Are you looking for the cheapest NBN plans to save money on your internet bill? We’ve compared many of the biggest telcos to find the best deals for you in each speed category.
Many Australians will be paying more for home internet as a result of wholesale price increases. Those on NBN 50 plans will feel the pinch the most, adding further financial stress to thousands of households.
So, what’s the solution? Shop around frequently. Many internet service providers (ISPs) offer introductory deals, including generous discounts for the first six months. Afterwards, it’s always worth comparing providers so you’re not left paying more than you should. Most ISPs don’t use lock-in contracts, making it relatively easy to swap to a better-value plan.
Australians are downloading more than ever, and choosing faster plans accordingly. Make sure you regularly assess whether your current internet plan serves your needs, as recommended by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).
With that in mind, here are the current cheapest NBN plans in Australia from a wide range of telcos. You can also compare the cheapest NBN 50 plans, the cheapest NBN 100 plans, and the cheapest NBN 250 plans to save on faster internet. Looking for a new phone plan? Compare the cheapest SIM plans to save even more money.
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Cheapest NBN Plans
Here are the cheapest NBN plans at the time of writing. We update this article monthly, but the prices listed in the tables update frequently, giving you up-to-date and accurate information.
Many of the retailers display promotional prices aimed at new and returning customers. These offers generally involve paying a discounted rate for six months before reverting to a standard price. To view the details of promotional offers, click on the green text labelled ‘deal’, which will also show the standard price.
Each plan featured here includes unlimited data. Some providers let you save a few dollars every month by choosing a plan with a data cap. If you know you don’t need much data, use this search tool to find plans with monthly data allowances.
NBN 12 plans
Aimed at people who only need the internet for browsing online and checking emails, an NBN 12 plan isn’t blazingly fast but saves money. Once upon a time, you could regularly find plans for less than $50. Unfortunately, changes to the wholesale pricing structure put an end to that.
Moose stands out with its sub-$50 plan, considerably cheaper than other telcos. For the first six months, you can get an NBN 12 plan for $47.80 a month. Afterwards, it costs $59.80, which is still comfortably cheaper than the competition.
For the most part, you’d be better off scrolling down and looking at faster speeds available for the same price or less.
NBN 25 plans
Suited for streaming videos in HD in addition to basic online tasks, an NBN 25 plan gives you a bit more flexibility and much more value for money. Mate has the standout deal this month, priced at $40 per month for the first six months. Its standard price is $70, making it a $30 monthly discount. You can also bundle Mate internet and mobile plans together for $10 off your monthly internet bill.
Moose, Tangerine, Southern Phone, and Exetel also have decent deals, hovering around $50 per month for the first six months. Exetel also claims one of the cheapest non-discounted NBN 25 monthly prices at $63.99.
Otherwise, most NBN 25 plans cost less than $70 per month, making the speed tier one of the cheapest options outside of promotional periods.
NBN 50 plans
Australia’s most popular internet plan, NBN 50 balances value with performance. These plans support 4K video streaming and can sustain multiple simultaneous users. It’s not as cheap as it once was, but there are still plenty of good deals available.
Dodo currently leads the way among the cheapest NBN 50 plans, offering a discounted $59.75 plan for the first six months. Mate and Exetel both sit around $60, with plenty of similarly priced deals available.
After promotional pricing, NBN 50 plans hover around $80 per month. Buddy Telco, from Aussie Broadband, is one of the cheapest non-discounted plans, priced at $75 after its promotional $65 period.
NBN 100 plans
NBN 100 plans let your household stream multiple 4K videos at once, download files, and still have bandwidth for online gaming. Marginally more expensive than the slower 50Mbps tier, NBN 100 plans are still good value for most people.
Mate leads the discounted plans, costing $60 per month for the first six months. Another good deal comes from Dodo, only charging $64.75 a month for the first six months. You then pay $88.90, which is around the mark of other ISPs.
Most other telcos currently have discounted NBN 100 plans hovering around $65, giving you plenty of options.
NBN 250 plans
Not content with just streaming videos, NBN 250 plans significantly reduce the time waiting for large downloads. Whether you want to download the latest video game or save a whole bunch of media for offline viewing, this gets it done quicker.
