Short answer: for most young working adults in Singapore in 2026, the best SIM-only mobile plan is a no-contract one between S$10 and S$13 a month, and which is best depends mainly on the network you want to ride and how much you roam. GOMO runs on Singtel, Circles.Life on M1, giga on StarHub, and SIMBA on its own. At the time of writing, GOMO's $12 4G plan is about S$12 a month for 200GB plus roaming, Circles.Life's 4G Core is about S$10.80 for 350GB, giga's 100GB 4G plan is about S$10.19, and SIMBA's cheapest SuperRoam plan sits around S$10 with a large 5G data pool and bundled regional roaming. The catch nobody tells you: the headline data allowances are mostly marketing. The typical Singaporean uses far less than 50GB a month because Wi-Fi covers home and office, so the real question is not who gives the most gigabytes but who gives you what you actually use for the least. This guide has the prices, the network behind each brand, and a framework that outlasts this month's promo.
SIM-only plans in Singapore changed the maths a few years ago. There is no longer a good reason for most people to sign a two-year contract or bundle a phone into a telco plan, because no-contract SIM-only plans give you more data for less and let you leave any time. The decision is now small: pick a network, pick a data tier that matches your real usage, and switch when a better deal appears.
Prices below are accurate as of mid-2026 and move with promotions almost monthly, so treat them as the current shape of the market and confirm the live figure on each telco's own page before you sign up. The brand names matter less than two things: which mobile network the plan rides, and whether the data and roaming match how you live.
This is the single most useful thing to understand, and the competitor guides bury it. The cheap brands you see advertised are mostly sub-brands or virtual operators that run on one of the four physical networks. The brand is the billing and the app; the network is the signal in your hand.
Singapore has four facilities-based mobile networks: Singtel, StarHub, M1 and SIMBA (formerly TPG). Everything else rides on one of these. So if Singtel gives you the best reception where you live and work, GOMO is the cheap way onto that exact network; if your office basement only gets M1, Circles.Life puts you on M1 for less than M1's own plans. Coverage between the three incumbents is broadly similar across the island but differs in specific buildings, MRT stretches and your home, so the honest test is which SIM works for friends in your area.
One thing to keep an eye on: SIMBA agreed in 2025 to acquire M1, a deal still under review by the regulator IMDA at the time of writing, so the long-term network map for SIMBA and M1 customers could shift once any merger completes. For now SIMBA still runs its own separate network and Circles.Life still rides M1.
SIMBA is the newest network and tends to be the price leader because it is fighting for share, but its coverage is the youngest of the four. For most people in built-up areas that is fine; if you spend time in fringe or indoor dead zones, the incumbents have a head start. Pick by network first, then by the cheapest brand on that network.
| Brand | Type | Rides on network |
|---|---|---|
| GOMO | Singtel sub-brand | Singtel |
| Circles.Life | MVNO | M1 |
| giga | StarHub sub-brand | StarHub |
| SIMBA | Own network (MNO, formerly TPG) | SIMBA |
| MyRepublic Mobile | MVNO (StarHub-owned) | M1 |
| Singtel hi! / M1 / StarHub direct | Network operator's own SIM-only | Their own network |
Here is the head-to-head on the plans most people will actually choose, at mid-2026 pricing. All are no-contract, billed every 30 days or monthly, and all let you keep your number. The numbers shift with promos, so the ranking matters more than the exact decimal: at this tier the four are within a couple of dollars of each other, and the deciding factor is network and roaming, not price.
GOMO's $12 4G plan is around S$12 a month for 200GB local data plus bundled roaming (about 4GB across Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan and Australia, with a Malaysia bonus on top), 300 outgoing minutes and 300 SMS, on Singtel's network. Circles.Life's 4G Core is around S$10.80 for 350GB local plus 1GB roaming with unlimited local calls, on M1. giga's 100GB 4G plan is around S$10.19 for 100GB local plus around 2GB Asia roaming, 300 minutes and 300 SMS, on StarHub, with unused data rolling over for up to two cycles. SIMBA's cheapest SuperRoam tier is around S$10 for a large 5G data pool (about 400GB per its own plan summary, shared across Singapore and a few regional countries) with bundled APAC roaming, unlimited local calls and IDD minutes, on its own network. SIMBA publishes the exact allowance in its Critical Information Summary, and the figures move with promotions, so confirm the live spec before signing up.
