Get the Best PAYG Plans in Australia
- Perfect for those who make less than 1 call per day
- Pay only for what you use
- Minimise your annual phone spend
Common Questions About PAYG plans
What is a PAYG plan ?
PAYG (Pay As You Go) plans are some of the cheapest phone plans in Australia. Instead of a flat monthly fee, you’ll pay per minute for voice calls and texts. Some plans include data and some don’t, so you’ll need to check first if you have a smartphone that requires internet access.
To give you an idea, it’s possible for an annual PAYG plan bill to be as little as $50.
How does data work on a PAYG plan ?
Data is charged per Megabyte that you use. The rates are often much, much higher than a Sim Only plan. It’s often the case that if you use data regularly, you’re better off comparing cheap Sim Only plans.
Why don’t phone companies talk about PAYG plans ?
Phone companies have hero phone plans they like to sell. More than 90% of the market buy one of the top 7 phone plans the phone companies sell.
PAYG plans are more of a ‘niche’ offering for people who don’t need data or use their phone much. Of course, customers who don’t use their phones aren’t ideal targets for a telco!
Are PAYG plans 3G or 4G ?
PAYG plans can access the 3G, 4G and 5G networks (5G may only be available with certain providers and in certain areas).
Can I keep my existing phone number if I move to a PAYG plan ?
Yes you can. This is a common question and we explain the answer in detail here.
In short, if you click through and buy a plan from any provider listed on this page, you will be asked if you want to keep your number. If you select ‘yes’ then the SIM that is delivered to you will have that phone number assigned to it.
What's good
- For people who make less than 1 call per day
- Provides cheap access to the phone network when you need it
- Useful if people call you more than you call them
What's bad
- Ensure your phone is unlocked before purchase
- Don't buy a PAYG plan if you use a lot of data
- Plans aren't often marketed
The key things you need to know about PAYG plans!
- PAYG SIM plans are popular but rarely mentioned in the marketing material released by the phone companies.
- As a result, PAYG plans can be hard to find.
- We suggest them to people who typically make around one call and send one SMS a day.
- If you have a smartphone, a PAYG plan is almost certainly not the right plan for you.
We explain much more about each of these key things to consider, below.
PAYG plans are the least common type of bring-your-own-phone plan.
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What is a PAYG Plan ?
PAYG plans appeal to those who make a phone call or send an SMS once a day.
Since PAYG plans are charged as you use the service, it’s a plan type that suits people who rarely use their phones. Here’s a breakdown of the main things to know about PAYG:
- PAYG plans are for low phone usage only.
These plans are annual and charged per minute and per Megabyte. You can look at your call history to see how many calls you realistically make. It’s likely you’d want to be making less than one call a day for a PAYG to be the right phone plan (compared to the flat monthly rate of a Sim Only plan). It’s often the case that people test out PAYG plans and realise they use their phones far more than they realised. - Data is very, very expensive on PAYG plans:
If you have a smartphone, PAYG plans are almost certainly not right for you. Data on a PAYG plan can cost $50 per GB (see below.) - Remember, you can still receive calls:
The other critical fact to remember is that when you’re on a PAYG plan, you can still receive as many calls as you want to for free.
Australian PAYG Plans – the good bits
There is no differentiation of service when you take a phone plan. Whether you’re on a $120 a month 24 month contract plan or a lowly PAYG plan, you’ve get the same thing. You’ll get all the same network coverage, all the same customer support, all the same 4G or 5G data speeds. You may even get access to customer loyalty schemes too and the ever increasing range of content. PAYG is an affordable ‘back door’ into the phone company you love.
If you have a smartphone, forget PAYG
If you have a smartphone, PAYG is almost certainly not the right suite of plans for you. Smartphones are designed with a computer interface in mind. Their entire structure is around the screen. Design and usability decisions are made to facilitate the use of apps and other services on the phone, which rely on mobile data being delivered, often over the phone company network.
Check our ‘Typical PAYG Rates’ section, below and you will see: Data on this sort of plan starts at about 5 cent per MB and rises to 7 cents with some phone companies. This might not sound like much but there’s a reason the phone companies have expressed it in the way they have. A MB is 1/1024th of a GB. And most smartphone users will use, as an absolute minimum of one GB of data each month. To work out what that would cost you, you need to multiply the 5 cents by 1024 and express it in dollars. Even if you’re maths isn’t too good, you’ll quickly see that PAYG plans charge at least $50 per GB of data. If you check out our cheap phone plans, you will see tens of plans with unlimited Australian voice and SMS and more than 1GB of data for under $30, let alone $50.
There is one exception to this – extremely advanced and confident users – and we give them specialised advice below. If you do end up on a PAYG plan, and you find that it’s costing you more than it should, don’t worry. You will always be able to move off your PAYG plan and on to something a little more suitable at the end of the month.
Typical Australian PAYG rates and inclusions
PAYG plans are an extremely savvy way of dealing with low usage. Multiply your usage by these prices for individual transactions and use our chart, below, to determine if these plans are right for you.
- With PAYG, it’s all about the price per minute, cost per SMS and costs per MB.
- Typical voice rates (for calls within Australia to other Australian mobiles or landlines) are generally 11 or 12 cents per minute. If you made one call per day, of a standard 2 minute duration on a plan which was 12 cents per minute, you’d end up being charged $7.20 per month.
