Best Capital One credit cards of December 2023

More details on our best Capital One credit cards

Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card

Annual fee: $395 (see rates and fees).

Sign-up bonus: Earn 75,000 when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening. 

Rewards: 10 miles per dollar on car rentals and hotels booked through Capital One Travel, 5 miles per dollar on flights booked through Capital One Travel and 2 miles per dollar spent on all other eligible purchases.

Benefits: The Capital One Venture X Rewards Card is the issuer’s first premium rewards credit card. As such, there are excellent travel benefits such as a $300 annual credit for bookings made through Capital One Travel, statement credit for TSA Precheck/Global Entry and a 10,000-mile boost on your account anniversary. Cardholders can also get access to Capital One’s network of lounges and Priority Pass lounges for themselves and up to two guests. You can add authorized users for free on the card (see rates and fees) and share these lounge benefits with them, which helps families and friends access lounges for a fraction of the cost. 

TPG’s Staff Pick: “With an annual fee that is $300 less than the Amex Platinum, the Capital One Venture X card is my favorite travel credit card. The card comes with an annual $300 Capital One Travel Portal credit, which I use to book flights. That effectively brings the annual fee down to $95 per year (see rates and fees). Cardholders enjoy a Priority Pass Select membership (yes, it includes airport restaurants!). Authorized users — you get several at no cost — enjoy their own Priority Pass Select membership and Hertz President’s Circle status*. I use my Venture X card to earn 2 miles per dollar (3.7% return at TPG’s valuations) in spend categories where most cards would only accrue 1 mile (e.g. auto maintenance, pharmacies, medical bills).” – Kyle Olsen, Reporter

*Upon enrollment, accessible through the Capital One website or mobile app, eligible cardholders will remain at upgraded status level through December 31, 2024. Please note, enrolling through the normal Hertz Gold Plus Rewards enrollment process (e.g. at Hertz.com) will not automatically detect a cardholder as being eligible for the program and cardholders will not be automatically upgraded to the applicable status tier. Additional terms apply.

Related: Capital One Venture X Rewards Card review

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Official application link: Capital One Venture X.

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Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

Annual fee: $95 (see rates and fees).

Sign-up bonus: Earn 75,000 bonus miles after you spend $4,000 on purchases within the first three months of account opening.

Rewards: 2 miles per dollar spent on all purchases.

Benefits: The Capital One Venture Rewards Card first earned its place by offering a consistent 2 miles per dollar on all purchases and a simple fixed-value redemption structure. Its 15-plus transfer partners put it in a league of its own. Most partners transfer at an improved 1:1 ratio, while there are still a few remaining programs that transfer at a 2:1.5 and 2:1 ratio, effectively giving the card an earning rate of up to 2 partner miles or points per dollar spent.

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. The card offers a Global Entry/TSA PreCheck application fee credit (up to $100).

Related: Capital One Venture Rewards Card review

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Official application link: Capital One Venture.

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Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card

Annual fee: $0 (see rates and fees).

Sign-up bonus: Earn a one-time $200 cash bonus after you spend $500 on purchases in the first three months of account opening.

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 may be better off picking the Citi Double Cash® Card (see rates & fees) instead. There’s also the Capital One QuicksilverOne Cash Rewards Credit Card, but it comes with a $39 annual fee (see rates and fees). 

Related: Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards card review

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Official application link: Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards (see rates and fees).

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Capital One VentureOne Rewards Card

Annual fee: $0 (see rates and fees).

Sign-up bonus: Earn 20,000 bonus miles once you spend $500 within the first three months from account opening.

Rewards: 1.25 miles per dollar on all purchases.

Benefits: The Capital One VentureOne is the no-annual-fee version of the popular Capital One Venture Rewards Card. It’s a spectacular introduction into the Venture’s flexible miles that are also transferable to Capital One’s 15-plus airline and hotel transfer partners. You’ll also enjoy no foreign transaction fees with this card (see rates and fees), along with great travel perks such as travel assistance, rental car coverage and 24/7 concierge service. Benefits are only available to accounts approved for the World Elite Mastercard product. Terms and conditions may apply.

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Official application link: Capital One VentureOne.

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Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card

Annual fee: $0 (see rates and fees).

Sign-up bonus: Earn a one time $200 cash bonus welcome bonus after spending $500 in purchases within the first three month of account opening.

Rewards: Earn unlimited 3% cash back on dining, entertainment, popular streaming services and at grocery stores (excluding superstores like Walmart® and Target®), 5% Cash Back on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel (terms apply), 8% Cash Back on Capital One Entertainment purchases and 1% on everything else. 

Benefits: The Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards offers high cash-back returns on some of your most popular everyday purchase categories. There’s no limit to rewards you’ll earn, and you can redeem your rewards for pure cash back. It’s unlikely that a no-annual-fee cash-back card offers as many bonus categories, but the SavorOne does it all. To tie it all together, enjoy no foreign transaction fees when you use this card internationally (see rates and fees).

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Official application link: Capital One SavorOne.

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Capital One Spark Miles for Business

Annual fee: $95, waived the first year (see rates and fees).

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

Rewards: 2 miles per dollar on purchases and 5 miles per dollar spent on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel.

Benefits: The Spark Miles from Capital One is a business credit card that gives you access to the same great airline and hotel transfer partners as the Venture family of cards. Businesses can enjoy free employee cards and no foreign transaction fees (see rates and fees). You also get up to $100 in credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck enrollment fees. Terms apply.

