The Best Phone Plans in Switzerland in 2024
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Everybody wants to pay as little as possible for their phone bills. Even though you may think your current phone plan is the cheapest available, there could be new deals since you started using your plan. It is always essential to keep up to date with the latest offers.
The Swiss Phone plan market is quite diverse these days. Fifteen years ago, it was only Swisscom, and everybody was content with it. Now, many other providers are using one of the three major networks.
In this article, I compare the phone plans and prepaid cards for seven standard phone usages. For each of them, I will show the cheapest options available. Keep reading if you want to save money on your phone bill!
These options are up-to-date as of December 2021!
Prepaid vs Plan
You have two options to pay for your phone bills:
- A proper plan where you pay month after month based on what you used.
- A prepaid card where you have to charge your card in advance.
Most people prefer to use a plan because it is much easier. Having a plan means you will always be able to use your phone. On the contrary, if you use a prepaid card and forget to charge your card, you may not use your phone.
Using a prepaid card is a bit more work. But it may be cheaper. Over the years, I have used both systems, and they both work fine. There are some great prepaid and some great plans.
Which mobile phone network?
In Switzerland, there are three large mobile networks:
- Swisscom
- Salt
- Sunrise
They are all operating their own devices and antennas. Each prepaid or plan is working on some specific network.
In the beginning, the Swisscom network was by far the best in Switzerland. Today, Sunrise and Swisscom are probably in a draw. However, it is challenging to find an unbiased comparison of these networks today. Most of the comparisons available are made by network providers and, as such, are biased.
These days, non-Swisscom networks have become much better. For most people, any network should work just fine. If you live in a remote area, you may want to ask people around you to see if they have any coverage issues. But in a city, you should not have a major difference.
Your Phone Usage
Now, no single plan or prepaid card is the cheapest for each possible case. You need to know your usage of your phone:
- How many SMS and MMS per month?
- How many calls per month?
- The length of these calls in minutes?
- How many MB of data per month?
If you do not know this, you can look at your last three phone bills and average your usage. This average should be enough to give you an idea of how much you need on average. Generally, you should round minutes higher. A 1 minute and 30 seconds call should be counted as two minutes. This rounding is how operators count for the price.
For each of the cases, I will list the main cheapest options. For comparison, I will exclude youth and special offers from the pack. If the same provider has several options in the top three, I will generally take the best one. It would not make sense to take the other one anyway. Finally, I will compare the monthly price of the offers. I do not include activation fees since we talk about long-term usage here.
My Phone Usage
I checked my phone bills for the last four months, and I came up with this average usage:
- 2 SMS per month
- 0 MMS per month
- 5 calls per month with about 25 minutes in total
- 300 MB per month of mobile data
I am not a very common user. Indeed, most people use their phones a lot more than I do. For instance, most people use several gigabytes (GB) of data every month. I do not like using my phone.
Since I work at home most days, I usually have very good Wi-Fi. So, I rarely need to use the internet on the mobile network.
User 1: Mr. The Poor Swiss
We start with my case: 2 SMS per month, 5 calls per month, about 5 minutes per call, and 300 MB of mobile data.
Here are the cheapest options:
- Mucho Duo Nano (prepaid, Swisscom network): 4.90 CHF per month
- yallo (prepaid, Sunrise network): 6.25 CHF
- Coop Mobile Prepaid (prepaid, Swisscom network): 7.40 CHF
- Talk Talk (plan, Sunrise network): 7.55 CHF
- Lidl Connect Smart Prepaid (prepaid, Salt network): 8.20 CHF per month
For me, the best offer would be the Mucho Duo Nano. At only 4.90 CHF per month, it is very cheap.
As you can see, there are options at less than 5 CHF per month for my usage. It is really impressive. A lot of people spend much more than that. I used to spend more than four times that.
For very light phone users, prepaid plans are shining.
