Most microSD playing cards are quick sufficient for reinforcing space for storing and making easy file transfers, however some present a bit extra worth than others. When you’ve acquired a tool that also accepts microSD playing cards — whether or not it’s a gaming handheld, a splash cam, a drone or an Android tablet — we’ve scoured the market and put greater than a dozen prime contenders via numerous benchmark assessments. You’ll find our prime suggestions beneath, alongside some normal procuring recommendation earlier than you seize one.
Desk of contents
Finest microSD playing cards of 2025
What to search for in a microSD card
Capability
The very first thing to determine when shopping for a microSD card is how a lot space for storing you want. Fashionable playing cards are often out there in sizes starting from 32GB to 512GB, with a number of fashions now out there in 1TB or 1.5TB capacities as properly. The primary 2TB cards from major brands have began to reach in latest months as properly, which is thrilling, however these are nonetheless pretty uncommon (and really costly) by comparability.
For many, a 128GB or 256GB mannequin must be a candy spot between value and space for storing. However in case you want extra room — say, for stashing a bunch of video games on a Steam Deck — a 512GB card or higher may make extra sense and sometimes offers a greater cost-per-GB ratio. Today, yow will discover an honest 128GB card for round $15 or much less, a very good 256GB card for lower than $30 and a strong 512GB card for lower than $40 (with quicker fashions priced a bit increased). There’s a starker enhance while you go as much as 1TB playing cards, which frequently price nearer to $100, although we’ve seen some fall into the $70 to $80 vary throughout the final yr. The primary wave of 2TB playing cards are an excellent larger leap: the 2TB SanDisk Excessive, for instance, is priced at $200.
Observe {that a} microSD card’s efficiency might differ relying on what capability you purchase. SanDisk says its 128GB Extreme card delivers sequential write speeds as much as 90 MB/s, for instance, whereas the higher-capacity fashions in the identical line supply as much as 130 MB/s.
Once we speak about microSD playing cards at the moment, we often check with playing cards that use the microSDXC (eXtended Capacity) standard, which have a capability between 32GB and 2TB. Your system must help this for it to work with a microSDXC card. This can nearly by no means be a difficulty nowadays, however some older units (a Nintendo 3DS, for example) are solely suitable with microSDHC (Excessive Capability) playing cards, which vary from 2GB to 32GB.
Learn and write speeds
MicroSD playing cards are primarily judged on their learn and write speeds, that are often measured in megabytes per second (MB/s). Usually, most microSD playing cards have quicker learn speeds than write speeds.
These metrics can then be damaged down into sequential and random efficiency. Sequential learn and write speeds matter while you’re attempting to entry or save lengthy, fixed streams of information, corresponding to opening a big video or copying a giant batch of recordsdata from a PC. If you wish to use a microSD card for media storage, that is notably vital. Random efficiency, in the meantime, is about how shortly a card can learn and write small recordsdata scattered all through the system.
Since random learn/write speeds are a lot decrease than sequential ones, storage system makers have a tendency to not promote them as loudly. However they’re vital in case you use a card with a gaming system or a single-board laptop just like the Raspberry Pi, the place it typically has to quickly save and entry small bits of information in random places.
Velocity rankings
When you take a look at a microSD card, you’ll see a buffet of numbers, letters and symbols. Most of those check with the cardboard’s speed class and efficiency rankings, that are decided by the SD Association.
A card’s Video Velocity Class, or V-rating, particulars its minimal sequential write pace, which is very vital when recording video from a digicam. It ranges from V6 to V90. A lot of the playing cards we examined had a V30 score, so that they have a sequential write pace of a minimum of 30 MB/s. This must be sufficient to help as much as 4K video at decrease bitrates. Greater-rated V60 and V90 playing cards are often higher for capturing 8K, however they arrive at a a lot increased price.
The UHS Velocity Class, or U-rating, additionally refers to a card’s minimal sequential write pace. It is available in two varieties: U3, which mandates a minimal of 30 MB/s, and U1, which is rated for 10 MB/s.
