TracFone’s new smartphone only plans set them apart from the competition in terms of pricing and value. These prepaid cell phone plans present additional plan options to consumers. Those are still available! However, depending on your usage needs, these new TracFone plans could be even more cost-effective. We will do a comparison of these various plans choice here in this article, so you can pick the best one for your needs.
Tracfone Plan Offers
Not sure what to get? Check Comparison Chart
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Note: All TracFone plans are meant for users who do not need heavy use of data. You can see the plan allowances below. For customers who do not use their phones for talking or texting a lot, TracFone offers a variety of airtime credit refill cards or plans starting from $15 for 30 days of service. Generally, the less you use your phone, the less airtime credits you need to purchase. However, you would end up paying more per unit of minute/text/mb.
If you talk or text quite a bit, one of TracFone’s new unlimited talk and text plans may offer the lowest cost per unit of use. These plans cost $20 to $30 per month for 1 GB to 3 GB of data. Any unused data can be carried over to future periods as long as the phone remains active and in use.
If you need more data beyond 3 GB a month, you can also check out the $35 unlimited talk and text plan with 5 GB of data (at the time of this writing) by Total Wireless. Total Wireless is a subsidiary of TracFone. Another option is StraightTalk, which is another brand operated by TracFone.
TracFone’s Smartphone Plans Compared
| Cost | Service Days | Cost Per Month | Min | Text | MB | Talk Time (Cents Per min) | Text (Cents Per Text) | Data (Cents Per MB) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $15 | 30 | $15.0 | 500 | 500 | 500 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 |
| $20 | 30 | $20.0 | Unlimited | Unlimited | 1,000 | NA | NA | 2 |
| $25 | 60 | $12.5 | 500 | 1,000 | 500 | 5.0 | 2.5 | 5.0 |
| $35 | 60 | $17.5 | 750 | 1,000 | 1,000 | 4.7 | 3.5 | 3.5 |
| $45 | 90 | $15.0 | 750 | 1,000 | 1,500 | 6.0 | 4.5 | 3.0 |
| $50 | 90 | $16.7 | 750 | 1,500 | 2,000 | 6.7 | 3.3 | 2.5 |
| $125 | 365 | $10.4 | 1,500 | 1,500 | 1,500 | 8.3 | 8.3 | 8.3 |
| $25 | 30 | $25.0 | Unlimited | Unlimited | 2,000 | NA | NA | 1.25 |
| $30 | 30 | $30.0 | Unlimited | Unlimited | 3,000 | NA | NA | 1 |
Minutes/Text/MB listed are the total airtime provided with each plan purchase, eg. $15 plan provides a total of 500 minutes, 500 texts and 500 MB of data.
Unused talk/text/data credit carryover as long as phone service remains active and in use.
Need more data? $10 for 1 MB – add as you need. Unused data credits carryover.
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$125 Every 365 days (~$10.42/Month)
Recommended for lowest average monthly cost and longest service period (less hassle).
- 1500 Minutes
- 1500 Texts
- 1500 MB
Notes: This is a great one-year value plan. If you don’t need that many cell phone minutes, and can get by with wifi for a majority of your communications needs, this is a powerful option. It works out to be about $10 a month. You get some decent talk time, plus text messaging and data for that. Most cell phone companies charge $30/ month and above for a smartphone plan.
On a per unit usage (eg. per minute) basis, this may not be the cheapest, but the annual plan will stay active longer.
The Annual Plan is works best for people using the bare minimum. If you expect to be using more than the bare minimum, the $25 or $35 plan would be more cost-effective (better cost per minute/GB). Your total cost will also be higher to reflect the higher number of minutes and data GB.
If you are interested, check out this blog post: How I Saved $49 on a Tracfone Annual Smartphone Plan Card ($125 Reg)
$15 Every 30 days
- 500 Minutes
- 500 Texts
- 500 MB
Notes: Another good basic smartphone plan. If you don’t use voice much, and rely a lot of wifi, this may be all you need. A $15/month iPhone cell phone bill is unheard of. But why pay more?
$25 Every 60 days (~$12.50/Month)
- 500 Minutes
- 1000 Texts
- 500 MB
Notes: This plan offers even greater value than the $15/30 days one above. By paying for 2 months instead of 1 month each time, you get extra minutes, text and data usage credits. Considering that each month goes by so quickly, the benefit of paying another $10 upfront is well worth it.
Unlimited Talk/Text/1 GB Plan – $20 Every 30 days
Recommended for people who do not want to worry about running out of talk time and need moderate data levels.
- Unlimited Talk
- Unlimited Text
- 1 GB data (= 1000 MB data)
- Upgrade 1: 2 GB data plan add $5, $25/ month
- Upgrade 2: 3 GB data plan add $10, $30/ month
- 1 Month = 30 days of service
Notes: This is a cost-effective monthly plan for anyone who uses their phone for talking/ texting regularly and likes to know that phone call connections and text messaging will always be available to them. Traditional TracFone plans always contained limits on talk time and text messages. The presence of those limits required the customer to do regular monitoring to ensure that there are enough minutes/text messages available when they are needed.
The $20 unlimited talk/text plan comes bundled with 1 GB of data, which allows customers to do lots of web browsing, apps messaging and use of social media.
Tracfone Unlimited Talk/Text plans work best for people who are looking for regular phone service without talk limits and light to moderate use of data. If you rarely need your phone for talking, are comfortable with preset talk time limits, and don’t need much mobile data, the Annual Plan or a $15/month plan described above may save you some money.
