Finding the best Verizon phone plan should be simple after Verizon pared back its options for unlimited data. But figuring out just what each of those unlimited data plans offers can get pretty complicated pretty quickly.
Foturnately, we can help you with our in-depth research into what's available at Big Red and how you can find the best Verizon phone plan for your budget and your needs. Even with all the changes at Verizon, you'll still find some of the best unlimited data plans available from any carrier.
You once had to sort through six different unlimited plans at Verizon, but in May 2023, the carrier whittled down the options. Unlimited Welcome features basic coverage, including 5G service. The more expensive Unlimited Plus plan delivers faster 5G speeds along with hotspot data coverage. A third option, Unlimited Ultimate, adds international travel benefits.
Don't need unlimited data? You should also look at Verizon's prepaid phone plan options. They're more expensive than what's available at other carriers, but they do include one of the best prepaid phone plans right now.
If you're looking for more ways to save at Verizon, we routinely check for the best Verizon phone deals. You also can find some decent discounts with our Verizon promo codes, so it's worth taking a look at them before you proceed through the checkout.
Let's take a closer at the best Verizon phone plans currently available.
The three best Verizon plans
Why you can trust Tom's Guide Our writers and editors spend hours analyzing and reviewing products, services, and apps to help find what's best for you. Find out more about how we test, analyze, and rate.
The best Verizon phone plans available now
If you need just one line of unlimited data for your phone, we'd recommend Verizon's Unlimited Plus plan. It gives you access to Verizon's growing Ulta Wideband 5G coverage, which is Verizon's fastest service. You can consume as much data as you like, and you even get 30GB of hotspot data.
Even with discounts as you add lines, Unlimited Plus can be pricey for families, with four lines of data costing $180 before you add any perks. (More on those in a moment.) Keep in mind that Verizon lets you mix-and-match lines so some members of the family can opt for Unlimited Plus while others get the less expensive Unlimited Welcome service.
We mentioned add-ons. Verizon now offers things like Disney's streaming bundle, a family subscription to Apple Music, Travel Passes for international travel and cloud storage as $10/month add-ons. The good news is you can mix and match the add-ons you like and even drop them in months you don't need them. The bad news is that a lot of add-ons can supersize your monthly phone bill before you know it.
Besides Welcome Unlimited, which we'll explore below, your other unlimited data option is Unlimited Ultimate. It costs $90 for one line of data after an autopay discount, but you get 60GB of hotspot data and unlimited calls and texting when you travel overseas. Unlimited Ultimate also includes 10GB of international premium data each month to use overseas, making it one of the best international phone plans if you do a lot of traveling.
Verizon’s prepaid plans don’t feature a lot in the way of perks, as is often the case when comparing prepaid vs. postpaid phone service. But Verizon's prepaid options do pack in data, especially the carrier’s 15GB plan. Even better, it's easy to lower the cost of your plan right away, making this 15GB one of the best cheap cell phone plans we've found.
Verizon’s 15GB plan costs $45 a month, but enrolling in autopay now takes $10 off the monthly rate. A month after starting your service, your autopay discount kicks in, immediately dropping the cost of your Verizon prepaid plan.
Verizon continues to offer loyalty discounts for sticking with the carrier for coverage — $5 off after three months and and another $5 after nine months — but you can't apply both the autopay and loyalty discounts. It's either one or the other, so the lowest your bill can go is $35.
The only other prepaid options at Verizon are a pair of unlimited plans. They cost $50/month and $60/month after $10 autopay discounts. While all prepaid plans have access to Verizon's nationwide 5G service, only the $60 Unlimited Data Plus gives prepaid customers access to super-fast Ultra Wideband 5G.
Verizon phone plans used to be extremely pricey, but the Unlimited Welcome plan lets you access the network's coverage for just $65/month for a single line of data. There are caveats to that plan, of course — there's no hotspot data as there is with the Unlimited Plus plan and Verizon can slow your speeds if its network gets congested.
Still, if you need multiple lines, Unlimited Welcome may be the best family cell phone plan at Verizon. Thanks to multiline discounts, four lines of data cost just $120/month. A current trade-in offer lets you lower the cost of each line by $5 per month, lowering the monthly total to $100. The ability to mix-and-match plans means that some lines can have Unlimited Plus while others get Unlimited Welcome.
The same add-ons available for Unlimited Plus customers also work for Unlimited Welcome. So you could tack on the Disney bundle with Disney Plus, Hulu and ESPN Plus and pay $75 for a single line of data plus all three of those streaming services.
Verizon unlimited phone plan add-ons
Both the Unlimited Plus and Unlimited Welcome plans have access to nine different add-ons, each of which cost $10/month. Through these add-ons, you can tack on extra benefits to your wireless plan. The end result is a benefit-packed offering that compares well to best cell phone plans out there, though the risk is that adding too many benefits can drive up the cost of your Verizon plan.
