Which card is better, the CapOne Venture card or the Quicksilver card?

The CapOne Venture card currently comes with a much higher welcome bonus than the Quicksilver card. If you are able to complete the required minimum spending amount needed after card approval, the CapOne Venture card will generate initial greater earnings than the Quicksilver card. The CapOne Venture card charges a $95 annual fee while the Quicksilver card has no annual fee. Always check for the current offers before applying for any card, as offers do change periodically.

Do Capital One miles expire?

Capital One miles do not expire as long as your card account is active.

Can I purchase flights with Capital One miles?

Capital One miles are not frequent flyer miles. However, you can transfer these miles to airline partners and use those airline frequent flyer miles to purchase award tickets. You can use Capital One miles to purchase travel at the rate of 1 cent in value for each mile via Capital One Travel.

Does the Quicksilver card come with rental car coverage?

The Quicksilver card comes with car rental insurance. The MasterRental coverage is applicable when you pay for your rental car in full with your eligible card and decline the rental agency’s collision damage waiver coverage. You will receive secondary coverage in your country of residence, requiring you to first file a claim with any other applicable insurance prior to card coverage being applied. If you have no car insurance or your insurance does not cover you out of the country, coverage for collision, loss of use, and limited towing will be primary. Additional terms and conditions apply.

Capital One Venture Rewards Card vs. Quicksilver Card [2022]

You have to hand it to Capital One — the card issuer is consistent at keeping things simple. You won’t find a lot of bells and whistles on most of the issuer’s cards, but you will find simplicity in the earnings structures, solid good-value redemption options, and enough travel and shopping benefits to add value to cardmembers holding 1 or more Capital One cards.

Today we’re focusing on 2 popular Capital One cards that have similarities when it comes to earning rewards and benefits, but when we look closely and compare the cards side by side, you may find a winner.

Join us as we look closely at the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card and Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card to determine which might be the better card for you.

Table of contents

CapOne Venture Card vs. Quicksilver Card — Overview
The Value of a Welcome Bonus
Earning Rewards
Redeeming Rewards
- CapOne Venture Card
- Quicksilver Card
Travel Benefits and Protections
Shopping Benefits and Protections
Minimum Qualifications
Alternative Cards To Consider
Final Thoughts

Table of Contents

CapOne Venture Card vs. Quicksilver Card — Overview
The Value of a Welcome Bonus
Earning Rewards
Redeeming Rewards
- CapOne Venture Card
- Quicksilver Card
Travel Benefits and Protections
Shopping Benefits and Protections
Minimum Qualifications
Alternative Cards To Consider
Final Thoughts

CapOne Venture Card vs. Quicksilver Card — Overview

While our featured cards are very similar, there are some earning level and benefit differences. Here’s a close-up of how the cards stack up against each other.

	Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card	Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card
Welcome Bonus	Earn 75,000 miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months.	Earn a one-time $200 cash bonus when you spend $500 on purchases in the first 3 months.
Unlimited Earning	5x miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel 5x miles on Turo bookings through May 16, 2023 2x miles on all other purchases	5% cash-back on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel 1.5% cash-back on all other purchases
Redemption Options	Transfer miles to airline and hotel partners Redeem for a cash-back statement credit, gift cards, shopping at Amazon, or via PayPal	Cash-back, a statement credit, shopping at Amazon or via PayPal, gift cards
Travel Benefits and Protections	Car rental insurance Roadside dispatch No foreign transaction fees Travel assistance services Travel accident insurance Lost luggage insurance Up to $100 for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck fee reimbursement	Car rental insurance Roadside dispatch No foreign transaction fees Travel assistance services Travel accident insurance
Shopping Benefits and Protections	Purchase protection Extended warranty Capital One Shopping tool	Price protection Purchase protection Extended warranty Capital One Shopping tool
Annual Fee	$95	$0

The Value of a Welcome Bonus

Welcome bonuses provide an immediate opportunity to jump-start your earnings when you’re first approved for your new card. While the amount of the welcome bonus can vary depending on the current card offer, you’ll be required to hit a minimum spending level within a specified period after card approval to qualify and receive the bonus.

Always check for the current offering before applying for any card and keep track of the date you were approved to be sure to complete the required spending before the deadline.

A 50,000-mile welcome bonus is generally worth $500. You may be able to leverage your miles by transferring these rewards to travel partners for greater potential value. We’ll talk about this option shortly.

Bottom Line: Welcome bonuses can provide a jump-start to your earnings. Each Capital One mile is generally worth 1 cent each, but you may be able to realize greater value, depending on your redemption choice, versus the fixed value of cash-back.

Earning Rewards

With either of our featured cards, you’ll find a simple earning structure that ensures you’ll earn rewards on every purchase you make. You won’t have to keep track of any specific bonus category earning, just use your card for every purchase, every day, and earn rewards.