Notice that the gigabyte counts range from about 100GB to 400GB-plus while the price barely moves. That tells you the data number is a marketing lever, not a real cost driver, because almost nobody exhausts even 100GB. Choose on network reliability and roaming fit, then take whichever of those is cheapest this month. If you want a structured way to compare a recurring cost against alternatives, the personal budget calculator shows what a few dollars a month is really worth over a year.
| Plan | Network | Approx. price/mo | Local data | Roaming | Calls / SMS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Circles.Life 4G Core | M1 | S$10.80 | 350GB | 1GB | Unlimited calls |
| SIMBA SuperRoam 10 | SIMBA | S$10 | ~400GB (5G, regional share) | 12GB APAC + 3GB worldwide | Unlimited calls + 500 IDD min |
| giga 100GB 4G | StarHub | S$10.19 | 100GB + rollover | ~2GB Asia | 300 min / 300 SMS |
| GOMO $12 4G | Singtel | S$12 | 200GB | ~4GB + Malaysia bonus | 300 min / 300 SMS |
The biggest money mistake in mobile plans is buying data you never use. Telcos advertise 200GB, 500GB and 1TB because a big number sells, but your phone spends most of the day on Wi-Fi at home, at work and in cafes. Mobile data only counts when you are out and about without Wi-Fi.
Check your real number before you choose anything. On iPhone go to Settings > Mobile Service; on Android go to Settings > Network and internet > Data usage. Most young adults in Singapore land between 15GB and 50GB a month. If you use 25GB, a 100GB plan has four times the headroom you need, and a 500GB or 1TB plan is pure waste. The smallest tier that comfortably covers your real usage is the cheapest sensible choice, and at S$10 to S$12 the entry tiers already bury most people's usage.
The same logic that stops you overpaying for creeping monthly costs applies here: a recurring bill is the most dangerous spending because it renews silently. Five dollars a month saved is S$60 a year, every year, for doing nothing. Review the plan, not just the phone.
5G plans cost more, usually starting around S$18 a month with GOMO and Circles.Life and rising toward S$28 for giga's 1TB tier. The marketing pushes 5G hard, but for most people on a 4G plan the difference is invisible in daily use. 4G in Singapore already streams video, runs video calls and loads everything you do on a phone without lag.
5G earns its premium in two cases. First, if you regularly tether your laptop and push real volume, where the speed and headroom help. Second, if you have no home or office Wi-Fi and your phone is your only internet, where both the speed and the larger 5G data tiers matter. If neither is you, a 4G plan at S$10 to S$12 does the same job for less, and the gap goes straight into your pocket.
If you do go 5G, the same network logic holds: GOMO 5G rides Singtel, Circles.Life 5G rides M1, giga 5G rides StarHub. Pay for the network you trust, not the brand with the loudest ad.
If there is one reason to pay slightly more or pick a specific brand, it is roaming, because buying roaming separately or relying on a travel eSIM each trip can cost more than the difference between plans. This is where the four brands genuinely split.
SIMBA's SuperRoam tiers are built around large regional roaming pools shared across Singapore and several nearby countries, plus dedicated APAC roaming (12GB even on the cheapest SuperRoam 10 tier) and 3GB of worldwide roaming across more than 60 destinations, which suits frequent Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Hong Kong travellers. GOMO bundles several GB of Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan and Australia roaming into its S$12 4G plan, generous for the price. Circles.Life and giga include smaller amounts (around 1GB to 2GB) that cover a short trip but not a heavy traveller. If you cross the Causeway often, a plan with bundled Malaysia roaming can beat buying day passes, and our Johor Bahru budget guide covers the wider cost of regular JB trips.
Match the roaming to your travel pattern. An occasional traveller should just buy a cheap travel eSIM per trip. A monthly regional commuter saves real money on a plan that bundles roaming. Do not pay for roaming you will not use, and do not under-buy if you are across the border every other weekend.
Picking by network only helps if you know how the four networks rank, and the competitor guides either skip this or wave at it. The honest answer comes from independent drive-and-app testing, not telco marketing. Opensignal's December 2025 Singapore report, built on real users' phones rather than a lab, is the cleanest read on who is genuinely faster.
Singtel took the Best Network in Singapore title in that report, winning ten awards including 5G Coverage Experience at 9.3 out of 10, with M1 and StarHub tied behind on 8.7. StarHub posted the fastest overall download speed at about 156Mbps, a few percent ahead of Singtel. For pure 5G download speed the order flips: M1 led at roughly 350Mbps, edging Singtel and StarHub. SIMBA, the youngest network, sat last across the speed and coverage metrics. None of this is bad news for a daily phone user, because every one of these speeds streams, calls and loads apps without a hitch; it only starts to matter if you tether heavy files or live in a marginal-signal spot.