The older Velocity Class score overlaps with the opposite two programs. It’s signified by a C image and goes from Class 2 to Class 10, with the quantity (once more) indicating minimal sequential write pace. This score is much less related these days, however you should still see a “C10” emblem on some playing cards.
The Software Efficiency spec, marked by an An emblem, is an indicator of random learn/write speeds. That is measured in IOPS, or enter/output operations per second, relatively than MB/s. There are two classes right here: A1 playing cards supply a minimal random learn pace of 1,500 IOPS and a minimal random write pace of 500 IOPS, whereas A2 playing cards bump these as much as 4,000 IOPS and a couple of,000 IOPS, respectively. Each rankings additionally assure sequential write speeds of a minimum of 10 MB/s.
To maintain it easy, most individuals ought to search for a card with V30, U3 and A2 rankings. It’s completely potential to get a strong card with out these: A U1 card is perhaps price it in case you simply want an affordable, high-capacity choice, for instance. V60 and V90 playing cards are price a glance in case you’re severe about taking pictures high-resolution pictures and video as properly. However general, playing cards with the certifications above ought to present the most effective mix of value and efficiency at the moment.
It’s vital to emphasise that these rankings are baselines. Most V30 playing cards supply considerably increased write speeds than 30 MB/s, for example, and a few A1 playing cards can outperform some A2 fashions in follow. The speeds marketed by producers aren’t at all times one hundred pc correct, both: Typically the cardboard can be slower in real-world use, different instances it could truly be a bit quicker.
UHS bus speeds
The opposite spec to notice is the cardboard’s bus interface. Most microSD playing cards out there at the moment are UHS-I, which have a theoretical most pace of 104 MB/s. There are additionally UHS-II playing cards, which have an additional row of pins on the again and might attain as much as 312 MB/s. (A UHS-III normal technically exists as properly however hasn’t seen vast adoption.) These are labeled on the cardboard with a Roman numeral I or II.
UHS-II playing cards are often those with these increased V60 or V90 rankings. When you shoot numerous 4K to 8K video or continuously use burst mode to seize extremely high-res pictures, the efficiency positive factors of a very good UHS-II card can prevent time.
Nonetheless, these are far more costly than UHS-I playing cards: This 128GB Lexar Professional Gold mannequin, for example, is a relative cut price at $40. Whereas that is lower than many UHS-II fashions we’ve seen prior to now, it is nonetheless greater than double the everyday value of our prime decide talked about beneath. You want a tool that’s suitable with the UHS-II interface to see any advantages, too, and inventory for UHS-II playing cards is mostly spottier. For now, the upper speeds aren’t well worth the value premium for most individuals, so we caught principally to UHS-I playing cards with our suggestions.
Absolutely the quickest microSD playing cards you should buy proper now, although, are primarily based on a distinct interface known as SD Express. This has technically been around for a number of years and now includes its personal subset of speed classes, however the gist is that it is a lot quicker than UHS-I or UHS-II: SanDisk’s lately launched microSD Express card, which is the primary commercially out there mannequin we’ve examined, advertises sequential learn speeds as much as 880MB/s. For context, that’s faster than some older SSDs.
It’s a considerable improve that — spoiler alert — has largely held up in our testing, however nearly zero fashionable units natively help SD Specific proper now, and once more, SanDisk’s card prices far more than the most effective UHS-I choices. It’s nonetheless potential to benefit from the boosted efficiency with a devoted SD Specific card reader, however that provides much more to the ultimate price. It’s additionally price noting that SD Specific playing cards are usually not backwards suitable with UHS-II (or UHS-III), so in case you attempt to plug one into a tool with a UHS-II slot, it’ll be restricted to UHS-I speeds. Nonetheless, the tech ought to have loads of enchantment if extra devices that help the interface do arrive. In addition to SanDisk, Samsung has said it plans to launch an SD Specific card as properly.
