Both cards come with a $95 annual fee, which is standard for mid-tier rewards credit cards.

It’s not difficult to justify either card’s yearly fee. Both offer an annual $50 statement credit — the Sapphire Preferred’s credit is for hotels booked through Chase Travel℠ and the Autograph Journey’s credit is for airline purchases. Both cards also earn valuable points at a healthy pace for common purchases such as travel and dining.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred has an intro bonus offer of 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening. This bonus is worth $600 in cash back or $750 in travel bookings you make through Chase Travel℠. You can also transfer these points to 14 different travel partners

The Wells Fargo Autograph Journey℠ Card’s welcome bonus is worth 60,000 bonus points when you spend $4,000 in purchases in the first three months. This is worth $600 for redemption such as gift cards or statement credits. You can also transfer these points to six airline and hotel partner programs.

Both cards earn 3X points on one of the most common spending categories, dining.

The Wells Fargo Autograph Journey Card is a better option for earning points on hotels, airlines and travel because the Sapphire Preferred only earns 5X on travel you book through Chase Travel℠ (not through other sites) and 2X on other travel spending.

The Sapphire Preferred is more rewarding for online grocery and select streaming services. It also gives you a 10% anniversary bonus, which is equal to 10% of all the purchases you made that year. If you spent $12,000 on purchases, your bonus would be 1,200 points.

The Sapphire Preferred and Wells Fargo Autograph Journey both offer a range of similar redemptions. You can use points for options such as statement credits, gift cards and travel. You’re also able to transfer points to travel partners.

With Chase Ultimate Rewards and Wells Fargo Rewards, you can redeem points for one cent each toward statement credits. This is as good as cash since you can offset any purchase, so that should be your baseline value for the points you earn with either card.

You can also transfer points to partner travel programs with both cards. The Autograph Journey has access to these airline and hotel programs at a 1:1 ratio:

• Aer Lingus AerClub
• Flying Blue (Air France and KLM)
• Avianca LifeMiles
• British Airways Executive Club
• Iberia Plus

You can also transfer points to the Choice Privileges hotel program at a 1:2 ratio.

With the Chase Sapphire Preferred, you’ll get 1.25 cents per point in value when you redeem for travel through Chase Travel℠. You also have access to a much longer list of Chase Ultimate Rewards partner travel programs:

• Aer Lingus AerClub
• Air Canada Aeroplan
• British Airways Executive Club
• Emirates Skywards
• Flying Blue (KLM and Air France)
• Iberia Plus
• JetBlue TrueBlue
• Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
• Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards
• United MileagePlus
• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
• IHG One Rewards
• Marriott Bonvoy
• World of Hyatt

The Chase Sapphire Preferred’s benefits also include limited-time partner offers, valuable ongoing perks plus additional insurance coverages. You’ll get:

Additional benefits available with the Wells Fargo Autograph Journey include cell phone protection ($25 deductible with an allowable maximum of two paid claims per 12-month period;  limit of $1,000) and an annual $50 credit for airline purchases (with a minimum $50 purchase).

The Chase Sapphire Preferred and Wells Fargo Autograph Journey are similar travel rewards credit cards with overlapping benefits. Both earn transferrable rewards and offer travel protections, so most people likely won’t need both cards.

However, there are some situations where it can make sense to get both. For example, the Autograph Journey is more rewarding for most travel purchases, while the Sapphire Preferred earns more valuable rewards and offers useful purchase protections.

If you’re trying to maximize your rewards and book premium airfare with your points, these rewards programs share some of the same travel partners. It takes large point balances to book the best first- or business-class awards and if you earn points with both cards, you can combine them into the same loyalty account with these airlines:

• Aer Lingus AerClub
• Flying Blue (Air France and KLM)
• British Airways Executive Club
• Iberia Plus

This allows you to more easily accumulate the points you need to book off-peak business-class awards with Iberia from many East Coast cities in the U.S. to Spain, which cost 68,000 points round-trip. Or you could book one-way business-class flights from the U.S. to Europe with Flying Blue for 50,000 miles or less if you can take advantage of the monthly Flying Blue Promo Rewards.