The best Prepaid plans available in September 2021

It’s great to see telcos competing in the Prepaid space because it means you can pair a handset—iPhone 12, Samsung Galaxy S21 or whatever else you’re using—with a great value plan. After having long-running promotional pricing for its plans, TPG has refreshed its Prepaid plans to drop the six months of discounted pricing for a relatively familiar typical rate plus more data. That’s a big part of why you’ll still see the TPG 45GB Mobile Plan take out the top spot for best value Prepaid mobile plan.

We’ve also decided to split our budget-friendly categories into best cheap (capped at $20 max per recharge) and best cheapest (capped at $15 max per recharge; ideally lower). So while Lycamobile’s Unlimited 12 returns as our cheapest pick again, Woolworths Mobile’s Mobile Pre-Paid Mobile $20 Recharge plan takes the best cheap category.

You can check out the full details for all of our picks below.

Best value Prepaid plan

TPG 45GB Mobile Plan

TPG 45GB Mobile Plan at a glance:

• $30 per month
• $360 first-year cost
• 45GB data
• Vodafone network

TPG returns to take out the top spot for best Prepaid value this month, albeit with a refreshed take on July’s older winning plan. In July, the TPG Large Plan came with 40GB of data with $29.99 typical monthly pricing and the first three months charged at $15 apiece. The promo pricing may be gone, but for one more cent per month on that typical fee, you get 5GB of extra data.

The TPG 45GB Mobile Plan costs $30 a month for 45GB of data, which is equal to the dollars-to-data value of the TPG 60GB Mobile Plan (so grab that instead if you want more data) and ever-so-slightly better than the value of the 28-day Amaysim $50 Unlimited Plan (80GB). The TPG winning plan also lets you add international calls to 37 countries for $5 a month.

Below is a daily updating list of popular Prepaid mobile plans with at least 40GB of data.

Best perks Prepaid plan

$25 Gomo Subscription

$25 Gomo Subscription at a glance:

• $25 per 30 days
• $300 first-year cost
• 18GB data
• 18GB bonus data (first three recharges)
• 200GB data rollover
• International calls
• WiFi calling
• Optus network

Last month, Lebara’s $14.90 Extra Small Plan caught our eye with a great mix of monthly value and plenty of perks. This month, though, you’ll need to pay around $10 more for our top pick, albeit for better perks. For starters, the $25 Gomo Subscription operates on the Optus network, which is more ubiquitous than the Vodafone network that Lebara uses.

That $25 subscription cost is charged every 30 days for 18GB of base data. The first three recharges, though, come with double the data. If you don’t manage to use all of the double data on the first three recharges, you can take advantage of data rollover up to 200GB (as long as your subscription is active). This Gomo Prepaid plan also comes with unlimited talk to 15 selected countries and WiFi calls from Australian WiFi networks.

Below is a daily updating list of popular Prepaid plans with at least 18GB of data.

Best cheap Prepaid plan

Woolworths Mobile Pre-paid Mobile $20 Recharge

Woolworths Mobile Pre-paid Mobile $20 Recharge at a glance:

• $20 per 30 days
• $240 first-year cost
• 12GB data
• 300GB data rollover
• Data gifting
• 10% off monthly Woolies shop
• Telstra network

Last month, the Internode Small 8GB Plan took out the top spot here care of $10 monthly pricing for the first six months before reverting to its typical $19.99 fee. That’s still worth considering if you don’t mind 8GB of data on the Vodafone network. This month’s winner, though, is the Woolworths Mobile Pre-paid Mobile $20 Recharge, which isn’t as cheap in terms of first-year pricing, but it has better inclusions.

That $20 is paid every 30 days and you should absolutely recharge before expiry to take advantage of the 300GB data bank. This way you can store any unused data from the 12GB allocation for when you need it later. Alternatively, gift unused data to eligible Woolworths Mobile friends and family. The perk we love most about Woolworths Mobile plans, though, is the 10% discount off a monthly Woolies shop (save up to $50).

Below is a daily updating list of popular Prepaid plans that don’t cost more than $20 per recharge.

Best cheapest Prepaid plan

Lycamobile Unlimited 12

Lycamobile Unlimited 12 at a glance:

• $12 per 28 days
• $138 first-year cost
• 2GB data
• $5 referral credit
• Telstra network

Lycamobile is the winner again this month with a plan that has even better value, even if it does have less data. In June and again in August, Lycamobile was running a promotion on this plan that halved the plan cost for the first three recharges.

