The best Tracfone smartphones and plans in 2023

Founded in 1996, Tracfone has provided reliable service at great prices for about a quarter-century, though these days it’s actually owned by Verizon. With monthly plans as low as $9.99, it’s hard to ignore. Even though you can bring your own unlocked phone, Tracfone offers a selection of smartphones to pick from if you’d rather buy directly. It’s convenient because you don’t have to look around and see which phones work with Tracfone’s network, but the offerings are mainly for those with very modest needs.

Read on to learn more about the best Tracfone plans as well as the best Tracfone smartphones. 

Consider going with an unlocked phone

As briefly mentioned above, Tracfone doesn’t have the greatest selection of phones. This makes sense as it’s primarily marketed to those looking for cheaper service as a backup, and so flagships probably aren’t in as hot of demand. The good news is you can bring your own phone.

Since Tracfone utilizes GSM technology, it’s compatible with a wide range of phones, including the Galaxy S23, Pixel 8, and iPhone 15. To ensure a specific phone will work with Tracfone, we recommend heading to their website to learn more about supported bands or to check your existing phone for compatibility. Generally speaking, though, if your phone is designed for GSM (most are) and it’s sold in the US, it should play nicely in most cases. 

To learn more about some of the phones you can buy unlocked, check out our best Android phones and best cheap phones guides. 

Best Tracfone Plans

You know what the best Tracfone phones are, but what about the best Tracfone Plans? Let’s take a quick look at the chart below. Keep in mind we only focused on smartphone plans, but Tracfone also supports basic dumb phones. 

First, we need to explain something. While the 30-day plans are straightforward, the 60, 90, and yearly plans might be a bit confusing. Basically, the amount of data and minutes applies to the entire billing period. For example, the $200 plan might last and year and give you 24GB of data, but that’s for the whole year. So this plan is perfect for someone who only uses around 2GB a month and works out to the equivalent of $16.50 a month. 

Now let’s be honest; none of these plans are designed for those who use a lot of data. In fact, the biggest plan is the monthly 8GB option. If you need a lot of data, we recommend checking out our guide to the best prepaid plans, or if you want to spend as little as possible, consult our cheap phone plans guide. 

The best Tracfone smartphones

Editor’s note: We will continually update the list of best Tracfone smartphones.

Samsung Galaxy A54

The Samsung Galaxy A54 5G is one of the best budget phones you’ll buy, carefully balancing value with performance, durability, and aesthetics. Despite the price tag, there are a lot of higher-end features here such as Gorilla Glass 5 protection, a 120Hz refresh rate for its AMOLED panel, and a reasonably solid camera package. While its camera performance doesn’t surpass the Pixel 6a or 7a, the A54 5G consistently captures good photos. The design is also very nice and is extremely reminiscent of Samsung’s flagship S23 phones.

The device might not have the fastest processor but its Exynos 1380 can handle most games without major issues and is great for social media, browsing, streaming, and other common mobile tasks. The phone offers a respectable day and a half of battery life on a single charge, with 25W charging speeds taking about 85 minutes to fill from empty. However, wireless charging is absent at this price point. Unlike most flagships, the A54 also has a microSD card for memory expansion. 

Galaxy A54 specs:

Motorola Moto G Stylus 5G (2023)

The Moto G Sylus is an affordable phone but it has fairGranted this isn’t an S-Pen by any stretch of the imagination but it could still be very useful for note-taking and other basic tasks.

Moving past the stylus and design, the Moto G Stylus also offers reasonably decent performance thanks to the Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 processor backed by 6GB of RAM.

Those who like big screen phones will also appreciate the sizable 6.6-inch 1080p display with a 120Hz refresh rate. Even battery life is great here, as you’ll easily make it through a day and maybe even a hair longer. 

Moto G Stylus 5G specs:

Apple iPhone SE (2022)

An Android-centric website like Android Authority recommending the Apple iPhone SE might seem like blasphemy but put away your pitchforks and torches. There are many good reasons you’d want to consider the iPhone SE, the first being that the list of Tracfone smartphones is minimal.

The iPhone SE is a lot of phone for the price. A few hundred dollars will get you a very nicely built device with a metal frame and a glass back. It has pretty powerful specs, including the same A15 Bionic chipset you find in the iPhone 13 series and the non-Pro versions of the iPhone 14 lineup. It has neat features like wireless charging, an IP67 rating, and a camera that’s considered above average.

This device is definitely one of the best Tracfone smartphones around, even if it comes from Apple.

iPhone SE specs:

Apple iPhone 12 Mini

The iPhone 12 Mini might be a bit behind the times, with the iPhone 13 and iPhone 14 series already out, but it’s still among the best Tracfone smartphones you can get from Apple. It’s also a great high-end option for those who like smaller handsets.

The device comes with a pocketable 5.4-inch display with a 1,080p resolution. You’ll find an A14 Bionic processor and 4GB of RAM. The rest of the experience is what you can expect from a premium Apple device. The glass and metal design is great-looking, and performance is nothing to scoff at. Not to mention Apple cameras are very well-respected in the industry.

iPhone 12 Mini specs:

Samsung Galaxy A32 5G

Samsung’s Galaxy A32 5G packs five cameras, a massive 5,000mAh battery, and 64GB of expandable storage. The 6.5-inch HD+ display comes complete with a small Infinity-V notch that also houses a 13MP selfie shooter.

You get a MediaTek Dimensity 720 processor to work with, and the display is made from durable Gorilla Glass 5. The Galaxy A32 5G hangs onto the headphone jack, which is always nice to see. It comes in four colorful finishes — Awesome Black, Awesome Blue, Awesome White, and Awesome Violet.

Galaxy A32 5G specs: