Best 5G mobile phone plans in Australia: From $1 a month

 5G in Australia has quickly gone from being a niche inclusion that offered next-generations to the few consumers who could afford it to a mainstream option that's speedy and comprehensive enough that many are treating it as a full-blown alternative to the NBN.

While Samsung was the first big phone maker to jump on the 5G bandwagon, it didn't long before Apple and others caught up. As more and more phone manufacturers have moved towards making phones that offer 5G as standard rather than at a premium, the local lineup of mobile providers offering plans with access to 5G speeds has done the same.

There are still some decent deals available through the Big Three, but if you're after the best 5G SIM-only plans in 2023 then there are plenty of reasons to take a look at the many MVNOs that now offer those faster download speeds at a more competitive price.

In this guide, we'll take you through our top picks for the best 5G phone plans.

Whether you're looking for your first 5G SIM Only mobile plan to make the most out of the iPhone 14's next-gen speed capabilities or grab a cheaper one, the Soul Mates 5G mobile plan is hard to beat. It includes 120GB of monthly data, unlimited international calls and texts to 15 selected countries, 500GB of data banking and coverage on the Telstra 4G network plus access to the Telstra 5G network on a trial basis until the 1st of August, though your speeds are capped to 250Mpbs.

If you use the promo code TRYMATE at checkout, you'll get your first three months for $1 per month rather than the usual $45. What's more, those who sign up before the end of July will get double the usual data allowance for the first six months.

If you're not quite sold on this plan's offering, here's how much a 5G phone plan with a similarly-sized data allowance will cost you elsewhere.

The Belong 25GB Mobile Plan is the obvious winner when it comes to the cheapest possible SIM-only phone plans with 5G. It's not quite as thrifty as the prepaid pick below, but it runs on Telstra’s larger 5G network, comes with a modest 25GB of monthly data and costs just $29 per month. Even if your 5G speeds are capped at 100Mpbs, that's a steal compared to many other 5G phone plans.

Here's how this plan compares to other cheap SIM-only plans with 5G coverage.

If you want the cheapest possible 5G phone plan - no matter how slow the network rollout might be - it’s worth checking out one of Vodafone’s Prepaid Plus plans. These range in price between $30 and $50 per month, but there are regular deals that slash prices and boost data allowances, so keep an eye out.

The $30 Prepaid Plus Starter Pack is currently our pick of the lot. Vodafone is currently running a promotion that lets you pick this one up for half the usual price. It comes with 40GB of monthly data and a $5 discount if you enable automatic recharging.

Telstra and Optus also recently jumped on the 5G prepaid train, but their offerings aren't as good value as our top Vodafone pick. If you're interested, you can check them out below.

As Australia’s largest telco, it’s no surprise that Telstra’s 5G rollout is kicking the competition’s butt right now. At the time of writing, its next-gen network covers 80% of the Australian population. That’s by far the best coverage from the best three, but the gap will only get narrower as Optus and Vodafone catch up.

Regardless, if you’re only after the best coverage you can get, Telstra’s 5G phone plans have you covered. Unfortunately, that coverage does come at a premium, with the cheapest  Telstra plan 5G data plan coming in at $58, which isn't exactly as budget-friendly as the competition.

If you're after for a little more data though, look no further than the $72 Essential Plan. It gets you more than three times the data of the cheaper Basic Plan, plus all the same perks.

If that's not enough for you, here's the full range of Telstra's 5G plans.

The entry point to Optus’ 5G network is far cheaper than Telstra’s, but you’ll likely only get coverage in metropolitan areas. If you’re okay with waiting a little longer for better coverage and unwilling to go prepaid, you can save a decent chunk of change, as Optus’ cheapest 5G phone plan is $9 cheaper than Telstra’s.

That said, if you're game to spend a little more there's a ton of value to be found in Optus' $69 Choice Plus Plan. Currently at $69 per month, this plan gets you a whopping 220GB of 5G data. That sum makes it our top pick when it comes to bang for the buck.

Need more (or less) data? Check out all of Optus' 5G plans below.

Since Vodafone extends the 5G olive branch to all its prepaid plans, you can get access for as little as $30. That said, if you actually want decent data inclusions, the $55 Medium Plan is your best bet. It comes with 150GB of monthly data, after which your speed gets throttled down to 2Mpbs.

Of the Big Three, Vodafone has the least 5G coverage and really only caters for capital cities. In fact, according to Vodafone's website, only 1,000 suburbs across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Canberra, Perth, Gold Coast, Central Coast, Wollongong and Sunshine Coast can currently access its 5G network.

For a sense of how this plan compares to the rest of the roster, take a look at Vodafone's postpaid 5G plans below.

The map below should help you get a better sense of what the coverage of the Telstra 5G network looks like. It'll also help you visualise the 5G coverage of MVNOs like Boost Mobile, Belong, Exetel, MATE and NuMobile since those providers utilise the same 5G network as Telstra.

The map below should help you get a better sense of what the coverage of the Optus 5G network looks like. It'll also help you visualise the 5G coverage of MVNOs like SpinTel and Aussie Broadband since those providers utilise the same 5G network.

The map below should help you get a better sense of what the coverage of the Vodafone 5G network looks like. It'll also help you visualise the 5G coverage of MVNOs like TPG, iiNet, Kogan and Lebara since these providers utilise the same 5G network.

Since the exact size of each major 5G network isn't publicly known, it's hard to say for absolute certainty which provider offers the best coverage. That said, we've got our suspicions.

Even if we had access to hard data, numbers rarely tell the whole story. Whether a given provider has the best possible coverage might not matter as much as whether your mobile network covers the specific places where you individually want or need 5G connectivity or how reliable that network is during peak hours.

The following Australian mobile providers currently offer 5G:

• Telstra
• Optus
• Vodafone
• Belong
• Boost Mobile
• Southern Phone
• Aussie Broadband
• Tangerine
• Mate
• SpinTel
• Lebara
• Exetel
• Numobile
• Amaysim
• ALDI Mobile
• SuperLoop
• Woolworths Mobile
• More

Still looking for the perfect 5G data or phone plan? Here's a list of popular 5G phone plans we have in our database