How much mobile and internet data do you need?

When we talk about data usage for desktop computers and devices around the home, the average Australian now uses an average of 361GB per month on an NBN connection, according to the latest ACCC Internet Activity report. If we add mobile data usage into the mix, it's estimated that Australians are now currently using 24.4GB of data per month, which is a 23% increase in the numbers from 2019.

Fortunately for home internet users, many of us now have unlimited internet plans, so data usage isn't really something we have to think about. But at the same time, not all NBN plans are unlimited.

It's clear our data needs keep evolving, so we've taken a deep dive into how much data you can expect to use on a whole host of popular activities to help you work out how much data you need.

How much data do popular activities use?

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How much data does Spotify use?

Spotify has five different audio quality settings that determine data usage across its free and premium subscription tiers on both mobile and desktop:

• Automatic: Dependent on your network
• Low: 10MB per hour
• Normal: 40MB per hour
• High: 66MB per hour
• Very high: 132MB per hour and only available on Spotify Premium

How much data does Apple Music use?

Over the course of an hour, Apple Music can use between 30MB all the way up to 2.9GB per hour, depending on which quality tier you use.

Apple Music has four different quality tiers, and each uses a different amount of data. Here's how they compare:

How much data does Google Maps use?

Google Maps uses just anywhere between 2-5MB of data per hour.

Keep in mind it's tough to estimate just how much data Google Maps will use due to its various features that will affect usage. These include map data, navigation instructions, 3D imagery, satellite imagery, and other related information.

When you consider a five-hour roadtrip, you could use anywhere between 10-25MB of data in total, or slightly more or less, depending on your settings.

How much data does Facebook use?

Facebook uses approximately 80MB per hour for browsing and 160MB per hour for video.

When using the official Facebook app, you can expect to use around 80MB of data per hour. This is slightly more than plain old web browsing, which isn't surprising, given how photo-heavy Facebook is these days. However, if you're watching videos through Facebook, your data usage will jump to around 160MB per hour, which is still less than what you'd use streaming on YouTube or Netflix.

How much data does Instagram use?

Instagram uses approximately 600MB per hour for browsing and 1.2GB per hour (default setting) and 240MB per hour (on Data Saving) to upload a reel.

If you find you're endlessly scrolling on Instagram and would like to conserve data while using the app, you can adjust some settings to do just that.

In the Instagram app on your phone, go to your profile and click on the three horizontal bars. Once there, select 'Settings' > 'Account' then 'Data Use'. From here you can select 'Use Less Data' for iOS users or 'Data Saver' for Android users. Switch this 'on' to start saving your data.

How much data does Snapchat use?

Snapchat uses approximately 160MB per hour.

If you were to spend an hour intently sending and receiving Snaps, you could expect to use about 160MB of data in that time. Sending or receiving a single Snap will use about 1MB of data.

How much data does TikTok use?

TikTok used around 840MB in an hour under default settings during our tests. Using Data Saver this came to 360MB for an hour of viewing.

While most streaming apps have the option to toggle your playback quality as a data-saving measure, TikTok only has its default setting and standardised Data Saving mode. Data Saving mode can more than halve your data usage simply by dropping video resolution and taking more time to load between clips. The mode does very little to impede the app experience so it's a perfectly viable option to save your GB.

Note: Data Saving mode is only operational when using mobile data, when you're back on WiFi you'll be TikToking at full capacity. 

Read our guide here for more information on TikTok's data usage.

How much data does YouTube use?

YouTube's data usage ranges between 3.5GB to 5.4GB per hour.

YouTube's data usage will vary depending on the quality you're watching. According to IPSTAR, here's how much data YouTube's most common default settings use:

It's worth noting if you're viewing in 4K, even more data will be used.

How much data does FaceTime use?

FaceTime uses around 200MB per hour.

FaceTime is one of the most popular video calling apps around - mostly because it's preinstalled on every iPhone. On average, FaceTime uses 3MB of data per minute.

How much data does Netflix use?

TV/computer/video game console: your data usage can range between 30MB to 7GB per hour, depending on your stream quality settings. Mobile: your data usage would be between 250MB to 3GB, depending on your stream quality settings.

Netflix has three quality settings for when you're streaming in your web browser, on your smart TV, or on your game console. In addition to providing hourly figures below, we’ve also tried to work out how much data you’ll use each month if you watch an average of two hours of Netflix per day. Of course, if you’re above average (congratulations), your usage will be different.

It also has a Wi-Fi-only setting and maximum data usage setting but this one should be reserved strictly for unlimited data mobile plans. Netflix does however let you save content to your phone for offline viewing, so if you're worried about using too much data streaming shows on your commute, you can always download an episode or two while you're connected to a Wi-Fi network.

How much data does Stan use?

Stan uses 570MB per hour as a minimum.

Stan has three different quality settings:

• Low: 570MB per hour
• Medium: 1.1GB per hour
• High: 2.89GB per hour 
• 4K Ultra: 7GB per hour

Out of the major streaming services available in Australia, Stan is the most data-intensive.

How much data does Binge use?

One screen using Standard Definition (SD) at 360p/480p/540p uses between 300 to 500Mb per hour. One screen using High Definition (HD) at 720p/1080p uses between 1.5GB and 3.25GB per hour.

This puts the lower-end estimates of Binge's HD streaming as equivalent to Netflix's SD bandwidth usage, which means that, overall, Binge is using less data per hour.

How much data does Disney Plus use?

Disney Plus' settings vary between 0.6GB to 2.5GB per hour on mobile, 0.7GB to 7.7GB per hour on TV and 0.6GB to 4.2GB per hour on desktop, depending on video quality settings.

