Chase refreshed the Sapphire Preferred on June 15, 2026: the hotel credit doubled to $100, new 3x categories arrived, and the 10% anniversary bonus left. The fee stayed at $95. Here is what the math looks like now.
Yes, and it is the easiest card on this site to justify. The $100 Chase Travel hotel credit is bigger than the $95 fee, so one prepaid hotel booking a year through Chase Travel covers the card before you earn a point. From there, 3x on dining and 5x on Chase Travel do the work: on our average spender profile the Preferred nets about $905 a year from Year 2 on, against about $540 from a no-fee 2% card. The Reserve only beats it by a wide margin if you will use most of the Reserve's $1,280 in credits.
| Annual fee | $95 |
|---|---|
| Hotel credit | $100 each account anniversary on Chase Travel hotel bookings (was $50 before June 15, 2026) |
| Global Entry / TSA PreCheck / NEXUS | Up to $120 every four years, about $30 a year |
| DoorDash | Complimentary DashPass for 12 months when activated by Dec 31, 2027 (a $96 annual-plan value; Chase quotes $120), plus $10 a month ($120 a year) off grocery, DashMart and retail orders. Off by default in the calculator; only worth counting if you already order from DoorDash. |
| Earning | 5x travel through Chase Travel; 3x dining, online grocery (not Target, Walmart or wholesale clubs), streaming, gas and EV charging, and vacation rentals; 2x all other travel; 1x everything else |
| Points valued at | 1.8¢ (PerkMath's conservative Chase Ultimate Rewards value) |
| Welcome offer (modeled) | 75,000 points, the standard offer, about $1,350 at 1.8¢. A limited-time 100,000-point offer after $5,000 in three months ran at the June 2026 launch and has ended. Confirm the current public offer before applying. |
| Gone in 2026 | The 10% anniversary points bonus, for applications on or after June 15, 2026 |
Break-even without the hotel credit: $95 at 1.8¢ a point is 5,278 points, which is about $1,760 of dining at 3x or about $5,280 of everyday spend at 1x. With the hotel credit used, the break-even is zero.
Not counted above, per the calculator: one year of Apple TV ($156, one-time, activate by Dec 31, 2026); 5x on Lyft through Sep 30, 2027 and on Peloton equipment over $150 through Dec 31, 2027; trip cancellation and delay insurance; primary rental-car coverage; purchase protection; no foreign transaction fee. No lounge access.
PerkMath's "average NYC young professional" profile: $7,800 a year on dining, $1,800 on flights booked direct, $1,080 on hotels booked direct, $720 through the card's travel portal, and $15,600 on everything else. On the Preferred that earns 23,400 + 3,600 + 2,160 + 3,600 + 15,600 = 48,360 points, worth $870 at 1.8¢.
Credits used: the $100 hotel credit and about $30 a year of Global Entry, $130. Year 2 and after: $130 + $870 − $95 = $905 net. Year 1 adds the 75,000-point standard offer (about $1,350) for roughly $2,255. A flat 2% card on the same $27,000 of spend returns $540, so from Year 2 the Preferred is $365 ahead.
This understates the card slightly: the profile lumps groceries, streaming and gas into "everything else" at 1x, and the Preferred now pays 3x on the online-grocery, streaming and gas portions of that.
Same profile on the Sapphire Reserve: 56,280 points worth $1,013, plus $1,280 in modeled credits, minus the $795 fee, is $1,498. That is $593 more than the Preferred, for $700 more in fee, and it depends on using every default credit, including the $500 The Edit hotel credit that needs two prepaid stays of two nights or more at a specific set of hotels.
Skip The Edit and the Reserve falls to $780 + $1,013 − $795 = $998. Now the gap is $93 a year. The Reserve is the better card if you will use its credits and fly enough for its lounges. If you will not, the Preferred gets you most of the earning at an eighth of the fee.
| Sapphire Preferred | Sapphire Reserve | |
|---|---|---|
| Annual fee | $95 | $795 |
| Credits used in the example | $130 | $1,280 |
| Points on the average profile | $870 | $1,013 |
| Year 2+, all credits used | $905 | $1,498 |
| Year 2+, Reserve without The Edit | $905 | $998 |
The calculator opens with the Sapphire Preferred against the Sapphire Reserve. Enter your spend, tick the credits you would actually use, and compare Year 1 and Year 2+:
Figures are PerkMath's conservative model (points at 1.8¢, credits at full value) with Sapphire Preferred terms from Chase's June 15, 2026 announcement, as of September 2026. Not an offer and not financial advice. Card terms change; confirm current terms on Chase's site before applying. Free tool, no affiliate links.