If you’re shopping around for the best cell phone plans, we’ve got you covered. Here at Let’s Talk, we’ve put together a list of the best cell phone plans available in the U.S—from unlimited data with all the bells and whistles to affordable options.

Let’s Talk Editor’s Picks: Best Phone Plans

 

There are several things you’ll want to consider when choosing the best cell phone plan for you or your family, such as budget, data allowance, coverage, travel and entertainment perks, and more. The right plan for you may not be the right plan for someone else. Read on to discover the best cell phone plans available right now. If you’d prefer to customize your search, hop on over to our cell phone plan comparison tool, where you can find all the best plans in your region from over 30 U.S. phone carriers.

Best plan overall: Visible+ unlimited plan

Value for Money: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Coverage: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Features & Perks: ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

Visible, an MVNO that runs on Verizon’s powerful network, offers just two phone plans—the $25 Visible unlimited plan, and the $45 Visible+ unlimited plan. We love the upgraded Visible+ plan for its additional value for a monthly price that remains under $50. Visible+ includes unlimited talk, text, and data on Verizon’s nationwide-leading 4G LTE network as well as its fastest Ultra-Wideband 5G network (the basic Visible plan only offers basic 5G speed access).

You’ll also get a whopping 50GB of premium data—this means that even if the network is busy, your speeds will never slow down until you surpass 50GB of usage. Most people barely scratch the surface of 10-15GB/month, and other major carriers charge double the price for similar premium allowances. You can use your data for unlimited hotspot connections, as well—and a new perk that we absolutely love is free data for your smartwatch.

For international travelers, Visible+ includes unlimited calling and texting to and from Canada and Mexico, plus 2GB of roaming data per day when traveling in either country. If you’re heading overseas, you also get a free day of Visible’s Global Pass international roaming plan.

Like competitors such as Mint Mobile, Visible offers all-in pricing, meaning taxes and fees are included in this incredibly low price.

Visible+ pros:

  • Unlimited everything
  • Fastest 5G speeds on Verizon’s network
  • 50GB premium data
  • Unlimited hotspot
  • No credit check

Visible+ cons:

  • No entertainment perk options
  • Possible data slowdowns after 50GB

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Best cheap plan: Mint Mobile Unlimited 

Value for Money: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Coverage: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Features & Perks: ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

We’re huge fans of Mint Mobile’s Unlimited plan; in fact, we think it’s the best cheap unlimited phone plan on the market. Starting at just $30/month, you get access to T-Mobile’s best-in-class 5G network and its robust 4G LTE network where 5G isn’t available. This plan includes 40GB of high-speed premium data (that means your speeds will pretty much never slow down) as well as a 10GB hotspot to keep your other devices connected to the internet when you need to. Calling and texting to Canada and Mexico is also free.

Mint offers 3-month, 6-month, and 12-month bundles you must pay for upfront. This particular family plan is a 3-month intro plan, with $90 total paid upfront. While it can be a tough cost to swallow to pay for 3 months in advance, consider the fact that when you break it down per month, you’re getting a huge steal.

After the first three months, the plan is $40/month thereafter if you stay with another 3-month plan or $35/month for a 6-month plan block. However, you can lock in that cheapest $30/month price by signing up for a full year of service.

Mint Mobile Unlimited plan pros:

  • 40GB premium data allowance
  • 10 high-speed hotspot
  • Best 5G network in the country
  • No credit check
  • Lock in price with 12-month plan

Mint Mobile Unlimited plan cons:

  • No entertainment perks
  • No single-month plan options
  • Plan prices increase after intro period

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Best family plan: T-Mobile Magenta Family (4 lines)

Value for Money: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Coverage: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Features & Perks: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

The T-Mobile Magenta 4-line family plan is a great option for families who want it all—unlimited everything so no one has to share or fight over data, free international texting and 2G data for world travelers, roaming in Mexico and Canada, Netflix, the broadest nationwide 5G access, and more. Why pay $80/month for unlimited data on a single line when you can get unlimited data on this 4-line plan for just $40/month per line?

Getting the Magenta plan as a family discount is one of the only ways we would recommend a major carrier’s plan over a cheaper MVNO. Single-line pricing from the major carriers (Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile) is downright astronomical. By bundling lines together, though, you get closer into the ballpark of what you’d pay from a Visible or a Mint, but you get the added benefit of all the perks that majors like T-Mobile offer. Free Netflix, 100GB of premium data per line, 5GB hotspot, and 5GB of roaming data in hundreds of countries… it’s a pretty sweet deal.

Magenta Family plan pros:

  • Affordable compared to single-line pricing
  • Great international features
  • Netflix subscription
  • Excellent 5G coverage
  • 100GB premium data

Magenta Family plan cons:

  • Can’t mix and match family plans
  • Small hotspot data allowance

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Best plan for streaming perks: Verizon Unlimited Plus

Value for Money: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Coverage: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Features & Perks: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Verizon used to be the Carrier King of the Perks (like Jon Snow, but with fewer dragons and direwolves). They’ve since gotten rid of, well, ALL of their included benefits; instead, Big Red has vastly expanded the suite of perks it offers, and gives ’em to you for just $10 a pop.

