Amex Green Card vs. Capital One Venture Card [2024]

If you’re in the market for a new card that earns transferable rewards without a hefty annual fee, the American Express^® Green Card and the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card are strong options to consider.

Given that, how should you decide which card is the best option for you? In this guide, we will provide a detailed comparison of everything that each card has to offer, including their rewards, benefits, credits, protections, fees, and more. Without further ado, let’s jump right into the comparisons.

Amex Green Card vs. Capital One Venture Card — Overview

Before we do a deep dive into all of the details of each card, here is a quick comparison table to give you an approximation of the strengths of each card.

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Benefit or Feature	American Express^® Green Card	Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card
Welcome Bonus	Earn 40,000 points after spending $3,000 within the first 6 months.	Earn 75,000 miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months.
Earning Potential	– 3x points at restaurants (including takeout and delivery in the U.S.) – 3x points on transit (including rideshares, trains, subways, parking, and more) – 3x points on travel (including airfare, hotels, and car rentals) – 1x points on all other purchases	– 5x miles on car rentals and hotels booked via Capital One Travel – 2x miles on every other purchase
Redemption Options	– Amex transfer partners – AmexTravel.com bookings – Cash-back via statement credit – Gift cards – Shopping with select retailers	– Capital One transfer partners – Capital One Travel bookings – Redeem miles against travel purchases made with the card in the previous 90 days – Cash-back via statement credit – Gift cards – Shopping with select retailers
Statement Credits	– Up to $189 annual CLEAR Plus credit – Up to $100 annual LoungeBuddy credit	– Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit
Travel Benefits and Protections	– No foreign transaction fees – Secondary rental car insurance – Baggage insurance – Trip delay insurance	– No foreign transaction fees (rates & fees) – MasterRental Insurance – Lost or Damaged Luggage Reimbursement – Travel Assistance Services
Shopping Benefits and Protections	– Amex Offers – Purchase protection – Extended warranty coverage – American Express Experiences	– Capital One Offers – Purchase assurance – Capital One Entertainment
Annual Fee	$150	$95 (rates & fees)
Authorized User Fee	$0 for the first 5 cardholders, then $35	$0 (rates & fees)

For the most part, both the Amex Green card and the Capital One Venture card offer a lot of similar benefits, protections, and redemption options.

Now, let’s take an in-depth look at each category to help narrow down your search.

The Value of a Welcome Offer

Amex Green Card

American Express^® Green Card

U.P. Rating

This card can provide a great way to accumulate Membership Rewards points on eligible travel, transit, and at restaurants.

All information about American Express^® Green Card has been collected independently by Upgraded Points.

American Express^® Green Card

This card can provide a great way to accumulate Membership Rewards points on eligible travel, transit, and at restaurants.

Welcome OfferEarn 40,000 Membership Rewards® Points after you spend $3,000 in eligible purchases on your American Express® Green Card within the first 6 months of Card Membership.
40,000 points

UP's Bonus Valuation*:
$880

Annual Fee

$150

APR

See Pay Over Time APR

Credit Recommended

Good to Excellent (670-850)

The American Express^® Green Card is an excellent all-around travel rewards card thanks to earning 3x Membership Rewards^® points on eligible travel and transit purchases and at restaurants, access to American Express transfer partners, and a reasonable annual fee.

Pros

3x points per $1 spent at restaurants worldwide, on all eligible travel purchases, and transit purchases
Up to $189 per calendar year in statement credits after you pay for a CLEAR^® Plus membership with the Card.
Up to $100 in statement credits annually when you purchase airport lounge access through LoungeBuddy with the Card.
Access to American Express transfer partners
No foreign transaction fees

Cons

$150 annual fee
No elite benefits like airport lounge access or hotel elite status

