The 3 Best Cards To Pair With the Capital One Venture Card [2024]

The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card is one of the most well-known travel rewards credit cards on the market. It offers an enticing welcome bonus, solid miles-earning rates on everyday purchases, earns valuable Capital One miles, and offers several redemption options.

Let’s look at where the Capital One Venture card shines, where it lacks, and some of the best cards to pair with it.

Capital One Venture Card Snapshot

Benefits of the Capital One Venture Card

With the Capital One Venture card, you’ll earn an unlimited 2x miles on every purchase, making it an excellent all-around spending card. You’ll also earn 5x miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel. Capital One Venture card miles earned will not expire for the life of the account, and there’s no limit to how many miles you can earn.

Although it’s not a premium travel rewards credit card, the Capital One Venture card provides up to a $100 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck every 4 years. It also provides benefits including purchase assurance, extended warranty coverage, travel insurance, and rental car insurance.

When it comes to using your Capital One miles, you have several redemption options. You can use your miles to get reimbursed for any travel purchase (within 90 days) or you can redeem your miles by booking a trip through Capital One Travel. However, the best way to redeem your Capital One miles is by transferring them to Capital One’s airline and hotel partners.

The Capital One Venture card has a $95 annual fee (rates & fees), placing it in the mid-tier with other cards such as the Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card and the Citi Premier^® Card which have similar annual fees. As with any good travel rewards card, the Capital One Venture card does not have any foreign transaction fees (rates & fees).

Overall, the Capital One Venture card offers a great earning structure and plenty of perks and benefits. It also provides a simple method of earning and redeeming rewards.

Where the Capital One Venture Card Is Weakest

Although the Capital One Venture card is an excellent card for non-bonus spending, the lack of bonus categories makes the card harder to justify on its own. The 2x miles on every purchase is a great starting point but pales in comparison to cards that earn more in certain categories.

Even though the Capital One Venture card is a travel rewards card, it doesn’t have any additional earnings on travel purchases outside of Capital One Travel. This is a huge drawback, as that is typically the preferred booking method for those looking to earn elite status with an airline or hotel chain.

This is especially important for those with hotel elite status. If you’re booking hotels through Capital One Travel, which is considered a third party, you generally won’t receive your hotel benefits or elite night credits.

The 3 Best Cards To Pair With the Capital One Venture Card

Now that we’ve seen the benefits and drawbacks of the Capital One Venture card, let’s look at some of the best cards you can pair with it to maximize your earnings.

The best credit card pairings are when you can earn extra rewards in different bonus categories. This allows you to maximize your earnings better than you would be able to with a single card.

1. Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card

When evaluating travel rewards credit cards, there are 2 options when it comes to earning strategy: cash-back and travel rewards.

The Capital One Savor card is a great all-around cash-back card that earns an unlimited 4% cash-back on dining, entertainment, and popular streaming services, 3% at grocery stores, and 1% on all other purchases.

The Capital One Savor card also earns 10% cash-back on Uber and Uber Eats and offers a complimentary Uber One membership through November 14, 2024. This is a huge benefit for those who routinely use Uber services. The Capital One Savor card even earns 8% cash-back on Capital One Entertainment.

The Capital One Savor card also offers purchase assurance and price protections, extended warranty protection, roadside assistance, and rental car insurance.

The Capital One Savor card has a $95 annual fee, but the rewards structure more than justifies this fee. If you frequently dine out at restaurants or order Uber Eats, the Capital One Savor card is worth carrying.

Why This Card Pairs Well With the Capital One Venture Card

The Capital One Savor card is great to pair with the Capital One Venture card for several reasons. First, both cards are issued by Capital One, so there’s a single overall rewards system.

Although the Capital One Savor card earns cash-back, cardholders can transfer rewards from Capital One cash-back cards to Capital One miles-earning cards such as the Capital One Venture card at a rate of 1 cent to 1 mile. This makes the cash-back worth significantly more as you can then transfer rewards to Capital One’s airline and hotel partners.

