The best prepaid and no contract plans in the US (September 2018)

When we first started this prepaid carrier list in 2012, things were starting to get exciting. We were seeing processors with more cores, screens in true HD, and things were starting to get really interesting for Android. It’s now 2018 and the mobile industry has undergone a striking revolution. Carriers are becoming less aggressive, off-contract phones are getting better and cheaper, and things don’t look anything like they did in 2012. Read Next: Best unlimited data plans in the US The one thing that hasn’t changed is the value of a good no contract plan or a pre-paid plan so let’s take a look at the best ones right now. US Mobile Promoted US Mobile might not be a household name but a growing number of consumer choices makes this MVNO worthy of your attention. Operating on Verizon and T-Mobile’s networks, US Mobile offers exceptional coverage that easily competes with the ‘big boys’. Even better, US Mobile is giving Android Authority readers the chance to save $15 upon initial sign up. To save $15, you’ll want to pick your plan and order a SIM card. Upon checkout you’ll see a box that says “Promo Code” and you’ll want to enter ANDAUSM. This will give you a $15 credit which can be used towards the SIM card ($4) and the rest can be used towards your first month of coverage. Okay, so you can save extra when signing up for US Mobile, but why give them a chance? US Mobile stands out because the carrier doesn’t just give a few basic plans and then calls it a day, instead they give consumers the option to customize their call, text, and data with 800+ possible combinations. Here’s a break down of their biggest pricing tiers and options: Plan details: Plans begin at as low as $4.50, but go up depending on your combination of data, text, and talk. Super LTE Unlimited plans with prices ranging from $35 to $75 a month. Super LTE Unlimited plans are on offer with three tiers: Standard (1Mbps), Fast (5Mbps), Ludicrous (up to 150Mbps) You choose between the biggest LTE network coverage or the network with the broadest device compatibility. Unlike most carriers if you need to shut down the line for a while, you can hold your number for just $2 a month, effectively snoozing the plan. Head here for more details on plan combinations or to choose an unlimited option. US Mobile prepaid plans & phones T-Mobile T-Mobile has done away with contracts entirely. That means that, technically, every plan on their service is no-contract. Believe it or not, they still have a pre-paid service as well. There are a ton of options to choose from. You can bring your own phone assuming it can use T-Mobile’s service. The only downside is the plan structures have gotten a lot more complicated. See: Best Android T-Mobile prepaid phones Plan details: $45/month – Unlimited talk, unlimited text, 4GB of LTE data. The data is unlimited but it’s throttled after 4GB. $55/month – Unlimited talk, unlimited text, 6GB of LTE data. Technically, it’s unlimited data but you’ll be throttled to 2G speeds after hitting your limit. $70/month – Unlimited talk, unlimited text, unlimited LTE data. Video is streamed at 480p, but you can go up to HD video if you pay an extra $3 a day $70-$180/month – T-Mobile offers unlimited talk, unlimited texts and unlimited data for its prepaid family plans, which offer up to 5 lines on one account. $3/month – Any combination of 30 minutes and 30 texts. $5/month add-on – You can get unlimited calls to and from Mexico and Canada. Additionally, you won’t have data roaming while in those countries. $15/month add-on – Unlimited calls to and from Mexico, Canada, and 30+ countries. Includes unlimited international texting. Hilariously, T-Mobile went from being one of the most simple carriers in the industry to being one of the most complex. Either way, there are some good deals here. Do note that to get all the extra perks, you’ll need at least the $60/month plan or better. AT&T Like Verizon, AT&T has spent the better part of the last few years simplifying their offerings. They are now much easier to understand for the average consumer. Also, like Verizon, you can bring your own device to AT&T’s pre-paid plans as long as they support AT&T’s network. Plan Details: $30/month – Unlimited talk, unlimited text, but no data plan. $35/month – Unlimited talk, unlimited text, 1GB of LTE data. Data speeds go down to 128Kbps after the data limits are reached. $40/month – Unlimited talk, unlimited text, 8GB of data. Data speeds go down to 128Kbps after the data limits are reached. $55/month – Unlimited talk, unlimited text, unlimited LTE data. You may experience data throttling if there is congestion in your area. Video streaming is cut down to 480p. $75/month – Unlimited talk, unlimited text, unlimited LTE data. You can get HD video streaming with this plan, and also 10GB of LTE mobile hotspot data per month. You may see speeds drop if you go over 22GB of data per month, depending on if there is congestion in your area. $2/day – Unlimited talk, unlimited text, no data. You can purchase data at $0.01 per 5KB of data or $1 per 100MB. This is likely for folks who are traveling into the US and need a temporary SIM card. $0.25/minute – AT&T also supports the old school “per minute” pay structure. You pay $0.25 per minute, $0.20 per message, and $0.01 per 5KB of data. Smartphones on this plan do not have additional data packages. This is frankly not a great option. AT&T isn’t too dissimilar from Verizon. The plans are reasonably priced although the data allotments are a little small, though thankfully they’ve increased at least a tiny bit in recent times. There’s also a $5 auto-pay discount offered here for the $30/$45/$60 plans, which bring them down to $30, $35, and $50 and $70. respectively. Similar to AT&T-owned Cricket, there’s also multi-line discounts now — you can find out exactly how much you can save using this tool. Boost Mobile Boost Mobile is an MVNO that uses Sprint’s network. It’s one of the more popular MVNOs out there and most people have probably heard the name somewhere before. They have a decent selections of phones and, like T-Mobile, they don’t use contracts at all on their network. You can bring your own Sprint device assuming it’s somewhere on this list. You may need to call customer service as it appears as though that list doesn’t get frequently updated. Recently Boost Mobile has switched up its plans a bit, offering four total pre-paid plans. It’s worth noting that the verbiage says that plans expire every 28 days for monthly plans. You may need to talk to a Boost customer service rep to make sure you’re covered for a whole month. Plan details: $35/month – Unlimited calls and texts with 3GB of LTE data. $50/month – Unlimited calls and texts and unlimited LTE data. Video streaming is cut down to 480p. You also get 8GB of mobile hotspot LTE data per month. $60/month – Unlimited calls and text and unlimited LTE data. Video streaming goes up to 1080p. You also get 20GB of mobile hotspot LTE data per month. $80/month – Unlimited talk and text with unlimited LTE data. Video streaming goes up to 1080p. You also get 40GB of mobile hotspot LTE data per month. This plans also has unlimited text and talk to landlines and mobile phones in Mexico and Canada (except in that country’s Northern Territories/area code 867). You also get unlimited talk to landlines in over 70 other countries. Finally, it offers free access to the TIDAL Premium music streaming service. Add-ons – Boost Mobile offers a ton of add-ons including data packs, International phone services, phone insurance, and mobile hotspot services. Boost mobile Prepaid plans & phones | Best Boost Mobile deals Cricket Wireless Fun fact: Cricket Wireless used to be called AIO and it’s an MVNO that runs off of AT&T’s network. In fact, Cricket Wireless is owned by AT&T. You can bring your own device, assuming it’s on their compatibility list. Hint: if it’s a GSM phone and is designed with support for all the necessary US bands, it’ll work without a hitch. Additionally, every plan comes with support for roaming in Mexico or Canada as long as your usage doesn’t exceed 50% of your total usage for the month. best Cricket Android phones Plan details: $25/month – unlimited talk and text, but no data. $30/month – Unlimited talk, unlimited text, 2GB of LTE data, but speeds are capped at 8Mbps. You get unlimited 2G after the data cap. $40/month – Unlimited talk, unlimited text, 5GB of data, but speeds are capped at 8Mbps You get unlimited 2G after the data cap. $55/month – Unlimited talk, unlimited text, unlimited LTE data, but speeds are capped at 3Mbps. This plan also includes unlimited Int’l texting to 37 countries and free talk, text and data roaming in Canada and Mexico. You also get 10GB of mobile hotspot high-speed data a month. $60/month – Unlimited talk, unlimited text, unlimited LTE data, although you may see slowdowns in speeds after 22GB. This plan also includes unlimited Int’l texting to 37 countries and free data roaming in Canada and Mexico. Auto-pay discount – Cricket Wireless offers a deal where you can get $5 off any