Citi Premier^® Card vs. Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card: Which Card Offers Better Travel Rewards?

Among the Citi credit cards lineup, the Citi Premier^® Card is a mid-tier travel card that offers plenty of ways to earn rewards. Its closest competition within the Chase credit card lineup is the Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card. The Sapphire Preferred is also considered a mid-tier travel card, and it’s widely regarded as one of the best travel credit cards available. 

In this Citi Premier vs. Chase Sapphire Preferred comparison, we’ll discuss the similarities and differences between these credit card offers so you can see where their strengths and weaknesses lie. This will help you decide whether you should apply for one over the other.

Citi Premier vs. Chase Sapphire Preferred

The Citi Premier is a great option for frequent travelers who want to earn travel rewards on a variety of different expenses. It offers many rewards categories for purchases, which makes it easy to earn the points you need for award travel or other redemptions. And because your rewards are part of the Citi ThankYou points program, you get a lot of flexibility with how you want to redeem your points.

With the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, you also get plenty of ways to earn points, as well as loads of benefits. Chase Sapphire Preferred benefits include both travel and purchase coverages, plus the Chase Ultimate Rewards points you earn with this card are worth 25% more when redeemed for travel through the Chase travel portal.

	Citi Premier® Card	Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Annual fee	$95	$95
Welcome bonus	Earn 60,000 bonus ThankYou® Points after you spend $4,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening; Plus, for a limited time, earn a total of 10 ThankYou® Points per $1 spent on hotel, car rentals, and attractions (excluding air travel) booked on the Citi Travel℠ portal through June 30, 2024 after account opening	Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
Earning rate	3X points at restaurants, supermarkets, gas stations, air travel and hotels; and 1X points on all other purchases	5X points on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠; 3X points on dining, select streaming services, and online groceries; 2X points on all other travel purchases, and 1X points on all other purchases
Redemption methods	Points can be redeemed for cash, statement credits, travel, gift cards, online shopping trips, and more Points can be transferred to more than a dozen partner loyalty programs	Points can be redeemed for statement credits, electronic bank deposits, gift cards, travel, and to make purchases with participating merchants Points are worth 25% more when redeemed for travel through the Chase Travel℠ portal Points can be transferred to 14 partner loyalty programs
Intro APR	None	None
Annual credits	None	Up to $50 in annual statement credits for hotels booked through Chase Travel℠
Travel perks	Receive $100 off a single hotel stay of $500 or more once per calendar year	Up to $10,000 per person and $20,000 per trip in trip cancellation/interruption insurance Auto rental collision damage waiver Up to $500 in baggage delay insurance Up to $500 per ticket in trip delay reimbursement Travel and emergency assistance services
Other benefits	Exclusive access to purchase tickets to concerts, sporting events, dining experiences, and more with Citi Entertainment Damage and theft purchase protection Extended warranty coverage	An annual points bonus equal to 10% of your previous year's total card spend Chase purchase protection Extended warranty protection Complimentary year of DashPass from DoorDash
Foreign transaction fee	None	None
Credit score needed	Excellent, Good	Excellent, Good
	Learn more	Learn more

What both cards excel at

Both the Citi Premier and Chase Sapphire Preferred are among the best travel credit cards, which means they’re designed to help people travel more while spending less. With that in mind, it’s easy to see why they might have a few similarities:

• Redemption options: Travel rewards cards are meant to be used for award travel, but that doesn’t mean the available redemption options are always valuable. With either of these cards, you can get a lot of value from your points through their respective rewards programs. Redeem your points for flights, hotel stays, cruises, and much more. Or if you don’t have any travel plans at the moment, you can always redeem your points for cash, statement credits, gift cards, or discounted shopping trips.
• Costs and fees: Rewards and benefits are nice, but not if you have to pay high costs and fees. However, that’s not the case with the Citi Premier or the Chase Sapphire Preferred. Neither card has foreign transaction fees, so don’t worry about racking up fees while you’re traveling abroad. Also, their annual costs aren’t outrageous. Both the $95 annual fee on the Citi Premier and the $95 annual fee on the Sapphire Preferred can be offset by the rewards and benefits they offer cardmembers.
• Sign-up bonuses: Sign-up bonuses immediately give cardholders the opportunity to earn a lot of points in a short time period. This makes it easy to book award travel soon after getting a card, which helps to offset any annual costs there might be. With the Citi Premier, you can earn 60,000 bonus ThankYou® Points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months. With the Sapphire Preferred, it’s 60,000 points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months.
• Purchase coverages: Both cards offer purchase protection and extended warranty benefits. These benefits can be helpful if your eligible purchases are damaged or stolen.

3 important differences between the Citi Premier vs. Chase Sapphire Preferred

You may want a card that earns bonus points on certain purchases or you’re looking for specific benefits on your next travel credit card. By comparing the differences between the Citi Premier and Chase Sapphire Preferred, it’s easier to see where one card might better suit you than the other.

1. Earning categories

Many travel rewards cards earn points or miles on travel-related purchases. With the Citi Premier, you can earn 3X points at restaurants, supermarkets, gas stations, air travel and hotels; and 1X points on all other purchases. 

With the Sapphire Preferred, you can earn 5X points on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠; 3X points on dining, select streaming services, and online groceries; 2X points on all other travel purchases, and 1X points on all other purchases.

Overall, each card’s bonus categories are useful, but the Citi Premier takes the edge with how much you can earn in common spending categories. Having these categories makes it easier to earn more points on purchases you’re already making. 

This may lead to faster and more frequent points redemptions, depending on whether you choose to save your points for future trips or spend them.

For more details, read our full Citi Premier Card review.

