Best unlimited data plans in 2024
Find the best unlimited data plan for your smartphone right now
The days where having the best unlimited data plan meant paying through the nose are long gone. Certainly expensive options remain, but these days, it's not uncommon to find plans promising limitless amounts of data that are very affordable. The trick is knowing where to look. And folks — I know where to look.
I've been studying cell phone plans for Tom's Guide and its best cell phone plan report for nearly a decade now. And in that time, I've learned to look beyond the usual suspects like T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon. Those companies do have some compelling plans, some of which make up my best unlimited plan picks below. But I've found that smaller carriers offer comparable service and unlimited data for much lower monthly rates.
Unlimited data plans are especially relevant if you're in the market for a new phone, as many of the best cell phone deals offered by wireless carriers usually hinge on signing up for one of their unlimited plans. With the information below, you can figure out if that unlimited plan included with your phone deal is worth the long-term commitment.
As for the best unlimited plans right now, I'd recommend Visible for most people, especially with a current promotion that lowers the rates on its plans. If you don't mind paying for a year of service up front, Mint Mobile offers one of the best cheap cell phone plans under $40 that includes unlimited data. If you must go with a big-name carrier, AT&T has one of the best lower-priced options, while T-Mobile is the place to turn for family plans with unlimited data.
Because there's no one-size-fits-all approach to unlimited data, I've included several other options from other carriers at different price ranges that may be more appropriate for your needs and budget.
The quick list
Best overall
Unlimited data for $45 at Visible
Visible's best plan costs $45/month and gets you Verizon's 5G network (with international calls included). You can use 50GB of data without seeing your traffic slowed.
Best alternate unlimited plan
Unlimited data for $51 at AT&T
AT&T's Value Plus VL plan costs $51 a month, and it includes 5G service. Perks are limited, and there's no hotspot data included as there is with other AT&T unlimited options.
Best value
Unlimited data for $30 at Mint
Mint's $30/month plan lets you consume 40GB of data before your speeds slow down. You get to use T-Mobile's 5G wireless network for coverage. New customers pay $15 for their first three months of service.
Best unlimited family plan
Unlimited data for $155 (4 lines) at T-Mobile
Four lines of T-Mobile's Go5G plan cost $155 currently. (T-Mobile waives the cost of a third line.) You'll enjoy 100GB of priority data, along iwth 15GB of hotspot data, plus streaming perks for families.
Prepaid unlimited data for families
Unlimited data for $110 (4 lines) at Total Wireless
Total Wireless has a great way for families to save on unlimited data, with the carrier waiving the cost of a fourth line on its Total 5G unlimited plan. That drops the overall monthly cost to $110, $27.50 per line.
Most flexible plan
Unlimited data for $80 at Verizon
Unlimited Plus ($80/month) gets you faster Ultra Wideband 5G, 30GB of hotspot data, a three-year price lock, and 30GB of data each month before Verizon slows your data speeds.
View more options...
Best for travelers
Unlimited data for $65 at Google Fi
This is a no-brainer if you own a Google Pixel (though Google Fi works with all phones). Travelers will like the $65/month Unlimited Plus plan that lets you use your coverage overseas at no additional cost.
Best rate guarantee
Unlimited data for $25 at Boost Mobile
Boost's $25 unlimited data plan matches some of the lowest rates we've seen from other carriers. But Boost goes one better by locking in that rate for as long as you keep your plan in place.
Best prepaid perks
Unlimited data for $60 at Cricket
While Metro by T-Mobile charges less, Cricket's plan comes with 15GB of hotspot data, 150GB of cloud storage and Max with ads. Autopay enrollment saves you $5 every month.
My name is Philip Michaels, and I oversee all the mobile coverage at Tom's Guide. That includes our look at cell phone plans and what carriers might be charging at any given time for data. I've been at this long enough to remember when unlimited data was restricted to the priciest plans; these days, at some carriers, unlimited data is your only option. When I'm not comparing phone plan prices, I'm busy reviewing handsets, with an emphasis on Apple's iPhones.
