Cheapest broadband in Ireland

The cheapest broadband in Ireland in August 2026 is not one brand. It is a six-month promo on a 24-month contract, a 12-month teaser, or a no-hike independent — depending on whether you mean the number on the ad or the bill in month 13. Ranked by introductory monthly price, Vodafone’s 500 Mb full fibre is the lowest figure we track at €25/month (six months, on a 24-month term, then €40). On a 12-month contract, Sky’s 500 Mb is still the cheapest fibre intro at €30/month.

The catch is year two. Sky’s 500 Mb thereafter is now €67.50/month — the harshest fibre cliff on the board apart from Eir. Virgin’s €35 intro (500 Mb or 1 Gb) jumps to €70–€80. Eir’s 500 Mb intro of €34.99 becomes about €75.99, plus a flat €4 April rise from 2027. Vodafone’s promo only lasts six months, but the €40 it lands on is the standing price — there is no second cliff when the contract ends. That is why this page ranks on the intro, then immediately shows the thereafter.

If you care more about not being hiked than winning month one, start with Pure Telecom (no built-in annual increase; 100 Mb from €30, 500 Mb €35 → €50) and Imagine (selected plans frozen to December 2030, thereafter equal to intro on the 5G tariffs we track). Availability still wins: check the Eircode before you fall in love with a teaser. None of the speeds below are lab results — they are the advertised plan figures from our dataset. We do not invent Mbps.

Intro price vs the bill in year two

Irish broadband ads sell month one. The contract sells month 13 — or, on the new six-month promos, month 7. Every “from” price on this page is the cheapest introductory monthly tariff we list for that retailer in August 2026. Thereafter is what the same plan typically costs after the intro — or out of contract. Setup fees are €0 on most of these plans in our dataset; Digiweb’s NBI 500 carries a €49.95 activation and Eir 5G’s 30-day plan a €99 one. Otherwise the jump is the monthly rate, not a hidden install.

Read the table left to right: cheapest intro first, then the hangover. Vodafone sits at the top because a six-month €25 promo on a 24-month term undercuts every 12-month teaser. Sky is still the 12-month fibre teaser people mean when they search “cheapest broadband Ireland”. Pure and Sky share a €30 intro — and then go in opposite directions.

The 24-month column is intro × the intro months, then thereafter for the rest of two years — except Three (the promo is 24 months at €30 for new customers) and the rolling monthly plans (Starlink, Imagine) which do not jump. It is a model, not a quote: annual rises (Vodafone’s flat €3.50 and Three’s €3 each April both apply in contract), Contract Change Notifications and mid-contract extras can still move the total. It is still the comparison the ad tile will not show you.

Cheapest fibre intros in August 2026

Strip out 5G and satellite and the fibre/cable teaser board is clearer. Vodafone 500 Mb at €25 for six months on a 24-month term is the lowest fibre number, and Sky 500 Mb Ultrafast Plus at €30 is the 12-month figure most households should beat. Pure’s 500 Mb is now €35 → €50, which beats Sky on the thereafter by a distance. Virgin matches a low intro (€35) on both 500 Mb and 1 Gb — take the gig if you are actually on a Virgin street — but the thereafter is a different planet. Pure’s cheapest line is 100 Mb at €30, not 500 Mb.

Three honest footnotes. First, Vodafone no longer prices 500 Mb and 1 Gb the same: the gig is €10 a month more on the standing price (€50 vs €40), and neither tier jumps when the contract ends. Pay the €10 only if the house will use it. Second, Eir’s 1 Gb is a 24-month intro at €39.99, so two years cost about €960 before the €85.99 thereafter; the 500 Mb 12-month looks cheaper until month 13. Third, rural NBI 500 from Digiweb (€34.95 for six months, €49.95 for the rest of year one, plus €49.95 activation) is not trying to beat a town Sky 500; it is the fibre that actually exists at the pole.

