Best prepaid phone plans 2025

With the best prepaid phone plans, you get to enjoy all the essentials (e.g., unlimited high-speed data, bulk savings) without having to shell out a fortune. These well-priced plans are offered by nearly all of the best MVNO carriers and work well with majority of the unlocked phones out there. There are no pesky contracts involved either, so you're free to switch plans (and by extension, carriers) as you please.

Many of the popular alternative service providers are now owned and operated by the 'Big Three' carriers, so you get nationwide network coverage at affordable prices. It's true that your connectivity is deprioritized with prepaid carriers if the network's busy and some extras (e.g., streaming services) aren't included but if you just want reliable connectivity, going prepaid is the smart choice. Our top pick remains Mint Mobile, which lets you save by offering its service in chunks of multiple months. You can also take a look at Visible and Tello, as well as several other options.

• MVNO deals: Mint Mobile | Visible | Boost | Tello | Cricket Wireless

At a glance

Best overall

For a prepaid carrier offering just four plans and multiple service durations, Mint Mobile is surprisingly easy to understand. The basic premise is that the longer the term you're willing to get, the cheaper your monthly cost will turn out to be. While it does mean you'll be signing a bigger check upfront, you won't have to pay again for multiple months. Owned by T-Mobile, Mint Mobile uses its parent carrier's vast network infrastructure with full 5G access so for most customers, coverage and speeds will be great.

Mint Mobile's cheapest plan comes with 5GB of high-speed data, complete with unlimited talk and text. If you're a light user, this is the place to start. And if you end up going over 5GB, there's no need to worry as there are 15GB and 20GB per month plans available as well. Our Mint Mobile review found that the speeds do slow down to about 500kbps after you've used up all your data. This includes the unlimited plan too, which now has no data cap. And if you need more data than that consistently, Mint Mobile likely isn't the right choice for you.

One thing to keep in mind is that Mint Mobile offers low introductory prices for a period of three months, which you can lock by paying for an entire year. You can also sign up for six months, but the prices go up slightly if you do so. Mint Mobile also has a penchant for regular promotions, so there's a good chance you can try it for even less, especially if you bundle your wireless service with one of the best Android phones available in the market.

Best budget

Tello manages to be an extremely value-for-money wireless carrier, thanks to its straightforward plans and super low costs. It even allows you tailor your plan to a perfect fit via its 'Build Your Own Plan' online tool, offering a number of data and talk time combinations that generally end up being cheaper than other carriers. You can save quite a lot by going for a plan with the bare minimum number of minutes, even more so if you primarily use the best text messaging apps to keep in touch with family and friends.

Tello has four pre-configured plans as starting points, with the base 'Economy' plan coming in at just $10 per month with unlimited minutes, texts, and 2GB of data. If you spend majority of your time connected to Wi-Fi, this plan could be all you'll ever need. The unlimited 'Data' plan costs $25 per month and offers up to 35GB of high-speed data. While it's a somewhat less than what competitors like Mint Mobile offer, most consumers shouldn't have any issues at all.

Since Tello uses T-Mobile's network, you get full 5G access (including mid-band coverage), provided you have a compatible phone. Speaking of which, T-Mobile's network means that just about any of the best unlocked phones should work on Tello just fine.

Best for unlimited

Visible is a prepaid carrier owned and operated by Verizon and offers three well-priced yet feature-laden unlimited plans. Unlike many other prepaid unlimited plans, there's no hard cap with slower data and you can use as much data as you want. This is because the data on Visible gets a lower priority than the data on Verizon, which means in a side-by-side comparison a Verizon plan will almost always come out ahead. Still, our Visible review found the carrier to offer plenty of speeds for everyday usage, though this will vary depending on the strength of Verizon's network in your area.

The base plan is simply called 'Visible' and has a regular price of $25 per month. It includes unlimited high-speed 5G access, unlimited hotspot usage at 5Mbps, SD video streaming, and more. Next up is the 'Visible Plus' plan, which costs $35 per month and upgrades your hotspot usage speed to 10Mbps, while also giving access to Verizon's super-fast 'Ultra-Wideband 5G' network. Lastly, you have the latest 'Visible Plus Pro' plan that offers unlimited hotspot usage at 15Mbps, up to 4K video streaming, as well as a bunch of extra perks. The prices of all the plans include taxes and fees, and you can save even more by paying for a full year of service in advance. Not only that, Visible has frequent deals and promotions that can help you sign up for the service at even more affordable prices.

