The best family cell phone plans in 2024: Top options in our testing

When you buy through our links, Business Insider may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more

The best family cell phone plans help groups manage data usage and payments for several individual lines under a single account. If your family (or group of friends) wants to stick to a premium major carrier, a family plan is also one of the best ways to reduce monthly bills.

Overall, Verizon's myPlan is the top option among the best family cell phone plans in our testing, as it lets you mix and match varying plans that fit individual needs under one account with Verizon's extensive coverage. On the opposite end of the budget spectrum, Tello Mobile's Build Your Own Plan is a worthwhile option with low-data plans that start at an astonishing $5/month.

Our top picks for the best family cell phone plans

Best overall: Verizon myPlan - See at Verizon

Best value from a major carrier: T-Mobile Essentials - See at T-Mobile

Best budget: Mint Mobile 15GB plans - See at Mint Mobile

Best true budget: Tello Mobile Build Your Own Plan - See at Tello Mobile

Best overall

Verizon's myPlan offers the flexibility of picking different plans for individual lines. The benefit here is that each line on the account won't be hamstrung by any user's needs, which gives families the potential to pay less if any user has demanding needs.

For example, one user who needs a lot of mobile hotspot data can use Verizon's Unlimited Ultimate plan, while another user with basic needs can run on the less expensive Unlimited Welcome plan.

Here's a price breakdown using a four-line account with varying plans as an example:

• Line 1: Unlimited Ultimate for $55/month
• Line 2: Unlimited Plus for $45/month
• Lines 3: Unlimited Welcome for $30/month
• Line 4: Unlimited Welcome for $30/month
• Total: $160/month before taxes and fees.

Note that you can save more by adding additional friends or family to your plan, as the cost per line is higher with fewer lines.

Even if all the lines in an account run on the same plan, we favor Verizon as a premium carrier option due to its extensive coverage and excellent perks, like streaming service discounts. Indeed, our top overall pick for the best cell phone plans is Verizon's Unlimited Plus plan for its generous unlimited amount of premium data unaffected by network congestion.

While multi-line discounts can considerably reduce a monthly bill, Verizon is still among the more expensive options. If switching to Verizon is pricier than you'd like, we recommend more value-forward options below.

Best value from a major carrier

Without question, the family plan with the best value among major carriers is T-Mobile's Essentials. It offers a generous 50GB of premium data per line for a price other major carriers can't match. It's especially tempting for accounts with three lines or more, as T-Mobile periodically runs promotions, like a third line for free or a four-line offer for outstanding value.

Here's a breakdown of T-Mobile's Essentials plan on a per-line basis, starting with at least two lines, including T-Mobile's ongoing promotions at the time of writing:

• 2 lines: $90/month ($45/line)
• 3 lines: $90/month ($30/line)
• 4 lines: $100/month ($25/line)
• 5 lines: $125/month ($25/line)

While T-Mobile's coverage is competitive with or even superior to Verizon in cities, towns, and highways, its coverage drops quickly further away from populated areas, as T-Mobile's rural coverage is lacking compared to other major carriers. You should check that T-Mobile adequately covers your family through the network's coverage map and anecdotal experience from local friends or neighbors.

With that in mind, even if T-Mobile's value is tempting, the savings are not worth it if it doesn't cover the areas you frequent well enough. If T-Mobile does cover you, but your family can get by with relatively limited or deprioritized data, there are also a few worthwhile budget carriers backed by T-Mobile that we recommend below.

Best budget

It's hard to beat T-Mobile's Essentials plan in terms of value for a family plan with multiple lines, at least if you appreciate unlimited data. However, Mint Mobile allows you to spend less under certain circumstances.

Mint Mobile is a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) owned by T-Mobile that piggybacks on T-Mobile's infrastructure and network. It offers the same coverage area as T-Mobile, with data subject to deprioritization behind the higher-paying customers of its parent company.

Mint Mobile's Modern Family Plan is a nominal plan in that it doesn't offer multi-line discounts like major carriers, but under certain circumstances, you can spend significantly less than T-Mobile. For a comprehensive comparison, see our guide to Mint Mobile vs. T-Mobile.

For smaller families of two, Mint offers unlimited data for $30/month on each line compared to T-Mobile's Essentials for $45/month each. Families of two can save even more with Mint's 20GB, 15GB, or 5GB plans.

For families of three to five, you'll need to pick limited data plans to see any real savings over T-Mobile's Essentials. Namely, Mint's 15GB plan has the best value and makes the most sense on average, but you can get decent savings with an even mix of Mint's limited data plans.

Also, Mint Mobile's best value comes with its 12-month plans. Those plans are comparatively inflexible compared to T-Mobile's plans, which let you change carriers with no early termination fees if it doesn't work out for you.

However, for new customers, Mint has an exceptional introductory promotion that has long been our top pick among the best cheap cell phone plans; it sets the MVNO's three-month plans at discounted rates, starting at $10/month. For a limited time, the 12-month unlimited plan is also available at 50% discount.

Beyond the savings, Mint Mobile also has an excellent app and website to easily manage your account and lines. It stands out among apps and websites from other carriers for its user-friendliness.

Read our full Mint Mobile review.

Best true budget

With Tello Mobile, another MVNO on T-Mobile's network, you can manage up to four exceptionally inexpensive lines under a single account.

As we note in our guide to Mint Mobile vs. Tello, Tello's low minimum costs make it an even better "true budget" option than Mint Mobile for cheap access to T-Mobile's network.

Tello's Build Your Own Plan lets each line in a family plan pay for what it needs and ditch what it doesn't, which can lead to outrageously low monthly bills as low as $5 per line.

For example, if you don't talk on the phone very much but use a decent amount of data, you can opt for a plan with 100 voice minutes and unlimited data for $25/month. That's the lowest price for unlimited data in this guide. Each family member can also fine-tune their own line for data based on usage.

Tello's Build Your Own Plan could also be a good option for families with younger kids, as data limits could be used in addition to on-device parental controls to limit online activity.

Read our full Tello Mobile review.

How we test family cell phone plans

In line with our testing of the best cell phone plans, we examine each carrier's best features for families and then break down the carriers by their suitability for family use and value.

We also assess family-based carrier options based on long-term and varied personal experiences from our staff, including the author and others, for plan management, customer service, and overall value.

What to look for in a family cell phone plan

The one constant feature you need to look for is coverage. A family cell phone plan that's perfect for you and your family won't make sense if the carrier that offers the plan doesn't cover your area well enough, including the places you visit often. It won't matter that you're saving money if you can't use data or make reliable phone calls due to limited coverage.

Beyond that, the best family cell phone plan offers the data you need while fitting into your budget. Major carriers tend to lower monthly costs when adding more lines to a single account. Sometimes, those multi-line savings can be so good that you'd consider a major carrier when you hadn't before.

Budget-oriented MVNOs typically do not lower the monthly cost per line in an account. However, their single-line prices are already the equivalent of or a better value than major carriers' multi-line deals.

Another important aspect is the ability to individually manage each line on the account, whether through a website or mobile app. Luckily, pretty much every carrier offers account management on a per-line basis.