NVMe SSD vs SATA SSD
An NVMe SSD talks to the computer over PCIe lanes and is several times faster than a SATA SSD, which is capped at about 550 MB/s by its connection. For a new build with a free M.2 slot, NVMe is the default. SATA is the right drive when a machine has no free M.2 slot, or for adding drives past the M.2 slots a board has.
Buy NVMe if your motherboard has a free M.2 slot that supports it; buy SATA if it does not. Price rarely decides it any more, but check the table below, because it moves.
The difference on paper
These hold for each kind as a whole, independent of any one drive.
The difference in price today
Across 296 NVMe SSDs and 98 SATA SSDs with a live offer at the retailers we track, updated daily.
Prices per TB use each drive’s cheapest live offer divided by its capacity. Quality scores are left out on purpose: they are calculated within each kind of drive and do not compare across kinds.
Three words that get mixed up
NVMe and SATA are protocols: the language a drive uses to talk to the computer. SATA was designed for spinning hard drives; NVMe was designed for flash memory and assumes a fast device. PCIe is the bus NVMe drives travel on, the same fast pathway a graphics card uses. M.2 is only a shape: the stick that screws flat onto a motherboard.
That last point is where people get caught. An M.2 drive can be NVMe or SATA, and the two look almost identical. The listing tells you which: PCIe, NVMe or Gen3/Gen4/Gen5 means NVMe; SATA III, 6 Gb/s or a read speed around 550 MB/s means SATA, whatever its shape.
How to check your motherboard
Look up your motherboard's specifications and find the storage section. Each M.2 slot is listed with what it supports, in a form like "M2_1: PCIe 4.0 x4" or "M2_2: SATA mode". If at least one slot lists PCIe, it takes an NVMe drive. Boards from roughly 2019 onward nearly always have one. Do not judge by the notches in the slot: the keying overlaps between the two types.
One thing to know before filling every slot: on many boards, using a particular M.2 slot switches off one or two SATA ports, because they share bandwidth. The manual lists which pairs conflict.
Does the speed difference show in games?
Less than the numbers suggest. Moving from a hard drive to any SSD is the big jump. Moving from a SATA SSD to NVMe takes a few seconds off the longest loads in demanding games, and less in most. Frame rate does not change at all. NVMe earns more of its advantage in large file copies, video work and heavy multitasking.
When SATA is the right drive
When the board has no free M.2 slot: older desktops and many laptops. When you want more drives than you have M.2 slots, since boards carry more SATA ports. And when you already own a working SATA drive, which costs nothing to reuse. A SATA SSD is still a large step up from any hard drive.
The picks on each side
The cheapest per terabyte on each side, and the cheapest that also scores at least 40 out of 100 within its own kind. Recalculated daily from live prices.
NVMe SSDs
SATA SSDs
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Common questions
Is NVMe faster than SATA?
Yes. Every SATA SSD tops out near 550 MB/s because of the SATA connection. NVMe drives run over PCIe: about 3,500 MB/s on Gen3, 7,000 or more on Gen4 and up to about 14,000 on Gen5. Random reads, which games and the operating system depend on, favour NVMe as well.
Will an NVMe drive fit in a SATA port?
No. An NVMe drive needs an M.2 slot that supports PCIe. A SATA port takes a 2.5-inch drive with a cable. Some M.2 slots only run SATA drives, so check your motherboard's specifications for which slots support NVMe.
Is M.2 the same as NVMe?
No. M.2 is the physical shape; NVMe is the protocol. Most M.2 drives are NVMe, but M.2 SATA drives exist and run at SATA speed in the same slot shape.
Do NVMe drives last longer than SATA drives?
Neither has a built-in advantage: both use the same kind of flash memory, and endurance depends on the drive, not the interface. Compare the TBW rating of the specific drives.
Keep going
Browse NVMe SSDs or SATA SSDs with every filter, see how storage prices are moving, or start from the storage comparison hub.