Perhaps the biggest drawback with Visible is that it has a much more limited list of compatible phones as compared to a T-Mobile-based MVNO, which is why we recommend checking your phone's compatibility before you proceed. For the most part, the latest iPhones, as well as high-end Android devices such as the Google Pixel 10 series and the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra are going to work well on the network. Some older phones might be compatible too, so it's well worth checking them on the IMEI Checker tool on Visible's website.

Best for customization

Since US Mobile utilizes the networks of all of the 'Big Three' carriers, it lets you choose which base network you prefer for coverage. However, to get the most out of it, Verizon is the preferred choice. You get differing amounts of data and hotspot usage based on your choice. While US Mobile used to have a fully custom plan structure, its current unlimited plans are incredible when it comes to overall value. You can save even more when you bring over multiple lines.

The two main plans are called 'Unlimited Starter' and 'Unlimited Premium' and have regular single-line costs of $25 per month and $44 per month, respectively. Both include unlimited talk and text (both in the U.S. as well as internationally), mmWave and C-band 5G access, and lots of dedicated hotspot data. Unlimited Starter gives you at least 70GB of high-speed data, while Unlimited Premium makes it, well, unlimited. The higher plan also makes you eligible for multi-line subscription perks (if you get three lines), through which you can add a bundle of services (e.g., Audible, Hulu, and Xbox Gamepass) to your plan for just $15 per month.

There's also a third 'Unlimited Flex' plan that effectively costs $17.50 per month, but it's available only as an annual option. US Mobile's 'By the Gig' feature allows you to get chunks of data which can be shared among devices across multiple lines and includes the price of first line as well.

Best for families

Cricket Wireless is a prepaid carrier owned by AT&T and remains one of the best options for getting more affordable service on the former's network. The fact of the matter is that some users just get a more consistent coverage through AT&T, so it's nice that Cricket Wireless offers competitive rates, along with the option of unlimited high-speed data on its highest plan. Still, the operator's cheaper plans are quite compelling too.

Cricket Wireless has four primary plans, with the base plan offering 10GB of data at $30 per month. Next, the $35 per month plan increases the data allowance to unlimited. That said, both of these basic plans lack hotspot functionality. Next up are the two unlimited plans, with the cheaper one priced at $45 per month and offering 15GB of hotspot data, 100GB of cloud storage, and unlimited texting to more than 200 countries and territories. Apart from these, you can also sign up in advance for either three or 12 months of service at effective monthly prices of $15 and $25, respectively. This will give you benefits like unlimited data, 2GB of cloud storage, Mexico and Canada usage, and more. The carrier also has a trio of data only plans if you don't require calling functionality.

If you want to get multi-line discounts, Cricket Wireless is definitely worth taking a look at. For example, if you get five lines, you can grab the lower unlimited plan at a mere $32 per month for each line.

Best high-speed data

As its name suggests, Metro by T-Mobile is a prepaid carrier owned by T-Mobile and offers plans that quite resemble the parent carrier's offerings, along with a few extras. For one thing, the prices are inclusive of all taxes and fees for all main plans, so what you see is what you pay. You also get some nice perks generally available with the best T-Mobile plans, without having to get into any contracts.

The starter unlimited plan costs $40 per month and packs unlimited high-speed data and a five-year guarantee, if you bring your own number. Of course, you get unlimited talk and text too. Next up, the $50 per month plan offers you 8GB of dedicated hotspot data, 100GB of cloud storage via Google One, and some other goodies. Then there's the $60 per month plan, which increases your dedicated hotspot allowance to 25GB and also adds unlimited texting to more than 210 destinations around the world, along with Amazon Prime.

It's worth mentioning that all plans of Metro by T-Mobile include some exclusive benefits like T-Mobile Tuesdays promotions, and Scam Shield for blocking spam and robocalls.

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How to choose

Get the right prepaid plan for your requirements

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Even though the best prepaid phone plans come with a diverse range of perks, you should consider your individual requirements before selecting one. To start off, think about how you use your phone. You'll also want to get a good Android phone so that you can take advantage of the latest 5G networks. Of course, the phone has to be unlocked so you can take it with you if you decide to switch carriers in the future.

If you need a ton of data for cheap, Visible is a great starting point. However, it will struggle in more congested areas, so getting a plan with some premium data such as US Mobile's Unlimited Premium plan may be well worth the extra cost for you. If you don't need truly unlimited data, you can get Mint Mobile's 15GB or 20GB plans. These will save a lot of cash in the long run, and the phone compatibility won't be an issue either.

• MVNO deals: Mint Mobile | Visible | Boost | Tello | Cricket Wireless