Best Phone Plans for Kids

Getting their sticky little fingers on their first mobile phone is a right of passage for kids. For them, it’s a sign of their growing independence. And for mum and dad, it affords peace of mind knowing they can be tracked and traced while out of the family home.

Choosing the right phone is the first step – and often the most contentious. Child’s thinking iPhone 17, parents are thinking a $300 OPPO. We’ll not venture into that murky territory here, except to say whatever phone you choose, it pays to invest in a robust case for it!

Choosing the right phone plan is the second step, and one that needs careful consideration.

Best mobile phone plans for kids: things to consider

When it comes to picking the best features for your child’s mobile plan, you’ll need to consider their age and how they are likely to use their phone.

Younger, tween children aren’t likely to be out and about on their own very often, and away from the family home’s wi-fi. So, they’ll subsequently use less data, unless they’re watching HD YouTube videos in the back of the car! Teens, of course, will be more data hungry. While unlimited texts and calls are always great to have on a plan.

When choosing a plan, some of the key considerations should be:

• Unlimited texts: no matter your child’s age, unlimited texts are a really good idea. It means they’ll always be able to reach you in the event of an emergency, and be able to text their friends without exceeding any plan data limits.
• Data limits and costs: a phone plan with at least 1GB of data should be enough for light use of basics such as Google Maps, web browsing and using messaging apps. Heavier data use, especially social media apps with video, such as TikTok, will use a lot more data. Also consider any plans with cheap excess data rates, and with a usage warning system – for example, SMS alerts when 50%, 85%, and 100% of the monthly data allowance has been used.
• Longer expiry periods: be wary of the expiry periods of some cheap prepaid plans, as these can be as short as a week. Instead, look at prepaid plans with 28-30 day expiries, as this reduces the risk of your child having no credit to call or text you, while also removing the hassle of recharging regularly. Short-term plans might be cheap, but consider how many times you’ll need to recharge each month, which can really add up.
• Adding your child to your plan: endless data plans, or ones with large data allocations, come with larger monthly charges. But some providers allow you to add additional family members at a reduced rate.

Best mobile phone plans for kids: prepaid vs monthly plan

The first and most important decision to make in regards to your child’s phone plan is whether you want to go prepaid or sign up to a monthly plan.

Prepaid pros

The best thing about a prepaid phone plan is that your child can only use the fixed calls, text and data that come with their plan. There is no bill shock with prepaid: once your credit is up, that’s it, unless you manually recharge.

This is a great way to help kids understand budgeting. Another positive is, if you’re short on money one month, or if you need to take your child’s privileges away, you can simply not recharge their plan.

Prepaid options also tend to offer a greater choice of cheaper plans with less data, which can be ideal for younger children. Whereas most monthly plans come with larger data allowances.

Prepaid cons

The most significant drawback to going prepaid is that once you reach your plan’s limits, you can no longer use data, make calls or send text messages. This can remove the safety net of your child being able to call you in an emergency.

Prepaid plans also tend to have shorter expiry periods, which can mean you find yourself having to recharge every four weeks, which equates to 13 times a year, instead of 12 times on a monthly plan. And prepaid plans tend to lack the same value as monthly plans.

Monthly plan pros

Even the cheapest monthly phone plans offer unlimited calls and texts, so you can rest assured that your child will always be able to contact you. Monthly plans also take away the hassle of having to manually recharge your plan. Although most prepaid plans do allow users to auto-recharge. You are also likely to get better value with a monthly plan.

Monthly plan cons

The biggest negative of monthly plans is their cost. While they tend to offer better overall value than prepaid, they have higher starting price points – usually around $40. Plus they require you to sign up to a contract, meaning you’re locked in to the monthly charges, unless you cancel.

Best mobile phone plans for kids: under $40

Once you’ve considered your child's needs and your budget, you can start your research into the best mobile phone plans for kids. To help, Canstar has compiled a round-up of some of the cheapest mobile plans and prepaid deals currently on offer for $40 per month or less.

Prices correct 08/01/2026.

2degrees

2degrees has a total of six plans $40 or under that all are based on calendar month renewal periods:

Monthly plans

• $35 Plan: 3GB data & unlimited calls & texts to NZ/OZ

Prepaid plans

• $8 Plan: 150MB data & 100 mins & unlimited texts to NZ/OZ
• $15 Plan: 1GB data & 100 mins & unlimited texts to NZ/OZ
• $20 Plan: 2GB data & 200 mins & unlimited texts to NZ/OZ
• $25 Plan: 3GB data & 250 mins & unlimited texts to NZ/OZ
• $35 Plan: 4.5GB data & 300 mins & unlimited texts to NZ/OZ

All plans offer: rollover on call, text and data limits, daily hour of free data (not $8 plan), unlimited calls to other 2degrees mobiles, hotspotting, free voicemail, 5G ready, 7.5GB of free data on join-up (for non-endless data plans).