A notice on card readers and reaching marketed speeds
Whereas the UHS-I interface has a theoretical most of 104 MB/s, some UHS-I playing cards can exceed that pace via proprietary extensions. Nonetheless, you want a suitable card reader and host system to benefit from that additional efficiency. When you discover a UHS-I card promoting speeds increased than 104 MB/s, that is what’s occurring. You possibly can see these limits in motion with a Nintendo Change or Steam Deck: Both of those gaming units help the UHS-I interface however don’t transcend its official pace, flattening any sequential positive factors some playing cards might have elsewhere. (Variations in random learn and write speeds can nonetheless matter, although.) The identical factor will occur in case you plug a extra highly effective UHS-II or SD Specific card into a tool that doesn’t settle for these interfaces.
The takeaway: Your microSD card will solely be as quick because the slowest hyperlink in your chain.
Guarantee
Many microSD playing cards are designed to be sturdy, with safety from water, excessive temperatures, X-rays and drops. Nonetheless, in case of disaster, a protracted guarantee is at all times good to have. Many producers supply lifetime or 10-year restricted warranties, although we’ve seen that “endurance” playing cards marketed to face up to extra hours of writing are often lined for a shorter time frame. For instance, Samsung’s Pro Endurance, a mannequin geared toward safety cameras and different monitoring units, comes with a five-year guarantee.
Avoiding counterfeits
The reminiscence card market has had a selected drawback with scammers promoting faux merchandise. To protect towards this, solely purchase from a recognized model and a good retailer corresponding to Finest Purchase, B&H Photograph or Adorama. When you store at Amazon, solely purchase if the shipper and vendor is Amazon.com. (That stated, a handful of customers have reported receiving counterfeits even from Amazon instantly prior to now.) Bear in mind: If a value appears too good to be true, it most likely is. Be cautious of any retailer providing considerably a cheaper price than others.
When you obtain a card, test its packaging for any irregularities. You possibly can run benchmark assessments like CrystalDiskMark or BlackMagic Disk Speed Test to confirm its speeds aren’t drastically decrease than what’s marketed (or potential, given its specs). It’s also possible to use software program that’s designed to confirm the true capability and efficiency of your card, corresponding to H2testw and FakeFlashTest.
How we check microSD playing cards
We have put shut to twenty microSD playing cards via a collection of assessments to confirm their sequential and random efficiency. These included benchmarks like CrystalDiskMark, BlackMagic Disk Speed Test, ATTO Disk Benchmark and AJA System Test, in addition to a number of “real-world” assessments. We copied and pasted a small folder of pictures about 1.15GB in dimension to and from every card, then did the identical with a bigger 12.2GB folder containing a number of file varieties and subfolders, timing the method every time. We additionally checked how every card carried out on the Steam Deck, downloading video games of various sizes — together with Stardew Valley, Aperture Desk Job, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance and Apex Legends — then timing how lengthy it took to launch every recreation and cargo save recordsdata.
The place relevant, we used a Kingston USB 3.2 UHS-II reader to check every card on each Home windows 11 and macOS Sonoma. Nonetheless, if a card could possibly be bundled with (or is particularly marketed to make use of) a proprietary reader, we primarily examined with that, since we determine that’s the one most patrons will find yourself utilizing. For Home windows testing, we used an Alienware gaming PC with an Intel Core i9-10900F, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 GPU, 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD. For macOS, we used a 2021 16-inch MacBook Professional with an Apple M1 Professional chip, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. If a reader couldn’t join over USB-C, we used CalDigit’s TS4 dock to check the corresponding card on the MacBook.
We examined the 128GB model of every card wherever potential, although for a number of playing cards — SanDisk’s Excessive and Samsung’s Professional Plus and Professional Final — we had been solely in a position to check higher-capacity fashions. We additionally reformatted every card earlier than testing with the SD Affiliation’s Memory Card Formatter tool.
