Sapphire Preferred ($95) vs Sapphire Reserve ($795), checked Sept 30, 2026: welcome offers, earn rates, Hyatt 4:3 vs 1:1, the Reserve's credits and the $700 fee math.
By Vamsi, RewardsGuru.club. Published April 29, 2026, updated October 12, 2026.
Rewritten September 30, 2026, against Chase's Sapphire Preferred and Sapphire Reserve pages, Chase's June 15, 2026 Sapphire Preferred announcement and Chase's Sapphire Reserve anniversary page. Point values are our own: 2 cents for a Chase Ultimate Rewards point and 1.63 cents for a World of Hyatt point.
TL;DR
| Sapphire Preferred | Sapphire Reserve | |
|---|---|---|
| Annual fee | $95 | $795, plus $195 per authorized user |
| Welcome offer | 75,000 points after $5,000 in 3 months | 100,000 points after $6,000 in 3 months |
| Chase Travel purchases | 5x | 8x, including The Edit |
| Flights and hotels booked direct | 2x | 4x |
| Other travel | 2x | 1x |
| Dining | 3x | 3x |
| Gas, EV charging, vacation homes at top brands | 3x | 1x |
| Top streaming services, online grocery | 3x | 1x |
| Everything else | 1x | 1x |
| Points through Chase Travel | 1 cent each, up to 1.5 cents with Points Boost offers | 1 cent each, up to 2 cents with Points Boost offers |
| World of Hyatt transfers | 4:3 | 1:1 |
| Airport lounges | None | Priority Pass (1,300+ lounges), Chase Sapphire Lounges by The Club with up to two guests, select Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounges |
| Trip delay coverage starts after | 12 hours | 6 hours |
Both cards carry trip cancellation and interruption coverage of up to $10,000 per covered traveler and $20,000 per trip, lost luggage coverage of up to $3,000 per covered traveler, and Emergency Evacuation and Transportation coverage of up to $100,000. The Preferred added evacuation coverage on June 15, 2026. Neither card charges foreign transaction fees.
Two earning details that are easy to miss: the Preferred earns more than the Reserve on gas, streaming, online groceries and travel outside the named categories, and the Reserve earns more on travel through Chase Travel or booked direct with airlines and hotels, and on eligible Peloton equipment (10x against 5x).
Chase's June 15 announcement: "Ultimate Rewards® points will transfer to World of Hyatt® at a rate of 4:3. For example, cardmembers who transfer 1,000 Ultimate Rewards points will receive 750 points with World of Hyatt®." Its FAQ lists the cards: "This update will apply to Sapphire Preferred cardmembers, new and existing Ink Business Preferred cardmembers and existing Ink Plus and Corporate Flex cardmembers, effective October 1, 2026." The Sapphire Reserve isn't on that list (Chase newsroom).
At our Hyatt value, 1,000 Chase points sent to Hyatt are worth about $16.30 from a Reserve and about $12.20 from a Preferred. A Hyatt stay priced at 20,000 points takes 20,000 Chase points from a Reserve and about 26,667 from a Preferred. If you send 60,000 Chase points a year to Hyatt, that's about $245 a year in our values. Our World of Hyatt guide covers where Hyatt points go furthest.
| Sapphire Preferred | Sapphire Reserve | |
|---|---|---|
| Offer | 75,000 points | 100,000 points |
| Spend | $5,000 in 3 months | $6,000 in 3 months |
| At 1 cent (Chase Travel, no Points Boost) | $750 | $1,000 |
| At our 2-cent value | $1,500 | $2,000 |
The gap is $500 at our value, and it counts once, in the first year. Chase's own wording on both pages: "This credit card is unavailable to you if you currently have this card open. The new cardmember bonus may not be available to you if you previously held this card or received a new cardmember bonus for this card." Chase adds that it "may also consider the number of cards you have opened and closed in determining your bonus eligibility."