Card	Annual Fee	Earnings
CapOne Venture card	$0	5x miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel 5x miles on Turo bookings through May 16, 2023 2x miles per dollar spent on other purchases
Quicksilver card	$95	5% cash-back on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel 1.5% cash-back on every purchase

The CapOne Venture card earns a higher level of rewards than the Quicksilver card, but it also charges an annual fee. If you’re spending $20,000 each year, you would earn $400 worth of Capital One miles (when conservatively valued at 1 cent each) on the CapOne Venture card or $300 in cash-back on the Quicksilver card. Taking into consideration the annual fee, you would be approximately $5 ahead on the CapOne Venture card after spending that amount.

However, by leveraging airline and hotel partners, you may be able to redeem CapOne Venture card miles for greater value than 1 cent each, making it the better card for travel redemptions.

Bottom Line: The CapOne Venture card has a higher earning level of 2 miles per dollar spent, but has an annual fee. You would need to spend $20,000 to come out ahead over the Quicksilver card that has no annual fee. However, the CapOne Venture card comes with a much higher welcome bonus, making it the better choice from an initial earnings perspective if you can meet the initial spending requirements to earn this bonus. Miles earned on the CapOne Venture card could also potentially be redeemed for greater value when transferred to travel partners.

Redeeming Rewards

Delta One Suites A350 — Transfer Capital One miles to Aeromexico to book Delta One Suites. Image Credit: Delta

Each of our featured cards offers different redemption options. Here are the choices you’ll have for redeeming your Capital One miles earned on the CapOne Venture card and cash-back earned on the Quicksilver card:

CapOne Venture Card

Redeem for Travel

Transfer Miles to Travel Partners — Transferring Capital One miles to airline or hotel partners offers the best opportunity for greater value. After transferring the miles, you can redeem the airline frequent flyer miles or hotel points for flights and free hotel nights. For more information on receiving the best value with transfer partners, our informative article has some creative ideas.
Purchase Travel With Capital One Travel — Use your miles at the value of 1 cent each to redeem them for travel purchases via Capital One Travel.

Redeem for Shopping or Statement Credits

Redeem Capital One miles for gift cards, shop at Amazon, or redeem your rewards via PayPal. You may also use your miles for a statement credit for any purchase (not recommended). Values vary and can be less than 1 cent per mile.

Quicksilver Card

Cash-back is the most liquid form of rewards and is easy to redeem. You’ll receive the best value for your rewards when you request a check or a statement credit. However, you can also use your rewards (values vary) to shop at Amazon, redeem via PayPal, or purchase gift cards.

Bottom Line: The best potential value for your miles may be to transfer to travel partners and purchase airline award tickets or free hotel nights, though you can also redeem your miles for 1 cent each as a statement credit with Capital One Travel. While not the best value, miles can also be redeemed for gift cards and shopping. The Quicksilver card earns cash-back rewards that can be redeemed easily and for the best value in the form of a check or a statement credit.

Travel Benefits and Protections

Car rental — Enjoy secondary car rental insurance coverage with both of our featured cards. Image Credit: PHTGRPHER_EVERYDAY via Shutterstock

Since travel benefits and protections are included at no extra charge, any value you receive is a plus. Here are some of the modest travel benefits and protections you can expect on the CapOne Venture card and the Quicksilver card:

Car Rental Insurance — Pay for the entire rental with your card, decline the rental agency’s collision damage waiver coverage, and receive secondary car rental coverage within your country of residence. If you do not have auto insurance or if it does not cover you outside of your country of residence, coverage can be primary. Additional terms and conditions apply.
Roadside Dispatch — Pay 1 low price ($69.95) for each service call which can include towing, jump-start, emergency fuel, lockout service, and tire changing. Terms apply.
No Foreign Transaction Fees — Both of our featured cards travel well with no foreign transaction fees charged on your purchases.
Travel Assistance Services — Receive 24-hour assistance when you travel, including card replacement and assistance getting emergency cash.
Travel Accident Insurance — Receive up to $1,000,000 for covered loss of life or qualifying dismemberment as listed in the cards’ Guide to Benefits.

Hot Tip: We’re just scratching the surface! Review all of the benefits of the Quicksilver card in detail and see even more benefits of the CapOne Venture card in our helpful guides.

Shopping Benefits and Protections

Here is a sampling of shopping benefits and protections you’ll find on our featured cards.

Extended Warranty — Receive an extension of 1 to 2 years beyond the manufacturer’s warranty for eligible items purchased with your card. The length of the extension will depend on whether your card is issued as a Mastercard or Visa.
Purchase Protection — Eligible items and purchases with your card will receive coverage for damage and theft for 120 days from the purchase date. Coverage limits include $250 per claim, up to 4 claims per 12-month period.
Capital One Shopping Tool — Save money shopping online with coupons automatically applied to your order.

