Compare the best mobile phone plans in Australia

Tara Donnelly’s guide to comparing mobile phone plans

Phone tips from our expert

If you’re shopping for a new mobile phone plan, here are a few simple tips for choosing the best plan and provider for your needs:

• Prepaid vs postpaid: Do you prefer to pay for your plan in advance, or are you happy to be billed at the end of each month?
• Know your data usage: How many gigabytes of mobile data do you need per month? If you never go over your plan’s data, you may save by moving to a cheaper plan with less gigabytes. If you’re constantly paying excess data charges, you’ll need to consider a plan with bigger inclusions.
• Weigh up the extras: Some plans offer extra inclusions like international calls or even bonuses like streaming – but you can cut your bill for opting for a no-frills plan.
• Check your coverage: Every telco in Australia offers coverage on either Telstra, Optus or Vodafone’s 4G and/or 5G mobile networks. If you have a coverage preference, consider providers that operate on that network.
• You don’t need a new phone to change your mobile plan: Going SIM-only but keeping your phone allows you to access hundreds of cheaper plans from a wide range of telcos.
• Look for new customer deals, but be careful: Many telcos offer discounted monthly pricing for new customers – but make sure you can afford the standard price when that introductory period expires, and that you’re not locked in long-term.

Tara Donnelly, Canstar Blue Utilities Editor

How to choose the best mobile phone plan for you

Choosing a phone plan doesn’t have to be hard, all it comes down to is working out what you actually need on your plan and setting a realistic budget.

For example, if you’re not planning on spending a lot of money, you’ll want to compare a range of cheap phone plans. However, if you need lots of data, a cheaper plan will most likely not include the amount of data you’re looking for.

You’ll want to keep a few things in mind when comparing phone plans:

• Price (set a realistic budget)
• Inclusions (data and other extras)
• Plan type (SIM-only or phone on a plan, prepaid or postpaid)
• Network coverage

Once you’ve thought about the key things you need in a plan, you can use our phone comparison tool at the top of this page to compare phone plans across a range of filters to see what plans are available and will suit your criteria.

What are the main types of mobile plans?

When you’re choosing a new mobile plan, you’ll need to decide what type of plan you want. This can be broken down into the features of the plan — SIM-only or bundled with a mobile phone — and the way that you pay for your plan — prepaid or postpaid.

Phone on a plan

Phone on a plan is where you buy a new mobile phone on a plan through a telco. Only a small number of telcos offer the option to do this, so choices for buying a phone on a plan are limited.

The advantage to this is that buying an expensive phone, such as an iPhone or premium Samsung device (which will typically cost over $1,000 upfront), might be easier to manage as this cost is spread over time. However, buying on a plan allows you to split the device payment in monthly instalments over a set amount of time — usually 12, 24 or 36 months. You’ll also typically have a phone plan included with your new phone from the telco and your monthly bill will be a combination of what your device payments are and the phone plan you’ve bundled with it.

SIM-only plans

A SIM-only plan is the alternative to buying a phone on a plan, where you just get the SIM card. If you don’t want a new handset, or if you’ve chosen to buy a new phone outright instead, you’ll need a SIM-only plan in order to use your phone to access calls, SMS and data services.

SIM-only plans are available from a wide range of providers on both a prepaid and postpaid basis. They are often as simple as buying the SIM card (usually bundled with a plan) and activating the card yourself. SIM-only plans are available as a prepaid or postpaid plan and SIM cards can be bought directly through the retailer, usually online, or even in supermarkets and other retail stores.

Prepaid plans

Prepaid plans are plans where you pre-pay, or pay in advance, to access your plan’s inclusions. You’ll then have a set period, known as an expiry period, in which to use your plan’s call, SMS and data inclusions, before the plan either needs to be recharged manually or the plan auto renews. Prepaid expiry periods can be as short as seven days or as long as 365 days, but are most commonly available over 28 or 30 days.

Postpaid plans

Postpaid plans are where you pay for your plan after you’ve used it, usually in the form of a monthly phone bill, with plans running on a monthly billing cycle. If you go over your plan’s inclusions, you’re typically able to continue using your phone’s inclusions, but you might be charged extra on your next phone bill, depending on your telco.

The best mobile phone plan providers in Australia

When you know what you want from your mobile plan, one of the hardest things to decide is which mobile phone plan provider is going to be the best mobile plans for your needs. Not all telcos are created equal — some only offer prepaid plans, some only postpaid, while others might offer a range of different plan types. In addition, network coverage can vary between providers, and some telcos might also offer extras, discounts or special deals. To help you choose a good phone plan provider, you can check out our ratings, articles and guides to give you the information you need.

Want to find the best-value phone plans? Check out our Outstanding Value awards.

