Samsung MicroSD Card EVO vs Pro: What’s the Difference

The EVO and PRO MicroSD card lines from Samsung have good performance and very similar specs. However, the PRO line has a marginally better read/write speed, making it the better option for intensive tasks like shooting 4K video.

I’m Caleb, and I have a fair amount of hands-on experience using SD cards as a photographer. In this article, I’ll look at Samsung’s EVO and PRO lines, their variants, and which performs better.

If you’re comparing SD cards from these two lines and unsure which one to get, read on for the breakdown of both options.

Samsung EVO vs PRO MicroSD Cards: What’s the Difference?

Before getting into the difference between these SD card lines, I want to take a minute to specify which versions we’re covering here. 

Both the EVO and PRO lines have multiple variants, so I’ll focus on the Plus version for both lines. This is the best-selling version and the one you’re most likely to run into when shopping for SD cards. 

However, later in this article, I’ll also take a look at some of the other variants.

Read/Write Speed Differences

When comparing the EVO Plus with the PRO Plus, read/write speed is the main difference. 

The PRO Plus can read up to 180 MB/s and write up to 130 MB/s, while the EVO Plus caps out at 130 MB/s for read speed and an unspecified lower number for write speed. 

In the other major specs, these two cards have the same performance. They even come with the same storage options, ranging from 64GB to 512GB, with 128 and 256GB options in between.

These models aren’t very different in design overall, and the price gap between them is for the extra bit of performance given by the Pro’s better read/write speed.

Is the PRO Plus Worth It?

You may wonder if the PRO Plus line, which is slightly more expensive than its EVO counterpart, is worth the price. After all, the gap in specs isn’t too dramatic.

It depends on your performance needs. 180 MB/s isn’t a massive jump from 130 MB/s, but if you’re doing something like burst photography or recording 4K video, you might want every bit of performance you can get.

Tasks like these can push SD cards to their limits, so if you’re doing intensive work like that, it might be smarter to pay a little extra and get the better-performing card. 

However, you probably won’t notice a difference between either line if you’re a more casual user. In that case, saving money and getting the cheaper EVO card would be smart.

Additional EVO and PRO Variants

If you’re considering the 64GB version of the Samsung EVO MicroSD card, you should note that it’s only rated U1 rather than U3. This means the minimum write speed is 10 MB/s rather than 30 MB/s. This difference for the 64GB version isn’t present with the PRO version.

Samsung also has a spinoff of the PRO line known as PRO Endurance. This SD card is intended for security cameras, dashcams, and other devices that need to record continuously. It has better endurance but lower read/write speeds as a result.

The company also sells some SD cards under the brand name “EVO Select.” It doesn’t look like there are performance differences between the EVO Plus and EVO Select cards, the main change being a cosmetic one to blue instead of white.

FAQs

Here are some frequently asked questions about the Samsung PRO and EVO lines.

Are Samsung Evo MicroSD Cards Good?

Yes. While the Evo line is the cheaper option for Samsung’s MicroSD card offerings, it still performs very similarly to the Pro line.

Is Samsung Pro Plus or Pro Endurance Better?

These MicroSD cards are designed for different tasks. The Pro Plus is a general-use MicroSD card with better read/write speeds, while the Pro Endurance is designed for use with continuously recording devices, such as security cameras.

Which Samsung MicroSD Card is Best?

The Samsung Pro Plus is the way to go if you want the best performance. However, the gap in performance between the Pro Plus and its cheaper counterpart, the Evo Plus, isn’t dramatically large.

Final Thoughts

The Samsung Evo and Pro MicroSD cards are pretty close in performance, but the Pro has the edge in quality because of a higher read/write speed. Both, however, can get the job done for most casual users.

Which of these SD cards fits your own needs? Let us know in the comments!