Chase Sapphire Reserve vs. Amex Platinum: at what spend does each actually win?

We modeled both 2025-refreshed cards across six spender profiles to find the real break-even points — not marketing math.

The short version

Year 2+ net value by card (the steady-state decision)

Year 2+ excludes sign-up bonuses — it's what the card is worth to you every year you keep it. Higher is better; below $0 means it doesn't cover its annual fee.

Is a second card worth it? (holding both vs. the best single card)

Bars show the extra Year-2+ value from adding the second card, after assigning each purchase to whichever card earns more. Below $0 = the second $895/$795 fee isn't covered.

Full numbers

Run it on your own spend

These profiles are illustrative. Your dining, travel, and which credits you'd actually use change the answer — so the model is fully interactive:

Open the free calculator →

Method & assumptions: points valued at 1.8¢ (conservative; TPG values Chase UR at 2.05¢ / Amex MR at 2.0¢). Each card credited with its easy-to-use default credits at full value (CSR $1,280: travel, The Edit, dining, Global Entry, lounges; Amex $875: Resy, Uber, Global Entry, lounges). Sign-up bonuses: CSR 100k, Amex 80k. "Both" assigns each spend category to the higher-earning card (no double-counting) and splits the shared Global Entry credit 50/50. No affiliate links. Free tool by PerkMath.