Kogan

Kogan's plans are available in 31-periods, or you can pay for 365 upfront for a discount, as shown. Across both periods, data, call and text allowances renew every 31 days: 

31-day | 365-day plans:

• $15 Plan: 1.5GB data & unlimited calls & texts to NZ/OZ | $160 per year (= $13.59 per 31 days)
• $25 Plan: 4GB data & unlimited calls & texts to NZ/OZ | $250 per year (= $21.23 per 31 days)
• $35 Plan: 15GB data & unlimited calls & texts to NZ/OZ | $330 per year (= $28.03 per 31 days)

Mighty Mobile

Mighty Mobile has one prepaid plan $40 or under. It's available for a calendar month, or for a year, at a reduced upfront price.

• $40 Plan: Endless data up to 10Mbps & unlimited calls & texts to NZ/OZ | $399 per year (= $33.25/m)

One NZ

One NZ has one monthly plan $40 or under, plus four prepaid plans, which renew every calendar month.

Monthly plans

• $40 Plan: 3GB data & unlimited calls & texts to NZ/OZ

Prepaid plans

• $10 Plan: 250MB data & 100 mins & unlimited texts to NZ/OZ
• $17 Plan: 1GB data & unlimited calls & texts to NZ/OZ + DataUp*
• $22 Plan: 2GB data & unlimited calls & texts to NZ/OZ + DataUp*
• $30 Plan: 3GB data & unlimited calls & texts to NZ/OZ + DataUp*

All One NZ plans offer hotspotting, fee voicemail, One NZ rewards and are 5G ready.

*DataUp offers up to 100% free data if your plan renews regularly

Rocket Mobile

Rocket Mobile's $40 and under plans offer endless data, although with data speed caps, albeit at levels that still permit video streaming.

Prepaid monthly

• $30 Plan: Endless data up to 2Mbps & unlimited calls & texts to NZ/OZ
• $40 Plan: Endless data up to 10Mbps & unlimited calls & texts to NZ/OZ

Skinny

Skinny has four basic prepaid plans $40 and under:

Prepaid: four-week period

• $8 Plan: 250MB data & 100 mins & unlimited texts to NZ/OZ
• $17 Plan: 1.5GB rollover data & 200 rollover mins & unlimited texts to NZ/OZ*
• $27 Plan: 4GB rollover data & 300 rollover mins & unlimited texts to NZ/OZ*
• $40 Plan: Endless data (speeds reduce after 10GB) & unlimited calls & texts to NZ/OZ**

Skinny also offers similar weekly plans, although they work out slightly more expensive.

*Extras: Unlimited mins to other Skinny mobiles. **Extras: Hotspotting

Spark

Spark's cheapest monthly plan is $43, which offers 3GB of capped-speed endless data. Although Spark does have a special plan for kids up to 17.5 years of age:

$20 Kids Plan

• Features: 100 minutes & 100 texts to NZ – 2GB data, half of which is allocated by parents.
• Extras: Hotspotting, save 10% on Spotify Premium

In addition it offers regular prepaid plans:

Prepaid: four-week period

• $17 Plan: 750MB data & 100 mins & unlimited texts to NZ/OZ + 10% Spotify Premium discount
• $21 Plan: 1.5GB rollover data & 200 mins & unlimited texts to NZ/OZ + 10% Spotify Premium discount*
• $25 Plan: 2.5GB rollover data & 250 mins & unlimited texts to NZ/OZ + 10% Spotify Premium discount, free Spotify Data*
• $35 Plan: 4GB rollover data & 300 mins & unlimited texts to NZ/OZ + $7 Spotify Premium discount, free Spotify Data*

*Plans offer Data Stack: earn 100MB of data every 28 days when you stay on an eligible Spark Prepaid Value Pack, up to a maximum of 10GB. Unused Data Stack does not roll over.

The Warehouse

All Warehouse plans offer voicemail and free calls to other Warehouse Mobile numbers:

Prepay: four-week period

• $9 Plan: 300MB data & 100 mins & unlimited texts to NZ/OZ (and 13 other destinations*)
• $15 Plan: 1.25GB rollover data & 200 rollover mins & unlimited texts to NZ/OZ
• $25 Plan: 4GB rollover data & 300 rollover mins & unlimited texts to NZ/OZ
• $35 Plan: 6GB rollover data & unlimited calls & texts to NZ/OZ

Best phone plans for kids: shared data plans

If you've already got a monthly phone plan, it's worthwhile looking into shared plans for your children, especially if they are data-hungry teens.

