Cheap SIM Only Deals

Don't overpay on SIM-only mobile deals - We compare plans to cover all use-types, including low-users wanting 1GB of data, minutes and texts for less than $10/month

Updated 16 October 2024

Summary

Smartphone contracts can end up costing a lot every month – but if you separate your phone from your mobile provider, you can save a lot with a SIM-only deal.
Whatever your needs and habits, there's a good chance you're paying to much at the moment. Switching to a cheaper provider is easy, and you can keep your number with no hassle.
This guide lists everything you need to know when looking for a new SIM only plan and our top picks for low, medium and high data users.
We analysed 60+ SIM-only plans available in New Zealand offered by 11 different providers (2degrees , Contact, Farmside, Kogan, Kiwi Mobile, Mighty Mobile, One NZ (previously Vodafone), Skinny, Spark, Slingshot and Warehouse Mobile). We found that there was no real difference in prices between pre-paid and monthly plans. The only exception was for annual pre-paid plans, which offered savings of over 10% versus the same plan when pre-paid in monthly instalments.
Please note - Kogan doesn't allow you to reply to short text. This post explains more about why that can be an issue for anyone receiving appointment SMS.

Our best buy SIM-only plans are grouped by user type:

Best Buy 'Low User'

Best Buy 'Medium User'

Best Buy 'High User'

"SIM Only" Must-Know Facts and Tips

SIM only means you are not paying for a phone

All SIM only plans only cover a service which includes data, minutes and/or texts. You don't pay anything with regards to a phone device, as each plan requires you to have an existing phone.

The known networks are NOT the cheapest in most instances

New Zealand's recent arrival of Mighty Mobile, Skinny and Warehouse Mobile offer cheaper data and calling bundles than the likes of Spark, One NZ (previously Vodafone) and 2Degrees. If you're with a big network, you're probably overpaying.

Most SIM-only deals are for 28 days, 30 days or one month

This means you've got more flexibility to cancel, upgrade or downgrade the plan you pick. You can switch providers without paying penalties.

Even though contracts are 30 days, you will probably have a credit check done

While this is mostly a formality, if you do have bad credit your application may be declined and you will need to stick to a pay-as-you-go SIM provider. See our credit score and credit reporting guide for more information. Also, if you're already paying off a phone you may be flagged as a higher risk customer.

Check the promotion and special offer details

There is no point signing up to an offer that locks you in for 12 months if the offer pricing or bonus data/minutes only applies for the first 3 months. Check out exactly what you’re paying over the entire contract period.

Pick a SIM Only plan that offers the allowance you NEED

Don’t overpay for things you don’t need. If you have internet at home and don’t watch TV on your phone, it’s unlikely you’ll need 10GB of data and unlimited minutes.

You'll need to have an unlocked phone

Check your phone, as some phones from Spark, One NZ, Skinny and 2degrees will be SIM-locked to their networks. You can find out if the phone is locked by putting a SIM from another provider. To unlock your phone, you’ll need an IMEI number - you can find it by dialling *#06# on most phones or look for it on the label in the battery compartment, or on the box the phone came in.

Each provider’s website gives guidance about unlocking a phone, which is free if your phone is out of contract, or around $30 if it’s in a contract. Phones bought from overseas or via Trade Me will specify if they are unlocked or locked, so always buy an unlocked phone to save any hassle and extra costs.

Check the signal strength where you live and work

There is no point picking a provider if it doesn’t work in your lounge or bedroom. These links just need your address to show if you’ll get 3G, 4G or 5G

Spark Coverage (includes Skinny network)
2 Degrees Mobile Coverage (includes Warehouse Mobile, Slingshot and Kiwi Mobile networks)
One NZ Coverage (includes Farmside, Kogan and Mighty Mobile, Contact and Rocket Mobile networks)

Switching from a contract to a SIM deal? Tell your current service provider ASAP!

Monthly plans usually require notice a month in advance, so as soon as you know you’re leaving the plan, advise your provider. You will have to pay the final month’s bill, so it’s best to buy the new provider’s sim first and organise your new deal to start as your current provider’s billing month finishes, therefore avoiding being stranded and paying twice for two plans at changeover time.

