If you’re looking for a travel credit card that offers value and simplicity, the Discover it® Miles card could be a good option. It earns a flat rewards rate on all purchases and has a straightforward welcome bonus. Redeeming miles is easy, too.
But there are good reasons the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is a popular travel card. Despite its annual fee and more complicated rewards program, it has much to offer the frequent traveler who’s willing to put in a bit more effort to manage their card.
Let’s see which card is better for your next trip.
How the cards compare
Annual fee
$95
$0
Welcome bonus
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Discover it® Miles
UNLIMITED BONUS: Unlimited Mile-for-Mile match for all new cardmembers. Discover gives you an unlimited match of all the Miles you’ve earned at the end of your first year. There’s no signing up, no minimum spending or maximum rewards. Just a Miles-for-Miles match. You could turn 35,000 Miles into 70,000 Miles.
Rewards
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
- 5 points per $1 spent on all travel booked through Chase.
- 3 points per $1 spent on dining (including eligible delivery services and takeout).
- 3 points per $1 spent on select streaming services.
- 3 points per $1 spent on online grocery purchases (not including Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs).
- 3 points per $1 on gas and EV charging.
- 3 points per $1 on vacation rentals booked directly with brands like AirBnB and VRBO.
- 2 points per $1 spent on travel not booked through Chase.
- 1 point per $1 spent on other purchases.
- Through Sept. 30, 2027: 5 points per $1 spent on Lyft.
- Through Dec. 31, 2027: 5 points per $1 spent on eligible Peloton purchases over $150.
Discover it® Miles
1.5 miles per dollar spent on all purchases.
Other benefits
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
- A $100 annual credit on hotel stays booked through Chase.
- Up to $120 credit every four years for the application fee for TSA PreCheck, Global Entry or Nexus.
- Complimentary one-year subscription to Apple TV, when activated by Dec. 31, 2026.
- Hotel and airline transfer partners.
Discover it® Miles
Access to Discover's free Social Security number monitoring service.
APR
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
The ongoing APR is 19.24%-27.49% Variable APR.
Discover it® Miles
0% intro APR for 15 months on purchases and balance transfers, and then the ongoing APR of 17.49%-26.49% Variable APR.
Still not sure?
Why you might choose the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Rewards can go further
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card earns bonus rewards in a variety of popular spending categories, including dining and travel. It has a generous sign-up bonus: Earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
You can redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards® points for travel through Chase, or transfer them to one of Chase’s partner programs.
Full list of Chase transfer partners
Airlines
- Aer Lingus (1:1 ratio).
- Air Canada (1:1 ratio).
- Air France-KLM (1:1 ratio).
- British Airways (1:1 ratio).
- Iberia (1:1 ratio).
- JetBlue (1:1 ratio).
- Singapore (1:1 ratio).
- Southwest (1:1 ratio).
- United (1:1 ratio).
- Virgin Atlantic (1:1 ratio).
Hotels
- Hyatt (1:1 or 4:3 ratio; varies by card).
- IHG (1:1 ratio).
- Marriott (1:1 ratio).
- Wyndham (1:1 ratio).
Plus, you can boost your earning potential if you carry another card that earns Chase Ultimate Rewards® points. That’s because you can transfer points from that other card to your Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card rewards account, and then redeem all those points for travel. Another member of your household can also transfer their points to you, which can get both of you a discounted vacation at a faster pace.
Though the card charges a $95 annual fee, you get up to $100 in statement credits per year for hotel stays booked through Chase.
🤓 Nerdy Tip
If you applied for a Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card on or after June 23, 2025, your Chase Ultimate Rewards® points are worth a base rate of 1 cent each, with the potential of being worth up to 1.75 cents each if you book travel that’s eligible for Chase’s Points Boost program. For those who had the card before June 23, 2025, points earned before Oct. 26, 2025, can be redeemed for travel through Chase at a value of at least 1.25 cents each, until Oct. 26, 2027. Those points will also be eligible for Points Boost offers, making them potentially worth up to 1.75 cents each under the new rules. Overseas acceptance
Because it runs on the Visa payment network, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card will be widely accepted around the world. Within the U.S., Discover cards are accepted at rates similar to Visa cards, but acceptance overseas is inconsistent and varies by country.
Travel protections
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card includes coverage for trip interruptions and cancellations (for specific covered reasons, like illness or severe weather) and trip delays, insurance for baggage delays, and primary rental car coverage.
Why you might prefer the Discover it® Miles
No annual fee
If paying an annual fee is a no-go, or you don’t plan to use enough of the benefits of the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card to make paying a fee worth it, this gives the $0-annual-fee Discover it® Miles the advantage.
But it’s not the only no-annual-fee travel card option around. The Wells Fargo Autograph® Card also has a $0 annual fee, and it earns 3 points per $1 on dining, travel, gas stations and electric vehicle charging, transit, streaming services and phone plans (other purchases earn 1 point per $1). The card also offers a sign-up bonus: Earn 20,000 bonus points when you spend $1,000 in purchases in the first 3 months - that's a $200 cash redemption value.
Double miles in the first year
The Discover it® Miles card has a welcome offer that, depending on your spending levels, has the potential to be quite rewarding: UNLIMITED BONUS: Unlimited Mile-for-Mile match for all new cardmembers. Discover gives you an unlimited match of all the Miles you’ve earned at the end of your first year. There’s no signing up, no minimum spending or maximum rewards. Just a Miles-for-Miles match. You could turn 35,000 Miles into 70,000 Miles.
0% intro APR promotion
With the Discover it® Miles card, you’ll pay 0% intro APR for 15 months on purchases and balance transfers, and then the ongoing APR of 17.49%-26.49% Variable APR. The ongoing APR is 19.24%-27.49% Variable APR with the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card.
If you’re weighing the Discover it® Miles against the Wells Fargo Autograph® Card, the latter card also has a promotion: pay 0% intro APR for 12 months from account opening on purchases, and then the ongoing APR of 18.49%, 24.49%, or 28.49% Variable APR.
Which card should you get?
If travel and dining are big expenses for you, you spend enough each year to justify an annual fee, and you plan on taking your card overseas, then the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is the way to go.
However, if you’re a smaller spender and want an introductory APR offer, the Discover it® Miles is probably the better deal for you.
