Visa vs Mastercard with Comparison Chart

Visa and Mastercard; the two most popular (and biggest) payments networks, have billions of card bearers to their name, globally. With the economy opening up like never before, Mastercard and Visa are aiding banks, financial institutions, retailers, organizations and individuals connect with each other. They are helping money change hands in the most seamless of ways. If you are on the verge of deciding upon which card provider you should opt for then what follows is for you.

Here, we aim to throw light on the features of Visa card, features of Mastercard, key difference between Visa and Mastercard, and a lot more. The following comparison chart between Mastercard and Visa will be of help as you shop around for the best product.

Mastercard vs Visa

Basis of Difference	Visa	Mastercard
Rental Car Insurance	Visa is available via VISA Signature and Visa credit cards. For domestic use, the coverage limit extends for 15 consecutive days. The international coverage limit is 31 consecutive days.	Mastercard products are available via World, Mastercard as well as World Elite Cards. For domestic use, the coverage limit extends for 15 consecutive days. For World Elite and World cards by Mastercard, the international coverage limit is 31 consecutive days. The international rentals are restricted to $50,000 per incident.
Travel advantages	The VISA Signature card features the Luxury Hotel Collection that offers discounts and advantages at more than 900 properties. The VISA Signature Concierge card provides several travel benefits as well.	For the World and World Elite cards, there are several benefits and discounts on World Luxury Hotels & Resorts. Though the offers available on Mastercard products are fewer than that offered by Visa products, the following are worth a mention: Priceless Cities: Provides discounts on luxury goods/ events on specific cities globally. Mastercard Concierge & App also provide lucrative travel advantages to its users. For World Elite card holders only: Discounts on first class cruises/ airlines Discounts on certain tours and vacation programs, private jets and chauffeur services.
Purchase Protection	VISA Signature offers extensive warranty protection. The amount of protection is a maximum of $10,000 per claim. The claim amount is $50,000 per cardholder.	The purchase protection on Mastercard card provides cover of up to 60 days after the World Mastercard has been purchased. The protection is for 120 days for the World Elite card. There is provision for extended warranty that’s subject to various limits.
Levels of benefits	Visa provides two different levels of benefits: The basic level and Signature & Infinite level.	MasterCard provides three levels of benefits: the basic level, World level and World Elite level.
Coverage and other benefits	Most basic-level Visa credit cards feature auto rental damage coverage, unauthorized purchase coverage, extended purchases warranties, emergency assistance, urgent card replacement, and so forth.	The basic package by Mastercard offers benefits that are quite similar to the ones provided by Visa basic level cards. The various benefits of Mastercard include fraud liability protection, auto rental coverage for collision, emergency travel assistance, extended warranties, card replacement and so forth.
Price protection	This feature is not provided by Visa.	MasterCard offers the price protection feature. In case a MasterCard holder buys an item and its price is reduced in a period of 60 days, then MasterCard will take care of the difference, even though there exist certain exclusions.
Market Share	The market share of Visa is 48.50%	The market share of Mastercard is 31.70%
Worldwide transactions	Visa notches a worldwide transaction figure of 37 billion.	Mastercard showcases a worldwide transaction figure of 24 billion.
Security layer at checkout	Verified by Visa performs behind the scenes at all times when you are shopping online. It is responsible for sniffing out the fraud when you are not the one making a purchase. In case you are using a new device, making an unusually large purchase, etc. this extra security layer will ask different questions to verify your identity for making the purchase credible.	The Mastercard SecureCode creates a private code to verify the Mastercard account used for online shopping. This code works in a manner that is slightly different than the Verified by Visa security layer.

What is Visa Card

Visa Inc. serves to be a multinational financial services organization that has its headquarters in Foster City, California. Visa is responsible for facilitating electronic funds transfers across the world. It performs reliable transactions with the help of Visa-branded credit cards, debit cards, gift cards, etc. It is important to note that Visa is not responsible for issuing cards, extending credit or setting rates/ fees for consumers. Visa supports financial institutions that launch Visa-branded products used for debit, credit, prepaid, cash-access plans to Visa customers. With operations spanning all continents except Antarctica, Visa transactions across the world are processed via VisaNet at secure facilities.

What is Mastercard

MasterCard refers to a popular, worldwide financial services organization that is responsible for processing the transactions carried out by Mastercard branded cards. These credit cards, debit cards, gift cards, etc. bear the name of Mastercard and are operated by various financial institutions, banks and other lenders. The MasterCard symbol located at the bottom corner of credit cards depicts that the technology specific to the Company will be utilized for processing and authorizing any transaction made through the same.

Key differences between Mastercard and Visa

In case of most consumers, globally, there is no easily understandable key difference between Mastercard and Visa. Both these Companies are accepted widely across two hundred countries. In most cases, the merchant outlets that use Visa will also use Mastercard. Providing safe and secure payment modes, both Visa and Mastercard enabled credit cards, debit cards and gift cards are reliant on financial institutions for their issue. The rewards, interest rates, annual fees, as well as the other charges are different in case of Mastercard and Visa.

Conclusion

Regardless of whether you go the full way with Mastercard or Visa, you can look forward to getting the best user experiences on your purchase. Now that you have a fair idea about the key differences between Mastercard and Visa, you will find it easy to freeze your purchase on one. In case you have any further queries with respect to Visa and Mastercard then write to us in the comments section below. We will be happy to reply!