These NBN 50 plans offer enough speed without breaking the bank. Check out the widget below for a round-up of the most popular NBN 50 plans.
Best NBN 50 plans
In this guide to the best NBN 50 plans and deals in Australia
Our relationships with telcos
We have commercial agreements with some providers in our database. When you click a 'Go to Site' button, we receive a small payment from that brand – this is how we can afford to keep comparing internet and mobile plans. But we still compare and highlight plans we receive no payments for because we believe this helps you find one that best suits your needs.
NBN 50 is called NBN Standard for a reason. It’s not the slowest or cheapest internet option out there but it is the best place for most Aussies to start. It’s little surprise that it's the people's choice when it comes to internet plans.
So which NBN 50 plans are the best? The answer depends on your needs but it won’t take long to find thanks to this round-up of the best NBN 50 providers and deals. Here’s everything you need to know about NBN 50 plans in Australia when it comes to value, price and upload speeds.
Best NBN 50 plan
Buddy Telco Value NBN
Buddy Telco is one of the newest providers in the mix when it comes to NBN plans in Australia. However, it’s quickly making a name for itself with promotions like the one attached to its NBN 50 plan.
This plan comes with unlimited data, typical evening speeds of 49Mbps and self-reported upload speeds of 16Mbps. In addition to coming with unlimited data, this plan is a no-contract option. If it doesn't work out for you, you're free to cancel at any time without incurring any additional costs.
If you sign up before 18 May 2025 and use the code BUDDY50 at checkout, you'll be able to score $12 off the usual price for the first six months. After that, you’re looking at $75 per month to stick with the plan. Over the course of a year, you’re paying $828 rather than the usual $900.
Plan details
- Discounted Price: $63 per month
- Ongoing Price: $75 per month
- Cost for the first year: $828 over the first 12 months
- Ongoing yearly cost: $900 per year thereafter
- Affordable promo pricing
- 100Mbps download speeds
- Light on perks
- Not the fastest upload speeds
How we chose the best NBN 50 plans
Our database tracks the prices and speeds attached to NBN 50 plans from over 30 different providers. When it comes time to make our monthly pick for the best NBN 50 plans, we favor the plan with the lowest price, unlimited data, no contract and a higher typical evening download speeds.
Our comparison of the best 50Mbps NBN plans also tended to focus on and highlight introductory deals because that's the easiest way to save money when choosing any NBN plan. The other reason we compare NBN plans this way rather than over a longer period of time is that the cost of NBN tends to change every July, which makes longer term predictions less reliable and useful.
For a snapshot of how our current pick for the best NBN 50 plans compares to the most popular NBN 50 plans in our database, check out the widget below.
Cheap NBN 50 plans
These days, most NBN 50 plans offer a fairly comparable level of performance. Despite that, there’s often a big difference in the prices attached to each provider. At the time of writing, signing up for an NBN 50 plan starts at around $60 per month (without any discounts) with prices going as as high as $95 per month depending on the provider.
What does paying more get you? More often than not, the answer is faster upload speeds. Relative to some of the other NBN speed tiers, there’s a decent amount of variety when it comes to the upload speeds offered by NBN 50 providers. The highest offer the full 20Mbps that this speed tier is capable of achieving, but many others fall short of that mark and end up somewhere around 17Mbps.
Depending on what you plan on using your NBN 50 connection to do, that might not be a massive issue though. For many customers, the opportunity to save an extra $10 or $15 per month is going to make more sense than squeezing an extra megabit or so out of their fixed-line internet connection.
Even more can be saved by taking advantage of the usual promotions available for new customers. Most NBN 50 providers will give your first handful of months at a discount before bumping you up to the regular price. If you stick with the same provider for too long, you might end up paying for it. Fortunately, most NBN 50 plans in Australia are no-contract so you can always shop around for a better deal once the honeymoon period is over. The only catch here is that unless you’re bringing your own modem along, you might be slugged with some hardware fees on your way out.
For that reason it can be smart to investigate what kind of bundles, discounts and NBN modems each provider offers. Some NBN 50 providers offer strictly BYO (Bring-Your-Own) modem plans, while others supply one for a once-off fee. But a select few will allow you to bundle a modem (or mobile phone) with your NBN 50 plan, allowing you to pay your hardware costs over a set period of time. If you switch to a new provider before then, you’ll have to pay off the remaining balance.