The optimal strategy would be to use the Capital One Savor card for all dining, entertainment, popular streaming services, and grocery store purchases. With these spending categories, you earn at least 3x miles compared to the 2x miles on the Capital One Venture card.

You could then use the Capital One Venture card to earn 2x miles for all purchases without a bonus category. This ensures you’re earning a minimum of 2x miles on every purchase and up to 4x miles on some everyday spending.

Bottom Line:

The Capital One Savor card has incredible earning potential. The card earns 4% cash-back on dining, entertainment, and popular streaming services. It also earns 3% cash-back at grocery stores. The cash-back earned can be transferred to Capital One miles.

2. American Express^® Gold Card

The Amex Gold card may be the best hybrid card on the market today. The card balances itself as both a travel rewards card and an everyday spending card. The Amex Gold card earns highly valuable Membership Rewards points and offers bonus earnings on some of the most popular spending categories.

With the Amex Gold card, you’ll earn 4x points at restaurants and U.S. supermarkets on up to $25,000 per calendar year in purchases (then 1x). The Amex Gold card also earns 3x points on flights purchased directly from airlines or at AmexTravel.com.

The Amex Gold card has a substantial $250 annual fee but the card provides some credits that help offset the fee (rates & fees). These include:

• Up to $120 in annual dining credits, which are received in monthly statement credits of up to $10 when you use your Amex Gold card at Grubhub, The Cheesecake Factory, Goldbelly, Wine.com, Milk Bar, and select Shake Shack locations (enrollment required).
• Up to $120 in annual Uber Cash, given as $10 monthly in Uber Cash for Uber Eats orders or Uber rides in the U.S. when you add your Amex Gold card to your Uber account
• A $100 experience credit at The Hotel Collection through AmexTravel.com for a 2-night minimum stay; the experience credit varies by property

Why This Card Pairs Well With the Capital One Venture Card

While the earning structure on each card is a bit different, both cards offer flexible reward currencies which allow for numerous redemption options. Although you would earn a different points currency, pairing the Capital One Venture card with the Amex Gold card is a solid option.

The Amex Gold card is widely considered to be the go-to card for those who dine out at restaurants and shop at U.S. supermarkets. Best of all, the Amex Gold card earns Membership Rewards points, which happen to be our favorite transferrable points currency.

The optimal strategy would be to use the Amex Gold card on all purchases at restaurants and U.S. supermarkets to earn 4x Membership Rewards points. You could also use the Amex Gold card for airfare to earn 3x points on flights purchased directly from airlines or at AmexTravel.com. With bonus categories like these, it’s easy to see how quickly your rewards could really add up.

You could then use the Capital One Venture card for nearly all other spending categories to earn 2x Capital One miles. With this strategy, you’d earn at least 2x miles on every purchase and then up to 4x points at restaurants and U.S. supermarkets.

Hot Tip:

The Amex Gold card is an excellent card for earning American Express Membership Rewards points. Check out our guide on the best ways to redeem Amex Membership Rewards points. Many of Amex’s partners are shared with Capital One, taking your rewards even further.

3. Blue Cash Everyday^® Card from American Express

The last option we’ll look at is another fantastic cash-back card: the Amex Blue Cash Everyday card. The card is an excellent option for those who spend a lot on groceries, gas, and online shopping.

With the Amex Blue Cash Everyday card, you’ll earn 3% cash-back at U.S. supermarkets (up to $6,000 per year), on U.S. online retail purchases (up to $6,000 per year), and at U.S. gas stations (up to $6,000 per year). This can lead to massive rewards in some of the most common spending categories.

The cash-back earned on the Amex Blue Cash Everyday card is in the form of Reward Dollars that can be redeemed as a statement credit or at Amazon.com checkout. However, there’s a limit on how much 3% cash-back you can earn ($6,000 limit on each category).

