Chase Sapphire Preferred vs. Citi Premier Card Comparison

One of the most popular travel credit cards on the market is the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card. With a modest $95 annual fee and a strong rewards program, it’s hard to go wrong choosing the Sapphire Preferred as one of your primary credit cards.

However, another card worth considering for your wallet is the Citi Premier® Card, which also has a $95 annual fee. It also earns valuable rewards that can be redeemed in a myriad of ways. So which one is the better of the two?

Select walks you through the benefits of both cards so you can choose the one that best aligns with your spending habits.

Both cards are currently offering higher than normal welcome bonuses. The Chase Sapphire Preferred is offering new cardholders the chance to earn 100,000 Ultimate Rewards points after spending $4,000 within the first three months from account opening. Citi Premier new cardholders can earn a welcome offer of 80,000 points with the same spending requirement and timeframe as the CSP. 

Chase Ultimate Rewards are extremely valuable because they hold a value of 1.25 cents per point. The 100,000-point bonus is worth $1,250, when redeemed through the Chase travel portal or through the Pay Yourself Back feature. The Pay Yourself Back tool allows you to wipe out eligible grocery, dining and home improvement purchases on your statement using your Ultimate Rewards points at the same rate as when you redeem them through the travel portal.

ThankYou® Points are only worth 1 cent per point when redeemed through Citi’s travel portal or for gift cards. So 80,000 points would be worth $800 toward gift cards or travel.

Winner: Chase Sapphire Preferred, by a long shot. New cardholders can earn 20,000 more points with the same spending requirements, and each Chase Ultimate Reward point is worth 25% more than the Thank You Points when used for purchases in the Chase travel portal or with the Pay Yourself Back feature.

Citi Premier is a bit more generous with its rewards: You can earn 3X points for every dollar spent on restaurants, supermarkets, gas stations, air travel and hotels. All other eligible purchases earn 1X point for every dollar spent.

Select calculated how many rewards the average American can earn if they optimize the way they use their Chase Sapphire Preferred and Citi Premier points. We worked with the location intelligence firm Esri, who provided us with a sample annual spending budget of $22,126.

The budget includes six main categories: groceries ($5,174), gas ($2,218), dining out ($3,675), travel ($2,244), utilities ($4,862) and general purchases ($3,953). We broke out travel spending to just hotels ($621) and airlines ($546) when calculating the amount of rewards the Citi Premier would earn.

Here’s how many points you can earn with your Sapphire Preferred in each category:

• Groceries: 5,174
• Gas: 2,218
• Dining out: 7,349
• Travel: 4,489
• Utilities: 4,862
• General purchases: 3,953
• Total: 28,045

If you redeem those points for travel via Chase Ultimate Rewards®, you’d receive a 25% bonus — increasing the approximate $280 value to about $351, depending on how you choose to redeem points.

Based on the annual spending budget from Esri, the average American can earn an estimated $1,506 in the first year of card membership, thanks to the welcome bonus, and $2,528 over five years with the Chase Sapphire Preferred®, net the $95 annual fee. This assumes that cardholders are redeeming points for a typical maximum value of 1.25 cents per point.

Here’s how many points you can earn with your Citi Premier in each category:

• Airlines: 1,638
• Gas: 6,653
• Dining: 11,024
• Hotels/Lodging: 1,862
• Groceries: 15,523
• All other purchases: 9,982
• Total: 46,592

Based on the annual spending budget from Esri, the average American can earn an estimated 126,592 ThankYou® Points in the first year of card membership, including the welcome bonus. If you redeem your rewards for 1 cent per 1 point, you’ll earn $1,170 in the first year, and after five years of using the card you’ll earn rewards worth $2,655, net the $95 annual fee.

Extreme points optimizers might be able to achieve more value, and you may earn a higher or lower return depending on your spending habits.

Winner: Citi Premier Card. Even with Chase Ultimate Rewards points being worth 25% more, Citi Premier cardholders can earn enough points to realize more value.

Additionally, when you book through the Chase Travel Portal, where your points are worth 1.25 cents per point, and you can book any type of travel including flights, hotels, rental cars and more. And if you pair the Preferred with the Chase Sapphire Reserve®, those points become worth 1.5 cents per point.

Winner: Chase Sapphire Preferred, which offers more redemption options through the Pay Yourself Back tool, and a 25% bonus for booking with points through the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal.

Consumers with either card can benefit from:

• No foreign transaction fees
• A variety of airline and hotel partners to transfer rewards
• Both cards are widely accepted with Visa and Mastercard as the servicers

Winner: Chase Sapphire Preferred.

The Citi Premier is a great card in many respects, but in a head-to-head battle, the Chase Sapphire Preferred is the clear winner. With the Sapphire Preferred you’ll have an easier time redeeming points for good value and will enjoy more travel protections and perks.

It trumps the Citi Premier in most categories, but the one caveat is that it can be difficult to qualify for the Chase Sapphire Preferred. Keep in mind before applying, you are only eligible to sign up and receive a welcome bonus if:

• You don’t currently have another Chase Sapphire card, and
• You haven’t received a welcome bonus from a Chase Sapphire card in the last 48 months, and
• You are under the dreaded Chase 5/24 rule, which means you have less than five new credit cards opened in the last 24 months.

If you meet the above criteria and are able to earn the 100,000 point welcome bonus without overstretching your budget, the Chase Sapphire Preferred may be a great fit. And if you’re looking to snag some ThankYou® Points, now is a great time to apply for the Citi Premier Card given its elevated 80,000-point bonus.

But when comparing two travel credit cards, be sure to reverse engineer your spending habits. By analyzing your own financial needs first, you will find the card that is best suited for you.

For rates and fees of The Platinum Card® from American Express, click here.