$35 Every 60 days (~$17.50/Month)
- 750 Minutes
- 1000 Texts
- 1 GB
Notes:For anyone who need more talk time and data, this plan offers tremendous value.
Other factors to take note of:
Additional 5% Off
Some plans come with an additional 5% discount with auto-refill.
Unused Credits Carryover
All usage credits carryover. If you don’t finish using them pass the expiration date, they carry over to the next active period if you continue to buy airtime for your phone.
Triple Minutes for Life Does NOT Apply
The Triple Minutes for Life benefit will not apply. The airtime credits have been adjusted to provide equal or better value than standard TracFone airtime cards after tripling. These plans are for smartphone users only. Since April 2017, the Triple minutes for Life benefit is no longer offered with new smartphones. The new $15 a month smartphone offers better value. See comparison here.
If you need more minutes/text/data, you can supplement the plan by buying additional plan cards (eg. buy another $15 plan card). You can shop for these at eBay:
Type Of Phones You Can Use TracFone Low Cost Plans With
TracFone plans work with all TracFone smartphones (iPhones and Androids) or you can bring your own phone. TracFone offers shoppers the choice of both Android phones and Apple iPhones. In order to activate a phone, you need to apply a service plan to it (eg. add a $15 card).
TracFone also has a Bring Your Own Phone program that allows users to bring their existing cell phones (either unlocked or previously used on other carrier networks) over to the TracFone network.
TracFone’s Bring Your Own Phone program also accepts unlocked cell phones.
How Does This Compare With Tracfone’s Existing Plans
Most people think of TracFone’s standard airtime cards as offering great value. Originally developed for non-smartphone users, TracFone has been able to offer attractive value to smartphone users by adding Data and Triple Minutes for Life to these cards. However, the Triple Minutes for Life benefit has been phased out and superseded by these Smartphone-Only plans since Apr 2017.
The good news is that TracFone’s new smarpthone plans offer better value. For example, getting a 450 minute card ($79.99), even if that triples to 1350 minutes, you end up paying 5.9 cents per minute or GB of data. In comparison, with the new Smartphone-only $25 plan card, you get 500 minutes, and the per minute price is 5 cents. See comparison chart in this post.
One exception for buying their regular airtime card is when you rarely use your phone. For that, TracFone’s most basic 60 minutes card could still be the cheapest spend. The card costs $20 card and provide for 90 days of service. This translates into 60 minutes, 60 text messages and 60 MB for a 90 day period. This works out to less than $7 a month (or more accurately, 30 days). With a smartphone only plan, the minimum spend is $15 a month (30 days), but you get a lot more credits to use.
Whichever plan you pick, if you won’t be using much data, or are using it mainly with wifi, TracFone’s plans cannot be beat. With most prepaid phone companies, the most economical plans for iPhone or Android phone users call for a minimum spend of at least $35 month and up.
To learn more about Tracfone, check out our full Tracfone Review >
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Are there special plans if I will be canceling Safelink service and want to keep my Tracfone service?
I have had the smartphone only plan for a few years and have therefore rolled it over many tmes accumulating much more text and data than I will ever use. because I don’use those muvh. mostly for voice minutes and want to know if I can add ONLY airtime MINUTES without text and Dat to my plan when minutes get low.
I use the $15.00 a month smartphone plan, great price and great reception, thanks TracFone.
I have been using an LG fliptop Tracfone for years and have accumulated about 3000 minutes. I would like to switch to an Apple iPhone 32GB smartphone. Can I transfer these minutes to the new smartphone? What portion is usable for data transfer?
Based on our experience, you should be able to transfer the minutes. You should call Tracfone support to confirm. Regarding data transfer, that’s an interesting question. I’m not sure if there will be any if you are moving from a non-smartphone to a smartphone.
I’m trying to find a phone service for the people I take care of and they dont need refilled every month so what phone do you think they should get. IT is for emergencies only
You can pick a low cost phone through TracFone’s website here. Type in the zipcode where it will be activated and a selection of phones will be listed. You will still have to refill the phone every 90 days, so that the line can stay active over time.
The minimum is $20 for 90 days (less than $7/mo). That includes a small amount of credits for talking, texting and data. To save the hassle of refilling each time, you can buy and activate multiple cards at one go. The credits will stack up. One suggestion …. it may be useful to monitor regularly and keep the emergency phone charged up, as well as test it every now and then. Hope this helps.
If I don’t have a smart phone but got the smart phone only card would I be able to use the card on a flip phone (Not smartphone)?
According to Tracfone, “SmartPhone Only Plans only work with SmartPhones requiring Android or iOS operating systerms.” They have an existing regular line of phone cards for non-smartphones. Take a look at the Tracfone website to learn more.
I figured out how to get there. 1) Will the time begin when my present air time ends?
2) How does the auto refill work?
Yes, all time, minutes etc, roll over, so it is tacked on to what you have. Go on tracfone’s site to add to your phone. Or use the app.
Where and how do I sign up for one of the smartphone only plans starting a $15/month.
Hi Ira, you can sign up for this plan on TracFone’s website. Under Top Menu > Airtime > Smartphone and BYOP Only Plans. Choose the plan that you want to purchase. They are currently offering an auto-refill discount, but you can choose to buy a single 30 or 60 day plan. You will also need a Tracfone to use these plans.