Looking at the cheapest NBN 250 plans, Spintel, Dodo, and Swoop are all in the running, priced at less than $80 per month for the first six months. Spintel is also one of the cheapest NBN 250 plans outside of discounts, priced at $89.95 per month. Its advertised peak hour download speeds have picked up too, now hovering around 235Mbps, which used to be 211Mbps.
Faster tiers like NBN 250 are among the major beneficiaries of the changed wholesale pricing. It’s led to more competition among higher-speed plans, which is nice for anyone wanting to swap from a slower tier.
NBN 1000 plans
You don’t like waiting for downloads to finish, that’s why you’re looking at this section. As long as you don’t expect to hit full speeds during peak periods, NBN 1000 plans are for households that live on the internet. They’ve even got faster in recent months, delivering more consistent performance during busy hours.
Superloop has one heck of a Black Friday offer, selling its Lightspeed NBN 1000 plan at $89 per month for the first 12 months. That’s right, an entire year.
Another option to consider is Buddy Telco’s $99 plan. Aussie Broadband’s budget brand recently boosted its typical evening download speeds to 875Mbps, up from 600Mbps, making it one of the fastest residential plans available. Another positive is that the $99 price is set in stone; it’s not a discounted price, so it’s cheaper in the long run than most competitors.
What you need to know
If you want broadband internet in Australia, your main and most reliable choice is via the National Broadband Network (NBN). Although the NBN provides the internet backbone, it does not sell plans directly to the public. Instead, telecommunication vendors package up retail and business plans, which include different features and levels of customer support.
NBN availability
The NBN is available to all Australians, but the way you access the NBN may be different. This might include a fixed cable into your home, wireless access via an antenna on your roof or a satellite dish.
To see what technology is available to you, start by visiting the NBN getting connected page. After entering your address, you will be shown the technology available at your address. You will also see which providers or NBN retailers sell access in your area. In Sydney alone, we were presented with 123 different retailers.
Speed and reliability
It is important to understand that the speed and reliability of your NBN plan can differ by retailer. Each buys internet capacity from the NBN. This capacity is then shared with a certain amount of the retailers’ customers. This means that a retailer may have faster speeds in one suburb versus another based on how many customers are accessing the overall capacity. It’s always good to ask your neighbours who they are with and their experience with a particular NBN retailer.
It’s also worth checking the ACCC website regularly. They publish quarterly broadband performance results, measuring how well telcos deliver on advertised internet speeds. You want to be certain that you’ll get the speeds you pay for, so this is a good starting point.
For those customers looking for an NBN alternative, we suggest the following GadgetGuy guides: How does 5G fixed-wireless stack up as an NBN alternative and Caravanner’s guide to connecting to the internet anywhere.
Having good internet speed is more than just a fast broadband connection. For more, be sure to check out GadgetGuy’s guide to improving your internet for more information.
Which NBN plan?
When evaluating an NBN plan, consider the following criteria:
- Data Limits – Is there a monthly download limit of data, or is the plan unlimited?
- Download Speed – Best measured at its busiest in megabits per second (Mbps) typical evening speed. Is it enough to watch Netflix? (Netflix requires 10-25Mbps depending on resolution quality.) Larger households with members using the internet simultaneously will require higher download speeds.
- Cost – How much do you pay each month, and is there a connection fee?
- Contract – Are you locking yourself to a retailer for a period, or is it month to month?
- Telephone – Is a fixed-line telephone service bundled into the plan?
- Customer service – What hours are supported, and is it an Australian-located call centre?
- Upload speed – Important for people who save large files online, like photos and videos.
Changing providers
If you wish to change internet providers, the process involves signing up with the new retailer in-store or online. You may receive a new Wi-Fi router, and you may have to return your old router to your previous retailer. The retailer-provided router is generally low quality but provides a fixed-line telephone connection if selected.
Your retailer might offer you an email address. Still, we recommend using a non-telco-specific email address such as Gmail or Hotmail, allowing you to easily change NBN retailers.
The NBN changeover process can take less than an hour, but depending on the location and NBN technology, it could take a few days. To take advantage of introductory offers, you could swap your provider every six months.
Suppose you do not wish to leave your existing provider. In that case, you may be able to negotiate a better rate by comparing it to cheaper offerings.
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