I currently do not have the best offer since I have the Coop Mobile Prepaid and not the Mucho offer. However, I will not change it because there is a significant advantage to Coop Mobile Prepaid. Indeed, the packs have no duration. So, if you buy a pack of 1GB of data, you can use it for a long time. So, if you use less data for one month, you can save data in the next month. Most packs have a 30-day duration. This advantage makes the Coop Mobile Prepaid offer excellent.
However, I could probably save money by switching to Mucho. But it is not worth the trouble to save 2.50 CHF per month.
Since most people use their phones much more than me, we should look at more realistic profiles.
User 2: Light Phone User
But most people use their phones more than me. Here is what happens with a more realistic small user:
- 50 SMS per month
- 60 minutes per month (12 times 5 minutes calls)
- 1 GB of data
I think this is pretty much a basic user in Switzerland.
Here are the cheapest options for this light phone user:
- Much Duo Micro (Prepaid, Swisscom network): 9.90 CHF per month
- Yallo (Prepaid, Sunrise network): 10 CHF per month
- GoMo (Plan, Salt network): 12.95 CHF per month
- Galaxus Mobile Basic (Plan, Surinse network): 14 CHF per month
- Aldi Suisse Mobile Smart S (Prepaid, Sunrise network): 14.90 CHF per month
Once again, the best option is from Mucho. But there are some attractive options here. And some of these options have much more monthly data than others. It is also interesting to note that plans are becoming more interesting there.
User 3: Medium User
Our third user is taking it up a notch:
- 100 SMS per month
- 240 minutes of calls (24 times 10 minutes of calls)
- 2 GB of data
Here are the three best options for this medium phone user:
- GoMo (Plan, Salt network): 12.95 CHF per month
- Galaxus Mobile Basic (Plan, Sunrise network): 14 CHF per month
- Aldi Suisse Mobile Smart S (Prepaid, Sunrise network): 14.90 CHF per month
- DasAbo (Plan, Salt network): 14.95 CHF per month
- Teleboy Eco (Plan, Sunrise Network): 15 CHF per month
This time, GoMo is stealing the first place.
User 4: Heavy Data user
Our user 4 uses the same as user 3, but with more data:
- 100 SMS per month
- 240 minutes of calls (24 times 10 minutes of calls)
- 5 GB of data
Here are the options for this heavy data user:
- GoMo (Plan, Salt network): 12.95 CHF per month
- Teleboy Eco (Plan, Sunrise Network): 15 CHF per month
- Mucho Duo Mini (prepaid, Swisscom network): 17.90 CHF per month
- Galaxus Mobile Unlimited (Plan, Sunrise network): 19 CHF per month
- Aldi Suisse Mobile Basic (Plan, Sunrise network): 19.90 CHF per month
Once again, GoMo is the cheapest plan. It makes sense since it costs less than 13 CHF per month and allows up to 100 GB.
User 5: Heavier Data only user
User 5 only uses mobile data, no calls, and no SMS. This usage is not uncommon since you can easily use internet apps for calls and messages. Our user 5 uses 10 GB of data per month. Such a user will want at least 100Mbps in speed as well.
Here are the three cheapest options for this heavier data user:
- GoMo (Plan, Salt network): 12.95 CHF per month
- yallo Swype Surf (plan, Sunrise network): 15 CHF per month
- Galaxus Mobile Unlimited (Plan, Sunrise network): 19 CHF per month
- Lidl Connect Abo (Plan, Sunrise network): 19.95 CHF per month
- Sunrise We Connect Surf (Plan, Sunrise network): 20 CHF per month
For such a user, it becomes essential to check the plan’s speed. If you use the internet often and watch videos, you will want between 50Mbps and 100Mbps speed.
The Gomo plan remains great for this kind of user at 150Mbps.
User 6: Unlimited Data only user
Now, some people need even more data. Our user 5 needs 500 GB per month on its phone. Granted, this is not unlimited. But who uses more than that per month on the phone? And this user wants 200Mbps in speed.
