The best prepaid phone plans in 2024 (2024)

The best prepaid phone plans put a hard cap on your monthly cell phone bill so that you always know what the cost will be. With a prepaid plan, you pay in advance — sometimes up to a year in advance in exchange for a lower rate — removing any chance of overage charges when your bill arrives. Even better, prepaid plans usually cost less than postpaid plans from big-name phone carriers.

The trick to finding a top prepaid plan is to broaden your search. Yes, AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon have prepaid plans of their own — some of them are quite good — but you can find additional savings if you consider mobile virtual network operators (also known as MVNOs). These services use other carriers' networks and cut back on perks to offer lower-priced plans, as you can see with our pick for the best prepaid plan overall at Mint Mobile.

A prepaid plan doesn't necessarily mean settling for limits on how much data you get each month. The best cheap phone plans do include some options aimed at low-data users, but our picks for the best prepaid phone plans also include unlimited data for a lot less than what you'd pay elsewhere.

I've spent the past decade reviewing the best cell phone plans for Tom's Guide and that work includes considering prepaid plans from carriers big and small. When I look at prepaid plans, I'm considering how much data you get in exchange for your monthly rate as well as what happens when you use up all your data in a given month. (Do your speeds slow down, or do you have to buy additional data?) Another thing to consider if you turn to an MVNO: what network are they using for their service?

Below you'll find my recommendations for the best prepaid plans based on that criteria. I'd steer you toward Mint Mobile or AT&T if you can afford the upfront payment; otherwise, Verizon and Visible give you a lot of data at reasonable monthly rates.

The quick list

The best prepaid phone plan overall

Best prepaid plan value

The best prepaid plan from a big carrier

The best prepaid unlimited data plan

Best low-cost prepaid plan

The best range of prepaid phone plans

The best prepaid plan for families

Best prepaid plan perks

Best price-lock guarantee

What is a prepaid phone plan

There are two kinds of cell phone plans — prepaid and postpaid. With a prepaid plan, you pay for data at the beginning of the month; that way, you know your precise costs for budgeting purposes. (Prepaid plans also don't require credit checks, so it's easier to get service if you've got a low credit score.)

Should you use up your allotted data for a month, many carriers will just slow down your data speeds for the rest of the billing cycle. In some cases, you'll need to top off your plan with data. That's why it's important to pick a prepaid phone plan with the right amount of data for your needs.

Many phone carriers prioritize traffic from postpaid customers, so it's possible that data rates can be slowed if you're using a prepaid plan. That's especially true when you use a mobile virtual network operator, or MVNO, such as Mint, Metro or Cricket, where your phone service is piggy-backing on another carrier's network.

Best prepaid phone plans: What you should consider

When shopping for a prepaid phone plan, price is paramount. That’s because prepaid plans don’t often come with the kind of benefits postpaid cell phone plans offer. That said, some carriers — notably, Metro By T-Mobile — do work in a few perks, so be aware of those when picking your plans.

You'll also want to pay attention to discounts and special offers. Often, larger carriers like AT&T and Verizon will adjust the size of their autopay discount, which can make a pricier plan more attractive. Metro by T-Mobile has been known to increase discounts for each line of data you add, too, making it a good choice for families.

Besides price, one of the most important things to consider is what carrier offers the best coverage around your home and workplace. That’s true even if you look beyond the Big Three carriers for service. MVNOs use the cellular networks of AT&T, T-Mobile or Verizon for their coverage. So if Verizon’s network is particularly strong where you are, for example, MVNOs that use Verizon’s network for coverage will perform well, too. As we mentioned above, MVNOs can see their traffic slowed if a carrier’s network gets too crowded.

5G coverage is included with most MVNO service by now. Metro subscribers can access T-Mobile's 5G with an eligible phone, as can Mint Mobile customers. Visible has added 5G access on Verizon's network to select phones, and Cricket customers can now use AT&T's 5G connectivity with any of that MVNO's plans.

For more on MVNOs, read our guides to , T-Mobile MVNOs and Verizon MVNOs — we'll tell you which discount carriers use which parent networks.

The best prepaid phone plans and free trials

Some prepaid carriers offer free trials, in which you can test out their service on your current phone without having to switch carriers first. It's a convenient way of seeing if a prepaid carrier's coverage is strong in your area.

Mint Mobile's free trial lets you sample the service for seven days. You're given 250MB of data, 250 minutes of talk time and 250 texts to see what Mint's service is all about.

The free trial at Cricket, which AT&T owns and operates, runs for 14 days and lets you use up to 3GB of data.

Visible's free trial lasts 15 days. In addition to iPhones, it's now open to Samsung and Google Pixel devices that can support eSIM.

Boost Mobile offers a 30-day money back guarantee in which you get your service fees returned if you cancel within 30 days of activation.

How we pick the best prepaid phone plans

Finding the best prepaid phone plans means widening our search beyond the major carriers, though AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon all have prepaid offerings. We also research plans from smaller carriers who use the Big Three's cellular towers to provide their coverage. As smaller carriers usually offer their service at a discount, they make up a majority of the candidates that we consider for best prepaid phone plans.

When we pick the best plans, we put a premium on the monthly price, though we also pay attention to how much data comes with that plan. After all, a carrier may not charge you a lot for data, but it also may not provide enough data for your needs. We're picking plans that offer the best mix of cost and data. We also consider a wide variety of data allotments, since some people can get by very happily using just a couple gigabytes of data each month, while others need an unlimited plan.

As noted previously, prepaid plans don't offer much in the way of perks. That said, we do take note of any special add-ons included with the best prepaid plans, as those can add value to a plan above and beyond its monthly cost.