Read the table as a tie-breaker, not a verdict. The differences are small enough that the deciding factor for most people stays the same: whichever network gives you a solid bar where you live, work and commute. If two networks are equal for you, this ranking tips the choice, and it points the same way as the brand maths above. Singtel coverage through GOMO, M1 speed through Circles.Life, StarHub through giga.
| Network | Overall download | 5G download | 5G coverage (of 10) | Headline award |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singtel | 2nd (~5% behind) | ~335Mbps | 9.3 | Best Network in Singapore |
| StarHub | ~156Mbps (1st) | ~339Mbps | 8.7 | Fastest overall download |
| M1 | 3rd | ~350Mbps (1st) | 8.7 | Fastest 5G download |
| SIMBA | Last | Last | Lowest | Price leader, youngest network |
A fair question once you know GOMO is Singtel and Circles.Life is M1: why not just buy from the network itself? Usually because the network operator's own SIM-only plan costs more for less data, since the cheap sub-brands and MVNOs are exactly how the telcos chase price-sensitive customers without cutting their flagship plans. You ride the same towers either way.
The direct plans do carry one or two things the cheap brands trim. M1's own SIM-only sits around S$14.95 for 150GB of 5G with 1,000 local minutes and 1,000 SMS. Singtel's hi! line starts near S$12. StarHub's 5G Lite is about S$22 for 150GB. Compare those to Circles.Life at S$10.80 for 350GB on the same M1 network and the sub-brand wins on raw value, but the direct plan may bundle more generous calls and SMS, priority customer service, or family-line perks. If you make many calls or want a service counter to walk into, the operator's own plan can be worth the few extra dollars.
The catch worth knowing: the cheaper sub-brand and MVNO data can be deprioritised behind the network's own paying customers when a cell is congested, so at a packed event or peak-hour MRT crush the direct plan may hold speed a touch better. For everyday use the gap is invisible. Most people are better off on the sub-brand and pocketing the difference, the same call you would make on any silently renewing monthly bill.
Switching is the part people fear and it is the easy part. Singapore has full mobile number portability, so you keep your existing 8-digit number when you move between any telcos, free in normal cases. You do not call your old telco to cancel; the new provider handles the transfer.
Sign up with the new provider online or in their app, choose to port in your existing number rather than get a new one, give the telco you are leaving plus your account or NRIC details, and pick a porting date. Keep your old SIM active and do not terminate it yourself, or the request can fail. Most ports complete within one business day, occasionally up to two, with only a brief loss of service while the number moves to the new SIM or eSIM. Once confirmed, your old plan stops billing.
Because there is no contract on these plans, switching costs you nothing but a few minutes once a year. Telcos save their sharpest deals for new sign-ups, so staying loyal usually means paying more than a new customer for the same thing. Set a yearly reminder to compare your plan against current offers, the same discipline you would apply to a savings account or a credit card.
A few practical points decide whether a cheap plan stays cheap. Most modern phones support eSIM, and all four brands offer eSIM activation, so you can sign up and be live in minutes without waiting for a physical SIM by post. An eSIM also lets you hold a second line to trial a new network without giving up your main number.
Prepaid is worth a look only if you barely use a phone, but for anyone using a phone normally, no-contract postpaid SIM-only plans are cheaper per gigabyte and include calls and SMS. The prices in this guide are postpaid SIM-only, the right product for almost everyone.
Watch the quiet costs. Some plans add a one-time registration or SIM fee of a couple of dollars upfront, trivial but worth knowing. Going over your data allowance can trigger pay-as-you-use charges at painful rates, so if your plan is not unlimited, set a data-usage alert in your phone settings. And GST at 9 percent applies to your mobile bill, so the price you pay is the advertised figure plus tax unless the telco quotes it inclusive. None of these break a good plan; they just stop a S$10 plan from quietly becoming a S$20 one.
Check the calls and SMS line too, because the cheap plans cut here to keep the data number big. Circles.Life's entry plan, for example, gives unlimited calls but only a small SMS allowance, while giga and GOMO bundle 300 SMS and SIMBA leans on unlimited calls with fewer texts. If you still send real SMS rather than chat apps, or you rely on bank and login codes by text, confirm the SMS allowance before you switch. Outgoing texts beyond the cap are charged per message and add up fast for anyone who texts overseas.
There is no single best plan; it depends on the network you want and how much you roam. At mid-2026, the strongest value entry plans are Circles.Life 4G Core (about S$10.80 for 350GB on M1), SIMBA's cheapest SuperRoam tier (about S$10 for a large 5G data pool, around 400GB shared regionally, with bundled APAC roaming on its own network), giga 100GB 4G (about S$10.19 on StarHub) and GOMO's $12 4G plan (about S$12 for 200GB plus bundled roaming on Singtel). All are no-contract. Pick by network and roaming fit, then take whichever is cheapest, and check each telco's current page as prices and data allowances move with promotions.
