This question is near and dear to me as these were the first two travel credit cards I considered. In this post I will compare the difference, pros and cons and which one I ultimately decided to open!

On the surface these cards are pretty similar, both offer a flat rewards rate allowing you to earn miles to book travel at a rate of 1 cent per mile. You can also transfer your miles to airline partners and neither card charges a foreign transaction fee. So there are some similarities, but now let’s dive into the differences.

Annual Fee:

Venture = $95

Venture X = $395

Bonus Offer:

At this time, both are offering 75,000 miles when you spend $4,000 in the first 3 months, which is $750 in travel credit.

Rewards Program:

Venture X - Unlimited 2 miles per dollar on most purchases, 5 miles per dollar spent on flights booked through Capital One’s travel portal and 10 miles per dollar spent on hotel and rental cars booked through Capital One’s travel portal.

Venture - Also unlimited 2 miles per dollar on most purchases and 5 miles per dollar spent on hotels and rental cars booked through the Capital One travel portal.

So you’ll notice the main and really only difference here is that the Venture does not offer miles for dollars spent on flights booked through their portal and only offers 5 miles per dollar instead of 10 miles per dollar spent on hotels and rental cars booked through their portal.

Additional Benefits:

Capital One Venture X -

• Yearly $300 travel credit to use in the Capital One travel portal

• 10,000 anniversary miles each year you renew

• Unlimited free access for you and 2 guests to over 1,300 Capital One lounges

• $100 worth of credit for Global Entry application fee or TSA pre-check when you pay with this card

• Cell phone protection, if you pay for your phone with this card you will be reimbursed up to $800 if your phone is lost, stolen or accidentally damaged

• Ability to transfer miles to partner airline and hotel to redeem miles

• Hertz Presidential Circle status, which includes guaranteed car upgrades, the ability to skip the line and immediately pick your car from the lot and the ability to add another driver for free

Capital One Venture -

• Ability to transfer miles to partner airline and hotel to redeem miles

• $100 worth of credit for Global Entry application fee or TSA pre-check when you pay with this card

• Two free visits per year to Capital One lounges

Why Chose the Venture X over the Venture?

So as you can tell the Venture X offers more benefits, I think the biggest difference maker is the 10,000 mile anniversary bonus, which is equaled to $100 in travel credit and the unlimited access to the Capital One lounges. The $100 yearly travel credit is a nice bonus for those who travel frequently and if you are traveling often, having unlimited access to the lounge might be worth the $395 annual fee, also keep in mind that the $395 fee is almost fully reimbursed by receiving the $300 annual travel credit.

Why Chose the Venture over the Venture X?

I think the main reason one might choose the Venture over the Venture X is not wanting to be limited to using the Capital One portal. The $300 annual travel credit sounds awesome at first, and it is, but keep in mind you have to book your travel accommodations through Capital One’s travel portal, which to be fair is expansive and does offer a lot, but it might not cover or offer everything you want. The last thing I’d suggest is when booking through a third party, which in this case would be Capital One’s travel portal, it is usually more difficult to cancel or modify your accommodations when dealing with a middle man as opposed to dealing with the hotel or rental car company directly.

My Opinion:

So as you can tell, it really depends, and I think the most important factor in deciding which one is if you don’t mind being restricted to the Capital One travel portal, the reason I believe that is because the $300 annual travel credit and the 10,000 mile annual bonus that come with the Venture X have to be redeemed in the portal. If this feels limiting then the higher annual fee of the Venture X might not be worth it for you, however, if you find yourself frequently traveling and for the portal to be convenient, then taking advantage of the unlimited lounge access and annual bonuses with the Venture X might be worth it!

I opted for the Venture instead of the Venture X because while the $300 in annual travel credit and 10,000 mile anniversary bonus are nice and tempted me, I didn’t like the idea of having to use the Capital One travel portal so thought the $395 annual fee wasn’t worth it. In hindsight however, I wish I decided to open the Venture X instead, at the time I thought “The travel portal might not offer accommodations for the places I want to visit”, but now I’ve changed my mindset to “I’m just going to accumulate as many points as possible, check the portal, and take advantage of what it has to offer.”

Oh well…you live and you learn.