Cricket Wireless vs Verizon: Plans Compared

Verizon Wireless is the biggest carrier in the country, with national 4G LTE and 5G coverage networks that stretch from coast to coast. Cricket Wireless is a smaller prepaid provider (or MVNO) that is owned and operated by AT&T and operates on its similarly powerful network. 

If you’re trying to decide between signing up with Cricket or Verizon, this guide will help you navigate their various plan offerings. Read on as we compare the two carriers. 

Cricket Wireless vs Verizon Similarities

• Both offer unlimited plans.
• Both Cricket and Verizon’s plans include international calling privileges.  
• Both sell a range of mid-range and flagship smartphones, from Samsung devices to Apple iPhones.
• Both Cricket Wireless and Verizon allow you to sign up for multiple lines of service (also known as family plans), which result in cost savings. 

Cricket Wireless vs Verizon: Differences

• Verizon's plans are postpaid, while Cricket's are prepaid and paid for in advance monthly or annually.
• Cricket includes taxes and fees in its advertised prices, while Verizon does not.
• Verizon offers four unlimited plans, including the lower-cost build-your-own Simplicity plan, while Cricket pairs its unlimited plans with a selection of capped data options.
• Verizon's plans generally cost more than Cricket's, although Simplicity offers a lower-cost entry point than Verizon's traditional unlimited plans.

Cricket Wireless vs Verizon: Unlimited Plans

Verizon now offers four primary postpaid unlimited plans: Simplicity, Unlimited Welcome, Unlimited Plus, and Unlimited Ultimate. Simplicity is the carrier's new build-your-own plan, starting at $30/month for one line with Auto Pay and a switcher discount. It includes unlimited premium data and 10GB of hotspot data while allowing customers to add optional services as needed. Unlimited Welcome serves as Verizon's basic traditional plan, while Unlimited Plus and Unlimited Ultimate include progressively larger hotspot allowances and additional premium features.

{{cards-1}}

Cricket sells three unlimited plans: the entry-level 12-Month Unlimited Plan, the mid-range Unlimited Plan, and the premium Unlimited + 15 GB Mobile Hotspot Plan. 

Cricket’s $60/month unlimited plan most closely resembles something you’d get from a postpaid carrier. It includes unlimited high-speed data, 15GB mobile hotspot allowance, a Max subscription, unlimited texts from the U.S. to 37 countries, and Mexico and Canada usage privileges. This is a great value if you’re looking for a perk-heavy unlimited plan but don’t want to pay major carrier prices. 

Cricket’s mid-range offering, the $55/month Unlimited Plan, lacks a mobile hotspot data allowance, a Max subscription, and, most importantly, unlimited premium mobile data (you get unlimited deprioritized data). However, some of the other perks are intact, like unlimited texts from the U.S. to 37 countries and Mexico and Canada privileges.

If this $55/month Unlimited Plan doesn’t seem like much of a deal, rest assured you can save a lot by prepaying for it for a year. This brings it down to $25/month—not a bad deal if you plan on sticking with Cricket for the next 12 months.

{{cards-2}}

What Is an Unlimited Plan? An unlimited data plan is a phone plan that includes unlimited data, but not all the data in an unlimited plan is necessarily of the high-speed variety. Lower-priced unlimited plans tend to include unlimited deprioritized data (data that slows down when networks are busy). Some entry-level plans include a small amount of high-speed data as well, while many do not. Mid-level unlimited plans typically include a mix of high-speed data, capped at a certain amount, and unlimited deprioritized data. Premium unlimited plans tend to offer premium, high-speed data all the time, with no limit.

Cricket Wireless vs Verizon: Capped Plans

Verizon used to offer a selection of capped, or limited data, postpaid plans, but the carrier has done away with these in favor of unlimited. 

Cricket, on the other hand, sells two capped data plans, both of which feature unlimited talk and text and a modest allotment of data: the $40/month 10 GB Plan, and the $30/month 5 GB Plan. These are both relatively stripped down offerings, lacking hotspot data, streaming subscriptions, or premium data. Still, they’re worth looking into if you tend to mostly stay connected to WiFi for data purposes and just want a cheap way to enjoy AT&T’s network. 

{{cards-3}}

What Is a Capped Plan? Also sometimes called By the Gig, these plans offer customers a set amount of data to use per month, instead of unlimited data. All the data on capped plans is deprioritized, which means you may experience data slowdowns when the network is congested. Capped data plans are sometimes a more cost-effective alternative to unlimited plans, assuming you don’t mind deprioritized data and you know how much data you use in a typical month. The key is not to exceed your cap as doing so will subject you to significant fees.

Cricket Wireless vs Verizon: Coverage

Verizon’s 4G LTE network is generally understood to be the best in America, outdoing the likes of AT&T and T-Mobile. Verizon’s 5G network, while smaller and less far-reaching, is growing fast as the company installs more towers. The combination of these two networks means that Verizon offers some of the best coverage in the country. 

Cricket Wireless makes use of AT&T’s national system of 4G and 5G networks to provide its customers with reliable coverage. It's important to note, however, that Cricket’s reliance on subleased network space from AT&T can in some instances result in slightly inferior service. Major carriers tend to prioritize their customers ahead of smaller carriers—even ones they own, like Cricket (or the Verizon-owned Visible)—in times of network congestion. That said, these differences in coverage speeds may be mostly minor. 

To compare Cricket vs Verizon coverage, enter your address into our Verizon coverage map, and use our AT&T Coverage Map as a proxy for Cricket.

Cricket Wireless vs Verizon: Perks

Verizon offers considerably more flexibility than Cricket when it comes to plan features. Customers can choose between four unlimited plans, from the affordable build-your-own Simplicity plan to the premium Unlimited Ultimate. Simplicity lets subscribers customize their service with optional streaming, travel, security, hotspot, and other add-ons, while Unlimited Plus and Unlimited Ultimate include larger hotspot allowances and more premium features.

While Cricket’s international and hotspot perks aren’t on par with Verizon’s, the MVNO does feature Max subscriptions (with ads) with its premium $60/month unlimited plan. This makes Cricket’s offering a nice value, since an ad-supported Max subscription costs $9.99/month on its own. Not even prepaid brands like Mint Mobile offer an equivalent streaming perk. 

The Bottom Line

Choosing Verizon gives you access to one of the broadest postpaid wireless lineups available, excellent nationwide coverage, and the flexibility to choose between traditional unlimited plans and the lower-cost build-your-own Simplicity plan. While Verizon generally costs more than Cricket, Simplicity offers a more affordable way to get unlimited premium data without paying for premium extras you may not need.

Cricket Wireless offers a more distinctly prepaid experience, so some of the massive premium data and hotspot allowances are absent from the carrier’s unlimited plans. However, they do include a few nice perks (like a Max subscription). Plus, you get the backing of AT&T’s great coverage when you sign up with Cricket.