So, here are some good options for this unlimited data user:
- Galaxus Mobile Unlimited (Plan, Sunrise network): 19 CHF per month
- Lidl Connect Smart Abo Unlimited (Plan, Salt network): 24.95 CHF per month
- Swype + Speed (Plan, Sunrise network): 24 CHF per month
- Wingo Swiss 5G (Plan, Swisscom network): 27.95 CHF per month
At this speed and unlimited, options are becoming more expensive. But less than 20 CHF per month on that user is a great choice. The Galaxus plan is great if you need more than 100GB from GoMo.
User 7: Frequent User Roaming
Roaming is costly in Switzerland. You have to be careful about that. Unfortunately, I do not know of a very good comparator for Roaming. Moreover, the roaming rates are different for every country. So, it is challenging to compare different plans without having an exact situation.
When I travel to other countries, my strategy is straightforward: I let my phone be in airplane mode the whole time. If I find a Wi-Fi, I will use it, but otherwise, I will not allow myself to use any data. I think that most people can disconnect from their phones. It could do them some good.
For this comparison, I used the Frequent User profile from moneyland (later on) with France as a destination. For Switzerland, this user has the same national usage as user 3. The Frequent Profile is as follows:
- 38 calls from Switzerland while abroad
- 1.4 GB of mobile data while abroad
- 38 calls to Switzerland while abroad, 2.5 minutes per call
- 38 calls to France, while in France, 2.5 minutes per call
I think it is already pretty heavy usage of Roaming. Here are the three cheapest options for this usage:
- GoMo (Plan, Salt network): 241.68 per year
- Aldi Suisse Mobile (prepaid, Sunrise network): 263.20 CHF per year
- Yallo Swype Swiss (Plan, Sunrise network): 282 CHF per year
We can see that this makes it significantly more expensive than User 3.
Again, the GoMo plan seems very interesting overall.
Of course, the best course of action is not to use Roaming!
Best Overall Plan: GoMo
The cheapest plan I could find for this comparison was the GoMo plan. This plan allows for up to 100 GB per month of data. This is sufficient for the immense majority of people.
Its price is very fair, and even roaming is quite fair
It is important to note that there is no hotline or in-person assistance with GoMo. All the service is done online through chat.
Best prepaid for light users: Coop Mobile
For very light phone users like me, a prepaid plan is likely the best option. My favorite prepaid offer is the Coop Mobile Prepaid. The base prices are fair:
- 0.29 CHF per minute on call
- 0.15 CHF per SMS
But the great thing about this offer is the packages Coop Mobile Prepaid has!
- The 15 Cents offer that gives 100 units of calls and SMS (1 SMS = 1 unit and 1 minute of call = 1 unit) at 15 CHF
- Surf 250: 250MB at 4.90 CHF
- Surf 750: 750MB at 9.90 CHF
- Surf 1500: 1500MB at 14.90 CHF
The best thing about these offers is that they do not have an expiration date. So, you can buy a pack and use it for a year. So, this is the best prepaid offer for light users like me.
I currently have the Coop Mobile Prepaid offer, and I am pleased with it. Since I started using it, I have used an average of 5 CHF monthly!
If you are using your phone more than me (very likely), you should look at the prepaid offers from Mucho and Aldi.
Having a cheap phone plan is one of the ways I use to save a lot of money in Switzerland. But there are others!
Grouping may be advantageous
Some of these providers offer advantages if you group accounts together.
For instance, Galaxus Mobile offers a reduction for its Family And Friends plan. For each person in the group, each person will get a 1 CHF reduction per month, up to 4 CHF reduction. So, if you are a group of five, you will each get a plan at 15 CHF per month. This can make Galaxus Mobile one of the best unlimited plans.
So, if you know you can group people together, you may want to look for group offers.
Mobile Plans Comparators
There are plenty of comparators in Switzerland for mobile prepaid and plans. However, many of them are limited.
For this article, I have used two comparators, moneyland and dschungelkompass.
