Compare the Features and Benefits of Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express and
Chase Sapphire Reserve®

The Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express is a rewarding cash-back card thanks to its range of useful bonus categories. Perhaps the most valuable bonus category is the ability to earn 6% cash back at U.S. supermarkets, on the first $6,000 spent annually. Households who spend $500 or so can maximize this threshold to earn a tremendous $350 in reward dollars every year, and that’s before you consider the other bonus cash-back opportunities like 3% cash back at U.S. gas stations. Still, you will want to subtract the $95 annual fee from that bounty.

The 6% cash back rate applies to select U.S. streaming subscriptions, which covers virtually every participating provider out there. From Apple Music to YouTube TV to Netflix to Prime Video, it’s likely that you subscribe to one (or more) of these popular live TV, movie or music streaming services.

Not to mention, you can enroll your card within your American Express account to receive a $7 monthly statement credit when you spend $9.99 (or more) each month on a subscription to The Disney Bundle, which includes Disney+, Hulu, or ESPN+. If you already subscribe to one of these eligible services, that’s an instant savings of $84 every year.

You can also earn bonus cash back when you’re on the road. The Blue Cash Preferred provides 3% at U.S. gas stations and for local transit expenses, which includes anything such as taxis, rideshare services like Lyft and Uber, parking expenses, tolls, and train and bus fares.

Simply put, the cash back earnings add up swiftly with the Blue Cash Preferred, especially if you have a large household. You’ll earn cash back in the form of reward dollars, which can then be redeemed for any amount on your monthly statement credit through American Express. One reward dollar equals $1.

Other benefits on the card, such as purchase protection, return protection and access to Global Assist Hotline may be used less frequently, but will still come in handy when it’s least expected.

Best of all, there’s no annual fee for the first year of card membership, giving you time to test drive the card’s earning rates and benefits before you commit to paying the ongoing $95 annual fee. It is possible to downgrade after one year to the Blue Cash Everyday® Card if you find it more suitable.

Rates and Fees for the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express

💳 This card earns Chase Ultimate Rewards points. Chase often runs transfer bonuses where you can get even more points when you transfer to airline or hotel partners at designated times. Transfer bonuses are awesome. Get 20%, 30%, 40% or more bonus miles when you transfer points at the right times. But they are easy to miss!

You can see all past Transfer Bonuses from Chase Ultimate Rewards here.

Even better? Get notified when a new transfer bonus comes out and again before it ends (either or both, your choice). Sign up for free alerts right here. 🔔

The Chase Sapphire Reserve® is a luxury travel card legend – there’s no doubt about that.

The 2025 refresh, however, with the increase in fee to $795, makes this a must have for some, but not all, travelers. It remains one of the strongest travel credit cards on the market, competing with the Capital One Venture X and The Platinum Card® from American Express.

Whereas the older version of the card was more about simplicity, the new version packs in $2,700 in annual total value for the $795 annual fee. But that doesn’t mean you’ll use all of that value.

My baseline assumption is that everyone that is interested in this card will use the $300 travel credit, the same as always – applied towards absolutely any travel including parking.

Then there is the $300 annual dining credit. While that is $150 bi-annually, it seems ridiculously easy to dine twice a year at restaurants that are part of Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables. You don’t even have to book via the program. The card will know the restaurant participates and give you the credit. I feel like this applies to a majority of the target market for this card which I believe skews towards those in or near urban/suburban locations.

So in two lines, we see $600 in statement credits out of a $795 annual fee.

But of course there’s much more to the card than those two credits!

If you use even one $250 credit for the Edit, you are ahead.

If you use the Chase Sapphire lounges or Priority pass a few times a year with the most generous guest access policy around at 2 guests, you are ahead.

If you have a Travel Planner plan even one trip a year, you are ahead.

If you like live events and use the two StubHub credits ($150 bi-annually), you are ahead.

And finally, let’s revisit the bonus categories for spend.

• 8X points on all Chase Travel purchases, replacing 5x points on flights and 10x points on hotels and car rentals booked through Chase Travel
• 4X points on flights and hotels booked direct, replacing 3x points on all travel
• 3X points on dining

Keep in mind that only hotels booked through The Edit℠ will confer full hotel loyalty program benefits – status honored, benefits honored, elite night credits earned, and loyalty points earned. Other hotel bookings will not.

With that said, if you book a lot of travel and are willing to book via Chase Travel, then 8X on all travel is pretty amazing! And even if you don’t, 4X on hotels booked direct are at the top of the market and 4X on airfare is second only to the Platinum Card® from American Express.

I think that for some, those bonus multipliers will result in mountains of earned points – but, certainly, for others the spend level might not be enough to make that up.

And so I’m back where I started. Assuming you will use the $300 travel credit and the $300 “Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables” dining credit, all you have to do is look up at the benefits and statement credits and find more than $195 in additional value for the card to pay for itself.

If it doesn’t? Then it may not be the right card for you. We have plenty of other great transferable points based rewards travel cards in our Card Explorer!

Either way, hopefully you have all the information you need to make an informed decision.

Eligibility

You can now hold both the Chase Sapphire Preferred® and the Chase Sapphire Reserve® card. Finally!

However, the bonus will be subject to eligibility rules which will determine if you are eligible or not. You will be notified during the application process if you are not eligible for a bonus offer and given the choice to continue the application or cancel the application with no impact to your credit score.

You must also be under 5/24.