Phone on a plan: Most Satisfied Customers award winner

Vodafone was our winner for the 2025 Most Satisfied Customers award for phone on a plan providers, scoring five stars across most categories, including overall satisfaction, while it scored three stars for network coverage.

Phone on a Plan Providers

Prepaid SIM-only: Most Satisfied Customers award winner

ALDI Mobile took out top spot for our 2025 Most Satisfied Customers awards for prepaid providers, scoring five stars across almost all categories except network coverage and customer service, where it scored four stars.

Prepaid SIM-Only Providers

Postpaid SIM-only: Most Satisfied Customers award winner

Moose Mobile was our winner for the 2025 Most Satisfied Customers award for SIM-only postpaid providers, with a score of five stars in all categories including overall satisfaction, value for money and customer service.

Postpaid SIM-only Providers

Smartphones: Most Satisfied Customers award winner

Apple was our winner for our 2025 Most Satisfied Customers award for smartphones, with five stars for overall satisfaction, user friendliness, camera quality and design, four stars for durability and three stars for value for money and battery and charging performance.

Smartphones

Travel SIM and roaming packs: Most Satisfied Customers award winner

Airalo took out top spot in our 2025 Most Satisfied Customers award for travel SIM and roaming packs with five stars for overall satisfaction, network coverage and value for money, while it scored four stars for app or website and ease of recharge, and three stars for sign up and activation and customer service.

Travel SIM & Roaming Packs

Small business mobile plan providers: Most Satisfied Customers award winner

Vodafone won our 2025 Most Satisfied Customers award for small business mobile plan providers for the fourth year in a row, with five stars in all categories including overall satisfaction and network coverage.

Small Business Mobile Plan Providers

Compare the best phone plans in August

If you’re looking for a new mobile phone plan, the best way to find the one that’s right for you is to compare plans. Once you have a clear idea of what you want for your plan, you can compare mobile plans from a range of different providers, according to your criteria. At Canstar Blue, you can use our phone plan comparison tool to make this easy, otherwise, we have a range of guides and articles covering different phone plans to help you find what you need.

• Best mobile phone deals for August
• Best SIM-only postpaid plans
• Best prepaid plans
• Best iPhone plans

Compare mobile plans from the top telcos

Of course, you can’t talk about phone plans without mentioning Australia’s three biggest telcos — Telstra, Optus and Vodafone. These big names are popular for a reason, offering a wide range of different phone plans, across both SIM-only and plans bundled with a new mobile phone. Not only do these three telcos offer a large range of phone plans, but they also happen to run the three mobile networks which provide mobile coverage across Australia. There can be benefits to choosing a plan with one of these three telcos, so you may want to compare mobile plans from the big three to see if these phone plans are right for you.

Telstra mobile phone plans

Telstra is Australia’s biggest telco by customer size, and like Optus and Vodafone, is a ‘full service’ provider — offering a range of postpaid, prepaid and phone-on-a-plan mobile options, as well as internet. Telstra’s mobile phone plans sit on the pricier end of the scale, but customers may find value in the higher price for access to the full Telstra network, which is available to more than 99% of the population.

Telstra provides 4G and 5G services to eligible customers, and if you’re looking for a phone on a plan, you’ll find a range of devices from Apple, Samsung, Google, OPPO and more, available to buy both outright and on payment plans over 12, 24 or 36 months.

Prepaid plans include extras such as data rollover and international call inclusions, while the Upfront plans include no excess data charges once you go over your data allowance (but data speeds are capped at 1.5Mbps).

A range of smaller telcos also offer Telstra network coverage, although most providers don’t have full access to the network. These providers include:

Optus mobile phone plans

Optus offers plans on its 4G and 5G networks, both postpaid and prepaid SIM-only phone plans, as well as mobile phones on handset payment plans of 12, 24, or 36 months, or outright.

Optus stocks a wide range of phones, including premium devices from Apple, Samsung, OPPO, Google, and more. These can all be added to Optus’ mobile phone plan range, all of which include extras such as international texting and no excess data charges in Australia (with speeds capped at 1.5Mbps after you use your data inclusion).

If you prefer prepaid, you’ll have a range of plans to choose from, most of which are over a 28-day expiry period. However, you can also pick up a seven-day plan, or if you prefer a long expiry prepaid plan, you can choose between the 186-day and 365-day plans.

In addition to Optus, a range of smaller telcos also use the Optus mobile network to deliver services across the country, which includes:

Vodafone mobile phone plans

Australia’s third biggest telco merged with broadband powerhouse TPG in 2020, and now sits in the TPG Telecom group while remaining a provider in its own right. Vodafone’s mobile phone plans include SIM-only postpaid and prepaid, as well as the option to buy from a wide range of smartphones on a handset repayment plan over 12, 24 or 36 months.