Cheapest intro pricing
Plan details
- Discounted Price: $59.80 per month
- Ongoing Price: $83.90 per month
- Cost for the first year: $862.20 over the first 12 months
- Ongoing yearly cost: $1006.80 per year thereafter
- Great promo pricing
- Bundle and Save
- Ongoing pricing is steep
- Not the fastest upload speeds
If you’re after a cheap NBN 50 plan in Australia, chances are you’ll end up taking a look at Dodo.
At the time of writing, this provider’s NBN50 Unlimited Plan is available at a discounted price of $59.80 for the first six months. This plan comes with unlimited data, typical download speeds of up to 50Mbps and upload speeds up to 17Mbps. As far as perks go, the most notable one is the ability to save by bundling your electricity and gas.
After the promo pricing ends, you’re looking at ongoing pricing of $83.90 per month. However, if you don’t like the idea of paying that price you can always shop around for a better deal since this is a no-contract NBN plan. For a sense of how this plan compares to other NBN 50 plans when it comes to intro pricing, check out the widget below.
Cheapest long term pricing
Plan details
- Discounted Price: $64 per month
- Ongoing Price: $73.90 per month
- Cost for the first year: $847.20 over the first 12 months
- Ongoing yearly cost: $886.80 per year thereafter
- Great promo pricing
- Great ongoing pricing
- 50Mbps typical evening speeds
- Few perks
- Not the fastest provider for upload speeds
As with other speed tiers, the price you pay when you sign up for a new NBN 50 plan as a new customer is usually more generous than the one you'll end up paying after your first few months are up. If you prefer to set and forget but don’t want to pay more for that peace of mind, it might make sense to go with an NBN 50 plan that comes with cheaper ongoing pricing but costs a little more up-front.
If that’s how you prefer to play things then the Flip Unlimited Family NBN50 plan might be a good fit. New customers who sign up before 31 May 2025 will pay just $64 per month for the first 4 months.
Once the promo period ends, you’re looking at $73.90 per month. That makes this the cheapest NBN 50 plan for ongoing pricing in our database at the time of writing. For your money, you’re looking at 50Mbps typical evening download speeds and 17Mbps upload speeds.
If you’re on the fence, there’s also a 14-day Satisfaction Guarantee. For a sense of how this plan compares to other cheap NBN 50 plans, check out the widget below.
What are typical evening speeds?
Why we use typical evening speeds to compare NBN 50 plans
Typical evening speeds are our preferred metric when it comes to choosing the best NBN 50 plans in Australia. This measurement refers to the average speeds that a given NBN plan offers during periods of peak usage. For example, the Dodo nbn50 Unlimited plan comes with typical evening speeds of 50Mbps.
Typical evening speeds depend on the NBN technology type used to connect your home, the speed tier of the NBN plan you’ve signed up for and your choice of NBN provider.
The ACCC requires NBN fixed-line providers to self-report typical evening download speeds you can expect to achieve during the internet’s busiest evening period, so they're good for getting a sense of how your internet speed may be affected during the parts of the day when you (and every one else) are most likely to be using it.
Is NBN 50 fast enough?
NBN 50 is fast enough for most Australian homes, which explains its popularity.
Assuming your home can hit max 50Mbps download speeds, you'll have more than bandwidth to go around. The average number of occupants per home from the last round of available Census data is 2.6; the NBN Co recommendation that NBN 50 plans are for three to four people is comfortably above this.
On paper, NBN 50 has what it takes to deliver two simultaneous 4K streams or around 10 HD streams. We’d comfortably recommend NBN 50 for most homes with average internet needs.
If it’s not enough for your home’s internet needs, most Australian homes can sign up for NBN 100 plans, too, which offer up to double the download and upload speed (though most NBN 100 plans have 20Mbps upload limits). With an NBN 100 plan, you’d be able to watch four simultaneous 4K streams or roughly 20 HD streams, and that 100GB game would download in half the time.
Still not enough speed? You may want to consider an NBN 250 plan. Note that NBN 250 plans are only available to Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) and select Hybrid Fibre Coaxial (HFC) homes.
NBN 50 alternatives
Besides the obvious option of up-selling yourself to a faster NBN speed tier, the natural next best choice is going to be a home wireless internet plan. Powered by either the same kind of 4G or 5G connection found in most mobile phones, this type of internet might be able to offer you better bang for your buck.