Related: Capital One Spark Miles for Business card review

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Official application link: Capital One Spark Miles for Business.

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Capital One Spark Cash Plus

Annual fee: $150 (see rates and fees).

Sign-up bonus: Earn $1,200 cash back once you spend $30,000 in the first three months of account opening. 

Rewards: Earn an unlimited 2% cash back on every purchase, everywhere.

Benefits: The Capital One Spark Cash Plus is the ideal card for business owners who want to maximize their expenses but can’t keep up with multiple purchase categories. You’ll earn valuable cash-back rewards back in your pocket, helping you lower your operating expenses in the long-run. Though, to make up for the $150 annual fee, make sure that your business has more than $7,500 in expenses per year. Like the other Capital One cards on this list, this card doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees (see rates and fees). There is no APR because the balance must be paid in full every month. Otherwise, you will be charged 2.99% of the unpaid portion (see rates and fees).

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Official application link: Capital One Spark Cash Plus.

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Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card

Annual fee: $95.

Sign-up bonus: Earn a one-time $300 cash bonus after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening.

Rewards: The card earns 4% back on dining, entertainment and popular streaming services, 3% back at grocery stores (excluding superstores like Walmart and Target) 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 year after year — otherwise, you might want to consider the no annual fee Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card instead (see rates and fees). With its solid earning rates for dining and entertainment spending, the Capital One Savor Rewards card earns a spot as one of our picks for the best cash back credit cards.

Related: Savor Rewards from Capital One card review

The information for the Capital One Savor card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

How we chose the best Capital One credit card

While these aren’t the only Capital One credit cards on the market, these are the ones we’ve identified as the most beneficial for our readers. We looked at the rewards rates offered on each card, any additional perks, ease of the redemption process and the sign-up bonuses that came with each to narrow the larger list to this group of seven cards.

Of course, Capital One’s other cards each have their own benefits. For example, most of the cards on this list also have a no-annual-fee version. Those cards tend to be better for beginners or those who don’t spend enough annually to justify an annual fee.

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

What are the main benefits of Capital One credit cards?

Capital One made its Venture and Sparks Miles cards more valuable, offering the ability for cardholders to transfer miles to travel partners mostly at a 1:1 ratio (with only a few exceptions).

The flat miles and cash back earned on Capital One Venture X, Capital One Venture, VentureOne, Spark Miles and Quicksilver cards make things simple for cardholders, since you don’t have to worry about remembering which spending categories offer higher rewards. If you spend regularly on dining and entertainment, the 4% cash back on the Savor or SavorOne card is a good deal. And, if you don’t want to pay an annual fee and prefer a fixed earning rate, the Quicksilver is a reasonable choice (see rates and fees).

Plus, none of these cards charge foreign transaction fees (see rates and fees for the Venture X; see rates and fees for the Venture; see rates and fees for the VentureOne; see rates and fees for the Spark Miles; see rates and fees for the Quicksilver) .

How many Capital One cards can you have?

There is a limit of two Capital One credit cards per person. However, the Capital One Platinum Secured Credit Card and Capital One’s co-branded cards are not included in the limit.

What are Capital One miles rewards?

Capital One miles rewards are earned on every purchase made with either the Venture X, Venture, VentureOne or Spark Miles credit cards. You can redeem your miles at a fixed value or by transferring rewards to airline and hotel partners. This means your rewards are flexible — they can cover expenses for standard airline and hotel charges but also for non-traditional travel purchases such as helicopter rides or cruises (neither of which are typically easily covered by points/miles).

TPG currently values Capital One miles rewards at 1.85 cents per mile. While we don’t value them quite as high as Amex or Chase points (both of which come in at 2 cents apiece), you’re still getting a solid value from your miles.

How to redeem Capital One rewards

Redemptions on all the cards are pretty simple. You can redeem your Savor or Quicksilver cash back as a check, set up automatic redemptions at a set time or at specific cash thresholds or redeem it for statement credits or gift cards.

With the Venture X, Venture or Spark Miles, you can receive a credit for the cost of travel booked with either card. You can also book a flight, car rental or hotel through the Capital One Travel Portal (or call if you’d rather book by phone) and use your miles to pay for them. Additionally, you can transfer your miles to airline or hotel partners in increments of 1,000 Capital One miles and then use the partner program to book a hotel stay or flight.

Here is a quick rundown of the loyalty programs you can transfer miles to with Capital One:

• Aeromexico Club Premier.
• Air Canada Aeroplan.
• Air France-KLM Flying Blue.
• ALL – Accor Live Limitless.
• Avianca LifeMiles.
• British Airways Avios.
• Cathay Pacific Asia Miles.
• Choice Privileges.
• Emirates Skywards.
• Etihad Guest.
• EVA Infinity MileageLands.
• Finnair Plus.
• Qantas Frequent Flyer.
• Singapore KrisFlyer.
• TAP Air Portugal Miles&Go.
• Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles.
• Virgin Red.
• Wyndham Rewards.

It’s worth noting that the time for your miles to transfer varies depending on each of the partners.

Bottom line

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.

For Capital One products listed on this page, some of the above benefits are provided by Visa® or Mastercard® and may vary by product. See the respective Guide to Benefits for details, as terms and exclusions apply.