Keeping your number is easy

Once you have a new provider’s SIM, you can submit a change of number request online via their website. It’s usually processed in one or two working days and you can call the new provider’s support team if you have any issues.

Our Comparison - Finding You the Best Deal for Your Needs

As explained in our summary, we analysed 60+ SIM-only plans available in New Zealand offered by 11 different providers (2degrees , Contact, Farmside, Kogan, Kiwi Mobile, Mighty Mobile, One NZ (previously Vodafone), Skinny, Spark, Slingshot and Warehouse Mobile). We found that there was no real difference in prices between pre-paid and monthly plans. The only exception was for annual pre-paid plans, which offered savings of over 10% versus the same plan when pre-paid in monthly instalments.

Our methodology
Different people have different needs in terms of data and minutes for calls, so there’s no one-size-fits-all plan that can be singled out as the best option for everyone. Instead, we have looked at the characteristics of each plan and specifically the amount of data per month compared to their monthly price to assess if plans are good value or not. Our comparison process was as follows:

First, we categorised the type of user the plans are aimed at, based on their data needs. We defined Low users as those that need less than 4GB per month, Medium users as those that need between 4GB and 8GB and High users as those that require more than 8GB per month.
Plans have different frequencies, they can be billed every 7, 14, 28, 30 or 365 days. To compare them on an even basis, we divided the cost of the plan by the number of days (cost per day) and then multiplied this by 30 to arrive at a monthly price. We did something similar for the data limit, so we could look at the “Data per month” that would apply over a 30-day period.
Some plans offered additional data like 8GB upon sign up (Skinny), or 1GB of data for social media apps (Spark, “socialiser data”). We prorated these one-off allowances and added them to the “Data per month” mentioned before.
For plans that provide unlimited data, we used 150GB as the data allowance for our monthly data calculation.
Finally, we used the Ratio of “Price per month to Data per month”, and sorted all plans based on this ratio. A lower ratio indicates better value.
For each user category (Low / Medium / High), we looked at the average Price/Data Ratio and rated each plan’s value as “Good”, “Average” or “Below Average”.
We also include details about each plan, like if it offers endless data, hotspot/tethering capabilities or 5G coverage.
We have not applied any promotional discounts or temporary offers, but where possible we have listed their existence. We have also not deducted from the monthly cost the value of benefits in kind like Spotify subscriptions.
We have included Kiwi Mobile in this comparison with different estimated data limits. As our dedicated guide explains, their plan is unique as they only have one "endless" plan and the user selects if they want to navigate at a low speed for the same price or go up to the next tier of consumption and pay a premium per day. For our comparison, we used the rates a user would pay for navigating at maximum speed for the following data limits: 5GB, 10GB, 20GB, 40GB and 100GB. Please note that the prices could be lower if the user chose to navigate at lower speeds or if they reached tier thresholds at a slower pace

With this information, we have picked the plans that we consider are the best plans in each category, but we present all the plans we evaluated and whether or not we consider them good value.

Best SIM Only Phone Plans

Once you know which network(s) cover your home and work locations, and you know how much data you’ll need, look for the best deals that fit this. We present the results of our analysis below and highlight the plans we consider would be the best buys. We categorised users by their data needs as follows:

Low users: data consumption below 4GB
Medium users; data consumption between 4GB and 8GB
High users: data consumption above 8GB

As 4G covers around 95% of Kiwi homes and workplaces, all the below best buys come with 4G data (unless otherwise stated) and 5G where available.

1. Low Users

For light users who want the convenience of a reasonable data limit and enough minutes, these plans provide up to 3GB data per month.

Our favourite SIM-only plans for low users (below 4GB of data per month) are the following:

Kogan Mobile Small Plan (Annual or 30 day)	Warehouse $25 Combo 3GB Rollover Data	Skinny 3GB Rollover Data
15	25	17
30 days	28 days	28 days
Kogan Mobile	Warehouse Mobile	Skinny Mobile
1.5 GB data/month	3 GB data/month	3 GB data/month
Unlimited minutes	Unlimited minutes	200 minutes
Save if you pay annually instead of monthly
30 day rolling contract. Top-ups of data are available, starting from 500MB Tethering is permitted within your data allowance - more details are here. You can keep your existing number per Kogan Mobile's guidance. The plan price may increase at any time	No contracts, just top up when you need to – unused credit (but not data or text/phone packs) rolls for 90 days Tethering is permitted within your data allowance. You can keep your existing number Warehouse Mobile may increase the price at any time No credit check required, and you can be online in minutes with a new SIM. Uses a 0284 number	28 day rolling contract. Tethering is permitted within your data allowance. You can keep your existing number Skinny may increase the price at any time You'll need to pass the credit check to get the plan There is no top up - when you sign up for Skinny, you register your credit or debit card allowing you to buy plans and add-ons by using your card, without having to top up.

These are all the plans we analysed the for this category, sorted by the amount of data they provide. We indicate in the last column if we consider they provide good value or not.

Provider	Plan name	Data limit (in GB)	Minutes	Price	Days	Endless data?	Hotspot?	5G?	Network provider	MH evaluation
Skinny	100MB Data 7-Days	0.1	60	$5	7	No	Yes	Yes	Spark	Below average value
Spark	Rollover Plan $15	0.1	Unlimited	$15	30	No	Yes	Unspecified	Spark	Below average value
2degrees	150MB Carryover data	0.15	100	$8	30	No	Yes	Yes	2degrees	Below average value
Skinny	250MB Data	0.25	100	$8	28	No	Yes	Yes	Spark	Below average value
Warehouse Mobile	$9 Combo 300MB Rollover Data	0.3	100	$9	28	No	Unspecified	Unspecified	2degrees	Average value
2degrees	600MB Carryover data	0.6	100	$13	30	No	Yes	Yes	2degrees	Below average value
Spark	Rollover Plan $27	0.75	Unlimited	$27	30	No	Yes	Unspecified	Spark	Below average value
2degrees	1GB Carryover data	1	100	$11	14	No	Yes	Yes	2degrees	Good value
OneNZ	Popular combo 1GB	1	100	$16	28	No	Yes	Yes	OneNZ	Average value
Spark	Prepaid value pack $20	1.25	200	$20	28	No	Yes	Unspecified	Spark	Average value
Warehouse Mobile	$15 Combo 1.25GB Rollover Data	1.25	200	$15	28	No	Unspecified	Unspecified	2degrees	Good value
2degrees	1.5GB Carryover data	1.5	200	$19	30	No	Yes	Yes	2degrees	Average value
Kogan	Small (Annual)	1.5	Unlimited	$160	365	No	Yes	Yes	OneNZ	Good value
Kogan	Small (Monthly)	1.5	Unlimited	$15	30	No	Yes	Yes	OneNZ	Good value
OneNZ	Popular combo 1.5GB	1.5	200	$21	28	No	Yes	Yes	OneNZ	Average value
Skinny	1.5GB Rollover Data	1.5	200	$17	28	No	Yes	Yes	Spark	Good value
Spark	Data lovers pack $20	1.5	0	$20	28	No	No	Unspecified	Spark	Good value
Spark	Prepaid value pack $30	2	300	$30	28	No	Yes	Unspecified	Spark	Average value
2degrees	3GB Carryover data	3	250	$25	30	No	Yes	Yes	2degrees	Good value
OneNZ	Popular combo 3GB	3	300	$31	28	No	Yes	Yes	OneNZ	Good value
Warehouse Mobile	$25 Combo 3GB Rollover Data	3	Unlimited	$25	28	No	Unspecified	Unspecified	2degrees	Good value

2. Medium Users

For users wanting 4GB to 8GB of data, we’ve selected below what we considered to be the best plans:

Kogan Mobile Medium Plan (Annual or 30 day)	Warehouse Mobile $35 Combo 6GB Rollover Data	2degrees 4.5 GB Carryover data
25	35	35
30 days	28 days	30 days
Kogan Mobile	Warehouse Mobile	2degrees Mobile
4 GB data/month	6 GB data/month	4.5 GB data/month
Unlimited minutes	Unlimited minutes	300 minutes
Save if you pay annually instead of monthly
30 day rolling contract. Top-ups of data are available, starting from 300MB Tethering is permitted within your data allowance - more details are here. You can keep your existing number per Kogan Mobile's guidance. The plan price may increase at any time	No contracts, just top up when you need to – unused credit (but not data or text/phone packs) rolls for 90 days Tethering is permitted within your data allowance. You can keep your existing number Warehouse Mobile may increase the price at any time No credit check required, and you can be online in minutes with a new SIM. Uses a 0284 number	One-month rolling contract. Tethering is permitted within your data allowance. You can keep your existing number 2Degrees may increase the price at any time You'll need to pass the credit check to get the plan