Earn 40,000 Membership Rewards^® Points after you spend $3,000 in eligible purchases on your American Express^® Green Card within the first 6 months of Card Membership.
Earn 3X Membership Rewards^® points on travel including airfare, hotels, cruises, tours, car rentals, campgrounds, and vacation rentals.
Earn 3X Membership Rewards^® Points on transit purchases including trains, taxicabs, rideshare services, ferries, tolls, parking, buses, and subways.
Earn 3X Membership Rewards^® points on eligible purchases at restaurants worldwide, including takeout and delivery in the US.
$189 CLEAR Plus Credit: Receive up to $189 per calendar year in statement credits when you pay for your CLEAR Plus membership (subject to auto-renewal) with the American Express^® Green Card.
$100 LoungeBuddy: No airport lounge membership? No problem! Purchase lounge access through the LoungeBuddy app using the American Express^® Green Card and receive up to $100 in statement credits annually.
Payment Flexibility: When it comes to paying your bill, you have options. You can always pay in full. You also have the flexibility to carry a balance with interest or use Plan It^® to split up large purchases into monthly payments with a fixed fee, up to your Pay Over Time Limit. You may be able to keep spending beyond your limit – you’ll just need to pay for any new purchases in full when your bill is due.
Trip Delay Insurance: If a round-trip is paid for entirely with your Eligible Card and a covered reason delays your trip more than 12 hours, Trip Delay Insurance can help reimburse certain additional expenses purchased on the same Eligible Card, up to $300 per trip, maximum 2 claims per eligible account per 12 consecutive month period. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. Coverage is provided by New Hampshire Insurance Company, an AIG Company.
No Foreign Transaction Fees: No matter where you’re traveling, when you use your American Express^® Green Card there are no foreign transaction fees.
$150 annual fee.
Terms Apply.

Financial Snapshot

APR: See Pay Over Time APR
Foreign Transaction Fees: None

Card Categories

Rewards Center

American Express Membership Rewards

Capital One Venture Card

Terms Apply / Rates & Fees

Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

U.P. Rating

Get 2x miles plus some of the most flexible redemptions offered by a travel credit card!

Learn More(at Capital One's secure site)

Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

Get 2x miles plus some of the most flexible redemptions offered by a travel credit card!

Welcome OfferEnjoy a one-time bonus of 75,000 miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within 3 months from account opening, equal to $750 in travel.
75,000 miles

UP's Bonus Valuation*:
$1,350

Annual Fee

$95

APR

19.99% - 29.99% (Variable)

Credit Recommended

Good to Excellent Credit (670-850)

The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card is one of the most popular rewards cards on the market. It’s perfect for anyone in search of a great welcome offer, high rewards rates, and flexible redemption options.

Frequent travelers with excellent credit may benefit from this credit card that offers a lot of bells and whistles. And it offers easy-to-understand rewards earning and redemption.

Pros

5x miles per $1 on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
2x miles per $1 on all other purchases
Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fee credit
No foreign transaction fees (rates & fees)
Access to Capital One transfer partners

Cons

$95 annual fee (rates & fees)
Limited elite benefits

Enjoy a one-time bonus of 75,000 miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within 3 months from account opening, equal to $750 in travel
Earn unlimited 2X miles on every purchase, every day
Earn 5X miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel, where you'll get Capital One's best prices on thousands of trip options
Miles won't expire for the life of the account and there's no limit to how many you can earn
Receive up to a $100 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck^®
Use your miles to get reimbursed for any travel purchase—or redeem by booking a trip through Capital One Travel
Enrich every hotel stay from the Lifestyle Collection with a suite of cardholder benefits, like a $50 experience credit, room upgrades, and more
Transfer your miles to your choice of 15+ travel loyalty programs

Financial Snapshot

APR: 19.99% - 29.99% (Variable)
Foreign Transaction Fees: None

Card Categories

Rewards Center

Capital One Miles

Bottom Line:

Our valuation of Amex Membership Rewards points and Capital One miles are relatively close, at 2.2 cents per point and 1.8 cents per mile, respectively. That said, while we value Amex Membership Rewards points more, the Capital One Venture card usually offers a much larger welcome bonus than the Amex Green card.

Earning Potential

One of the best ways to determine if a card is right for you is if the bonus categories it offers matches your spending habits, allowing you to earn as many points as possible.

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Bonus Category	Amex Green Card	Capital One Venture Card
General Travel	3x points	2x miles
Dining	3x points	2x miles
Transit (Trains, Ferries, Buses, Subways, Rideshares, Etc.)	3x points	2x miles
Hotels and Rental Cars Through Capital One Travel	N/A	5x miles
All Other Purchases	1x points	2x miles

As you can see, the bonus categories on both cards are quite different. Those who spend a considerable portion of their budget on travel, dining, and transit purchases are likely to fair better with the Amex Green card as you’ll earn 3x points on these purchases — 50% more than you would with the Capital One Venture card.