These are advertised plan speeds from the retailer, not independent tests. FTTC “fibre” on Open Eir is still copper on the last stretch and will not match a 500 Mb FTTH headline. Cable upload on Virgin (50 Mb on 500 Mb, 100 Mb on 1 Gb) is not SIRO symmetrical, and on Open Eir FTTH every retailer — Vodafone, Sky, Pure, Eir — sells the same 500/100 and 1000/200 profile. Check the order summary for FTTH vs FTTC vs cable before you compare two €35 tiles.

No-hike and fair-contract picks: Pure and Imagine

Cheapest intro and fairest contract are different jobs. Pure Telecom and Imagine are the names to run if you would rather not play switcher every April. Digiweb sits in the same conversation — it prints “No CPI Increase” on its fibre plans — confirm the order summary, not the marketing site.

Pure Telecom — same wholesale fibre, smaller thereafter step

Pure is Irish-owned and sells Open Eir, SIRO and NBI — the same physical lines as Sky, Vodafone and Eir. ComReg Compare has flagged Pure plans without a built-in annual increase; we score that as no annual price rise in the dataset. Thereafter still exists: 100 Mb goes €30 → €40, Pure Fibre 500 €35 → €50, 500 Mb + phone €35 → €55, 1 Gb €40 → €70. The 500 Mb step is €15, not Sky’s €37.50 or Virgin’s €35 cliff — and over 24 months Pure 500 (€1,020) beats Sky 500 on the 12-month plan (€1,170) by €150. Full Pure Telecom review.

Imagine — freeze to 2030 on selected plans

Imagine’s 5G Home Basic is €40/month with a 650 GB cap; Unlimited is €50; the new Unlim-Pro with an engineer-fitted outdoor antenna is €60; Fibre Starter 500 is €45 for six months, then €55. On the 5G tariffs, thereafter equals intro. Selected plans advertise a price freeze until December 2030 and a leave-anytime pledge on 5G home. Confirm the freeze is on the tariff you join. Wireless will not match SIRO upload; the 5G Basic cap is real. Full Imagine review.

Digiweb — no built-in hike on the fibre intros we track

Digiweb’s cheapest line is now NBI Fibre 500 at €34.95 for six months, €49.95 for the rest of year one, then €54.95 — with a €49.95 activation fee. SIRO Gigabit is €37.95 (thereafter €49.95, €29.95 set-up); HyperPulse NBI 1000 is €44.95 → €54.95 with free install. We list no built-in annual rise — still model the thereafter and the once-off fee. Useful when NBI has passed the house and Sky’s 500 intro is not on the rural pole. Full Digiweb review.

When 5G or satellite is actually cheaper

Three at €30 is no longer the cheapest intro in the ranking — the €25 price you may remember is an existing Three / 48 customer exclusive, and new customers pay €30 for 24 months, then €39.99, with a flat €3 rise each April in contract. Advertised download is 500 Mb — that is a ceiling on a mast, not a line-speed guarantee. Evening cell congestion is the product risk. The 12-month unlimited 5G plan is €44.99 intro / €54.99 thereafter, which is not cheap compared with Sky 500 fibre. Use 5G when you need internet this week, you are between lets, or fibre is months away. Full Three broadband review.

Vodafone’s GigaCube matches its fibre promo — €25 for six months on 24 months, then €40 — and adds a 3-month term at €40 if you will not sign long. Starlink Residential 100 Mb is €35 rolling monthly — thereafter is the same €35. Over 24 months that is €840, level with Pure 100 Mb fibre and €330 cheaper than Sky 500’s two-year model. It is still the last-resort product: buy it when fibre and 5G are a no, or while NBI is “coming”. Typical planning speeds are the 100–200 Mb down range, not a SIRO gigabit. Kit terms change; confirm at checkout. Full Starlink review.

Imagine’s 5G sits between those: dearer than the Vodafone and Three promos, flatter than fibre teasers, leave-anytime on 5G, freeze on selected plans. None of these replace NBI or SIRO once the engineer has been. They are how you stay online — and sometimes spend less — until the fibre is live.

