Flash storage is becoming the new normal to storage data. But, do you know the differences between MLC & QLC drives and why they differ in cost?

MLC vs QLC

At a very basic level, MLC & QLC differ in capacity, performance & reliability and there are varying costs in using a particular type of flash.

Multi-level cells have half the storage capacity of Quad-level cells but don't think that makes them cheaper than QLC. On the contrary, the more storage capacity, the cheaper it will be, so MLCs are slightly more expensive than QLCs.
On the other hand, QLC SSDs are generally less reliable than MLC SSDs, precisely because they have 16 different voltage levels compared to MLC's four.

Check out this blog from the Magic Quadrant leader, Pure Storage, for more about the advantages & disadvantages of the different types of flash.