Chase Sapphire Preferred vs Reserve: is the $795 card worth $700 more?

Chase Sapphire Preferred vs Reserve: what are the welcome offers today?

The Chase Sapphire Preferred offers 75,000 points after $5,000 in purchases in the first 3 months, and the Sapphire Reserve offers 100,000 points after $6,000, as of October 23, 2026. Both bonuses post 6 to 8 weeks after you qualify, and the account must be open and not in default when they do. Balance transfers, cash advances, cash-like transactions and fees don't count toward the spend.

Chase's rewards terms value points at 1 cent each for cash, gift cards and Chase Travel, so the Preferred's bonus is $750 and the Reserve's is $1,000 at that rate. Chase's Reserve page calls the bonus a $2,000 value for select flights and hotels through Chase Travel. That is 2 cents a point, the top Points Boost rate, and it only applies to the bookings Chase picks.

What is the Chase Sapphire Reserve annual fee, and what do authorized users cost?

The Chase Sapphire Reserve annual fee is $795, and each authorized user adds $195 a year, according to Chase's pricing and terms. The Sapphire Preferred's annual fee is $95, and its pricing and terms list no authorized user fee. A Reserve authorized user gets their own Priority Pass Select membership, so a couple who fly together can both use lounges, for $990 a year in total.

How do Sapphire Preferred and Sapphire Reserve earn points?

The Sapphire Reserve earns more on travel and the Sapphire Preferred earns more on everyday spending. The Reserve pays 8x on Chase Travel and 4x on flights and hotels booked direct, against 5x and 2x on the Preferred. Both pay 3x on dining, but only the Preferred pays 3x on gas, EV charging, top streaming services, online grocery and vacation homes at top brands; the Reserve pays 1x there.

Reserve purchases covered by the $300 travel credit or The Edit credit earn no points, and neither does the first $100 of Chase Travel hotel purchases on the Preferred each year. The Reserve's 1x on gas, groceries and streaming also costs you 2 points per dollar compared with the Preferred. Spend $3,000 a year in those categories and that is 6,000 fewer points, or $60 at 1 cent each.

Which Sapphire Reserve credits are easy to use, and which take effort?

The $300 travel credit is the one Sapphire Reserve credit most people use without changing habits, because it applies automatically to purchases in the travel category each account anniversary year. The rest depend on a partner, a monthly or half-year window, or an activation step, and unused amounts don't roll over.

How did Points Boost change what Chase points are worth?

Points Boost makes Sapphire Reserve points worth up to 2x and Sapphire Preferred points up to 1.5x on select flights and hotels booked through Chase Travel. Outside those rotating offers, points are worth 1 cent each through Chase Travel on both cards, per Chase's Points Boost terms. Both cards can also transfer points to airline and hotel partners.

The Reserve used to get 1.5x on every Chase Travel booking. Chase's June 23, 2025 announcement replaced that with 1 cent plus Points Boost. Only points earned before October 26, 2025, by Reserve cardmembers who applied before June 23, 2025, keep 1.5x, and only until October 26, 2027, so a new applicant starts at 1 cent. The points value calculator shows what a given redemption is worth per point.

Does the Sapphire Preferred or Reserve include airport lounge access?

Only the Sapphire Reserve includes airport lounge access. Reserve cardmembers and each authorized user get Priority Pass Select, which Chase says covers 1,300+ lounges, plus Chase Sapphire Lounges by The Club, each with up to two guests. Extra Priority Pass guests cost $27 each per visit, and you have to show the physical card or the Priority Pass digital card, not a card in your phone wallet. The Sapphire Preferred has no lounge benefit.

How do Sapphire travel and purchase protections compare?

The Sapphire Reserve has shorter waiting periods and higher limits, but the Sapphire Preferred matches it on trip cancellation, lost luggage, baggage delay and emergency evacuation. You have to pay with the card, and the Guide to Benefits sets the exclusions.

Can you have both Sapphire cards, and who gets the welcome bonus?

Yes, you can have both Sapphire cards. Chase's page on upgrading says that since the 2025 Sapphire Reserve relaunch, cardmembers can hold the Preferred and the Reserve at the same time. Each card's offer details set the limits for that card only: you can't get it while you have the same card open, and the bonus may not be available if you previously held that card or got its new cardmember bonus. Chase states no waiting period, and says it may also consider how many cards you have opened and closed.

Upgrading works differently. Chase says a Preferred cardmember who switches to the Reserve gets no welcome bonus, needs at least a $10,000 credit limit and must have held the Preferred for at least a year. Approval is a separate question from the bonus. Many applicants report an unpublished 5/24 pattern, where Chase declines people with five or more new cards in 24 months; the Chase 5/24 calculator counts your cards against it.

Is Chase Sapphire Reserve worth it? How does the breakeven math work?

Chase Sapphire Reserve is worth it when the credits you would really use, plus its extra points, cover the $700 fee gap over the Preferred. Count a credit only for spending you would do anyway, and value lounge visits at what you would otherwise pay. For many people that is nothing.

An estimate for one traveler: you use the full $300 travel credit and $150 of the dining credit, and on the Preferred you would have used the $100 hotel credit. The gap is $700 minus $450 plus $100, or $350. At 1 cent per point the Reserve has to earn 35,000 more points a year than the Preferred. That takes about $17,500 in flights and hotels booked direct (2 extra points per dollar) or about $11,700 through Chase Travel (3 extra), before the points the Reserve gives up on gas, groceries and streaming.

Use The Edit credit, the StubHub credit and the lounges as well, and the Reserve can come out ahead with little extra spending. Use only the travel credit and the gap stays at $400, or $500 if you would have used the Preferred's hotel credit.

Should you get the Sapphire Preferred or the Sapphire Reserve?

Get the Sapphire Preferred if you travel a few times a year and most of your spending is everyday, and the Sapphire Reserve if you will use its lounges and at least two or three of its credits. Either bonus comes with a 3-month spend deadline and a yearly fee date. doddo's tracker turns an opening date into requirement and annual-fee dates under Coming up in the Money Inbox (new accounts are on a waitlist for now), and the Chase checking bonus page covers Chase's bank offer.

• A partner flies with you and wants lounge access: the Reserve, with a $195 authorized user card.
• You already hold the Preferred: apply for the Reserve as a separate card, since an upgrade gets no bonus.