The Best Micro SD Cards
In this digital age, storage is more important than ever. It's also smaller than ever with up to 1TB micro SD cards as small as your pinky fingernail. Not all SD cards are created equal, so we're here to sort out the cream of the crop from the phonies. Read on to discover the top micro SD cards on the market.
What to Look For
In our search for the best micro SD cards, we looked at these aspects: storage size, affordability, and speed. The fastest card on our list goes to Verbatim, hitting almost 300MB per second for read speeds. Unfortunately, the size options leave much to be desired. If you need more storage that’s still pretty fast, SanDisk’s Extreme series makes an excellent choice. The high-capacity models are still affordable while able to record 4K video — covering most consumer use cases. Below, we’ll go into further detail on each micro SD card.
SanDisk Ultra MicroSD UHS-I Memory Card
The reigning champion
This is widely regarded as one of the best memory cards on the market. SanDisk is known for reliable, fast SD storage that doesn’t corrupt easily. And even their largest option at 1TB won’t break the bank. It’s perfect for gaming handhelds, Android phones, cameras, you name it. It’s our top choice for a reason, so it’s hard to go wrong with one of these great micro SD cards.
Pros:
- This works well for HD sound capturing as well as video recording.
- Data won’t get corrupted on this highly reliable card.
Cons:
- The only thing this SD card can’t do is record 4K video, but it can play it back just fine.
SanDisk Extreme microSDXC UHS-I V30
Level up your capture
If you want to shoot video in 4K, you’ll need a micro SD card that can handle the fast write speeds: for example, one of SanDisk’s Extreme series memory cards. With a V30 rating, they can write at speeds of up to 30MB per second, which is the minimum rating needed for 4K video recording. This may be a bit on the pricier side compared to their other models, but we believe it’s highly worth it.
Pros:
- Transferring files is quite fast with this micro SD card.
- It works well for RAW image formats and HD audio as well as high-res video.
Cons:
- It’s a bit more expensive than the Ultra series due to the extra speed.
Amazon Basics A2 U3 microSDXC Memory Card with Adapter
High quality, low price
When purchasing storage online, you have to be careful — there are a lot of fakes out there with prices that seem too good to be true. With Amazon Basics’ micro SD card, however, you can rest assured that you’re getting what you pay for and for an affordable price. As far as budget SD cards go, it’s hard to beat this one. V30 write speeds mean you can shoot 4K video, and with read speeds of up to 100MB, it also doesn’t take long to transfer files over to your computer.
Pros:
- The quality-to-price ratio is highly competitive, making this a great choice for most consumer electronics.
- This card is compatible with almost all modern devices that use micro SD or full-size SD cards.
Cons:
- It might not handle some extreme framerates for slow-motion videos, although that’s a pretty niche application.
Verbatim Pro II Plus 1900X SDXC UHS-II V90 U3 Class
For the pros
Professional photography and filming require the fastest possible memory cards. This beast of a micro SD card can write at a whopping 245 megabytes per second, making it by far the best choice for capturing high-resolution footage in 4K or 8K. And if you’re looking to transfer files off your camera quickly, nothing beats this micro SD card’s read speed of 295MB per second.
Pros:
- This is backward compatible with UHS-I devices as well.
- With a UHS-II micro SD card reader, you can use this as a lightning-fast external drive.
Cons:
- The 64GB model might not provide enough memory for long videos, making it better for photography or short footage.
Kingston microSDXC Canvas Go Plus
Let the data flow
Fast SD cards usually come at an exorbitant price or with low storage capacity. This one from Kingston hits the perfect balance between price, fast speeds, and large storage. The 512GB card certainly costs a bit more than slower cards, but not so much that it’s unaffordable. If you’re looking to shoot 4K or 8K video, this is a great choice since it can read and write at around 250MB per second. Cheaper cards will usually tend to cap out at 30Mb per second.
Pros:
- Files are transferred much quicker if paired with a UHS-II SD card reader.
- This SD card is highly reliable, so you can trust that your data won’t get randomly corrupted.
Cons:
- The SD card adapter is only UHS-I, so it can’t reach the maximum read and write speeds.
Frequently Asked Questions
What do V30 and V90 stand for?
This label is a marker for the write speed of a micro SD card. The number indicates how fast data can write to the card. V30 means it can do up to 30 megabytes per second, while V90, the highest rating, means the card is capable of 90 or more megabytes per second.
Why is there less than the advertised storage on my micro SD card?
When you purchase an SD card and connect it to your computer, you might notice that the available storage isn’t the same as what’s printed on the SD card. This is because of the way we use bytes versus how computers use them. For us, a kilobyte is 1,000 bytes — simple. However, since a computer is in base two, a kilobyte ends up being 1,024 bytes. This discrepancy can cause a mismatch between the advertised capacity and what you can actually use.
About the Author
Why Trust Us
With the constantly shifting landscape in the world of technology, GameRevolution seeks to provide gamers and tech-enthusiasts with the information they need to select the right products for their needs. Since 1996, our experts have used their knowledge on all the latest gadgets – everything from headphones to standing desks – to help millions of people navigate specs and answer common questions.