Short answer
Take Red Unlimited SIM Only 15 if Vodafone will sell it to you. €15 a month, unlimited 5G, unlimited any-network calls and EU roaming on a 12-month term. That is €180 in year one, against €260 for thirteen €20 top-ups on prepay.
If the €15 card is not there, prepay wins on cash. Data Unlimited 5G at €20 per 28 days is €260 a year with no contract and no April rise. The next Red rung up is €25, which is €300 a year before the €2.50 April adjustment.
Heavy callers on prepay need the €30 plan, because the €20 one caps any-network calls at 100 minutes. At €390 a year that is dearer than every Red SIM bar Ultra. A Vodafone customer making lots of calls to Three and Eir numbers should be on bill pay, or on Clear.
The comparison nobody else prints: Vodafone's own prepay at €20 and Clear Mobile at €12.99 use the same radio. Clear adds unlimited any-network calls and drops the 28-day clock. If you are only on Vodafone prepay for the coverage, read the Clear question before topping up again.
Both ladders in one table
Three prepay top-up offers and five Red SIM-only plans are live on vodafone.ie in August 2026. Prepay activates when you top up by the plan amount in one go; the money is taken and the allowance runs for 28 days. Bill pay is a 12-month contract with a monthly e-bill.
| Plan | Type | Price | Data | Calls and texts | EU roaming | 5G |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Unlimited 5G | 28-day prepay | €20 / 28 days | Unlimited | Unlimited Vodafone-to-Vodafone; 100 any-network mins and texts; 100 international mins | 45 GB EU roaming | Yes |
| Chat Extra | 28-day prepay | €20 / 28 days | 10 GB | 10,000 any-network minutes and texts | Home allowance usable in the EU | No, 4G |
| Extra Unlimited 5G | 28-day prepay | €30 / 28 days | Unlimited | Unlimited any-network; 100 international mins | 45 GB EU roaming | Yes |
| Red Unlimited 15 | 12 months | €15 / month | Unlimited | Unlimited any-network; 100 international mins | EU roaming included | Yes |
| Red Start | 12 months | €25 / month | 10 GB | Family add-on line: unlimited Vodafone-to-Vodafone, 60 mins to other networks, hard-capped | EU roaming included | Yes |
| Red Unlimited 25 | 12 months | €25 / month | Unlimited | Unlimited any-network; 100 international mins | EU roaming included | Yes |
| Red Lite | 12 months | €30 / month | Unlimited | Unlimited any-network; 100 international mins | EU roaming included | Yes |
| Ultra | 12 months | €35 / month | Unlimited | Unlimited to Europe, US, Canada, Mexico, Australia, NZ; 100 other international | 80 GB EU roaming, unlimited calls to home, Europe, Australia, USA and more | Yes |
Two more sit off the main page. Vodafone X, the old under-26 prepay at €20 (4G) or €25 (5G) with weekday minutes capped at 100, is legacy: closed to new customers, still renewing for people who already hold it. The story is in the Vodafone X review. Red Unlimited 30 Day is a €35 rolling bill-pay SIM that appears in Vodafone's product list; at €35 it is hard to recommend against the 12-month €25 plan or Clear. Red Start is a family add-on line, not a standalone plan, so ignore it unless you already hold a Vodafone bill-pay account.
What €20 prepay really includes
Vodafone's prepay page leads with "unlimited 5G data" and "unlimited calls". Both are true, but the second one has a condition.
Data Unlimited 5G, €20
Unlimited data at the fastest speed available, 45 GB of EU roaming data, unlimited calls and texts to Vodafone numbers, then 100 any-network minutes, 100 any-network texts and 100 international minutes. Those 100 minutes are the whole allowance for calls to Three, Eir, 48, GoMo, Tesco and landlines. Go past them and Advantage Plus out-of-bundle rates apply from your credit. For a data-first phone that mostly uses WhatsApp and Teams, it is excellent value. For a phone that rings people, it is not an unlimited plan.
Chat Extra, €20
The opposite shape. 10,000 any-network minutes and 10,000 texts, 10 GB of 4G data with rollover of unused gigabytes, and the home allowance usable in the EU. Same €20, no 5G. Most people reading this page want data more than 10,000 minutes, but for a parent's phone or a landline replacement it is the better €20.
Extra Unlimited 5G, €30
Unlimited any-network calls and texts, unlimited 5G data, 100 international minutes and 45 GB EU roaming. This is the only Vodafone prepay plan that matches what the Red SIMs include. It costs €390 a year.
All three reset on a 28-day clock. Top up by the plan amount before expiry and the allowance is replaced, not extended, so a mid-cycle top-up throws away whatever was left. Auto Top Up in the My Vodafone app runs every 28 days and is the sensible way to avoid gaps. When you port a number in between 1 July and 30 September 2026, the second top-up is free, which knocks one cycle off year one.
