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Capital One has been absolutely crushing it over the last few years. In 2018 alone, it added a high-powered 10x bonus category to the Capi...

The best Capital One credit cards

The best Capital One credit cards

Capital One has been absolutely crushing it over the last few years. In 2018 alone, it added a high-powered 10x bonus category to the Capital One® Venture® Rewards Credit Card for Hotels.com purchases (when booked via this dedicated link through January 2020), and followed that up with the announcement that miles earned on the Spark and Venture card families can be transferred to airline partners.

The Best Capital One Credit Cards of 2019

Today we’ll take a look at some of the best Capital One credit cards, including those underrated credit cards that don’t always get the attention they deserve. Note that all of the cards on this list also have watered-down, no-annual fee versions — such as the Capital One® VentureOne® Rewards Credit Card and the Capital One® SavorOne® Cash Rewards Credit Card — with fewer perks and lower earning rates. But Capital One’s top cards offer significant value and have modest annual fees, so we’ll focus on the big leagues here.

In This Post

How we chose the best Capital One credit cards

We reviewed the entire Capital One credit card lineup for the best offers and studied their pros and cons. Our method for assigning value to these cards relied upon assessing the real value of the sign-up bonus, rewards, perks and annual fees. Each points program has its own TPG Monthly Points Valuation.

As always, head to our Cards Hub to see the best credit cards currently available across all banks and issuers.

Capital One Venture Rewards Card

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(Photo by The Points Guy)

Sign-up bonus: Earn 50,000 miles after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first three months.

Rewards: 2x miles per dollar spent on all purchases, 10x miles when booked and paid via hotels.com/venture (through January 2020).

Benefits: While the Capital One Venture Rewards Card first earned its place by offering a consistent 2x miles on all purchases and a simple fixed-value “purchase eraser” redemption structure, the addition of airline transfer partners really put it in a league of its own. Miles transfer at a 2:1.5 ratio to the following airlines, effectively giving the card an earning rate of 1.5x partner airline miles per dollar spent:

  • Aeromexico Club Premier
  • Air Canada Aeroplan
  • Air France-KLM Flying Blue
  • Alitalia MilleMiglia
  • Avianca LifeMiles
  • Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
  • Etihad Guest
  • EVA Infinity MileageLands
  • Finnair Plus
  • Hainan Fortune Wings Club
  • Qantas Frequent Flyer
  • Qatar Airways Privilege Club

Miles transfer to these three additional partners at a 2:1 ratio:

  • JetBlue TrueBlue
  • Emirates Skywards
  • Singapore KrisFlyer

While you can still use your miles to erase travel purchases from your statement at a fixed rate of 1 cent each, these transfer partners led TPG to value Capital One miles at 1.4 cents each, giving the Venture card an astounding earning rate of 2.8% on all purchases.

All the other features that made this card so great are sticking around, including the 10x bonus category at Hotels.com when booked and paid via Hotels.com/venture (which you can stack with Hotels.com own loyalty program to earn another 10% back), the waived first-year annual fee and the Global Entry/TSA PreCheck application fee credit (up to $100).

Flexibility is one of the most valuable elements of a good points strategy, and the Venture card delivers loads of it by allowing you to decide on a case-by-case basis whether to use it as a fixed-value or transferable-points card.

Annual fee: $95 (waived the first year)

Further Reading:

APPLY HERE: Capital One Venture Rewards Card

Spark Miles from Capital One

Sign-up bonus: Earn 50,000 miles after you spend $4,500 on purchases in the first three months.

Rewards: Earn 2x miles on all purchases.

Benefits: The Spark Miles from Capital One is a business credit card that gives you access to the same great transfer partners as the Venture family of cards. Businesses enjoy the free employee cards, no foreign transaction fees and Visa SavingsEdge benefits. You also get up to $100 in credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck enrollment fees, along with rental collision coverage, emergency travel assistance and roadside assistance.

Annual fee: $95 (waived the first year)

Further Reading:

APPLY HERE: Spark Miles from Capital One

Spark Cash from Capital One

Sign-up bonus: Earn $500 cash bonus after you spend $4,500 on purchases in the first three months.

