The overall winner might surprise you

The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card and Chase Sapphire Reserve® are premium credit cards with high-quality benefits for frequent travelers. The cards have several overlapping benefits, so you likely don’t need to own both., When comparing the two cards side-by-side, we recommend the Venture X as the better card for most people, but your individual preferences will determine the best card for your needs.

The Capital One Venture X has a $395 annual fee, while the Chase Sapphire Reserve Card has a $795 annual fee.

It’s far easier to offset the lower annual fee on the Venture X than the nearly double annual fee for the Sapphire Reserve.

The Capital One Venture X and Chase Sapphire Reserve currently come with the following welcome offers:

• Capital One Venture X: Earn 75,000 miles after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months

• Chase Sapphire Reserve: Earn 125,000 bonus points after spending $6,000 in the first three months.

The Chase Sapphire Reserve’s offer is larger than the Venture X, and those points could potentially be worth even more if used to book travel through Chase that’s also eligible for the Points Boost feature. It’s possible to get up to 2X the value when booking select hotels and premium airfare through Chase Travel.

If you prefer not to book your travel through your credit card issuer, be aware that transferring your rewards to a travel partner can offer a different rewards value that can also provide strong value depending on the specific redemption. In this scenario, the better offer then becomes the one with the card that has the travel loyalty partners you prefer to use.

These are the rewards rates for the Capital One Venture X and Chase Sapphire Reserve:

• Capital One Venture X:

  • 10x miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel

  • 5x miles on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Travel

  • 2x miles on all other purchases

• Chase Sapphire Reserve:

  • 8x points on all purchases through Chase Travel℠*

  • 4x points on flights and hotels booked direct

  • 3x points on dining worldwide1x points on all other purchases

  • *After the first $300 is spent on travel purchases annually

There’s a case to be made that the Sapphire Reserve has the better rewards rate if most of your expenses involve flights and hotels you book directly through the airline or property and/or dining purchases. However, from the perspective of earning travel rewards on everyday purchases, the Venture X offers greater opportunity.

With the Venture X, you get a base rewards rate of 2x miles on all eligible purchases. That means groceries, gas, streaming services, utilities, and other qualifying purchases net you 2x miles. Compare that to the 1x points base rate on the Sapphire Reserve and you can see why the Venture X is likely the better everyday card for most.

Both the Capital One Venture X and Chase Sapphire Reserve provide multiple redemption options through their rewards programs. That includes travel redemptions through portals, cash back, gift cards, transfers to travel partners, and more.

There are a few differences in redemption options, such as Pay Yourself Back with Chase and covering recent travel purchases with Capital One. However, these differences aren’t big enough to give one card a significant advantage over the other for most people.

The Capital One Venture X has access to a greater number of transfer partners than the Chase Sapphire Reserve, but that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily better. Getting value from transfers to travel partners depends on the specific redemption, and one transfer partner might be more valuable to you than another.

For example, ‘shotel partners make more sense if you often stay at Hyatt hotels. But consider Capital One’s airline partners if you want to take advantage of Avianca award flights.

Since it depends on your transfer partner preferences, there’s no clear winner here.

• Auto rental coverage

• Trip cancellation and interruption insurance

• Trip delay reimbursement

• Travel accident insurance

• Travel and emergency assistance

• Lost luggage reimbursement

• Purchase protection

• Return protection

• Extended warranty protection

• Auto rental coverage

• Trip cancellation and interruption insurance

• Trip delay reimbursement

• Travel accident insurance

• Travel and emergency assistance

• Lost luggage reimbursement

• Purchase protection

• Return protection

• Extended warranty protection

Capital One Venture X

Chase Sapphire Reserve

The Capital One Venture X and Chase Sapphire Reserve have several benefits in common, although the terms and conditions of similar benefits can vary between the cards. However, the Sapphire Reserve offers more robust coverage overall.

These are the primary points of difference between the two cards’ perks and benefits:

• Capital One Venture X: Access to Capital One Lounge network, anniversary bonus, and free additional cardholders (authorized users).

• Chase Sapphire Reserve: Access to Chase Sapphire Lounge by The Club, a more flexible annual travel credit, potential for increased Chase Travel portal redemption value with Points Boost, and complimentary DashPass for at least one year.

The Sapphire Reserve has more benefits, but the value depends on how often these benefits are used. The flexible travel credit is nice, but the Venture X also has a travel credit,although it has to be used on travel booked through Capital One Travel. Having the ability to add additional cardholders for no annual fee to the Venture X free might be a big differentiator for some, but again, personal preferences will be the deciding factor.

Since both cards have airport lounge access via Priority Pass Select and several other benefits in common, the winner here depends on which card perks best align with your needs.

• You prefer earning Capital One miles

• You like Capital One’s transfer partners

• You want a lower annual fee

• You prefer the higher ongoing flat-rate rewards

• You want access to the r Capital One Lounge network

The Capital One Venture X has a lower annual fee and provides straightforward benefits to help offset that cost. This is one of the most affordable options in the premium travel card space that includes benefits like airport lounge access and an annual travel credit and travel protections and insurances.

• You prefer earning Chase Ultimate Rewards points

• You prefer Chase transfer partners

• You want a more robust array of travel and purchase protections

• Your everyday expenses align with its bonus categories

• You prefer Chase Sapphire Lounge by The Club access

The Chase Sapphire Reserve provides a long list perks and benefits, but not all will be useful for everyone. However, this card could make a lot of sense if you can get value from certain benefits, such as access to Chase Sapphire Lounges by The Club or you can maximize the value of your rewards via the Points Boost feature .

Unless you travel frequently enough to get value from both cards, we don’t recommend applying for both the Capital One Venture X and Chase Sapphire Reserve. They have enough benefits in common, such as airport lounge access and annual travel credits, that paying the combined annual fee isn’t worth it for most.

If the Capital One Venture X and Chase Sapphire Reserve aren’t the right fit for you, consider these other card offers.

Why we like it: The Chase Sapphire Preferred is a low-cost alternative to premium travel cards like the Venture X and Sapphire Reserve. It doesn’t have airport lounge access or the same number of travel credits, but you still get flexible Chase Ultimate Rewards points that you can redeem through Chase Travel℠ or transfer to a Chase travel partner, without the high annual fee.

Read our full Chase Sapphire Preferred review

Why we like it: The Capital One Venture Rewards is another strong low-cost alternative if you want to take advantage of useful travel benefits without committing to a big annual fee. The card has the same base earning rate as the Venture X and the same access to Capital One transfer partners, but at a fraction of the cost.

Read our full Capital One Venture Rewards review

Why we like it: The American Express Gold Card is an excellent travel card if you want flexible rewards and dining-focused benefits. The Amex Gold earns Membership Rewards points, which offer different redemption opportunities compared to the Capital One and Chase travel cards.

Read our full American Express Gold Card review

This article was edited by Robin Saks Frankel

Editorial Disclosure: The information in this article has not been reviewed or approved by any advertiser. All opinions belong solely to Yahoo Finance and are not those of any other entity. The details on financial products, including card rates and fees, are accurate as of the publish date. All products or services are presented without warranty. Check the bank’s website for the most current information. This site doesn’t include all currently available offers. Credit score alone does not guarantee or imply approval for any financial product.