While, unfortunately, that promotion has expired, paying $12 for 2GB of data on the Telstra wholesale network is still a competitive price. Plus, if you sign up and like the service, you can pocket $5 of credit for each successful referral.

Below is a daily updating list of popular Prepaid plans that come with at least 1GB of data and, at least during promo-pricing periods, don’t cost more than $15 per recharge.

Best big-data Prepaid plan

Felix $35 Subscription

Felix $35 Subscription at a glance:

• $35 per month
• $420 first-year cost
• Endless data
• 20Mbps speed cap
• Carbon-neutral provider
• Vodafone network

This isn’t the first time that Felix Mobile has won this category, and it’s unlikely to be the last time. Why? Because instead of forcing us to measure out value in terms of the dollars-to-gigabytes ratio, Felix blitzes the data part by offering endless data. It’s called “endless” instead of “unlimited” because there is a catch.

You can forget about 5G speeds or even faster 4G speeds with the Felix $35 Subscription. Instead, the price of endless data is 20Mbps download speeds which, admittedly, is fast enough to do most online activities on your phone. The only disclaimer is you want to be in an area with good Vodafone signal to have the best chance of hitting those speeds.

For comparison between Felix and big-data plans with faster speeds, below is a daily updating list of popular Prepaid plans with at least 50GB of data.

Best long-expiry Prepaid plan

Kogan Extra Large – 365 Day Flex Plan

Kogan Extra Large – 365 Day Flex Plan at a glance:

• $300 per 365 days
• 486GB base data
• 14GB bonus data
• Earn Qantas Points
• Vodafone network

This feels like deja vu. For the longest time, the Kogan Mobile Extra Large – 365 Day Flex Plan has long been the incumbent winner of this category. But the prices went up not so long ago, so the popular long-expiry Prepaid plan was replaced with its cheaper sibling in the Kogan Large – 365 Day Flex Plan.

Now that Kogan has tweaked its pricing again, it’s hard to ignore the year-long value of the Kogan Extra Large – 365 Day Flex Plan. Compared to the previous winner, this Kogan long-expiry Prepaid plan comes with heaps more data (500GB vs 250GB) and better overall dollars-to-data value. The price has jumped around a bit—from $280 to $285 then $355 and now settled at $300—but get in by 30 September 2021 to nab the 14GB of bonus data (down from 64GB).

Below is a daily updating list of popular long-expiry Prepaid mobile plans.

Most popular Telstra Prepaid plan

Boost $30 Prepaid

Boost $30 Prepaid at a glance:

• $30 per 28 days
• $10 first recharge
• $370 first-year cost
• 20GB data
• 17GB bonus data (first three recharges)
• Data rollover (per recharge)
• International talk and text
• Telstra network

Prepaid fans have once again stuck with the Boost Mobile $30 Prepaid plan this month. While it’s restricted to your first three recharges, this 20GB Prepaid plan comes with a bonus 17GB per recharge (which used to be better at 20GB). The good news is, despite the three-recharge limitation, Boost Prepaid plans come with data rollover, so you can put leftover data from your recharge towards the next one (but it can only be rolled over for one recharge, not perpetually).

Just make sure you recharge before your current 28-day expiry to take advantage of this feature, and get in by 27 September 2021 to take advantage of the bonus data. Outside of data, this Boost Prepaid plan still includes unlimited standard calls and messaging to 20 selected countries, with a boosted 300 minutes to another 30 selected dialling destinations alongside 300 texts to any country. Get in by 9 September, too, to pay just $10 instead of the typical $30 fee.

The most popular Telstra Prepaid plans may change throughout the month, but this most popular pick was accurate as of 1 September 2021.

Most popular Optus Prepaid mobile plan

Optus Prepaid Epic Data – $30 Recharge

Optus Prepaid Epic Data – $30 Recharge at a glance:

• $30 per 28 days
• $390 first-year cost
• 10GB data
• 30GB bonus data (first three recharges)
• Day rollover
• Data rollover
• International calls
• Optus network

Optus Prepaid has recaptured the attention of purchasers for another month after Amaysim snatched the popularity crown not so long ago. At first glance, $30 per 28-day recharge for 10GB of data doesn’t seem like a flash deal. But this Optus Prepaid Epic Data – $30 Recharge plan is very likely popular because of the bonus data.

