Capital One Venture One Card Review 2023

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As with many things in life, you get what you pay for when it comes to credit cards. Opting for a card that doesn’t charge an annual fee almost certainly means you’ll be giving up benefits and settling for lower earning and redemption rates.

Capital One Venture One Review: Is It the Best Credit Card for You?

Depending on how much you spend on your cards though, that tradeoff might very well be worth it. Enter the Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card, a no-annual-fee version of the popular Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card. It’s now offering a welcome bonus of 20,000 miles after spending $500 on purchases within three months from account opening.

The VentureOne Rewards Card is almost identical to the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card with two key differences: It earns 1.25x miles per dollar on most purchases (while the Venture earns 2x), and it has a lower welcome bonus; the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card currently offers 75,000 miles after spending $4,000 on purchases within 3 months from account opening. 

Unfortunately, that lower earning rate makes the VentureOne Rewards Card a tough sell for most people. Some of the best no-annual-fee credit cards offer 1.5x or even 2x rewards, so the VentureOne has some stiff competition. That said, the card comes with a 0% APR offer that sweetens the deal; new cardholders receive a 0% intro APR on purchases and balance transfers for 15 months, followed by a 19.74% – 29.74% Variable APR.

Ultimately it’s up to you to analyze your spending patterns and decide whether this is the most rewarding option for you, or if you’d actually come out ahead by paying the $95 annual fee on the regular Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card.

We’re focused here on the rewards and perks that come with each card. These cards won’t be worth it if you’re paying interest or late fees. When using a credit card, it’s important to pay your balance in full each month, make payments on time, and only spend what you can afford to pay.

Who Should and Shouldn’t Consider the Capital One Venture One Card

Let’s start with some simple math. The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card has a $95 annual fee, but out-earns the Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card by 0.75% if you’re redeeming your rewards at a 1 cent per mile rate to get reimbursed for any travel purchases, and possibly more if you’re transferring them to airline and hotel partners instead.

At that rate, if you’re spending $12,666 a year or more on your Venture card, you’d be guaranteed to break even on the annual fee and you’d be better off picking the regular Venture card with the larger bonus.

Even if you’re committed to sticking to a no-annual-fee card, you can out-earn the Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card quite easily with competitors like the Chase Freedom Unlimited® and Citi® Double Cash Card. If you’re looking primarily for cash back, those are clear-cut winners.

The biggest drawback is that you need to pair them with a second card that does charge an annual fee in order to unlock airline transfer options, while the Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card gives you that option for free.

That leaves a rather narrow use case for the VentureOne though: This card is best suited for travelers who don’t want to pay an annual fee, want the flexibility to redeem their rewards for cash back, airline miles, or hotel points, and don’t want to pay any foreign transaction fees when they travel internationally. If that sounds like you, the Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card is worth considering.

Capital One VentureOne Rewards

Capital One VentureOne Welcome Bonus Offer

The VentureOne Rewards Card is currently offering 20,000 miles after spending $500 on purchases within three months from account opening. That’s not the highest bonus we’ve seen on this card — it’s been as high as 40,000 miles, but only rarely.

The bonus is worth $200 when you use miles to offset eligible travel purchases made with your card or book through the Capital One Travel portal. However, if you transfer your miles to Capital One’s airline and hotel partners, you could get a value of around $340, based on Insider’s valuations.

How to Earn Miles From the Capital One VentureOne Card

The Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card doesn’t have any bonus categories to worry about — instead, all purchases earn 1.25x miles per dollar, with one exception. Cardholders earn an unlimited 5 miles per dollar on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel.  

How to Use Miles From the Capital One VentureOne

There are two primary options for redeeming Capital One miles, but within that, you have a decent amount of flexibility. The first option is to redeem for cash back, by getting reimbursed for any travel purchases eligible travel purchases off of your statement. This gives you a value of 1 cent per mile, which you’ll also get if you use your miles to book new travel through Capital One.

You can use your miles to shop online with Amazon or PayPal, but you’ll get an inferior value of just 0.8 cents per mile. If you want to get straight cash back, you’ll only get a value 0.5 cents per mile, cutting your rewards in half.

You can also transfer your miles to Capital One’s hotel and airline partners. Here’s a list of the current partners and the transfer ratios you’ll get:

Some of my personal favorites on this list are Avianca LifeMiles, which offers very affordable Star Alliance business class rates between the US and both Europe and Asia, and Aeroplan, which does the same but adds a unique complement of international partner airlines, like Etihad.

Capital One Venture One Benefits and Features

Cards that don’t charge an annual fee usually don’t offer many benefits, and the Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card is no exception. There are a few noteworthy features though:

Introductory 0% APR 

The Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card offers a 0% intro APR on purchases and balance transfers for 15 months, after which a 19.74% – 29.74% Variable APR kicks in. This is a solid intro APR credit card offer, particularly among cards that offer a welcome bonus and rewards for spending.

Using an intro APR offer can help you save money on interest, but make sure you have the means and a plan to pay off your balance before the introductory period expires. Otherwise, your balance will be subject to the regular APR, which could leave you on the hook for high interest charges.

Car rental insurance

When you use your Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card to pay for your eligible rental car, you can be covered for damage due to collision or theft.

Travel accident insurance

Cardholders receive travel accident insurance when they use their Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card to pay for their fare.

Extended warranty

If you pay for your eligible purchase with the Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card, you can get additional warranty protection at no extra charge.

Capital One VentureOne Annual Fee and Other Costs

The card has no annual fee, and I love how Capital One is committed to not charging foreign transaction fees on any of its cards, encouraging you to take your Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card with you on the road. Other cards charge 3% or more for international purchases, so this can translate into significant savings on a trip.

Like most other cards, there are fees for certain situations, including:

• Balance transfer fee: 3% of the amount of each transferred balance that posts to your account during the first 15 months that your account is open or at a promotional APR that Capital One may offer you at any other time
• Cash advance fee: Either $3 or 3% of the amount of each cash advance, whichever is greater
• Late payment fee: Up to $40

How the Capital One Venture One Compares

VentureOne vs Other Capital One Cards

Capital One VentureOne Card vs Other No-annual-fee Credit Cards

Capital One Venture One Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Methodology: How we reviewed the Capital One VentureOne Card

Our credit cards team reviewed the VentureOne Rewards Card in comparison to similar no-annual-fee travel credit cards. We evaluated the card based on several factors, including:

• Ease of use — Is it easy for beginners and experts to navigate earning and redeeming rewards? Are there numerous options for using miles?
• Earning potential — Does the card have useful, generous bonus categories or is there a strong flat rate of rewards earning? Do any of the bonus categories have a spending cap?
• Fees — Even without an annual fee, are there other fees to be aware of, like foreign transaction fees or a high APR?
• Benefits — Does the card come with perks that make it stand out compared to similar cards, such as travel or purchase protections?

You can find out more about Insider’s methodology, read our guide to how we rate credit cards.