Independent comparison · No sponsored rankings
Compare Internet Plans from America's Top 30 Providers
Sort 30 providers and about 82 plans by monthly price or by value in cents per Mbps, across five connection types: fiber, cable, fixed wireless, satellite, and DSL. List prices were compiled directly from provider plan pages.
| Provider▲ | Plan | Type | Tier▲ | Typical speed down/up▲ | Intro offer▲ | Ongoing/mo▲ | First-year avg▲ | Value▲ |
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Swipe sideways to see all columns.
Why compare internet plans here
Thirty US providers and 82 plans sit side by side in one table, priced upfront, with no address required to see any of it.
Most American provider websites sell only their own plans, so comparing across companies usually means keeping several tabs open and moving numbers into a spreadsheet yourself. Large comparison sites add friction of a different kind. Many demand a full street address before showing any pricing, some ask for a phone number, and several order listings partly by commission from the providers they feature. The rankings you reach most easily are not always ordered purely in your interest.
This page works differently. It displays national list prices immediately and asks for nothing: no address, no email, no phone number. It runs no affiliate links and accepts no paid placement, so there is no revenue reason to push one row above another. All five access types share the same grid, with fiber sitting next to cable, fixed wireless, satellite, and DSL.
The filters hand the shortlist to you instead of an editor. Speed-tier chips trim the field from up to 100 Mbps through 300, 500, 1 Gig, and multi-gig, a connection-type dropdown isolates one technology, text search finds a provider by name, and a maximum-price slider drops anything over budget. An intro-deals-only checkbox separates promotions from standard rates, every column sorts, and a best-value-per-tier line recalculates live above the table whenever you change something.
Two calculated columns carry the analysis further. Value score divides ongoing monthly price by typical download speed and reports it in cents per Mbps, where lower is better, letting a cheap slower plan compete openly against a pricier faster one. First-year average spreads each promotional discount across twelve months, so a short teaser rate cannot hide an expensive standard price waiting behind it.
Limits are stated plainly because they affect how you should use this. Prices shown are list rates excluding taxes and equipment fees. Availability differs by address, since US providers own separate footprints and no table can see yours. Headline speeds are advertised rates rather than measured results, and checkout is the final word. Narrow the 82 plans to a handful of candidates here, then confirm availability and the complete monthly bill at the provider's site before committing.
Five ways Americans get online
The technology at your address decides more than the price tag does. Most homes can reach two or three of the types below, rarely all five.
The gigabit price floor has fallen
Gigabit fiber now sells at prices that undercut year-two cable rates. Google Fiber charges a flat $70 for 1 Gig with installation included and no fees, and Frontier asks $65, or $85 if you want 2 Gig. Set that against Spectrum's cable gigabit at $70 intro and $90 afterward, and the promo advantage mostly disappears past month twelve. Where a fiber build passes your address, run the two-year total before committing.
Fiber
AT&T Fiber prices its whole ladder with equipment included: 300 Mbps at $55, 500 Mbps at $60, 1 GIG at $70, 2 GIG at $99, and 5 GIG at $180. Uploads match downloads, something cable cannot offer. Verizon Fios serves the Northeast with 300, 500, and 1 Gig at $50, $70, and $90, router included and backed by a price-lock guarantee.
Cable
Spectrum's lineup is easy to read: Internet Advantage at 100 Mbps for $30 flat, no contract, no data cap, free modem, with whole-home WiFi an optional $5 a month, and 500 Mbps at $50 for the first year before settling at $70. Xfinity includes unlimited data on every plan and treats its xFi Gateway as an optional rental near $15 a month, though advertised prices usually hold for 12 months. Cox is the remaining cap enforcer, limiting home usage to 1.25TB unless you add $30 a month for unlimited.
Fixed Wireless
T-Mobile Home Internet comes in three autopay tiers, Base at $50, Amplified at $60, and All-In at $70, with the gateway included and the price cut to $35 when paired with a T-Mobile phone line. AT&T Internet Air lists at $60, falling to $35 alongside an eligible AT&T mobile plan. Because service rides the local cell network, real throughput depends on tower distance and how busy the sector is.
Satellite
Starlink's residential plan is $120 a month with hardware from $299, unlimited data, and latency around 25 to 60ms, subject to open capacity in each cell; Residential Lite drops to $80 with deprioritized data. The geostationary incumbents work differently. HughesNet sits at $75 for 50 Mbps and $95 for 100 Mbps, Viasat Unleashed sells flat-rate unlimited at $100 for 100 Mbps or $130 for 150, and both add lease fees near $15 while latency stays above 600ms under soft data caps.