Worth Considering: Kiwi Mobile (Free 3 Month Test-Drive Upfront)

Kiwi Mobile offers maximum flexibility with no contracts, allowing you to only pay for the data you use each day. Our review explains more.
Enjoy three months free to test-drive their service, plus discounts when adding buddies to your plan.
With both physical SIM and eSIM options, Kiwi Mobile provides seamless connectivity using the 2degrees network.
Kiwi Mobile offers an interesting alternative for those seeking flexibility, particularly those with varying data needs from month to month and that tend to use more than 5GB. Their plan tiers are "endless" which means the customer can keep using data after that threshold has been reached, or keep levelling up (to unlimited GB usage) at max speed data.

Visit Kiwi Mobile

These are all the plans we analysed the for this category, sorted by the amount of data they provide. We indicate in the last column if we consider they offer good, average or below average value:

Provider	Plan name	Data limit (in GB)	Minutes	Price	Days	Endless data?	Hotspot?	5G?	Network provider	MH evaluation
Kogan	Medium (Annual)	4	Unlimited	$250	365	No	Yes	Yes	OneNZ	Good value
Kogan	Medium (Monthly)	4	Unlimited	$25	30	No	Yes	Yes	OneNZ	Good value
Skinny	4GB Rollover Data	4	300	$27	28	No	Yes	Yes	Spark	Good value
Spark	Rollover Plan $45	4	Unlimited	$45	30	No	Yes	Unspecified	Spark	Below average value
Spark	Prepaid value pack $50	4	500	$50	28	No	Yes	Unspecified	Spark	Below average value
Spark	Endless Plan $45	4	Unlimited	$45	30	Yes	Yes	Unspecified	Spark	Average value
2degrees	4.5GB Carryover data	4.5	300	$35	30	No	Yes	Yes	2degrees	Good value
Spark	Data lovers pack $40	4.5	0	$40	28	No	No	Unspecified	Spark	Average value
2degrees	5GB Carryover data	5	300	$40	30	No	Yes	Yes	2degrees	Average value
Contact	Small	5	Unlimited	$40	30	Yes	Yes	Yes	OneNZ	Average value
Farmside	Endless Mobile Lite Plan 5 GB	5	Unlimited	$45	30	Yes	Yes	Unspecified	OneNZ	Below average value
Kiwi mobile	Choice Plan - Estimate for 5GB (endless)	5	Unlimited	$1.30/day	30.24	Yes	Yes	Yes	2degrees	Average value
OneNZ	Small	5	Unlimited	$45	30	Yes	Yes	Yes	OneNZ	Below average value
Slingshot	5GB Carryover data	5	300	$40	30	No	Unspecified	Unspecified	2degrees	Average value
Warehouse Mobile	$35 Combo 6GB Rollover Data	6	Unlimited	$35	28	No	Unspecified	Unspecified	2degrees	Good value

3. High Users

Our favourite plans for high data users, who need above 8GB of data per month, are the following:

Mighty mobile Fast plan (10Mbps) (Annual or Monthly)	Mighty mobile Faster plan (50Mbps) (Annual or Monthly)	Rocket Starter (2 Mbps) [Previously MyRepublic]
40	50	30
30 days	30 days	30 days
Mighty Mobile	Mighty Mobile	Rocket Mobile
Unlimited data at 10 Mbps	Unlimited data at 50 Mbps	Unlimited Data at 2Mbps
Unlimited minutes	Unlimited minutes	Unlimited minutes
Save if you pay annually instead of monthly, Other plans available with higher speeds.	Save if you pay annually instead of monthly, Other plans available with higher speeds.
This is a new challenger in the mobile phone market and offers high-speed, unlimited browsing at great prices. Tethering is permitted within your data allowance. You can keep your existing number	This is a new challenger in the mobile phone market and offers high-speed, unlimited browsing at great prices. Tethering is permitted within your data allowance. You can keep your existing number	Open Contract. 10GB of Hotspot data Calls/SMSes to premium rate numbers (short codes) not available