plan if you use their auto-pay system. This is applicable for any prepaid plan. These days, Cricket and AT&T are pretty similar in terms of pricing and features, but Cricket is still a slightly better value. We would recommend looking into Cricket if you already own your device and are just looking for AT&T service. Like other plans, you get a $5 discount for autopay, but even better, there’s a group pay option. For every line you add, you’ll get an increasing amount of savings, to the point that you could end up with 4 lines of basic service for just $100 — or what comes to about $25 per line. Cricket is also promises “no hidden fees”, and so the price advertised is the price you pay. Cricket Wireless Prepaid plans & Phones H2O Wireless H2O Wireless pre-paid is next on the list and it is another prepaid service that uses AT&T’s towers. That means you can bring pretty much any GSM smartphone to the service and it should work. They also have a ton of plan options. According to their website, each plan comes with international talk (up to ten unique numbers per month) and text for over 50 countries worldwide. Plan details: $20/month – Unlimited talk, unlimited text, 1GB of data for three months, and 500MB of data a month after that time period. After the data cap, you’ll have unlimited 2G speeds. $30/month – Unlimited talk, unlimited text, 4GB of data for three months, and 2GB of data a month after that time period. After the data cap, you’ll have unlimited 2G speeds. $35/month – Unlimited talk, unlimited text, 5GB of data for three months, and 3GB of data a month after that time period. After the data cap, you’ll have unlimited 2G speeds. $40/month – Unlimited talk, unlimited text, 8GB of data for three months, and 6GB of data a month after that time period. After the data cap, you’ll have unlimited 2G speeds. $50/month – Unlimited talk, unlimited text, 8GB of data. After the data cap, you’ll have unlimited 2G speeds. $60/month – Unlimited talk, unlimited text, 10GB of data. After the data cap, you’ll have unlimited 2G speeds. These are surprisingly reasonable prices, especially compared to what they were offering a couple of years ago. It’s also a good way to get AT&T’s service without worrying about their pricing strategies. That said, AT&T has greatly improved its plans in recent times, and Cricket also arguably offers service that stands above what you’ll get with H20. Still, it’s certainly worth looking into if you want to better weigh your options. H20 Wireless Prepaid plans & phones MetroPCS MetroPCS was purchased by T-Mobile a few years ago and has since seen some changes. Its original CDMA network has been decommissioned and MetroPCS officially operates as an MVNO on T-Mobile’s network. That means most GSM devices and T-Mobile-compatible devices should work as well but you should double check before committing. Plan details: $30/month – Unlimited talk, unlimited text, 2GB of data. You get unlimited 2G speeds after the data cap. $40/month – Unlimited talk, unlimited text, 5GB of data. You get unlimited 2G speeds after the data cap. $50/month – Unlimited talk, unlimited text, unlimited LTE data. Speeds may slow down if you go over 35GB a month. $60/month – Unlimited talk, unlimited text, unlimited LTE data, plus 10GB of LTE mobile hotspot data. Speeds may slow down if you go over 35GB a month. Add-ons – You’ll get $5 off per line if you have multiple lines on your account. The pre-paid MetroPCS plans include many of T-Mobile’s perks, including Music Unlimited (their version of T-Mobile’s Music Freedom) and Data Maximizer (their version of Binge On). Metro PCS Prepaid Plans & phones | Best Metro PCS phones Net10 Wireless Net10 is a subsidiary of TracFone, and for most users, a considerably better option. That means that Net10 is an MVNO that piggybacks off of all four major US carriers. They allow you to bring your own phone as well so you can use virtually any device on this network (as long as it has a SIM card slot) which is actually pretty awesome. Recently, Net10 has revamped its offerings quite a bit, offering two different routes. Starting with the regular route, below. Plan details: $35/month – Unlimited talk, unlimited text, 2GB of 4G data. After the data cap, you get unlimited 2G data. $40/month – Unlimited talk, unlimited text, 4GB of 4G data. After the cap, you get unlimited 2G data. $50/month – Unlimited talk, unlimited text, 8GB of 4G data. After the cap, you get unlimited 2G data. $60/month – Unlimited talk, unlimited text, 10GB of 4G data. After the cap, you get unlimited 2G data. $65/month – Unlimited talk, unlimited text, 8GB of 4G data. After the cap, you get unlimited 2G data. It also comes with features for making international texts and calls. Net10 also offers data-only plans, which cost $5 for 500MB, or $10 for 1GB. Net 10 prepaid plans & phones Page Plus Page Plus is an MVNO that is powered by the Verizon network. To date, it is literally the only way to get unlimited data on Verizon’s network which is something pretty special. You can bring your own Verizon device to the network if you so choose or buy one directly from Page Plus. Plan details: $12/month – 500 minutes, 500 texts, 100MB of data. $29.95/month – Unlimited, unlimited text, 2GB of LTE data. After high-speed data, you get unlimited 2G. $39.95/month – Unlimited talk, unlimited text, 5GB of LTE data. After high-speed data, you get unlimited 2G. $55/month – Unlimited talk, unlimited text, unlimited LTE data. $10 – This pay-as-you-go price includes 166 minutes with each additional minute at $0.06. Minutes last for 120 days. $25 – This pay-as-you-go price includes 416 minutes (?) with each additional minute at $0.06. Minutes last for 120 days. $50 – This pay-as-you-go price includes 833 minutes with each additional minute at $0.06. Minutes last for 120 days. $80 – This pay-as-you-go price includes 1,333 minutes with each additional minute at $0.06. Minutes last for a year. Simply put, if Verizon offered these services at these prices on their own network, it would probably put everyone else out of business. This is a great deal for Verizon customers looking for more flexibility with data (which is virtually every Verizon customer). Their pay-as-you-go options aren’t great, though, and we recommend avoiding those unless absolutely necessary. Page Plus prepaid plans & phones Project Fi Project Fi is Google’s attempt at being a mobile carrier. It uses T-Mobile along with Sprint and US Cellular to provide a pretty decent coverage map. Currently, the service is only compatible with Pixel, Pixel XL, Nexus 6P, Nexus 5X, or Nexus 6 devices which you’ll have to purchase off-contract on your own. For now. All plans include access to cell coverage in 135+ countries, WiFi tethering, and more. Plan details: $20/month – Unlimited talk, unlimited text, no data. $10/month – 1GB of data. Additional data is calculated at $1 per 100MB. This is automatically added on to your plan based on how much data you use. Data buyback – Much like Ting, Project Fi revolves around a “pay for what you use” philosophy. If you use 2GB, then your bill will be $40/month. If you use 1GB, your bill will be $30/month. Using a total of 1.3GB, will make your bill about $33. Project Fi recommends you use WiFi hotspots whenever possible to keep your bill low and, unless we’re mistaken, will actually help you find WiFi hotspots to use when you’re out and about. Project Fi is a unique and fun little experiment. It’s not easy to get into and the device list isn’t great, but if you can stick to WiFi networks and happen to own a Nexus device, you can get good service for cheap. To learn more, check out Project Fi’s FAQ page. Red Pocket Mobile Next on our list is Red Pocket Mobile. This MVNO uses all four top service providers, including Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, and AT&T. That means you can bring virtually any device to the service as long as it has a SIM card and supports those networks. In fact, even if it doesn’t support sim, older legacy CDMA devices will typically work as well. Monthly plan details: $10/mo – 500 Minutes, 500 Texts, 500 MB LTE $15/mo – 1,000 Minutes, 1,000 Texts, 1 GB LTE $19/mo – Unlimited Talk & Text & 500 MB LTE $25/mo – Unlimited Talk & Text & 1.5 GB LTE $30/mo – Unlimited Everything, 3GB LTE (5GB on the GSMA network!) $60/mo – Unlimited Everything, 10GB LTE (12GB on the GSMA network!) Red Pocket Mobile has come along ways over the years and for those looking for a wide array of device compatibility and a variety of plan options, it could be a great choice. If you want to learn more, check out their plans page. Republic Wireless Republic Wireless used to be one of the most simple companies on this list, and while things are a bit more complicated now, their plans are all relatively straightforward. They encourage users to use their home or work WiFi whenever possible so they can get cheaper plans. Plan details: $15/month – This is the base price for unlimited talk and text. There is no data included with this plan and you’ll be expected to use your home WiFi. $20/month – In addition to unlimited talk and text, this plan includes 