TextNow vs. Helium Mobile: Which free phone carrier is right for you?

There are a lot of budget phone carrier options in the market these days, giving you a wide range of options for a cheap phone plan that works just as well as options from the big guys. But what’s harder to find is phone service for free, which is what TextNow offers. Helium Mobile has changed its Zero plan and now requires customers to cover taxes and fees, so it's no longer truly free but rather low cost. 

Both carriers are MVNOs – mobile virtual network operators that piggyback on a major carrier’s network – and both offer a nationwide 5G network. There are other factors to consider, too, such as voice and data limitations, service reliability, and customer support. So, let’s see which plan is the better choice for you.  

Executive summary: Which is the better free phone carrier?  

To be clear, Helium is no longer truly free because starting Jan. 27, 2026, it asks customers to pay taxes and fees.

The two carriers are similar in some ways – they both offer free or very-low-cost nationwide phone service that includes calls, texts, and data; they both partner with other brands to offer discounts and promotions; and they’re both an online-only carrier, skipping the large overhead that comes with maintaining physical locations. But that is where their similarities end. When it comes to how each carrier is able to do all this, TextNow has a clear edge with its service offerings and options, its privacy features, and its accessibility — and its truly $0 service.

Summary: TextNow vs. Helium Mobile  

Our take

Both carriers offer a $0 phone service option, with TextNow providing more of the essentials – unlimited talk & text – and truly free service. Helium Mobile's Zero plan is no longer $0 because it now charges customers taxes and fees, but also offers slightly more data access for all other phone usage.

Helium's limitations on calls and texts, though, may be too restrictive. Its Zero plan gives you 100 minutes of calling and 300 texts, and texts you send or receive, including spam, count against that limit. The talk & text limits, plus its privacy concerns – identity verification and mandatory location sharing – make it a less attractive option.  

Benefits

• TextNow’s free plan is supported by ads, and through those partnerships, TextNow is also able to provide discounts and free offers from a variety of brands that are updated weekly, passing more savings to customers alongside a $0 phone bill. It also has a Rewards program where customers earn points for using the service.  

• Helium Mobile also offers brand offers and discounts through their rewards program. You can redeem reward Cloud Points (can be earned by participating in certain actions like referrals, location sharing, etc.) for various offers available in its Cloud store.

Drawbacks

• TextNow’s free plan comes with 1GB of data for specific apps (email, maps, finance, rideshare), so if you need access to any other services, you wouldn’t be able to connect without Wi-Fi.  

• Helium Mobile’s plan only comes with 100 minutes of calling (which includes inbound calls, Wi-Fi calling, and voicemails) and 300 texts (which includes sent, recieved, and spam messages). As of Jan. 27, 2026, you also need to add a payment method because taxes and fees will be charged to you under the Zero plan. 

TextNow vs. Helium Mobile: Plan overview

TextNow vs. Helium full review

We spent 14 days using TextNow’s Free Flex plan exclusively and relied on real user testimonials and reviews for Helium Mobile’s review.  

For these particular plans, we focused on testing out: 

• Purchasing and activating the SIM card for the plan to test the ease of signing up 

• Making calls in various locations to test their quality 

• Using mobile data while out in various locations to test the coverage and reliability 

• Contacting customer service to test out wait times and helpfulness 

• Redeeming offers available from brands to gauge how easy they are/if there are any limitations 

Through these actions, we were able to better ascertain what a real customer experience might look like with either of these carriers, so we can give a fair review.  

Plans and pricing

When it comes to a free phone plan, there is only one offered by each carrier — and Helium's $0 price comes with an asterisk, because it now passes taxes and fees along to customers. Both plans avoid a contract or credit check, and neither are temporary offers that hike the price up after a set period.

TextNow’s Free Flex plan comes with unlimited talk & text, plus 1GB of data that can only be used for email, maps, finance, or rideshare (Uber & Lyft) apps. If you use up your allotted 1GB, there are no fees or “re-up” charges, you will simply not have data for those extra apps for the remainder of the “billing” cycle (There is no billing, but the cycle for counting and restarting the data count is still at 30 days.)  If you choose, you can purchase additional data passes by the day ($2.99), week ($8.99), or month ($35.99).

Helium Mobile’s Zero plan comes with 100 minutes for voice calls, 300 texts (SMS), and 3GB of data without app restrictions. However, only 1GB of that is on the T-Mobile nationwide network. The remaining 2GB is on Helium's Network, which has much more limited coverage. If you use up your allotted 3GB, there are no fees, but you will only be able to get more by either buying additional data for $7.50 per GB or waiting for the renewal of the billing cycle.

