Chase Sapphire Preferred Card vs. Amex Platinum Card [Detailed Comparison]

The Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card and The Platinum Card^® from American Express are 2 of the most popular cards in the U.S.

Even though these 2 products are targeted toward 2 different consumer segments, people continue to compare the rewards and benefits offered by both cards.

To be sure, both of these cards offer some of the best rewards structures and benefits packages available; so if you’ve narrowed down your selection to these 2 cards, you’re already on the right track.

In this guide, we’ll take a look at the relative merits and drawbacks of these 2 cards.

Let’s get right into it!

Chase Sapphire Preferred Card vs. Amex Platinum Card — Overview

While the Chase Sapphire Preferred card and Amex Platinum card are both metal credit cards, they are worlds apart in terms of card features.

Before we dissect these cards completely, let’s take a look at the high-level benefits, rewards, and characteristics of each card. Note that some benefits of the Amex Platinum card require enrollment through your American Express account:

Feature/Benefit	Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card	The Platinum Card® from American Express
Welcome Offer	Earn 60,000 points after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months.	Earn 80,000 points after spending $8,000 on purchases in the first 6 months.
Earning Potential	5x points on travel booked through Chase Travel and Lyft (through March 31, 2025) 3x points on dining, online groceries, and select streaming services 2x points on other travel purchases	5x points on airfare booked directly with the airline or through AmexTravel.com (up to $500,000 per calendar year) 5x points on prepaid hotel stays booked through AmexTravel.com
Redemption Options	Transfers to travel partners Chase travel portal bookings Amazon.com purchases; Cash-back; Gift cards; Online shopping	Transfers to travel partners AmexTravel.com bookings Amazon.com purchases; Cash-back; Gift cards; Online shopping
Hotel Program Benefits	None	Complimentary Hilton Gold and Marriott Gold Elite status Access to Fine Hotels & Resorts and The Hotel Collection
Statement Credits	Up to $50 annual Ultimate Rewards hotel credit	Annual statement credits: up to $200 airline fee, up to $189 CLEAR Plus, up to $240 digital entertainment credit, and more Global Entry/TSA PreCheck application fee credit
Travel Benefits and Protections	Trip cancellation and interruption insurance Primary rental car insurance Baggage delay insurance; Trip delay reimbursement Travel and emergency assistance services	Rental car privileges with Avis, Hertz, and National Car Rental (upon enrollment) Access to 1,400+ airport lounges Trip cancellation and interruption insurance Secondary rental car insurance Baggage insurance plan; Trip delay reimbursement
Shopping Benefits and Protections	Purchase protection; Extended warranty	Purchase protection; Extended warranty Cell phone protection
Annual Fees	$95	$695 (rates & fees)

Relative to its peers, the Chase Sapphire Preferred card and Amex Platinum card both outperform, albeit in different arenas.

For example, the Amex Platinum card is unparalleled in luxury travel and lifestyle benefits.

On the other hand, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a credit card that offers as much in the way of rewards and travel insurance at the same price point as the Chase Sapphire Preferred card.

Welcome Offers

The Value of a Welcome Offer

In general, different cards offer variable welcome bonuses. As a rule of thumb, the cards with the highest annual fees generally also come with the largest welcome bonuses.

To incentivize you to take action today and add a card to your portfolio, Amex and Chase both offer attractive introductory welcome bonuses to accelerate the points you’re earning in the first few months of card membership.

Hot Tip: Check to see if you’re eligible for a welcome bonus offer of up to 125k (or 150k) points with the Amex Platinum. The current public offer is 80,000 points. (This targeted offer was independently researched and may not be available to all applicants.)

Chase Ultimate Rewards vs. Amex Membership Rewards

In terms of rewards, you can’t go wrong with either the Chase Sapphire Preferred card or the Amex Platinum card.

That’s because the Chase Sapphire Preferred card earns Chase Ultimate Rewards points and the Amex Platinum card earns Amex Membership Rewards points.

Both of these points are flexible rewards currencies, also known as transferrable rewards currencies.

Depending on what type of travel you wish to book, it may be advantageous to use one type of point over another.