We actually like this model—instead of force-feeding you the Disney Bundle even if you don’t necessarily want it, now you can choose from options like Apple One, Netflix, Max with Ads, Walmart+ delivery, 100GB in hotspot data, and more… and you’ll get each of these at a pretty significant discount from what you’d pay out of pocket.

You can tack these on to any of Verizon’s unlimited plans, but we recommend Unlimited Plus, the middle-of-the-road option. You get completely unlimited premium data (no slowdowns ever), a hefty 30GB hotspot, access to Verizon’s Ultra-Wideband 5G network, and Mexico/Canada calling. The downside? It’s EXPENSIVE… we’re talking $80/month for one line. (Now you see why we like Visible so much?)

Verizon Play More pros:

  • Excellent coverage
  • Plenty of discounted perk options
  • HD-quality streaming
  • Mexico and Canada talk, text, and roaming
  • 5G UW access

Verizon Play More cons:

  • Extremely pricey

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Best international plan: Google Fi Unlimited Plus

Value for Money: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Coverage: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Features & Perks: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

The $65 Google Fi Unlimited Plus plan includes unlimited international texts and data in over 200 countries, making it the best plan for international travel. Unlike other plans, which may allow only 2G data abroad, this Google Fi plan lets you use your high-speed data abroad for free. Other great features include free calls to 50 countries, 50GB of premium high-speed data, unlimited mobile hotspot, and 100GB of Google Cloud storage. You also get 6 months of YouTube Premium for free.

Lastly, if you have a Google Fi phone, your phone will automatically connect to whichever network is fastest where you are. Otherwise, your service will be on T-Mobile’s network, which is still great.

Google Fi Unlimited pros:

  • Unparalleled travel perks
  • Mobile hotspot
  • Great coverage on multiple networks
  • No credit check

Google Fi Unlimited cons:

  • Pricier than other unlimited options

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Best mix-and-match plan: AT&T Prepaid Multi-line Monthly Plan

Value for Money: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Coverage: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Features & Perks: ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

If everyone in the family has different data needs, then the AT&T Prepaid Multi-Line Monthly Plan is the best mix and match family plan for you. Family members can choose between 1GB, 8GB, unlimited, and unlimited + 10GB hotspot. Everyone gets free texting to Mexico, Canada, and 100 other countries and unlimited calls to Mexico and Canada. Additionally, all of the plans except for the 1GB line allow you to use your high-speed data over the border.

AT&T Prepaid Multi-Line pros:

  • Versatile data allowances
  • Great coverage aboard AT&T’s network
  • Mexico and Canada privileges
  • Skip the credit check

AT&T Prepaid Multi-Line cons:

  • No streaming subscriptions
  • Could be expensive
  • No 5G access

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Which phone plans are the best?

The best cell phone plans depend on your wireless needs and priorities. With so many plans to choose from, the search can be overwhelming. You can always narrow down your search by category: the best prepaid phone plans, the best unlimited data plans, the best family plans. This page will cover all of the best phone plans available during Black Friday, including the 1-line and 4-line T-Mobile Magenta Plan, which offers more for your money than Verizon and AT&T. Visible’s Unlimited Plan is the best cheap unlimited plan and it runs on Verizon’s powerful network. For streamers out there, we’ve chosen the Verizon Play More Unlimited Plan as the best plan for entertainment features—you get Hulu, Disney+, ESPN+, and more.

If you don’t need unlimited data, the Simple Mobile $25 Unlimited Plan includes 5GB of high-speed data and no overage charges and the Mint Mobile family plan gives every line 8GB of 4G LTE data. Both of those plans are prepaid, meaning you aren’t subject to a credit check, which is always nice. Speaking of prepaid plans, the best prepaid unlimited plan is Metro by T-Mobile’s $60 Unlimited Plan, which includes great features like Amazon Prime and Google One cloud storage. If you frequently travel abroad, Google Fi’s unlimited plan includes free international roaming and texting. For families that need a wide range of data allowances, the AT&T Prepaid Multi-Line Monthly Plan has your name written all over it.

How to choose the best cell phone plan

When choosing the best phone plan for you, you’ll want to consider a few things, such as:

Once you decide what you’re looking for in a plan, you can use those preferences to guide your decision.

But of course, plan price is just a starting point—there’s no point in getting a carrier’s phone plan if that carrier doesn’t have good coverage where you live and travel. Check out the coverage guides below to compare coverage between Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile:

Once you’ve figured out which carrier has the best coverage in your area, then you can compare plans that run on that network. For example, if you get excellent AT&T coverage near you, then you can compare plans offered by AT&T and AT&T MVNOs (small carriers that run on AT&T’s network), such as Cricket Wireless and Straight Talk.
Once you’ve narrowed down the network you want, you can compare plan features, such as data allowance, data speeds (some MVNOs offer 3G speeds), international calling and texting, global roaming, and streaming subscriptions.

If you’re thinking of switching carriers and bringing your own phone, you’ll want to check that your phone is compatible with that carrier’s network. If you’re interested in buying a new phone, you’ll want to stay up-to-date on all the current cell phone deals, since most carriers offer phone deals for new customers who switch.

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