SSD prices are dropping rapidly. Those who have followed the market over the past few months should not be surprised. With a 15-30% decline over the past 60 days, it has long been known that the oversupply of NAND flash memory and lower manufacturing costs are being passed on to consumers.
Back in October, analysts predicted a 50% drop in drive prices by mid-2023. At the time, major suppliers such as Kioxia and Micron announced that they would reduce NAND production to reduce supply. However, memory manufacturers are limited in what they can do to limit production. Before that, you may incur losses in maintaining idle production equipment.
We’ve seen a lot of staggering SSD deals on individual drives lately, but how much have average drive prices fallen recently? We looked at the price and compared it to what it was on January 3rd (about 2 months ago). We repeated the same for 2 TB and 4 TB capacities, but not all drives were available in these larger capacities.
1TB SSD price cut
| drive | price | Price per GB | Jan Price | interface | price cut |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WD Black SN770 | $59.99 | $0.06 | $89.99 | PCIe4 | 33.34% |
| Important P3 Plus | $54.99 | $0.05 | $79.99 | PCIe4 | 31.25% |
| intel 670p | $49.99 | $0.05 | $69.99 | PCIe3 | 28.58% |
| samsung 870 evo | $64.98 | $0.06 | $89.99 | SATA | 27.79% |
| Crucial MX500 | $51.99 | $0.05 | $69.99 | SATA | 25.72% |
| Solidigm P41 Plus | $52.99 | $0.05 | $69.99 | PCIe4 | 24.29% |
| WD Blue SN570 | $52.99 | $0.05 | $69.99 | PCIe3 | 24.29% |
| samsung 980 pro | $99.99 | $0.10 | $129.99 | PCIe4 | 23.08% |
| silicon power UD90 | $57.99 | $0.06 | $74.99 | PCIe4 | 22.67% |
| samsung 980 | $69.98 | $0.07 | $89.99 | PCIe3 | 22.24% |
| Important P3 | $49.99 | $0.05 | $63.99 | PCIe3 | 21.88% |
| SK Hynix Gold P31 | $107.99 | $0.11 | $136.99 | PCIe3 | 21.17% |
| samsung 970 evo plus | $79.98 | $0.08 | $99.99 | PCIe3 | 20.01% |
| Kingston KC3000 | $86.75 | $0.08 | $106.99 | PCIe4 | 18.92% |
| Kingston Fury Renegade | $91.76 | $0.09 | $111.99 | PCIe4 | 18.06% |
| Safe Rocket 4 Plus | $99.99 | $0.10 | $119.99 | PCIe4 | 16.67% |
| Important P5 Plus | $89.99 | $0.09 | $99.99 | PCIe4 | 10.00% |
| Sable Rocket Q | $79.99 | $0.08 | $79.99 | PCIe3 | 0.00% |
| samsung 990 pro | $169.99 | $0.17 | $169.99 | PCIe4 | 0.00% |
| SK Hynix Platinum P41 | $149.99 | $0.15 | $149.99 | PCIe4 | 0.00% |
| WD Black SN850X | $99.99 | $0.10 | $99.99 | PCIe4 | 0.00% |
The biggest price drop seems to be on the 1 TB SSD. Of the 21 models we surveyed, 17 models are priced lower today than they were on January 3rd, with only one drive dropping less than 16%, with an average price drop of 23%.
The best value here is the WD Black SN770. This DRAMless PCIe 4.0 SSD promises 5,150 and 4,850 MBps sequential reads and writes for just $0.06 per GB after a 33.3% price drop. When I reviewed the WD Black SN770 last year, I gave it 4.5 stars out of 5 for its lightning fast performance and great value. It’s not the fastest drive on the market, but it’s a step or two behind its competitors, which are 50-75% higher per GB.
In fact, most of the drives that didn’t get any price cuts were the fastest drives on the market, including the industry-leading Samsung 990 Pro, the blazing WD Black SN850X, and the fast SK hynix Platinum P41. The 990 Pro and SN850X are ranked 1st and 2nd on our list of the best SSDs.
