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Most people subscribe directly to mobile providers, such as AT&T, T-Mobile or Verizon. However, if you’re looking to save money on your mobile plan, there are a number of smaller cell phone services that can get you solid service at a cheaper rate. A lot of the bigger providers tout unlimited plans as the big attraction, but smaller carriers still offer a variety of plans with high-speed data or even a better price on unlimited plans. If you’re interested in switching over, these are the best prepaid phone plans in 2023.
There are a ton of providers, but for the purposes of this article, I’m going to focus on just a few: Boost Mobile, Cricket, Mint, Google Fi, Tracfone, Metro by T-Mobile, Total by Verizon, Verizon Prepaid and AT&T Prepaid. Since these carriers also have so many different plan options, I’m also going to focus on the best options for under 5GB of data, under 10GB of data and unlimited plans.
Read more: Cheap Phone Plans Compared
What exactly is a prepaid phone plan?
There are two main types of ways to pay for phone service: postpaid, where you pay at the end of the month, and prepaid, where you buy service before you use your phone. The advertisements you see for AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon are almost always for postpaid plans, while the plans and carriers we’re talking about here are all prepaid plans.
You’re buying the data and access in advance of using it. Prepaid plan providers let you purchase in various increments — 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, six months or even a full year — with prices often varying depending on how long you’re willing to commit to.
In this story, I’m comparing single-year prepaid cell phone plans.
Will your area get good cell coverage?
As I noted when covering the best unlimited plans, to get the most out of your deal you need to make sure you have the coverage you need. This makes it hard to give a blanket recommendation of any one carrier: T-Mobile’s service in New York may be excellent, but if you’re in, say, rural Iowa, Verizon is more reliable.
Prepaid providers almost always use someone else’s service. Before you sign up for one, it’s worth checking what the underlying network is. Each offers some version of 5G and I’ve broken this all down here, but to recap:
- Boost Mobile uses AT&T and T-Mobile for now (it’s switching to a combination of AT&T, T-Mobile and parent Dish’s own network in the future)
- Mint uses T-Mobile
- Cricket uses AT&T
- Google Fi uses T-Mobile and US Cellular
- Metro uses T-Mobile
- Tracfone uses Verizon
- Verizon Prepaid is on Verizon
- Total uses Verizon
- AT&T Prepaid is on AT&T
If you have any friends or family in your area who already use the prepaid carrier you’re considering, ask about their experience. You could also go to a major carrier’s store and see if it offers any free ways to try out the service before switching over, such as T-Mobile’s Network Pass.
Boost Mobile will use a combination of AT&T, T-Mobile and its own network.
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Know the prepaid phone plan promos and deals
As with the main carriers, there are periods of time when the prepaid players offer deals. Boost Mobile used to run a promo for new customers that let you get three lines with unlimited talk, text and data for $90 per month ($30 per line) after “your first payment of $100.” It has since added a new unlimited plan that is $25 per month for new users, though each line has to be separate and cannot be grouped together on a family plan.
Some prepaid providers will even give discounts on buying a new device, though unlike the main carriers don’t expect the same big promotions offering a free new iPhone 14 or Galaxy S22. Those deals are often tied to 24- or 36-month installment plans, which prepaid by its nature does not really offer.
Best prepaid phone plans
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Boost Mobile has added an unlimited plan for new users that offers unlimited talk, text and data for $25 per month with taxes and fees included. Unlike Mint Mobile’s 12-month plan, our previous pick in this slot, Boost’s plan isn’t tied to 12-month increments. You do, however, need to be a new Boost customer to get the offer.
The plan includes 5G access and 30GB per month of high-speed data (if you blow through that your data will slow until your next billing month starts). Hotspot is included as well, with that data pulling from your high-speed allotment. One thing worth noting: You do need to set up automatic payments to get the $25-per-month rate.
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Ryan Reynolds’ phone company has made a name for itself with its quirky advertising, but it also has one of the better offers for unlimited data that we’ve seen. For 12 months, you can get unlimited talk, text and data for $30 per month per line. Running on T-Mobile’s networks, you get 35GB of high-speed data on 5G and 4G LTE per month, though if you do blow through that before your 30-day period resets, your speeds will slow to “3G speeds.”
There’s also 5GB of high-speed hotspot data and free international calls to Mexico and Canada.
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As with all plans, the value will change depending on your specific needs and if that particular network works well in your area. Google has updated the unlimited plans on its Fi cell phone service that not only lowers the monthly price, but also adds in a few useful features. While its $50 pricing for one line is way higher than Mint’s, if you have three lines or more you can save a bit.
Called Simply Unlimited, the plan runs $25 per line per month with three lines and drops to $20 per month if you have four or more lines. It now includes 35GB of high-speed data plus talk, text and data in Canada and Mexico. The plan also now offers 5GB of hotspot data, though that is a “hard” cap where the hotspot feature stops after 5GB is used, as opposed to the data slowing.
