Great Card If
- You want a card that offers flexible redemption options.
- You spend a lot on travel, online grocery purchases, gas, dining, and food delivery.
- You travel frequently for work.
- You’re new to the world of points and miles.
Don’t Get If
- You seldom dine out and prefer cooking at home.
- You don’t enjoy traveling.
- You prefer a card with premium offerings, such as airport lounge access or hotel elite status.
Is It Worth It? The Short Answer
With an annual fee of $95, the Chase Sapphire Preferred card is worth it if you can easily use the $100 annual Chase Travel hotel credit, and if you spend a meaningful amount each year on travel and dining. If you don’t use the hotel credit or have meaningful dining or travel spending, you may pay for protections you rarely use.
“The Chase Sapphire Preferred card is essential to my personal life, whether at home or on the go. As a frequent traveler, I love that this rewards card earns handsomely across 2 of my largest expenses: dining and travel. It doesn’t take much to justify the $95 annual fee since that breaks down to under $8 per month — and with that cost, I get a variety of travel and purchase protections, no foreign transaction fees, and access to key travel transfer partners like World of Hyatt.”
Stella Shon, Upgraded Points senior features editor
Benefits at a Glance
Best Ways To Earn and Redeem Your Chase Points
There are numerous ways to earn Chase Ultimate Rewards points, along with great ways to redeem your Chase points for maximum value. A good way to redeem Chase points is through Chase transfer partners to book premium travel experiences with partners like Air Canada Aeroplan and Air France-KLM Flying Blue.
Alternative Cards to the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card
With a variety of Capital One airline and hotel transfer partners and a minimum of 2x Capital One miles on all purchases, the Capital One Venture card is a direct competitor to the Chase Sapphire Preferred card. If the majority of your everyday spending comes from purchases outside of dining and travel categories, then the Capital One Venture card might be a great option for you.
For more information, check out our detailed analysis of the Chase Sapphire Preferred card vs. the Capital One Venture card.
The Citi Strata Premier card is one of the few travel credit cards on the market to offer a high return on gas and EV charging purchases. This makes the card an excellent choice for those who drive often for work or love taking road trips.
Review a detailed comparison in our head-to-head article on the Chase Sapphire Preferred card vs. Citi Strata Premier card.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred is one of several cards worth comparing, and reviewing the full range of Chase card options can help narrow down the right fit.
We’ve also compared the Chase Sapphire Preferred card with other popular cards:
UP’s Card Review Methodology
Every card we review is assigned a "U.P. Rating" – our star-based system that encompasses all the key details to showcase a card’s standout features, where it falls short, and how it stacks up for travelers to maximize rewards.
These ratings range from 0 to 5 stars and are determined by carefully weighing crucial factors like:
- Bonus categories
- Benefits and perks
- Quality of associated loyalty programs
- Annual fees and other costs
- Size of the welcome bonus (and relative to the annual fee)
- And several more
You can learn more about how Upgraded Points reviews and rates credit cards.