The Amex Blue Cash Everyday card also provides some credits that bring a lot more value to the card. The credits include:

• An $84 The Disney Bundle Credit: You can get a $7 monthly statement credit after using your Amex Blue Cash Everyday card to spend $9.99 or more each month on a subscription to The Disney Bundle (subject to auto-renewal).
• A $180 Home Chef Credit: You can get up to $15 in statement credits back per month after you use your Amex Blue Cash Everyday card to purchase a Home Chef subscription (subject to auto-renewal).

The Amex Blue Cash Everyday card provides all this value with a $0 annual fee (rates & fees).

Why This Card Pairs Well With the Capital One Venture Card

The Amex Blue Cash Everyday card is a solid choice for cash-back on numerous everyday categories.

The best way to pair these cards would be to use the Amex Blue Cash Everyday card for purchases at U.S. supermarkets, U.S. gas stations, and U.S. online retail purchases to earn 3% cash-back for up to $6,000 per year on each category.

You could then use the Capital One Venture card for nearly all non-bonus spending categories to earn 2x Capital One miles.

With these cards paired together, you would earn at least 2x miles on every purchase and then up to 3% cash-back at U.S. supermarkets, U.S. gas stations, and on U.S. online retail purchases.

Card Comparison

Comparing Cards by Bonus Category Earnings

Now that we’ve looked at some of the best cards to pair with the Capital One Venture card, let’s review the earning rates on some common spending categories and which card is best to use.

	Capital One Venture Card	Capital One Savor Card	Amex Gold Card	Amex Blue Cash Everyday Card
Flights	2x miles	1% cash-back	3x points (directly or with AmexTravel.com)	1% cash-back
Hotels	5x miles with Capital One Travel, 2x miles otherwise	5% cash-back with Capital One Travel, 1% otherwise	1x points	1% cash-back
Rental Cars	5x miles with Capital One Travel, 2x miles otherwise	5% cash-back with Capital One Travel, 1% otherwise	1x points	1% cash-back
Dining	2x miles	4% cash-back	4x points	1 % cash-back
Supermarkets	2x miles	3% cash-back	4x points (U.S. only; up to $25,000 per year)	3% cash-back (U.S. only; up to $6,000 per year)
Gas Stations	2x miles	1% cash-back	1x points	3% cash-back (U.S. only; up to $6,000 per year)
Entertainment	2x miles	4% cash-back (8% with Capital One Entertainment)	1x points	1% cash-back
Streaming Services	2x miles	4% cash-back	1x points	1% cash-back
Online Retail Purchases	2x miles	1% cash-back	1x points	3% cash-back (U.S. only; up to $6,000 per year)
Everything Else	2x miles	1% cash-back	1x points	1% cash-back

Comparing Cards by Welcome Offer and Annual Fee

Now that we know what cards to use for some everyday spending categories, let’s also take a look at the current welcome bonuses and annual fees for each of the credit cards discussed.

Card	Welcome Offer	Annual Fee
Capital One Venture Card	Earn 75,000 miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months.	$95
Capital One Savor Card	Earn $300 after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months.	$95
Amex Gold Card	Earn 60,000 points when you spend $6,000 on purchases in the first 6 months.	$250
Amex Blue Cash Everyday Card	Earn a $200 statement credit after spending $2,000 in purchases in the first 6 months.	$0

Final Thoughts

When it comes to credit cards, no single credit card has it all. Carrying multiple credit cards that complement each other is the best way to maximize your rewards. With a good credit card combination, you’ll be able to maximize your earning potential across a wider range of purchases than you would be able to with just one card.

The Capital One Venture card is a solid card for everyday spending. However, it doesn’t have any great bonus categories, aside from earning a bit more on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel.

Pairing the Capital One Venture card with any of the cards mentioned here is a great way to speed up your rewards-earning potential. The best card for earning rewards ultimately depends on what your spending habits look like. Fortunately, all the cards discussed offer some of the highest earning rates across a broad range of categories.

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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.