Cheapest NBN plans: get connected for less with these great plans

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Cheapest NBN 25 plan
Cheapest NBN 50 plan
Cheapest NBN plans FAQ

In the current financial climate, saving money wherever you can is a priority, so finding the cheapest NBN plan for your home is something you probably should be thinking about. Fortunately, with so many NBN providers offering internet services in Australia, competition can be fierce and so you’ll often find they attempt to outprice each other to gain your custom.

If you do want to sign up to the cheapest NBN plans in Australia, you are going to have to avoid the major telcos of Telstra, Optus and even Vodafone. While these internet service providers (ISPs) will likely offer a reliable service, it comes at a cost. But, as mentioned earlier, you have a huge selection of other, smaller providers to choose from, who may even offer a faster service.

When looking for the outright cheapest NBN plan, you will have to be realistic in the maximum download speeds you can achieve. By this, we mean you’re going to need to focus on NBN 25 and NBN 50 plans with maximum download speeds of 25Mbps and 50Mbps, respectively (you can get NBN 12 plans but because of the relative similarity in cost between those plans and NBN 25, we’re choosing NBN 25 as our minimum). Faster speeds, which can be found with NBN 100 plans and above, will require you to dig deeper into your pockets.

So, what are the cheapest NBN plans currently available? Read on to find out.

Looking for a complete range of NBN plans? Check out our best NBN plans round-up.

Cheapest NBN 25 plan

Spintel | Unlimited data | No lock-in contract | AU$44p/m (for 6 months, then AU$49.95p/m)

The cheapest NBN 25 plan we can find currently comes from Spintel and costs AU$44p/m for the first six months of the plan, before increasing to AU$49.95p/m. However, for this low monthly price, Spintel does state the typical evening speed will be 20Mbps and not the full 25Mbps. Of course, this is just an estimated figure and you may achieve faster or lower speeds. The upside is that Spintel does advertise the maximum 25Mbps speeds during off-peak hours.

Total minimum cost: AU$44 | Total cost of first year: AU$563.70 | Yearly cost after discount: AU$599.40

Cheapest NBN 25 plan: Editor's pick

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Spintel might be the NBN provider with the overall cheapest NBN 25 plan, but if it were our money we were spending, we'd kick things up a notch and go with Flip, provider of the next most affordable plan.

Flip | Unlimited data | No lock-in contract | AU$44p/m (for 6 months, then AU$54.90p/m)

Flip, which was crowned the Broadband Provider of the Year for 2023 by our sister website Mozo, currently offers the cheapest NBN 25 plan — that advertises the maximum 25Mbps speeds during the busy evening hours — on the market, not factoring in the CommBank deal with More (listed below).

Flip offers a range of modem options if you either don't have your own or you fancy upgrading and the general consensus suggests Flip is a reliable NBN provider to connect with.

Total minimum cost: AU$44 | Total cost for first 12 months: AU$593.40 | Yearly cost after discount: AU$658.80

More | Unlimited data | No lock-in contract | AU$46.20p/m (for 12 months, then AU$59.40p/m) for CBA customers only

If you do your banking with CBA then you can take advantage of this great offer from More, which discounts the monthly price of an NBN plan by 30% for 12 months. You then continue to receive a 10% discount off the regular price for as long as you remain connected.

If you are able to take advantage of this deal, it makes it hte outright cheapest NBN 25 plan in Australia. The offer is only available to new customers who sign up for an NBN plan before June 30 2023.

Total minimum cost: AU$46.20 | Total cost for first 12 months: AU$554.40 | Yearly cost after discount: AU$712.80

Tangerine | Unlimited data | No lock-in contract | AU$44.90p/m (for 6 months, then AU$59.90p/m)

Tangerine's NBN 25 plan will set you back more each month compared to Spintel's, but it does give you the full 25Mbps download speeds in return. This could prove to be useful if you live in a two person household and like to indulge in a regular streaming binge session, or if you live by yourself and like to play online games.

Tangerine also scores well with customers who have left reviews online, with the vast majority claiming to receive their advertised speeds and that their connection is reliable. You also get the added benefit of a 14-day free trial, whereby if you're not entirely satisfied with your service, then you are free to leave.

Cheapest NBN 50 plan

Now, the criteria you set as a means to determine the cheapest NBN 50 plan might be different to ours. For us, it’s the cheapest cost for the first 12 months of a plan. But, considering you’re free to change your NBN plan whenever you wish, you may base it on the cost for the first six months. It’s during the first six months of an NBN plan that most providers offer a discount, before reverting to their regular price.