The best unlimited data plans you can get today
Why you can trust Tom's Guide
The best unlimited data plan overall
Visible | Visible Plus | $45/month - The best unlimited data prepaid on a budget
A basic unlimited data plan at Visible starts at $25. But unless a low rate is your top priority, we'd suggest you go with the Visible Plus plan, which costs $45 per month. With Visible Plus, you get access to fast Ultra Wideband 5G coverage on Verizon's network. (Verizon owns Visible.) Visible Plus customers can also use data when traveling in Mexico and Canada while making calls to more than 30 countries from the U.S. at no extra charge. Visible Plus features a one Global Pass day that lets you use your plan for free overseas. Best of all, you can use 50GB of data without seeing your traffic slowed — Visible's cheaper unlimited plan is subject to throttling when Verizon's network is congested.
Visible Plus is even more compelling right now thanks to a promotion at Visible that runs through January. Use code 'SWITCH25' when you sign up, and Visible cuts the rate on Visible Plus to $30/month for the next 25 months. The standard Visible plan drops to $20/month with that same code. For Visible Plus, that works out to some substantial savings over the next two years and change.
I tested Visible's service a while back and found coverage and performance comparable to Verizon's, with the exception of some slower speeds when the network was congested. If Verizon coverage is good in your area, you can expect good service from Visible at a fraction of what you'd pay for unlimited data at a bigger carrier.
Pros: Access to Verizon's fastest 5G coverage, international calling, 50GB of data usage without throttling
Cons: No discounts on additional lines of data
The best unlimited plan from a major carrier
AT&T | AT&T Value Plus VL | $51/month — AT&T's cheapest unlimited plan
As attractive as low-cost unlimited data plans are at services like Visible and Mint, some people just feel more comfortable getting their service from a recognizable name. If that's you, you still don't have to pay top dollar for limitless data. Just turn to AT&T, which has the cheapest plan among the major carriers.
To get AT&T's best rate, look beyond its three main unlimited data plans, which range in cost from $66 to $86 per month for a single line. (Of those offerings, AT&T Unlimited Premium is the best and most expensive, thanks to solid perks like lots of hotspot data, 4K video streaming and the ability to stay connected when traveling in Latin America.) Instead, check out AT&T's Value Plus VL, which costs $51/month. Perks are few and far between, and AT&T can slow your service if its network is busy. But you get relatively cheap unlimited data on a great network.
AT&T used to restrict Value Plus to one line of data, but it is available for families, too, with per-line discounts kicking in once you add a third line. The plan is buried on AT&T's website, so click on the More Plans tab on the page outlining AT&T phone plans to find the Value Plus option.
There's also a prepaid option at AT&T that offers unlimited data at a lower monthly rate, though you will have to make a big upfront payment. For $300, AT&T will provide unlimited data with 16GB of high-speed data each month before your speeds slow down; that works out to a $25 monthly rate, which is lower than what Mint charges for its prepaid plan.
Pros: Cheapest unlimited plan at AT&T, includes 5G coverage
Cons: Data speeds can be slowed, limited multiline discounts on Value Plus option
The best unlimited plan value
Mint Mobile | Unlimited data | $30/month - Unlimited data on a budget
With a regular rate of $30/month for unlimited data, this option is already one of the best Mint Mobile plans,. As with any plan at Mint, though, you have to pay for a year in advance to get that low monthly cost.
New customers get a discount right away, with Mint charging $15/month for the first three months of unlimited data (a $45 upfront payment). After that, to get Mint's best monthly rate on unlimited data, you pay $360. That covers you for a year of service, with your monthly costs working out to $30. Only Visible and Tello offer a lower rate on unlimited data without requiring the big upfront payment. If you stick with Mint's 3-month billing cycle, you pay $40/.month, so there's a definite incentive to commit to a full year.