They ride different networks, which is the main difference. GOMO runs on Singtel and Circles.Life runs on M1, so choose based on which network gives you better reception where you live and work. On price, both have entry plans around S$10 to S$12 with no contract. GOMO bundles more roaming into its S$12 4G plan, while Circles.Life offers a larger local-data allowance (350GB) with unlimited local calls. If coverage is equal for you, take the cheaper plan that matches your roaming needs.
GOMO is a Singtel sub-brand and runs on the Singtel network. Circles.Life is a virtual operator that runs on the M1 network. giga is a StarHub sub-brand and runs on the StarHub network. SIMBA runs on its own network. This matters because the cheap brand puts you on the same physical signal as the incumbent for less, so you can get Singtel or M1 coverage without paying Singtel or M1 prices.
Most young adults in Singapore use 15GB to 50GB a month, because home, office and public Wi-Fi cover most of the day. Check your real usage first: on iPhone go to Settings > Mobile Service, on Android go to Settings > Network and internet > Data usage. If you use around 25GB, even a 100GB plan is generous, and a 500GB or 1TB plan is wasted money. The smallest tier that comfortably covers your real usage is the cheapest sensible choice.
Yes. Singapore has full mobile number portability, so you keep your existing 8-digit number when moving between any telcos, free in normal cases. You do not cancel with your old telco yourself. Sign up with the new provider, choose to port in your number, give your old account or NRIC details and a porting date, and keep your old SIM active until it completes. Most ports finish within one business day, sometimes up to two.
For most people, no. 4G in Singapore already streams video, runs video calls and loads apps without lag, and a good 4G plan costs S$10 to S$12. 5G plans start around S$18. 5G is worth it if you regularly tether a laptop and push real volume, or if your phone is your only internet because you have no home Wi-Fi. If neither applies, stay on 4G and keep the difference.
Almost all of them are. The major value plans from GOMO, Circles.Life, giga and SIMBA are no-contract, billed monthly or every 30 days, with no early-termination penalty. That is what makes switching free and quick. A handful of older or bundled telco offers still carry a 12-month commitment, so always check the contract term before signing up; if it has a lock-in, there is usually a cheaper no-contract alternative on the same network.
SIMBA is the newest of the four physical networks and is usually the price leader because it is competing for share. For most people in built-up areas its coverage is fine and the savings are real, especially on its roaming-heavy SuperRoam plans. In Opensignal's December 2025 Singapore report SIMBA sat last on download speed and coverage among the four networks, while the incumbents led, so if you spend time in fringe areas or indoor dead zones, Singtel, StarHub or M1 may give more consistent signal. Note that SIMBA agreed in 2025 to acquire M1, a deal still under regulatory review at the time of writing, so the network picture may change once any merger completes. Pick by the coverage where you actually spend your time.
On independent testing, Singtel. Opensignal's December 2025 Singapore report named Singtel Best Network overall and gave it the top 5G coverage score, 9.3 out of 10. StarHub had the fastest overall download speed at about 156Mbps, and M1 had the fastest 5G download at around 350Mbps, so each network leads on something. The gaps are small enough that for daily phone use any of the three incumbents is excellent. The practical test is still which network gives you a strong signal where you live, work and commute, because a national average means little if your home is a dead spot.
The cheapest mainstream no-contract plans sit around S$10 a month: SIMBA's SuperRoam 10 (about S$10 for 400GB on its own 5G network with bundled APAC roaming), Circles.Life 4G Core (about S$10.80 for 350GB on M1) and giga's 100GB 4G (about S$10.19 on StarHub). A few smaller MVNOs advertise even lower headline prices, sometimes under S$8, but they usually trim data, calls or roaming, so compare the full spec rather than the front number. At this tier the cheapest plan that covers your real data use and the network you trust is the right one; the dollar or two between them rarely matters.
Your number, yes; the eSIM itself, no. You keep your 8-digit number through mobile number portability regardless of whether you use a physical SIM or an eSIM. The eSIM is just a profile tied to one provider, so switching telcos means the new provider issues you a fresh eSIM (a QR code or in-app activation) and your old one is retired. All four major brands support eSIM, so you can move from one eSIM to another without ever handling a physical card, usually live within minutes of the port completing.
It depends on the plan. Some plans simply stop your data until the next cycle or until you buy a top-up, while others charge pay-as-you-use rates that can run a few dollars per gigabyte, which is how a cheap plan quietly becomes an expensive one. A handful of plans throttle to a slower speed instead of charging. Check your plan's overage policy before you sign up, and set a data-usage alert in your phone settings so you are warned before you hit the cap rather than after.
This is general financial information for Singapore, not personal financial advice. Figures change — verify current rates against the official sources above before acting. See our full disclaimer.