For example, if you’re looking to book hotel stays, Chase Ultimate Rewards has an amazing 1:1 transfer partnership with World of Hyatt. You can book some of the world’s most expensive hotels for less than 50,000 points per night, which is huge.

On the other hand, Amex Membership Rewards has fantastic transfer partnerships with airlines like ANA Mileage Club, Avianca LifeMiles, and Delta Air Lines.

Earning Potential

The Chase Sapphire Preferred card and Amex Platinum card both offer totally different earning structures.

Here’s a table illustrating both cards’ rewards structures:

Bonus Earning Category	Chase Sapphire Preferred Card (Ultimate Rewards Points)	Amex Platinum Card (Membership Rewards Points)
Flights Purchased Directly From Airlines	2x points	5x points
Flights Purchased From the Card’s Travel Portal	5x points	5x points
Prepaid Hotel Stays From the Card’s Travel Portal	5x points	5x points
Other Travel Purchased From the Card’s Travel Portal	5x points	1x points
Lyft Purchases	5x points (through March 31, 2025)	1x points
Dining	3x points	1x points
Online Groceries	3x points	1x points
Select Streaming Services	3x points	1x points
Other Travel	2x points	1x points
All Other Purchases	1x points	1x points

We value Amex points at 2.2 cents each and Chase points at 2.0 cents each. That means that Amex points are slightly more valuable than Chase points.

If you’re someone who books lots of flights and hotels, we’d wholeheartedly recommend using the Amex Platinum card.

Meanwhile, if most of your purchases come from dining, online groceries, and streaming, the Chase Sapphire Preferred card is a great fit for you.

All in all, the best card from a rewards standpoint will depend on your individual spending habits.

10% Anniversary Earning Bonus

The Chase Sapphire Preferred card also comes with a 10% bonus of earned points every cardmember anniversary year.

So if you earned 20,000 Ultimate Rewards points the previous year, you’d get a bonus of 2,000 points after your renewal anniversary.

Redemption Options

Both the Amex Platinum card and Chase Sapphire Preferred card earn transferrable rewards points.

In general, the best way to use these points is for luxury award travel booked through airline and hotel transfer partners. Both Amex and Chase are equipped with this capability, though the Amex transfer partners include more airlines than the Chase transfer partners.

With Amex points, you can also get gift cards and statement credits, as well as book AmexTravel.com reservations via Pay With Points, and make charitable donations. You can even do some online shopping or use points at vendors like Amazon or Best Buy.

Chase shares all of these redemption pathways with 1 major exception: the Chase Sapphire Preferred card allows you to get a 25% redemption bonus on Chase travel portal bookings and Pay Yourself Back. This allows you to get a redemption value of 1.25 cents per point.

Hotel Program Benefits

One of the first realms in which we start to see the differences between the Amex Platinum card and Chase Sapphire Preferred card is in travel benefits.

As we mentioned before, the Amex Platinum card is designed to make you feel like a VIP when you’re traveling, which is why this card appeals so much to luxury travelers.

To start off, the Amex Platinum card offers complimentary Hilton Honors Gold and Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite status (upon enrollment). At Hilton properties, this means you can get a preferred room upgrade and complimentary continental breakfast. At Marriott properties, this means an enhanced room upgrade and 2 p.m. late check-out.

Also, the Amex Platinum card allows you to book stays with Fine Hotels & Resorts and The Hotel Collection.

Fine Hotels & Resorts stays come with:

• Complimentary breakfast for 2 daily
• Room upgrade, subject to availability
• Guaranteed 4 p.m. late checkout
• Noon check-in, subject to availability
• Complimentary Wi-Fi
• A unique property amenity valued at $100 (usually a property, spa, or food and beverage credit)

Meanwhile, stays booked through The Hotel Collection come with:

• Room upgrade, subject to availability
• $100 property credit

This is a huge game-changer if you don’t have elite status!

The Chase Sapphire Preferred card doesn’t offer any hotel elite status or elite-like benefits.

Statement Credits

Another area where the Amex Platinum card blows the Chase Sapphire Preferred card out of the water is in statement credit benefits.

