The Cheapest Cell Phone Plans in 2025

Tired of watching your cell phone bill creep up on you? The bad news is, you can’t exactly go without a phone plan these days if you live in society. The good news? You don’t need to go broke to stay connected.

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Let’s break down the best cheap cell phone plans—so you can find one that fits your needs, your lifestyle and most importantly, your budget. That way, you can get the best plan for you and keep more of your hard-earned dollars in your pocket.

Cheapest Cell Phone Plans

To find the best plan deal, you can’t just consider the cost—you also need to factor in your lifestyle. Features like data, messages, minutes and coverage can all be super customizable these days. Once you know what you need, you can find the right service for your life.

That said, here’s a breakdown of the cheapest cell phone plans available today and what they offer. And hey, you might even find a cheaper plan in a network you’re already using. Let’s dive in.

Connect by T-Mobile: Cheapest Cell Phone Plan From a Major Carrier

Plenty of us stick to the big carriers out of habit. They’re reliable, familiar and often come with their own share of perks to sweeten the deal. But if you find yourself strapped at the end of each month, it’s worth seeing how the competition stacks up. And survey says: T-Mobile has the cheapest plan among the big three carriers. 

At just $180 for the year (or as they market it, $15 a month), T-Mobile’s prepaid Connect plan is the cheapest one you’ll find from the big guys.

• Cost: $15 per month
• Data, messages and minutes: On this plan, you get unlimited talk and text with up to 5GB of high-speed data.¹ Here’s the math: With 5GB of data, you can use TikTok for five hours (talk about a data muncher!), stream Netflix for 20 hours, or listen to 35 hours of music on Spotify.² Binge-watching The Office might be tough with this plan, but you do get that unlimited talk and text, so there goes your excuse not to call your mom! (P.S. This is your reminder to call your mom.)
• Coverage: When it comes to coverage, you’re usually putting T-Mobile up against Verizon. And while they both have solid nationwide coverage, T-Mobile leads in 5G speed and reach. However, if you live out on the boonies, Verizon’s 4G LTE network could be a better bet.³

A quick heads-up: The big three carriers—AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon—will try to lure you in with low-price offers, but you have to read the fine print. None of the offers I researched tell you the real price you pay. They show you an imaginary price for each phone line. But then you’re forced into a contract with a bunch of add-ons, maybe even with multiple lines.

Not cool, guys. Not cool.

Tello: Cheapest Overall Phone Plan

The big three cell phone carriers dominate the market. But there are over 100 discount carriers that offer the same services at lower monthly costs by piggybacking on these networks.

For example: Tello.

Tello has an unlimited plan for $25—but the real win here is flexibility. Unlike most carriers, Tello lets you build a plan around what you actually use. You can trim down your cell phone bill to $5 a month by opting out of the data and minutes you don’t use. And if you’re a millennial like me, you’d probably rather send a 300-word text than make a 30-second phone call. So why pay for minutes you’ll never use?

• Cost: $5–25 per month
• Data, messages and minutes: Tello is like a good pair of stretchy pants. It can compress your plan down to just 100 minutes, or it can expand to include unlimited talk, text and data, or anything in between. Truthfully, I wish all plans were this flexible (and I wish all pants were a little bit stretchy). Tello’s $25 unlimited data plan offers 50GB at full 4G LTE or 5G speed and 10GB of hot spot usage. And any phone plan comes with free international calls to over 60 countries, hot spot usage, Wi-Fi calling and eSIM.⁴
• Coverage: Tello is on T-Mobile’s super-fast network. So you’ll get some of the best coverage and speeds around.

Boost Mobile

There aren’t many “forever” promises in life—but Boost Mobile sure offers a good one. Boost Mobile’s $25 Forever plan is exactly what it sounds like—$25 a month guaranteed with no contracts or hidden fees. So, if you don’t love seeing your bill creep up every so often, Boost Mobile might be the carrier for you. Boost even offers a 30-day money-back guarantee if you want to try it out.

• Cost: $25 per month, for-ev-er. Just make sure you’ve signed up for autopay, or it bumps to $30.
• Data, messages and minutes: Boost Mobile’s $25 Forever plan gets you unlimited talk, text and data—with high-speed data slowing at 30GB. No hot spot though, if that’s important to you.⁵
• Coverage: Boost Mobile is a hybrid carrier, meaning it runs its own 5G network and partners with T-Mobile and AT&T. So if Boost’s signal isn’t strong where you are, your phone can switch to a partner network for better coverage.

