You can get unlimited data without a contract from £16/month, giving you unlimited downloads on Pay As You Go without the need for a credit check.

In the UK, most mobile networks now offer an unlimited data plan, allowing you to download as much as you like. However, the choice of mobile networks is a little more restrictive if you’re looking for unlimited data on Pay As You Go with no contract and no credit check.

At present, there are eight UK mobile networks offering unlimited data on Pay As You Go, without the need for you to sign up for a contract. Three mobile networks offer unlimited data with 5G, whereas the others currently offer unlimited data with 4G. Prices currently start from £16 per month without the need for a contract.

In this article, we’ll compare the best unlimited data plans that are available with no contract and no credit check. We’ll start with an overview of all the available providers, before looking at each individual mobile network in more detail.

Unlimited Data With No Contract: From £16/month
Recommended Deal: £20/month on Superdrug
(comes with £20 of Health & Beautycard points to spend at Superdrug)
5G Unlimited Providers:
4G Unlimited Providers:

Overview of Pay As You Go Unlimited Data Plans

Compare Unlimited Data Plans

The following table shows a list of unlimited data SIM cards that are currently available in the UK without the need for a credit check:

NetworkMinutesTextsDataMonthly
Cost
SmartyUnlimitedUnlimitedUnlimited£16.00
Superdrug MobileUnlimitedUnlimitedUnlimited£20.00
ASDA MobileUnlimitedUnlimitedUnlimited£20.00
iD Mobile1,000UnlimitedUnlimited£20.00
Lebara MobileUnlimitedUnlimitedUnlimited£25.00
giffgaffUnlimitedUnlimitedAlways-On£25.00
LycamobileUnlimitedUnlimitedUnlimited£25.00
Lebara MobileUnlimitedUnlimitedUnlimited£25.00
ASDA MobileUnlimitedUnlimitedUnlimited£25.00
Lebara MobileUnlimitedUnlimitedUnlimited£30.00
LycamobileUnlimitedUnlimitedUnlimited£30.00
ASDA MobileUnlimitedUnlimitedUnlimited£30.00
Lebara MobileUnlimitedUnlimitedUnlimited£30.00
ThreeUnlimitedUnlimitedUnlimited£35.00
VOXIUnlimitedUnlimitedUnlimited£35.00
giffgaffUnlimitedUnlimitedUnlimited£35.00
VodafoneUnlimitedUnlimitedUnlimited£40.00

All of these plans are available with no contract and no credit check. You’ll simply pay for your usage one month at a time and it’s also possible to cancel it whenever you like.

Coverage, Speed & Limitations

The following table shows a summary of key information about unlimited data plans on each Pay As You Go network:

Mobile Network Coverage Provider Speed Key Limits & Restrictions
giffgaff O2 4G
  • 650GB monthly fair usage
  • 12 devices tethering & hotspot
  • 80GB speed reduction (Always-On)
Lebara Mobile Vodafone 4G
Lycamobile O2 4G
  • No tethering & hotspot
  • 9GB speed reduction (Forever Data)
SMARTY Three 4G
Superdrug Mobile Three 4G
  • £20 back in points to spend at Superdrug
Three Three 5G
Vodafone Vodafone 5G
VOXI Vodafone 5G

Recommended Provider

At present, Superdrug Mobile is our recommended provider if you’re looking for an unlimited data SIM card with no contract:

Superdrug Mobile

  • Unlimited data with no contract. Just pay for one month at a time & cancel whenever you like.
  • £20 back in Superdrug Health and Beautycard points. This essentially makes the first month free.
  • 99% 4G coverage from Three. Check Superdrug Mobile coverage here.

If you’re looking for unlimited data without the need for a contract, Superdrug Mobile is currently the best value provider.

With 99% population coverage from Three’s 3G & 4G network, Superdrug currently charges £20/month for their unlimited data plan. This is the joint cheapest plan, along with SMARTY’s unlimited data plan, but you’ll also get £20 back in Superdrug points when you sign up for Superdrug Mobile.

The £20 of Superdrug Health and Beautycard points essentially makes your first month free as you’ll get the £20 back to spend at Superdrug. This can either be in a Superdrug store, or it can be spent online on the Superdrug website (with free delivery when you spend £10 or more).

There are no fair usage limits or speed restrictions on Superdrug’s unlimited data plan and you can also cancel it whenever you like.

