Data center NVMe SSDs in U.2, U.3, E3.S and E1.S form factors, ranked by live cost per terabyte: 32 tracked, the cheapest in stock at $117.19/TB. PCIe Gen 4 and Gen 5, with out-of-stock listings excluded from the ranking.
The lowest $/TB enterprise NVMe U.2 SSD currently on Amazon US. PCIe Gen 4/5, 1+ DWPD endurance.
For read-intensive workloads (AI inference, analytics, cold data tier), the Solidigm D5-P5336 QLC drives offer the best $/TB in the NVMe category. For mixed enterprise workloads requiring higher write endurance, the Samsung PM9A3 and WD Ultrastar SN655 are the datacenter standard at 1 DWPD. For write-intensive OLTP, look at Micron 7450 MAX or Seagate Nytro 5550 with 3 DWPD ratings.
| $/TB ▲ | Brand / Model | Cap | Interface | Tech | Cache | Sector | Wty | Price | Cond. | 90D | Buy | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
👑$117.19 ~ 30d avg | Solidigm D5-P5316 15.36TB NVMe U.2 SSDPF2NV153T8 5yr | 15.36TB | NVMe-PCIe4 | QLC | — | — | 5yr | $1,800.00 | new | Buy →Details | ▼ | |
$123.63 ~ 30d avg | WD Ultrastar DC SN655 15.36TB U.3 WUS5EA1A1ESP7E1 5yr | 15.36TB | NVMe-PCIe4 | TLC | — | — | 5yr | $1,899.00 | new | Buy →Details | ▼ | |
$138.02 ↓ vs 30d avg | Samsung PM9A3 3.84TB E1.S NVMe MZTL23T8HCLS 5yr | 3.84TB | NVMe-PCIe4 | TLC | — | — | 5yr | $530.00 | new | Buy →Details | ▼ | |
$166.41 ~ 30d avg | Samsung PM9A3 3.84TB U.2 NVMe MZQL23T8HCLS 5yr | 3.84TB | NVMe-PCIe4 | TLC | — | — | 5yr | $639.00 | new | Buy →Details | ▼ | |
$169.01 ~ 30d avg | Samsung PM9A3 3.84TB U.2 NVMe MZQL23T8HCLS-00A07 5yr | 3.84TB | NVMe-PCIe4 | TLC | — | — | 5yr | $649.00 | new | Buy →Details | ▼ | |
$169.14 ~ 30d avg | Seagate Nytro 5350 7.68TB U.2 XP7680SE70035 5yr | 7.68TB | NVMe-PCIe4 | TLC | — | — | 5yr | $1,299.00 | new | Buy →Details | ▼ | |
$182.16 ~ 30d avg | Micron 7400 PRO 7.68TB U.3 MTFDKCB7T6TDZ 5yr | 7.68TB | NVMe-PCIe4 | TLC | — | — | 5yr | $1,399.00 | new | Buy →Details | ▼ | |
$182.90 ~ 30d avg | Micron 7400 PRO 3.84TB U.3 MTFDKCB3T8TDZ Refurb · 5yr | 3.84TB | NVMe-PCIe4 | TLC | — | — | 5yr | $702.32 | REFURB | Buy →Details | ▼ | |
$194.01 ~ 30d avg | Micron 7400 PRO 3.84TB U.3 MTFDKCB3T8TDZ-1AZ1ZABYY 5yr | 3.84TB | NVMe-PCIe4 | TLC | — | — | 5yr | $749.00 | new | Buy →Details | ▼ | |
$195.15 ~ 30d avg | Micron 9400 Pro 30.72TB U.3 MTFDKBG30T7TFR 5yr | 30.72TB | NVMe-PCIe4 | TLC | — | — | 5yr | $5,999.00 | new | Buy →Details | ▼ | |
$195.24 ~ 30d avg | Micron 9300 Pro 15.36TB NVMe U.2 MTFDHAL15T3TDP 5yr | 15.36TB | NVMe-PCIe3 | TLC | — | — | 5yr | $2,998.95 | new | Buy →Details | ▼ | |
$207.03 ~ 30d avg | Micron 9300 Pro 3.84TB NVMe U.2 MTFDHAL3T8TDP 5yr | 3.84TB | NVMe-PCIe3 | TLC | — | — | 5yr | $795.00 | new | Buy →Details | ▼ | |