With Mint's unlimited data plan, you can use up to 40GB of data each month before your service is slowed down. Mint also provides 5G access through T-Mobile, which now owns the low-cost carrier.
Pros: One of the cheaper overall unlimited plans, 5G speeds
Cons: Speed restrictions, you must commit to a full year of service to get the lowest rate
The best unlimited plan for families
T-Mobile Go5G | Unlimited data | $155/month (4 lines) - Best family option with unlimited data
T-Mobile's Go5G is a pretty good choice for individuals as the $75 monthly rate is cheaper than what AT&T and Verizon charge for comparable plans. But add additional lines, and it's the best option for families, especially with T-Mobile currently waiving the cost of a third line. (Even then, four lines of Go5G would cost $180 with an autopay discount in place.)
T-Mobile doesn't skimp on perks with its plans: You get 100GB of priority data — that means your data speed won't be slowed until you consume a lot of data every month — plus 15GB of high-speed hotspot data and coverage when you travel overseas. You can also enjoy six months of Apple TV Plus for free by signing up for Go5G and families get a free Netflix Standard subscription as part of this plan.
Pros: Attractive perks, affordable price, benefits for additional lines
Cons: HD video streaming costs extra
The best prepaid unlimited family plan
Total Wireless Total 5G | Unlimited data | $110/month (4 lines) - Best prepaid unlimited plan for families
It's hard to find discounts on multiple lines of data at prepaid carriers, but Verizon-owned Total Wireless is one of the notable exceptions. And its discounts can help families save big on unlimited data. The carrier's Total 5G plan costs $50 for a single line of data, but add up to four lines and the per line cost drops to $27.50, for a total monthly bill of $110. It helps that Total waives the price of a fourth line for this particular plan.
You'll find better prepaid perks with Cricket Wireless' unlimited offering, but some of Total's adds-on are appealing. You get roaming data in 15-plus countries in Central and South America, and the plan comes with six months of Disney Plus. Total also promises a $200 credit on your next phone purchase if you make 12 monthly payments.
Pros: Cheap per line price for families, access to Verizon's Ultra Wideband 5G network
Cons: Other carriers offer more perks
The most flexible unlimited plan
Verizon | Unlimited Plus | $80/month - Most flexible unlimited plan
Unlimited Plus is the more value-packed option among Verizon's top phone plans. You'll play $15 less each month for Welcome Unlimited, but that plan offers little more than nationwide 5G coverage. (Both Plus and Welcome add additional discounts to your monthly rate if you bring your own device.)
With Unlimited Plus, you get faster Ultra Wideband 5G where available, plus 30GB of hotspot data and a three-year price guarantee. Also, you can use up to 30GB of data each month before Verizon slows your data speeds. I'm a Verizon customer myself, and I subscribe to Unlimited Welcome, because I don't need the faster Ultra Wideband speeds, so you can get by with the cheaper option if you want to save some money on your bill.
Add-ons can layer on additional perks for an extra $10/month. These include packages like Disney's streaming services, Travel Passes for international travel and an Apple services bundle. You can drop add-ons in months where you don't need them — I currently don't have any as part of my plan — giving you some control over the cost of your wireless bill. But you do have to be pro-active about managing those add-ons so the costs don't skyrocket.
Pros: Excellent coverage including Ultra Wideband 5G, includes hotspot data
Cons: $10 add-ons can quickly add up, T-Mobile has cheaper plans
Best unlimited data plan for travelers
Google Fi | Unlimited Plus plan | $65/month - Best unlimited plan for traveling
Google Fi's main unlimited plan is not one of the most affordable plans in or rankings. For travelers, though, the Unlimited Plus plan is the perfect option. Google doesn't charge you extra for texting or using data in more than 200 countries.
