The best microSD cards in 2025

Storage capacity: 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB | Speed classes: U3, V30, A2, Class 10 | Warranty: Lifetime limited

A good UHS-I card is quick enough for most people’s needs, and the Lexar Professional Silver Plus is the best value of the ones we’ve tested. Paired with Lexar’s USB card reader, it consistently delivered faster sequential reads and writes than any other UHS-I model across our benchmark tests. It’s rated for read speeds up to 205 MB/s and write speeds up to 150 MB/s, both of which are relatively high to begin with, but we found the latter to reach into the 180-190 MB/s range in synthetic benchmarks like CrystalDiskMark, ATTO and AJA.

Our 12GB test folder wrote to the card in 76 seconds on average, which was roughly 30 seconds quicker than the Samsung Pro Plus and Samsung Pro Ultimate, our two previous top picks. It effectively tied the Pro Ultimate to lead all UHS-I cards we’ve tried in reading that test file back to our PC. (That one averaged about 67 seconds, if you’re keeping score at home.) Both Samsung cards and a few others beat the Silver Plus in some random performance benchmarks, though it was still plenty competitive in that regard. Either way, it has all the requisite ratings — U3, V30, A2 — and it’s more than speedy enough for working with 4K videos or moving files between devices without major delays (so long as you have a reader and/or host device that can enable those max speeds).

The card itself is waterproof with an IPX7 rating, and Lexar backs it with a lifetime warranty. Sizes range from 128GB to a spacious 1TB. The optional reader — which you can buy separately or as part of a bundle — is a bit large, but it conveniently includes both USB-A and USB-C ports, so you shouldn’t need any dongles to connect it to a phone or PC.

What puts the Silver Plus over the top is its price. At the time of writing, a 128GB model is available for $15, while the 256GB, 512GB and 1TB variants were going for about $22, $40 and $85, respectively. Those aren’t the cheapest prices we’ve ever seen, and the math will change a bit if you need to factor in a card reader, but they either undercut or match competitors like the Pro Plus, Pro Ultimate or SanDisk Extreme despite the Silver Plus being the more performant card overall. So, to recap: It’s fast, it’s durable and it’s reasonably affordable. That’s the recipe for an easy recommendation.

Storage capacity: 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB | Speed classes: U3, V30, A2, Class 10 | Warranty: 10-year limited

Storage prices tend to fluctuate, however, and the Samsung Pro Plus — our former “best for most” pick — is still worth considering if you see it available for several dollars less than the Silver Plus in the capacity you want. Its sequential read and (especially) write performance was slower than Lexar’s card across the board but still on par with or better than nearly every other UHS-I card we’ve tested. Its random reads and writes were generally second to the pricier Samsung Pro Ultimate, but only by a little, so it’s well-suited for a portable game console or any other setup where it’d be asked to access tiny bits of data scattered throughout a device. It’s held up perfectly fine in our long-term testing as well. That said, the Silver Plus is the better card when it’s in the same price range, plus Samsung’s has a shorter 10-year warranty.

If you do end up grabbing one, though, make sure you get the newest model with read speeds rated at 180MB/s. An older-generation model with slower sequential reads and random performance may still be hanging around at some online retailers, so avoid that one. Samsung also sells Sonic the Hedgehog-themed versions of the Pro Plus with identical performance ratings, but those usually cost a few bucks extra.

Storage capacity: 64GB, 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB (“new generation” model only) | Speed classes: U3, V30, A2, Class 10 / (64GB) U1, V10, A1, Class 10 | Warranty: 10-year limited

The Samsung Evo Select is a clear step behind our top picks, particularly when it comes to sequential write speeds (just under 70 MB/s on CrystalDiskMark). So we don’t recommend it for any sort of camera. Still, it’s perfectly usable for simple storage expansion, and its sequential and random read speeds were still respectable in our benchmarks.

Most importantly, it’s usually inexpensive: We’ve previously seen the 128GB, 256GB, 512GB and 1TB models fall as low as $13, $18, $33 and $70, respectively. The latter two capacities could be particularly fine values if you just want a giant chunk of space from a reputable brand on the cheap. That said, you should still grab the Lexar Professional Silver Plus or Samsung Pro Plus instead if either one is anywhere close in price.

Storage capacity: 128GB, 256GB | Speed classes: U3, A1, Class 10 | Warranty: Lifetime limited

Let’s be clear about this: Unless you plan to own a Nintendo Switch 2 in the near future, you almost certainly do not need the SanDisk microSD Express Card, or any other microSD Express card, just yet. Aside from Nintendo’s new handheld, devices that natively support this standard are exceedingly uncommon right now, and this particular card is highly expensive, starting at $56 for 128GB.

Because microSD Express devices aren’t widespread yet, you’ll likely need to buy a compatible adapter to see the improved speeds on a computer, which tacks even more onto the bottom line. The SanDisk reader we used for testing, for example, costs a whopping $112. The reader we used for Lexar’s Play Pro, another new Express card, costs $100. At that point, you’re better off buying a portable SSD if you just want to stash and move files. To further that point, SanDisk’s card is only available in 128GB or 256GB capacities.

A few other Express cards will offer more room for less cash, but most of those were either just released or aren’t yet available; we plan to test them for a future update. Plus, even if you do get a Switch 2, the prices today are probably as expensive as they’ll ever get. It also remains to be seen if the console will even allow for significant performance differences between cards. So if you can hold out, you should.

Here’s hoping the Switch 2 does lead microSD Express to become more widely accepted though, because this thing is miles faster than any traditional card on the market. Sequential reads checked in just under 900 MB/s in CrystalDiskMark and ATTO, which was in line with SanDisk’s 880 MB/s rating and a fair ways above the Lexar Play Pro. Sequential writes topped out around 650 MB/s, right as advertised. Those write speeds only apply to the 256GB model we tested, though; SanDisk says they’ll peak at 480 MB/s with the 128GB variant.

Sustained performance isn’t always on par with those maximum speeds: With our larger test file, we noticed that write speeds would start around 530 MB/s then dip closer to 210 MB/s until the transfer was complete. Sure enough, SanDisk advertises minimum sustained write speeds of 210 MB/s for the 256GB model and 100 MB/s for the 128GB version. (Lexar’s microSD Express card behaved similarly, likely because these cards’ tiny frames can only handle so much before they have to throttle things down.) Still, this was quick enough to move the 12GB file to the card in 52 seconds on average. It took a mere 20 seconds to read the file back to our PC. The write test with our smaller 1.15GB test folder, meanwhile, averaged just 4.5 seconds.

It all adds up to a card that’s at least twice as fast as the best UHS-I models we’ve tested in terms of sequential read and write speeds, with three or four times the performance in some cases (particularly with the 256GB model). The gulf in random reads and writes was similar, and in some benchmarks even greater.

That said, only those with a Switch 2 pre-order in place, cash to burn and/or a deep interest in new technologies should consider the SanDisk microSD Express Card right now. It is a genuine leap forward, but you’ll have to pay for it.