What the Red SIMs really include
Every Red SIM-only plan is 12 months, unlimited data, 5G enabled and includes unlimited any-network calls and texts in Ireland. The differences are eligibility, roaming size and international calling.
- Red Unlimited SIM Only 15, €15. The plan the rest of this page hinges on. Its terms limit it to accounts that already hold Vodafone Broadband or a nominated bill-pay plan, unless Vodafone is running it as a new-customer promotion, which it does periodically. Older versions of the terms capped data at 10 Mbps; the May 2025 terms drop that line. 100 international minutes included. If the €15 card is on the page for you, take it and stop reading.
- Red Unlimited SIM Only 25, €25. Same allowances as the €15 plan, same eligibility wording, €10 more. It exists for people who do not qualify for the promotion.
- Red Start, €25. Vodafone's own Red Start terms list 10 GB of data, unlimited Vodafone-to-Vodafone calls and 60 minutes to other networks, hard-capped once used. It is an add-on line for an existing bill-pay account. Do not compare it with the prepay plans; Chat Extra at €20 is a better "light" plan on every line.
- Red Lite, €30. Unlimited everything on Vodafone's "Unlimited" suite. Only worth it if neither Red Unlimited plan is available to you and you refuse prepay.
- Ultra, €35. 80 GB EU roaming, unlimited minutes and texts to Europe, the US, Canada, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand, plus 100 minutes to other countries. Vodafone ran a €20-for-six-months offer on it from May 2026 for new bill-pay customers, which brings year one to €330 before the April rise. Read best mobile for international calls before paying for it.
Two things apply to all five. In-contract customers may only migrate to a plan of equal or greater value, so you cannot sign the €30 plan and drop to €15 in month three. And every SIM-only plan signed from 16 October 2024 carries the annual price adjustment below.
13 top-ups vs 12 bills
Prepay runs on 28-day cycles, so a year is 13 top-ups. Bill pay runs on calendar months, so a year is 12 bills. The table uses the catalog figures for August 2026 and lists the April rise separately, because how much of it lands in year one depends on the month you sign.
| Plan | Cycles in a year | Year-one cash | Annual price adjustment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Data Unlimited 5G | 13 × 28 days | €260 | None. Prepay is excluded from the April adjustment. |
| Chat Extra | 13 × 28 days | €260 | None. |
| Extra Unlimited 5G | 13 × 28 days | €390 | None. |
| Red Unlimited 15 | 12 months | €180 | +€2.50 a month from the first April bill. |
| Red Unlimited 25 | 12 months | €300 | +€2.50 each April. |
| Red Lite | 12 months | €360 | +€2.50 each April. |
| Ultra | 12 months | €420 | +€2.50 each April. A €20-for-6-months new-customer offer ran from May 2026; check the card. |
| Clear Unlimited 5G | 12 × 30 days | €155.88 | None printed. Rolling; the €12.99 activation fee is cancelled by the free first month. |
Vodafone's annual price adjustment page is unusually plain: each April the monthly charge on a mobile SIM-only bill-pay plan rises by €2.50, on plans signed or recontracted from 16 October 2024. Bill-pay contracts older than that use CPI plus 3%, which came to 5.8% in April 2026. The same page says the adjustment "does not apply to Vodafone Pay As You Go plans". So a €15 Red SIM signed in September is €15 until April, then €17.50 for the rest of the term; a €20 prepay plan is €20 for as long as Vodafone keeps the offer open.
Put the two together and the break-even is simple. Against the €20 prepay plan, the €15 Red SIM saves €80 a year even after the April step. Against Red Unlimited 25 it is the prepay plan that saves, by €40 plus whatever the April rise adds. More on the cliff-free logic in price for life.
Roaming allowances: 45 GB, 35 GB, 80 GB
Counter-intuitively, Vodafone prepay has the bigger EU allowance on the cheap plan. The €20 and €30 prepay offers carry a 45 GB EU roaming fair-use cap, printed in each offer's terms. Red Unlimited SIM Only's terms set the EEA data fair-use at 35 GB, and Ultra lifts it to 80 GB. All of them carry the standard EU "periodic travel only" wording, so none is a plan for living in Spain.
Outside the EU the two types diverge more. Prepay adds Vodafone's daily-rate "Red Roaming" to the Advantage Plus tariff, opt out by text. Ultra on bill pay is the one that bundles calls home from the US, Canada and Australia. Chat Extra's data does not work abroad at all. If roaming is the reason you are choosing, best mobile for roaming has the cross-network view and EU roaming rules explains the fair-use maths.