Different notable microSD playing cards
Samsung Professional Final
The Samsung Pro Ultimate was the closest competitor to the Lexar Skilled Silver Plus throughout our benchmark assessments, but it surely’s tangible worse when it comes to sequential write speeds, usually prices extra and doesn’t supply a 1TB choice. The Samsung Professional Plus is a bit slower for sequential reads, but it surely’s shut sufficient in any other case and often simpler to search out at a cheaper price.
Kingston Canvas Go Plus
The Kingston Canvas Go Plus is a positive card and value shopping for over the Samsung Evo Choose if the 2 are ever out there for a similar value, however its sequential write speeds lagged properly behind the Lexar Silver Plus and, to a barely lesser extent, Samsung Professional Plus.
Delkin Units Energy
We have not used it ourselves, however in case you’re keen to pay for a extra highly effective UHS-II card constructed for heavy-duty video recording, the Delkin Devices Power has tested well elsewhere and will ship considerably quicker sequential write speeds than our picks above. It’s one of many few UHS-II playing cards we may truly discover in inventory, but it surely prices a ton, with a 128GB mannequin usually priced round $80.
SanDisk Excessive
The SanDisk Extreme successfully matched the Professional Plus in a number of of our sequential assessments, however that was partly as a result of us solely having the ability to safe the 256GB mannequin, which is higher-rated than the 128GB model. It’s a positive alternative in case you see it on sale at a good vendor, but it surely’s broadly slower than our prime decide and sometimes prices extra.
SanDisk GamePlay
The SanDisk GamePlay performs equally to the SanDisk Excessive however prices a very good bit additional as of our newest replace. We couldn’t get it to achieve its marketed speeds with the corporate’s personal “Professional” card reader or different third-party choices, so it fell wanting our prime picks.
SanDisk Pokémon
The SanDisk Pokémon does outperform its marketed learn and write speeds, however not by sufficient to outpace the Lexar Silver Plus or Samsung Professional Plus. It basically fees additional for having an image of Pikachu (or Gengar, or Snorlax) on a product you’ll by no means take a look at.
Lexar Skilled 1066x
The Lexar Professional 1066x is one other OK different to the Samsung Professional Plus if our essential picks are unavailable, however its sequential reads and random speeds aren’t on par with both Samsung’s card or Lexar’s personal Silver Plus. That stated, it’s price getting over the Samsung Evo Choose in case you see it for a cheaper price, as its sequential write speeds are a lot quicker. It additionally comes with a lifetime restricted guarantee.
SanDisk Excessive Professional
The SanDisk Extreme Pro is a detailed analog to the Samsung Professional Final however, as of this writing, is both unavailable at most trusted retailers or priced too excessive by comparability. The Lexar Skilled Silver Plus has quicker sequential write speeds as properly.
PNY Elite-X
The PNY Elite-X typically goes for reasonable and wasn’t too far off the random learn/write efficiency of Samsung’s Professional Plus in CrystalDiskMark, however its sequential speeds had been properly behind our prime picks.
Current updates
February 2025: We’ve up to date this information with a brand new prime decide: the Lexar Skilled Silver Plus. The Samsung Professional Plus, our earlier advice, stays as a runner-up. We’ve additionally added SanDisk’s lately launched microSD Specific card as a decide for individuals who need absolutely the quickest card potential, albeit with heavy caveats. This is among the first microSD playing cards to make use of the SD Specific bus interface, so we’ve included extra particulars on what that entails in our “what to search for in a microSD card” part. Lastly, we’ve eliminated our write-up for SanDisk’s Apex Legends card, because it seems to have been discontinued, and included testing notes for a few the corporate’s more moderen releases.
November 2024: We have checked again with this information to make sure our suggestions are nonetheless correct and made gentle edits for readability.
August 2024: We’ve up to date this information to notice the lately launched 1TB fashions for 3 of our prime picks: the Samsung Professional Plus, the Kingston Canvas Go Plus and the Samsung Evo Choose. We’ve additionally made positive all pricing particulars are as updated as they are often.
This text initially appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/equipment/best-microsd-card-130038282.html?src=rss
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