Visible by Verizon vs Cricket Wireless

If you want the networks of Verizon and AT&T but at prepaid prices, then Visible by Verizon and Cricket Wireless are the subsidiaries for you. Both offer no-frills prepaid plans with simple and affordable price structures. They have a lot in common, but there are key differences. So in the Visible vs Cricket match-up, which is right for you?

We’ll compare Visible and Cricket based on metrics such as pricing, promotions, coverage, and more to help you choose the one that suits you best.

Visible vs Cricket — Pricing

The two carriers have fairly different plan structures. While Cricket has four tiers of plans with savings depending on how many lines you want, Visible has just two plans. That’s because Visible is particularly focused on simplicity for the consumer — it only had one plan until recently.

We’ll summarize the plans of each provider in the table below, then run you through some of the salient points.

Cricket Wireless

Contrary to Visible’s all-unlimited selection, Cricket has 5G and 10GB limited-data plans. At $30 per month, the 5G plan is usually the same price as Visible’s most affordable plan, although that’s not the case with the current discount that Visible is offering, and it’s a more restrictive data package, too.

While you can’t make the $30 per month plan cheaper by adding more lines of service, you can get a discount on extra lines across the other three Cricket plans. Not much use if you don’t have interested friends or family, but there are good savings to be had if you do. For instance, the Cricket Unlimited plan starts getting cheaper than the 10GB plan as you add more than three lines.

The higher up the Cricket Wireless price tiers you go, the more extras you get. So while the 5GB plan is pretty bare bones, the unlimited plan with hotspot also includes things like ad-supported HBO Max, as well as 150GB of cloud storage.

Some of these features that aren’t part of the base package with the more affordable plans can be purchased as add-ons. For example, free international text messages aren’t included with the 10GB plan, but you can pay a bit extra to have them included.

Visible by Verizon

Visible has two plans, both of which offer unlimited talk, text, data, and hotspot. There are some subtle restrictions on usage of course — the hotspot speed is slowed after 50GB per month at times of heavy traffic on the Visible Plus plan and without any monthly usage on the basic plan. But in general, it’s as good as it sounds.

The prices are also extremely attractive. Normally $30 and $45 for the basic and Plus plans, Visible currently has an offer that reduces those payments to $25 and $35 if you’re a new customer. Not only does this promotion make Visible temporarily the cheaper option, but you’re also getting unlimited data.

The extras you get on the Plus plan also include 5G Ultra Wideband (the basic plan has more limited 5G capability), unlimited roaming in Mexico and Canada, plus international call and text allowances. If you’re a bit of a traveler or have friends abroad, this might be worth what is only an extra $10 right now.

Visible vs Cricket — Coverage

Visible and Cricket both rely on the networks of their parent companies, Verizon and AT&T, respectively. This means their coverage is very good overall and should be comparable in most areas. However, it’s always a good idea to check the coverage map for your specific location.

The coverage of Cricket Wireless, which you can see on its coverage map here, indicates that 4G LTE coverage covers the vast majority of the US. 5G coverage is available in most major cities and is becoming more widespread, but it is not yet available in more rural areas. The dark green color indicates it on the map.

Verozon’s network, on which Visible runs, purports to hold awards for reliability both on its 5G and 4G LTE service. The Visible coverage map looks similar to Cricket’s in that it offers 4G LTE almost everywhere in the States and 5G in more densely populated areas. There are also pinpoints for cities where 5G Ultra Wideband is available.

Visible vs Cricket — Perks and promotions

Niche carriers offer cheaper rates compared to major carriers due to certain trade-offs. While both types of carriers offer unlimited data packages, The smaller carriers compromise on benefits such as substantial discounts on phones and extra services like streaming to keep prices low. However, both Cricket and Visible still offer some perks based on your specific plan.

Outside of directly phone-related additions such as hotspot data, the two significant perks available to Cricket Wireless customers are 150GB cloud storage and HBO Max. Both are only available on the highest-tier $60 plan, and the HBO Max subscription is the ad-supported version.

A promotion from Cricket allows for some budget-tier phones to be free of charge when you bring your number to the network and activate a particular plan — usually the $60 per month package.

While there are no limits on hotspot data usage, which is rare for a smaller carrier, Visible doesn’t have a huge amount to offer in terms of other perks. Until recently, you could get a free gift card with the purchase of new phones. This promotion appears to have ended for now.

That said, there is one Visible promotion that should massively appeal to you if you’re considering a plan with the carrier. You can get a free 15-day trial with Visible if you’re an iPhone user, with no requirement to order a SIM card or provide credit card details.

Visible vs Cricket — Phone selections

Smaller providers often don’t match up to larger carriers in terms of phone selection, and Cricket is certainly limited in its range. It has the top iPhones available, but the Samsung and Google flagships don’t feature.

Despite the omission of the flagships, Samsung devices make up a significant part of the Cricket Wireless phone selection. These range from budget and mid-range models such as the Galaxy A14 and Galaxy A53 to higher-end options such as the Galaxy S21 FE. Motorola and Apple phones also feature, as well as several of Cricket’s own-brand handsets, like the Cricket Ovation 2 and the Cricket Innovate E 5G.

Visible has a wider range of devices on offer, including the Galaxy S23 Ultra, the iPhone 14 Pro Max, and the Pixel 7 Pro. There’s no sign of OnePlus on either operator, but Visible, while more streamlined than Verizon, has many of the most popular handsets available.

Which carrier is right for you?

If you’re looking for affordable prepaid plans with good network coverage then both Visible and Cricket are great options. Your decision might be most shrewdly based on which carrier offers the very best coverage in your locality, which you can check on the respective coverage maps mentioned above.

Cricket has more noteworthy promotions, with free budget-tier phones available if you’re not too concerned about having the latest flagship. HBO Max is an excellent perk too, which Visible can’t really match.

But on other metrics, Visible really has the edge in this comparison. Most notably, the chance to get an unlimited data plan for as little as $25 per month not only blows Cricket out of the water, it’s pretty much unrivaled across all the available providers. Visible also has a much wider phone selection when it comes to the latest smartphones too.

If you’re not sure which is right for you, but you want a carrier of this type, you might want to consider MVNOs such as Google Fi, Metro by T-Mobile, and Mint Mobile.