Best cheap SSD deals today

It's a fair chunk of cash for a slow SSD but if you're looking for lots of storage and don't need a blazing fast NVMe drive, then this is the cheapest way of putting a 1 TB SSD in your gaming PC. Just don't expect it to sustain full speed under heavy workloads and you'll be fine.

Key specs: 2.5-inch | 560 MB/s read | 500 MB/s write

This DRAM-less drive is well-suited for stashing your operating system alongside a few games from your ever-growing Steam backlog. This is the version without a heatsink, which means you can slot it straight into a console, too. Just note, it's Amazon Germany that's selling these Crucial drives for cheap.

Key specs: NVMe | PCIe 4.0 | 7,100 MB/s read | 6,000 MB/s write

Price Check: Newegg $169.00

This may not be the fastest drive, but in the midst of the memory supply crisis, it is at least relatively cheap compared to some.

Key specs: M.2 2280 | PCIe 4.0 | 4,500 MB/s read | 5000 MB/s write

This is a strange one. Amazon Germany is selling this drive far, far cheaper than its US counterpart, and if you're willing to roll the dice on that delivery, it's a PCIe 5.0 drive for the price of a PCIe 4.0 drive—check out our full review.

Key specs: NVMe | PCIe 5.0 | 11,000 MB/s read | 9,500 MB/s write

Price check: Newegg $203.95

With 6000 MB/s read speed and 5,000 MB/s write speed, this is slower than the best but not as slow as the rest. It's still going to feel plenty fast for most use cases, particularly if you're replacing a Gen3 drive or using it as some extra backup space. Great for the cash, I reckon.

Key specs: NVMe | PCIe 4.0 | 6,000 MB/s read | 5,000 MB/s write

The US75 might not technically have the fastest read and write speeds of all the Gen 4 drives on the market, but it's absolutely no slouch either, and would make a seriously brilliant games storage drive. Or anything else, for that matter.

Key specs: NVMe | PCIe 4.0 | 7,000 MB/s read | 6,500 MB/s write

Okay, so our tests demonstrate it's slightly slower than the advertised speeds, but the actual sequential performance still isn't bad. Couple that with a very reasonable price point, plus its practically frosty temps, and you might well be looking at your next upgrade.

Key specs: NVMe | PCIe 4.0 | 7,400 MB/s read | 6,500 MB/s write

Price check: Newegg $236.00

This SSD is no slouch and still offers some of the best-in-class 4K read performance (read our full review here). Though this drops the DRAM cache and instead opts for a single-sided design, it's still got the same versatile form factor that perfectly suits this heat-sinkless drive to PCs, consoles, and laptops.

Key specs: NVMe | PCIe 4.0 | 7,250 MB/s read | 6,900 MB/s write

Price check: Amazon $189.99

Yes, this is a pricey 1 TB drive, but it's also a relatively affordable PCIe 5.0 SSD. Just get a load of those read/write speeds! If you're still not convinced, be sure to have a read of Zak's review.

Key specs: NVMe | PCIe 5.0 | 14,700 MB/s read | 13,300 MB/s write | 600 TBW

Presenting only small gains over the SN850X, this SSD offers some of the best-in-class 4K read performance (read our full review of the 1 TB model). Though this drops the DDR4 DRAM cache and instead opts for a single-sided drive design, it's still got the same versatile form factor that perfectly suits this heat-sinkless drive to PCs, consoles, and laptops.

Key specs: NVMe | PCIe 4.0 | 7,250 MB/s read | 6,900 MB/s write

Price check: Amazon $289.99

It'll be a long time before SSDs drop back to early 2025 prices, so buying the largest amount of storage you can afford will help to keep your gaming PC going through the memory crisis.

Key specs: M.2 2280 | PCIe 4.0 | Up to 5,000 MB/s read | Up to 4,500 MB/s write | DRAM-less

It's difficult to argue with this much storage for this price, even if it's the slower kind. With a sequential read/write of 5,000 MB/s and 4,500 MB/s, it's still not what you'd call slow and should be fine for gaming, plus it comes from a reliable brand.

Key specs: NVMe | PCIe 4.0 | 5,000 MB/s read | 4,500 MB/s write

Price check: Amazon $454.97

What it lacks in outright NVMe speed, this SN5000 makes up for with capacity. It's a lot of cash for four terabytes, especially with slower speeds, but if you consider the cost of two terabytes, it's not actually a bad deal under the current circumstances. Roughly $0.12/GB.

Key specs: NVMe | PCIe 4.0 | 5,500 MB/s read | 4,000 MB/s write speed

This is a good drive for bulking out your storage, especially for a Steam library. It uses QLC NAND rather than TLC, which the slightly more expensive MP44 also uses, and that means it is a bit slower. Thankfully, that won't really be a problem unless you're moving huge files around on the regular.

Key specs: NVMe | PCIe 4.0 | Up to 7,400 MB/s read | Up to 6,200 MB/s write

Price check: Newegg $492.99

This drive has bounced around in price over the past few months, but that's the market these days. It's more than we'd like it to be, but, comparitively, it's cheaper than most other 1 TB, 1000 MB/s external storage drives. Only catch is it comes from Amazon Germany.