2TB SSD price cut
| drive | price | Price per GB | Jan Price | interface | price cut |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Important P5 Plus | $131.99 | $0.06 | $194.99 | PCIe4 | 32.31% |
| samsung 970 evo plus | $139.99 | $0.07 | $189.99 | PCIe3 | 26.32% |
| intel 670p | $99.99 | $0.05 | $129.99 | PCIe3 | 23.08% |
| Crucial MX500 | $119.99 | $0.06 | $149.99 | SATA | 20.00% |
| WD Black SN770 | $119.99 | $0.06 | $149.99 | PCIe4 | 20.00% |
| WD Black SN850X | $159.99 | $0.08 | $189.99 | PCIe4 | 15.79% |
| Kingston KC3000 | $162.72 | $0.08 | $192.99 | PCIe4 | 15.68% |
| Kingston Fury Renegade | $177.55 | $0.09 | $202.99 | PCIe4 | 12.53% |
| Solidigm P41 Plus | $109.99 | $0.05 | $124.99 | PCIe4 | 12.00% |
| samsung 980 pro | $159.99 | $0.08 | $179.99 | PCIe4 | 11.11% |
| Important P3 | $107.99 | $0.05 | $119.99 | PCIe3 | 10.00% |
| Important P3 Plus | $112.99 | $0.06 | $124.99 | PCIe4 | 9.60% |
| silicon power UD90 | $109.49 | $0.05 | $119.99 | PCIe4 | 8.75% |
| WD Blue SN570 | $109.99 | $0.05 | $119.99 | PCIe3 | 8.33% |
| SK Hynix Platinum P41 | $249.99 | $0.12 | $259.99 | PCIe4 | 3.85% |
| Safe Rocket 4 Plus | $199.99 | $0.10 | $199.99 | PCIe4 | 0.00% |
| samsung 990 pro | $286.19 | $0.14 | $286.19 | PCIe4 | 0.00% |
| SK Hynix Gold P31 | $208.24 | $0.10 | $208.24 | PCIe3 | 0.00% |
| samsung 870 evo | $169.99 | $0.08 | $159.99 | SATA | -6.25% |
The WD Black SN770 is also great value at 2TB, only 6 cents per GB even after the 20% price cut. However, the faster Crucial P5 Plus is only a few bucks more, has a built-in DRAM cache and better performance, and has seen a 32.3% price drop since January.
Among SSDs with elite performance, the WD Black SN850X has the best value at just 8 cents per GB after a 15% price cut. The drive boasts sequential read and write speeds of 7,300 and 6,600 MBps, second only to the very expensive Samsung 990 Pro.
The average markdown for the 19 drives in this category was 15.3%. We’ve seen much more modest price cuts here among the top performers, and even saw a $10 price increase on the one drive, SATA-powered Samsung 870 Evo.
4TB SSD price cut
| drive | price | Price per GB | Jan Price | interface | price cut |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kingston KC3000 | $399.77 | $0.10 | $537.00 | PCIe4 | 25.55% |
| samsung 870 evo | $299.99 | $0.07 | $379.99 | SATA | 21.05% |
| Kingston Fury Renegade | $418.66 | $0.10 | $529.99 | PCIe4 | 21.01% |
| Important P3 | $219.99 | $0.05 | $249.99 | PCIe3 | 12.00% |
| Important P3 Plus | $264.99 | $0.06 | $299.99 | PCIe4 | 11.67% |
| Crucial MX500 | $239.99 | $0.06 | $269.99 | SATA | 11.11% |
| Safe Rocket 4 Plus | $584.99 | $0.14 | $599.99 | PCIe4 | 2.50% |
| WD Black SN850X | $399.99 | $0.10 | $399.99 | PCIe4 | 0.00% |
As NAND prices drop, we expect to see more 4TB drive options on the market. However, out of the 21 drives he surveyed, he currently only has 8 drives with 4TB capacity available.
Among those eight drives, the average price reduction was 15%, and only one drive, the WD Black SN850X, received no price reduction at all. The biggest discount is the Kingston KC3000, which has been reduced by 25.55%. But this fast drive, which promises 7,000 MBps sequential reads and writes, isn’t the cheapest, at 10 cents per GB.
The best 4 TB value right now is the Crucial P3 at just 5 cents per GB. However, since this is a PCIe 3.0 drive, maximum sequential reads and writes are limited to 3,500 and 3,000 MBps. Purchasing a Crucial P3 Plus boosts performance to 5,000 and 4,200 MBps.
Conclusion
With prices dropping significantly, now is a great time to buy an SSD. However, it’s quite possible that we haven’t hit the bottom yet.
If you want to put together a low-cost build, you can easily get a quality brand-name 1 TB SSD for less than $60. This is amazing when prices for so many things are going up. And if you want to add a secondary drive, it’s more affordable than ever. Will the price drop significantly when I revisit this drive listing next month? Only time will tell.
