Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card
Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card
Earn 2 miles per dollar on all eligible purchases, 5 miles per dollar on flights and 10 miles per dollar on hotels and rental cars when booking via Capital One Travel. Earn 5 miles on Capital One Entertainment purchases through 12/31/25.
Welcome Bonus
Earn 75,000 bonus miles
Annual Fee
$395
Credit Score
Excellent
Regular APR
19.99% - 29.99% (Variable)
The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card is an ultra-premium travel card that doesn’t cut corners on benefits. The card offers Priority Pass lounge access, unlimited access to Capital One lounges and Plaza Premium lounges, generous earnings on portal-booked travel, 2 miles per dollar on general purchases, travel credits, an annual 10,000 point anniversary bonus and more at a $395 price point (rates & fees). Undoubtedly, the Venture X is worth a look if you are considering applying for a new travel credit card. But does it beat the Chase Sapphire Reserve®* as a staple for frequent travelers?
Welcome Bonus
Both the Capital One Venture X and the Chase Sapphire Reserve offer generous welcome bonuses. With Venture X, new cardmembers earn 75,000 bonus miles after spending $4,000 on purchases within the first three months of account opening.
Currently, the welcome bonus for the Chase Sapphire Reserve is 60,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Winner: Capital One Venture X
Annual Fee
Both cards are premium travel cards, and as such, each carries an annual fee. But there’s more than a $100 difference between them. While the Sapphire Reserve annual fee is $550, the Venture X’s annual fee is $395 (rates & fees).
Winner: Capital One Venture X
Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card
Capital One’s most premium travel card is packed with extras that put it firmly in competition with other upscale credit cards, but at an annual fee that leaves the others far behind.
- Annual fee lower than others in its category
- Annual travel credit through Capital One Travel and anniversary miles alone could justify the annual fee
- Miles are easy to earn and easy to use
- Lack of domestic airline and upscale hotel travel partners
- Capital One lounge network in its infancy
- Lack of hotel status benefits
- Earn 75,000 bonus miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening, equal to $750 in travel
- Receive a $300 annual credit for bookings through Capital One Travel, where you’ll get Capital One’s best prices on thousands of trip options
- Get 10,000 bonus miles (equal to $100 towards travel) every year, starting on your first anniversary
- Earn unlimited 10X miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel and 5X miles on flights booked through Capital One Travel
- Earn unlimited 2X miles on all other purchases
- Unlimited complimentary access for you and two guests to 1,300+ lounges, including Capital One Lounges and the Partner Lounge Network
- Use your Venture X miles to easily cover travel expenses, including flights, hotels, rental cars and more—you can even transfer your miles to your choice of 15+ travel loyalty programs
- Elevate every hotel stay from the Premier or Lifestyle Collections with a suite of cardholder benefits, like an experience credit, room upgrades, and more
- Receive up to a $100 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck®
Earning Rewards
One of the criticisms of credit cards offering bonus points in spending categories or premium travel benefits is that they are not as competitive as a simple 2% cash-back credit card for spending on general purchases. Rewards maximizers usually need to pair their travel card with an additional card to get generous rewards on daily purchases. Not so with the Venture X. The card awards 2 miles per dollar on all eligible purchases, 5 miles per dollar on flights booked through Capital One Travel, 5 miles per dollar on Capital One Entertainment purchases through 12/31/25 and 10 miles per dollar on hotels and rental cars when booking via Capital One Travel, which means you can carry and use a single card for all your purchases without worrying that you are missing out on rewards.
If you spend heavily on travel or dining, you should consider the Chase Sapphire Reserve. The card earns 5 points per dollar on flights and 10 points per dollar on hotels and car rentals when purchasing travel through Chase Travel℠ immediately after the first $300 is spent on travel purchases annually. Earn 3 points per dollar on other travel and dining and 1 point per dollar spent on all other purchases. Yes, this is only 1 point per dollar more than you will earn with the Venture X, as the Capital One card earns 2 miles per dollar on general purchases, but for road warriors spending thousands of dollars a week on direct travel bookings, the additional earnings can pile up quickly.
If you are considering an ultra-premium travel credit card for travel and dining spending, the Chase Sapphire Reserve should be on your short-list.
Winner: Tie. Capital One Venture X is better for general purchases while Chase Sapphire Reserve is better for travel purchases.
