Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card vs. United(SM) Explorer Card

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If you’re in the market for a travel credit card, these two cards offer excellent value. However, if you’re not loyal to United Airlines, or don’t travel with them often, you’ll probably prefer a general travel credit card like the Sapphire Preferred. Here’s our Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card vs. United℠ Explorer Card comparison.

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card vs. United℠ Explorer Card: Side-By-Side Comparison

Welcome Offer Winner: Sapphire Preferred

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card has this welcome offer:  Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $750 when you redeem through Chase Travel℠. United℠ Explorer Card has this welcome offer: Earn 50,000 bonus miles after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open.

You have to spend slightly more to get the bonus on the Sapphire Preferred. It’s hard to evaluate how much United Explorer points are worth since United stopped publishing its fixed-price award chart and went to dynamic pricing instead. This means that how many miles/points you need varies according to time of year, flight, destination, and how far in advance you book your ticket.

Also, keep in mind that with the Sapphire Preferred you can always transfer your miles to United, or any of Chase’s travel partners. We give the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card the win for flexibility.

Rewards Winner: Sapphire Preferred

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card offers 5x points on travel booked through Chase Ultimate Rewards, 3x on dining, and online groceries (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs), 3x on select streaming, 2x on other travel purchases, and 1x on everything else. You also get a $50 statement credit each account anniversary for hotel stays booked through Chase.

Note that the 3x on groceries is for online purchases only. You do get an Instacart+ membership, which covers delivery for six months, but Instacart is more expensive than just picking up your groceries at the store.

The Chase card also offers account anniversary bonus points equal to 10% of your total purchases made the previous year. That means if you spend $25,000 on purchases, you’ll get 2,500 bonus points. Plus, your points are worth 25% more when you use them to book travel through Chase.

United℠ Explorer Card offers 2x miles on United purchases, hotel stays, and dining, and 1x miles on all other purchases. The card also gets you a free checked bag on United flights, 2 United Club one-time passes after account opening and on each anniversary, and $100 Global Entry, TSA PreCheck® or NEXUS fee credit, so you can skip the lines at the airport. You get priority boarding as well.

United Explorer is better for United benefits, but Chase Sapphire Preferred is better for flexible travel benefits. We’re giving the Sapphire Preferred the win for its flexibility.

Here are the details for each card.

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card 

Rewards:

United℠ Explorer Card 

Rewards:

Interest Rates Winner: Sapphire Preferred

Both cards offer similar interest rates. Neither has foreign transaction fees or 0% introductory APR. We’ll give the win to the Sapphire Preferred for having a slightly lower regular APR.

Fee Winner: United Explorer

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card has an annual fee of $95. United Explorer has the same annual fee, but it’s waived for the first year.

Neither card is offering a 0% introductory rate at this time, and neither card charges foreign transaction fees. The United Explorer has a tiny advantage, in that the fee is waived for the first year.

Features and Benefits: United Explorer

For features and benefits, United Explorer wins. It offers a few travel perks that the Sapphire Preferred doesn’t.

Sapphire Preferred

United Explorer

Who the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is Best For

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is an excellent travel rewards card. You can transfer your points to any of Chase’s travel partners: 14 airlines and 3 hotel partners. This gives you a lot of flexibility, plus your points could be worth more. And you get the anniversary point boost every year, which is nice. Once you get hooked on collecting travel rewards, you may want to consider a premium travel card such as the Chase Sapphire Reserve®. However, you can only have one Sapphire card, so you’d have to cancel the Preferred.

Who the United℠ Explorer Card is Best For

If you’re loyal to United, this is an excellent card. You get valuable United benefits, including a free checked bag and priority boarding. You get 25% back as a statement credit on inflight purchases. You even get two free United Club passes a year for your anniversary. If you frequently fly United, this card is a great value. However, with the Preferred card, you can choose from among 17 travel partners. With the United card, all of your miles are going to United.

Does it Make Sense to Get Both Cards?

Maybe, if you prefer to fly United but are willing to fly with other airlines. There is a great deal of overlap in the travel benefits offered, though. Furthermore, both cards are issued by Chase. Not only does Chase have the 5/24 rule, but it generally doesn’t approve anyone for two accounts within 30 days. So go with the card that reflects your travel habits. If you want to go for the other card after that, wait a few months and make sure you haven’t opened more than five accounts in the last two years.

Approval Odds

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

United℠ Explorer Card

Both cards are issued by the same bank, so they’re pretty similar in credit approvals. Either way, you’ll need excellent credit.

Bottom Line

If you live near a United Airlines hub or prefer to fly that airline, the United℠ Explorer Card can be a great addition to your wallet. Otherwise, you’ll find a general travel credit card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card will suit you better.