Key specs: USB 3.2 Gen2 | 1,050 MB/s read and write

It's not often you see a 2000 MB/s external SSD going for this sorta money. That's speedier than most in this price bracket. We've tested it, and while we don't love the peak transfer speed dropping so quickly, the size and (relative) price help alleviate some of our concerns.

Key specs: USB 3.2 Gen2x2 | 2000 MB/s read and write

This drive comes in an anodized aluminium shell with a rubberized base and measures up at just 65 x 50 mm. There's an integrated lanyard hole too, if you want to wear it, which also hides a drive activity light.

Key specs: USB 3.2 Gen2 | Up to 1,050 MB/s read and write

Price check: Newegg $399.99

For just storing documents, this small SATA SSD is a lot faster than a traditional HDD, and Lexar makes reliable and robust SSDs. You're still better off getting an NVMe M.2 SSD for games and your operating system, though.

Key specs: 2.5-inch | SATA 6 Gb/s | 550 MB/s read | 520 MB/s write

Okay, so our tests demonstrate it's slightly slower than the advertised speeds, but the actual sequential performance still isn't bad. Couple that with a very reasonable price point, plus its practically frosty temps, and you might well be looking at your next upgrade.

Key specs: NVMe | PCIe 4.0 | 7,400 MB/s read | 6,500 MB/s write

While this is QLC memory and comes without a DRAM cache, it's still an impressively quick drive for the money, with strong sequential performance.

Key specs: NVMe | PCIe 4.0 | 7,100 MB/s read | 6,000 MB/s write

Though not as fast nor always as cheap as the Biwin, this drive does happen to be supported by the Biwin Intelligence performance management software. That's some consolation, right?

Key specs: NVMe | PCIe 4.0 | 7,200 MB/s read | 6,200 MB/s write

This SSD is no slouch and still offers some of the best-in-class 4K read performance (read our full review here). Though this drops the DDR4 DRAM cache and instead opts for a single-sided design, it's still got the same versatile form factor that perfectly suits this heat-sinkless drive to PCs, consoles, and laptops.

Key specs: NVMe | PCIe 4.0 | 7,250 MB/s read | 6,900 MB/s write

This is one of our favourite SSDs for gaming right now. Unlike the cheaper SN770, the SN850X encapsulates the best PCIe 4.0 offers in terms of performance (check out our review). That makes it a great fit for a boot drive with space to spare for your game library, and at this price, we're happy to pay the premium for its higher speed.

Key specs: NVMe | PCIe 4.0 | 7,300 MB/s read | 6,300 MB/s write

Okay, so our tests demonstrate it's slightly slower than the advertised speeds, but the actual sequential performance still isn't bad. Couple that with a very reasonable price point, plus its practically frosty temps, and you might well be looking at your next upgrade.

Key specs: NVMe | PCIe 4.0 | 7,400 MB/s read | 6,500 MB/s write

Though not as fast nor always as cheap as the Biwin, this drive does happen to be supported by the Biwin Intelligence performance management software. That's some consolation, right?

Key specs: NVMe | PCIe 4.0 | 7,200 MB/s read | 6,200 MB/s write

While this is QLC memory and comes without a DRAM cache, it's still an impressively quick drive for the money, with strong sequential performance.

Key specs: NVMe | PCIe 4.0 | 7,100 MB/s read | 6,000 MB/s write

Price check: Scan £239.99

This large capacity SSD is packing in a lot of space. While it might be QLC memory, and comes without DRAM cache, it's still an impressively quick drive for the money, with strong sequential performance.

Key specs: NVMe | PCIe 4.0 | 7,100 MB/s read | 6,000 MB/s write

It's a lot of dosh to spend on a storage drive, but it's actually great value for the money right now in these memory shortage times.

Key specs: NVMe | PCIe 4.0 | 7,400 MB/s read | 6,500 MB/s write

You're missing out on some of the speed afforded by more expensive drives. If that doesn't matter as much to you, this is 1 TB at a not altogether bad price.

Key specs: USB 3.2 Gen2 | 1,050 MB/s read | 1,000 MB/s write

Though chunky, you can definitely forgive this drive's more rugged design in light of its 5-year limited warranty. It's not as fast as other options, but still worth considering at this price point.

Key specs: USB 3.2 Gen2x2 | 2,000 MB/s read | 2,000 MB/s write

Small, light, and very fast in the right USB port, this little SSD might be all you need for your external storage requirements. While we didn't think it offered a great amount of drop resistance in our review, the SD810 is rated to IP68, so it'll fend off dust and water ingress nicely.

Key specs: USB 3.2 Gen2x2 | 2,000 MB/s read | 2,000 MB/s write

A slower drive but more affordable than most with 2 TB of capacity. If you're not worried about fast transfers, this is well suited to most tasks without a time limit.

Key specs: USB 3.2 Gen2 | 1,050 MB/s read | 1,000 MB/s write

This is quite a capacious and reasonably snappy drive for surprisingly little money. It doesn't come with steel bracing, but it does offer shock, vibration, and drop resistance up to 2.29 m. It even comes with a lanyard loop too, making this a solid drive to take out and about.

Key specs: USB 3.2 | 1,050 MB/s read and write

Though chunky, you can definitely forgive this drive's more rugged design in light of its 5-year limited warranty. It's not as fast as other options out there, but still worth considering at this price point.

Key specs: USB 3.2 Gen2x2 | 2,000 MB/s read | 2,000 MB/s write