Order Superdrug Unlimited Data SIM Card →

Pay As You Go Unlimited Data: By Mobile Network

In the following section, we’ll look at the unlimited data plans on each Pay As You Go mobile network in more detail.

giffgaff

On giffgaff, you can get unlimited data with coverage on the O2 network, with a choice of two unlimited data plans:

  • The £25 Always On goodybag gives you unlimited data with 4G speeds on the first 80GB per month. After that, download speeds will be restricted to 384kbps (around 0.4Mbps) between 8am and midnight each day.
  • The £35 golden goodybag gives you unlimited data, with access to 5G at no extra cost when it launches on giffgaff. There are no speed reductions on the £35 golden goodybag but there’s a fair usage limit of 650GB per month. In addition, it isn’t possible to tether your phone to more than 12 devices.

The following table shows giffgaff’s unlimited data plans, both of which are available with no contract:

TariffMinutesTextsDataMonthly
Cost
£25 GoodybagUnlimitedUnlimitedAlways-On£25.00
£35 Golden GoodybagUnlimitedUnlimitedUnlimited£35.00

If you’re travelling abroad to another European country, a 20GB data roaming limit applies on your unlimited data plan from giffgaff. Beyond this, you’ll be surcharged at a rate of 0.36p/MB for further data usage abroad.

Price Fair Use Tethering Network

£25/month
650GB/month
12 devices
4G coverage
(powered by O2)
The £25 Always-On goodybag has a speed reduction to 384kbps (0.4Mbps) after 80GB per month
20GB monthly data roaming limit applies in Europe

For more information, see our guide to unlimited data on giffgaff.

Lebara Mobile

In the UK, Lebara Mobile currently offers an unlimited data SIM card for £22.50/month. With 4G coverage from the Vodafone network, it also gives you unlimited UK minutes, unlimited UK texts and unlimited international minutes to 41 countries.

NetworkMinutesTextsDataMonthly
Cost
Lebara MobileUnlimitedUnlimitedUnlimited£22.50
Lebara MobileUnlimitedUnlimitedUnlimited£25.00
Lebara MobileUnlimitedUnlimitedUnlimited£27.00
Lebara MobileUnlimitedUnlimitedUnlimited£30.00

In addition, you can get £10 of free credit when you port in your existing phone number to Lebara Mobile. When abroad, up to 16.6GB of data can be used in Europe at no extra cost and up to 10GB of data can be used in India at no extra cost.

Price Fair Use Tethering Network

£22.50/month
Subject to general T&C
No restrictions
4G coverage
(powered by Vodafone)
Roaming data limit of 16.6GB per month in Europe and 10GB per month in India

For more information, see our guide to Lebara Mobile’s SIM-only deals.

Lycamobile

Lycamobile is a low-cost network, specialising in international phone calls. At present, they offer an unlimited data SIM card from £25 for 30 days of usage. This gives you unlimited UK minutes, unlimited UK texts and 99% 4G coverage from the O2 network. Customers ordering their Lycamobile bundle online will benefit from an introductory price of £19/month for the first 90 days.

As a cheaper alternative to fully unlimited data, there’s also a £20 Forever Data plan on Lycamobile. On this plan, 4G speeds are only available on the first 9GB per month. After the first 9GB per month, your download speeds are reduced to a maximum of 128kbps (around 0.1Mbps, which is roughly equivalent to the speed of a 2G connection).

On Lycamobile, the use of tethering and personal hotspot is not permitted.

Price Fair Use Tethering Network

£25/month
Subject to general T&C
Not permitted
4G coverage
(powered by O2)
The Forever Data plan has a speed reduction to 128kbps after the first 9GB per month.

For more information, you can read our Lycamobile review.

SMARTY

SMARTY Mobile is a low-cost sub-brand of Three, offering unlimited data with no contract for £16 per month. The SIM card gives you 4G coverage from the Three network, along with unlimited UK minutes and unlimited UK texts.

SMARTY says their unlimited data SIM card is also suitable for use in other devices including your tablet, mobile broadband dongle or 4G home broadband router.

NetworkMinutesTextsDataMonthly
Cost
SmartyUnlimitedUnlimitedUnlimited£16.00

On SMARTY’s unlimited data plan, a 20GB per month fair usage limit applies when you’re travelling abroad in Europe. Beyond this, a surcharge will be applied for further usage in Europe.

Price Fair Use Tethering Network

£16/month
No fair use limit
No restrictions
4G coverage
(powered by Three)
20GB per month data roaming limit applies in European countries.