There are other benefits to Google Fi's plan too, like a year of YouTube Premium. If you're getting a Pixel 9, have an existing device like the Pixel 8a or purchase any one of a number of select devices from Samsung and Motorola, you'll be able to switch seamlessly between cellular networks (mostly T-Mobile's) and Google's Wi-Fi hotspots. However, any handset can use Google Fi and any 5G-enabled phone can connect to the faster network where available. If $65 a month is too much, Google features a $50 plan, though you give up the international coverage.
Pros: Great international coverage, supports lots of phones now, includes YouTube Premium
Cons: Some features limited to select phones
The best unlimited data plan rate guarantee
Boost Mobile | Unlimited | $25/month - Best guaranteed rate
Boost Mobile is looking to establish itself as another nationwide carrier with its very own network (though it uses AT&T and T-Mobile towers to augment its coverage). One of the ways it's doing that is with an aggressively priced unlimited data plan for $25/month. (A current promotion cuts the rate in half for your first month of service.) That matches the low rates offered by Tello and Visible, but Boost takes it one step further with a "lifetime" guarantee for as long as you stick with the carrier. You get 30GB of data each month before your speeds slow down.
Pros: Lifetime guarantee on rate, low price
Cons: Lacks the upgrade and hotspot perks of other Boost plans
Best prepaid plan perks
Cricket Wireless | Unlimited + 15GB Mobile Hotspot | $60/month - Best prepaid unlimited plan perks
Among prepaid carriers, Metro by T-Mobile charges less than Cricket with an unlimited plan starting at $40 a month. Yet, we like Cricket's plan because you can reduce the cost by $5/month when you enroll in autopay, bringing your total cost to $55. This Cricket plan also comes with perks like 15GB of hotspot data, 150GB of cloud storage and access to the ad-supported Max streaming serivce. (That perk's not even available for AT&T customers any more.) As an AT&T-owned MVNO, Cricket subscribers can access 5G coverage from AT&T.
Pros: Uses AT&T's network, good perks for a prepaid plan
Cons: Expensive for a prepaid option
Best unlimited data plans compared
Here's a look at all of the best unlimited data plans we've recommended above, all in one place, so you can compare what a single line of data costs each month. (For plans like Mint's, we've marked where you have to pay for a year of service in advance, and what your total cost would be.) To help families judge how much they'd pay for data, we've included the per-line cost for a 4-line plan — note that 2- and 3-line offerings may have different monthly rates, owing to variable discounts.
The high-speed data allotment lists the amount of data you can consume each month with each plan before you will experience slower speeds for the remainder of the billing cycle.
Unlimited plan | High speed data allotment | Single-line monthly price | Per-line price for 4 lines |
Visible Plus | 50GB | $45 | $45 |
AT&T Value Plus VL | Speeds can be slowed when network congested | $51 | $31 |
Mint Mobile Unlimited Data | 40GB | $30 (requires a year prepayment) | $30 (requires a year prepayment) |
T-Mobile Go 5G | 100GB | $75 | $38 (3rd line is free) |
Total Wireless Total 5G | Unlimited | $50 | $27.50 (4th line is free) |
Verizon Unlimited Plus | Unlimited | $80 | $45 |
Google Fi Unlimited Plus | 50GB | $65 | $40 |
Boost Mobile | 30GB | $25 | $25 |
Cricket Unlimited + 15GB Mobile Hotspot | Unlimited | $60 | $33 |
How to pick the best unlimited data plan for you
Besides making sure to choose a carrier that offers good service in your area — ask friends and family about the coverage they get — consider both price and perks. With the best unlimited data plans from major carriers ranging in price from $60 to $90 per month, pick the plan that fits in your budget or turn to a discount carrier like Mint or Visible. Also consider what benefits each wireless carrier includes with their different tiers of unlimited data.
Wondering if you need unlimited data? Unless you’re streaming video and music fairly regularly, you probably can get away with a tiered data plan, like the ones offered by AT&T and Verizon. Mint and Tello have less expensive tiered data plans, too.
