Just like with the regular Nintendo Switch, the Switch Lite isn’t known for having the best built-in storage capacity for keeping lots of games on hand and ready to play whenever you want.
To fix this problem, all you need to do is find the right SD card to fit your Switch playing needs, which is easy to do since there’s a size that will turn that tiny 32 GB storage into exactly what you need.
The only thing you need to know to make a decision on what SD card to get is how you plan on purchasing your games.
If you plan on buying all of your big games physically, you won’t need to worry about adding as much storage. But digital games take up a lot more space and will require a bigger SD card if you want to keep yourself from having to constantly delete older titles.
Whatever your game plan is, here are some varied SD card options that you can use to increase your Switch Lite’s storage, even if it’s just a little bit.
SanDisk Extreme UHS-I (128 GB)
The entire SanDisk Extreme UHS-I line is a top quality set of SD cards that you can’t go wrong with, especially if you’re looking for a nice mix of affordable and size.
Your best all-around option would be the 128 GB, which at only $26.99 is going to be one of the cheapest cards of that size that you’ll find. With most larger Switch games averaging around 30 GB of storage total, this will keep your library stored for a long time, even if you’re going all digital.
The 258 GB card is double the price at $52.99, but it’s worth it if you need to upgrade your storage to hold more than a year’s worth of Switch titles. And there are even a few Nintendo variants of the same line, so you know it’ll work well with the system.
Samsung MicroSDXC Evo Select (64 GB)
At only $11.99 for a 64 GB expansion, this is the card for anyone who plans on staying mostly physical with their Switch Lite.
This way, you can dedicate your entire internal storage to save data and other smaller system required space and still have plenty of room to download dozens of games that don’t get physical releases. It’ll save you the hassle of having to manage storage for a long time, which is great if all you want to do is pick up your Switch and play.
Kingston Canvas React UHS-I (258 GB)
For a slightly cheaper version of the 258 GB card, you can pick up a Kingston Canvas React UHS-I for $48.
It has a slightly faster read and write speed than the standard SanDisk Extreme UHS-I (100 MB/s read and 80 MB/s write compared to 160 MB/s read and 90 MB/s), but the performance isn’t going to be drastically different either way.
Netac UHS-I (128 GB)
Your cheapest option is going to be the Netac UHS-I at $19.99 for 128 GB. The speeds won’t suffer for your choice, either.
Across the board, most SD cards, and especially the high-speed Micro SD cards needed to run as an extension to the Switch’s storage, tend to hover around the same speeds. There isn’t a card out there that will make a game load so fast that it isn’t comparable to the others, so don’t worry about basing your decision off of that.
Samsung MicroSDXC Evo Select (512 GB)
If you’re going all digital and know you’ll be downloading more than a dozen large games with no intention of deleting them once you beat them, this 512 GB monster is your best bet at the larger end of the spectrum.
At $84.99, the Samsung MicroSDXC Evo Select is cheaper than its competitors and runs just as well. After this, if you want to upgrade to 1 TB or around there, you’ll start seeing prices in the upper $200 range at a minimum for trusted brands. You should probably plan on deleting some games if you come close to filling up a 512 GB card.
This article includes affiliate links, which may provide small compensation to Dot Esports.