Verizon would counter that the advantage to making these extra benefits into separate add-ons is that you only need to add the things that appeal to you. If you don't do any international traveling, for example, you can safely ignore the Travel Pass benefit. What's more, Verizon's $10 pricing reflects a savings from what you would pay for the benefit on its own — anywhere from $5 to $25 in savings each month depending on the add-on. Disney's bundle of Disney Plus, Hulu and ESPN Plus would normally cost you $15/month, so you're saving $5 by getting it through Verizon.
Here's the list of benefits available to Welcome Plus and Welcome Unlimited customers:
- 100GB Mobile hotspot
- Disney Bundle (Hulu, Disney Plus, ESPN Plus)
- Walmart+ Membership
- Apple One
- Apple Music Family
- 2TB Cloud Storage
- Smartwatch Data and Safety
- 3 TravelPass Days
- +play monthly credit
What are the best 5G Verizon plans?
Verizon launched its 5G network in 2019, but the real boost came with the 2022 launch of C-Band spectrum. That extended Verizon's fast Ultra Wideband network to more areas, with 200 million people now covered by C-Band speeds. We tested Verizon's C-Band when it launched and came away impressed by Verizon's improved network.
As for Verizon nationwide 5G coverage, it reaches more than 230 million people at this point. That service isn't as fast as Ultra Wideband 5G or C-Band 5G, but it's more pervasive at this point, even if T-Mobile currently beats Verizon on 5G reach and average speed, according to the latest data from RootMetrics. That same report praises the reliability of Verizon's 5G coverage.
If you live in an area that's covered by Verizon's 5G network and want to experience faster coverage, unlimited data is the best Verizon plan to get. In particular, you'll want to opt for the Unlimited Plus or Unlimited Ultimate plans, as they include access to Ultra Wideband 5G. Prepaid plans get the nationwide 5G coverage as well, with the Unlimited Plus prepaid service enjoying Ultra Wideband speeds where available.
Many of the best 5G phones are available through Verizon including the Galaxy S23 Ultra, Galaxy Z Fold 5 and all four iPhone 15 models. Verizon also has some 5G exclusives like the TCL 30 V 5G. Some phones like the Motorola Razr foldables aren't available through Verizon, though.
The best Verizon phone deals can help you find the best prices on all sorts of handsets, 5G-capable models included.
Are Verizon plans good for seniors?
Verizon does offer a discounted unlimited data plan to anyone 55 years and older, but there’s a huge catch — Verizon’s 55+ plan is only available for people living in Florida. If you’ve got a Florida billing address, you can get two lines of unlimited data for $80 a month, with video streaming at 480p resolution, unlimited mobile hotspot data (though restricted to 2G speeds), and the ability to use your plan in Canada and Mexico. A single line of data costs $60.
T-Mobile offers discounted unlimited plans for seniors 55 years and older that are $10 less expensive than what Verizon charges, and those plans are available to anyone regardless of where they live. T-Mobile also includes 5G coverage with its senior plans. That's why we think T-Mobile has the best cell phone plans for seniors — unless you're in Florida, of course.
How to choose the best Verizon phone plan
Finding the best Verizon phone plan for your wireless needs involves choosing between unlimited data or turning to the tiered data options from Verizon's prepaid service.
If your smartphone usage involves a lot of streaming — be it movies or music — you're going to want to look at Verizon's two unlimited options. Should your data needs begin and end with browsing the internet, checking email and the occasional social media post, you can probably get away with a tiered prepaid data plan.
If possible, look at your monthly data usage on your current plan to see how much you're consuming on average — if it's 15GB or less, you can save money each month by going prepaid. Just be aware that you won’t get as many perks with a prepaid as you would with one of Verizon’s postpaid options.
Is Verizon your only option for Verizon's network?
While getting service directly from Verizon ensures you get Verizon's top speeds and best plans, there are other carrier options if you want to use Verizon's network without paying so much for your service. MVNOs — short for mobile virtual network operators — piggy-back on other carriers' networks to provide lower-cost service. The trade-off is that the parent carrier prioritizes its own customers so you might see slower speeds.
In the case of Verizon MVNOs, several use Verizon's superior network for their own 5G coverage. The best isn't technically an MVNO, as Visible is owned and operated by Verizon. Notably, Visible's unlimited data plans start at $25 a month — more than half of what you'd pay for service at Verizon, while using the same network.
Xfinity Mobile also uses Verizon's network to offer phone service for Comcast customers who also get their internet service through the provider. Adding multiple lines lowers the cost of unlimited data plans to $30 per line with Xfinity Mobile, making it an attractive option for families.