Worth Considering: Kiwi Mobile (Free 3 Month Test-Drive Upfront)

Kiwi Mobile offers maximum flexibility with no contracts, allowing you to only pay for the data you use each day. Our review explains more.
Enjoy three months free to test-drive their service, plus discounts when adding buddies to your plan.
With both physical SIM and eSIM options, Kiwi Mobile provides seamless connectivity using the 2degrees network.
Kiwi Mobile offers an interesting alternative for those seeking flexibility, particularly those with varying data needs from month to month and that tend to use more than 5GB. Their plan tiers are "endless" which means the customer can keep using data after that threshold has been reached, or keep levelling up (to unlimited GB usage) at max speed data.

Visit Kiwi Mobile

Here is a summary of all the plans we analysed, we indicate in the last column if we consider they provide good, average or below average value:

Provider	Plan name	Data limit (in GB)	Minutes	Price	Days	Endless data?	Hotspot?	5G?	Network provider	MH evaluation
2degrees	3.5GB Carryover data	3.5	150	$19	14	No	Yes	Yes	2degrees	Below average value
2degrees	7GB Carryover data	7	250	$24	14	No	Yes	Yes	2degrees	Average value
OneNZ	Popular combo 8GB	8	100	$41	28	No	Yes	Yes	OneNZ	Below average value
2degrees	10GB Carryover data	10	Unlimited	$50	30	No	Yes	Yes	2degrees	Below average value
2degrees	10GB Carryover data	10	Unlimited	$45	30	No	Yes	Yes	2degrees	Below average value
Kiwi mobile	Choice Plan - Estimate for 10GB (endless)	10	Unlimited	$1.60/day	30.24	Yes	Yes	Yes	2degrees	Below average value
Skinny	5GB Endless Data	10	Unlimited	$40	28	Yes	Yes	Yes	Spark	Below average value
Skinny	20GB Endless Data 7-days	10	Unlimited	$20	7	Yes	Yes	Yes	Spark	Average value
Slingshot	10GB Carryover data	10	Unlimited	$50	30	No	Unspecified	Unspecified	2degrees	Below average value
Farmside	Endless Mobile Regular Plan 15 GB	15	Unlimited	$65	30	Yes	Yes	Unspecified	OneNZ	Below average value
Kogan	Large (Annual)	15	Unlimited	$330	365	No	Yes	Yes	OneNZ	Average value
Kogan	Large (Monthly)	15	Unlimited	$35	30	No	Yes	Yes	OneNZ	Average value
OneNZ	Medium	15	Unlimited	$65	30	Yes	Yes	Yes	OneNZ	Below average value
Spark	Rollover Solo Plan $60	15	Unlimited	$60	30	No	Yes	Unspecified	Spark	Below average value
Warehouse Mobile	$45 Combo 15GB Rollover Data	15	Unlimited	$45	28	No	Unspecified	Unspecified	2degrees	Average value
Contact	Medium	16	Unlimited	$60	30	Yes	Yes	Yes	OneNZ	Below average value
Slingshot	16GB Carryover data	16	Unlimited	$60	30	No	Unspecified	Unspecified	2degrees	Below average value
2degrees	20GB Carryover data	20	Unlimited	$34	14	Yes	Yes	Yes	2degrees	Average value
Kiwi mobile	Choice Plan - Estimate for 20GB (endless)	20	Unlimited	$1.90/day	30.24	Yes	Yes	Yes	2degrees	Average value
Skinny	15GB Endless Data	20	Unlimited	$50	28	Yes	Yes	Yes	Spark	Average value
Spark	Endless Plan $72	20	Unlimited	$72	30	Yes	Yes	Unspecified	Spark	Good value
2degrees	25GB Carryover data	25	Unlimited	$65	30	No	Yes	Yes	2degrees	Average value
2degrees	10GB Carryover data	25	Unlimited	$60	30	No	Yes	Yes	2degrees	Average value
Kogan	Extra Large (Annual)	32	Unlimited	$490	365	No	Yes	Yes	OneNZ	Good value
