Cheap mobile phone plans in Australia (November 2023)

If you are in the market for cheap mobile plans (or even the cheapest mobile plans), there are plenty of low-cost options.

Whatever your needs,  there are ample Aussie providers with cheap mobile plans for under $20 with decent monthly data. And you only need to make a small increase to your budget if you want more gigabytes and shiny perks.

In this guide, we're looking at the best-value SIM-only plans (Prepaid and Postpaid), kicking off with those under $10 and stretching up to a max cost of $40, including cheap unlimited plans and plans on all three networks.

In our top picks below, we've tried to highlight the best cheap mobile plans in Australia that offer reasonable data and call inclusions. However, if you're simply after the cheapest prepaid plans and cheapest postpaid plans that Australian telcos provide, take a look at the list below for some truly dirt-cheap mobile plans. This list of the cheapest mobile plans comes from the database of providers tracked by our sister website WhistleOut. 

At this price point, plans often only come with a few gigs of data, so the fact that you get 12GB with this plan from TPG makes it great value.

Note that this pricing only lasts for the six months, after which you'll pay $20 per month. The plan is contract-free, so you can always swap provider before you fee goes up. 

TPG's mobile plans are powered by the Vodafone 4G network. 

Not quite what you’re after? Here are the most popular mobile plans for $10 and under today.

This price bracket is a tricky one, as most of the popular picks are technically only $20 or under for a promo period - typically six months. Still, TPG's deal on its 45GB Monthly Plan nets you a huge amount of monthly data for $15 per month

Once the promo runs out, however, things get a little dicey. After six months the price will revert back to $30 a month. All things considered, that's still a pretty decent deal. If you're an existing TPG internet customer, you'll pay a slightly cheaper rate of $25 per month after your initial discount runs out.

The plan runs on the Vodafone 4G network and includes all the usual unlimited call and text trimmings. 

If you want to check out your options, here are some more popular mobile plans at this price point.

Southern Phone currently has a great offer for anyone looking for a lot of data without breaking the bank. $35 per month gets you a 100GB data allowance.

This mobile plan also includes unlimited standard calls and texts powered by the Optus 4G network. You won't get access to the faster speeds that Optus 5G network can offer but you should have coverage in the most populated parts of Australia. You'll also score $300 worth of international call credit each month.

Want to see what else is out there? Take a look at the most popular plans below $40 per month for comparison.

If a hundred gigs still won't suffice, there is one more option. While there are no truly 'unlimited' data plans in Australia, there is a decent handful that offers 'endless' or 'infinite' data, which means you can use as much data as you please, but it will be speed-capped.

The best option for most people is felix mobile's $40 subscription plan, which offers 'endless' data that's capped at 20Mbps. At that speed, you can do most things comfortably, from streaming HD video, updating apps, online shopping, scrolling through social media and video chatting with friends and family. Really, the only thing you'll struggle with is downloading large files, which may take a while.

If you want to try before you buy, you can currently get 50% off on your first three months.

felix is powered by the Vodafone network.

If you're looking for a cheap prepaid plan that also includes international calls, Lebara is a solid choice. You'll get 35GB for $29.90 on a 30-day expiry. 

The plan also unlimited international calls and texts to 35 select countries, a further 300 minutes for Zone 1 destinations, and an extra 30 minutes for Zone 2. You'll be able to call almost anywhere with this plan. 

If you sign up through the Lebara website before the end of September, you'll get an additional 35GB on the first recharge.

For a sense of how this compares to some of the other popular cheap prepaid plans out there, check out the widget below.

If you're looking for one of the cheapest mobile plans on the Telstra mobile network, you need to look no further than the Numobile $20 SIM plan. Priced at $20 per month, this cheap mobile plan is onlya few bucks more expensive than PennyTel's Extra Small plan but includes more than double the data.

If you have specific requirements that don't match up with what Numobile are offering here, there are plenty of other MVNOs on the Telstra wholesale network that will connect you to the largest mobile network in Australia for a fraction of the cost. Here's an updated list of mobile plans on the Telstra network.

The cheapest way to jump onto the Optus network on short notice is the Southern Phone X Small SIM Only Plan.

$5 per month gets you 2GB of data for the first twelve months plus unlimited national calls and texts. After that year, the monthly rises to $15 per month. Fortunately, it's a no-contract plan, so you're free to shop around when that higher price eventually kicks in and save money in the meantime.