That said, if your purchase habits don’t regularly fall into certain categories, or you prefer to not have to worry about bonus categories at all, then earning 2x miles on all purchases with the Capital One Venture card is pretty compelling.

Redemption Options

Amex Green Card

Delta One Suites A350 — Use your Membership Rewards points to fly Delta One business class from 50,000 points. Image Credit: Delta

American Express Membership Rewards points offer a variety of redemption options, including transferring them to Amex’s transfer partners, booking through the AmexTravel.com portal, cash-back via a statement credit, gift cards, or shopping with select merchants.

While each person should redeem their points in whatever manner works best for their situation, our favorite way to redeem our Amex points is via the AmexTravel.com transfer partners. Thanks to these partnerships you can use your points for luxury travel experiences for a fraction of what it would normally cost.

For example, when transferring your points to Virgin Atlantic you can book one-way Delta One business class awards between the U.S. and Europe for just 50,000 points with low taxes and fees.

Capital One Venture Card

Similarly, Capital One Miles also provides multiple redemption options including transferring to the Capital One transfer partners, travel purchases through Capital One Travel, using miles to offset general travel purchases made with your card in the previous 90 days, cash-back via statement credit, gift cards, and shopping with select retailers.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, our favorite way to redeem our Capital One miles is through the Capital One transfer partners, and some of our favorites include Air Canada Aeroplan, Avianca LifeMiles, Air France-KLM Flying Blue, and Turkish Airlines.

Need to fly from New York to Los Angeles? You can do so in style aboard United Polaris business class for just 25,000 miles each way using the Air Canada Aeroplan program.

Hot Tip:

Read more about the best ways to use Amex Membership Rewards points and how to maximize their value and the best ways to use Capital One Miles to get outsized value.

Statement Credits

Amex Green Card — CLEAR Plus and LoungeBuddy

While the annual fee of the Amex Green card is $150, it offers an annual CLEAR Plus credit of up to $189. Depending on how much you value having a CLEAR Plus membership, this perk can help offset the annual fee rather easily.

For those unfamiliar, CLEAR provides expedited security experience at select airports and stadiums nationwide using biometrics, which allows you to jump right to the front of the ID check line.

Amex Green cardholders also receive an annual LoungeBuddy credit of up to $100. This credit can be used toward any of the 300+ LoungeBuddy airport lounges worldwide. The cost to enter an eligible lounge can vary, but at the very least the credit should get you at least 2 to 3 visits per year.

Capital One Venture Card — Global Entry or TSA PreCheck

Global Entry card and passport — Image Credit: Evgenia Parajanian via Abobe Stock

Global Entry and TSA PreCheck are an absolute must-have for anyone who travels often, so much so that we feel that the $100 membership fee for both Global Entry and TSA PreCheck combined is a steal. Thankfully many travel rewards cards offer a statement credit for this membership and the Capital One Venture card is one of them.

Travel Benefits and Protections

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Benefit or Protection	Amex Green Card	Capital One Venture Card
Foreign Transaction Fees	None (rates & fees)	None (rates & fees)
Rental Car Insurance	Yes	MasterRental Insurance – Use your card to rent an eligible vehicle and you may be covered for physical damage and theft of the rental vehicle
Baggage Protection	Up to $1,250 for carry-on baggage and up to $500 for checked baggage for bags or items that are lost, damaged, or stolen	Lost or Damaged Luggage* – Reimbursement for the actual cost of repairing or replacing your checked or carry-on luggage and personal property contained therein that is lost or damaged
Trip Delay Reimbursement	If your flight is delayed by more than 12 hours, you can receive up to $300 in coverage	Trip Cancellation/Interruption Coverage* – In the event of illness or death of the cardholder or immediate family member results in the cancellation or interruption of a trip, you may be eligible for reimbursement up to $1500
Airport Lounge Access	$100 annual LoungeBuddy credit	N/A

Neither the Amex Green card nor the Capital One Venture card is one of the best cards for travel protection and benefits, but they both offer some useful benefits.

