The best cheap cell phone plans out there can give you as much data as you need, while keeping your monthly wireless costs under $40. Most carriers have at least one low-cost plan, and below I'll highlight a handful of options that stand out for delivering a lot of data for a low price.
I found these plans while research our guide to the best cell phone plans, which sees regular updates as wireless providers change up their offerings. So I'm well aware of what each carrier charges you for their service. And it turns out that you can get unlimited data — in some cases by signing up for the best unlimited data plans — without spending more than $40. Don't need unlimited data? You can save even more cash, as tiered data plans usually can be found for a lot less.
According to my research, Mint Mobile and Visible have the best low-cost options, while Tello has the most flexible range of plans. If you prefer getting your coverage from a more established carrier, try Verizon and its tiered data plan.
In addition to our top seven picks, I've also listed what you can find at a variety of different carriers with a hard cap of $40 each month. That way, you can get a true comparison of what the best cheap cell phone plan really is.
With a lot of phone deals popping up this time of year, you've got a chance to pick a new plan to go with your new handset. With the information below, I can help you make sure that new plan is as cheap as possible.
The quick list
5GB for $15 at Mint
Mint plans start at $15/month for 5GB of data, though after the first three months, you have to pay for a full year of service in advance to get the best monthly rate. Still, it's wroth it for the discount.
Unlimited data for $25 at Visible
Visible's entry-level plan offers unlimited data for $25 a month — and you don't have to pay for a year in advance to get that low rate. Even better: Visible relies on Verizon's network, including 5G.
15GB for $35 at Verizon
Verizon's cheapest prepaid plan is $35/month, which gets you 15GB of data after an autopay discount. Your plan includes 5G coverage, too.
10GB for $19 at Tello
Not everyone needs unlimited data, and Tello provides more than enough data for most people without charging more than $20. Need more or less than 10GB? Tello has a wide range of plans, with nothing costing more than $29.
I'm the managing editor for mobile devices at Tom's Guide, and I've been covering personal technology since 1999, with a focus on smartphones since the first iPhone debuted back in 2007. I joined Tom's Guide in 2014 when I started following wireless carriers. In addition to keeping tabs on the big three carriers, I've also studied plans for smaller mobile virtual network operators, so I'm well versed on what different wireless providers charge for monthly coverage. I spend far too much time looking at my phone screen.
The best cheap cell phone plan overall
Mint Mobile has a whole host of cheap cell phone plans, with four different options costing less $30 or less. We're recommending the 5GB plan since that's Mint's lowest-priced offering, and it includes a decent amount of data alongside unlimited talk and text. After paying for your first three months of service — Mint currently charges $10/month for the 5GB plan, or $30 upfront — you then have to commit to a full year to get Mint's best rate, which is $15/month. Only T-Mobile, Mint's parent company, offers that much data for so low a monthly rate, but that does mean you'll need to pay Mint $180 upfront to lock that rate in.
Apart from the 5GB plan, Mint charges $15/month for the first three months of its three remaining plans, no matter which data tier you're trying. So that means you can enjoy three months of unlimited data just by paying $45. After that initial three-month trial is up, rates return to their normal level, so you'd have to pay $360 to get the lowest monthly rate ($30) for unlimited. You could also switch over to a cheaper plan like the 5GB option.
With coverage using T-Mobile's towers, including fast 5G service, anyone living in an area with a strong T-Mobile signal should enjoy solid coverage from Mint. The biggest obstacle, then, is that big upfront payment to get Mint's best rate. If you can swing that one-time annual cost, though, you can get plenty of value from Mint in return.
| Monthly cost | Data | Row 0 - Cell 2 |
| 5GB | $15 | Row 1 - Cell 2 |
| 15GB | $20 | Row 2 - Cell 2 |
| 20GB | $25 | Row 3 - Cell 2 |
| Unlimited | $30 | Row 4 - Cell 2 |
The best cheap unlimited data plan
Visible joins Mint Mobile in offering an unlimited data plan for less than $40, but Visible's option is cheaper. And unlike Mint, you don't have to pay for a year up front.