Experience: TextNow vs. Helium Mobile

TextNow’s Free Flex plan works as promised – I’m able to access my calls and texts, my email, my Google Maps, and Uber when needed, without Wi-Fi. It’s important to note that my phone number, and all its conversations, are stored within the TextNow app itself. So, texting and calling isn’t done through the phone’s native dialer and messaging app like I’m used to, but through the TextNow app. It’s also where I’m able to manage my plan (add data if I want), find support, and check out which deals and promos are available weekly through TextNow Perks.  

As mentioned, TextNow can provide this service for free by serving ads in the app. The ads can be turned off, but that requires a payment via a subscription to the Ad-Free+ plan. Otherwise, there are no other requirements or hidden fees – it just works.  

Helium Mobile Zero’s plan similarly appears to work as promised. They also have an app, but it’s only used for activating their SIM, keeping track of your voice minutes and texts, managing your reward points in the Cloud store, and upgrading your plan. Otherwise, you use your phone normally, with an allotted 3GB of mobile data for usage outside of Wi-Fi.  

Helium Mobile is able to provide its service for free through mandatory anonymized location sharing. To continue using the Zero plan, you have to share your location at all times. Also note that during the sign-up, you will be required to pass identity verification, whereby you must upload a picture of your government-issued ID, as well as a selfie.  

Data plans

If you’re looking for a free plan that will also allow you to add more data as you need, both carriers have those options.  

Helium Mobile also offers two more monthly plans with limited and unlimited data, while TextNow offers unlimited data plans that last for a set period of time, intended for both one-off uses, as well as a consistent monthly plan.  

You can see how these plans compare below:  

Coverage

Both carriers use leading nationwide 5G networks for cellular and data coverage.  

I find that both carriers’ coverage works best in urban areas. So, if you live in a city or suburb, you won’t have any issues with connecting.  

Rural areas are also covered fairly well, as seen through various reviews, but you may want to use the coverage maps found on the companies' websites directly if you’re unsure about your location.  

Reliability

Most customers report confidence in their phones working while out and about, being able to complete tasks without lagging or lack of service.  

Data speeds

This is where the two differ. TextNow’s Free Flex plan only allows up to 75 Mbps, whereas the Helium Mobile Zero plan provides up to 418 Mbps. An important distinction to make here is that TextNow’s free plan only allows data for email, maps, finance (Venmo, select banking apps), rideshare, and its own app. None of those apps require high speeds for function, so their small limit makes sense in comparison to Helium Mobile’s, which provides 3GB of data for everything, including streaming – a data-heavy action.  

Customer support

Both carriers offer customer support online (no phone number) via a support page with helpful articles and tips, and live chat.  

TextNow’s live representatives are available 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Eastern, seven days a week.  

Helium Mobile’s live representatives are available Monday-Friday 9 a.m.-10 p.m. Eastern, and Saturday-Sunday 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Eastern.  

TextNow’s live chat support is AI-powered, with an AI bot speaking with you originally, before it gets transferred to a live representative if the problem isn’t solved. I also found that I could just type in “speak to a real human,” and be given the option to wait for an agent right away.  

Helium Mobile’s live chat support is also AI-powered, with common support FAQs and an option to connect to a human agent. However, on a recent test the chatbot noted heavy volume and said response may be within two hours.

Recap: Which carrier is better?

TextNow and Helium Mobile share a lot of similarities when it comes to pricing — although Helium is no longer free — coverage, and reliability. But their differences are what sets TextNow apart as the more accessible and trustworthy choice.  

TextNow has been providing some form of free phone service for the past 16 years, so it’s a service you can trust won’t go away. The way it’s able to pay for it is also a trusted method – ads – which in TextNow’s case, also work to save you money by providing you with free trials and offers from leading brands. There is no complicated process for signing up – all it takes is an email address to create a TextNow account. The only credit card information you need to fill out is to order a SIM card (one-time purchase) so your phone can access the network for usage outside of Wi-Fi. Otherwise, once activated, you just use your phone without any other hidden requirements.  

Helium Mobile, on the other hand, is trying to make internet and data service more accessible by using the Zero plan to track “hotspots” via their mandatory location sharing so they can build their own mini networks. While the request is reasonable, considering the benefit, a lot of people find their privacy more important. No company is truly perfect at protecting data, and the requirements needed to enjoy this plan – location sharing and the initial identity verification – are enough to question whether signing up is worth it.  

Lastly, for both carriers (and similar ones in the market) there are no physical stores so customer service happens via chat bot and online agents.

If you’re looking to save money this year by switching to a free phone plan, TextNow is the right carrier for you. If you’re not worried about privacy, and need more data access while on-the-go for the cost of relevant taxes and fees, Helium Mobile may be for you — but it's no longer truly free and its data is more constrained than the 3GB number indicates.