The first one is the mobile comparator from moneyland. You can configure all the numbers precisely, and the results are detailed. The problem is that they consider many offers only valid for some time. And the way they compare it is by using the activation costs and one-time costs. I much prefer to see the long-term costs. However, they do not always offer the cheapest option available.
The second is the comparator from dschungelkompass. Unfortunately, it is only available in German. But it offers several plans and prepaid that moneyland does not consider, like GoMo, our best plans.
So, if you want to find the best plan for your profile, you will likely to need use
If you want something simpler and more user-friendly, you can use the mobile comparator from besteabos. They do not have prepaid cards, but they have an excellent offer on mobile plans and present the information in a great way with a lot of information on how to choose. But they do not always advertise the cheapest plan.
Conclusion
I have to say that I am surprised by the comparison results. Over the last decade, phone plans and prepaid offers have become more affordable.
When I was young, I remember that a good Swisscom plan cost 69 CHF per month, and it was not considered that bad. Fortunately, we have many more options now.
We can see that there is a lot of competition in this field. There are many actors. And even German discounters, Lidl and Aldi, offer excellent mobile plans. And Mucho has extremely cheap prepaid offers, while GoMo offers very cheap plans.
If you have never considered prepaid, I strongly encourage you to do so now. There are many great options, and they can be much cheaper than phone plans.
And you should not forget to rethink your plans every few years. For instance, the GoMo was not in the first version of this article. But it is now an excellent plan. But you should not change yearly since you would then pay heavy activation fees.
If you are in the best value for money, you may also be interested in the best internet plans in Switzerland.
What about you? Which phone plan or prepaid card do you use?
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For the heavy data-only user, you might want to take a look at Digital Republic. They provide unlimited data, which when paired with another SIM with a decent prepaid plan for call +text would make a superb combo. Most Android phones have dual SIM capability these days so you most likely won’t need to shell out money to get a new phone
Hi Gokul,
Yes, that’s a good idea. Digital Republic was also mentioned by Kevin and it looks really interesting if you do not need very high speed.
Thanks for stopping by!
I’m pretty happy about Digitec Connect, since I have 5 Friends included in my plan which means we all pay 25 CHF for everything flat (no throttling) and unlimited data usage.
Hi Sven,
That’s a good point!
Yes, the Digitec Connect offer is really good if you can get enough people to join you. This is why I did not include it in the article since without 5 people on the plan, it is not that good (good, but not as good as others). But with 5 people, it really shines!
Thanks for stopping by!
Mostly nowadays I personally only require data packages here in Switzerland or when I am abroad.
My options that I am using with my Dual SIM phone is DIGITAL REPUBLIC + Prepaid Swisscom where I basically would pay 10 CHF for unlimited mobile data per month.
When I am mainly travelling or even in Switzerland another option for Dual SIM phones is also Qynamic. There are some very interesting data packages that can be bought which are 90 DAYS valid. For example if you travel to multiple countries you can buy a 1GB Global data package for 15 CHF (90 days valid too) – Global excludes some countries as there is another Global+ offering.
As of for calling I am using Skype with the data packages.
Hi Kevin,
It’s a great idea to use a Dual SIM for this. I should consider this now that my new phone has this feature.
I did not even know about Digital Republic and they did not pop up in any of my comparisons. 10 CHF per month for unlimited data at this speed is really good! It seems I will have to update my article again ;)
Thanks for sharing your tips!
Nice post!
Some time back I did a Spreadsheet with all the network providers at the time and which network they were using:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1G3cftwUDgnTtnFVODWmIJFKF0iWvGAzyIQsm-kj0bL0/
I had better results with Swisscom Network based providers, but others might have better experiences with others.
Cheers
Fernando
Hi Fernando,
Thanks for sharing your spreadsheet, this is quite interesting. I actually did not know some of these providers.
Das Abo still did not fix its SSL certificate, looks really bad. Even I have a valid SSL Certificate…
Thanks for stopping by!
I pay CHF 28 per month with yallo and have unlimited Data. I use the hot-spot of my phone as I tetnet at home so I don’t pay for home internet.
