A storage system and method for a hybrid quad-level cell (QLC) write scheme for reduced random access memory (RAM) footprint and better performance are provided. In one example, a storage system includes a volatile memory and a non-volatile memory. A Foggy program operation is performed in a QLC memory in the non-volatile memory by writing two pages of data into the QLC memory. Then, a Fine program operation is performed in the QLC memory by reading the two pages of data written to the QLC memory in the Foggy program operation, reading two other pages of data from the volatile memory, and writing the two pages of data read from the QLC memory and the two other pages of data read from the volatile memory in the QLC memory.