Best NBN Plans Australia (June 2026)
Updated 5 June 2026 · All prices are current as of today and pull live from our database.
Picking an NBN plan is mostly about three things: what speed tier you actually need, what you're willing to pay every month, and whether the provider's support team will pick up the phone when something breaks. This page lists our top picks across every NBN speed tier from NBN25 right up to gigabit, with the cheapest current price from each of our partner providers. We only recommend providers we have an affiliate relationship with on this page (more on that below), so if you want the full unfiltered list of every NBN company we cover, head to our compare page.
Best Cheap NBN (NBN25)
Light users who mostly stream, browse and email.
Best NBN50 (Most Popular Tier)
The sweet spot for families of three or four with one person working from home.
Best NBN100 (Family)
Households with multiple people gaming, video calling or streaming at the same time.
Best NBN250 (Heavy Users and Gamers)
Heavy users, gamers, or households with lots of devices going at once.
Best Gigabit NBN (Power Users)
Power users who want maximum speed and have a fibre to the premises connection.
How to choose the best NBN plan for you
The best NBN plan is not the same for everyone. The right one comes down to how many people use the internet at your place, what you do online, and how much you want to pay each month. Get the speed tier right and you stop paying for speed you never use, or stop fighting over bandwidth every evening. Here is how to work it out.
How do I pick the right NBN speed tier?
NBN plans are sold in speed tiers, and the tier is the number that matters most. The common ones are NBN25, NBN50, NBN100, NBN250 and gigabit (NBN1000). The number is the maximum download speed in Mbps. One thing worth knowing: the speed that actually counts is the typical evening speed, which is what you get during the busy hours from 7pm to 11pm when everyone is online. A good provider quotes that number, and on a quality network it is usually close to the tier.
NBN25 suits one or two people who browse, email and watch the odd video. NBN50 is the sweet spot for most Australian households and is where a lot of the best NBN deals sit. It handles a few people streaming, video calls and general use without much fuss. NBN100 is for busier homes with several heavy users, 4K streaming on more than one TV, or anyone who downloads large files. NBN250 and gigabit are for big households, serious gamers, or people who move a lot of data and want the headroom.
How much speed do I actually need?
A rough guide. One person streaming Netflix in HD uses about 5Mbps. Make that 4K and it climbs to around 15 to 25Mbps per stream. Add a couple of people on video calls for work, a teenager gaming, and a few smart devices ticking away in the background, and you can see how a household chews through an NBN25 plan. For most families NBN50 is plenty. If three or four people are online heavily at the same time, NBN100 stops the evening slowdown. If you mostly use one device at a time, you can save money by dropping to a lower tier.
Does unlimited data matter?
These days almost every NBN plan worth buying comes with unlimited data, so it is rarely the thing you need to worry about. Capped plans still exist, usually on satellite or some budget options, but on standard fixed line NBN you should expect unlimited. If you are comparing the cheapest unlimited NBN plans, focus on the ongoing monthly price rather than the headline intro rate.
Should I lock into a contract?
Most NBN plans in Australia are now month to month with no lock in contract, which is handy because you can switch if the price creeps up or the service disappoints. Watch for intro pricing. A plan might be cheap for the first six months then jump to a higher ongoing rate, so always check what you will pay once the discount ends. That ongoing price is the number we lead with in our picks above.
What about setup and modem costs?
Standard NBN connections usually have no setup fee, though some providers charge one if you are not on a contract. The other cost is a modem. Many providers sell you one for somewhere between $0 and $200, or you can bring your own if it is NBN compatible. It is a one off cost, so do not let a free modem talk you into a worse ongoing price.
Are the best NBN plans the same everywhere in Australia?
Mostly, yes. NBN providers sell the same plans at the same prices whether you are in Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth or a regional town, because the NBN is a national network. What changes from address to address is the connection type. Most homes are on fixed line NBN, which might be Fibre to the Premises (FTTP), Fibre to the Node (FTTN), Fibre to the Curb (FTTC) or HFC cable. FTTP and HFC can hit the higher tiers comfortably, while an older FTTN line might not reach NBN100 no matter which provider you pick. It is worth checking what is available at your address before you lock in a higher tier, since there is no point paying for gigabit if the line cannot deliver it.
So which NBN plan is best?
Pick your tier first, then pick the cheapest reliable provider in that tier. That is exactly how we have laid out the picks at the top of this page. We start with the speed tiers most people actually buy, show the best value plan in each, and back it with real customer reviews rather than just the lowest price. If you want to compare any two providers side by side, our compare page covers every provider we track, and the plan finder will suggest a tier based on how you use the internet.