Travel Benefits
Both the Venture X and Chase Sapphire Reserve offer cardmembers lounge access through Priority Pass. Both cards include access for the primary cardmember and two accompanying guests. In addition, both banks are building out their own lounge networks.
Chase has a partnership with The Club airport lounges and Capital One has been building out its own branded lounges. Currently, there are Capital One lounges at Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW), Washington-Dulles (IAD) and Denver (DEN). But the small number of open and planned lounges mean this benefit is only meaningful if you travel to or from a handful of airports.
However, the Venture X pulls ahead when you consider adding authorized users to your account. Authorized users also receive Plaza Premium and Priority Pass lounge access benefits with two guests. While both cards grant authorized users Priority Pass lounge access, the Capital One card allows authorized users for no additional fee. Authorized users on the Chase Sapphire Reserve card cost $75 per year.
In addition to lounge access, both the Chase Sapphire Reserve and the Venture X offer a suite of travel insurance benefits that can protect you in the event that something goes wrong during a trip booked with your card, such as trip cancellation and interruption insurance. Check your card’s guide to benefits for details on the insurance coverages offered.
Winner: Capital One Venture X
Redemption Options
The Capital One Venture X and Chase Sapphire Reserve offer redemption options beyond travel purchases. With the Venture X, you can redeem miles to cover travel purchases within 90 days or for gift cards, cash back or tickets, event access and other entertainment perks. Travel redemptions are worth 1 cent each through the travel portal.
With the Sapphire Reserve, you can redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards® points for cash or gift cards, as well as pay for products or services. You get a higher redemption rate of 1.50 cents per point when redeemed for travel through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal.
Winner: Chase Sapphire Reserve
Transfer Partners
Transferring points to airline and hotel partners has long been considered the best way to get outsized value from transferable points programs and both cards offer a long list of airline and hotel transfer partners. While which transfer partner will be most valuable to you depends on your travel patterns and preferences, Chase Ultimate Rewards® transfer partners include several partners which may be more usable for U.S.-based travelers: United MileagePlus, JetBlue TrueBlue and Southwest Rapid Rewards.
In addition to airline transfer partners, Chase Ultimate Rewards points can be transferred to hotel partners Hyatt, IHG and Marriott. Hyatt offers the possibility for the most value among these three, but IHG and Marriott are also likely more usable than Capital One’s hotel transfer partners, Accor, Choice and Wyndham, for U.S.-based travelers.
Winner: Chase Sapphire Reserve
Redemption Bonus
If you are looking to maximize the cash value of your point redemptions, the Chase Sapphire Reserve offers two options to redeem your points for increased value: Redeeming points for travel booked through Chase Ultimate Rewards and through “Pay Yourself Back.”
When you use your points to pay for a travel reservation through Chase Ultimate Rewards, they are worth 50% more. If you redeem 10,000 Ultimate Rewards points for a cash-back award, they are worth $100. If you redeem these same points to pay for travel booked through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal or for an eligible Pay Yourself Back purchase, they are worth $150 toward that expense.
The Chase Sapphire Reserve’s “Pay Yourself Back” option includes the ability to redeem points for charitable donations at a value of 1.5 cents per point.
Winner: Chase Sapphire Reserve
Other Perks and Benefits
Generous Rewards on Travel Booked Through Portal
Both Chase and Capital One want to incentivize cardmembers to book travel through their respective travel portals, and they do that by offering generous rewards as an incentive. Both cards offer 5 points per dollar spent on bookings through their travel portals and 10 points per dollar for prepaid car rentals and hotels.
Frequently, flights, hotels and rental cars are bookable through these portals at rates similar to what you would find with an online travel agency or booking directly, so if you can book your travel through a bank’s portal, either card offers plenty of opportunity for increased rewards.
Annual Travel Credit
Both cards offer $300 in annual travel credits, but the Chase Sapphire Reserve gets the award for both usefulness and ease of use, if only slightly. The Chase Sapphire Reserve’s credit is applied automatically toward the first $300 in eligible travel purchases from any vendor, meaning you don’t have to think about it; just charge your travel and you’ll receive your credit.
