Best Cellphone Plans of 2024: Our Top Picks for April

Because of T-Mobile's restructuring of its cheapest plans, this has gotten a bit more complicated. As we mentioned, both T-Mobile Essentials and Essentials Saver include unlimited talk, text and data for all the carrier's base unlimited plans, including 5G access. 

In short, if you need two lines, Essentials Saver is your best pick, while those looking for three or more lines may want to go with regular Essentials. 

Two lines of Essentials Saver run $80 a month, while a similar offering from Verizon costs $110 per month, and a similar deal from AT&T runs $120 a month. Three lines will also run $90 at T-Mobile for its regular Essentials thanks to a promotion, compared with $120 at Verizon (for Unlimited Welcome) and $135 at AT&T (for Unlimited Starter). The four-line option is now back to $100 at T-Mobile thanks to a new promotion, compared with $120 at Verizon and $140 at AT&T.

For those comparing prices on multiple carriers' websites, it's worth keeping in mind that Verizon's pricing by default factors in a switching promotional discount of $180 over three years for Unlimited Welcome or $540 if you're getting Unlimited Plus. In both cases, it's also assuming you aren't getting a new phone when you switch. 

To get the real numbers of Verizon's plans make sure to add $5 per line to its Welcome prices and $15 per line for Plus. Our pricing above removes the BYOD device credit. Our pricing here also assumes no perks from Verizon. 

As for T-Mobile, its prices also come with a couple of caveats: Unlike the carrier's Go5G or Magenta plans, taxes and fees aren't included in any of these Essentials prices, making the final total a little higher. All the deals also require that you set up AutoPay and paperless billing.

You may need to click "see more plans" and then "explore Essentials Saver plan" on T-Mobile's site to get this option to appear, though lately it has been listed alongside its regular plans. 

This is a bit more complicated. Verizon used to be our pick with its Play More plan that bundled in the Disney Bundle (ad-free Disney Plus, ESPN Plus and Hulu with ads) and services like Google Play Pass or Apple Arcade into the plan's sticker price. 

Now the carrier has updated its wireless plans to remove perks like the Disney Bundle or Apple Arcade and Google Play Pass from being automatically included with its service. Even with its new plans, it's still our pick for best perks, but this will require a bit more explanation. 

Instead of automatically putting services in, it now offers a variety of perks at $10 per month per perk, allowing users to pick and choose what they want. It also now allows its lower-cost plan, known as Unlimited Welcome, to participate. 

Unlimited Welcome runs $65 per month for one line or $120 per month for four lines. You get unlimited talk, text and data but you don't get access to Verizon's fastest 5G networks (what it calls "5G Ultra Wideband") or hotspot data. For that, you will need to step up to its pricier Unlimited Plus plan ($80 for one line, $180 for four lines). 

Both the Welcome and Plus plans include the ability to add perks at that $10 per month rate. This includes the Disney Bundle (normally $15 per month), Apple One individual (normally around $17 per month), Apple Music Family (which can be shared with five people and normally runs $17 per month) and Walmart Plus (normally $13 per month but also includes Paramount Plus Essential). 

There are also other perks including an additional 100GB of hotspot data (normally $45 per month), 2TB of Verizon's cloud storage (normally $15 per month), three days of international data (what the carrier calls TravelPass, normally $10 per day). 

All perks can be turned on or off at will, and you could forgo them entirely. You can even go with multiple perks on a single line if you want. 

Whether this makes sense for your situation may require some time with a spreadsheet going through what services work for you and what you're willing to pay for them. The savings could add up if you're paying for some of these services directly, but it also could be more expensive than your existing plan.

It is also worth mentioning that Verizon allows you to "mix and match" lines, so if not everyone needs the faster 5G connectivity they could be on Unlimited Welcome while the one who does can go on Unlimited Plus. 

AT&T allows something similar with its unlimited plans, but at the moment, it no longer offers any streaming perks. To get T-Mobile's perks everyone has to be on the same plan. 

If you wanted a cheaper way to save on one or two services like the Disney Bundle, you could have four lines for $120 per month, add the Disney perk for $10 and be paying $130 per month for the whole package. 

Oh, and you can also combine these plans with Verizon's other discounts for teachers, nurses, military and first responders to save a bit more. 

US Mobile, which runs on Verizon's network for its "Warp 5G" service and T-Mobile's for its "GSM" offering, has updated its plans again. Now its cheapest Unlimited Starter option starts at $23 per line, per month when purchased annually. That's slightly cheaper than our previous pick in this spot, Boost Mobile's $25 per month unlimited plan.  

Taxes and fees are included in the sticker price, and you will now get 35GB of high-speed data and 10GB of hotspot data. To add more high-speed data, international roaming or streaming perks, you'll need to step up to the carrier's pricier Unlimited Premium plans.

If you don't want to prepay for a year, you can get Unlimited Starter for $29 per month.

Google's phone service got a pricing revamp that makes it a much more appealing alternative to major providers. For a family of four, you can now get its Simply Unlimited plan for $80 per month ($20 per month, per line), which includes not only unlimited talk, text and 35GB of high-speed data but also 5GB of mobile hotspot use. There also is free roaming in Canada and Mexico, although taxes and fees aren't included in the sticker price. 

Google Fi Wireless runs largely on T-Mobile's network and its service includes 5G access, now including iPhones, which were previously excluded from the fastest data connection.

When it comes to plans with under 15GB of data, Mint has the best value (once again) if T-Mobile's network is solid in your area. Whereas Metro and Cricket charge $40 per month for one line and Boost has a $35 plan for 10GB of data, Mint beats them all on price and now data. 

Last year Mint upped its 10GB plan to 15GB of 4G LTE/5G monthly data while keeping the same $20 per month price (when purchased in 12-month increments). After that, you can buy three more months at $35 per month ($105 total), six months at $25 per month ($150 total) or another year at $20 per month ($240 total). 

If you're looking for service for a backup phone that's rarely used, TextNow has a free plan. Running on T-Mobile's network, the service offers free unlimited talk and unlimited texting, although ads are placed in its app that you use to call and text people. There isn't any data included with this option, and removing the ads without adding data would run you $10 a month. If you want to watch YouTube, FaceTime or surf the web, you'll need to connect to Wi-Fi. 

Text messages are also done through the company's TextNow app, not through iMessage or WhatsApp, which makes sense as those services require data. 

If you need data, things get expensive quickly. An unlimited data hour pass runs $1 per hour, a day pass is $5 while a month is $40. If you need data, you're better off going with a different provider than TextNow.