The 7 Best CF Card Readers

Editor's Notes

November 4, 2026, by Ezvid Wiki Editors:

We read Lexar's spec page and firmware guide, StarTech's datasheet and PixelFlash's product, FAQ and warranty pages, and added notes from them under four picks plus a section on why the Lexar leads. We corrected the Lexar's connection, since the reader has its own USB-C port and a detachable cable, and dropped claims we couldn't source, such as PixelFlash's U.S. assembly. Two old notes got updates on USB 3.0 speed and on readers that have left the list.

October 18, 2026, by Ezvid Wiki Editors:

An independent reviewer checked the CF speed of just one reader here, the Lexar Multi-Card 3-in-1, a new pick that also reads SD and microSD and now leads. Most of the 2021 list was gone. The Kingston FCR-HS4, Lexar's LRW400 dual-slot reader, the Zedela 7-in-1 and the Sabrent HB-MACR are no longer available, the Delkin dual-slot reader shows no price or stock, and we couldn't find the Indmem reader for sale at all.

The PixelFlash CF Reader Classic and the Unitek Y-9324BGY stay. The other new picks are the PixelFlash CF Reader Type-C for USB-C laptops, the StarTech FCREADMICRO3V2, the Rocketek 7-in-1 for old card collections and the BENFEI 4-in-1 as a cheap option.

Quite a few people land here looking for CFexpress readers. A CF reader can't read those cards, and the guide explains why.

The evidence in this category is thin. We found only two independent reviews, so most specs come from makers and sellers, and each entry says when a claim is the seller's.

Earlier notes

November 19, 2020, by Brendon Hannaford:

Not too many changes needed to be made this time around since the CompactFlash format has pretty much peaked with the UDMA 7 standard, and it's quite likely no further revisions for CompactFlash will be released due to the increasing implementation of newer formats like CFast and XQD. The maximum transfer speed of the best CF cards is 167 MB/s while USB 3.0 maxes out at 625 MB/s, which means that as long as your reader is compatible with USB 3.0 it should be able to deliver the highest speed your card is capable of. [2026 update: the reader's CF slot also has to support the card's UDMA mode, and many budget readers don't say which mode they support.] Since all of the models on our list already met this standard there was no need for a major update, however we did make a couple adjustments.

First and foremost, we ultimately decided to remove the CFast readers on our list. Though the standards are somewhat similar in function CFast readers are not backwards compatible with CompactFlash cards, so we thought it would be best to avoid any possibility of someone accidentally ordering the wrong type of device for their needs.

We also added the Unitek Aluminum as a nod to the growing number of devices that only have USB-C inputs. It's true that readers with USB-A connectors can be used with such devices when paired with an adapter or hub, but if your phone and laptop both feature USB-C ports exclusively you may as well avoid these secondary devices for the sake of convenience, cost, and reliability. This option is a budget-friendly choice that fits easily into a laptop or camera bag, and is ready to go at a moment's notice.

The price range of our list has been further expanded with the addition of the Indmem Portable, which is suitable for those who are simply trying to import content from a few old cards, or otherwise don't have a need to read CF cards that often. It's one of the most affordable models on the market and it offers good transfer speeds, but if you're an avid photographer or videographer you're definitely going to want something with a more durable enclosure, as this selection probably won't stand up to daily use as well as many higher-end choices.

If you have a variety of camera gear you may have a need to read SD and microSD cards in addition to CompactFlash cards. If this is the case, consider multi-card models like the Kingston Digital FCR-HS4 and the Zedela Multi, or check out our article that's specifically dedicated to SD card readers. [2026 update: the Kingston and Zedela readers are no longer available; several current picks read SD and microSD as well as CF.]

November 20, 2019, by Kaivaan Kermani:

There are 2 speeds to consider regarding CF cards – read and write speeds. The write speed determines the rate of photo shooting during a mode like continuous shooting, while the read speed is the primary consideration for the rate at which uploading photos onto your computer can occur. Read speeds are quoted in text on the cards themselves and they are usually slightly higher than write speeds (20-40mb/s faster). While read speed will determine how quickly you can transfer images to your computer, a CF card reader with a transfer speed lower than the CF cards read speed can hinder that speed.

For instance, if your card reader is working on a USB 2.0 protocol (which has a maximum read speed of 60MB/s (480Mb/s)), and your card has a quoted read speed of 150MB/s, then the card reader will limit the read speed of your card. Fortunately, USB 3.0 (which has a read speed of 480MB/s or 5Gb/s) is now the standard protocol on card readers, so there are no limitations placed on the read speeds of the cards. [2026 update: USB 3.0's 5 Gb/s works out to about 625 MB/s raw; 480 Mb/s is USB 2.0. And a USB 3.0 link alone doesn't guarantee full speed: the reader's CF slot must also support the card's UDMA mode.] Furthermore, the simultaneous reading of multiple cards has become possible as a result of the speed of the 3.0 protocol.

Bear in mind that while CFI and CFII can use the same slot, provided that this slot accommodates the thicker 5mm CFII, CFast – not to be confused with CFII - uses a different standard to CF, and so requires a different slot or card reader. CFast cards are faster, though, as of today, the market-wide adoption of these faster and more efficient cards has been slower than expected. San Disk has announced that they are stopping funding for research and improvement into CF in the interest of moving the market towards CFast. Both of these standards (CF and CFast) fall under the Compact Flash umbrella although they use different interfaces (the CF uses PATA, while the CFast uses SATA). By some definitions, we could treat CFast products as a separate category, like we have with the best CFast 2.0 cards; but since there is a much more limited selection of CFast readers (and not enough to make a high-quality list), I thought it sensible to include the best models here.

To make things more complicated, there are revisions of both the CF and CFast variants. CFast has CFast 1.0, CFast 1.1 and CFast 2.0 and CF has a number of revisions, including CF 1.0, CF 2.0, and more – fortunately, all revisions can work on the same card slots – I am simply disambiguating the Compact Flash category as much as I can so you don’t get confused when shopping for a card reader. It’s hard to find readers that have both CF and CFast slots, so I’ve included two great options for CFast cards – the Lexar Workflow CFR1 and the ByEasy CFast. [2026 update: the CFast readers were dropped in 2020, and this list now covers CompactFlash readers only.]

Note that there are other, less-related variants of the CompactFlash that fall under the CompactFlash umbrella, including CFexpress and XQD; though they are generally less commonly used and I’ve avoided including them here plus, we already have a separate list for XQD Card Readers. Cameras are usually designed with one of these types of CompactFlash slots, and in some cases, like the Canon EOS-1D X Mark II, both CF and CFast slots. I’ve also removed a few of the older models that were beginning to struggle with quality-related issues like the WeMe 9313D and Transcend RDF8K. The latter was released in August 2011 and has a very low transfer rate compared to today's models. I also added the Zedela Multi, which is both very versatile and a bargain product (considering its ability to accommodate 7 different types of cards).