In addition, my plan includes unlimited calls in Switzerland, 1gb of EU internet and 100 minutes of roaming.
I thinks that’s a deal.
Hi Kp,
Yes, that’s a definitely a good deal! Well done!
I paid about 10 CHF per month on my phone, less these days because I stay at home with Wifi.
But I have a Swisscom internet connection on top of that. So it’s about three times more expensive than you!
Thanks for sharing!
Oh, I just saw I butchered my comment above pretty badly.
On top of all the typos, I also wanted to say that I don’t pay for regular TV channels (who does these days anyways).
First thing I did when I moved in to my new place a couple of years ago is I’ve completely blocked the cable socket at home and all I pay for is Netflix but considering it’s lackluster shows, I might just go back to pure basics (YouTube) as I was doing it for the past 15 years.
TV is plague. Instead I upkeep a monthly subscription for Audible.
Hi KP,
That’s a good point about the TV. I also stopped paying for TV a long time ago. I still download TV shows. That way I do not have to watch ads and I can watch whenever I want them.
Thanks for stopping by!
I used to pay 29 CHF per month for unlimited data with Yallo in Switzerland. I only need data here and I have a cheap Spanish pay-as-you-go plan (base of 0€/month) for the EU when I go out.
After a few months, they offered me to change to 17 CHF per month with 5GB and unlimited calls/SMS in CH. So I can be a “heavy data user” for the price of a “light user”. They regularly make those offers to current customers.
Hi Vic,
Wow, that’s a very nice offer indeed. It seems that Yallo has some good plan. The Slim Plus for instance is pretty good for 25 CHF per month.
You never had issues with coverage on the Sunrise network?
Thanks for stopping by!
I would also agree with those who say that it may be a good idea to have a sim from another european provider. In Spain, Vodafone offers “traveler” prepaid sim card plans for 10-20 Euros per month. They are not unlimited data but have plenty of data (10-25GB depending on plan) and 150min free calls per month and also free SMS. It includes roaming in Switzerland as well as many other countries including USA. It is possible for non EU residents to get these plans, as they are aimed at visitors anyway. As with any prepaid sim, you need to remember to pay every month, but they do text you to remind you.
When I moved from USA to Switzerland, I transferred my US phone number to Google voice (one time fee of $20), then you can use the US number over data (or wifi) for calling USA for free. Then I got Vodafone prepaid for basically unlimited data, and a spanish number I can use to call Swiss numbers for free, and receive calls for free (up to 150 min/month).
Finally if you need a Swiss number for local things (some things, like registering on Ricardo, require Swiss number), you can get a prepaid Swisscom sim card: 20 CHF prepaid lasts forever if you use it once per year, and the money is there till you use it for calls/texts/data. So I use this is my second sim card slot but I basically never use it for data or calls, just as emergency for Swiss things.
Hi Kevin,
Thanks a lot for sharing your experience.
The offer from Vodafone looks really impressive. It is so much better than in Switzerland. I still can’t believe that they are so bad here.
We may need a European number for Mrs. The Poor Swiss. I am really thinking about taking one from Europe and not one from Switzerland.
I do not think I will get one for myself unless I get a dual-SIM phone once my current phone dies. I really do not want to go to the trouble of changing my phone number.
Thanks for stopping by!
I agree, changing phone number is a pain. This is why I was very pleased to be able to keep my old US number with the Google application, and it works over data. Technically they expect you still to use a phone with a number from a US carrier, I think, but it does not seem to matter as long as you have a phone with a valid carrier.
Too bad, as far as I know a similar service does not yet exist for other countries. Maybe eventually Google or someone will also allow other countries to switch their phone to an internet phone number that does not require plans!
Hi Kevin,
I actually did not know this service before you mentioned it. It does look really interesting.
Often times, Google services are expanded to Europe after some time. But it can take many years.
Hopefully, we won’t have to wait too long!
