For most people buying a new phone, it makes sense to get it on contract.
Not only does this get you an allowance of calls, texts and data each month, it breaks down the cost of an expensive device into more manageable monthly payments.
But to do this, you’ll usually have to commit to 24- or 36 months. A SIM-only plan is usually works out cheaper in the long run, though you will have to buy the phone outright.
And while multi-year contracts are available, this is where you’ll find a range of plans that let you cancel at any time. Most of these are one-month rolling contracts, but some are true Pay As You Go (PAYG) plans that let you add an allowance of calls, texts and data without ever committing to a contract.
For most smartphone owners, one of these is probably the way to go. Here are the best options in the UK across all the major networks.
Best Pay As You Go phone networks in the UK
There are technically only four phone networks in the UK, all of which offer PAYG contracts of some description:
That could go down to three, if the proposed Vodafone and Three merger goes through.
But there are loads of Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs), or ‘piggybackers’ as they’re often known. They rent the network space from one of the four above, but offer their own contracts and additional perks.
Learn more in our separate guide to piggyback phone networks.
Here are all the piggybackers which offer one-month rolling and PAYG contracts:
- EE – 1pMobile, Lycamobile, Your Co-op, Ecotalk, Zevvle, RWG Mobile
- O2 – Giffgaff, Tesco Mobile
- Three – iD Mobile, Smarty, FreedomPop, Honest Mobile, Superdrug Mobile
- Vodafone – Voxi, Asda Mobile, Lebara Mobile, RWG Mobile
For detailed information about each of the providers mentioned in this section, see our full best UK phone networks guide. Below, you’ll find an overview of the best PAYG contract offers from the four networks and their main piggybackers.
Only the data allowance is specified for the providers below as they all offer unlimited minutes and unlimited texts.
Pay As You Go deals on EE network
- EE – Six monthly rolling plans, starting at £18 per month for 2GB of 5G data. Cheapest plans limited to 10Gbps speeds, no PAYG
- 1pMobile – Four monthly rolling plans, starting at £7.50 per month for 4GB of data. 200GB of data costs £20 per month. PAYG costs 1p per minute, 1p per text, 1p per MB
- Lycamobile – Four monthly rolling plans, starting at £5 per month for 5GB of data. PAYG plans start at £5 per month for 5GB of data
- Your Co-op – Four monthly rolling plans, starting at £11 per month for 3GB of data. No PAYG plans
- Ecotalk – Five monthly rolling plans, starting at £8 per month for 1GB of data. No PAYG plans
- RWG Mobile – Five monthly rolling plans starting at £4 per month for 5G of data. No PAYG plans
Pay As You Go deals on O2 network
- O2 – Five monthly rolling plans, starting at £20 per month for 1GB of data. No PAYG plans
- Giffgaff – Eight monthly rolling plans, starting at £6 per month for 2GB of data. PAYG plans start at £6 per month for 1GB of data
- Tesco Mobile – Monthly rolling plan costs £30 per month for unlimited data. PAYG plans start at £10 per month for 10GB of data
Pay As You Go deals on Three network
- Three – Four monthly rolling plans, starting at £19 per month for 4GB of data. PAYG plans start at £10 per month for 15GB of data, or one-time data packs from £10 per month for 10GB of data
- iD Mobile – 10 monthly rolling plans, starting at £6 per month for 5GB of data. PAYG plans from £6 per month for 1GB of data
- Smarty – 8 monthly rolling plans starting at £6 per month for 5GB of data. Data only plans from £5 per month for 2GB of data, or data discount plans (get money back for unused data) from £6 per month for 1GB of data
- Honest Mobile – Three monthly rolling plans from £13.50 per month for 4GB of data. No PAYG plans
- Superdrug Mobile – Four monthly rolling plans from £10 per month for 5GB of data. No PAYG plans
Pay As You Go deals on Vodafone network
- Vodafone – Five monthly rolling plans, starting at £25 per month for 2GB of data. PAYG plans start at £10 for 21GB of data, data-only SIMs from £15 per month for 4GB
- Voxi – Five monthly rolling plans, starting at £10 per month for 30GB of data, at least unlimited social media with all options. No PAYG plans
- Asda Mobile – 10 monthly rolling plans, starting at £5 per month for 3GB of data. No PAYG plans, but unlimited data from £20 per month (limited to 2Mbps)
- Lebara Mobile – Six monthly rolling plans, starting at £5 for 5GB of data. No PAYG plans
- Talkmobile – Six monthly rolling plans, starting at £6.95 per month for 6GB of data. No PAYG plans
What’s the difference between a contract and Pay As You Go?
When you sign up to a full contract with a mobile network you’re usually agreeing to remain in that deal for at least a year, but possibly two or three. In return for this loyalty, you’ll often get a phone for free (or at a low price) but in reality you’re spreading the cost of that handset across the duration of your contract.
For a lot of people, this regular monthly payment is fine because it means they can move to a new phone every couple of years. But there are drawbacks, as existing customers can find that they don’t get as good a deal as new ones and leaving a contract early can be a very expensive business as you’ll usually need to pay up the balance in one go.
The alternative, of course, is to buy a phone outright and just get the SIM from the mobile network. That’s what Pay As You Go or monthly rolling packages are all about.
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
As the name suggests, you’re not tied into a lengthy contract – if you wish, you can stop using the SIM at the end of the month without any penalty charges. Due to the short-term nature of the plans you may find that prices for data, texts and call minutes are higher than those on traditional plans, but most people opt for deal which has an allowance of inclusive data, minutes and texts so they never need to pay the standard rates.
Many PAYG deals offer the same sort of features as monthly contracts, which means things such as data roaming will still work in other countries and you can share your data with other devices by using your phone as a Wi-Fi hotspot.
PAYG works best if you already have a phone to use, as this keeps down the costs of adding a new one to the tariff. If you got your device as part of a previous contract with a network provider, make sure it isn’t locked to that network. But since December 2021, all phones have been sold unlocked anyway.