Which low-fee rewards credit card is better: Chase Sapphire Preferred Card or Citi Strata Premier?

The Citi Strata Premier℠ Card is excellent in many ways, but when compared to the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, the Sapphire Preferred Card is the better option. The Sapphire Preferred Card offers more value when redeeming points and provides more travel protections and perks. However, the Strata Premier Card excels in earning points on purchases.

CNBC Select offers a comprehensive guide to travel credit cards, helping you determine which card best suits your spending habits.

Welcome bonus

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

New cardholders can earn 75,000 points with the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card by spending $4,000 in the first three months.
The Sapphire Preferred card allows you to redeem Chase Ultimate® Rewards for one cent each as cash back, making the intro bonus worth at least $750. However, if you use the points to book through Chase TravelSM, you can boost the value to 1.25 cents per point, making the intro bonus worth over $900 in travel.

Citi Strata Premier℠ Card

The Citi Strata Premier℠ Card offers a bonus of 70,000 ThankYou® Points to new members who spend $4,000 in the first 3 months of account opening, which is the same as the Sapphire Preferred.
Citi offers various redemption options for ThankYou® points, including one cent per point through their travel portal, gift cards, or cash back.

You can increase the value of your rewards by using both cards to transfer points to hotel and airline loyalty programs, allowing you to book expensive accommodations or flights with your points.

Winner: Chase Sapphire Preferred

Annual fee

Both of these travel credit cards have a $95 annual fee.

Winner: Tie.

Earning points

Both cards can aid you in achieving your goal of earning a lot of points.

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

5X points on travel purchased through Chase TravelSM
5X points on Lyft rides through March 31, 2025
Earning 5X points on Peloton equipment and accessory purchases of $150+ can help you reach a maximum of 25,000 total points by March 31, 2025.
3X points on dining
3X points on select streaming services
Online grocery purchases earn 3X points, excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs.
2X points on all other travel purchases
1X points on all other purchases

Citi Strata Premier℠ Card

10X points on hotels, car rentals and attractions when booked through CitiTravel.com
3X points on air travel
3X points on hotels (not booked through CitiTravel.com)
3X points at restaurants
3X points at supermarkets
3X points at gas stations and EV charging stations
1X points on all other purchases

The Strata Premier offers a higher rate of return on hotels than the Sapphire Preferred, and that advantage extends to airfare when booking directly with airlines. The Strata Premier also earns more on common expenses such as supermarkets (not just online groceries) and at gas stations and EV charging stations. However, it loses out to the Sapphire Preferred in spending categories such as streaming services, Lyft rides, and certain Peloton purchases (relatively small or rare expenses for most people). Additionally, the Sapphire Preferred offers more rewards on travel purchases that aren't airfare or hotels.

Winner: Citi Strata Premier

Redeeming points

Redeeming rewards from a travel card is just as important as earning them. Both cards offer a range of redemption options that provide one cent per point in value, including cash back and gift cards. The Sapphire Preferred also gives cardholders a 25% boost in value (1.25 cents per point) when they use points to pay for travel booked through Chase TravelSM.

To maximize the value of either card, it's important to examine the transfer partners.

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

You can transfer Chase points to airline and hotel programs at a 1:1 ratio with the Sapphire Preferred.

Aer Lingus AerClub
Air Canada Aeroplan
British Airways Executive Club
Air France-KLM Flying Blue
Iberia Plus
IHG One Rewards
JetBlue TrueBlue
Marriott Bonvoy
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
Southwest Rapid Rewards
United Airlines MileagePlus
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
World of Hyatt

Citi Strata Premier℠ Card

You can transfer your Citi ThankYou points to various travel programs at a 1:1 ratio, except for certain programs, with the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card.

Aeromexico Rewards
Accor Live Limitless (2:1)
Avianca Lifemiles
Cathay Pacific Cathay
Choice Privileges (1:2)
Emirates Skywards
Etihad Guest
EVA Air Infinity MileageLands
Air France-KLM Flying Blue
JetBlue TrueBlue
Leading Hotels of the World Leaders Club (5:1)
Qantas Frequent Flyer
Qatar Airways Privilege Club
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus
Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
Wyndham Rewards

How they compare

Sapphire Preferred cardholders can benefit from the World of Hyatt loyalty program, which offers affordable hotel bookings starting at 3,500 points and luxury locations for 25,000 to 45,000 points. Additionally, cardholders can transfer points to book flights with all three major airline alliances and several non-alliance airlines.

Citi's transfer partners allow you to book rewards with all three major airline alliances, as well as non-alliance airlines such as Etihad, Emirates, and JetBlue. However, Citi ThankYou points are not as versatile when it comes to booking hotels. Additionally, ThankYou points are only worth one cent each when used to pay for CitiTravel.com bookings.

The best card for redeeming points will depend on your travel preferences and where you want to go. However, the Chase Sapphire Preferred card offers more opportunities for cardholders to earn a higher value per point on their redemptions.

Winner: Chase Sapphire Preferred

Additional perks

Both cards offer no foreign transaction fees and are widely accepted by consumers.

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

Chase Sapphire Preferred cardholders enjoy strong travel and shopping protections, including:

Trip cancellation and interruption insurance
Primary rental car collision coverage
Baggage delay insurance
Trip delay reimbursement
Travel and emergency assistance services

The Sapphire Preferred card offers a 10% bonus on points earned annually, based on the previous year's purchases. Additionally, it provides an annual $50 statement credit for hotel bookings made through Chase Chase TravelSM.

Additionally, Chase offers several partnerships that enhance the value of its cardholders by providing access to these services.

Activate DashPass by Dec. 31, 2024 to receive a free DoorDash subscription for at least one year.
Six free months of Instacart+ when you activate by July 31, 2024
Up to $15 in Instacart statement credits each quarter through July 2024

Citi Strata Premier℠ Card

The Citi Strata Premier℠ Card offers a discount of $100 on a single hotel stay of $500 or more when booked through CitiTravel.com, which can be used once per calendar year. However, the card has fewer benefits overall.

The card also has several insurance benefits, including coverage for the following:

Trip cancellation and interruption
Lost or damaged luggage
Rental cars (MasterRental®)

Winner: Chase Sapphire Preferred.

Why trust CNBC Select?

Our goal at CNBC Select is to deliver top-notch service journalism and in-depth consumer advice to our readers, enabling them to make well-informed decisions when it comes to their finances. Each of our personal finance articles is the result of thorough reporting by our team of expert writers and editors, who possess extensive knowledge of financial products. While CNBC Select does earn a commission from affiliate partners on many offers and links, we create all our content independently, without any input from our commercial team or external third parties. We uphold the highest journalistic standards and ethics in everything we do.

Stay up to date with CNBC Select's comprehensive coverage of credit cards, banking, and money by following us on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.