Right now, the Chase Sapphire Preferred card offers 2 statement credit benefits:

• $50 annual Ultimate Rewards hotel credit

Every cardmember anniversary year, you can get a $50 statement credit for hotel stays booked through the Chase Travel portal.

The Amex Platinum card offers a seemingly endless list of statement credit benefits:

• Up to $200 airline fee credit
• Up to $200 prepaid hotel credit
• Up to $200 Uber Cash
• Up to $189 CLEAR Plus credit
• Up to $100 Global Entry/TSA PreCheck application fee credit every 4 years
• Up to $100 Saks Fifth Avenue credit
• Up to $300 Equinox credit
• Up to $240 digital entertainment credit
• Up to $155 Walmart+ credit

The difference is quite stark, isn’t it? We’ve written a complete guide to using your Amex statement credits, which you can keep in your back pocket.

Bottom Line: The Amex Platinum card offers an array of statement credit benefits that widens the gap with the Chase Sapphire Preferred card. The Chase Sapphire Preferred card offers a $50 annual Ultimate Rewards hotel credit.

Travel Benefits and Protections

The Chase Sapphire Preferred card offers great travel protections at its price point; in fact, there are some features on this card that outperform the Amex Platinum card.

However, the Amex Platinum card’s other travel benefits, as a whole, significantly transcend those offered by the Chase Sapphire Preferred card.

Travel-related Statement Credits

We outlined the list of statement credits offered by each card in the previous section, but we felt it was worth detailing each of them to get a full picture.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred card’s only travel-related statement credit is the $50 annual Ultimate Rewards hotel credit, which is super easy to use.

The Amex Platinum card offers these travel credits:

• Up to $200 airline fee credit (per calendar year)
• Up to $200 prepaid hotel credit (per calendar year)
• Up to $200 Uber Cash ($15 per month, except for $35 in December)
• Up to $189 CLEAR Plus credit (per calendar year)
• Up to $100 Global Entry/TSA PreCheck application fee credit (every 4 years)

In total, there is nearly $800 worth of yearly travel-related statement credits and $100 worth of travel-related statement credits given every 4 years with the Amex Platinum card, compared to up to $50 per year from the Chase Sapphire Preferred card.

Airport Lounge Access

One of the benefits that made the Amex Platinum card famous is the incredible airport lounge access. Indeed, this card entitles you to access the American Express Global Lounge Collection, which includes these lounges:

• Centurion Lounges (including U.S. and international locations)
• Delta Sky Club (when flying on Delta the same day)
• Escape Lounges — The Centurion Studio Partner
• Select Lufthansa Lounges (when flying Lufthansa the same day)
• Plaza Premium Lounges
• Priority Pass Lounges (activation required)
• Select Virgin Clubhouses

The Chase Sapphire Preferred card does not include any airport lounge access benefits.

Rental Car Privileges

When you’re traveling and booking rental cars, you’ll want to keep the Amex Platinum card in your wallet.

Currently, the Amex Platinum card offers benefits at Avis, Hertz, and National. These benefits include varying levels of elite status and allow you to get exclusive upgrades, rate discounts, and benefits like grace periods through exclusive bookings codes.

Unfortunately, the Chase Sapphire Preferred card does not offer any rental car privileges.

Car Rental Loss and Damage Insurance

The Chase Sapphire Preferred card actually outperforms the Amex Platinum card when it comes to rental car insurance.

The Amex Platinum card offers secondary rental car insurance as a complimentary benefit, and you can purchase primary rental car insurance as an add-on for $19.95 to $24.95 per rental period.

Meanwhile, the Chase Sapphire Preferred card’s rental car insurance policy includes primary coverage!

As is always the case, you’ll need to pay for your car rental reservation using your card and decline your rental car agency’s CDW/LDW to qualify.

Trip Interruption and Cancellation Insurance

Both the Chase Sapphire Preferred card and the Amex Platinum card offer trip interruption and cancellation insurance.

With the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, you’re eligible to get up to $10,000 per person in reimbursements due to illness, severe weather, or a handful of other covered circumstances. This coverage is capped at $20,000 per trip.

The Amex Platinum card also offers up to $10,000 per person in reimbursements and up to $20,000 per trip.