2. Travel coverages

Earning travel rewards is helpful, but it’s even better if a credit card has travel benefits as well. Unfortunately, the Citi Premier doesn’t have any travel insurance benefits to keep you financially protected as you’re traveling. Instead, you’d have to go for a card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred.

The Sapphire Preferred has trip cancellation and interruption insurance, an auto rental collision damage waiver, baggage delay insurance, trip delay reimbursement, and travel and emergency assistance services. Basically, this card can be useful to make sure you’re covered while traveling.

For more details, read our full Chase Sapphire Preferred Card review.

3. Transfer partners

Both the Citi Premier and Chase Sapphire Preferred allow you to transfer points to other loyalty programs, called transfer partners. This makes your points a lot more flexible because you get more opportunities to use them in different ways. For instance, a hotel or airline could offer a good deal when you book award travel through them directly. With a simple transfer of points from your credit card rewards program, you may be able to qualify for that deal.

Citi transfer partners aren’t necessarily better than Chase transfer partners, and vice versa, as it all depends on which partners offer you more value. Basically, the value you get depends on how you prefer to travel. Citi transfer partners include over a dozen top loyalty programs like Avianca, Emirates Skywards, Etihad Guest, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, and Qatar Privilege Club.

On the other hand, Chase partners with a few major hotel brands and their loyalty programs, including IHG Rewards Club, Marriott Bonvoy, and World of Hyatt. Chase also has a number of airline partners, such as British Airways Executive Club, JetBlue TrueBlue, Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards, United MileagePlus, and Virgin Atlantic Flying Club.

Which card should you choose?

There is no overall winner between the Citi Premier and the Chase Sapphire Preferred, although the Sapphire Preferred does have the edge in certain categories. It has a low-cost $95 annual fee, so it shouldn’t take much to offset its annual cost, especially if you take advantage of the $50 annual hotel credit. The welcome offer alone should cover it for multiple years, and that’s without including the value of any benefits or additional rewards you earn.

You also get a 25% bonus on your points when you use them for travel redemptions through the Chase travel portal with the Sapphire Preferred, and its transfer partners are slightly more diverse than what you find with the Citi Premier. Citibank focuses mainly on airline travel partners, whereas Chase has partnerships with both airlines and hotels.

It’s also hard to overlook how useful the benefits on the Sapphire Preferred are. Travel coverages and purchase protections are amazing and can save you hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars. The Citi Premier doesn’t offer any travel insurance benefits, which is a bit unusual for a travel credit card.

Where the Citi Premier does shine, though, is with its earning categories. With so many common bonus categories to choose from, it shouldn’t be hard to earn valuable Citi ThankYou points. The Sapphire Preferred has a few bonus categories, but they don’t match up with what the Citi Premier has to offer.

To better illustrate how important the bonus categories can be, let’s do some math. Let’s say you spend $2,000 on travel, $2,000 on groceries, $2,000 on gas, and $2,000 on dining in a year. With the Citi Premier, these four spending categories all earn 3X points. In total, you’d earn 24,000 ThankYou Rewards points from your spending ($2,000 x 3X = 6,000 points; 6,000 points x 4 categories = 24,000 points) or $240 (24,000 x $0.01) worth of travel.

With the same spending on the same purchases with the Sapphire Preferred, you would end up with 10,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points (4,000 for travel and 6,000 for dining) from the travel and dining expenses and 4,000 Ultimate Rewards points (2,000 from gas and 2,000 from groceries) from the gas and groceries expenses. This would give you a total of 14,000 points worth $175 (14,000 x $0.0125) toward travel. Though, you could earn more if you ordered online groceries.

In this example, the Citi Premier would offer more value because of its higher earning categories, even though the Sapphire Preferred gives you a 25% bonus for travel redemptions through Chase. However, the best card for you depends on your typical spending habits and what kinds of benefits are most valuable to you.

FAQs about the Citi Premier vs Chase Sapphire Preferred

Bottom line

When you compare credit cards, you inevitably end up looking at cards from major credit card issuers like Citibank and Chase. The better credit card between the Citi Premier and the Chase Sapphire Preferred depends on what you’re looking for. Both cards have some similarities. They each earn valuable points that can be redeemed for award travel and provide helpful benefits as well.

Overall, the Citi Premier offers more opportunities to earn bonus rewards, but the Chase Sapphire Preferred comes with travel coverages and offers a 25% bonus on travel redemptions. Solely based on the earning categories, the Citi Premier might be your best option. But with the travel insurance, a bonus for travel redemptions, and a $50 annual hotel credit, the Sapphire Preferred also has some huge positives. Still, the better card depends on your spending habits and what you’re looking to do with your points.

Great for Flexible Travel Rewards

Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card

4.9

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Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card

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Current Offer

Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening

Annual Fee

$95

Rewards Rate

5X points on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠; 3X points on dining, select streaming services, and online groceries; 2X points on all other travel purchases, and 1X points on all other purchases

Benefits and Drawbacks

Benefits

• Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
• 5X points on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
• 25% more value when redeeming rewards for travel through Chase Travel℠
• 10% anniversary point bonus each year
• $50 annual credit on hotel stays booked through Chase Travel℠
• Premium travel protection benefits

Drawbacks

• Has annual fee

Card Details

• Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $750 when you redeem through Chase Travel℠.
• Enjoy benefits such as 5x on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, 3x on dining, select streaming services and online groceries, 2x on all other travel purchases, 1x on all other purchases, $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit, plus more.
• Get 25% more value when you redeem for airfare, hotels, car rentals and cruises through Chase Travel℠. For example, 60,000 points are worth $750 toward travel.
• Count on Trip Cancellation/Interruption Insurance, Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver, Lost Luggage Insurance and more.
• Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2024.
• Member FDIC