SIM-Free vs Contract: The Total-Cost Sums for UK Buyers

Compare the total, not the monthly price

To compare a contract with buying the phone outright (SIM-free), add up what each costs over the same number of months. Whichever total is lower wins on cost alone. A contract is built to be judged on one number, the monthly price, and on its own that number tells you nothing.

Here's what goes into each total.

The contract: whatever you pay upfront, plus every monthly payment until the minimum term (the length you signed up for) ends. That includes the rise after each twelve months.
Buying outright: the handset price, plus the same number of months of a SIM-only plan (calls, texts and data, but no phone). Pick one with the data you actually use, and add any rise on that plan too.

Our SIM-free vs contract calculator does the adding up, using the figures you've actually been quoted. It also gives you the break-even: the SIM-only price at which the two routes cost the same. Find a SIM-only plan below that, with enough data, and buying outright wins.

Make sure you compare like with like. That means the same storage, because none of the phones on our list can have more added later. It also means the same data allowance and the same number of months.

The yearly price rise, and why it's printed on the contract

Most UK contracts go up once a year, usually in the spring. The increase used to be inflation plus a percentage, so you couldn't know it on the day you signed.

That changed for contracts taken out from 17 January 2025. Ofcom, the communications regulator, requires any mid-contract rise to be set out in pounds and pence when you sign up. And inflation-linked rises are banned in new contracts. Vodafone, for example, states a fixed monthly increase on 1 April for its airtime plans. It says the increase doesn't apply to its device plans.

That figure belongs in your sum, because you can't use it to leave. If the terms say the price can go up each year, a rise under that clause gives you no right to cancel without a fee, according to Citizens Advice. So copy the monthly increase from the contract summary into the calculator's annual rise box. Enter it as a monthly amount, not a yearly total.

Two ways a contract can be set up

The first is the traditional one: a single pay-monthly bill. The handset and the airtime (your calls, texts and data) are folded into one price for a minimum term, usually 24 months and sometimes 36. Your bill doesn't drop on its own when the term ends. Your provider should remind you that it's ending, and after that it's up to you to move to SIM-only or a new deal.

The second splits the deal in two. Vodafone's EVO plans are the clearest example. There's a Phone Plan, which is a loan for the handset: a Consumer Credit Agreement at 0% APR, spread over 24 to 36 months. Then there's a separate Airtime Plan with its own Direct Debit. So that's two contracts and two payments a month. Once the phone is paid off, the airtime can move to a 30-day rolling plan, which renews every 30 days until you stop it.

The split matters most when you want to leave. On a single bill you're in for the whole term, and leaving early usually means an exit fee. With a credit agreement, you can clear the handset early with extra payments. After that, only the airtime ties you in. Even then, leaving the airtime inside its own minimum term usually still carries a fee.

And the credit agreement doesn't go away if you leave. You either pay it off in full or keep paying it separately. So when you do the sum, set the handset price inside that agreement against the SIM-free price.

Contract phones have been unlocked since December 2021

Since December 2021, UK providers haven't been allowed to sell locked handsets. So a contract phone can move to any network the day the term ends, and it's worth as much secondhand as a SIM-free one. Locking used to be the quiet cost of a contract, because a locked phone only worked on the network that sold it.

In fairness to contracts, the case for buying outright rests on the total and on flexibility, not on the lock.

What SIM-only gives you that a contract can't

Buying the phone outright and adding a SIM-only plan gets you three things a contract doesn't.

You can leave whenever a better deal appears. A 30-day rolling SIM can be swapped the moment a lower price for the same data turns up, and offers change weekly. A contract fixes one price for the term, plus the printed rise. The calculator can't count this.
You can switch networks with one text. To keep your number, text PAC to 65075, and you'll get a code to give your new provider. The text is free and the code is valid for 30 days. The new provider then arranges the switch within one working day. If you're out of contract, that's the whole process.
The phone is yours from day one. If it breaks, gets lost or you want the next one, there's no remaining term to clear first. And you can sell it whenever you like.