Trip Delay Reimbursement

Both of these cards offer trip delay reimbursement, but the Amex Platinum card’s coverage is superior.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred card covers you for delays of more than 12 hours (or where an overnight stay is required). You can get up to $500 in expense reimbursements per ticket and up to 1 claim per trip.

The Amex Platinum card’s trip delay insurance kicks in after delays of more than 6 hours or where an overnight stay is required). Coverage is up to $500 per trip and up to 2 approved claims per 12-month period.

Lost and Delayed Baggage Coverage

If your baggage is lost while traveling on a common carrier (e.g. an airline), you’re eligible for reimbursement with either card. But if your baggage is delayed, you’re only eligible for reimbursement with the Chase Sapphire Preferred card.

For delayed baggage, the Chase Sapphire Preferred card offers $100 per day for up to 5 days if your baggage is delayed for more than 6 hours. Lost luggage is eligible for up to $3,000 per covered person per trip with a sub-limit of $500 for jewelry and watches per person per trip and $500 for electronic equipment per person per trip.

Looking at the Amex Platinum card, lost luggage is eligible for up to $3,000 per covered person per trip. There’s also a $1,000 maximum per person for all baggage worth of coverage for high-risk items.

This is another area where the Chase Sapphire Preferred card is superior to the Amex Platinum card.

Roadside Assistance

Unfortunately, the Amex Platinum card used to offer a premium roadside assistance benefit, but this has been discontinued for a while now.

At the moment, the Amex Platinum card doesn’t offer a specific roadside assistance benefit, while the Chase Sapphire Preferred card offers basic roadside assistance, which is known as Roadside Dispatch.

For a set, prenegotiated rate of $69.95 per service call, you’ll be covered for these services:

• Fuel delivery (up to 5 gallons, plus the cost of fuel)
• Jump starting
• Lockout service (key replacement is not included)
• Standard towing (up to 5 miles included)
• Standard winching
• Tire changing (must have a good, inflated spare)

Travel and Emergency Assistance Services

The Chase Sapphire Preferred card offers travel and emergency assistance services, while the Amex Platinum card offers a benefit known as the Premium Global Assist Hotline.

If you, your spouse, or your dependent children under 22 years old are traveling and need assistance, you can access 24/7/365 referral and assistance services, though you’re responsible for any costs incurred.

Some of these benefits include:

The Premium Global Assist Hotline includes all of these services, but you may be eligible to receive emergency medical transportation and evacuation at no additional cost, as well as repatriation of mortal remains.

Travel Accident Insurance

The Amex Platinum card no longer offers travel accident insurance.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred card offers up to $500,000 in travel accident insurance coverage on common carriers.

Bottom Line: Learn more about the travel insurance coverage of the Chase Sapphire Preferred card and Amex Platinum card in our detailed guides.

Shopping Benefits and Protections

So what happens when you’re not traveling? You’ll still want a card that’ll help you in your everyday life. So let’s go through both cards’ shopping benefits and protections that you can access.

Earn Bonus Rewards for Shopping

The Amex Platinum card and Chase Sapphire Preferred cards both offer the ability to save or earn bonus points on purchases.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred card comes with access to Chase Offers, which can get you discounts with certain merchants, like 15% off Hyatt stays.

The Amex Platinum card comes with access to Amex Offers, which is Chase Offers, but several notches better.

In fact, Amex Offers have historically included some amazing deals like:

• +4 bonus points on Amazon.com purchases (5x total points)
• +2 bonus points on Olive Garden purchases
• Spend $300 or more to get 6,000 points on Delta gift cards
• Spend $500 or more to get $100 back at hotel chains like Mandarin Oriental, Four Seasons, and more

Whether you want to earn more bonus points or get statement credits, Amex Offers are usually much better than Chase Offers.

Just keep in mind that enrollment is always necessary for each individual Amex Offer or Chase Offer.

Purchase Protection

When you use the Amex Platinum card and the item you purchased is damaged or stolen within 90 days of the purchase date, you can get up to $10,000 in purchase protection coverage per item, up to $50,000 per calendar year, and up to $500 per event related to a natural disaster.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred card offers a much lower coverage per item of $500. The coverage period is slightly longer, 120 days, and the maximum coverage per calendar year is the same at $50,000.