Thanks for stopping by!
There is a French mobile provider called Free mobile. Although I moved from France to Switzerland, I continue to pay 19EUR/month for 100GB data (98% of it going to waste!) and unlimited texts/calls within the EU. Regarding roaming, there are 65 countries in this plan (including Switzerland) where 25GB data is included. Examples of places I have travelled where I paid no roaming fees for the 25GB data (again, mostly unused) include the US, Jordan, India, Serbia and they seem to continue to expand this list. I think it’s a great option for Swiss people who travel a lot! However, it might be excessive and not worth it for others.
Hi Ellie,
Wow, this offer seems insanely better than Swiss offers.
Do you know if it’s actually possible to get such a plan for Swiss residents?
I am not sure they are going to take foreigners.
Thanks for sharing!
I received the sim card from an automated machine when I first moved to Paris from the US and did not have a french bank account or proof of residency at the time, so I think anyone -even tourists- can get this offer. I’ll get back to you if I see that things have changed.
Thanks for the information. This is very interesting! I will definitely check this out the next time I am in France!
I think you haven’t included Lycamobile in your comparison. I pay 20 francs for 8000 minutes of calls, 6000 messages, 10 GB data and 100 MB roaming data. It is perfect for the internet heavy users with occasional calling requirements. The plan is called Hellos Swiss M Online
Hi Anil,
That seems very interesting! I didn’t know about Lycamobile. There are too many options in Switzerland, I only included the ones that were on moneyland.
The Hello Swiss M bundle seems to be 39CHF now. But the Hello Swiss S seems really interesting!
How is the service?
Thanks for sharing!
I also have Lycamobile Hello Swiss M, and It works well. Just the website and app are poor and a bit messy but calls and 4G are fine. It’s 19 CHF if paid online, no contract (monthly recharge). I have unlimited calls to all Europe, in Roaming too, and 1 GB data Roaming. Only data roaming is actually not working for me, but the problem seems to be my mobile phone (Xiaomi). My wife has an iPhone and has no issues at all!
HI Sekler,
Thanks a lot for sharing your experience :)
I’ll definitely try to include this once I update this post. Lycamobile seems very interesting indeed!
Thanks for stopping by!
Hi, agreed on Lycamobile…I also have de Swiss M which costs 19 CHF when paid online and work just fine for me !
Apart from that, thanks for your top articles!
Cheers from Basel
The clever way is to get a phone plan from a European Provider. Lots of them work perfectly well in Switzerland, allow for free calls to Swiss numbers, free data and once abroad you will be the only Swiss enjoying the EU wide free roaming while your Swiss friends shell out small fortunes to top up their already expensive CH plans to pay for a roaming that only exists because Swisscom&Co are not forwarding the EU wide free roaming as they are not required to do so by law like their EU counterparts. So if you do have the opportunity to get a EU plan, do it!
Hi Bradley,
That’s a very good idea!
I didn’t know they were accepting Swiss clients. Do you know if all of them are accepting Swiss customers?
Yes, it’s pretty sad that big mobile companies are lobbying against free roaming. I really wish they stopped that and simply follow the trend. It’s so incredibly expensive currently.
Thanks a lot for the suggestion!
According to my knowledge the EU providers do not accept Swiss customers. You need to have EU ID/address/whatever otherwise you count like a migrant from Syria. But that is not that bad as you think since then you can receive an anonymus kind of credit card topping up monthly by the EU community.
https://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/immigrants-prepaid-credit-cards-social-security-1282.php
And if you want and manage to have prepaid phone from EU country you will need to proof your identity regularly because it expires after a while. So you can buy a sim at a petrolstation and start using it instantly but it will expire if you are not good enough in managing such things.
Hi baseldon,
I did not know such a thing even existed. If the reason is just to rip off the migrants with fees, that’s pretty sad…
I would also have guessed that they need proof of residency in the EU.
I’d rather keep to my Swiss plan for now. This seems a bit edgy.
Thanks for stopping by!