Head to head · issuer terms as read 2026-08-30
Southwest Plus vs United Explorer
Southwest Plus charges $99 a year; United Explorer charges $150 — a $51 gap the earn rates and credits have to close. Southwest Plus earns Southwest Rapid Rewards points; United Explorer earns United MileagePlus miles. One of them is a hotel or airline currency with no cash floor stated on the pages we read, so we show the terms side by side but don't put a dollar value on those points — set your own in the optimizer.
The earn tables are listed category by category below, each in its own currency. Credits, as the issuers state them, add up to $160 a year on Southwest Plus and $560 on United Explorer — if you would have spent that money anyway. Monthly credits have breakage; count only the ones you'd really use.
The terms, side by side
| Southwest Plus | United Explorer | |
|---|---|---|
| Annual fee | $99 | $150 |
| Foreign transaction fee | No foreign fee | No foreign fee |
| Earns | Southwest Rapid Rewards points | United MileagePlus miles |
| Transfers to partners | No | No |
| Credits stated | 7 · $160/yr if fully used | 11 · $560/yr if fully used |
| Welcome offer, as stated | Earn 50,000 bonus points after you spend $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. | Earn up to 60,000 bonus miles: 50,000 bonus miles after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening, plus 10,000 bonus miles after you add an authorized user within the first 3 months. |
Earn rates by category, as stated
| Category | Southwest Plus | United Explorer |
|---|---|---|
| Dining & restaurants | base rate | 2X |
| Groceries & supermarkets | 2X (cap $5,000/yr) | base rate |
| Gas, EV charging & transit | 2X (cap $5,000/yr) | base rate |
| Travel booked direct | base rate | 2X |
| Everything else | 1X | 1X |
Green = the higher stated multiplier (not shown here: the two currencies aren't the same unit). Brand-specific, promotional and rotating rates are on each card page, not modeled here.
What each nets at sample spend
Three sample monthly budgets, every point at 1.0¢ (the Pay-with-Points floor we paid), fee subtracted, no credits counted. Estimates, not promises — your spend is the input that matters.
Run your own spendQuestions people ask
- Which has the lower annual fee, Southwest Plus or United Explorer?
- Southwest Plus: $99 versus $150, as stated on the issuers' pages on 2026-08-30.
- Does Southwest Plus or United Explorer charge foreign transaction fees?
- Southwest Plus: no foreign fee. United Explorer: no foreign fee. Read off each issuer's page on 2026-08-30.
- Which earns more on dining?
- Southwest Plus states no dining rate; United Explorer states 2X. The two currencies aren't the same unit, so a bigger multiplier isn't automatically more value.
- Can I transfer points to airline and hotel partners?
- Southwest Plus: no. United Explorer: no.
- Which is better for me?
- It depends on where your spend goes. The receipts on this page use sample spend profiles at 1.0¢ per point; the Card Stack Optimizer runs your own numbers against every card we track, net of the annual fee.
- Southwest Plus: Card network (Visa) not stated in plain text on the main product page itself; confirmed via Chase's own /visa-credit-cards listing page, which includes 'Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus' among its Visa-network card list. Third-party sources indicate the card issues as either Visa Signature or Visa Platinum depending on the applicant, which was not independently confirmed on an issuer page.
- Southwest Plus: 2026-08-30 re-read: the Lyft 2x-total end date (12/31/2027) is now stated on the page; earn rate updated.
- United Explorer: Annual fee is $0 intro for the first year, then $150 thereafter, per the issuer page. The annualFee field above reflects the ongoing $150 fee per this task's instructions; the $0 first-year intro is noted here.
- United Explorer: Network confirmed as Visa via Chase's own /visa-credit-cards listing page and via the issuer page's mention of 'complimentary Visa Signature Concierge Service', indicating Visa Signature tier.
- United Explorer: This is a co-brand airline card earning United MileagePlus miles directly rather than transferable Chase Ultimate Rewards points, so transferPartners is set to false.
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