Sapphire Preferred:
Sapphire Reserve:
| Credit | Per year | How Chase pays it out |
|---|---|---|
| Chase Travel credit | $300 | Any travel purchase, each account anniversary year |
| The Edit by Chase Travel hotels | $500 | Up to $250 per prepaid booking with The Edit, two-night minimum |
| Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables Dining | $300 | Up to $150 January to June and $150 July to December, at Sapphire Exclusive Tables restaurants on OpenTable |
| StubHub / viagogo | $300 | Up to $150 each half of the year through December 31, 2027; activation required |
| DoorDash credits | $420 | Up to $35 a month from October 1, 2026 through 2029 ($25 a month before that) |
| Apple TV+ / Apple Music | $324 | At least a year of both when activated by June 22, 2027 |
| Select Hotel Brands (2026 only) | $250 | Prepaid Chase Travel stays at IHG, Montage, Pendry, Omni, Virgin, Minor and Pan Pacific hotels through December 31, 2026; two-night minimum |
| DashPass membership | $120 | Activate by December 31, 2027 |
| Lyft credits | $120 | $10 a month in the Lyft app through September 30, 2027 |
| Peloton credits | $120 | $10 a month on Peloton memberships through December 31, 2027; activation required |
| Total | $2,754 | Including the larger DoorDash promos from October 1, 2026 |
The Reserve also has a Global Entry, TSA PreCheck or NEXUS credit of up to $120 every four years, and complimentary IHG One Rewards Platinum Elite status through December 31, 2027.
Chase's total counts every dollar of every credit. Each credit is worth what you would have spent with that merchant anyway, and several expire each month or each half year if unused.
The Reserve's extras over the Preferred in a given year are:
If that comes to more than $700, the Reserve's extras exceed its extra fee that year. If it comes to less, they don't. Two examples, with every assumption stated:
Example 1. Uses the $300 travel credit and half the dining credit ($150). No lounge visits. $3,000 a year of flights and hotels booked direct earns 2 extra points per dollar on the Reserve: 6,000 points, $120. $2,400 a year of gas earns 2 fewer points per dollar: 4,800 points, $96 given up. Gives up the Preferred's $100 hotel credit. Total: $300 + $150 + $120 − $96 − $100 = $374, less than $700.
Example 2. Uses the travel credit ($300), the full dining credit ($300), two Edit stays they'd have booked anyway ($500), and every DoorDash promo ($420 a year from October 1, against $120 on the Preferred: $300 more). Six lounge visits, which we value at $50 each as our own assumption: $300. $8,000 a year of flights and hotels booked direct: 16,000 extra points, $320. The same $2,400 of gas: $96 given up. Gives up the $100 hotel credit. Total: $300 + $300 + $500 + $300 + $300 + $320 − $96 − $100 = $1,824, more than $700.
Add the Hyatt difference if you transfer to Hyatt, and the $500 welcome-offer gap in the first year.
Both earn the same Ultimate Rewards points. The Preferred's page lists these partners: Aer Lingus, Air Canada Aeroplan, British Airways, Flying Blue, Iberia, JetBlue, Singapore Airlines, Southwest, United, Virgin Atlantic, IHG, Marriott, World of Hyatt and Wyndham. Chase's June announcement changed the rate for one of them, World of Hyatt, and only on the cards it names: 4:3 from the Preferred, while the Reserve isn't on that list.
One cent. Chase: "Points earned with your card are worth $0.01 each when redeemed through Chase Travel." Points Boost offers on select flights and hotels raise that to up to 1.5 cents for the Preferred and up to 2 cents for the Reserve.
No. Lounge access is on the Reserve only.
Three things on these two cards: the Reserve's DoorDash promos grow from $25 to up to $35 a month, every Preferred cardmember moves to the 4:3 Hyatt rate, and the Preferred's 10% anniversary bonus ended, with purchases through October 1 the last to earn it. The Reserve's anniversary offers are in our Sapphire Reserve 10th-anniversary guide, and the wider field is in our travel rewards card rankings.