Instead, Visible charges on a month-to-month basis for its plans with taxes and fees baked into the rate. That means the entry-level Visible plan is ideal for unlimited data under $40 as it costs you just $25/month.
A current promotion at Visible lets you use the sign-up code 'SWITCH25' to cut the cost of your service for the next 25 months. In the case of the standard Visible plan, you'd pay $20/month, saving yourself $5. But the savings are even greater if you sign up for the more expensive Visible Plus plan. Normally $45/month, the Visible Plus rate drops to $30 when you use the 'SWITCH25' code at sign-up.
That's great news since the cheaper of Visible's two unlimited data plans comes with some trade-offs: your data speeds can be slowed whenever parent network Verizon is experiencing lots of traffic, and you won't get faster Ultra Wideband 5G. Visible Plus benefits from Ultra Wideband 5G, and there are travel perks as well, so I'd suggest opting for that plan under the current offer. Visible's rate reduction promotion runs until January 31.
See Visible's unlimited data plan.
| Monthly cost | Data | Row 0 - Cell 2 |
| $25 | Unlimited (speeds can be slowed) | Row 1 - Cell 2 |
| $45 | Unlimited (no speed caps) | Row 2 - Cell 2 |
Best tiered data plan
The best prepaid phone plan at Verizon also happens to be one of the best cheap cell phone plans under $40, provided that you enroll in autopay. That saves you $10 a month on your bill, bringing the cost of this 15GB down from $45 to $35 per month. In exchange, you get a large pool of data — 15GB to be exact — which you can also draw on for hotspot data.
You're able to use talk, text and data while traveling in Canada and Mexico so long as it only accounts for 50% of your usage over 60 days. You also get 5G service, though it isn't through Verizon's fastest Ultra Wideband network, which requires a more expensive Verizon plan.
The advantage to Verizon's plan is that you're not paying for unlimited data you don't use, since the majority of cell phone users use 6GB or less each month. Even so, Verizon's tiered data plan is more expensive than unlimited data at Mint and Visible even after the prepay enrollment discount. So you'll have to figure out just how much turning to an established name like Verizon is worth to you, compared to more obscure services such as Mint and Visible.
See Verizon's 15GB prepaid plan.
| Monthly cost | Data | Row 0 - Cell 2 |
| $35 | 15GB | Row 1 - Cell 2 |
| $50 | Unlimited | Row 2 - Cell 2 |
| $60 | Unlimited + Ultra Wideband 5G | Row 3 - Cell 2 |
Best cheap plan under $20
Tello is an MVNO — that's mobile virtual network operator, if you're unfamiliar wit the term — with a wide range of plans staring at $9 for 1GB and going all the way up to $29 for unlimited data. For most people, the 10GB plan should hit the sweet spot, as it delivers more than enough data for most people. Also, it comes in at just under $20/month.
Perks are few with Tello, though you can make calls to 60-plus countries with your plan. You coverage comes via T-Mobile's network, including that carrier's 5G service. Should you hit the 10GB cap, you'll either need to refill your plan or purchase add-on data, though Tello lets you upgrade or downgrade your line whenever you need to.
Perhaps Tello's biggest appeal is that it's a true month-to-month plan, without requiring the big upfront payment that a service like Mint does for its cheapest rate. With Tello, what you see is what you get.
See Tello's 10GB plan.
| Monthly cost | Data | Row 0 - Cell 2 |
| $8 | Talk & text only | Row 1 - Cell 2 |
| $9 | 1GB | Row 2 - Cell 2 |
| $10 | 2GB | Row 3 - Cell 2 |
| $14 | 5GB | Row 4 - Cell 2 |
| $19 | 10GB | Row 5 - Cell 2 |
| $24 | 15GB | Row 6 - Cell 2 |
| $25 | Unlimited | Row 7 - Cell 2 |
Best cheap plans compared
Here's what each of our top picks for best cheap data plan charge and how much data you get in return. We've also listed what happens if you use all your data, whether in a tiered data plan or you hit the high-speed data cap on an unlimited offering.