NBN 50 is the most popular speed tier in Australia, offering speeds that can comfortably support a household of four, whilst also being affordable. As we alluded to earlier, however, there can be a big variation in the cost of an NBN 50 plan, with those offered by the major telcos costing at least AU$30 more each month than the smaller providers.

Fortunately, however, there are now a number of great value NBN 50 plans available to customers. We've picked out some of our favourite deals below, including a cracking deal from More for CommBank customers only. If you do your banking with another bank, you can still get connected for a low price with the likes of Flip and Spintel.

Flip | Unlimited data | No lock-in contract | AU$54p/m (for 6 months, then AU$64.90p/m)

Flip's NBN 50 plan is the cheapest we can currently find when not factoring in More's NBN deal for CommBank customers (listed below). It advertises the full 50Mbps download speed, along with 17Mbps upload speeds, putting it on par with some of the best NBN providers.

There isn't a huge amount in it – literally 30c – but Flip's NBN 50 plan is technically the cheapest in Australia right now.

Total minimum cost: AU$54 | Total cost for first 12 months: AU$713.40 | Yearly cost after discount: AU$778.80

Spintel | Unlimited data | No lock-in contract | AU$54p/m (for 6 months, then AU$64.95p/m)

Spintel's NBN 50 plan is 30 cents more expensive over the first 12 months compared to Flip, so it may come down to personal preference as to which provider you go with.

Unlike its NBN 25 plan, Spintel advertises the full 50Mbps download speed during the busy evening hours. What’s more, Spintel scores highly in online reviews, with a large proportion of customers giving five star reviews for the company’s customer service and network reliability.

Total minimum cost: AU$54 | Total cost for first 12 months: AU$713.70 | Yearly cost after discount: AU$779.40

More | NBN 50 | Unlimited data | No lock-in contract | AU$53.90p/m (for 12 months, then AU$69.30p/m) for CBA customers only

More's promotion for CommBank customers is also available on its NBN 50 plan. If you are able to take advantage, it makes More's NBN 50 plan the cheapest in Australia by some margin (nearly AU$70) over the first 12 months.

Online reviews are a bit of a mixed bag for More. Some praise the connection, speeds and support, while others say the complete opposite. To be fair, we've seen similarly mixed responses to virtually all NBN providers — Tangerine is probably one of the best-reviewed at this price level — so we'd always recommend giving them a try and cancelling your plan if you feel the service isn't up to scratch.

Total minimum cost: AU$53.90 | Total cost for first 12 months: AU$646.80 | Yearly cost after discount: AU$831.60

Cheapest NBN 50 plan: Editor's pick

The NBN 50 plans mentioned above are both great options for getting connected to the internet at home. But in our opinion there is one NBN provider that is also well worth your consideration: Exetel.

Exetel |NBN 50| Unlimited data | No lock-in contract | AU$53.95p/m (for 6 months then AU$74.95p/m)

Exetel often performs well in the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission's (ACCC) performance reports. In the latest, published in April 2023, Exetel delivered 102.9% of advertised plan speeds during the busy evening hours.

Exetel also offers a feature called My Speed Boost Days which let you increase the download speed of your plan to the next speed tier up, for free, five times each month. In the case of an NBN 50 plan, this means you can increase your download speed to 100Mbps, yet the price of your plan stays the same. In our opinion, this represents incredible value, making it our best pick for an NBN 50 plan.

Total minimum cost: AU$53.95 | Total cost for first 12 months: AU$773.40 | Yearly cost after discount: AU$899.40

Cheapest NBN plans FAQ

What is the cheapest NBN plan?

The cheapest NBN 25 plan currently available comes from Spintel, at AU$49.95p/m after a six-month introductory offer period. However, this only provides 20Mbps download speeds during the busier evening hours. Tangerine's NBN 25 plan gives you the full 25Mbps speeds during all hours for AU$59.90p/m after introductory offers.

Who has the cheapest NBN plans?

While NBN providers can change their pricing at any moment, the NBN providers offering the cheapest plans usually include Spintel, Tangerine and Dodo.

Right now, however, More has some of the cheapest NBN plans in Australia, but only for Commonwealth Bank customers. CBA customers can save 30% on an NBN plan for 12 months and 10% off ongoing following this introductory period.

Max is a digital content writer for Tom’s Guide in Australia, where he covers all things internet-related, including NBN and the emerging alternatives, along with audio and visual products such as headphones and TVs. Max started his career in his homeland of England, where he spent time working for What Hi-Fi? and Pocket-lint, before moving to Australia in 2018.