Updated
Fact Checked
Nathan Alderman
There was a time when choosing a winner in Chase Sapphire Reserve® vs. the The Platinum Card® from American Express would have been very hard. But that was a few card iterations (and annual fee increases) ago.
Today, I think there is a clear winner: The Platinum Card® from American Express. Despite the lower annual fee (see rates and fees), I think the Chase Sapphire Reserve® simply doesn't offer the same value potential as Amex's prized pony. I'll break down my reasoning in more detail below.
Chase Sapphire Reserve vs. Amex Platinum Card overview
As of Apr. 16, 2024
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| Chase Sapphire Reserve® | The Platinum Card® from American Express |
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Rating image, 4.50 out of 5 stars.
4.50/5
Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale.
5 stars equals Best.
4 stars equals Excellent.
3 stars equals Good.
2 stars equals Fair.
1 star equals Poor.
We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
= Best
= Excellent
= Good
= Fair = Poor |
Rating image, 4.50 out of 5 stars.
4.50/5
Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale.
5 stars equals Best.
4 stars equals Excellent.
3 stars equals Good.
2 stars equals Fair.
1 star equals Poor.
We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
= Best
= Excellent
= Good
= Fair = Poor |
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Apply Now for Chase Sapphire Reserve®
On Chase's Secure Website. |
Apply Now for The Platinum Card® from American Express
On American Express' Secure Website. Terms apply |
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Credit Rating Requirement:
Falling within this credit range does not guarantee approval by the issuer. An application must be submitted to the issuer for a potential approval decision. There are different types of credit scores and creditors use a variety of credit scores to make lending decisions.
Recommended Credit Score required for this offer is: Good/Excellent (670-850)
Good/Excellent (670-850) |
Credit Rating Requirement:
Falling within this credit range does not guarantee approval by the issuer. An application must be submitted to the issuer for a potential approval decision. There are different types of credit scores and creditors use a variety of credit scores to make lending decisions.
Recommended Credit Score required for this offer is: Good/Excellent (670-850)
Good/Excellent (670-850) |
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Welcome Offer: Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $900 toward travel when you redeem through Chase Travel℠. 60,000 bonus points |
Welcome Offer: Earn 80,000 Membership Rewards® Points after you spend $8,000 on purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership. 80,000 |
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Rewards Program: Earn 5x total points on flights and 10x total points on hotels and car rentals when you purchase travel through Chase Travel℠ immediately after the first $300 is spent on travel purchases annually. Earn 3x points on other travel and dining & 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases. 5x points on flights and 10x points on hotels and car rentals through Chase Travel℠. |
Rewards Program: Earn 5X Membership Rewards® Points for flights booked directly with airlines or with American Express Travel up to $500,000 on these purchases per calendar year and earn 5X Membership Rewards® Points on prepaid hotels booked with American Express Travel. Earn 1X Membership Rewards® Points on other purchases. Terms and limitations apply. 1X-5X Membership Rewards® Points |
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Intro APR: Purchases: N/A Balance Transfers: N/A |
Intro APR: Purchases: n/a Balance Transfers: n/a |
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Regular APR: 22.49%-29.49% Variable |
Regular APR: See Pay Over Time APR |
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Annual Fee: N/A $550 |
Annual Fee: $695 |
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Highlights:
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Highlights:
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Apply Now for Chase Sapphire Reserve®
On Chase's Secure Website. |
Apply Now for The Platinum Card® from American Express
On American Express' Secure Website. Terms apply |
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Eligibility and Benefit level varies by Card. Terms, Conditions and Limitations Apply. Please visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Trip delay and cancellation insurance and cell phone protection underwritten by New Hampshire Insurance Company, an AIG Company. Extended warranty, purchase protection, car rental insurance, and baggage insurance underwritten by AMEX Assurance Company.
Why the Amex Platinum Card might be the ideal choice
Whether you're into luxury travel cards for the perks or the credits, The Platinum Card® from American Express comes out ahead. For one thing, its perks don't have expiration dates. Many of the Chase Sapphire Reserve®'s partner deals and credits expire this summer or early next year. Plus, there are simply more of them. The Platinum Card® from American Express advertises $1,500 in value. (Terms apply.)
The platinum-hued behemoth also wins out on travel perks. While the Chase card arguably has better travel insurance -- particularly when it comes to primary rental car coverage -- that's the only place it prevails.
Amex's card has better airport lounge access, more travel-related credits (though I'll admit Chase's travel credit is easier to use), hotel status, and CLEAR credits. And I can say, from experience, the Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts program is better than Chase's Luxury Hotel & Resort Collection. Terms apply; enrollment may be required.
When Chase Sapphire Reserve could be the better option
There are two cases in which I'd say the Chase Sapphire Reserve® is the better pick:
- You use it as part of the Chase Trifecta to maximize your Ultimate Rewards points.
- You prefer to book travel through the portal instead of transferring points to travel partners.
The Chase Trifecta combines cards from the Chase Freedom, Sapphire, and/or Business Ink lines. So long as you have at least one travel card in the trio, you can pool your Ultimate Rewards and redeem them for free travel. This can be a powerful rewards strategy.
As for point two, the Chase Sapphire Reserve® gets $0.015 per point when you redeem them through the Chase Travel Portal. While you can often get a better value when you transfer your points, the portal is definitely easier (and requires less research). Some folks are happy to trade a lower per-point return for less hassle booking free travel.
