Owning the best Nintendo Switch SD card allows you to expand your beloved Nintendo console's storage to save more games onto your system. There's a wide range of Micro SD cards available, so it can feel overwhelming when trying to choose one best suited to your gaming needs.
The Nintendo Switch console comes with a modest 32GB of storage (with the exception of the newer OLED being armed with 64GB), which isn't a lot when you start racking up first-party titles. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild needs 13.4GB of space and Mario Odyssey needs 5.7GB, so that's over half of the available storage space already gone! The best Nintendo Switch SD card will allow you to store the game files onto the card to make more space for more great gaming titles. Choosing a card should be easy; they all do the same job on paper. But it's important to keep an eye out for a read speed of at least 60MB/s and UHS-1 (ultra-high-speed) support. Set up is easy too: simply pop the MicroSD card into the dedicated slot, go into the settings on the console to format the card and then you're good to go!
Once you have your new SD card, why not make the most out of all that extra space and check out our list of the best Nintendo Switch games? Alternatively, if you've yet to get yourself the we also a regularly updated guide on where to buy the Nintendo Switch.
The best Nintendo Switch SD cards
Why you can trust Creative Bloq Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.
If you're looking for a Nintendo Switch SD card that's approved by the big N itself, SanDisk has a selection of officially licensed options complete with eye-catching branding from top games. With storage options from 64GB up to an impressive 512GB, there are options with capacity for all but the very largest Switch collections, and the transfer rates won't keep you hanging around waiting for games to load. We'd go for the 128GB option, which gives you plenty of space for great value.
If you have a larger Switch library then it's well worth taking a look at SanDisk's Ultra range of SD cards. This is a good, reliable name, and the cards themselves are easily fast enough for loading Switch games at a speed close to what you'd get from the console's own internal storage. There are plenty of size options in the Extreme line-up; we'd go for the 400GB option which will hold plenty, and for considerably less money than you'd pay for the biggest 512GB card.
Some of the SD cards on the list offer a lot of space, not so the SanDisk Ultra 64GB MicroSD – but have no fear 64GB is enough to store Nintendo Switch's best games and some. It does mean those sale purchases you buy on a whim may need to go, as you'll need to think through your storage.
On the huge plus side this SanDisk SD card is very cheap – you can pick one up for as little as £10. It makes this a perfect storage card for newcomers to Nintendo Switch because you can get downloading and playing for less. It'll store a healthy number of games – roughly six-eight first-party titles (5GB to 15GB per game) or countless indies (around 500MB per game).
SD cards are generally a good and reliable means of storing data, but if you need guarantees that your card can take a bit of punishment then it's worth checking out the Samsung EVO Plus range, with what Samsung calls 4-proof protection. They're waterproof, temperature proof, X-ray proof and magnet proof, although you should bear in mind that your Switch definitely isn't all four of those. The speed on offer is plenty fast enough and the price seems about right. We'd go for the 256GB option.
Here's another safe option for your Switch storage; designed for outdoor photography and video recordings, this Toshiba SD card is made to survive extreme conditions and is also shock- and waterproof.
Unfortunately, as it's aimed at professionals you're going to pay quite a bit more for this 128GB SD card than you would for other cards with the same capacity, but if peace of mind is what matters to you most, then you might not object to the premium price point.
If you want to play it safe when you're after a Nintendo Switch SD card then it makes sense to stick to brand names that you know and trust. However, if you want to get your hands on more storage for less money then there are plenty of less recognisable names out there (although we'd recommend checking out reviews before paying). This PNY Elite gives you lots of fast storage for not much cash and, from what we've seen so far, it does the job.
Nintendo recommends a read speed of over 80MB/s for Nintendo Switch SD cards, and nearly all of the cards listed here cruise along at a respectable 100MB/s or so. But if that's not just fast enough for you, then we'd point you in the direction of the SanDisk Extreme range, which screams along at up to 160MB/s and probably means that games have loaded before you've even thought of playing them. Naturally, you'll pay a bit extra for the privilege, so you might as well go all in and get the whopping 1TB model so that you'll never run out of space.
Amazon Basics is a brand you tend to resort to when you're not overly fussed about high-end quality or features and just need something that works for a decent price, and its SD cards definitely fit that bill.
There's nothing to get excited about (they're simply rebranded cards bought in from Hong Kong), but they work and seem reliable enough for the job, and the price is pretty hard to resist, especially if you need a lot of storage. You'll have a hard time getting 1TB of Nintendo Switch SD card storage for less money than this.
Gigastone's another brand that's new to us, but its 256GB SD card seems to be worth taking a look at. It's designed with game consoles in mind and it's nice and fast with generally good reviews. It's also waterproof, shockproof, temperature-proof and X-Ray proof. The five-year limited warranty should assuage any worries you have about buying from a lesser-known brand, on the whole, though, this isn't a lot to pay for 256GB and we're happy to take a punt on it.
A final cheap option for anyone who needs some storage and isn't too worried about brand names. The Arcanite range comes in two speed groupings (A1 High Speed and A2 Premium Speed). We'd go for the latter but both should do nicely with the Nintendo Switch. Like many of the other Micro SD cards covered in our list, this comes with an SD adapter just in case you find the need to plug it into older devices. On the whole, this seems like a decent enough storage solution for not a lot of money.
Read more:
- The best Nintendo Switch accessories
- Nintendo Switch review
- The best Nintendo Switch travel case to protect your console