Shared data plans typically involve a main plan, with similar plans clipped on at a discounted rate. Below, you can see a breakdown of shared data plans from:

• 2degrees
• Kiwi Mobile
• Nova Energy
• One NZ
• Rocket Mobile
• Spark

2degrees

2degrees has four plans that allow you to add group members on either the same plan or one of a higher value:

• $45 Plan: 6GB data & unlimited calls & texts to NZ/OZ + group members for $25/m
• $55 Plan: 15GB data & unlimited calls & texts to NZ/OZ + group members for $30/m
• $65 Plan: 80GB data & unlimited calls & texts to NZ/OZ + group members for $35/m
• $80 Plan: Endless data (no max speed cap) & unlimited calls & texts to NZ/OZ – Group members for $40/m

All plans offer: hotspotting, free voicemail and 5G ready, 7.5GB of free data on join-up (for non-endless data plans).

Kiwi Mobile

Kiwi Mobile offers group plans on its premium Choice plan, not its Choice Lite plan.

The plans deliver unlimited data, capped at download speeds of of 1.2Mbps once you hit one of five data caps.

The plans are unique because they're charged on a per-day basis and, once you hit your data cap, if you don't want your data speed slowed to 1.2Mbps, you can opt to move up to the next data tier, either manually or automatically.

However, whatever data/price tier you end up on by the end of the month, when the next billing cycle comes around (there are 12 per calendar year), your plan automatically resets back down to the base 5GB $1.30/day Choice plan.

If there are two linked plans, both receive a discount of 15c per day, and if you link three or four plans that saving increases to 30c per day:

All plans offer: endless data – all plans have endless data till max speed limit, then reduced to 1.2Mbps, unlimited calls & texts to NZ/OZ, hotspotting and 5G ready.

Nova Energy

Nova offers unlimited mobile plans that feature four different max data speed caps, from 5GB to 40GB. You can add up to five more people to your plan for $39/m per person. Obviously, the more expensive the base plan, the better value the add-on plans.

There is an extra discount of $10 per plan if you bundle your phone(s) with a Nova energy or broadband plan.

• $39 Plan: Endless data (speeds reduce after 5GB) & unlimited calls & texts to NZ/OZ
• $49 Plan: Endless data (speeds reduce after 10GB) data & unlimited calls & texts to NZ/OZ
• $59 Plan: Endless data (speeds reduce after 20GB) data & unlimited calls & texts to NZ/OZ
• $69 Plan: Endless data (speeds reduce after 40GB) & unlimited calls & texts to NZ/OZ

All plans offer: hotspotting, fee voicemail, and are 5G ready.

One NZ

One has two endless data plans that can be combined with up to three group plans:

• $70 Plan: Endless data (speeds reduce after 50GB) & unlimited calls & texts to NZ/OZ + 250 mins & 50 texts to 20 international destinations + group plan for $35/m
• $85 Plan: Endless data (no max speed cap) & unlimited calls & texts to NZ/OZ + 250 mins & 50 texts to 20 international destinations + group plan for $40/m

All plans offer hotspotting, fee voicemail, One NZ rewards and are 5G ready. They also offer One NZ's satellite text facility.

Rocket Mobile

Rocket Mobile has three endless plans that offer group discounts. Its most expensive plan, Rocket Max, delivers unlimited full-speed data, while its Rocket and Rocket Plus plans have their data speeds capped, but still at speeds fast enough to watch Netflix in HD.

Rocket Mobile has a unique approach to its group discounts. Any Rocket Mobile customer can invite other Rocket Mobile users to join their group (members can leave at any time) and each member of the group receives the discount:

• $40 Plan: Endless data up to 10Mbps & unlimited calls & texts to NZ/OZ + group members for $35/m
• $45 Plan: Endless data up to 40Mbps & unlimited calls & texts to NZ/OZ + group members for $40/m
• $75 Plan: Endless data (no max speed cap) & unlimited calls & texts to NZ/OZ, 5G ready + group members for $50/m

Spark

Spark has three monthly endless plans that allow you to add companions. Note it's possible to mix and match plans across the three eligible plans:

• $75 Plan: Endless data (speeds reduce after 150GB) & unlimited calls & texts to NZ/OZ + $7 Spotify Premium discount and free Spotify data + similar group plan for $40/m
• $90 Plan: Endless data (no max speed cap) & unlimited calls & texts to NZ/OZ + international talk and texts + free Spotify Premium ($18.99/m) + similar group plan for $45/m
• $95 Plan: Endless data (no max speed cap) & unlimited calls & texts to NZ/OZ + international talk and texts + free Netflix Standard ($25.99/m) + similar group plan for $45/m

To help Kiwi consumers choose the best mobile providers, Canstar surveys thousands of mobile customers and asks them to score their providers across categories including Value for Money, Network Coverage and Customer Service. To read the results of our full research and to find out more about NZ's best mobile providers, just click on the button below.