The Quicksilver card, when issued as a Mastercard, will also include price protection. Purchase an eligible item with your card, and if you find the item advertised for less within 120 days from the purchase date, you could receive up to $250 per claim, for up to 4 claims per 12-month period.

Bottom Line: Travel and shopping benefits and protections will depend on whether your card is issued as a Mastercard or Visa. The source for the actual list of applicable benefits and protections received and the terms and conditions will be the specific card’s Guide to Benefits.

Minimum Qualifications

Both of our featured cards recommend an excellent credit score (740 to 850). Capital One adds its own criteria to clarify that to qualify, an applicant “has never declared bankruptcy or defaulted on a loan, not been more than 60 days late on any credit card, loan, or medical bill in the last year, and has had a loan or credit card for 3 years or more with a credit limit above $5,000.”

Of course, the higher your score, the more likely you will be approved, but you can also find out in advance if you have card offers available to you. Potential card offers, including Capital One card offers, can be found by using the CardMatch tool. Using the tool is simple, risk-free, and no hard inquiry is done on your credit history. Enter some basic information and any offers waiting for you will be revealed.

Capital One also has its own version of the prequalification tool, but it requires you to submit more information than the CardMatch tool.

You’ll also want to know where your credit stands by obtaining a recent copy of your credit report and checking it for accuracy.

Alternative Cards To Consider

Capital One has a large collection of card offerings. To review some of the best Capital One cards available, we’ve put together this overview for comparing card options.

Capital One does a great job of offering credit card options for nearly every consumer and all levels of credit history. Depending on your objectives and spending habits, you may want to consider additional cards that could also be a fit for your situation.

Here are a few recommendations for alternatives to our featured cards.

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

The Chase Sapphire Preferred card is one of our favorite travel rewards cards because it earns valuable Ultimate Rewards points and comes with a long list of travel benefits. Travel benefits like primary car rental insurance, trip cancellation and interruption coverage, trip delay coverage, and baggage insurance mean you’ll travel with peace of mind.

You’ll also receive good value at redemption time, when points are worth 25% more when redeemed for travel via the Chase travel portal. Or, transfer to travel partners for even greater potential value.

Chase Freedom Unlimited® or Chase Freedom Flex℠

If you’re looking for a no-annual-fee card that earns flexible rewards on every purchase you make, you’ll want to consider a card from Chase’s Freedom line. Either card partners well with Chase premium cards such as the Chase Sapphire Preferred card or Chase Sapphire Reserve® to deliver up to 50% more in value when redeeming transferred Ultimate Rewards points for travel.

Not sure which Freedom card is best for you? No worries, as we’ve done the legwork and offer our comparison of the Freedom Unlimited card and Freedom Flex card.

American Express® Gold Card

Hot Tip: Check to see if you’re eligible for a welcome bonus offer of up to 90,000 points with the Amex Gold card! (The current public offer is 60,000 points.)

We like the everyday earning potential of the Amex Gold card. And while the card does have a moderate annual fee, U.S. supermarket purchases alone can net 100,000 Membership Rewards points each year (up to $25,000 in purchases with 4x earnings; 1x thereafter), which would be worth $2,200, by our valuations.

The card functions quite nicely as an everyday earning card, but also offers 3x earnings on airfare purchased directly with the airline or through Amex Travel, as well as flexible redemption options for travel.

Bottom Line: The CapOne Venture card and Quicksilver card offer simplified flat-rate earnings on every purchase plus several options for redeeming your rewards for travel. But if you have excellent credit, you will have a lot of great additional choices for travel rewards cards.

Final Thoughts

While our 2 featured cards are similar, if you can accomplish the initial 1-year or 3-month minimum spending requirements, it may be worthwhile to secure the CapOne Venture card with its larger welcome bonus over the Quicksilver card.

However, on an ongoing basis, if you do not plan to spend more than $20,000 per year on the CapOne Venture card, the no-annual-fee Quicksilver card could be a better choice for you.

Either card could serve you well, but if you have excellent credit, comparing travel rewards cards for the best fit makes sense.

The information regarding the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card and Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.

For rates and fees of the American Express® Gold Card, click here.

Earn Points

Use Points

Business Credit Card Reviews

Business Guides

Air Travel Guides

Airline Points

Earn & Use Hotel Points

Hotel Loyalty Program Reviews

Capital One Venture Rewards Card vs. Quicksilver Card [Detailed Comparison]

CapOne Venture Card vs. Quicksilver Card — Overview

The Value of a Welcome Bonus

Earning Rewards