If you're on the hunt for a deal, check out the best prepaid phone plans. They offer a chance to save on your phone bill. And since you're charged for wireless service every month, finding a good cheap plan saves you money over time.
With prepaid phone plans, you pay for your service in advance, removing any doubt about what your monthly wireless costs will be. And typically, prepaid plans cost a lot less than conventional smartphone plans where you pay at the end of the month based on your data usage.
1. The quick list
2. Best prepaid phone plan overall
3. Best value plan
4. Best prepaid plan from a big carrier
5. Best prepaid unlimited data plan
6. Best prepaid plan for families
7. Best cheap prepaid plan
8. Best free prepaid plan
9. Best range of prepaid plans
10. Honorable mention
11. What is a prepaid phone plan?
12. What to consider
13. Free trials
14. How we pick the best prepaid plans
Our search for the best prepaid plans highlights low-cost offerings that include enough data to meet the needs of a typical smartphone user. During our research into the best cell phone plans overall, we take note of the best prepaid options from carriers big and small.
We're not just considering price, though. We look at the network a prepaid service uses. (AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon obviously use their own networks for prepaid coverage, but mobile virtual network operators — or MVNOs — like Mint, Tello and Cricket use other carriers' networks.) We note when a prepaid carrier might slow down your service and what happens to your coverage when you use up all your data.
In addition, we consider the perks that come with the best prepaid plans, though be aware that extra benefits are one thing you may have to sacrifice for prepaid plans' lower rates. Still, plans that offer hotspot data or international calling are worth considering.
Here's our picks for the best prepaid phone plans covering a wide array of prices and data allotments.
The quick list
15GB for $20 at Mint Mobile
Anyone of Mint's four prepaid phone plans would be an excellent choice depending on your needs, but 15GB is plenty for most people. After three months at $20, you pay for a full year to keep that low rate.
16GB for $25 at AT&T
AT&T offers a generous amount of data if you're willing to prepay for a full year of service. By paying $300 up front, you reduce your monthly cost to just $25, and you get a ton of data — 16GB before your speeds are throttled — on a great network in return.
15GB for $35 at Verizon
Verizon's best prepaid plan offers the most data of any big carrier for a reasonable monthly price. Sign up for autopay, and your monthly bill drops $10 to $35, and you'll get 15GB as part of the deal. 5G coverage is included.
Unlimited data for $45 at Visible
Of Visible's two unlimited data plans, the $45/month Unlimited Plus option is the best. You can faster 5G coverage on Verizon's network and the ability to make overseas calls. Taxes and fees are included.
Unlimited data (four lines) for $100 at Metro
Metro by T-Mobile is one of the few carriers to offer escalating discounts as you add more lines to your plan. An in-store offer delivers unlimited data to four lines for just $25 per line each month.
3.5GB for $15 at T-Mobile
It's hard to find a deal much cheaper than the Connect by T-Mobile offering, which currently includes 3.5GB of data. Each year through 2025, T-Mobile adds another 500MB to the plan, which includes 5G coverage.
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0GB for free at TextNow
TextNow doesn't actually charge for its phone service, letting you call and text on T-Mobile's network for free. Data comes via Wi-Fi connectivity by default, but you can add extra data over cellular for a fee.
5GB for $14 at Tello
We're focusing on the 5GB plan at Tello, as that's a decent amount of data, but the low-cost carrier has a whole range of offerings whether you need just 1GB or unlimited data. Tello uses T-Mobile's network for its service.
10GB for $40 at Cricket Wireless
If you want the benefits of AT&T's network without the high cost an AT&T unlimited plan, try Cricket, which gives you 10GB for $40/month. Autopay enrollment saves you $5 each month, and you get 2GB of cloud storage.
The best prepaid phone plan overall
Best prepaid plan value
The best prepaid plan from a big carrier
The best prepaid unlimited data plan
The best prepaid plan for families
The best cheap prepaid phone plan
The best free phone plan
The best range of prepaid phone plans
The best alternative prepaid phone plan
What is a prepaid phone plan
There are two kinds of cell phone plans — prepaid and postpaid. With a prepaid plan, you pay for data at the beginning of the month, which gives you the advantage of knowing your precise costs for budgeting purposes. (Prepaid plans also don't require credit checks, so it's easier to get service if you've got a low credit score.)
Should you use up your allotted data for a month, many carriers will just slow down your data speeds for the rest of the billing cycle. In some cases, you'll need to top off your plan with data. That's why it's important to pick a prepaid phone plan with the right amount of data for your needs.
Many phone carriers prioritize traffic from postpaid customers, so it's possible that data rates can be slowed if you're using a prepaid plan. That's especially true when you use a mobile virtual network operator, or MVNO, such as Mint, Metro or Cricket, where your phone service is piggy-backing on another carrier's network.
Best prepaid phone plans: What you should consider
When shopping for a prepaid phone plan, price is paramount. That’s because prepaid plans don’t often come with the kind of benefits postpaid cell phone plans offer. That said, some carriers — such as Metro By T-Mobile and Boost — do work in a few perks, so be aware of those when picking your plans.
You'll also want to pay attention to discounts and special offers. Often, larger carriers like AT&T and Verizon will adjust the size of their autopay discount, which can make a pricier plan more attractive. Metro by T-Mobile has been known to increase discounts for each line of data you add, too.
Besides price, one of the most important things to consider is what carrier offers the best coverage around your home and workplace. That’s true even if you look beyond the Big Three carriers for service. MVNOs use the cellular networks of AT&T, T-Mobile or Verizon for their coverage. So if Verizon’s network is particularly strong where you are, for example, MVNOs that use Verizon’s network for coverage will perform well, too. As we mentioned above, MVNOs can see their traffic slowed if a carrier’s network gets too crowded.
5G coverage is now a part of what many MVNOs offer. Metro subscribers can access T-Mobile's 5G with an eligible phone, as can Mint Mobile customers. Visible has added 5G access on Verizon's network to select phones, and Cricket customers can now use AT&T's 5G connectivity with any of that MVNO's plans.
For more on MVNOs, read our guides to AT&T MVNOs, T-Mobile MVNOs and Verizon MVNOs — we'll tell you which discount carriers use which parent networks.
The best prepaid phone plans and free trials
Some of the carriers we've highlighted above offer free trials, in which you can test out their service on your current phone without having to switch carriers first. It's a convenient way of seeing if a prepaid carrier's coverage is strong in your area.
Mint Mobile's free trial lets you sample the service for seven days. You're given 250MB of data, 250 minutes of talk time and 250 texts to see what Mint's service is all about.
Cricket's free trial runs for 14 days and lets you use up to 3GB of data.
Visible's free trial runs the longest at 15 days. In addition to iPhones, it's now open to Samsung and Google Pixel devices that can support eSIM.
How we pick the best prepaid phone plans
Finding the best prepaid phone plans means widening our search beyond the major carriers, though AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon all have prepaid offerings. We're also researching plans from smaller carriers who use the Big Three's cellular towers to provide their coverage. As smaller carriers usually offer their service at a discount, they make up a majority of the candidates that we consider for best prepaid phone plans.
When we pick the best plans, we put a premium on the monthly price, though we also pay attention to how much data comes with that plan. After all, a carrier may not charge you a lot for data, but it also may not provide enough data for your needs. We're picking plans that offer the best mix of cost and data. We also consider a wide variety of data allotments, since some people can get by very happily using just a couple gigabytes of data each month, while others need an unlimited plan.
As noted previously, prepaid plans don't offer much in the way of perks. That said, we do take note of any special add-ons included with the best prepaid plans, as those can add value to a plan above and beyond its monthly cost.