By contrast, the Venture X offers a $300 travel credit as an annual credit for bookings made on Capital One Travel. If you can book travel through the issuer’s portal, you’ll find the travel credits to be equivalent. However, if you generally book travel through a corporate travel agent or directly through hotel and airline websites, you will need to book at least $300 worth of travel through Capital One’s portal to maximize the credit.
Cash to Points Value
If you frequently convert your points into cash rewards, the Chase Sapphire Reserve is the card for you.
The Capital One Venture X allows cardmembers to redeem Venture X rewards points for statement credits for any recent travel purchase, including on purchases such as vacation rentals, flights, hotels, rideshares and cruises. However, if you do not have a lot of travel purchases, you may find that you might need to redeem your points at a lesser value. However, the Ultimate Rewards points earned by the Chase Sapphire Reserve can always be redeemed at 1 cent per point.
Consumer Insurance Benefits
The Chase Sapphire Reserve and the Venture X also both offer extended warranty protection, which extends the warranty of eligible purchases and purchase protection, which can cover the cost of a purchase if the item gets damaged or stolen.
Fees and APR
Neither card charges a foreign transaction fee. The Venture X card (rates & fees) has a 19.99% - 29.99% variable APR and a Balance Transfer Fee applies to balances transferred at a promotional rate. The Sapphire Reserve has a 22.49% - 29.49% variable APR on purchases and balance transfers. A balance transfer fee of either $5 or 5% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater, applies.
Consider Neither Venture X nor Chase Sapphire Reserve For:
Earning Points With Your Preferred Airline or Hotel
If you are looking to maximize the number of points you earn on your travel spending with your preferred airline or hotel chain, you should consider an airline or hotel co-branded card instead. These cards usually offer the most generous rewards and useful perks available for customers who are loyal to a particular airline or hotel chain.
Access to Airline-Branded Lounges
If you are loyal to a specific airline brand and looking for a premium credit card that will give you access to your preferred airline’s network of airport lounges, the Venture X is not the best ultra-premium credit card for you. Delta Air Lines flyers, for example, will want to consider one of the many variants of the The Platinum Card® from American Express (Terms apply, see rates & fees) or the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card (Terms apply, see rates & fees). United customers should look at the United Club℠ Infinite Card. American Airlines customers can get lounge access through the Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard®*.
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Bottom Line
If you are looking for the most affordable ultra-premium credit card option that includes Priority Pass lounge access, travel and consumer insurance benefits and generous rewards on everyday spending, the Capital One Venture X is a great match. For most cardmembers, the $300 annual travel credit and 10,000 point anniversary bonus will justify the card’s annual fee before even considering the card’s earnings and benefits, making the Venture X the clear choice for most travelers.
While the Chase Sapphire Reserve offers more generous rewards on travel and a more usable suite of travel partners, your spending and usage patterns will determine if those additional benefits are worth the card’s larger annual fee.
For Capital One products listed on this page, some of the above benefits are provided by Visa® or Mastercard® and may vary by product. See the respective Guide to Benefits for details, as terms and exclusions apply.
To view rates and fees for Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card please visit this page.
To view rates and fees for The Platinum Card® from American Express please visit this page.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Which is better: Venture X or Sapphire Reserve?
Both the Capital One Venture X and Chase Sapphire Reserve offer value for frequent travelers. Which one is right for you will depend on your personal spending patterns and preferences.
Is the Capital One Venture X card metal?
Yes. The Capital One Venture X card is a metal card. The Chase Sapphire Reserve is metal as well.
How do I avoid the Chase Sapphire Reserve annual fee?
The Chase Sapphire Reserve has an annual fee of $550. While you can’t avoid the fee, you can offset it by taking advantage of the card’s $300 annual travel credit, generous point earnings on travel and dining purchases and lounge access benefits.
Who should get the Chase Sapphire Reserve?
The Chase Sapphire Reserve is a great card for a frequent traveler who can take advantage of the $300 travel credit, 3 points per dollar earnings on travel and dining spending and Priority Pass lounge access benefits.
Can I Maximize Earnings by Pairing Chase and Capital One Credit Cards?
You can maximize your earnings by pairing a Chase travel card with a Capital One travel card and using each card strategically to maximize your rewards with every dollar. For example, putting travel spending on your Chase Sapphire Reserve and all other spending on the Capital One Venture X. Also, be sure to take advantage of each card’s elevated point earnings through their respective travel portals.
