Best prepaid cell phone plans of 2026
Deep-dive on prepaid cell plans in 2026: Mint Mobile, Visible, US Mobile, Tello, Cricket, Spectrum Mobile, and more. Each pick covers price, network, deprioritization tier, hotspot allowance, and the specific use case it fits best. Recommendations are editorial — we don’t take affiliate payments.
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1. Best prepaid unlimited: Visible+ ($45/mo)
Visible+ at $45/month is the best prepaid unlimited plan in the US, full stop. Unlimited high-priority data + 50 GB high-speed hotspot + 5g-uw">5G UW (Verizon C-band/mmWave) + free roaming in Mexico/Canada + 720p video streaming + a single fixed monthly price including taxes. Visible is owned by Verizon, which means it sits closer to postpaid in the deprioritization queue than third-party MVNOs.
The downside is it's app-only customer support — no retail stores, no phone support. For most users that's a feature (cheaper plan), but anyone who needs in-person help should consider Cricket or Metro instead.
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2. Cheapest prepaid annual: Mint Mobile
Mint Mobile sells in 3-month and 12-month bulk blocks. The 12-month unlimited plan averages $30/month including taxes. Mid-tier (15GB) drops to $20/month. The cheapest entry is $15/month for 5GB on the annual.
Catch: 35GB high-speed cap before deprioritization on unlimited; hotspot capped at 5–10GB before slowing to 600 Kbps. Annual lock-in is real — you can't pro-rate a refund if you switch mid-cycle. For someone who knows their usage is stable, the per-month savings vs monthly billing is meaningful.
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3. Best prepaid for heavy hotspot: US Mobile Warp Plus
US Mobile Warp Plus includes 100 GB of high-speed hotspot per month — among the highest hotspot allotments at any price tier (postpaid or prepaid). Unlimited talk/text/data with the build-your-own pricing structure. Rides Verizon by default with optional T-Mobile pivot per-line.
For remote workers tethering laptops 1–2 days a week, this beats the $90+ Verizon and T-Mobile postpaid plans on per-month price. For sustained 5-day-a-week tethering, a dedicated mobile hotspot device is still the right answer.
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4. Cheapest prepaid plan, period: Tello $5–$10/mo
Tello's $5/month plan includes 1 GB of data, unlimited talk, unlimited text. The $10/month plan bumps to 5 GB. Both run on T-Mobile's network. Tello uses a build-your-own structure — you tune minutes, texts, and data independently — useful if your needs don't fit a standard plan.
Tello is the cheapest mainstream prepaid in the US. For kids, elderly relatives who only need calls, hand-me-down phones, or dedicated work-only lines, $5/month is hard to beat. The catch is hotspot is limited (5GB on the $10 plan, no hotspot on the $5).
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5. Best prepaid for in-store support: Cricket Wireless
Cricket Wireless is AT&T-owned and has the strongest retail/support presence among prepaid carriers. Cricket stores exist in most US markets; AT&T own-stores will also help with Cricket activation. Plans range from $30 (5GB) to $60 (unlimited with mobile hotspot). Network priority is closer to AT&T postpaid than to third-party MVNOs riding AT&T.
Cricket's congestion behavior is gentler than H2O or Lyca (third-party AT&T MVNOs). If you ever need to walk into a store and have someone fix your account, Cricket's the prepaid that supports that workflow.
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6. Best prepaid for cable bundle: Spectrum Mobile / Xfinity Mobile
If you're already a Charter Spectrum or Comcast Xfinity cable internet customer, the matching mobile bundle is usually the cheapest prepaid-equivalent plan available to you. Spectrum Mobile starts at $30/mo (1GB) or $50/mo (unlimited); Xfinity Mobile is similarly priced. Both ride Verizon's network — same coverage as Visible.
The bundle discount is gated on your cable subscription. If you cancel cable, your mobile rate jumps to non-bundle pricing (often higher than Visible). Cox Mobile (also Verizon, in Cox markets) is the equivalent for Cox cable customers.
Methodology
We pick from the carriers and plans we have data for. Some plans (notably the big-three’s flagship postpaid tiers) are recommended via the carrier page rather than a specific plan because we don’t maintain the postpaid plan catalogs in our database. We don’t accept compensation for placement; recommendations would change if a carrier or plan’s value proposition changed. Read more about how we score plans.