Credit check, upfront month, eSIM
- Credit vetting. Bill pay only. Online SIM-only orders pay one month's charge upfront, which is credited against the first bill, and Vodafone's terms add that further upfront charges "may apply subject to credit vetting". Prepay has no vetting; it is a SIM and a top-up.
- eSIM. Vodafone's order forms offer eSIM on both types in August 2026. On bill pay it is free and activates in My Vodafone. On prepay the online eSIM route is for customers porting a number in on Data Unlimited 5G; a new number on prepay eSIM means a store visit. Our catalog lists Vodafone as eSIM-capable on that basis; check the card on the day if a new prepay number is what you need. Wider picture in eSIM in Ireland.
- Rewards. Vodafone Happy runs on both types through the app. It is not a reason to pick either.
- Hotspot. Neither plan type prints a tethering ban, and the "unlimited" wording on both carries the usual fair-use and commercial-use clauses. Sustained home-broadband-style use on a phone SIM is the thing those clauses exist for.
- Cooling off. 14 days on a distance sale for both, but a prepay top-up that has been used is spent money.
Moving between the two without losing your number
Prepay to bill pay is an in-network migration, not a port. You keep the number and the SIM can usually be kept too. Every prepay offer's terms say the same thing: no element of the top-up offer carries over, so move on the last day of a 28-day cycle, not the first. Credit balance on the prepay account does not convert into bill credit either; spend it first.
Bill pay to prepay is possible once the 12-month term has ended, or earlier if you are willing to pay the remaining months. Ask for a "migration to pay as you go" rather than cancelling, or the number goes with the cancellation.
Leaving Vodafone in either direction is the ComReg port, handled by the new provider. Steps in how to switch mobile. A prepay number ports just as easily as a bill-pay one; the only difference is that nobody checks for an early-termination balance.
Who wins, by household
Light user, few calls, some data
Prepay, and probably Chat Extra at €20 rather than the 5G plan. 10 GB with rollover covers most light phones, and 10,000 minutes means no bill shock. Bill pay has nothing at €20 for this person; Red Start is an add-on and costs €25. If you are unsure what light means, run the numbers in how much data do I need.
Heavy data, lots of calls to other networks
Bill pay. Red Unlimited 15 if offered, Red Unlimited 25 if not. The prepay equivalent is €30 every 28 days, which is the dearest option in the table bar Ultra.
Heavy data, mostly messaging apps
Either. The €20 prepay plan is cheaper than every Red SIM except the €15 one, it has the bigger EU allowance, and 100 any-network minutes is plenty for a phone that lives in WhatsApp. Bill pay only wins here if the €15 card is on the page.
Frequent EU traveller
Prepay at €20 for the 45 GB, unless you want calls home from outside the EU, in which case Ultra. The €15 Red SIM's 35 GB is still generous by Irish standards.
Household already on Vodafone broadband
Bill pay, for two reasons. First, holding Vodafone Broadband is the eligibility route into Red Unlimited SIM Only 15 and 25 outside promotion windows. Second, the Red Family Converged discount takes €10 a month off each of the third to sixth eligible subscriptions on one account, broadband included. The catch is that the €15 and €25 Red Unlimited SIM Only plans are specifically excluded from that discount, so a family of four is choosing between cheap lines and discounted lines, not both. Prepay never counts toward the discount.
Student or under 25
Not Vodafone X. It was the €20 (4G) or €25 (5G) youth prepay with unlimited weekend minutes, and it is closed to new customers; the Vodafone X review explains what happened to it. On Vodafone radio the student answer is now Data Unlimited 5G at €20 or Clear at €12.99. Cross-network options, including 48 Student at €10.99, are in best mobile for students.
The Clear question
Anyone on Vodafone prepay because of coverage, rather than because of Vodafone, should know that Clear Mobile sells unlimited 5G on the same masts for €12.99 a month, rolling 30 days, with unlimited any-network calls and 23 GB EU roaming. There is a €12.99 activation fee, and the first month is free, which cancels it. Year one is €155.88 on the catalog figures, against €260 for Vodafone's €20 prepay and €300 for Red Unlimited 25.
What you give up: Vodafone Happy, the 100 international minutes, 45 GB of roaming instead of 23 GB, the broadband eligibility route into the €15 plan, and Vodafone's own shops. What you gain: the calls cap goes away, the 28-day clock goes away, and there is no April adjustment printed on the plan. For most people who do not qualify for Red Unlimited 15, Clear is the better Vodafone-radio buy than either Vodafone plan type. The other same-radio option is An Post Mobile, 4G prepay on Vodafone’s network from €12.99; Virgin Mobile, despite the €15 match with Red Unlimited 15, is on Three’s masts and 4G only.
Whole-market view: best unlimited mobile for the €12.99 floor, best prepay if you want to stay on top-ups, and bill pay vs prepay for the general rules across all networks.