| Row 0 - Cell 0 | Cost | Data | Data cap reached |
| Mint Mobile | $15/month | 5GB | Data slowed to 128 Kbps |
| Visible | $25/month | Unlimited | Speeds can be slowed whenever Verizon's network is congested |
| Verizon | $35/month | 15GB | Data slowed to 128 Kbps |
| Tello | $19/month | 10GB | Data refill required |
Cheap cell phone plans from the big carriers
While our picks for best cheap cell phone plan highlight smaller carriers for the most part, we recognize that some people prefer to get their wireless service from more established providers. If the Verizon prepaid plan up above isn't a good fit for you, both T-Mobile and AT&T have options that cost less than $40 a month that certainly make them strong contenders for your next cell phone plan. However, we'll also highlight the drawbacks that we think put those options behind our recommendations from above.
T-Mobile: T-Mobile offers low-cost wireless coverage through its Simple Connect plan, where you get 5GB of data every month for a very low $15/month. Coverage comes through T-Mobile's extensive network and includes 5G coverage — that's important since T-Mobile's 5G is the fastest in the U.S. according to third-party test firms.
Since introducing Simple Connect, T-Mobile has expanded the amount of data in its plan annually while keeping the price at $15. However, those increases are set to end in 2025. If the current 5GB limit is too low for you, you can opt for 8GB and 12GB plans instead — at $25 and $35, respectively, they're still under our $40 limit.
The trouble with T-Mobile's Simple Connect plan is that when you use up all your data in a given month, you've either got to pay for more data or go without until the end of the billing cycle. That's different from other plans like Mint's, where your data speeds are merely slowed when you hit your cap.
AT&T: The best low-cost option at AT&T is an unlimited data plan where you get 16GB of high-speed data each month. (Use that allotment up, and your data speeds slow down.) The monthly cost is just $25/month, which is actually cheaper than Mint's unlimited data plan. However, like Mint, you've got to pay for a year of service up front — that's $300 in AT&T's case. And that can be an awfully big payment to make when you're on a budget, even if it means lower monthly costs over the long haul.
You do get some perks with AT&T's prepaid plan: 10GB of hotspot data, 5G coverage where available, unlimited texting to 230 countries and calls to Canada and Mexico from the U.S. So for people not put off by the size of the annual payment who live in areas with strong AT&T coverage, this deal may be worth it.
Boost Mobile: It may not be as big as AT&T, T-Mobile or Verizon, but Boost is looking to establish itself as another major carrier with its very own wireless network. One of the ways Boost is hoping to build up its customer base is with aggressively priced plans, like a $25/month unlimited data that offers 30GB of high-speed data before your speeds are slowed.
The real appeal of Boost's $25 option is cost certainty — Boost guarantees you'll keep that low monthly rate so long as you remain an active customer of its service. Perks are pretty bare bones with Boost's plan, but if you feel comfortable to committing to the carrier for the foreseeable future.
Other cheap cell phone plans to consider
Our research has turned up a few other cheap cell phone plans under $40 that deserve some attention, even if they didn't make the cut for our top picks. We're including them here so that you can see what they cost compared to our favorite cheap cell phone plans and what you get in return.
- Consumer Cellular: For $35/month, you can get 10GB of data on the networks of AT&T or T-Mobile. AARP members get a 5% discount, making this a top choice for seniors.
- Cricket: Enroll in autopay and you can reduce the cost of a 10GB plan to $35/month on this AT&T-owned prepaid carrier. Like AT&T, Cricket lets you pay in advance for an unlimited data plan, where your one-time payment works out to $25/month — nice if you can afford that $300 upfront.
- Google Fi: Google charges a lot for wireless coverage — $20 for talk and text, plus $10 for each GB of data you use. But you get the best international coverage with the Flexible plan.
- Metro by T-Mobile: Metro's plan scrapes under our $40 limit after you enroll in auto pay, but you get 10GB per month, plus the ability ot upgrade your phone after a year.
- Now Mobile: This low-cost service from Comcast provides an unlimited data plan for $25/month, with taxes and fees included in that rate. You will need to get your broadband service from either Xfinity or Now to sign up for Now mobile coverage.
