KEY LINKS
- Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card – Earn 75,000 bonus miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. $395 annual fee
- Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card – Earn 75,000 miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within the first 3 months of account opening, plus receive a one-time $250 Capital One Travel credit in your first cardholder year – that’s equal to $1,000 in travel. $95 annual fee
I have been told that this higher offer on the Venture card is ending on Monday, September 9th, so you only have a limited amount of time to apply if you want to take advantage of this higher welcome offer.
“What credit card should I get?” Lots of people wonder which card to sign up for when starting the pursuit of points and miles. The Capital One Venture and Capital One Venture X card are two cards that earn valuable Capital One Venture miles.
I’ve had both the Capital One Venture and Capital One Venture X cards and so has my wife. Back in 2019, Capital One made some enhancements to their Venture miles card that have made both the Venture and Venture X cards much more attractive. Let’s review the details and compare the Venture vs. Venture X cards.
Capital One Venture X vs. Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card: Annual fee
- The Capital One Venture has a $95 annual fee
- The Capital One Venture X has a $395 annual fee.
Winner: Capital One Venture. The annual fee is significantly lower on the Venture card. However it is worth pointing out that the Venture X card comes with an annual $300 travel credit and 10,000 Venture miles on each anniversary. Depending on how much you value those benefits, that may make up some of the $300 difference in the annual fee in your estimation.
Comparing the welcome offers on the Venture vs. Venture X
The current Capital One Venture welcome offer allows you to earn 75,000 miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within the first 3 months of account opening, plus receive a one-time $250 Capital One Travel credit in your first cardholder year. The Venture’s highest offer was 100,000 bonus miles, but unfortunately that offer is no longer available. I have been told that this offer is ending on Monday, September 9th, so you only have a limited amount of time to apply if you want to take advantage of this higher welcome offer.
The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card allows you to earn 75,000 bonus miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
Winner: Slight edge to Venture. Obviously the welcome offers on the cards change over time, so you can argue a slight edge to one card vs. the other depending on where the welcome offers currently sit.
Capital One Venture X vs. Capital One Venture Earning Rewards
Both the Venture and Venture X card earn 2 miles per dollar spent. This applies to every purchase, every day.
They also offer some additional bonus spending in certain categories. The Venture card earns:
- 5 miles per dollar on hotels, vacation rentals, and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
- 5 miles per dollar spent on Capital One Entertainment purchases through 12/31/25
While the Venture X has some of the same categories but a bit higher earning:
- 5 miles per dollar on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Travel
- 5 miles per dollar on Capital One Entertainment purchases through 12/31/25
- 10 miles per dollar on hotels and rental cars when booking via Capital One Travel
So they have the same earning on vacation rentals and Capital One Entertainment purchases (and all other categories), while the Venture X has higher earning on hotels, rental cars and flights booked through Capital One Travel
Winner: Slight edge to Venture X. Most people probably don’t have a ton of spending through the Capital One Travel portal, but if you do, then the Venture X becomes a bit more attractive
Redemptions and transfers
The Capital One Venture and Venture X cards earn Capital One miles, which are redeemed in the same way. You have a lot of flexibility in how you can redeem your miles. You can book travel through the Capital One travel portal, at a rate of 1 mile per cent. You can also use your Venture miles for travel purchases that you make directly, at the same 1 mile per cent rate.
You can also transfer to 19 Capital One travel partners. While this was previously at a 2:1.5 ratio (or worse), Capital One did recently up the transfer ratio to 1:1 for most partner programs. This update offers a lot more potential value for Venture card holders. In addition, the simplicity of the program when redeeming for travel purchases is good for newbies. It’s also great for those who are heavy into the miles game already but need a card that has added flexibility. In 2019, we used AA miles to book flights to Europe and used the Venture card to absorb the taxes and fees. If you redeem for cash then the miles are worth 0.5 cents each…don’t do this. I’ve also gotten outstanding value from transferring Venture miles to Wyndham for Vacasa vacations.
Winner: Tie
Other benefits of the Venture X and Capital One Venture cards
We already mentioned the biggest benefits of the Capital One Venture X card, which is the $300 annual travel credit and the 10,000 Venture miles each anniversary. Depending on how much you value those benefits, that can make up quite a bit of the difference between the two cards’ annual fees.
Both cards also offer a statement credit of up to $100 for a Global Entry or TSA Precheck application as well as benefits such as a “Credit Wise” credit score tracker, secondary auto rental coverage, travel accident insurance, lost luggage reimbursement, no foreign transaction fees and extended warranty protection.
The Venture X has unlimited complimentary visits to Plaza Premium Lounges or Capital One Lounges, including the outstanding Capital One lounge in DFW (pictured below). The Venture card offers 2 visits per year, though this benefit is ending Jan. 1, 2025.
Additionally the Venture X card comes with a Priority Pass Select membership, which can get you into 1,300 airport lounges across the world. I’ve also had great luck with Capital One Venture X Roadside Assistance and Capital One Venture X Trip Delay insurance – I usually put almost all of my travel purchases on my Venture X card.
(SEE ALSO: Successfully Getting A Capital One Venture X Trip Delay Insurance Claim (Here’s How To Do It))
Winner: Venture X. With the higher annual fee on the Venture X card, it also comes with significantly better benefits. It’s up to you on how much you value these additional benefits.
KEY LINKS
- Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card – Earn 75,000 bonus miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. $395 annual fee
- Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card – Earn 75,000 miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within the first 3 months of account opening, plus receive a one-time $250 Capital One Travel credit in your first cardholder year – that’s equal to $1,000 in travel. $95 annual fee
And the winner is…
The Capital One Venture card! This is mostly due to the higher welcome offer – the 2 cards come with different benefits, and I think you can’t go wrong with either card. I actually have both cards which can also make sense, though Capital One does pull from all 3 credit bureaus. If you’re looking for a more premium or luxury card, the Capital One Venture X card is a great option – I think it’s the best luxury credit card out there.
Which card would you pick between the Capital One Venture and Venture X? Is there another card that is better than both of these? Leave a comment below and let us know why!
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
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