Rewards: Earn cash back at a fixed 2% rate.

Benefits: Even if your business prefers cash back over travel rewards, you can still get great value out of your credit card usage. The Spark Cash from Capital One is identical to the Spark Miles card in all ways but one: It earns cash back instead of transferable miles. That saves you the trouble of having to identify travel purchases made in the last 90 days to redeem your miles for a statement credit. Instead, you’ll easily get cash in your pocket. Just remember you’re unable to transfer rewards to Capital One’s airline partners with this card.

Annual fee: $95 (waived the first year)

Further Reading:

APPLY HERE: Spark Cash from Capital One

Savor Rewards from Capital One

Sign-up bonus: $300 after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first three months.

Rewards: The card earns 4% back on dining and entertainment, 2% back at grocery stores and 1% on everything else.

Benefits: The Savor Rewards from Capital One is a pure cash-back card that aims to compete on its earning rates, not on perks and benefits. There are credit cards out there with more valuable individual bonus categories, but if you’re looking for a no-frills, no-nonsense card with multiple solid bonus categories all in one package, the Savor is a great choice to consider. Just make sure you’re getting more than $95 worth of cash back from it after the first year — otherwise you might want to consider the no-annual fee Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card instead.

Annual fee: $95 (waived the first year)

Further Reading:

APPLY HERE: Savor Rewards from Capital One

Quicksilver from Capital One

Sign-up bonus: $150 after you spend $500 on purchases in the first three months.

Rewards: Earn a fixed and unlimited 1.5% cash back on all purchases.

Benefits: The Quicksilver from Capital One is about as simplified as you can get, so for people who don’t want to spend time learning award charts and maxing out transfer bonuses, it can be a decent option. Its rewards are not the best rate on the market, but are passable, especially for a no-annual-fee card. While the sign-up bonus isn’t massive, the spending requirement is low. That said, if you’re in the market for a no-annual-fee cash back card like this, you’d likely be better off picking the Citi® Double Cash Card instead.

Annual fee: $0

Further Reading:

APPLY HERE: Quicksilver from Capital One

Comparing the Best Capital One Credit Cards

With that out of the way, here are more details about the best Capital One credit card offers available right now.

Venture from Capital One

Bonus Offer Bonus Value* Perks Value Annual Fee Total Value**
50,000 miles after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first three months. $700 Global Entry/TSA PreCheck application fee credit (up to $100) $0 intro for the first year, $95 after $800

Spark Miles from Capital One

Bonus Offer Bonus Value* Perks Value Annual Fee Total Value**
50,000 miles after you spend $4,500 on purchases in the first three months. $700 Global Entry/TSA PreCheck application fee credit (up to $100) $0 intro for the first year, $95 after $800

Spark Cash from Capital One

Bonus Offer Bonus Value* Perks Value Annual Fee Total Value**
$500 cash bonus after you spend $4,500 on purchases in the first three months. $500 None $0 intro for the first year, $95 after $500

Savor Rewards from Capital One

Bonus Offer Bonus Value* Perks Value Annual Fee Total Value**
$300 cash bonus after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first three months. $300 None $0 intro for the first year, $95 after $300

Quicksilver from Capital One

Bonus Offer Bonus Value* Perks Value Annual Fee Total Value**
$150 cash bonus after you spend $500 on purchases in the first three months. $150 None $0 $150

*Bonus value is an estimated value calculated by TPG and not the card issuer.
**Total value is calculated for the first year.

Bottom line

While premium credit cards are all the rage these days, Capital One has taken a different approach. None of these cards offer a lengthy, exhausting lists of perks that you may or may not remember to use, none of them cost more than $100 and they’re all free for the first year.

Capital One has focused on providing a good value proposition in terms of earning and redeeming, instead of complicating things with flashy and expensive perks. Whether you’re an individual or a business, and whether you are looking for miles or cash back, Capital One has a card that can help you achieve your travel goals.

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