Top cheap cell phone plans (MVNOs) compared

About Top cheap cell phone plans (MVNOs) compared

This ranking covers 119 mobile virtual network operators, the brands that sell a SIM and a monthly plan on someone else's radio network. They sit in the US, Mexico, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Singapore and Sweden, and every member is judged on the same questions for this category: what a month costs when you join, what the plan includes, and whose network carries your signal. Entry prices in our data run €0 to €43.85, and the median entry price in this ranking sits at €6.99. Where unlimited plans are listed, the median price sits at €21.92. The trade-off a reader weighs here is price against renewal. A low opening figure is easy to advertise and often steps up later, so introductory prices and renewal prices are kept apart rather than blended. Contract length sits beside it, since a rolling monthly plan can be left quickly while a long term locks the figure you signed for. Coverage completes the picture, because a virtual operator is only ever as good as the host network it rents.

How we picked

Every member of this ranking is a mobile virtual network operator: 100% of the brands here sell that way, and 100% of them sell sim only plans. Each score combines weighted parts of cost, offer and trust. Cost holds 40%, offer holds 40% and trust holds 20%. Cost weighs the entry price a newcomer sees, the unlimited price where a brand lists one, and the plan lengths attached to them. Offer weighs what sits inside the plans: data allowances, hotspot sharing, data rollover, eSIM, wifi calling and the roaming terms. Trust weighs the host network, the legal entity behind the brand, the support channels published, and any stated position on future price rises. Every figure in the blurbs comes from the operators' own published information, which is where plan names, prices and networks come from. The rule is that partners are listed first; no partner appears in this ranking, so the order follows score alone. Where a brand quotes an opening price and a later price, both are shown, because renewal is the number most readers get wrong.

Our top picks

1. M1. MobileX

   MobileX is in this ranking for flexibility rather than the lowest headline. Plans are prepaid or rolling, run a 1 month term, and the Build Your Own plan starts at $3.88 with custom data. Unlimited talk and text options start at $14.88, and data rollover, eSIM, sim only, hotspot sharing and wifi calling are all included. Support runs on email, chat and phone, and the brand operates in US under Mobile X Global, Inc.. The trade-off is roaming, where eu roaming is paid and a traveller pays extra, against congstar above, which includes it. NAKED mobile, next in this ranking, includes eu roaming in its plans and lists an entry price of €0.

   • Seller type: Mvno
   • SIM-only: Yes
   • Price from: $3.88

   Pros

   • Build Your Own starts at $3.88 on a plan where the data allowance is set by the customer
   • Plans run 1 month, so there is no long term to serve
   • Unlimited talk and text plans start at $14.88
   • eSIM, 5G, wifi calling, hotspot sharing and data rollover are all included
   • Support runs on email, chat and phone

   Cons

   • European roaming is paid, so travel adds cost rather than arriving with the plan
   • The seller type is mvno, so service runs over a host network and local coverage needs checking
   • Coverage is listed for US, so anyone who needs service across several countries should look wider

What to look for

Price at entry

The figure on the advert is what you pay in the opening month. In this ranking the median entry price sits at €6.99, the lowest listed starts at €0 and the highest reaches €43.85. Set each brand's opening price against the wider range in our data, €0 to €43.85.

Price at renewal

Opening offers are easy to set low and hard to keep. The median monthly price that follows an introductory period in this ranking sits at €37.32, with the lowest at €24.90 and the highest at €46.49. hollandsnieuwe is the clearest case: a low entry price, then a higher monthly figure.

What the plan includes

Data, hotspot sharing, rollover, eSIM and wifi calling decide whether a cheap plan is usable day to day. In this ranking 97.4% of members offer hotspot sharing and 65.7% roll unused data over. Where unlimited plans are listed, the median price sits at €21.92, against €0 to €94.95 across our data.

Contract length and billing

69.9% of the members here bill on a rolling basis and 58.4% sell prepaid, so leaving usually means stopping the top-up rather than serving notice. A longer term buys a lower opening figure, which is why entry price and renewal belong in the same conversation.

Where it runs

A virtual operator rents a radio network, so the host name tells you whose coverage you get and in which market. Roaming splits into groups in this ranking: 48.2% include eu roaming, 34.9% limit it to fair use, and 16.9% charge for it.

Support when something breaks

Most members answer through a help centre, 89.6%, and by phone, 80.2%. Email reaches 65.1% and chat 60.4%, so a brand offering only a short channel list is worth noticing.

Frequently asked questions

Top cheap cell phone plans (MVNOs) compared by country

• Canada
• France
• Germany
• Italy
• Netherlands
• Spain
• United Kingdom
• United States

The data behind this ranking

All data and the CSV