Chase Sapphire Preferred Card vs. American Express Green Card

The Chase Sapphire Preferred Card has long been a stalwart in the mid-tier category of cards, consisting of credit cards with annual fees around $100.

For a long time, American Express had great premium cards (such as the American Express® Gold Card or the many varieties of the The Platinum Card® from American Express) but not a strong competitor to the Sapphire Preferred. When Amex announced a major overhaul to the American Express® Green Card* a few years back, with (positive!) adjustments to its benefits and bonuses, that changed.

However, the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card has recently received a boost in benefits. Check out how the cards currently stack up.

Chase Sapphire Preferred vs. Amex Green Card

Card	Chase Sapphire Preferred Card	American Express Green Card
Rewards rate	5X points on travel booked through the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal 3X points on restaurants, select streaming services and online grocery purchases (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs) 2X points on all other travel purchases 1X points on other purchases	3X points on travel, transit and restaurants 1X points on other purchases
Welcome bonus	60,000 points if you spend $4,000 in first 3 months	30,000 points if you spend $2,000 in first 3 months
Annual fee	$95	$150
More things to know	Transfer points 1:1 to 13 travel partners $50 annual hotel credit Travel insurance Primary car rental insurance No foreign transaction fee $0 authorized user fee One year complimentary DoorDash DashPass subscription (activate by 3/31/22) 25% bonus on points redeemed for travel through Ultimate Rewards portal	Transfer points 1:1 to 20 travel partners No foreign transaction fee Up to $100 Clear credit Up to $100 LoungeBuddy credit $0 authorized user fee

Welcome bonus

The most valuable part of signing up for a new credit card is often its initial welcome bonus. Instead of only 1 or 2 points per dollar spent, the initial spend on a new card can often earn 10 or 20 points for each dollar spent toward earning the bonus.

That’s no different from the welcome bonuses on these two cards. Unfortunately, comparing the welcome offers on cards can be tricky, since credit card issuers often change them over time, or you may have access to different offers based on a prior relationship with the card issuer.

Still, we’ll take a look at the welcome bonuses of the Chase Sapphire Preferred versus American Express Green as of writing to compare which card comes out on top.

The current welcome bonus on the American Express Green card is 30,000 Membership Rewards points if you spend $2,000 in the first three months. For the Chase Sapphire Preferred, the current welcome offer is 60,000 Ultimate Rewards points if you spend $4,000 in the first three months.

If you’re able to put $4,000 on the new card in the first three months, the initial offer on the Sapphire Preferred is a clear winner. If your spending is lower, you might consider the lower spending requirement on the Amex Green card – but you’ll also only get half the value.

Like most Chase cards, the Sapphire Preferred is restricted by the Chase 5/24 rule, so if you’ve applied for five or more personal cards from any issuer in the past 24 months, you are unlikely to be approved for a new Sapphire Preferred card. In that case, the Amex Green card would have a huge edge for you.

Redeeming Amex Membership Rewards vs. Chase Ultimate Rewards

American Express and Chase have competing points programs with their Membership Rewards and Ultimate Rewards systems. Ultimate Rewards and Membership Rewards are widely considered to be two of the top systems of points out there.

Both types of points currencies allow you to either use your points directly for travel or transfer to a variety of hotel and airline transfer partners.

When redeeming your points for paid travel, Chase has a clear advantage. With the Sapphire Preferred, your points are worth 1.25 cents per point, and if you additionally have a Chase Sapphire Reserve card, you can combine your points for free and redeem for 1.5 cents per point. Chase also allows you to pay yourself back for purchases in certain categories at the same 1.25 or 1.5 cents per point value.

With the American Express Green card, you can only use your points directly for travel at a rate of 1 cent per point on airfare or 0.7 cents for hotels, car rentals or cruises. The exception is if you also have The Business Platinum Card® from American Express, where you can pay for airfare at a rate of 1 cent per point but then get 35% of your points refunded to you (on up to 500,000 points per calendar year when booked through amextravel.com), making your points worth 1.54 cents per point.

American Express and Chase also feature a variety of transfer partners. Whether the American Express transfer partners are better than Chase’s transfer partners is a matter of opinion, depending on where you like to fly or stay.

Comparing perks

The Chase Sapphire Preferred card ($95) and the American Express Green card ($150) have similar annual fees, and neither is waived the first year. Neither card charges foreign transaction fees.

Some of the best perks of the Chase Sapphire Preferred card are its trip delay and rental car insurance. You’ll also get a $50 hotel credit each year and a one-year complimentary membership to DoorDash DashPass (activate by March 31, 2022).

On the Amex Green card side, helping to offset the slightly higher annual fee are a couple of potential statement credits:

• Up to $100 credit toward the cost of Clear
• Up to $100 LoungeBuddy credit

Bonus categories and everyday spend

The Chase Sapphire Preferred earns 5 points per dollar on travel booked through the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel (2 points per dollar on other travel purchases), 3 points per dollar on dining, select streaming services and online grocery purchases and 1 point per dollar on all other purchases. The Amex Green card has similar bonus categories, with 3 points per dollar on dining and travel and an additional 3 points per dollar on transit purchases.

The two cards will earn a similar amount for everyday spend, though the American Express Green card will earn more for people who have high transit spending or a high spending on travel booked directly with hotels or airlines. The Chase Sapphire Preferred, on the other hand, offers rewards on online grocery orders, which can be quite a lucrative category if you prefer to shop for groceries online.

Bottom line

Depending on your travel and spending habits, these cards come out pretty similarly. Your choice between these may come down to which points ecosystem you prefer – Amex’s or Chase’s. If you’re still unsure which card is right for you, you can also check out other top travel credit cards to expand your search.

*All information about the American Express Green Card has been collected independently by CreditCards.com. The issuer did not provide the content, nor is it responsible for its accuracy.