While we have a separate guide to the best family cell phone plan options, most of the unlimited plans featured here allow you to add extra lines, usually at discounted per-line rates. The exceptions are AT&T's Value Plus Plan, Tello's $25 option and the Visible Plus plan. Mint's approach to family plans is to offer the same discounted rate for each line of data, so unlimited plans would cost $30 per line, assuming you commit to the full year of service.
Frequently asked questions about unlimited data plans
Are unlimited data plans truly unlimited?
That depends. While you do technically get unlimited data on all of these plans, many carriers will impose a restriction somewhere in the plan to limit you slightly.
AT&T reserves the right to start throttling data at 50GB for Unlimited Extra; Unlimited Starter customers can be throttled at any time. Unlimited Premium customers don't have to worry about caps, though, as AT&T has removed that limitation from its most expensive plan. Verizon is able to slow data after 30GB are used by Unlimited Plus customers; speeds can slow whenever there's network congestion for the Unlimited Welcome plan. T-Mobile lets you use 100GB of data before throttling can begin, though if you opt for the more expensive Magenta Max plan, there's no cap on data usage at all.
Get your service from a discount carrier, and you run the risk that your speeds will be slowed in favor of other customers on the parent carrier's network. Visible guarantees customers who sign up for its Visible Plus plan 50GB of premium data free of throttling. Mint caps its unlimited data plan at 40GB while Tello has increased its cap to 35GB. Boost's three unlimited plans offer different levels of "premium" data depending on your monthly rate.
There could also be limits on the quality of video you can stream — some plans restrict video streaming to 480p, requiring you to pay more for HD video streaming. Many plans also impose limits on hotspot data, only allotting a limited amount of high-speed hotspot data. This isn't really as big of an issue as it sounds. For the average person, hotspotting is simply an added benefit and you won't really lose out too much by being limited on it.
What about families looking for unlimited data plans?
Our guide to the best family cell phone plans has specific recommendations on the best options for people who need multiple lines of data, but here's a quick summary on unlimited data for families.
Multiple lines of unlimited data sounds like a costly proposition, and it can be, though there are ways you can keep your monthly bill lower while still making sure each member of your family gets unlimited data. The first thing to do is see which carriers offer discounts as you add more lines to your plan. This is a common practice with plans from AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon, but harder to find with prepaid carriers. As good as Visible's unlimited plan is, for example, there's no discount for adding another line of data to your plan. At Total Wireless, in contrast, your per line price drops as you add lines.
Another thing to look out for is whether carriers let you mix and match different plans. At T-Mobile, everyone has to be on the same unlimited plan, while Verizon lets you swap in different plans for different lines. That way, a parent could have the perk-filled (and more expensive) Unlimited Plus plan while their kids could make do with the cheaper Unlimited Welcome option. Mint family plans let some members choose unlimited data while others can opt for tiered data.
Family plans can also get more perks as you add lines. A second line of T-Mobile's Go5G plan makes you eligible for the carrier's Netflix on Us option, where it picks up the cost of the streaming service for you.
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Philip Michaels is a Managing Editor at Tom's Guide. He's been covering personal technology since 1999 and was in the building when Steve Jobs showed off the iPhone for the first time. He's been evaluating smartphones since that first iPhone debuted in 2007, and he's been following phone carriers and smartphone plans since 2015. He has strong opinions about Apple, the Oakland Athletics, old movies and proper butchery techniques. Follow him at @PhilipMichaels.
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Sunrise250 There must be some kind of price fixing going on in the US. In Ireland, which is considered a ripoff for cellular plans compared to UK I have unlimited calls, txts, and 80GB + free social media data for about $23-/month including taxes. As I use whatsapp for everything it's all about data. The EU reins in these telecoms so they only make a small fortune in the low billions.Reply -
Erica Louderback ATT prepaid has unlimited plan for 30/month. And when you do multi line discount you end up able to get 5 lines for $90 plus a little tax!Reply -
PolluxHT the link/reflink for the google fi section links to AT&T, not google fi. So I couldnt even click through yours to sign up, i had to do it on my own.Reply