What's the best Lifeline plan available and how much can you save?

The Lifeline assistance program began its life back in 1985 as a way to bring affordable phone service into more American homes. Today the program still can be applied to home phones but the birth of the internet and the rise of smartphones has extended the program’s scope a bit. These days Lifeline’s main focus is on providing internet access to Americans who would struggle to afford it otherwise.

The program provides a $9.25 monthly subsidy for broadband support, which can be applied to either a mobile phone plan or a traditional ISP plan. To qualify for Lifeline your household income must be at or below 135 percent of the federal poverty guidelines. You can also qualify with even less fuss if at least one person in your household participates in one of the following programs: Snap, Medicaid, SSI, FPHA, or Veterans Pension and Survivors Benefit. To apply for the program you’ll want to check out Lifeline’s official website.

There are many different companies that partner with Lifeline including all the main carriers, as well as several smaller prepaid options. Below we recommend just a few Lifeline-compatible phone plans that we feel represent the very best of what Lifeline has to offer.

The best free Lifeline plans

If you’re looking for a completely free option we recommend several, depending on what network you wish to get coverage through. Below we highlight some of the best free options.

Assurance is the best for those with reliable T-Mobile coverage, especially if you live in California

We highly recommend Assurance Wireless as long as you live in an area with reliable T-Mobile network coverage. There are two different plans available, though one is specific to California.

• Lifeline Free: You’ll get 3,000 minutes, 4.5GB of high-speed data, and a free phone.
• Lifeline Free California: This plan offers unlimited talk, text, and 6GB of data. You’ll also get a free phone.

In most cases, we recommend bringing your own phone, even if they provide free models. For one, the free phones tend to be less-than-well-known brands out of China and elsewhere. There have also been reports of spyware and other issues in some of these devices in the past. You can head to Assurance’s website for their IMEI tool to see if your existing phone will work with the provider. Be sure to check out our guide to the best unlocked phones for more options.

Safelink is a great Verizon-based choice

If you don’t have good coverage on T-Mobile’s network you could also consider the Verizon-owned Safeline instead. You’ll get the following with this plan:

• Unlimited talk and text 
• 10GB of high-speed data (LTE/5G)
• Up to 5B of hotspot data
• 3 months of free Amazon Prime 
• Discounted access to Prime after the trial is over 
• A free phone 

Just like with Assurance, we would recommend bringing your own device, if possible. 

StandUp Wireless utilizes the AT&T network

Looking for something that works on AT&T’s network? StandUp offers free data, talk, and text on Big Blue’s network.  You’ll need to bring your existing phone (or buy one unlocked) for this plan, but that’s the best option when it comes to free plans anyhow. As we mentioned before, these cheap phones tend to not be worth the price of free. 

The website doesn’t specify how much data you get, as it seems to vary regionally. Based on what I could find in the NoContract subbreddit, it seems that you typically get around 4.5GB of data, though typically hotspot access isn’t included. 

The paid Lifeline plans we recommend

Don’t mind paying extra for better service? All the above free plans have add-on tiers that are worth looking at if you want a prepaid option. Prefer the idea of postpaid service from the big carriers? You won’t get any free plans here, but the good news is AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile are all participants in the LifeLine program. Even better, there are no special plans or considerations you have to worry about.

All three major carriers will work with you to get you a Lifeline discount of $9.25. Of course that won’t make a huge dent in your costs, so in most cases we recommend one of the prepaid options above. You can always add additional data access. The exact costs will vary but will still be cheaper than anything you’d find from the big carriers directly. For example, Assurance Wireless offers a $10/year upgrade that gives you 7GB of data a month. Meanwhile, both StandUp and Safelink sell data package add-ons that vary in price though the charges are usually fairly low ($5 per gig is typical). 

Don’t mind paying more and really want postpaid service due to its free phone promotions and more? We recommend T-Mobile if you have strong network coverage, as it has plans as cheap as $25 per line for four. You can learn more in our T-Mobile plans guide. Curious about AT&T and Verizon? You’ll also want to check out our guides to the best AT&T plans and best Verizon plans.