Sapphire Preferred vs. Reserve: Which One to Get

Three questions that decide it

Start with the fee gap. The Reserve’s $300 travel credit applies to almost any travel purchase: flights, hotels, Ubers, parking, tolls. If you spend $300 a year on travel, you get it without trying. That turns $795 into $495, so the real difference between the cards is $400. These three questions tell you whether the Reserve earns that back.

If you answered “rarely, no, and no,” get the Preferred. You’d be paying $400 a year for things you won’t use. If you said yes to two of the three, the Reserve usually comes out ahead. If it’s one, the math below decides it.

The math on the $400

Here’s one year of fairly typical spending for someone who travels a few times a year, run through both cards.

That’s 6,000 more points on the Reserve, worth about $90 at a conservative 1.5 cents each. The Preferred’s 3x on gas and online grocery keeps the gap small. On its own, that’s nowhere near $400.

Hyatt is what changes it. Transferred to Hyatt, the Reserve’s 50,000 points stay 50,000. The Preferred’s 44,000 become 33,000. Hyatt points are often worth 2 cents or more, so the Reserve’s extra 17,000 Hyatt points are worth about $340. That covers most of the $400 before you count a single lounge visit, and a few lounge visits or one credit you’d use anyway covers the rest.

Without Hyatt, the Reserve is about $310 short on this spending, and its other credits have to make up the difference. They can, but only if you’d spend the money anyway:

This is how I’d decide. Count the Reserve at $495, then subtract only the credits you’d have spent the money on anyway and what Hyatt and the extra points are worth to you. Count the Preferred at $95, minus its $100 Chase Travel hotel credit if you’d use it. Whichever card comes out cheaper is the one to get. For me it’s Hyatt and the travel credit, which is why I’ve kept the Reserve.

How you earn points

Dining earns the same on both cards. The Reserve earns more on travel, and the Preferred earns more on gas, streaming, and online grocery.

Whichever you pick, add the no-fee Freedom Unlimited for everyday spending. It earns at least 1.5x on everything, and its points pool with your Sapphire card, so they transfer to the same partners.

Start with the Preferred, upgrade later

You don’t have to decide forever. Chase usually lets you switch between Sapphire cards with a product change: you keep your points and your account history, and there’s no new credit application. So if you’re unsure, get the Preferred, use it for a year, and see how much you travel. If the Reserve’s math works for you by then, upgrade.

The one catch is the sign-up bonus. A product change doesn’t come with one. Right now the Reserve’s offer is 100,000 points after $6,000 in purchases in the first 3 months, and the Preferred’s is 75,000 after $5,000. If you already know you’ll want the Reserve, applying for it directly gets you the bigger bonus. Chase won’t open a card you already have, and you may not get the bonus if you’ve held that card or received its bonus before. And apply for Chase cards before cards from other banks. Chase usually declines you if you’ve opened five or more cards in the past 24 months. The 5/24 guide explains how to plan around it.

The same works in reverse. If the Reserve stops paying for itself, switch it to the Preferred or the Freedom Unlimited instead of cancelling. Cancelling outright means you lose the ability to transfer your points.