When a contract does win

Sometimes a contract really is cheaper, and the total will show it. There are three cases.

A genuine handset discount. Networks sometimes sell the phone for less inside a contract than they do outright. The sum finds this on its own. If the contract total comes in under the handset-plus-SIM-only total, the discount is real. If not, you're paying for the advertised saving through the airtime.
Trade-in and cashback offers. The calculator leaves these out because they change weekly, so add them by hand. If a trade-in only comes with the contract, take it off the contract total. If a maker or retailer will pay the same on a SIM-free purchase, take it off the handset price. Only the difference counts.
0% credit, if the alternative is paying interest. A handset credit agreement at 0% APR is an interest-free loan of the phone's price. If buying outright would mean carrying the balance on a credit card, the interest you'd otherwise pay belongs in the sum. That's arithmetic, not financial advice. A decision that's really about borrowing belongs with someone who can see the rest of your finances.

The third route: refurbished, or last year's model

Buying outright gives you two options that a monthly price never shows you. The first is a refurbished handset from a business seller, with a stated warranty. Its price goes into the calculator's handset price box like any other. And the Consumer Rights Act 2015 applies to goods sold by a trader.

The second is last year's model, bought new. On our list, the Apple iPhone 16 is the generation before the iPhone 17. It costs less, and it still has years of Apple's support (software and security updates) ahead of it. The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra has been replaced by the S26 Ultra, and it's the one with a deep record of owner ratings.

Which of our picks suits a SIM-free buyer

Every phone on our smartphones list is sold SIM-free and unlocked. So the question is which of them suits buying outright best.

If you keep phones for years, the Apple iPhone 17 is the one to buy outright. It has the newest Apple chip, and more years of updates ahead of it than anything else on the list. The listing gives 256GB of storage as standard. It also costs the most of the iPhones here. The iPhone 16 costs less, but gives up the smoother 120Hz screen and half the storage.

The Apple iPhone 16e is the cheapest way onto Apple's current chip and its full support period. The catch is a single rear camera, with no ultra-wide lens. Perhaps a contract tempts you because paying for an iPhone in one go feels like too much. If so, this is the iPhone that makes the SIM-free sum easiest.

On Android, the Samsung Galaxy S25 is the strongest flagship for the money: a top-end phone that costs less than the iPhone 16. It has the same chip as the S25 Ultra, 256GB as standard and a long, published support commitment. The S25 Ultra adds the 6.9-inch screen, the 200MP camera and the S Pen stylus. There's one catch if you're buying it SIM-free. Every Amazon UK listing for it is sold by a third-party seller, not Amazon itself, so check the returns terms before paying outright.

The Google Pixel 10 brings Google's camera processing and clean Android, with nothing added on top, at a mid-range price. The Galaxy S25 offers more storage and a better display for similar money, though. The Google Pixel 10a costs the least of any phone on the list, and it comes with the longest promise. The listing gives seven years of OS and security updates, and a quoted 30-hour battery. Amazon dispatches it too. No phone on the page gives you more years of support for your money.

Is SIM-free cheaper than a contract?

Usually, over the full term, as long as you compare like with like. Take the same phone bought outright, plus a SIM-only plan with the same data. Set that against the contract's upfront cost plus every monthly payment, including the printed rise. Contracts sometimes carry a real handset discount, though. So the only answer that holds is the one you add up, and that's what the calculator is for.

Do I own the phone at the end of a contract?

On a standard pay-monthly contract, yes, once the minimum term ends. And a phone sold since December 2021 will be unlocked. On a split deal, you own the phone when the handset credit agreement is paid off, and you can do that early. The airtime plan has its own term, and it carries on until you change or cancel it.

Can I get a contract phone unlocked?

If you bought it from a UK provider since December 2021, it should be unlocked already, because selling locked handsets has been banned since then. For an older phone, ask the network that sold it. For an iPhone, only the network provider can unlock it, Apple says. Once it's unlocked, go to Settings, then General, then About. You'll see "No SIM restrictions" next to Network Provider Lock.