Each month, we pick the best prepaid mobile plans from our database of 28 providers. These plans are assessed based on affordability and inclusions across a full-year period to factor in incidental charges, as well as the different plan lengths available. For each category, we expect unlimited national talk and text as standard.
The cheapest prepaid mobile plans in this comparison are for light use and need at least 5GB monthly. Medium-use prepaid plans require at least 15GB, while heavy-use prepaid mobile plans need at least 30GB. From there, affordability, deals and other inclusions are weighed up to give you our picks for the best mobile plans.
WhistleOut is Australia's telco comparison website, founded to help everyday Aussies find a phone and internet plan that's right for them. As part of our service promise, we're committed to listing plans from at least the top ten providers of internet plans in the market, but we're currently tracking 34. When we have a commercial relationship with a provider, you'll see a "Go To Site" button that takes you straight to that plan.
We still compare plans from providers we don't have a commercial relationship with, but these don't have a button. To keep our listings up to date, we have a dedicated product team that makes around 400 changes to our database each month.
When putting together our monthly Editor's Picks, we consider plans from all providers we compare on site, regardless of whether we have a commercial relationship with them. WhistleOut's commercial relationships don't influence our picks for the best prepaid plans.
Best medium use prepaid plans
Of our three categories, medium-use mobile plans are the most popular with WhistleOut visitors, so we'll start here. Our picks for best prepaid plans for medium use must have at least 15GB of data, unlimited talk and text, and an expiry period between 28-days and one month. If our light use plans are a little too tight when it comes to monthly data allowances, these plans are going to be a natural step-up.
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TPG
Editor's Pick
30GB Small Plan
$15.00
Per 1 Month Renewal
Link not supplied
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This month, TPG is our choice for the best prepaid mobile plan for medium use. This plan is a steal in the short term, offering new customers 25GB for just $12.50 per recharge. After six months, the ongoing price of $25 per recharge is still pretty good. But given there's no contract, you can easily switch to another cheap prepaid plan to keep the savings going.
If this plan doesn't suit your needs, here's how it compares to some alternatives. These popular prepaid plans all come with at least 15GB:
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Yomojo
Starter 29GB Plan
$24.90
Per 30 Day Renewal
Link not supplied
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felix mobile
felix 25GB Mobile Plan
$30.00
Per 1 Month Renewal
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Superloop
SuperSim Saver 4G Plan
$25.00
Per 30 Day Renewal
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Everyday Mobile
Pre-paid Mobile $25 Recharge
$25.00
Per 30 Day Renewal
Link not supplied
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Kogan Mobile
Small Monthly Plan
$23.00
Per 30 Day Renewal
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Best heavy use prepaid plans
Our picks for best prepaid phone plans for heavy use must have at least 30GB of data, unlimited talk and text, and an expiry period between 28-days and one month. If you're a heavier gigabyte-guzzler, these plans are going to be a better choice for you than our other picks.
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TPG
Editor's Pick
30GB Small Plan
$15.00
Per 1 Month Renewal
Link not supplied
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This month, TPG takes the crown as the best mobile plan for heavy use. With the current promo, new customers get 50GB data for just $17.50 per month. After six months, the plan goes up to $35 per month, which is still among the cheapest prepaid plans in this bracket.
If this plan doesn't suit your needs, there are plenty more to choose from. See how it compares to these popular prepaid plans with at least 30GB:
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Boost Mobile
$39 Prepaid
$39.00
Per 28 Day Renewal
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TPG
Editor's Pick
30GB Small Plan
$15.00
Per 1 Month Renewal
Link not supplied
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Exetel
Plus One eSIM Plan
$40.00
Per 30 Day Renewal
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felix mobile
felix Unlimited Mobile Plan
$40.00
Per 1 Month Renewal
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Telstra
$54 Pre-Paid Mobile
$54.00
Per 28 Day Renewal
Link not supplied
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When a plan wins the golden Editor's Pick ribbon, it means that as well as being the best plan for this month, the provider has gone into the running for our WhistleOut Awards, judged annually.
Our Editor's Picks are selected by our team of data experts. We may earn a commission if you click on one of the products listed, but a service provider isn't required to have a commercial relationship with us to be eligible for consideration. See here for more information about how we work.
How do prepaid plans work?
Monthly plans
The majority of "monthly" mobile plans are sold on a 28-day or 30-day recharge, but some are genuinely on a per-month basis, meaning you renew the same number of days into each month. Of the three options, 28-day recharges are the least preferable because you end up paying 13 times per year, instead of 12.
Long-expiry plans
There are also long-expiry prepaid plans. The most popular of these generally have a 360 or 365-day expiry, but can come with other lengths such as 60, 90, and 180 days. While paying for a year's data in advance does mean spending more in one go, many telcos reward you with more data than you'd get on a month-to-month basis. You also typically get your data upfront in one lump sum.
For example, you might have 200GB to use over the course of a year, rather than 15GB per month. This could be helpful if you find yourself using more data in some months than others — though you'd get a similar benefit from plans with data banking.
But long-expiry prepaid does mean you're essentially locked to your provider for the length of your plan, unless you want to forfeit what you've already paid for.