Disney Plus' data usage differs based on the video quality settings you choose. For mobile on WiFi-only at 1080 HD uses 2.5GB per hour, Automatic at HD video quality uses 2GB per hour and the Save Data setting at SD uses 0.6GB per hour.

On TV, the Automatic setting at 4K Ultra HD uses 7.7GB per hour. Moderate at 1080 HD uses 2GB of data per hour and the Save Data setting at SD uses 0.7GB per hour.

On desktop, the Automatic setting at 1080 HD uses 4.2GB of data per hour. The Moderate setting at HD video quality uses 1.2GB per hour and the Save Data setting on SD uses 0.6GB per hour.

How much data does iTunes use?

From 1.5GB per movie.

Renting or buying a movie or TV show from a service like iTunes can result in drastically different data usage depending on what you're watching and in what quality. 

For example, an average SD-quality movie on iTunes will be about 1.5GB, while a HD-quality movie will be about 4GB in 1080p. But if you wanted to watch one of the Lord of the Rings extended editions, this jumps to 3.6GB in SD and 7.5GB in 720p and 8.2GB in 1080p. Thankfully, iTunes makes file-size information available underneath each movie and TV show on the iTunes store. If you're looking at 4K, expect movies to require between 15GB and 20GB. 

If you wanted to rent four HD movies a month through iTunes, you'd be looking at a minimum of 16GB of data per month.

How much data does web browsing use?

Around 60MB per hour.

The average mobile website is roughly 2MB, so data usage is pretty negligible. You'd have to visit 500 unique pages to clock up even 1GB of data usage. 

How much data does Zoom use?

Between 540MB - 2.4GB per hour for video.

Zoom video calls can use a huge amount of data depending on how many people are on the call, and the video quality.

• 1:1 calls at high resolution: 540MB per hour
• Group calls at 1080p: 2.4GB per hour

Check your settings to ensure you're not overdoing how much data Zoom uses.

How much data do you need for podcasts?

Podcasts use a minimum of 60MB per hour.

As a rule of thumb, we've found most podcasts are approximately 1MB per minute so if you want to listen to a 40-minute podcast, expect to use about 40MB of data. This will vary depending on the exact quality the podcast has been encoded in - some podcasts are larger, some are smaller - but in general, podcasts aren't too data intensive.

If you don't want to use data listening to podcasts on the go, most podcasts apps will let you download episodes for future listening while you're connected to a wireless network.

How much data do you need for app downloads?

If you're looking to download apps, it's best to check out how large the app is before installing it. The App Store shows app sizes and will give you a warning if the app you're downloading is over a specific size.

While some apps are tiny, many day-to-day apps can demand a lot of data, for example, the latest version of Facebook is around 300MB. While these won't break your cap if you need to download an app or an update on the go, we don't recommend doing so regularly. In most cases, we'd recommend saving app downloads and updates for when you're on a Wi-Fi network with a larger allowance.

How much data do you need for gaming?

The average gaming data usage ranges between 40MB to 300MB per hour.

Keep in mind though this depends heavily on which game you're playing. While popular games like Minecraft, League of Legends and Call of Duty World War II use between 40-45MB, Fortnite uses 100MB, Dota 2 uses 120MB and CounterStrike and Destiny 2 use a whopping 250 to 300MB per hour.

Now in terms of downloading and updating games, this can be a lot more taxing on your data allowance. If you're gaming on Xbox, PlayStation, or PC, new-release games can be as large as 100GB. Games tend to be smaller on the Nintendo Switch; around 10GB on average.

Expert tips for managing your data

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If you're looking at a new plan, one of the best ways to work out how much data you need is to look at your last couple of phone bills. These should show you how much data you used and if you paid any overages. If you paid excess usage fees, you almost certainly want to go with a larger inclusion plan.

Most providers also have a data usage app you can install on your iPhone or Android, but these won't always show you historical information, just how you're tracking through the month.

While looking at your previous bills for mobile is a great way to work out your usage, home internet needs are a bit different. Have streaming sites struggled to load even outside of peak hours? Do you need to constantly switch other devices off the WiFi to get another to perform better? These are some important questions to consider when reviewing your data usage.

If you're committing to a contract, need to consider not just your current needs, but your future needs as well.

Even if 25GB of mobile data or an NBN 50 plan may be enough for you now, you could end up needing a lot more before your contract is up. The ways in which we use our phones and home devices are constantly evolving and families are often expanding - so you could end up getting hit with excess charges or speeds are slowing as your usage increases. While we don't think you should pay for much more than you need, it's worth giving yourself a slight buffer if you're making a longer-term commitment.

A couple of providers are now offering mobile plans with data rollover, which adds your unused data to your allowance for the next month. If you're only going over your data limit in some months, a little bit of rollover data could be enough to save you.

Prepaid mobile plans, like those shown below, are a fool-proof way to avoid paying excess charges. If you go over your cap, you can't use your data until you recharge or pay for a top-up. While you still have to pay more money for extra mobile data, you're in control of your excess fees; you're not at the mercy of your telco's auto top-up.

Making sure you lock in the lowest quality setting you're happy with is a surefire way to ensure you keep your data usage as low as you can.

Also downloading content in SD rather than HD can save you a lot of data. On smaller screens, you probably won't notice the difference and downloading an average SD quality movie on iTunes will be about 1.5GB, while a HD quality movie will be about 4GB.

Also with apps like Facebook, you can also tinker with settings so videos don't auto-play which will save you data. To make sure Facebook never plays a video unless you want it to, go to Facebook Settings, Videos and photos and select Never auto-play.

This point is specifically for those using mobile data. It might seem obvious, but when you're connected to a WiFi network, you're not using your mobile data. If you're not using mobile data, your inclusions are going to last longer.

Looking for the best big data mobile plans? Start comparing below.