- Since SMSs are charged at the same rate, you can see the cost progression in the charts we’ve included on this page.
- Where one call a day makes this an extremely attractive set of plans, any more and you would be better off looking at cheaper non PAYG plans.
- Remember, this indicative usage / cost chart for PAYG Plans does not include any data at all. We are assuming that you are not using any data as part of your plan because it is so prohibitively expensive.
- PAYG plans are generally sent to you if ordered online, free of charge, like any other SIM. You can often get next day delivery on SIMs.
PAYG Plans can be bought either prepaid or postpaid
You can buy a PAYG plan on a prepaid basis, where you pay a certain amount up front and top it up once it’s used, or as a postpaid plan, where you’re sent a bill at the end of the statement period.
We advise that you monitor all usage with the app
With any phone plan, we advise installing and using the self service app from your service provider. They are almost universal these days.
Self service apps are free and will help you keep track of your spending and usage, including data. Watching the app will quickly show you if a PAYG plan is not right for you and you can switch to a Sim Only plan instead.
PAYG vs Long Expiry plans
PAYG and long expiry plans are extremely similar. Long expiry plans are used for bizarre things like having a phone number you want to keep and ‘parking’ it while you’re overseas, or to keep a phone as an emergency phone. They are typically used by older people who don’t want to pay for a mobile phone regularly because they don’t use their phone much.
Like PAYG, you’ll pay per minute, per text and per Megabyte for a long expiry plan, and there are plans that last 12 to 18 months. But, you will pay the same set amount even if you don’t touch your phone for the entire period.
PAYG works well for a small segment of people, but be careful of these things
PAYG plans are a valuable component of the list of options available to those who know what they’re up to and are shopping for a plan. The ‘under the counter’ nature of the means you kind of have to know about them before you will find one.
- Think carefully about your data needs – especially since data speeds are now 4G or 5G: Our major concern with PAYG is the advent of 4G data speeds and the move to smartphones. There are not many people these days who have a simple feature phone. But data isn’t the only thing to be careful of when weighing up these plans.
- Be realistic about your usage of services like voicemail: PAYG plans offer you the same services as other plans but, used individually, they can become expensive. Voicemail retrieval, MMSs ( 49 cents each with Amaysim! ) 19 numbers, Roaming and International Calls are all inexpensive per minute but if used regularly would push you out of the people for whom PAYG plans make sense.
Which phone companies offer PAYG plans in Australia
We don’t feature every phone company in Australia. We have a selection and we pick and show our favourites because we believe that together, this range offers you the best deals and they short cut the time it takes for you to make the right decision. When it comes to PAYG, the list is already pretty short.
Vodafone:
- Vodafone Pay and Go Starter Pack $30.00, $40, and $50 rates.
- Starter Pack $30 – 180 days expiry
- Starter Pack $40 – 365 days expiry
- Starter Pack $50 – 365 days expiry
- 20c per min standard national calls
- 20c per SMS standard national texts
- 4c per MB for data.
Cmobile :
C Red PAYG Annual Plan
- 10c per minute standard national calls
- 10c per standard national TXT
- 2c per MB data
- A minimum annual spend of $50 applies
- Plan includes $50 call credit with 12 months expiry period
- A one-off application fee of $6.90 applies
Amaysim:
- 15c per min standard calls to mobile & landlines
- 29c per min calls to 13 numbers, free calls to 18 numbers in Australia
- 15c per min voicemail retrieval
- 15c per standard SMS, 49c per standard MMS
- 7.2c per MB data, or add a data plan
- Data plans start from $15/2GB and last for 28 days
- 6c per minute standard International calls, 25c per standard International SMS, 75c per standard International MMS
These Australian operators, featured on WhatPhone don’t offer PAYG Plans
Click the hyperlink to see a full review of these phone companies.
- Belong Mobile: Postpaid plan provider. Does not offer PAYG plans.
- Moose Mobile: Postpaid plan provider. Does not offer PAYG plans.
- Southern Phone: Postpaid plan provider. Does not offer PAYG plans.
- Spintel: Postpaid plan provider. Does not offer PAYG plans.
- Woolworths Mobile: Postpaid plan provider. Does not offer PAYG plans.
- Boost Mobile: Prepaid plan provider. Does not offer PAYG plans.
- Vaya Mobile: Postpaid plan provider. Does not offer PAYG plans.
- Telstra: Offer Prepaid and Postpaid Plans but do not offer PAYG plans.
- Optus: Offer Prepaid and Postpaid Plans but do not offer PAYG plans.
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PAYG in Australia Summed Up
PAYG plans are all too rare. They can also be hard to find. It took extensive research to pull this page together and we only considered (what we consider to be the top) 16 phone companies in the country. It’s possible that the reason you and customers like you love PAYG plans so much is exactly the reason they’re so rare in Australia. PAYG plans are the cheapest way to connect your phone to the phone company network for a year.
PAYG plans let you receive as many calls as anyone else – free of charge. They charge extremely reasonable rates for SMS. You must absolutely not use PAYG plans to service your data needs. If you have a smartphone, for example, where data is part of your telco requirement, you should probably consider these cheap mobile phone plans instead of paying exorbitant PAYG data rates.
Our suggestion is that you enjoy these Pay As You go phone plan rates for as long as you can. It’s likely this is a dying breed of phone plan that will be phased out in time.
