for authorized users.

Types of People I’d Tell to Choose the Reserve

Here’s who I think should pick the Reserve over the Preferred.

Big Spenders

If you’re a big spender, I would recommend the Reserve to you since the more you spend in the bonus categories, the more you’ll get out of the extra rewards.

The Reserve offers three percent back on travel and dining, while the Preferred offers two percent.

If you redeem those rewards through Pay Yourself Back or Chase Ultimate Rewards, that jumps to 4.5% back with the Reserve and just 2.5% back with the Preferred, giving the Reserve a two percent advantage over the Preferred.

Here’s the formula I used to calculate the breakeven point in travel and dining spending, taking into account annual fees and travel credit and assuming all points are redeemed through the Pay Yourself Back program or for travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards.

1.5% * [(x-300) * 3] + 300 – 500 = 1.25% * (2x) – 95

In this equation, the 1.5% is the Reserve’s redemption bonus, the $300 is the Reserve’s travel credit, the three is the Reserve’s three percent back on travel and dining, and the $550 is the Reserve’s annual fee.

On the other side of the equation, the 1.25% is the Preferred’s redemption bonus, the two constant is the Preferred’s two percent back on travel and dining, and the $95 is the Preferred’s annual fee.

Solving this equation yields a break-even point of $8,425, meaning if you spend more than $8,425 on travel and dining per year and would use the $300 annual travel credit, you’d get more value from the Reserve, while if you spend less than $8,425, you’d get more value from the Preferred.

Note that this formula excludes both the Reserve’s additional perks and the Preferred’s better welcome offer, focusing only on long-term spending in the bonus categories.

Especially Big Spenders Who Also Have Another Chase Card

I would also recommend the Sapphire Reserve to you if you’re a big spender and already have another Chase card like the Chase Freedom Unlimited.

As I mentioned previously, you can transfer your Chase Ultimate Rewards points between cards.

Even though the Freedom Unlimited is free, its cash-back rate of 1.5% on non-bonus spending is higher than the one percent offered by both Sapphire cards.

Thus, if you have both a Sapphire card and a Freedom Unlimited, you can maximize your point value by putting your non-bonus spending on the Freedom Unlimited, transferring your Freedom Unlimited points to your Sapphire card, and then redeeming them for a bonus through the Pay Yourself Back program or Chase Ultimate Rewards.

Because the Sapphire Reserve offers a higher bonus for redeeming your points for travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards and Pay Yourself Back, your Freedom Unlimited rewards on non-bonus spending equal 2.25% when paired with the Reserve, compared to just 1.875% with the Preferred.

This may not sound like much, and if you’re a small spender, it won’t make a big difference.

However, if you spend a lot on the non-bonus categories, this amount can add up.

For example, if you use this strategy on $40,000 a year, you’ll end up with $150 more on the Reserve than the Preferred, which, when paired with the Reserve’s other bonuses, can be enough to justify the extra fee.

The Final Analysis: Preferred vs. Reserve

Overall, the Chase Sapphire Preferred and Chase Sapphire Reserve share many similarities, but the total value proposition varies depending on your spending habits and the manner in which you redeem your points.

While a lot of people think the Reserve is the best premium travel card on the market, there’s no one right choice; you do pay a lot for those features, so Chase is mostly targeting frequent travelers.

Again, if you’re interested in either one of these cards, you can use my link for the Reserve here and the Preferred here.

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are some quick answers to the most common questions about these cards.

• Which is better, Chase Sapphire Preferred or Reserve?

  The Reserve has better benefits and cash back rewards, and is among the best premium travel cards on the market.

  You get what you pay for — the Reserve also has an annual fee that is $455 higher than the Premium.

• Is it worth upgrading from Preferred to Reserve?

  My analysis indicates that if you spend more than $8,425 on travel and dining per year and would use the $300 annual travel credit, you’d get more value from the Reserve.

  If you plan to spend less than that, stick with Preferred.

• Is it worth getting Chase Sapphire Reserve?

  People who spend a lot of money on travel (and like luxury perks such as airport lounges) will get a lot of value from the Reserve.

• Is Chase Sapphire the same as Chase Sapphire Preferred?

  “Sapphire” is the name of Chase’s travel credit card program. There’s no “Sapphire” card, only the “Sapphire Preferred” and the “Sapphire Reserved”.

• Can you switch from Chase Sapphire Reserve to Preferred?

  Yes, you can downgrade from the Reserve to the Preferred. Call Chase customer service at the number on the back of your card, or reach them online.

• Does Chase Sapphire Preferred get you into airport lounges?

  No, the Preferred card does not grant access to any airport lounges.

  You’ll need to upgrade to the Reserved, which offers access to up to 1,000 lounges worldwide through the Priority Pass Select program.