Adafruit SPI FLASH Breakout W25Q128 - 128 MBit / 16 MByte

Sometimes you need a little extra storage for your microcontroller projects: for files, images, fonts, audio clips, etc. If you need lots of space, like in the gigabytes, we always recommend an SD card because you can easily plug it into a computer to edit files. But sometimes you don't need whole gigabytes, you just need a megabyte or two, with the lower cost and power usage that comes with it. That's when we recommend an Adafruit SPI FLASH Breakout such as this one that is fitted with a W25Q128 - 128 Mbit / 16 MByte chip.

Compared to our QSPI breakouts, this one is single-channel SPI only, but it comes with level shifting so it can be used safely with 3V or 5V power and logic. The chip is pre-wired into single channel "SPI" mode, with level shifters so you can use it with 3V or 5V logic easily. It also includes a 3.3V regulator and a pullup on CS.

The chips come blank and do not have a wear-leveling subsystem. You can address them as a flat memory space or format them with a filesystem like littleFS or FAT. It's great for use with data-logging or storage needs where you are okay with managing the memory yourself, or if you want to add external memory to an older chip that requires 5V compatibility.

In Arduino, you can use the Adafruit_SPIFlash library to interface with this chip. The product comes with a bit of header that can be soldered in and plugged into a breadboard if desired.