Chase Sapphire Reserve vs. Amex Platinum Card comparison
You can really see the differences between the two when you break them down by feature. Let's dive in.
Chase Sapphire Reserve vs. Amex Platinum Card annual fee
Once upon a time, the Chase Sapphire Reserve®'s travel credit made up for most of its annual fee. That hasn't been the case in a while, however. Now, it'll cost you $550 a year. While that's still less than the $695 you'll pay for The Platinum Card® from American Express (see rates and fees), it's still a lot of value to eke out of a card with soon-to-expire statement credits.
Amex's card may cost more on paper, but it makes it much easier to get your money back through credits and perks. You don't even need to use all of the credits to come out ahead with The Platinum Card® from American Express. If you only used the streaming, hotel, airline, and Uber credits each year, you'd still wind up with $840 in value. Terms apply.
Whichever card you choose, make sure you're using those credits on organic spend (spending you'd be doing either way).
Winner: The Platinum Card® from American Express
Chase Sapphire Reserve vs. Amex Platinum Card welcome offer
Both Chase and Amex welcome bonuses can vary depending on how and when you apply. But both the standard and best-ever bonuses for The Platinum Card® from American Express are significantly better than that of its competitor.
The standard welcome offer for the Chase Sapphire Reserve® is 60,000 bonus points with $4,000 spend in the first 3 months. The best I've ever seen? Just 100,000 points.
The Platinum Card® from American Express has a typical offer of 80,000 points for $8,000 spend in the first 6 months. Terms apply. But the best I've seen? A whopping 150,000 points for $6,000 spend.
The only aspect that Chase wins out on is less restrictive welcome bonus rules than Amex. American Express has a "once per card per lifetime" rule on welcome bonuses, whereas Chase only makes you wait 48 months between Sapphire family welcome bonuses. However, Chase does have the 5/24 rule to keep in mind.
Winner: The Platinum Card® from American Express
Chase Sapphire Reserve vs. Amex Platinum Card intro APR
Neither card has any kind of intro APR offer, so everyone loses this category.
Winner: Nobody
Chase Sapphire Reserve vs. Amex Platinum Card rewards
Alright, so the purchase rewards category is a little harder to call, and will likely come down to whether you prefer the Chase Ultimate Rewards program or the Amex Membership Rewards program. Each has pros and cons.
As far as earnings go, however, neither is all that remarkable. The Chase Sapphire Reserve® earns:
- 10x points on Chase Dining purchases
- 10x points on hotels and car rental purchased through Chase Travel
- 5x points on flights purchase through Chase Travel
- 3x points on other travel
- 3x points on dining
- 1x point on other purchases
Your mileage will vary with your Chase Travel experience. (I'm not a fan.) If you exclude the Chase purchases, you're looking at 3x Ultimate Rewards points on travel and dining. While not bad, it's not very much more than you'd earn with the significantly less expensive Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card.
That said, The Platinum Card® from American Express isn't exactly a great card for purchase rewards, either. It earns:
- 5X points on airfare purchased directly from the airline or through Amex Travel
- 5X points on hotels booked through Amex Travel
- 1X points on other purchases
- Terms apply
So, again, a big part of the rewards come from issuer travel portal purchases. I like the Amex Travel portal better than the Chase one, personally, but I prefer to book directly, rather than use either. It's nice that I still get 5X Membership Rewards points on flights booked with the airline, and I've gotten some decent rewards from that over the years.
Winner: Chase Sapphire Reserve®
Final take
There are a couple cases in which I'd recommend a Chase Sapphire Reserve® over The Platinum Card® from American Express. Outside of those, however, I think our platinum-hued friend is the way to go between these two credit cards.
The Platinum Card® from American Express has better credits, more comprehensive travel perks, and, heck, it's even more attractive. (I have the floral design and it honestly looks even better in person.) If you want a premium travel rewards card it's hard to beat the OG.
Our Credit Cards Experts
Brittney started her writing career in the world of science, putting her physics degree to good use. Her journey into finance started with building her personal credit, but soon grew into a borderline obsession with credit cards and travel rewards. For the last 7 years, she has enjoyed the ability to share her expertise with readers, as well as the opportunity to interview companies and individuals making an impact on our financial lives. She wholly believe most problems can be solved with the right research -- and a good spreadsheet -- and she specializes in translating complex financial topics into actionable advice to help educate and empower readers.
Fact Checked
Nathan Alderman
Nathan Alderman has worked with The Motley Fool since 2005, making errors his arch-enemies in a variety of roles including a six-year stint as the dedicated fact-checker for The Motley Fool's premium newsletter services. As The Ascent's Compliance Lead, he makes sure that all the site's information is accurate and up to date, which ensures we always steer readers right and keeps various financial partners happy. A graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, Nathan spends his spare time volunteering for civic causes, writing and podcasting for fun, adoring his wife, and wrangling his two very large young children.
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We're firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers. The Ascent, a Motley Fool service, does not cover all offers on the market. The Ascent has a dedicated team of editors and analysts focused on personal finance, and they follow the same set of publishing standards and editorial integrity while maintaining professional separation from the analysts and editors on other Motley Fool brands.
JPMorgan Chase is an advertising partner of The Ascent, a Motley Fool company. American Express is an advertising partner of The Ascent, a Motley Fool company. Brittney Myers has positions in American Express. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends JPMorgan Chase and Uber Technologies. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
For rates and fees for the The Platinum Card® from American Express, click here