For the first three recharges, you nab a bonus 30GB of data for 40GB in total to use. Unused data can also be banked up to 200GB, so those unused megabytes today can help you out in data-intensive months down the track. This Optus Prepaid plan also includes standard talk and text to 15 selected countries.

The most popular Optus Prepaid mobile plans may change throughout the month, but this most popular pick was accurate as of 1 September 2021.

Most popular Vodafone Prepaid plan

TPG 25GB Mobile Plan</h3

TPG 25GB Mobile Plan at a glance:

• $25 per month
• $300 first-year cost
• 25GB data
• Vodafone network

At the start of the month, two recently refreshed TPG plans were close contenders for the most popular Prepaid pick on the Vodafone network. While the TPG 60GB Mobile Plan was the popular pick last month, this month it’s a showdown between the TPG 25GB Mobile Plan and the cheaper, data-lighter TPG 12GB Mobile Plan.

The TPG 25GB Mobile Plan costs $25 per month for dollars-to-data parity, whereas the TPG 12GB Mobile Plan costs $20 per month for 12GB of data. Clearly more data was the more popular pick at the start of the month.

The most popular Vodafone Prepaid mobile plans may change throughout the month, but this most popular pick was accurate as of 1 September 2021.

How do I change Prepaid plans?

Switching Prepaid plans and providers is nowhere near as stressful as switching Postpaid plans, partly because Prepaid plans have no contract. The process will be different for every provider but, typically, all that’s required to switch Prepaid “plans” is to select a different recharge type next top-up. Other providers will ask you to switch rate plans via an automated service over the phone, and some let you do it all from their app.

Switching providers is almost as simple, but not quite. If you want to switch providers and keep the same number, make sure you approach your new provider with the mobile number you would like to switch, the associated account number (if available), and your personal details for security purposes (e.g. name, date of birth, driver’s license number).

Where you might run into trouble is using one provider’s Prepaid handset with another’s Prepaid SIM. Unlike contract phone plans, Prepaid phones tend to be network locked. Unlocking your Prepaid handset will come with a small fee, which may vary depending on the make and model of your phone and the date of purchase.

What is the difference between Prepaid and Postpaid plans?

Postpaid plans are usually associated with contract terms and included handsets (though there are some decent month-to-month SIM plans available these days) whereas Prepaid plans are low-commitment plans that give you more control over your spending, and they have no contract.

With Prepaid plans, you pay for the calls, text and data you think you will need before using them. Postpaid plans, on the other hand, calculate your usage at the end of your billing month and bill you for the calls, text and data used over that period (typically with excess fees if you go over your plan’s inclusions).

Both offer their own peace of mind; Prepaid plans simply restrict your network access when you’ve burned through your data, whereas excess usage on a Postpaid plan will result in additional charges on your bill at the end of the month. But Prepaid plans come with the risk of getting cut off without notice, which can be dangerous if you forget to recharge, whereas Postpaid plans will only cut you off if you fail to pay the last month’s bill after it’s due.

Which Prepaid plans allow tethering?

You would be stretched to find a Prepaid provider and plan that doesn’t allow for tethering these days. We reviewed every Australian Prepaid provider and couldn’t find a single provider that didn’t offer tethering on its prepaid plans. The Optus website states that Prepaid tethering is available on “most plans” but we checked with the customer service team who confirmed it was available on every Prepaid plan.

So, here are the prepaid providers that allow tethering:

• ALDI Mobile
• amaysim
• Boost Mobile
• Coles
• Dodo
• Hello Mobile
• Hive Mobile
• Jeenee Mobile
• Kogan Mobile
• Lebara Mobile
• Lycamobile
• Optus
• TeleChoice
• Telstra
• TPG
• Vodafone
• Woolworths

What is the best Prepaid plan for international calls?

Prepaid plans may not be as perk-packed as SIM Only alternatives, but there are still a handful of telcos that offer unlimited international calls. The cheapest is the Coles Prepaid $20 for 30 Days plan, which offers unlimited international calls to 15 countries. But our pick for the best value and versatility is the Amaysim $40 Unlimited Plan, which comes with unlimited calls to 42 selected countries and 50GB of data.

Below is a daily updating list of the most popular Prepaid plans from the four Prepaid telcos that offer unlimited calls (Coles, Amaysim, Boost and Optus).

More Prepaid plans

Take a look at the most popular Prepaid plans in Australia according to WhistleOut’s comparison engine.