These days, there are plenty of 5G home internet plans that can offer superior speeds at a lower price than some NBN 50 plans. Check out the widget below for a round-up of the cheapest options so that you can compare 5G home internet against the best NBN 50 plans.
NBN 50 FAQs
What is NBN 50?
NBN 50 is the middle-of-the-road option when it comes to NBN speed tiers. Aussies signed up for an internet plan with this connection type can expect to see download speeds of up to 50Mbps and upload speeds of up to 20Mbps, depending on the provider.
In short, NBN 50 is a one-size-fits-most solution that's perfect for small households that need a little extra 'oomph' to satisfy their higher-usage needs from time to time.
Who is NBN 50 suitable for?
The official word from NBN Co is that NBN 50 is intended for those in a home with three or four occupants, all of whom tend to be online at the same time. In other words, the NBN 50 speed tier is built for abodes looking to have multiple 1080p streams (plus a 4K stream or two), play online games, work from home (with tasks like videoconferencing) and download files at a reasonable clip.
Those who don’t care for 4K television or online gaming can comfortably settle with a cheaper NBN 12 or NBN 25 plan, but if you’re serious about streaming (or gaming), you are going to need NBN 50, at the least.
Streaming Netflix in 4K/UHD requires, at a minimum, 25Mbps. For Stan, it’s 15Mbps. Kayo Sports is capped at 1080p HD and only requires a minimum of 7.5Mbps. That said, one of the app’s most unique features offers HD picture-in-picture streaming, which means you multiply 7.5Mbps by the number of pictures you’re streaming. Four, for instance, equates to a 30Mbps requirement. Bear in mind that accessing those full speed means other devices in the home will have to not be downloading at the same time.
For the gamers in a home with an NBN 50 connection, there won’t be any issue playing games online (even for multiple in-home gamers). However, downloading a 100GB game will take around 4.5 hours at full speed.
Then there are upload speeds to consider. If you plan on kicking off a lucrative career as a Twitch streamer, you will need, at minimum, 4.5Mbps upload speeds for 1080p HD broadcasting at 30 frames per second (fps) or 6Mbps for 1080p at 60fps.
Similarly, those working from home—particularly those working with large file transfers—may consider the 20Mbps upload limit to be restrictive. This will also impact how long it takes to back up smartphone photos and videos, particularly if everyone is doing it at the same time.
NBN plans are advertised in terms of typical evening download speeds, which is when most people are online and speeds tend to slow down. Still, as you can see from the speed requirements above, the max 50Mbps download and 20Mbps upload of NBN 50 comfortably meets all of these which, coupled with competitive pricing, helps to make sense of why it’s so popular in Australia.
Can I get a faster NBN at my home?
If a fixed-line NBN connection is available at your house (as in all NBN except Wireless and Satellite) then you should be eligible to apply for an NBN 50 plan.
The goal of the NBN is to make all service available to a majority of homes and businesses. However, because of technical limitations some internet providers have opted to not advertise higher speed NBN plans and ask customers to wait until after they are connected to an NBN 50 plan before they can test the speed of their connection.
If it is a strong connection then the provider will upgrade your service. If you're on an older connection then you might be eligible for a free upgrade to FTTP. According to NBN Co, over 2.5 million FTTN addresses are already eligible for a free FTTP upgrade.
Even so, there are some cases (e.g. location and distance from the node) where NBN 100 won't be available at your address. At that point, you might be investigating a fast NBN alternative like home wireless or 5G home broadband.
Is 50Mbps fast?
If you sign up for an NBN 50 plan in Australia, the most you're going to get from even the best NBN 50 providers when it comes to speed is 50Mbps. For most everyday users, the easiest way to find out if 50Mbps is fast enough for your needs is to sign up and find out.
If you're stuck on the fence, taking a quick look at the official Netflix internet requirements might help give you a better sense of what that speed looks like in practice. As mentioned elsewhere in this guide to the best NBN 50 plans in Australia, streaming video content in 4K requires a minimum of 15Mbps.
If you live alone, then 50Mbps is going to be more than enough for that. However, if your household has multiple people trying to stream their favorite Netflix Original at the same time then you may run into trouble. The NBN 50 plan is fast enough for everyday usage but those who require faster downloads, lower latency or a bigger bandwidth budget for streaming may want to consider an NBN 100, NBN 250 or NBN 1000 plan instead.
Related Articles