The major difference is the maximum coverage per item. So if you end up purchasing a valuable item using your Chase Sapphire Preferred card, you could be in for a rude awakening with a purchase protection coverage of only $500 per item.

The Amex Platinum card’s purchase protection policy is miles ahead of the Chase Sapphire Preferred card’s policy.

Extended Warranty

The Amex Platinum card and Chase Sapphire Preferred card both offer extended warranty coverage.

With the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, you can receive 1 additional year on original eligible warranties of 3 years or less. Furthermore, the maximum claim amount is $10,000 per item and $50,000 per calendar year.

Meanwhile, the Amex Platinum card offers 1 additional year on original eligible warranties of 5 years or less. The maximum coverage is $10,000 per item and $50,000 per calendar year.

Zero Liability Protection

The Chase Sapphire Preferred card does not come with zero liability fraud protection, while the Amex Platinum card does.

No Foreign Transaction Fees

Neither the Amex Platinum card nor the Chase Sapphire Preferred card have foreign transaction fees.

No Preset Spending Limit

The Amex Platinum card has no preset spending limit, which will be incredibly helpful if you’re planning on making a large purchase and don’t want to run the risk of getting the card declined.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred has a traditional credit limit, so you’ll need to stay under that credit limit at all times.

Annual Fees and Adding Additional Users

Annual Fees

The Chase Sapphire Preferred card has a $95 annual fee, while the Amex Platinum card has a $695 annual fee.

Adding Additional Users

There are no additional annual fees to add authorized users to the Chase Sapphire Preferred card.

With the Amex Platinum card, you’ll pay an annual fee of $195 per authorized user (rates & fees).

However, you can add up to 99 total authorized user cards for no additional annual fees (rates & fees) if you instead choose to add additional gold cards or green cards as opposed to additional Amex Platinum cards.

Final Thoughts

Even though the Chase Sapphire Preferred card and Amex Platinum card are both incredible products to have in your possession, they ultimately have a different place in your wallet depending on your spending and travel habits.

To start, the Amex Platinum card is one of the best products if you spend a lot of money on airfare and hotels. The Chase Sapphire Preferred card earns fantastic rewards on everyday purchases like dining, online groceries, and select streaming services.

The Amex Platinum card’s biggest selling point, though, is its luxury travel and lifestyle benefits, including a variety of valuable statement credits, airport lounge access, hotel, and car rental elite status, hotel perks, and so much more.

When it comes to rewards, you can’t go wrong with Amex Membership Rewards points or Chase Ultimate Rewards points.

Surprisingly, the Chase Sapphire Preferred card offers some enhanced travel benefits beyond the Amex Platinum card, such as primary rental car insurance, roadside assistance, delayed baggage reimbursement, and travel accident insurance.

Overall, if you’re deciding between the 2 cards, you should ultimately choose the Amex Platinum card if you’re looking for luxury travel perks and the Chase Sapphire Preferred card if you’re maximizing your rewards on everyday purchases.

For the car rental collision damage coverage benefit of The Platinum Card^® from American Express, car rental loss and damage insurance can provide coverage up to $75,000 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. 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 the trip cancellation and interruption insurance and trip delay insurance benefits of The Platinum Card^® from American Express, eligibility and benefit level varies by card. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. Visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by New Hampshire Insurance Company, an AIG Company. For the baggage insurance plan benefit of The Platinum Card^® from American Express, eligibility and benefit level varies by card. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. Visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by AMEX Assurance Company. For the extended warranty and purchase protection benefit of The Platinum Card^® from American Express, eligibility and benefit level varies by card. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. Visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by AMEX Assurance Company. For the cell phone protection benefit of The Platinum Card^® from American Express, eligibility and benefit level varies by card. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. Visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by New Hampshire Insurance Company, an AIG Company. For the cell phone protection benefit of The Platinum Card^® from American Express, eligibility and benefit level varies by card. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. Visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by New Hampshire Insurance Company, an AIG Company.