The 4 Best SD Cards of 2025
UHS-II cards
We were impressed with the fast 270 MB/s write speed and 308 MB/s read speed of Angelbird’s AV PRO SD V90 UHS-II (128 GB), but they’re probably more than the average person needs in an SD card. For its price, you may as well step up to a CFexpress card for even faster red speeds.
Another high-performance (but expensive) card, Nextorage’s NX-F2Pro V90 UHS-II (128 GB) had a 257 MB/s write speed and 303 MB/s read speed. However, it costs $130 at this writing, $85 more than our pick.
While the read and write speeds from OWC’s Atlas Pro V60 UHS-II (128 GB) were comparable to the Nextorage found in the Other memory cards worth considering section, it usually costs a couple of dollars more and has a shorter, three-year warranty.
The OWC’s Atlas Ultra V90 UHS- II (128 GB) comes at a nice price for such a fast card, but it costs twice as much as our pick and you likely don’t need its extra speed. It turned in a 257 MB/s write speed and 303 MB/s read speed and has a three-year warranty.
The ProGrade Digital SDXC UHS-II V60 250R (128 GB) had write and read speeds similar to both the OWC and Nextorage V60 cards, but it is pricier and has a shorter, three-year warranty.
We loved the ProGrade Digital SDXC UHS-II V90 300R (128 GB) for its 284 MB/s write speed, 308 MB/s read speed, and the company’s wonderful, eco-friendly cardboard packaging. The love waned, though, when we looked at its price tag.
UHS-I cards
Angelbird’s AV Pro SD V30 UHS-I (128 GB) had an 87 MB/s write speed and 98 MB/s read speed in our test, and its regular price is only a couple of dollars more than our budget pick’s. However, it has just a three-year warranty, and it didn’t offer the same performance bump with the OWC and SanDisk readers.
We measured an 87 MB/s write speed and 97 MB/s read speed from SanDisk’s Extreme Pro UHS-I V30 (128 GB), which makes it nearly identical to what we saw with their Extreme card. However, it costs $5 more.
CFexpress Type A cards
The ProGrade Digital Gold Type A 2.0 (240 GB) had a 648 MB/s write speed and 844 Mb/s read speed in our test and carries a VPG200 rating. That’s likely fast enough for the average Sony shooter’s needs right now. But given its VPG400 rating, the Nextorage A1 Pro we recommend makes more sense for the money, and if you’re looking for a VPG200 card with a higher capacity, the Nextorage A1 SE is the better option.
We were less than impressed with the 469 MB/s write speed of the pricey Sony Tough G (80 GB), and the 160 GB version of that card costs significantly more.
CFexpress Type B cards
Angelbird’s SE series cards had 227 MB/s write speeds in our tests—far slower than the 1,299 MB/s we saw from our pick—so we don’t think they really make sense.
Angelbird’s SX (160 GB) had a 948 MB/s write speed and 1,154 MB/s read speed, making it slower than our pick. It’s a little bit cheaper, but without any VPG rating and nothing else backing its sustained write speed performance for video, our pick gives us more peace of mind.
Nextorage’s B2SE (128 GB) card had an 843 MB/s write speed and a 1,217 MB/s read speed in our testing, compared with our pick’s 1,299 MB/s and 1,644 MB/s. We think the B2 Pro’s dramatically better performance, larger size, and approval from Nikon mean it makes more sense if you want to go with this brand.
Similarly, the 1,570 MB/s write speed and 1,644 MB/s read speed of Nextorage’s B2SE (512 GB) fall shy of the B2 Pro’s performance, though it may make sense as a high-capacity budget option for Type B if you’re not too concerned with very high bit rate video recording.
Both OWC’s Atlas Pro and Atlas Ultra Type B cards had relatively slow write speeds compared with the other cards we tested.
ProGrade Digital’s Cobalt (165 GB) performed nearly identically to our pick, but costs about $50 more for a smaller capacity card at the time of this writing. It also has a three-year warranty, compared with SanDisk’s lifetime limited warranty.
This article was edited by Ben Keough and Erica Ogg.
