Every gamer knows there’s no such thing as “too much storage,” especially if you own a Nintendo Switch. While still hugely popular, Nintendo’s hybrid gaming system is getting a bit long in the tooth, and its 32GB of onboard storage space (64GB for the Switch OLED model) was minimal even at the time of the console’s release in 2017. Thankfully, the Switch has a microSD card slot, allowing you to easily boost its storage space.
The best microSD cards for the Nintendo Switch aren’t a huge expense, which is more than we can say of many Nintendo-related things. So, if you’re tired of having to archive your favorite Switch games to make room for new downloads, we’ve got the best SD cards for the job right here, all of which are fast and fully compatible with your console.
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Sandisk MicroSD for Nintendo Switch
Editor's choiceThis microSXDC card from SanDisk is officially licensed by Nintendo, so there's no doubt about its compatibility with your Switch. It's available with 64GB to 1TB of storage, giving you plenty of storage for your game library, and its 100MB/s peak read speeds are good to go for gaming. The Nintendo artwork on each card is also a great touch.
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SanDisk Ultra microSD card
Same card, cheaper priceIf you don't care about the Nintendo branding, the SanDisk Ultra microSD cards are exactly the same as the officially licensed ones, but they're usually a bit cheaper. Although they lack the cute Nintendo-themed artwork, these still deliver all the high-speed performance and long-term reliability you'd expect from SanDisk.
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Samsung EVO Select microSD
Runner-upSamsung is another top brand in the world of storage, and the Evo Select is an excellent and speedy microSD card for the Nintendo Switch. It's available with 64GB to 512GB of extra space for your games and delivers read speeds of up to 130MB/s, which is even more impressive than our top pick. The only thing that keeps this one out of the top spot is that it's sadly unavailable in a 1TB size.
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Silicon Power 256GB microSDXC card
Best valueGigabytes are cheap nowadays, and if you need a good microSD card for your Nintendo Switch and don't want to drop too much cash, it doesn't get much cheaper than this one from Silicon Power. Despite its low price, it still offers 100MB/s read speeds.
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Samsung Pro Plus microSD card
Premium pickSpeed is paramount when choosing the best microSD card for the Switch (or any gaming platform) because the console is loading and running games directly from storage. The Samsung Pro Plus is a high-speed microSDXC card that's perfect for the job, with superb read/write speeds of up to 180/130MB per second, making it the fastest storage solution on our list. It's pricier than the others but worth it if you're sick of staring at loading screens.
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Silicon Power Superior Gaming 1TB microSDXC Card
Best high-capacityThe Nintendo Switch can support high-capacity microSD cards, which is a boon for gamers who have a large library of downloads and don't like archiving them to make room for new favorites. This 1TB card from Silicon Power gives you a ton of extra space for the price, and with U3 transfer speeds of up to 100MB/s, it's fast enough for running games reliably.
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Lexar PLAY microSDXC UHS-I Micro SD Memory Card
Fast and cheapMost microSD cards, especially cheaper ones, have read speeds of 100MB/s or less. The Lexar Play microSDXC card is cheap but manages to offer read speeds of up to 160MB/s. That's incredibly impressive for something at this price. It's even available with up to 1TB of space if you need more room. The 50MB/s max write speeds aren't the fastest, but that's not a huge issue for running games on your Switch.
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Micro Center 128GB microSDXC Card 2-Pack
Best 2-packIf you have a couple of Nintendo Switches (or other devices) that could use more onboard storage, this 2-pack of 128GB microSDXC cards from Micro Center gets the job done at a great price. Although they're not as fast as our other picks, each card still offers respectable read speeds of up to 95MB/s and includes an SD card adapter, which adds compatibility with other gadgets.
How we chose the best microSD cards for the Nintendo Switch
Not every microSD card is compatible with the Nintendo Switch, and it's easy to misjudge how much extra storage you'll use (our rule of thumb here is that more is almost always better). Also, since the console has to load and run games directly from storage, the best microSD cards for the Nintendo Switch should offer snappy read/write speeds, reducing the time you waste staring at loading screens.
Our top pick, the officially licenses SanDisk microSD card, does pretty much everything we want a good microSD card to do and does it at a great price. It's not the best at everything, but it's fast and affordable, and its 128GB size hits the sweet spot in extra storage capacity for Switch games (although it's available in plenty of other sizes, too). The official Nintendo licensing and artwork make these cards the perfect match for the Switch.
If you prioritize loading speed and want the best Switch SD card money can buy, however, then the Samsung Pro Plus is a worthy upgrade. Along with a larger 256GB capacity, it also offers higher read speeds of 180MB/s, resulting in shorter load times and better performance when running games on an SD card. However, storage is cheap nowadays. It's not as fast as the Samsung Pro Plus, but our value pick, the Lexar Play SD card, is another snappy (and quite cheap) solution for expanding your Switch's capacity without paying much.
Nintendo Switch
There's no denying that the Nintendo Switch is a great system, but its 32GB of onboard storage feels anemic, to say the least. Thankfully, it supports microSD cards of up to 2TB in size, allowing you to easily and affordably expand the onboard storage.