The main perks of the Amex Green card here are its trip delay coverage, baggage protection, and annual LoungeBuddy credit of up to $100. The Capital One Venture card offers baggage protection and Hertz Gold Plus Rewards Five Star status.

Fortunately, both cards offer secondary rental car insurance and no foreign transaction fees (rates & fees).

Shopping Benefits and Protections

Here is how each option keeps you covered when purchasing items with your card.

The Amex Green card offers these benefits:

Amex Offers — Discounts and opportunities to earn more points and statement credits with 100 merchants each month
Purchase Protection — Coverage 90 days from the date of purchase towards stolen or damaged items for up to $1,000 per occurrence and $50,000 per year
Extended Warranty Coverage — Adds 1 year of additional warranty to extended warranties of 5 years or less
American Express Experiences — Exclusive access to ticket presales

The Capital One Venture card offers these benefits:

Capital One Offers — Discounts with select merchants
Purchase Assurance — Coverage 90 days from the date of purchase towards stolen or damaged items

Annual Fees and Adding Authorized Users

Annual Fees

The annual fee of the Amex Green card is $150 while the annual fee of the Capital One Venture card is $95 (rates & fees). The 2 fees are relatively close, but since the Amex Green card is higher, you’ll want to be certain that the benefits you value in the card outweigh that additional cost.

Authorized Users

When it comes to authorized users, you can add up to 5 cards to your Amex Green card for no additional cost, and any additional cards are $35 each. As for the Capital One Venture card, authorized user cards are always free (rates & fees) and there is no limit to the number of authorized users you can have.

Final Thoughts

It is clear that both the Amex Green card and the Capital One Venture card are excellent options for points and miles travelers.

Both have relatively similar benefits, so deciding which card is better for you might come down to the smaller details like the rewards ecosystem you prefer, the bonus categories, or a particular benefit that stands out to you.

For the car rental loss and damage insurance benefit of the American Express^® Green Card, car rental loss and damage insurance can provide coverage up to $50,000 for theft of or damage to most rental vehicles when you use your eligible card to reserve and pay for the entire eligible vehicle rental and decline the collision damage waiver or similar option offered by the commercial car rental company. This product provides secondary coverage and does not include liability coverage. Not all vehicle types or rentals are covered. geographic restrictions apply. Eligibility and benefit level varies by card. Terms, conditions and limitations Apply. Please visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by AMEX Assurance Company. Car Rental Loss or Damage Coverage is offered through American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc.

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.

Enrollment required through Capital One website or mobile app. Upon enrollment, eligible cardholders will remain at upgraded status level through December 31, 2024. Please note, enrolling through the normal Hertz Gold Plus Rewards enrollment process (e.g. at Hertz.com) will not automatically detect a cardholder as being eligible for the program and cardholders will not be automatically upgraded to the applicable status tier. Additional terms apply.

The information regarding the American Express^® Green Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.

Featured Image Credit: Upgraded Points

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better, the Amex Green card or the Capital One Venture card?

Neither card is necessarily better than the other, but one might be a better fit for you depending on what you are looking for in a new card.

Take each cards bonus categories for instance, if you’re looking for a card that offers bonus categories for dining, transit, and travel, then the Amex Green card will help you rack up points fast. On the other hand, if you like the simplicity of the Capital One Venture earning 2x miles on all purchases, then perhaps that is the better option for you.

What are the benefits of the Amex Green card?

The top benefits of the Amex Green card are its 3x points earnings on travel, transit, and dining purchases, an annual CLEAR Plus statement credit of up to $189, an annual LoungeBuddy statement credit of up to $100, access to transfer partners, and purchase protections.

What are the benefits of the Capital One Venture card?

The top benefits of the Capital One Venture card are its 2x miles on all non-bonus category purchases, Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit, 2 annual lounge passes, Hertz Five Star status, access to travel transfer partners, and card protections.

Does the Capital One Venture card have an annual fee?

Yes, the annual fee of the Capital One Venture card is $95 (rates & fees).

Does the Amex Green card have an annual fee?

Yes, the annual fee of the Amex Green card is $150.

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About Jarrod West

Boasting a portfolio of over 20 cards, Jarrod has been an expert in the points and miles space for over 6 years. He earns and redeems over 1 million points per year and his work has been featured in outlets like The New York Times.

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