Are you looking to save on your phone bill? We’ve rounded up the cheapest SIM plans from a range of different carriers to help you find the best price. If you’re unsure about whether a SIM-only mobile plan is what you need, our quick guide to SIM only mobile plans will get you up to speed.
Generally speaking, if you don’t want a new phone or a lock-in contract, a SIM plan is the way to go. It’s easy to get what you need without paying for excess features. Unlimited phone calls and text messages usually come standard, with data and international roaming the main points of difference. If you do want a phone, however, check out the current deals on phone plans, including discounted handsets.
We update this article monthly, so bookmark this page to keep up to date with the cheapest SIM plans. Prices update in real-time, meaning you get the latest deals available in Australia right now. You can also use a custom search to choose a plan that suits your exact needs. All of the plans featured in this article include an expiry period of at least 28 days. You can purchase a SIM plan with a shorter recharge window, ideal for travellers who only need a bit of data while visiting Australia.
Want to save on your internet bill too? Check out the cheapest NBN plans to save even more money. You can also compare the best Telstra SIM-only plans, Vodafone SIM-only plans, and Optus SIM-only plans.
Contents
- Cheapest SIM plans
- Cheapest 5G SIM plans
- Cheapest 365-day SIM plans
- What you need to know: eSIM, prepaid, postpaid
- Phone number portability
Cheapest SIM plans
Postpaid
Among the Black Friday sales, Moose Mobile claims the current cheapest postpaid SIM plan at $10.80 per month. This specific plan is on the Optus 4G network, with the discounted price lasting six months.
Optus MVNOs continue to dominate the cheapest plans, with various 4G and 5G products available at low prices. Circles.Life, Spintel, Aussie Broadband, Southern Phone, and Dodo all have compelling offers. Throwing the kitchen sink at its promotion, Circles.Life’s 10GB comes with a bonus 40GB for the first six months, adding up to a sizable 50GB monthly data allocation.
Numobile and Tangerine are the cheapest options on the Telstra network currently, priced at $22 per month for 12GB of data.
Prepaid
Reliable enough to set your watch to, iiNet and TPG are the cheapest prepaid SIM plans. Each one costs $12.50 per month for the first six months, connecting you to the Vodafone 4G network.
Many prepaid plans operate on a 28-day recharge cycle, so you get slightly less use than most postpaid plans. TPG and iiNet are exceptions with their monthly expiry cycles, an advantage they have over competitors.
If you don’t need much data, Lycamobile’s (Vodafone 4G) $15 is one of the cheaper plans. Just keep in mind that it recharges on a 28-day cycle, not a full month.
Cheapest 5G SIM plans
As 5G rolls out to more parts of Australia, and compatible phones become cheaper, it’s easy to take advantage of higher download speeds. 5G SIM plans cost more, making them better suited to users who need the extra speed or perhaps don’t have reliable NBN connections.
Postpaid
At the top of the cheapest 5G postpaid SIM plans is Moose Mobile. $14.80 per month with 25GB is a tidy offer, followed by higher data allocations from Aussie Broadband and Southern Phone.
Belong remains the cheapest 5G postpaid SIM plan on the Telstra network at $30 per month. Its 25GB allocation isn’t quite as tempting as the double data offers from the likes of Tangerine and Mate though.
The Vodafone 5G postpaid SIM plan is reasonable value, discounted to $39 for as long as you remain connected. It also comes with 50GB of data plus a three-month subscription to Binge.
Prepaid
Most of the cheapest prepaid 5G SIM plans are starter packs that then cost full price after the first recharge. For ongoing savings, your best bet is either the iiNet or TPG plans. Both are half-price for the first six months, priced at $17.50 and include 50GB of data. Download speeds for both cap out at 150Mbps.
Alternatively, you can pay a bit extra for 100GB of data and speeds reaching 250Mbps. Felix is another option, which is $10 for the first three months, down from $25. Its 25GB data allocation is comparatively less but still ample for most users.
Cheapest 365-day SIM plans
If you know what you need over a longer period and want to save money in the process, a 365-day SIM plan might do the trick. Simply pay once per year, and get a bank of data to use with unlimited calls and texts. It’s a cost-effective way of paying your phone bill for basic internet users who aren’t big downloaders.
Kogan (Vodafone 4G) and Catch Connect (Optus 4G) have the current cheapest 365-day SIM plans, starting at $109 for 140GB. Arguably the best-value offer comes from Kogan; its 300GB plan costs just $159, down from $275. If you work out the monthly equivalent, that works out to be $13.25 and 25GB per month, which is a nice deal.
What you need to know about SIM only plans
It’s fairly easy to change your SIM plan provider. Even more so with the rise of embedded SIM (eSIM) technology, letting you change plans almost instantly with a compatible device. Instead of requiring a physical card, eSIM stores network information directly to your phone.
Irrespective of which service provider you go with, the actual network used will be either Optus, Telstra or Vodafone. Many of the cheapest SIM plan providers are mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs). This refers to carriers that use the network infrastructure of another company.
Boost Mobile is a popular MVNO that has full access to Telstra’s network, reaching 99.5% of Australians. Not every MVNO includes a network’s full coverage, so it’s worth checking a company’s website to ensure your area is serviced.
In terms of how much data you should choose, data from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) found that Australians generally pay for more than what they need. On average, Aussies use 10.2GB of phone data per month, so it’s likely you could get away with a smaller allowance that costs less.
It also depends on how much you stream and download content using your phone. If you mainly use home or office Wi-Fi and don’t stream much, stick with a cheaper plan.
Postpaid versus prepaid
There are a couple of slightly different SIM plan options to choose from. Postpaid refers to plans that operate on a monthly billing cycle, where you pay at the end of each cycle. Postpaid SIM plans generally don’t involve a lock-in contract, so you can freely swap if your needs change or a better deal comes along. If you hit your data cap for a month, your telco might limit speeds until the next cycle or charge extra costs, so check the fine print beforehand.
Prepaid, on the other hand, sees you pay at the start of each cycle for a fixed number of days. Most prepaid SIM plans have a 28-day expiry cycle instead of a full month. Shorter expiries are also available if you need a SIM while travelling, making it a flexible option. The upside is that if you go over your data limit, you won’t incur extra costs. A lot of prepaid plans don’t automatically recharge by default but you can set up auto-recharge manually, with some telcos offering discounts or bonuses if you do so.
Phone number portability
The SIM changeover process takes about 10 minutes of your time or even less if you choose an eSIM. You will receive instructions to visit a website, provide your details, prove your identity (online) and then insert your new SIM.
Note you will have a choice to migrate your existing mobile number or choose a new one. About 15 minutes later, you should be up and running. However, the documentation will indicate it may take up to 24 hours and be affected by working hours.
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