7 Best Prepaid Phone Plans (2026)

Other Prepaid Phone Services

Mint Mobile is a prepaid service that uses the T-Mobile network (T-Mobile acquired the company in 2024). Plans start at $15 for 5 GB, although they offer unlimited storage for $30 (and sometimes they are sold for less). Mint’s prices are low, but the company’s plans have several restrictions on service and data, and Mint does not offer smartwatch plans at all. International calls and data are expensive, too.

Cricket Wireless and AT&T prepaid service. It offers unlimited plans starting at $35 per month, although the entry level plan does not include hot spot information (it is sold as an add-on). The line discount is good for up to five lines, so Cricket might be a good idea for a family. Cricket Wireless has many stores in the US, which is unusual for a prepaid phone provider, and makes Cricket a solid choice if you want to speak with a customer representative face-to-face.

Metro it belongs to T-Mobile. The company’s Unlimited 5G plan, which is available for $25 per month or $20 per month (when paid for six months), is solid, as Metro offers 35 GB of high-speed data along with unlimited conversations and texts. However, these plans do not have much support, and even the most important support in the world is an additional task. Metro has a five-year lock-in price promise, but Boost by T-Mobile has a “forever” price promise. Like other T-Mobile brands, Metro has many retail locations, which can be great if you want to shop around.

Straight Talk it is owned by Verizon and is usually sold in Walmart locations. It has unlimited talk, text, and data plans starting at $45 per month. This plan includes 10 GB of data-hotspot and unlimited international calls to Mexico and Canada. However, US Mobile and Verizon-owned Visible are offering plans with better value and more features, like smartwatches, for the same price.

TracFone is Verizon’s prepaid cell phone service. As Consumer Cellular’s monthly subscription service, its marketing is focused on older users. And like Consumer Cellular, the plans aren’t very important. At best, most TracFone plans include data rollover, which is not unusual. This may be a good idea if you don’t need much, but sometimes you use more than usual.

Ting Mobile is a prepaid cell phone service that uses the Verizon network. It used T-Mobile, and it’s for Boost. Ting offers Unlimited plans, although most Unlimited plans have very low limits. Hot-spot data is included in all plans, but international data is not included, so you will be charged extra. Smart watches are not supported. I personally used this as my first project five years ago, but I changed it as the plans got smaller.

The price of MobileX is a prepaid service on the Verizon network with multiple pay-as-you-go options and unlimited plans. Unlimited plans don’t strike me as compelling, because of their limitations on data and usage states.

RedPocket Mobile is a prepaid cell phone carrier with access to Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile (users choose a network at signup). This is a simple plan with only three tiers, from 3 GB to 50 GB of premium data. Only the premium section has hot spots. All plans include international coverage in 80 countries, with 100 minutes/100 minutes of data and unlimited data (1 GB to 10 GB), so it’s a good choice for people who travel around the world but don’t use enough data to justify the more expensive Google Fi Unlimited Premium plans. I was also disappointed with the RedPocket Mobile app, which proved to be a problem and often mistakenly said that my information was wrong, but never said what was wrong.

Total Wireless It also has Verizon and offers unlimited plans starting at $40 per month. It’s a reasonable plan, but again, other options from US Mobile and Verizon’s Visible are more important.

UScellular was, until recently, the oldest independent MVNO in the US, but was bought by T-Mobile in 2024, and T-Mobile plans to merge the company into T-Mobile. So, while you can still buy plans from the company, it makes sense to go to T-Mobile.