$208.07 ~ 30d avg | WD Ultrastar DC SN655 3.84TB U.3 WUS5EA138ESP7E1 5yr | 3.84TB | NVMe-PCIe4 | TLC | — | — | 5yr | $799.00 | new | Buy →Details | ▼ | |
$208.07 ~ 30d avg | Micron 7450 PRO 3.84TB U.3 MTFDKCC3T8TFS-1AZ1ZABYY 5yr | 3.84TB | NVMe-PCIe4 | TLC | — | — | 5yr | $799.00 | new | Buy →Details | ▼ | |
$255.08 ~ 30d avg | Micron 9300 Pro 7.68TB NVMe U.2 MTFDHAL7T6TDP 5yr | 7.68TB | NVMe-PCIe3 | TLC | — | — | 5yr | $1,959.00 | new | Buy →Details | ▼ | |
$270.64 ~ 30d avg | Seagate Nytro 5050 7.68TB U.2 XP7680SE70005 5yr | 7.68TB | NVMe-PCIe4 | TLC | — | — | 5yr | $2,078.54 | new | Buy →Details | ▼ | |
$286.20 ↑ vs 30d avg | Samsung PM9A3 3.84TB E1.S NVMe MZTL23T8HCLS Refurb · 5yr | 3.84TB | NVMe-PCIe4 | TLC | — | — | 5yr | $1,099.00 | REFURB | Buy →Details | ▼ | |
$305.63 ~ 30d avg | WD Ultrastar DC SN640 1.6TB U.2 WUS4CB016D7P3E4 5yr | 1.6TB | NVMe-PCIe3 | — | — | — | 5yr | $489.00 | new | Buy →Details | ▼ | |
$353.64 ~ 30d avg | Samsung PM9A3 7.68TB U.2 NVMe MZQL27T6HBLA-00A07 Refurb · 5yr | 7.68TB | NVMe-PCIe4 | TLC | — | — | 5yr | $2,715.99 | REFURB | Buy →Details | ▼ | |
$382.75 ~ 30d avg | Seagate Nytro 5060 E3.S 15.36TB XP15360SE70045 5yr | 15.36TB | NVMe-PCIe4 | TLC | — | — | 5yr | $5,879.00 | new | Buy →Details | ▼ | |
$518.23 ~ 30d avg | Micron 7450 PRO 3.84TB U.3 MTFDKCC3T8TFS Refurb · 5yr | 3.84TB | NVMe-PCIe4 | TLC | — | — | 5yr | $1,990.00 | REFURB | Buy →Details | ▼ | |
$520.70 ~ 30d avg | Samsung PM9A3 7.68TB U.2 NVMe MZQL27T6HBLA 5yr | 7.68TB | NVMe-PCIe4 | TLC | — | — | 5yr | $3,999.00 | new | Buy →Details | ▼ | |
$570.02 ~ 30d avg | Seagate Nytro 5350 3.84TB U.2 XP3840SE70035 5yr | 3.84TB | NVMe-PCIe4 | TLC | — | — | 5yr | $2,188.86 | new | Buy →Details | ▼ | |
$656.51 ~ 30d avg | Kioxia CD8 Series 3.84TB NVMe U.2 KCD8XVUG3T84 5yr | 3.84TB | NVMe-PCIe4 | TLC | — | — | 5yr | $2,521.00 | new | Buy →Details | ▼ | |
$676.82 ~ 30d avg | Micron 7600 PRO 3.84TB U.2 PCIe5 MTFDLAL3T8THG 5yr | 3.84TB | NVMe-PCIe5 | TLC | — | — | 5yr | $2,599.00 | new | Buy →Details | ▼ | |
$832.03 ↑ vs 30d avg | Samsung PM9A3 960GB U.2 NVMe MZQL2960HCJR 5yr | 0.96TB | NVMe-PCIe4 | TLC | — | — | 5yr | $798.75 | new | Buy →Details | ▼ | |
$843.06 ~ 30d avg | Kioxia CD8 Series 3.2TB NVMe U.2 KCD8XVUG3T20 5yr | 3.2TB | NVMe-PCIe4 | TLC | — | — | 5yr | $2,697.79 | new | Buy →Details | ▼ | |
$911.46 ~ 30d avg | Samsung PM9A3 3.84TB U.2 NVMe MZQL23T8HCLS Refurb · 5yr | 3.84TB | NVMe-PCIe4 | TLC | — | — | 5yr | $3,499.99 | REFURB | Buy →Details | ▼ | |
$1,028.65 ~ 30d avg | Samsung PM9A3 3.84TB U.2 NVMe MZQL23T8HCLS 5yr | 3.84TB | NVMe-PCIe4 | TLC | — | — | 5yr | $3,950.00 | new | Buy →Details | ▼ | |
$1,115.79 ~ 30d avg | SanDisk Ultrastar DC SN655 61.44TB U.3 WUS5EC0C1ESP7Y3 5yr | 61.44TB | NVMe-PCIe4 | — | — | — | 5yr | $68,554.11 | new | Buy →Details | ▼ | |