Auto-recharge prepaid mobile plans
Auto-recharge is offered by most providers for their prepaid plans. This can be scheduled to occur at the end of each expiry period or when you run out of data. At the scheduled time, your bank account will automatically be debited the plan's cost.
This is particularly useful for plans with data banking or rollover data, as many of these providers will wipe the data you've saved up if you let your plan expire without recharging.
Pay As You Go (PAYG) prepaid plans
On a PAYG mobile plan, you load a dollar amount that gets charged for every call, text or megabyte (MB) of data you use. This is charged at a given price, like tolls on the motorway. Once the dollar amount reaches $0, nothing more can be done until more money is added.
This is the best way of having complete control over how much data you use, but it's much more expensive than a traditional prepaid plan. With unlimited talk and text prepaid plans at such an affordable price point, the PAYG model is for niche cases only.
These are the most popular mobile phone plans on our website right now with at least 15GB of data, sourced from our database of 28 mobile providers:
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#1
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SpinTel
Editor's Pick
$23 Mobile Plan
$12.00/mth
Min. cost $12
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#2
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Boost Mobile
$39 Prepaid
$39.00
Per 28 Day Renewal
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#3
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Dodo
Editor's Pick
Medium Mobile Plan
$30.00/mth
Min. cost $15
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#4
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TPG
Editor's Pick
30GB Small Plan
$15.00
Per 1 Month Renewal
Link not supplied
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#5
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Yomojo
Starter 29GB Plan
$24.90
Per 30 Day Renewal
Link not supplied
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#6
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Tangerine Telecom
30GB 5G Mobile SIM
$30.00/mth
Min. cost $15
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#7
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Pivotel
25GB Mobile Swift Plan
$11.45/mth
Min. cost $11.45
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#8
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TPG
100GB Large Plan
$22.50
Per 1 Month Renewal
Link not supplied
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#9
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Swoop
30GB SIM Only 5G
$14.00/mth
Min. cost $14
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#10
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Dodo
Large Mobile Plan
$40.00/mth
Min. cost $20
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Should I choose a prepaid mobile plan?
Here are the core benefits of choosing a prepaid mobile plan:
Greater billing control:
Each month you recharge your account with the freedom to choose how much data you want and how much you want to spend. You can also sign up to different recharge lengths, such as 365-day or 7-day recharges – whatever suits your needs at the time.
It's also an easy way to control your mobile spending. There are no excess usage fees – the perfect solution for anyone who's ever been caught out by a huge phone bill and wants to make sure it never happens again.
No lock-in contracts:
The flexibility around no lock-in contracts make prepaid plans popular phone plans for tourists in Australia.
Reduces the risk of excess data usage:
If you're looking for mobile phone plans to suit kids, prepaid is the way to go. In addition to no excess data usage fees, there's no risk of them racking up excess data charges because you'll simply lose access when you run out. If you happen to need more data, simply wait until your expiry date rolls over or you can purchase add-on data.
This would be a good time to review your usage and see if you need to upgrade your plan tier or shop around for a better deal. Kids also won't lose the right to make calls or sent texts even if they run out of data, which is handy for emergency situations. Overall, all these features make prepaid mobile phone plans perfect for anyone on a variable budget or with variable phone usage.
Prepaid mobile plan FAQs
What happens if your prepaid mobile plan runs out of data?
When you run out of data on a prepaid mobile plan, your SIM's connection to the mobile network of your preferred provider is essentially paused until you buy more via a "recharge" or top-up your account in another way. This is usually handled via an app and your provider will usually send you SMS alerts that let you know when you're close to exceeding the data allowance associated with your prepaid mobile plan.
How does rollover data work?
Banking unused data is handy so it can be used in a future mobile plan period. If you were to purchase a monthly plan with 10GB but only use 6GB, next month you would have 14GB to use. But if you miss a recharge or change mobile plans, you might lose all your banked data.
Are there any prepaid plans with unlimited data?
Some mobile plans boast 'unlimited data'. You still get a data allowance, but instead of losing internet access or having to pay overage fees, your internet simply gets slowed for the rest of the current billing period. This is useful if you're not great at keeping within your data budget, but it's unfortunately not too common on prepaid plans.
Are there any prepaid phone plans with international calls?
Though rarely unlimited, some providers include international talk and text to select destinations in their prepaid plans.
Can you get a prepaid plan with a new phone?
As a general rule, if you want a new phone and a prepaid plan then you'll have to buy them separately. Prepaid plans don't come with phones because they're exempt from credit checks and therefore carry a lower risk to the telco. Some providers may sometimes offer the option to buy a phone at a discount if you pair it with a prepaid plan. However, these arrangements will usually see that device locked to that specific provider's network.
How does auto recharge work?
Auto-recharge is a common feature offered by most providers when it comes to prepaid plans. Once set up, your bank account will automatically be debited the plan's cost whenever you run out of data or reach the end of your expiry period.
Can you get 5G on prepaid?
While 5G isn't entirely unheard of when it comes to prepaid plans, many cheaper mobile plans are restricted to 4G coverage so be sure to double-check if that connectivity is something you want or need.
Fergus Halliday
Digital Content Editor
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