Family mobile plans:
best UK networks to join in 2025
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Find out which UK mobile networks we rate best for discounts, data sharing and extra benefits if you join as a family or friend group. Last updated: 11th February 2025
Should you get a family mobile plan?
Save money and get everything under one roof
✔ Discounts and added benefitsSkip to best choices
If you’re looking to get everyone in your family onto the same network with one account and bill payer, there are now quite a few providers to choose from. But there are a few differences between them.
The best family plans let you manage multiple SIMs from one account and reward you with a discount for each number you add. Ideally, you’ll all be able to join on different plans too, so everyone gets what they need.
The only real disadvantage of family SIMs is they can be tricky to leave, once you’ve set them up. If you all have different contract end dates, you might find switching too much hassle and miss out on better deals.
In this guide, we take you through which UK mobile networks are doing family plans best, to help you decide if they are right for you.
Useful link: Compare each network
UK mobile networks with family plans
SMARTY offer the best discounts for groups or families
We think SMARTY are the best choice for families looking for out-and-out value. They’re a low-cost provider who piggyback off their owners Three (check coverage here). And they offer nice, simple discounts for groups:
You will get a 10% discount for every SIM you add. And you can up to 7 plans to one account. People can join at any time and on different data amounts. Plus,1-month plans mean everyone can leave as they please too.
If there’s a downside, we’d say it’s that you can’t just buy all SIMs at once. You have to buy them one-by-one and add to your group (here’s how). Also you don’t get a joint bill, each is charged from the date you sign up.
All in all though, SMARTY offer what a lot of people will be looking for in a family mobile plan: flexibility, discounts. Parents may also appreciate that SMARTY automatically block 18+ content.
Useful link: Read SMARTY's full guide to their Group plans
Talkmobile, Lebara, spusu and 1p are great value for families
Our next choices don’t actually give you a discount for joining as a family. But they do let you manage multiple SIM plans on one account. And their low prices mean you’ll get a cheaper overall deal than networks below.
On Vodafone’s network, you’ve got Talkmobile and Lebara. On EE’s network, you’ve got spusu and 1pMobile. These all let you buy multiple low-cost SIMs on one account.
You still get the benefits of having all your SIMs in one place so you can manage your bills, extra charges and you can take out all your plans at the same time. It’s a nice bit of added convenience.
And these providers also automatically block your kids from accessing 18+ content over data, but there aren’t any extra content limits. That’s worth thinking about when signing your kids up to a new plan.
Useful link: Our guide to the best networks for kids and teenagers
1pMobile also have a special unlimited data family plan
1pMobile have a new deal called their Unlimited Family Bundle, which gets you discounts on multiple unlimited data SIMs. If you’ve got teenagers who get through a lot of data, these are worth a look.
You start off with one full price unlimited data SIM. But you’ll get a 50% discount off every extra unlimited plan you add to that. Here’s their current unlimited data SIM:
The way the maths works is that with each SIM you add, the effective cost of each plan goes down. For example £25 + £12.50 + £12.50 makes each plan average out to £16.66. You can add up to 6 plans.
With high speed data and excellent coverage via EE, we think this is a very good deal from 1p. Though, we’d point out that if your family aren’t heavy data users, it’s pointless paying a premium for unlimited data.
Useful link: Read 1pMobile’s guide to their family plans
Vodafone, O2, EE and Three offer discounts on added plans
Next, we come to the UK’s main networks. On the face of it, these discounts for families are larger than the providers above. But you’ve got to remember it’s a discount off a more-expensive plan in the first place.
O2 and Three both offer 20% off the cost of their SIM only and the usage plan (mins, texts, data) on their phone contracts. But these discounts don’t apply to promotional deals on any of these networks.
Vodafone now offer exclusive deals for existing customers or a standard 15% discount. This can still save you a lot.
EE also have a new scheme where they discount extra plans on your account by a different amount for each plan (up to £12). And they let you gift data between users to help prevent them going over their allowance.
Honest Mobile aren’t a main network, but offer a similar benefit giving you their 30% loyalty discount 12-month contracts on up to 10 added SIMs right away. Usually you have to wait to get the full discount.
Useful link: Read more about O2’s multisave discount
Sky Mobile and Tesco Mobile have some nice family benefits
Sky Mobile and Tesco Mobile offer some nice benefits for signing up multiple plans on your account, but no big discounts like most of the providers above. But both are cheaper than the main networks to begin with.
Tesco offer Family Perks for adding multiple plans to your account. These are nice little benefits such as extra Clubcard points or a small discount. Each user can choose their own plan and which benefit they get.
On the other hand, Sky don’t offer any discounts. But you can share the data banked up in your “Piggybank” (read about this scheme here) with other users to prevent them going over their data allowance.
Between the two, only Tesco Mobile let you set stricter content limits for what your kids can access over data. But either way, either network can still be a decent option for setting up a family plan.
Useful links: Read more about Sky’s Piggybank benefit
Talk Home let you have multiple plans but with no benefits
Talk Home Mobile are the only provider that let you add multiple SIMs to your account without offering any discounts or benefits for doing so. Still, this makes it easier to manage everything.
They offer low costs on their 12-month contracts and 1-month plans, so it’s not that important for them to have discounts on top of that. But, again, there’s no data gifting or anything like that.
You also have to take each plan individually, rather than being able to sign them up together. And each plan will have its own billing date depending on when you took it out, so it’s not the most convenient scheme.
And while 18+ content is blocked, there are no extra parental controls. Still, lots of other budget networks don’t let you sign up multiple plans to one account at all. It’s a nice added convenience on Talk Home.
Useful link: Read Talk Home Mobile’s guide to signing up multiple plans
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