$1,131.51 ~ 30d avg | WD Ultrastar DC SN655 7.68TB U.3 WUS5EA176ESP7E1 5yr | 7.68TB | NVMe-PCIe4 | TLC | — | — | 5yr | $8,690.03 | new | Buy →Details | ▼ | |
$1,197.40 ~ 30d avg | Samsung PM9A3 1.92TB U.2 NVMe MZQL21T9HCJR 5yr | 1.92TB | NVMe-PCIe4 | TLC | — | — | 5yr | $2,299.00 | new | Buy →Details | ▼ |
Looking specifically at Western Digital? Ultrastar DC SSDs decodes the SN-series part numbers, where endurance is set per SKU rather than per capacity.
Building for local AI rather than a server chassis? U.2 vs U.3 and the carriers explains what these drives need on the other end · NVMe for local AI ranks M.2 and enterprise drives together by live cost per terabyte.
U.3 is backward compatible with U.2 backplanes via tri-mode - a U.3 drive works in any U.2 slot. E3.S (EDSFF) is the newer standard optimized for 1U density, requiring purpose-built server chassis.
TLC drives (Samsung PM9A3, Kioxia CM7) suit mixed read/write workloads with higher endurance. QLC (Solidigm D5-P5336) is significantly cheaper per TB and ideal for read-heavy analytics, CDN, and cold data tiers.
PCIe Gen 5 doubles per-lane bandwidth to 4 GT/s but requires a Gen 5 capable host. Most 2023-2024 servers are Gen 4. Gen 5 drives work in Gen 4 slots at Gen 4 speeds - buy for future-proofing if price is close.
Drive Writes Per Day (DWPD) measures endurance over the warranty period. 1 DWPD suits read-intensive cloud workloads. 3 DWPD handles mixed enterprise. Match DWPD to your actual write volume - overprovisioning endurance wastes money.
U.3 is the successor to U.2 and supports multiple protocols (NVMe, SATA, SAS) over the same connector. U.3 drives are backward compatible with U.2 backplanes using a simple adapter or cable. Most drives listed here support both U.2 and U.3 backplanes.
Drive Writes Per Day (DWPD) measures endurance. 1 DWPD means you can write the full drive capacity once per day over the warranty period. Read-intensive enterprise workloads need 1 DWPD. Mixed workloads need 3 DWPD. Write-intensive OLTP databases need 3-10 DWPD. Check your write workload before purchasing.
Yes, with a U.2 to PCIe adapter card. These cost $15-50 and allow standard PCIe x4 slots to accept U.2 drives. Alternatively, many prosumer motherboards (EPYC, Xeon Scalable) include native U.2 ports. The drive will work at full PCIe Gen 4 speeds.
TLC (Triple-Level Cell) stores 3 bits per cell, offering better write endurance. QLC (Quad-Level Cell) stores 4 bits per cell, enabling higher density and lower $/TB at the cost of lower write endurance. QLC suits read-heavy workloads like AI data lakes and media streaming archives. TLC suits mixed workloads.