If Optus works best in your area and you're not interested in switching to Southern Phone, there's a bunch of smaller providers that offer access to the Optus 4G network for lower monthly price (though Optus plans can be quite cheap).

For those looking to stay with or seek out the coverage of the Vodafone's 3G and 4G networks while saving as much money as possible, iiNet's 8GB Mobile Plan is a clear frontrunner for the best cheap plan on the network.

Priced at $10 per month for the first six months, this cheap phone plan includes 8GB of mobile data. After that honeymoon period, the price does go up to $19.99 per month. However, at that point, you are free to leave and jump ship to another cheap mobile plan.

Vodafone has a healthy mix of budget prepaid providers that use its network. If you're in a place with ample Vodafone coverage, and you're only interested in cutting back your monthly bills, check out the most popular plans on Vodafone's network.

If you're looking for a cheap data SIM to stick in an iPad, Android tablet, or portable hotspot, our current top pick comes from Telstra's budget brand Belong. You'll pay just $15 per month for a 20GB SIM, which is hard to beat. This cheap plan even has 5G! 

The only catch is that your speeds are limited to 100Mbps. 

Here are a few other cheap data-only plans:

Regardless of which provider you choose to opt for, the cheapest iPhone 15 plans tend to have a few things in common. The first is that they're tied to either Vodafone, Optus or Telstra. That's because only three providers in Australia that sell new iPhones on a plan.

The best savings on an iPhone 15 plan can change depending on what kind of promotional offers are currently running. Right now, Vodafone is the best option.

Check out the widget below for a snapshot of cheap mobile plans for the iPhone 15 available in Australia across 36-month contracts. These will cost you less month-to-month since the monthly phone repayment is split up over 36 months as opposed to 24 or 12 months.

Prefer to go Pro? Here are the best cheap mobile plans for the iPhone 15 Pro:

As with the iPhone, there are currently three Aussie telcos that offer the Galaxy S23 on a plan: Telstra, Vodafone and Optus.As a result, figuring out which telco offers cheaper Samsung Galaxy S23 plans is relatively straightforward.

Regardless of which telco you choose, your plan will be made up of a SIM plan plus the cost of the device divided by how many months in your term. The most cheap Galaxy S23 plan will be the one that charges the least for the SIM plan section of your mobile plan. Naturally, that calculation favors 36-month plans over 24 and 12 month contracts.

To find a cheap mobile plan for the Galaxy S23, check out the widget below.

If you're looking to cut down on monthly expenses, your phone bill can be a great place to start. Australia's mobile plan market extends far beyond the three big carriers - Telstra, Optus and Vodafone - and so long as you aren't locked into device repayments with another provider the process of switching between to a cheaper mobile plan is relatively painless.

Before you do pull the trigger on a new mobile provider, it's worth doing your research and considering a few key factors.

As a rule, it's usually better and cheaper to have too much data than not enough. Knowledge is power when it comes to choosing the right mobile plan, so it may be worth using an app like My Data Manager to start tracking how much of your monthly data you use. Once you have a better idea of how much data you actually need, finding a plan that offers that amount at the lowest possible price becomes significantly easier.

While there's often overlap between Australia's big three carriers when it comes to coverage, that's little consolation to those who fall through the cracks. If you know that your local area has bad Optus coverage, that's a good reason to exclude cheap mobile plans from providers that rely on the same infrastructure. After all, the savings benefits of a good deal tend to erode pretty fast if you can't get a good signal.

The quality of a mobile provider's customer support isn't usually something that you think about until it's too late. For that reason, those looking at choosing between our picks for the best cheap mobile plans may want to use that variable as a point of difference between potential options. If two plans offer the same amount of data and coverage for a similar or identical monthly cost, a good (or bad) customer service reputation might be a good way to break the tie between them.

At any given moment, there usually dozens of great deals on mobile plans available to Australians. What's more, most of these tend to be contract-free. If you're willing to be diligent and check in to see which providers are running the best deals every few months, there's nothing stopping you from jumping between them to get the most out of your money. Switching mobile providers isn't as hard as it used to be and it's a very easy way to save money.

Cheaper mobile plans tend to be light on extras. You don't get value adds like discounted movie tickets or access to streaming services.

In most cases, you're literally paying for talk, text, and data. It also goes without saying, cheaper plans tend to have a smaller data allowance than more expensive plans, but this isn't really an issue if you right-size to your needs. 

Most cheap mobile plans currently don't have 5G access.