Farmside	Endless Mobile Premium Plan 40 GB	40	Unlimited	$70	30	Yes	Yes	Unspecified	OneNZ	Average value
Kiwi mobile	Choice Plan - Estimate for 40GB (endless)	40	Unlimited	$2.00/day	30.24	Yes	Yes	Yes	2degrees	Good value
Spark	Prepaid value pack $80	40	Unlimited	$80	28	Yes	Yes	Unspecified	Spark	Average value
Skinny	40GB Endless Data	80	Unlimited	$70	28	Yes	Yes	Yes	Spark	Good value
Kiwi mobile	Choice Plan - Estimate for 100GB (endless)	100	Unlimited	$2.10/day	30.24	Yes	Yes	Yes	2degrees	Good value
Slingshot	100GB Endless	100	Unlimited	$75	30	No	Unspecified	Unspecified	2degrees	Good value
Spark	Endless Solo Plan $79.99	100	Unlimited	$80	30	Yes	Yes	Unspecified	Spark	Good value
2degrees	10GB Carryover data	120	Unlimited	$85	30	No	Yes	Yes	2degrees	Good value
2degrees	Unlimited Max Speed data	Unlimited	Unlimited	$80	30	Yes	Yes	Yes	2degrees	Good value
Contact	Large	Unlimited	Unlimited	$80	30	Yes	Yes	Yes	OneNZ	Good value
Mighty mobile	Fast plan (10Mbps) (Annual)	Unlimited	Unlimited	$399	365	Yes	Yes	Yes	OneNZ	Good value
Mighty mobile	Fast plan (10Mbps) (Monthly)	Unlimited	Unlimited	$40	30	Yes	Yes	Yes	OneNZ	Good value
Mighty mobile	Fastest Plan (MAX Speed) (Monthly)	Unlimited	Unlimited	$80	30	Yes	Yes	Yes	OneNZ	Good value
Mighty mobile	Faster Plan (50Mbps) (Annual)	Unlimited	Unlimited	$499	365	Yes	Yes	Yes	OneNZ	Good value
Mighty mobile	Faster Plan (50Mbps) (Monthly)	Unlimited	Unlimited	$50	30	Yes	Yes	Yes	OneNZ	Good value
Mighty mobile	Fastest Plan (MAX Speed) (Annual)	Unlimited	Unlimited	$799	365	Yes	Yes	Yes	OneNZ	Good value
OneNZ	One Plan	Unlimited	Unlimited	$85	30	Yes	Yes	Yes	OneNZ	Good value
Rocket Mobile	Rocket Starter (2Mbps)	Unlimited	Unlimited	$30	30	Yes	Yes	Yes	OneNZ	Good value
Rocket Mobile	Rocket (10Mbps)	Unlimited	Unlimited	$40	30	Yes	Yes	Yes	OneNZ	Good value
Rocket Mobile	Rocket Plus (40Mbps)	Unlimited	Unlimited	$45	30	Yes	Yes	Yes	OneNZ	Good value
Rocket Mobile	Rocket Max (Max Speed)	Unlimited	Unlimited	$70	30	Yes	Yes	Yes	OneNZ	Good value
Spark	Endless Plan $92	Unlimited*	Unlimited	$92	30	Yes	Yes	Unspecified	Spark	Good value

Complain about your network using the Telecommunications Dispute Resolution (TDR)

Telecommunications Dispute Resolution (TDR) deals with complaints from consumers about any product or service provided by their telecommunications company. As the customer of a New Zealand network, you have the right to make a complaint. It's a free and independent service, but you will need to follow their process to progress a complaint.

Before you complain, you'll need to raise the issue with your network directly via their complaints form or customer service team

Once you have done this, you must wait for a response.
The network will respond, but if you are unable to agree with their response and your complaint becomes deadlocked, after six weeks has passed you can raise a complaint with the TDR.

The process of complaining with TDR is outlined here. Their helpful FAQs outline what you can expect, and case studies about recent complaints about telecommunication companies in general. The process is impartial, and once a decision is made, Your network will (usually) abide by the ruling should it be in the wrong.

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