Best Prepaid Cell Phone Plans 2020

Kelsey SheehyOctober 2, 2020
Many or all of the products featured here are from our partners who compensate us. This may influence which products we write about and where and how the product appears on a page. However, this does not influence our evaluations. Our opinions are our own. Here is a list of our partners and here's how we make money.

Lower costs. More flexibility. No credit check. No contract. There are many reasons to consider a prepaid phone plan and there are many options to consider.

We evaluated the prepaid plans offered by more than a dozen wireless carriers to find the best ones, based on price and features, among other important factors.

Our recommendations

NerdWallet makes managing your finances easy

Keep track of your spending, credit score, and even find fresh ways to save.

Sign up – it's free

Best prepaid plans: data

These plans offer the best value for smartphone users looking for a prepaid plan.

Boost Mobile

  • Plan name: Boost Unlimited

  • Price (monthly): $50 (includes taxes and fees)

  • Plan at a glance: Unlimited minutes, texts and data

  • Why we like it: Boost’s plan includes more high-speed mobile hot spot data (12GB) than similarly priced plans offered by its competitors.

T-Mobile

  • Plan name: T-Mobile Simply Prepaid 10GB plan

  • Price (monthly): $40

  • Plan at a glance: 10GB of data, plus unlimited talk and text

  • Why we like it: Mobile hot spot access and unlimited music streaming make this prepaid plan a great value, plus 10GB is more than enough data for most cell phone users.

THINGS TO KNOW

This prepaid plan comes with 12GB of mobile hot spot data, but video streaming is limited to standard definition. Boost was owned by Sprint, which recently struck a deal to merge with T-Mobile. That deal included selling its prepaid service (including Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile) to Dish Network, but overall, it’s business as usual for Boost Mobile customers.

T-Mobile Simply Prepaid includes mobile hot spot access, which draws from the 10GB of 4G LTE data included in the plan. Unlimited music streaming is available via select apps.

Best prepaid plans: families

Want a family plan without the multiyear commitment? These prepaid plans offer just that.

Boost Mobile

  • Plan name: Boost Mobile Unlimited

  • Price (monthly, four lines): $140 (includes taxes and fees)

  • Plan at a glance: Unlimited talk, text and data, plus 12GB of mobile hot spot and unlimited music streaming

  • Why we like it: The plan includes unlimited talk, text, data and partner music streaming, plus ample high-speed mobile hot spot data for a reasonable price.

Cricket

  • Plan name: Cricket Core Unlimited

  • Price (monthly, four lines): $100 (includes taxes)

  • At a glance: Unlimited talk, text and data

  • Why we like it: An excellent deal for a family of four that includes texting from the U.S. to nearly 40 other countries.

Things to know:

Boost was previously owned by Sprint. Sprint struck a deal to merge with T-Mobile that included selling its prepaid service (including Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile) to Dish Network, but the merger is still fresh. For now, it’s business as usual for Boost Mobile customers.

Data speeds on the Core Unlimited plan are capped at 8Mbps, which is slower than the 4G LTE speeds most smartphone users expect but still fast enough for most smartphone activities. Video streaming is in standard definition. Cricket is owned by AT&T and uses its network.

 

Best prepaid plans: no data

You don’t want data, but you don’t want to be limited to a 30-minute phone call each month, either. These plans are for you.

Republic Wireless

  • Plan name: My Choice Talk & Text

  • Price (monthly): $15

  • At a glance: Unlimited minutes and text messages; not available on iPhones

  • Why we like it: Just minutes and messages for a very low cost, plus data access via Wi-Fi

Ting

  • Plan name: Ting Single Line (no data)

  • Price (monthly): $12 per month

  • At a glance: 100 minutes, 100 text messages

  • Why we like it: A basic plan tailored to your usage

THINGS TO KNOW:

Republic’s phones use a combination of Sprint's and T-Mobile's networks and Wi-Fi for calls, texts and data. Due to the technology required, Republic supports only a handful of smartphones.

Usage is billed in tiers, so you pay for only what you use in a given month. Use more than 100 minutes or 100 texts and you’ll pay more than $12. Use nothing and you’ll pay just the $6 monthly base charge, plus taxes and fees. You can set usage alerts and caps via your Ting dashboard. And chances are good that you can keep your old phone. Ting says that most phones work on its network.

Best prepaid plans: pay as you go

These two pay-as-you-go plans are simple and have price points to match.

T-Mobile

  • Plan name: T-Mobile (via Ultra Mobile) PayGo

  • Price (monthly): $3

  • At a glance: Includes 100 minutes, 100 texts and 100MB 4G LTE data; three cents per minute or MB and one cent per message over the limit

  • Why we like it: It's a bare-bones plan with a price to match.

AT&T

  • Plan name: AT&T Daily Plan

  • Price: $2 per day of use

  • At a glance: Unlimited minutes and text messages. You pay nothing if you don't use your phone that day.

  • Why we like it: You pay nothing on days you don't use your phone

things to know:

The $3 plan is technically via Ultra Mobile now, but that is mostly in name only. It still runs on T-Mobile's network and you can only get the plan at T-Mobile stores. The PayGo plan gives you 100 minutes, 100 texts and 100MB of data per month. The data can also be used for mobile hot spot access. Minutes and MBs used beyond the 100 included in the plan cost three cents each. Additional texts are one cent each.

You pay the $2 fee only if you place or receive a call or send a text message. So if you don’t use the phone for three months, you pay nothing. Keep in mind that checking your voicemail counts as using your phone for that day. This plan is only available at AT&T stores.

Best prepaid plans: summary

Details

Plan: Boost Unlimited

Best overall Monthly cost: $50

Plan: T-Mobile Simply Prepaid - 10GB

Best overall

Monthly cost: $40

Plan: Boost Unlimited

Best for: families

Monthly cost: $140 (four lines)

Plan: Cricket Core Unlimited

Best for: families

Monthly cost: $100 (4 lines)

Plan: My Choice Talk & Text

Best for: People who don't want data

Monthly cost: $15

Plan: Ting Single Line

Best for: People who don't want data

Monthly cost: $12

Plan: T-Mobile PayGo (via Ultra Mobile)

Best for: People who want a pay-as-you-go option

Monthly cost: $3

Plan: AT&T Daily Plan

Best for: People who want a pay-as-you-go option

Cost: $2 per day of use

What to know about prepaid plans

Prepaid phone plans are starting to mimic the traditional plans offered by major carriers such as T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T, minus the contract, credit check and expensive plan. Many prepaid providers are owned by those big-name carriers, which also offer their own prepaid plans.

There are some trade-offs with prepaid service, though. You typically pay full price for a new phone, rather than spreading the payments out over 24 months, but almost all prepaid providers have the inexpensive phones — as low as $1 in some cases. Some prepaid carriers let you bring your own phone.

Before choosing a prepaid plan — or any cell phone plan, really — take stock of how you use your phone. If you regularly check email and Instagram, a pay-as-you-go plan is not for you. If you go days or weeks without using your phone, though, pay-as-you-go is a great option.

METHODOLOGY

To determine the best plans, we looked at the monthly plan price before taxes and fees; high-speed data allotment; when applicable, the price per gigabyte; and features such as unlimited music streaming. We considered only national carriers, which ruled out regional providers like U.S. Cellular.

We want to hear from you and encourage a lively discussion among our users. Please help us keep our site clean and safe by following our posting guidelines, and avoid disclosing personal or sensitive information such as bank account or phone numbers. Any comments posted under NerdWallet’s official account are not reviewed or endorsed by representatives of financial institutions affiliated with the reviewed products, unless explicitly stated otherwise.