How we choose these picks
The picks above are hand-selected from the 29 affiliate NBN Residential plans we currently track. For each speed tier we look at three things: the ongoing monthly price after any intro period ends, the intro pricing if there is one, and the number of customer reviews and average rating from people who've actually used the provider.
We're upfront about the commercial side. The "Partner" badge on a provider means we earn a small commission if you sign up through one of the red buttons above. We don't charge you anything extra and the provider treats your signup the same as any other channel. The catch is that we deliberately limit this page to providers we'd actually recommend, rather than chasing the highest commission rate. If you want to see every NBN provider we cover, with no filtering, head to the full compare page.
Prices on this page pull live from our database. They were last updated 5 June 2026. Provider plans change every few weeks so the numbers you see here should be current within the last day or two.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the NBN?
The NBN (National Broadband Network) is the wholesale fixed line internet network that covers most of Australia. You don't sign up to it directly. Instead you pick one of the 100-plus retail providers like Aussie Broadband, Telstra or Tangerine, who buy bandwidth from NBN Co and resell it to you with their own pricing and support. The technology that runs to your house can be fibre, fibre to the node, HFC cable, or satellite, depending on where you live. Speeds range from 12Mbps on entry plans up to 1000Mbps on the top tier.
Which NBN speed tier do I actually need?
For a single person who mostly streams Netflix and browses, NBN25 or NBN50 is plenty. For a family of three or four with someone working from home, NBN50 is the sweet spot and what most Aussies pick. If you have multiple people gaming or video calling at the same time, jump to NBN100. NBN250 and gigabit are mostly for very heavy users or people who want headroom for the next ten years.
What does NBN50 vs NBN100 actually mean?
The numbers are the typical evening download speed in Mbps. NBN50 means you should get around 50Mbps when the network is busy. NBN100 means around 100Mbps. Doubling the speed doubles how fast a big file downloads, but it doesn't make web pages or Netflix feel twice as fast. Most people notice the upgrade most when multiple devices are downloading or streaming at the same time.
Is intro pricing worth it, or am I getting locked in?
Most NBN intro pricing on this site is from Superloop, Tangerine and Aussie Broadband. The discount usually runs for 6 months and saves you around $120 to $180 over that period. None of these come with a lock-in contract, so you can switch away if the ongoing price is too high. The catch: if you keep flip-flopping providers every 6 months to chase intro pricing, you'll burn a fair bit of time on connection admin.
Can I switch NBN providers without losing my internet?
Mostly yes. NBN to NBN switches use a "churn" process that hands over the same physical connection from one provider to the next, usually with under an hour of downtime. If you're switching between two different technologies (say satellite to fixed wireless), that's more involved. Worth confirming with the new provider before you sign up.
How long does it take to switch NBN providers?
For a switch between two NBN providers on the same technology, most providers complete it within 1 to 5 business days. Aussie Broadband and Superloop tend to be quicker than the big telcos. If your new provider needs to send a modem first, add a few more days for the post. If you're moving house at the same time, plan for longer.
What's the difference between unlimited and capped NBN plans?
Almost every NBN plan sold in Australia today is unlimited. Capped plans (where you pay extra after a set amount of data) are basically gone from the retail market. If you see a plan with a quota listed, it's usually a budget brand on a slower speed tier. For most people, unlimited is the default to look for.
Do I need a new modem when I switch NBN providers?
Sometimes. If your current modem is fairly recent and you're switching to a provider that uses standard PPPoE or DHCP login, your old modem will probably work. Some providers (TPG and iiNet for example) use VLAN tagging that older modems can't handle, so they ship you one. The cheaper way is to ask the new provider whether your existing modem will work before paying for a new one.
Is fixed wireless or satellite NBN any good?
Fixed wireless has improved a lot, especially since the recent network upgrades. People on fixed wireless 100 are seeing real speeds in the 80 to 100Mbps range. Sky Muster (the satellite NBN service) is the slowest option but is often the only choice in remote areas. If you're stuck on satellite, Starlink is now a credible alternative at $139 per month with much higher speeds, though it costs more upfront for the dish.
Why does this page only recommend partner providers?
We're upfront about it. This page focuses on providers we have affiliate relationships with, because that's how the site makes money. The trade-off is that we only partner with providers we'd genuinely recommend to a mate. If you want the full list of every NBN provider we cover (about 25 of them), our compare page lets you compare any two side by side, with no filtering based on commercial relationships.
Looking for something else?
- Compare any two NBN providers side by side — full provider list, no affiliate filter
- Read full reviews of all 25 NBN providers we cover
- Looking at home wireless instead of NBN?
- See how much you'd save by switching providers
Write a review of your broadband company to go in our draw to win a $100 Amazon Gift Card!
More details here.
Add a review