For more information, see our SMARTY unlimited data review.

Superdrug Mobile

In our opinion, the best value unlimited data plan without a contract in the UK is currently Superdrug Mobile’s £20 unlimited data SIM card. This gives you unlimited minutes, unlimited texts and unlimited data with 4G coverage from the Three network.

Behind the scenes, Superdrug Mobile is built on the SMARTY platform so the two networks share a lot of similarities in how they operate. There are, however, two main benefits to choosing Superdrug Mobile over SMARTY:

  • You’ll get £20 back in Superdrug Health and Beautycard points when you sign up for your plan online. That essentially makes your first month free. You can spend the £20 on your next visit to a Superdrug store, or you can spend it online on the Superdrug website (a minimum order of £10 is required for free delivery).
  • You’ll also earn double Health and Beautycard points on all your shopping at Superdrug (this is equivalent to an extra 1% back on all of your shopping at Superdrug).
NetworkMinutesTextsDataMonthly
Cost
Superdrug MobileUnlimitedUnlimitedUnlimited£20.00

The following table shows the key things to know about Superdrug’s unlimited data plan:

Price Fair Use Tethering Network

£20/month
(with £20 back in points)
No commercial usage
No restrictions
4G coverage
(powered by Three)

For more information, see our Superdrug Mobile review.

Three

You can get an unlimited data SIM card with no contract on Three’s Pay As You Go service from £35/month. This gives you access to Three’s 5G network in 194 UK towns and cities, along with unlimited UK minutes and texts.

NetworkMinutesTextsDataMonthly
Cost
ThreeUnlimitedUnlimitedUnlimited£35.00

You should note that much cheaper unlimited data deals are available when you take a SIM-only plan on contract from Three. At present, Three offers unlimited data for just £16/month if you’re willing to sign up a contract. This is much cheaper than their unlimited data plan on Pay As You Go.

Price Fair Use Tethering Network

£35/month
No commercial usage
No restrictions
5G coverage
20GB per month data roaming limit applies in European countries.
12GB per month data roaming limit applies in Go Roam countries outside Europe.

For more information, see our guide to unlimited data on Three.

Vodafone

On Vodafone, it’s possible to get an unlimited data SIM card for £40/month on Pay As You Go, without the need to sign a contract or to undergo a credit check. You’ll also get access to Vodafone’s 5G network included in the price.

This plan is shown in the following table:

NetworkMinutesTextsDataMonthly
Cost
VodafoneUnlimitedUnlimitedUnlimited£40.00

Because of the incredibly high cost for unlimited data without a contract on Vodafone, we wouldn’t normally recommend this plan for most users. Instead, there are two alternatives that will give you much better value:

  • You can get VOXI’s £35 unlimited data SIM card instead. VOXI is a low-cost sub-brand of Vodafone, also offering unlimited data with 5G and no contract.
  • If you’re happy to sign up for a contract, Vodafone offers far better unlimited data plans on a Pay Monthly contract. For instance, you can get their unlimited SIM cards from £22/month on a contract (or from £25/month for Unlimited Max without any speed restrictions).
Price Fair Use Tethering Network

£40/month
Personal use only
No restrictions
5G coverage
25GB monthly fair usage limit in 51 Global Roaming destinations.

For more information, see our guide to Vodafone’s Pay As You Go bundles and Vodafone’s unlimited data plans.

VOXI

VOXI is a low-cost sub-brand of Vodafone, currently offering unlimited 5G data with no contract for £35/month.

VOXI’s unlimited data plan will give you access to Vodafone’s 5G network. This offers an average download speed of 150-200Mbps on 5G, with 5G coverage currently available in 100 UK towns and cities.

NetworkMinutesTextsDataMonthly
Cost
VOXIUnlimitedUnlimitedUnlimited£35.00

When using your mobile phone abroad in another European country, there’s a fair usage limit of 25GB per month on this plan.

Price Fair Use Tethering Network

£35/month
Personal use only
No restrictions
5G coverage
(powered by Vodafone)
25GB monthly fair usage limit in 51 European destinations.

For more information, you can read our in-depth VOXI review. Alternatively, if you’re looking for a lower-cost alternative to unlimited data, VOXI offers a range of plans with endless social media or endless video data.

More Information

For more information about a specific unlimited data deal, please see your mobile network’s official website. In addition, you may also find it useful to read our overview of all unlimited data plans in the UK and unlimited data plans with 5G.

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