One thing to note: Google Fi still does not offer 5G connectivity for Apple iPhones.
Other options: Metro and Cricket each offer a similar option that’s $30 per line if you have three lines, but if you have four or five lines the price per line would drop to $25 per line per month ($100 a month for four lines, $125 for five lines). Both are still pricier than Fi’s updated offering and neither offer mobile hotspot data with these plans.
Cricket says it “may temporarily slow data speeds if the network is busy,” whereas Google says it will slow data if you exceed 35GB in a month. Metro speeds will similarly slow if you use over 35GB in a month, and T-Mobile will prioritize its own users over those on Metro plans.
Tracfone does not offer a traditional unlimited data plan. Verizon and AT&T’s prepaid options start at $50 a month with automatic payments ($65 without).
Editors’ note: On Jan. 30, Google disclosed that a Google Fi data breach had occurred that included date of account activation, plan details, the SIM card serial number and whether an account is active. The number of customers affected was not released.
Sarah Tew/CNET
Cricket and Metro also offer perks with their top unlimited plans — in the case of Cricket you get a subscription to HBO Max with ads, while Metro offers a subscription to Amazon Prime, one year of ViX Plus and 100GB of Google One storage. But those prices are higher per line if you were only looking for one, two or three lines.
If you’re looking for four or more lines, the top Metro unlimited plan could be worth considering. A promotion has that down to $30 a month per line, so if that’s your budget you may want to look at that deal, as for the same price per line you may as well get the perks like Amazon Prime and Google One alongside the service.
Verizon’s new Total by Verizon service includes Disney Plus with its top plan, but at $60 per month for a single line and $165 per month for four lines it’s probably not worth it.
If price is the biggest factor for you, look at Google Fi’s Simply Unlimited plan we mentioned above.
Anything less than four lines, however, and Metro is a lot pricier than Mint. One phone line with this top unlimited plan runs $60 a month, two lines are $90 a month and three lines are $120.
It is worth mentioning that Metro — like AT&T, Verizon and Boost — works with the government’s Affordable Connectivity Program. If you qualify for that program, Metro’s $40 per month unlimited plan could be had for $10 per month (and the one with perks could be $30 per month instead of its regular $60 monthly).
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When it comes to data under 10GB, Mint once again has the best value if T-Mobile’s network is solid in your area. Whereas Metro and Cricket charge $40 per month for one line and Boost has a $35 plan for 10GB of data, Mint beats them all on price.
Getting 10GB of 4G LTE/5G monthly data is $20 per month at Mint when purchased in 12-month increments for new users. After that, you can buy three more months at $35 per month ($105 total), six months at $25 per month ($150 total) or another year at $20 per month ($240 total).
Other options: Google Fi has a “bill protection” feature designed to refund you for data you don’t use, but with a maximum monthly charge of $80 per month for one line and 6GB of data and unlimited talk/text, I think you’re better off looking elsewhere instead of having to calculate how much data you’re using.
AT&T has an online offer of 16GB per month plan if you prepay the $300 for a full year (equating to $25 per month).
Tracfone doesn’t have a 10GB plan but has two other options directly above and below it. The first is an 8GB-per-month plan that runs $35 per month if you enable auto-refill, or $40 per month regularly. The provider does have a 24GB plan for one year that runs $199, though that 24GB is all the data you get for the year.
The perk with the AT&T and Tracfone plans is that any unused data carries over to the next month. For the latter, if you’re looking for a prepaid provider on Verizon it’s hard to top what amounts to a monthly rate of $16.58.
Sarah Tew/CNET
Boost Mobile has a few enticing plans at 5GB or less, particularly if you’re a new customer. The carrier offers a $14 per month plan that offers 5GB of high-speed data per month with the ability to use that allotment for mobile hotspot. You’ll need to prepay for 12 months of service to get this offer ($168), but it’s better bang for your buck than the $15 per month for 4GB of data Mint Mobile offers new customers who prepay for a year.
Metro, Total by Verizon and Cricket each charge $30 per month for 5GB of data and Tracfone has a 4GB data plan but that runs $25 when on auto-refill ($30 without).
Boost, however, has a $100 deal that offers 1GB of data per month for a full year for new customers. That breaks down to $8.33 per month. If you don’t have Boost, find yourself largely on Wi-Fi and price is the biggest driver for you, this is the go-to pick if looking for a new service.
T-Mobile has a few T-Mobile Connect deals including a $25 per month option with unlimited talk/text and 6GB of data (with an extra 500MB of data added to your plan every year). The carrier also has a $10 per month Connect option that includes 1,000 domestic minutes for talk, 1,000 domestic and 1GB of data.
As we said at the top, the best deal is the one that works best for you.
Read more: What to Know Before You Buy a New iPhone or Android Phone
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