DSL
Brightspeed, Kinetic by Windstream, and Consolidated Communications still sell DSL in towns the fiber builds have not reached. Speeds hinge on line length, so the same plan name can mean very different performance two streets apart. Read any DSL listing as a ceiling, not a promise, until an address check confirms it.
Multi-Gig
Only fiber sells this range. AT&T offers 2 GIG for $99 and 5 GIG for $180 with equipment included, Google Fiber lists 2, 5, and 8 Gig at flat $100, $125, and $150, Quantum Fiber reaches 8 Gig near $135 where Lumen has built it, and Frontier tops out at 7 Gig around $190. Most households do not need it yet, but heavy uploaders get roughly the old gigabit premium for several times the speed.
US internet plan FAQs
Which connection type should I choose?
Fiber wins nearly every comparison: symmetrical speeds, equipment usually included, and flat pricing like AT&T's 300 Mbps at $55 or Quantum Fiber's 500 Mbps at a steady $50. Cable covers far more addresses, so it is the practical default for most households. Fixed wireless suits areas with strong cell service, satellite covers places nothing else reaches, and DSL remains a stopgap.
Why is my actual bill higher than the advertised price?
Most headline rates are 12-month promotions that assume autopay and paperless billing. Equipment is billed separately, whether that is Xfinity's optional xFi Gateway at about $15 a month or a satellite dish lease running near $15. Local taxes and regional sports fees close the remaining gap, and those vary by address. The checkout page, not the homepage, tells you what you will actually pay.
Do data caps still exist?
Some. Cox still caps home usage at 1.25TB and charges $30 extra a month for unlimited data. HughesNet and Viasat impose soft caps that slow speeds once the monthly allowance is spent. Elsewhere the direction is clear: Spectrum, Xfinity, AT&T Fiber, and T-Mobile now include unlimited data as standard.
Do any of these plans require a contract?
Almost none. Spectrum advertises no contracts outright, Google Fiber has none and no fees, and the fixed wireless products from T-Mobile and AT&T run month to month. The real lock-in is financial rather than legal: promotional pricing typically expires after 12 months, so mark the date and renegotiate or switch before the higher rate lands.
What is the cheapest reliable fast internet right now?
Astound Broadband opens at about $25 for 300 Mbps in its Wave, RCN, Grande, and Suddenlink markets, though the rate settles near $45 after six months. Shoppers who dislike price jumps have flat-rate options: Spectrum's 100 Mbps at $30 or Quantum Fiber's 500 Mbps at $50. Bundling a T-Mobile phone line brings home internet down to $35.
Can 5G home internet work as my main connection?
For most everyday use, yes. T-Mobile ships a gateway you plug in yourself and AT&T Internet Air works the same way, so there is no installer appointment. Throughput rises and falls with signal strength and sector congestion, which fits moderate households better than ones pushing constant large uploads. Latency still beats geostationary satellite by a wide margin.
When does satellite internet make sense?
When the address has no wireline or fixed wireless option, or when you need service before a fiber build finishes. Starlink is the strongest fit for video calls and streaming given latency of roughly 25 to 60ms, at $120 a month plus hardware from $299. Geostationary plans from HughesNet and Viasat suit lighter use that can tolerate lag above 600ms. Check Starlink availability for your cell first, since it depends on spare capacity.
How does switching providers work, and can I self-install?
Availability comes first, because US providers own distinct footprints; Verizon Fios, for example, operates in the Northeast. Self-installation is standard for fixed wireless gateways and common for cable modems, while fiber usually requires a technician to activate the line the first time. Get the new service live before cancelling the old one, then confirm final bills so you never pay two providers for the same month.
How we compare plans
Last updated: this month. Plan prices shown here were compiled from public provider plan pages during our most recent pricing sweep. They are list rates, exclude taxes and equipment fees, and shift with address, promotion, and bundling.
The value score divides ongoing price by typical download speed and reports it in cents per Mbps, where lower is better. A separate first-year average spreads introductory discounts evenly across twelve months, so a short teaser cannot distort a side-by-side comparison. Listed speeds are the headline rates providers advertise, not measured results.
No provider paid for placement on this page, and sorting happens locally in your browser. Provider checkout is the final authority on current pricing. Confirm availability by address before planning a switch, because most US providers serve specific footprints and a plan listed here may not exist at your home.