Finding the best family cell phone plan is a great way to save money on your monthly wireless bill. But when we research plans from the best phone carriers, we're looking for more than just a low monthly rate.
1. The quick list
2. Best family plan overall
3. Most flexible family plan
4. Best family plan value
5. Best family plan for Comcast customers
6. Best family plan at AT&T
7. Best prepaid family plan
8. Best prepaid family plan perks
9. Best family plan for travelers
10. How to pick the best family plan
It's also important to look at the extras that come with each plan. Some family plans will include complementary streaming services, so you can cover the cost of streaming when you pay your monthly wireless bill. You may also find travel benefits that can help you stay connected overseas. We particularly like plans that let you mix and match cheaper options with more expensive ones, as that can lower the cost per line for families.
Our research concludes that families are best served by unlimited data plans. In addition to all that data, you usually get the best mix of price, perks, and per-line discounts. Also, you don't have to worry about certain family members consuming too much of your pooled data each month.
Families of four can expect to pay between $120 to $220 a month for four lines from the major wireless carriers — in fact, four lines for $120 per month seems to be the sweet spot for plans these days. As a rule of thumb, the more expensive the plan, the better the perks. (We've also compared the cheapest unlimited data plans from AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon if you're on a budget.)
Here’s a closer look at the best family cell phone plan options. Note that the prices in the Quick List section reflect the cost of four lines of data at each carrier.
The quick list
Best overall
Unlimited data for $155 at T-Mobile
T-Mobile's Go5G is currently waiving the cost of a third line, bringing the monthly cost down to $155 for four lines of data. Even without that discount, it's a great plan with hotspot data, travel perks and free streaming benefits, too.
Most flexible plan
Unlimited data for $180 at Verizon
Verizon's Unlimited Plus plan costs $180 per month for four lines and features hotspot data and fast 5G coverage. You can pick and choose additional benefits for extra and mix and match with the cheaper Unlimited Welcome plan.
Best value
5GB for $60 at Mint
Mint doesn't add discounts as you add lines, but every line in a plan is subject to the same low rate when you sign up for a year of service. That means four lines of Mint's 5GB plan can cost as little as $60 per month.
Best plan for Comcast customer
Unlimited data for $120 at Comcast
Comcast lowers the cost of unlimited data to $30 per line as you add more lines. That means a family of four will pay $120 each month for Xfinity Mobile's service, which relies on Verizon's network for coverage.
Best AT&T plan
Unlimited data for $160 at AT&T
The best option for families at AT&T is the carrier's Unlimited Extra plan. Four lines cost $160 per month, and you get hotspot data along with coverage when traveling in Mexico and Canada.
Best prepaid plan
Unlimited data for $100 at Metro by T-Mobile
The cheapest unlimited data plan at Metro by T-Mobile adds escalating discounts as you add more lines. For a family of four, that lowers the cost to $100 for a plan that enjoys coverage on T-Mobile's network.
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Best prepaid perks
Unlimited data for $130 at Cricket
Four lines of unlilmited data cost $130 per month at Cricket Wireless, which uses AT&T's network. But the real story here is a subscription to the ad-supported Max streaming service, a rare benefit for prepaid plans.
Best for travelers
Unlimited data for $160 at Google Fi
Google Fi's Unlimited Plus plan includes unlimited talk, text and data, and you can use that data when traveling overseas to 200-plus countries at no additional cost.
The best family cell phone plan overall
The most flexible family cell phone plan
Best family cell phone plan value
Best family cell phone plan for Comcast customers
Best family cell phone plan at AT&T
Best prepad family plan
Best prepaid family plan perks
The best family cell phone plan for travelers
How to pick the best family cell phone plans
For families, picking the right cell phone plan comes down to balancing the costs of multiple lines of data with the perks each carrier offers. If you do a lot of video streaming, for example, you’ll want to pick a plan that not only throws in a streaming service as a perk (Netflix with T-Mobile, multiple streaming services with Verizon) but also doesn’t slow your data if you consume a lot of data in a given month. Getting a plan with HD streaming can also be a good idea if you plan to stream on a screen larger than your smartphone's display.
When it comes to unlimited data, remember that there are still some limits on how much data you can use before your speed can slow down. AT&T's Unlimited Extra customers will enjoy a 50GB cap, while Unlimited Elite subscribers face no cap at all. Verizon can slow data for Unlimited Plus customers once they use more than 30GB of data, while Welcome Unlimited customers can see data speeds slowed down whenever there's too much traffic on Verizon's network. T-Mobile Magenta and Go5G customers can see data slowed when they use more than 100GB during a billing cycle; there's no throttling for Magenta Max and Go5G Plus customers.
Use an MVNO like Mint or Cricket, and you can see your data speeds deprioritized in favor of other customers on the parent company's network (T-Mobile and AT&T, respectively).
We’ve focused on unlimited plans, as only AT&T is the only major carrier that continues to offer a tiered data option (a 4GB in this case) among its postpaid plans. If you prefer tiered data, you'd want to turn to service like Mint, which offers plans with different data allocations.