- TextNow: Pay nothing for talk and text at TextNow and use Wi-Fi for your data connection. Need cellular data? Prices range from 99 cents for a day pass to $40 for a month of unlimited data, though TextNow's free plan now includes some data for essential tasks like checking email and accessing ride-sharing apps.
- Total Wireless: Verizon's renamed prepaid service has a Base 5G Unlimited plan that hits our $40/month limit for cheap phone plans. You get some pretty good perks like 5GB of hotspot data and a $200 credit on a 5G phone purchase after 12 months of service.
- Ultra Mobile: We like the low-cost options available at this T-Mobile-owned carrier, where you can pay $15/month for talk and text plus a mere 250MB of data. There are more data-packed plans available at Ultra, and you can pay in advance to lower your monthly rate further.
- US Mobile: The best cheap plan at US Mobile is a $25 Unlimited Starter plan, where you get 35GB of high-speed data and 10GB of hotspot data, with taxes and fees included in the rate. You pick the network you want your service on, and you're able to jump to other networks — US Mobile calls this a "teleport" — twice for free. After that, teleports cost $2 each.
Frequently asked questions
What is a prepaid data plan?
You may have noticed that most of the plans included in our best cheap cell phone plan round-up are prepaid options. These are plans where you pay up front at the start of a month, and the amount of data you've bought is the amount you get. (Some carriers will simply slow down your data if you hit your cap, while others require you to buy more data, which is why we specify that information in the chart above.)
Prepaid plans are the opposite of postpaid plans, as those latter options will charge you at the end of the month for the data and services you've used. Postpaid plans offer more flexibility, but they almost always require a credit check. Prepaid plans don't since you're paying in advance; they also tend to be cheaper with fewer perks than postpaid options. But since you're on the lookout for the best cheap cell phone plans, that's a feature, not a flaw.
What should I consider when looking for the best cheap cell phone plan?
Overall price is going to be your biggest consideration. That's why we imposed a limit of $40 a month to make sure we're evaluating plans that will fit in many budgets.
But price isn’t the only criteria to look at. You'll want to concentrate your search on who provides the best cell phone coverage in your area and whether the discount carrier you're considering uses that carrier's network. With the exception of AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon, none of the discount carriers we've mentioned here operate their own network. Rather, as mobile virtual network operators, or MVNOs, they piggyback on the cellular networks built by one or more of the major carriers. Some carriers, such as Republic Wireless and Google Fi, also offload calls and texts to Wi-Fi when available, as part of their efforts to keep monthly costs low.
You'll want to look at the variety of plans each carrier offers and whether you could move to a different plan if your talk, text and data needs change.
What about family plans?
We've focused on plans for individuals in this guide, but if you're searching for the best family cell phone plan, look into whether a carrier offers discounts on multiple lines. While perks generally aren't included with cheap cell phone plans, look to see if there are some added benefits such as hotspot data.
Our pick for the best prepaid family plan coms from Total Wireless, which charges a total of $110/month for four lines of its unlimited data plan. That works out to $27.50/line if you're still trying to keep those per-line costs under $40. Total, which uses Verizon's network, includes 5G Ultra Wideband coverage, 15GB of hotspot data, and six months of Disney Plus with this plan.
As an alternative, consider Cricket Wireless' Unlimited + 15 GB Mobile Hotspot option on AT&T's network. It costs $130/month for four lines — $32.50 for each line — and its included perks include the aforementioned hotspot data and a subscription to the ad-supported tier of Max.
How do you pick the best cheap cell phone plans?
We are constantly looking at what phone carriers offer, as part of our research into the best cell phone plans. That includes looking at what's available from the major carriers — AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon — as well as from discount carriers. We check prices monthly, comparing what different services have to offer.
For our best cheap cell phone plans guide, we set a limit of $40 per month, only looking at plans that fall under this threshold. Price is paramount in our rankings, though we do make note of how much data each plan provides as well as any perks to keep in mind. That can help distinguish two equally priced plans — or even make a slightly more expensive plan a better value overall.
Because cell phone coverage can differ from area to area, we try to include a wide variety of cell phone plans priced at $40 or less, so that you can find the best rate for the wireless service with the strongest coverage in your area.