1GB data. $30/month – In addition to unlimited talk and text, this plan includes 3GB data. $45/month – In addition to unlimited talk and text, this plan includes 5GB data. $60/month – In addition to unlimited talk and text, this plan includes 9GB data. $90/month – In addition to unlimited talk and text, this plan includes 15GB data. While isn’t quite as impressive as it once was, it still remains a solid choice for those looking for something a bit different. Republic Wirless prepaid plans & phones SIMPLE Mobile SIMPLE Mobile hasn’t changed a whole lot over the last couple of years. They’re still on T-Mobile’s network and you can still bring your own T-Mobile-capable GSM device if you so choose. Their rates also haven’t changed much. You can get about 10% off all plans if you use auto-pay. Additionally, all plans come with unlimited calling to cell phones in 20 countries and landlines in 65 countries. Plan details: $25/month – Unlimited talk, unlimited text, 1GB of data. $30/month – Unlimited talk, unlimited text, 2GB of data. You get unlimited 2G data after the data cap. This plan also works in Mexico. $40/month – Unlimited talk, unlimited text, 6GB of data. You get unlimited 2G data after the data cap. This plan also works in Mexico. $50/month – Unlimited talk, unlimited text, and unlimited data. This also includes unlimited talk and text to supported International countries. This plan also works in Mexico. $60/month – Unlimited talk, unlimited text, and unlimited data, plus 10GB of mobile hotspot data. This also includes unlimited talk and text to supported International countries. There are a lot of plans available, including wireless hotspot plans, and the International plans are pretty good. Don’t forget to read the fine print so you can see the restrictions and such. Simple Mobile prepaid plans & phones Sprint At one point, Sprint had only two pre-paid plans, one with unlimited data and one without data at all. Since those days, Sprint has been rethinking their plans and now they’re more in line with the competition. One downside is that you have to buy a Sprint pre-paid phone and you cannot bring your own. That’s lame. You can find the selection of prepaid phones by clicking here. Plan details: $40/month – Unlimited talk, unlimited text, 3GB of data. Once you hit your limit, you’ll be throttled to 2G. $50/month – Unlimited talk, unlimited text, 5GB of data. Once you hit your limit, you’ll be throttled to 2G. $60/month – Unlimited talk, unlimited text, and unlimited data. $15/month – You can add an additional 1GB of data to your plan for $15 per month on top of your plan. Add-ons – All plan prices assume you’re going to be using auto-pay. If not, add $5 to each one. Sprint prepaid plans & phones Straight Talk Wireless Straight Talk made headlines a few years ago with their bold, no-contract plans and their “bring your own phone” philosophy. Most carriers now mirror this ideology but you can still bring pretty much any GSM smartphone with you to the service. Plan details: $35/month – unlimited talk, unlimited text, 2GB of data. All plans, including this one, include unlimited calls to 411 as well. $45/month – unlimited talk, unlimited text, 10GB of data. Once your data allotment is up, you’ll have unlimited data at 2G speeds. $55/month – unlimited talk, unlimited text, unlimited LTE data. $60/month – unlimited talk, unlimited text, and unlimited data with.This plan includes unlimited International calling to Mexico, India, Canada, and “select International landline destinations”. While StraightTalk isn’t perfect, recent changes have greatly increased the amount of data available, making this a solid option. We also love no overages. Straight Talk prepaid plans & phones Ting Mobile Ting is perhaps one of the most interesting carriers on the list. They’re a dual GSM/CDMA carrier that use’s Sprint’s network and an undisclosed (literally) GSM network. However, you should be able to bring most GSM phones to this service along with Sprint phones, which is great news. Plan details: For plans, Ting uses a “only pay for what you use” philosophy which makes listing out plan rates literally impossible. You can find their rates here. We also recommend you use their savings calculator. It allows you to get a good idea of what you’d pay based on your usage. $6/month – no talk, no text, no data. This is the lowest possible plan that is literally just a device connected to their service. $522/month – 9,000 minutes, 18,000 texts, 30GB of data. This is the max price for a plan as listed by the Ting website. It’s a fun