Although Telstra, Optus and Vodafone each offer unlimited data and restricted speeds across all postpaid plans, Vodafone offers a slightly faster capped speed at 2Mbps (compared to the 1.5Mbps with Optus and Telstra plans).

Vodafone also provides 4G and 5G network coverage where available, and its network covers 98.4% of the Australian population, which is in part thanks to its network sharing agreement with Optus.

Vodafone network coverage is also available from a range of smaller telcos, some of which are also, alongside Vodafone, part of the TPG Telecom group. These include:

Ratings and reviews of Australia’s best smartphones

Need a new phone to go with your new phone plan? Every year, more and more phones are released across all price ranges — from the cheapest phones for under $200, to devices over $2,500. Even if you have a set budget, it can be confusing to know which phone is going to have the features you want at your price range.

iPhones

Apple’s iconic iPhone continues to be a top pick for Aussies, with the company previously winning Canstar Blue’s Most Satisfied Customers – Smartphones award in 2021, 2022 and 2025. However, iPhones do run on the expensive side.

If you’d rather spread the cost of your iPhone over a payment period, you can pick up the devices on iPhone plans from Telstra, Optus and Vodafone. You can typically find the latest iPhone range on offer, along with older devices, depending on stock available.

Samsung phones

The biggest name in Android devices, Samsung offers a large range of smartphones across multiple price points – from the premium Galaxy S and Galaxy Z lines, to the more affordable Galaxy A series. So depending on your budget, there’s likely to be a Samsung phone that’s right for you.

You can pick up any of a number of Galaxy phones on Samsung phone plans from Australia’s leading telcos, including Telstra, Optus, Vodafone, Southern Phone and TeleChoice.

Google phones

Google’s premium phone range, the Google Pixel series, remains a popular choice for Aussies wanting a high-end alternative to Samsung or iPhone. The more basic Pixel devices are typically available for under $1,000, but more premium Pixels, such as the Fold series, usually cost over $2,000.

As with other high-end devices, you can pick up the Google Pixel range on phones plans from Telstra, Vodafone and Optus, and spread the cost of your plan over 12, 24 or 36 months of repayments.

OPPO phones

OPPO is one of the more popular challenger brands, producing both high-end and budget-friendly devices with impressive cameras and sleek designs. Prices span from under $250 for the OPPO A series, well over $1,500 for the premium OPPO Find series.

While OPPO phones are widely available to buy outright from a range of retailers, some devices may be available to purchase on a plan from providers including Telstra, Optus, Vodafone and TeleChoice.

About our mobile phone experts

Tara Donnelly, Utilities Editor

Tara Donnelly is Canstar Blue’s Utilities Editor, leading the team that focuses on energy, telecommunications and consumer technology, across news, reviews and how-tos. Tara has spent more than a decade covering these topics in Australia, the US and Canada, which means she’s written about countless product launches and industry changes, including the rise of 5G, Australia’s ongoing NBN rollout, the recent years of energy price volatility and the rise of renewable energy sources.

Tara also has long experience in writing within the comparison industry, giving her great insights into the information consumers want when determining which plan or device will best meet their needs, while time spent in the financial sector before turning her talent to content lets her crunch the numbers on price with ease. Tara leads the coverage of Canstar Blue’s ratings and awards for the internet and phone sectors and is an expert at advising consumers on how to use comparison tools to find the best power, internet or phone deal.

Her expertise has seen her appear in national media including 9 News, 7 News, Sunrise, the ABC, The New Daily and The Sydney Morning Herald.

Josh Filosi, Data Insights Analyst

Josh Filosi is a Data Insights Analyst at Canstar, where he uses his expertise in data analysis and interpretation to develop and deliver the methodology for Canstar Blue’s Value Rankings and Outstanding Value awards in the telecommunications sectors.

His double-major in Economics and Behavioral Science from Griffith University provides him with the analytical skills and understanding of consumer markets to uncover insights in complex data, as well as passion for helping consumers find genuinely good deals when faced with countless competing options for their hard-earned cash in the Internet and Phone sectors.

Josh’s real love for all things tech gives him a unique perspective, too, on the telecommunications industry and the needs of its customers – staying up-to-date with the latest developments in the field is no onerous task, and it means Josh spots small details that can add up to a big difference to customers. He recently worked on the development of a Value Ranking methodology for the growing wireless broadband sector.

Josh relishes the opportunity to dedicate his professional effort to the cause of tech and telco users and is keen to continue building his understanding of this fascinating, ever-changing industry. When Josh isn’t poring over telco data, he likes to tinker with gadgets and electronics.