How we ranked cheapest broadband

This page is a price ranking, not our overall best broadband in Ireland table. The order above is lowest introductory monthly price first (the cheapest tariff we list for each retailer). Ties break on thereafter, then name. Scores, coverage and contract fairness still appear on each card because a €25 six-month promo on a 24-month term is not the same product as a €30 12-month teaser.

• Intro monthly price. The “from” figure is min monthly EUR in our August 2026 dataset — Vodafone €25, Sky €30, Pure €30, Three €30, and so on. We do not average plans or invent a blended rate.
• Thereafter / year two. We show it on every card and model 24 months in the table above. That is the ranking the ad will not do.
• Contract length. Vodafone’s and Three’s cheapest tariffs are 24 months; Imagine and Starlink are monthly; most fibre intros are 12.
• Advertised speed, not lab Mbps. SPEED on the cards is the advertised download on the cheapest tariff. We do not publish fake speed-test results. Line-level tests will be added as we instrument homes — see how we test.
• Availability. Open Eir, SIRO, NBI, Virgin cable, 5G and satellite are different footprints. The cheapest brand at a neighbour’s Eircode can be a no at yours.

Affiliate links never change the order. A commission cannot buy a higher rank. Prices move; every figure here is dated August 2026 and should be confirmed on the order summary and ComReg Compare.

Our cheapest picks in brief

Vodafone — cheapest number on the board, and no second cliff

€25 a month for six months on 500 Mb full fibre, then €40, on a 24-month term (the 12-month version is €35 for six months, then the same €40). No setup fee, sold on Open Eir, SIRO and NBI. The €40 is the standing price, so there is no month-25 shock — the cost is a fixed €3.50 rise each April, in contract. Two years: €870. Detail in the Vodafone broadband review.

Sky — cheapest 12-month 500 Mb fibre intro

€30 a month for 12 months on 500 Mb Ultrafast Plus, no setup fee, sold on Open Eir, SIRO and NBI. Year one is €360, the cheapest on the board. Thereafter is €67.50, and Sky raised standard prices by €3.50 in April 2026. Take it only if you will switch or renegotiate at month 12. Detail in the Sky broadband review.

Pure Telecom — cheapest honest fibre if you hate the hike

From €30 for 100 Mb, or €35 for Pure Fibre 500 (thereafter €50). The step is €10–€15, not €37.50, and there is no built-in April increase. Same wholesale fibre as the big brands. Over 24 months Pure 500 (€1,020) beats Sky 500 (€1,170). The Pure review is the contract-fairness read.

Three — cheapest 24-month 5G for new customers

€30 a month for 24 months on unlimited 5G home, thereafter €39.99, plus €3 each April. The €25 tile is for existing Three / 48 customers only. Advertised 500 Mb is not a wired guarantee. Best when fibre is late or you need a router this afternoon. See the Three review.

Imagine — no thereafter jump on the 5G plans we track

From €40 for 5G Home Basic, €40 after, freeze to December 2030 on selected tariffs. Rural wireless and 5G, plus some fibre. The Imagine review covers the cap, the mast and the leave-anytime small print.

Virgin’s €35 intro is only a bargain in year one, and only on a Virgin street — Virgin Media review. Eir’s coverage is the product; the thereafter is the trap — Eir review. Head-to-heads live in our broadband comparisons.

About the author

Darragh Murphy

Broadband & Fixed-Line Specialist

Darragh Murphy has tested and compared Irish broadband services since 2018. He runs matched.ie’s real-world speed and reliability tests across fibre, cable and rural fixed-wireless connections.

8+ years analysing Irish broadband performanceTested 50+ providers including Eir, Virgin Media, Sky and SIROCertified in Cisco Networking and Openreach fibre standardsBased in Galway, regularly covers rural rollout issues