idea, especially for those who like to micromanage their use. If you stick to WiFi as often as possible and mitigate text and calling to services like Hangouts, Skype, etc, you can get away with getting decent phone service for a very low cost. If you’re not interested in managing your own services all the time, we recommend you probably look elsewhere. Ting prepaid plans & phones US Cellular US Cellular is a lesser-known carrier that operates its own wireless network independent of the major four carriers in the US. It’s a CDMA carrier with LTE coverage. You can bring your own device, but the compatibility list is not very large. See: Best US Cellular phones Plan details: $30/month – Unlimited talk, unlimited text. This is for basic phones, not for smartphones. $40/month – Unlimited talk, unlimited text, 3GB of data. You get unlimited 2G speeds once you hit the data cap. $55/month – Unlimited talk, unlimited text, unlimited data. Speeds are capped at 3Mbps, and you may experience slowdowns if you go over 15GB. $5/month – You can add unlimited talk and text to Mexico and Canada for an extra $5/month. US Cellular keeps their prepaid plans simple which we like. The only issue is that this service isn’t available everywhere so you’ll have to check and make sure you can even get the service before signing up. US Cellular Prepaid plans & phones Verizon Wireless Next on our list is Verizon Wireless. Over the last few years, they’ve been slower to adapt than their smaller counterparts but don’t let that chase you away. They still have a rock solid network and good LTE speeds. Not too long ago, Verizon simplified their prepaid and no contract plans a bit. You can bring your own device as long as it supports Verizon’s network. Plan Details: $30/month – Unlimited talk, unlimited text, 500MB of data. This plan is recommended for people with basic smartphones. Unused data will rollover to the next month. $40/month – Unlimited talk, unlimited text, 3GB of data. Unused data will rollover to the next month. $50/month – Unlimited talk, unlimited text, 7GB of LTE data. Unused data will rollover to the next month. $60/month – Unlimited talk, unlimited text, 10GB of LTE data. Unused data will rollover to the next month. You also get unlimited talk to Canada and Mexico. $75/month – Unlimited talk, unlimited text, unlimited LTE data. You also get unlimited talk to Canada and Mexico. Discounts for extra lines – Verizon also offers discounts two to five prepaid lines on one account. It also lets customers with multiple lines choose which plan they want to use. One line may have the cheap $30 500MB plan, while the second may get the unlimited plan, and that line will still get a $20 discount. In classic Verizon fashion, you get rock solid service but you don’t get to use a lot of service. These plans are great for those who need calls and texting but not so great for those who consume a lot of data. Thankfully, things are at least a little better than they used to be which is something to take into consideration. Verizon plans & phones Unreal Mobile Unreal Mobile is a recent entry in the prepaid smartphone plan business. It offers ultra-cheap pricing plans plus some extra features like free VPN services and a free ad blocker. You can bring your own phone or purchase one directly from Unreal Mobile $10/month – Unlimited text and talk, 1GB of LTE data, with rollover if you don’t use all of your allotted data. $15/month – Unlimited text and talk, 2GB of LTE data, with rollover if you don’t use all of your allotted data. $30/month – Unlimited text and talk, 5GB of LTE data, with rollover if you don’t use all of your allotted data. Unreal Mobile also promised to give bonus data if you stay with the carrier for a certain period of time. Considering that this carrier offers unlimted talk, text and some data at prices that are limited to just talk and text at other wireless providers, Unreal Mobile might be worth checking out. Unreal Mobile plans and phones Prepaid plans – Wrap up We would love to hear about your experiences with these carriers and, of course, recommend any great prepaid and no contract plans that we might have missed! If you’re looking for some epic smartphones to use on your new service of choice, check out our review section, our list of the best cheap Android smartphones, and our list of the best Android smartphones! Have a specific prepaid carrier in mind? Be sure to check these lists out as well: Best T-mobile pre-paid The best Verizon pre-paid phones Best AT&T prepaid Best Cricket phones Next: Compare all cell phone plans