PureTalk

In addition to their affordable options, PureTalk has real live customer service with actual humans! The cell phone industry as a whole isn’t exactly known for quality customer service, but PureTalk makes it a priority.

• Cost: $20 per month 
• Data, messages and minutes: PureTalk’s basic plan gives you unlimited talk and text, 3GB of data, and 2GB of hot spot usage. PureTalk also offers plans with increased data caps, up to unlimited data with 30GB of hot spot usage for $65 (with high-speed data slowing down after 60GB).⁶ But let’s be real here—that’s still a lot of data, even for a data fiend like me. Bonus point: There are no overage fees. Like I said, if you go over your data, it will slow down. But once your month resets, you get your speed back!
• Coverage: If you think PureTalk’s affordable plan means less coverage or lower speeds, you’re more wrong than raisins in potato salad. PureTalk is on AT&T’s network, so you get access to their fastest network speeds.

Mint Mobile

Mint Mobile offers many cheap phone plans to choose from—with coverage and pricing to match your needs and budget. But you get the most for your money with their $12-month 5GB plan paid upfront.

• Cost: $15 per month paid annually ($180 upfront)
• Data, messages and minutes: Mint Mobile’s 12-month—paid upfront—plan includes unlimited talk and text (sweet!) and 5GB of data. You’ll also get hotspot access, but keep in mind—it counts toward your high-speed data limit. So if you’re on the 5GB plan, you’ll want to use it sparingly.⁷
• Coverage: Mint Mobile uses T-Mobile to power its network. If you’re not sure about T‑Mobile’s coverage in your area, pop your zip code into Mint Mobile’s interactive coverage map to see if it works for you. There’s no sense in getting a cheap, unlimited phone plan if you’re living on a prayer and one bar of signal.

Visible

Visible is a discount brand owned by Verizon, and they offer an entry-level plan with unlimited everything. It’s affordable, and Verizon’s network is solid.

• Cost: $25 per month
• Data, messages and minutes: On Visible’s base plan, you do get unlimited talk, text and data (including a mobile hot spot)—but your data might be slowed down in times of network congestion compared to higher-tiered users. If you’d prefer higher priority (“premium”) data, you can upgrade to their $35 per month plan.⁸
• Coverage: Visible gives its customers access to Verizon’s powerhouse network for a fraction of the cost. However, depending on your location, you may be on Verizon’s 4G network instead of the 5G superhighway. 

Other Cheaper Plans to Consider

Those are some of our picks for budget-friendly cell phone plans, but they’re not the only one’s worth checking out—especially if you have specific needs. Here are a couple more options to keep on your radar:

Google Fi: The internet giant might be relatively new in this space, but they offer some decent prices for their plans. Each plan comes with unlimited talk and text, but data is where the big differences come in. The Flexible plan lets you pay only for the data you use—$20 per month plus $10 per gigabyte of data on top of that. $35 per month bumps you up to unlimited data but it slows down after 30GB. It also uses T-Mobile’s network.⁹

Cricket Wireless: Cricket’s prepaid options help them stand out from the pack. $300 a year up-front (which comes out to $25 per month), gets you the carrier’s 12-month Unlimited Plan—which comes with unlimited data on AT&T’s 5G network. If you’d rather pay monthly, $30 a month (with autopay) gets you 10GB of high-speed data.¹⁰

The Best Phone Plan Is One That Fits Your Budget

Look around, do some research, and make the switch. That’s the secret to saving money on cell phone plans. But here’s the thing—cutting mobile costs doesn’t mean much if you’re going to accidentally (or impulsively) blow all that extra money anyway! The bottom line is, the best cell phone plan for you is one that fits in your budget.

And—make no mistake—you need a budget.

A solid budget puts you in the driver’s seat with your money. You’ll plan and track all your spending. You’ll find places to cut back and save (like your cell phone bill when you switch carriers). And then you can put those freed-up funds toward the things you actually want, like paying off debt, that dream family vacation or . . . anything else, really.

That’s why we made the EveryDollar budgeting app!

EveryDollar helps you find extra margin every month so you can start making real money progress, really fast. Just download the app, answer a few questions, and we’ll build you a personalized plan based on your situation to free up margin and make the most of every dollar, every day.