SIM Cards Price Research in France (2026)

How much does a SIM forfait cost in France?

Answer: SIM-only plans in France cost €1.99 to €33.99 a month after promos, as of October 2026. A 200 GB 5G plan costs €9.99 at Lebara or SFR La Carte prepaid, €10.99 to €11.99 at MVNOs such as Cdiscount Mobile and YouPrice, €15.99 at Sosh or B&You, and €19.99 at SFR. Most plans are sans engagement, and a one-off SIM fee of €0 to €10 comes on top.

The table below lists 29 plansfrom the four network operators, their low-cost brands, MVNOs and prepaid ranges, each checked on the provider's own page on 13 October 2026. Rows are sorted by the after-promo price, the price you pay once a first-year or first-six-months discount ends. Promo and bundle prices sit in their own column. A bundle price such as Free 350 GB at €9.99 needs a Freebox Pop at home, so it is a condition, not a promo. Prepaid rows renew every 30 or 31 days, not every calendar month.

Source: provider pages, checked 13 October 2026. Sorted by the price after any promo ends. Verify current prices on the provider's site before you subscribe.

What are the price bands for French forfaits?

French mobile prices fall into five bands once you rank on the after-promo price. Each band below lists its real price range and the plans that sit in it, all checked on provider pages in October 2026. The biggest change since June 2026 is the under-€12 big-data band: MVNOs and prepaid ranges now sell 200 to 350 GBfor less than any network operator's own plan.

Source: provider pages, checked 13 October 2026. Promo prices appear in brackets; each band is set by the price after the promo ends.

Which is the cheapest forfait in France?

Answer: The cheapest French plans in October 2026 are Sosh 1 GB Bloqué and B&You 1 GB at €1.99 a month, then Free's Forfait 2€ at €2 (€0 for Freebox subscribers). The cheapest real data is Lebara 200 GB 5G or the SFR La Carte 200 GB recharge at €9.99. The lowest standalone price per gigabyte is Lycamobile 350 GB at €11.99 per 30 days, or €0.034 per GB.

One-off fees change the order over a year. Counting the SIM, the first year costs €29.88 at B&You (€1 SIM plus a €5 setup fee), €33.88 at Sosh (€10 SIM) and €34.00 at Free (€10 SIM). B&You then charges a €5 exit fee, which brings it to €34.88 if you leave. The Sosh plan is blocked with 2 hours of calls, so the bill cannot rise. The Free plan includes only 50 MB unless you add its free 1 GB Booster option.

For a main line, the price per gigabytematters more than the monthly price. The table divides each plan's after-promo price by its French data allowance. Lycamobile and Lebara lead because they are prepaid MVNOs with large bundles. Orange 130 GB costs nearly five times moreper gigabyte than Lycamobile 350 GB. Lebara's catch is no MMS on any plan.

What does a big-data plan cost over 24 months?

Answer: Over 24 months, a 200 GB-class plan costs from €243.09 (Lebara 200 GB prepaid) to €707.76 (Orange Forfait Voyage 250 GB 5G+), as of October 2026. The gap is €464.67 for a similar allowance. Flat-price contracts such as Sosh Voyage 200 GB and B&You 200 GB cost €383.76 each, before one-off fees.

The table counts after-promo prices, so a first-year discount does not flatter a plan. A 30-day prepaid renews 24.33 times in 730 days, and the table counts every renewal. One-off fees sit in their own column: the Bouygues group adds a €5 exit fee when you leave, and B&You adds a €5 setup fee on top. Free 350 GB drops to €239.76 over two years if you hold a Freebox Pop, the lowest total here, but only with a home fibre box. Lycamobile 350 GB gives the most data per euro at €291.76. Prixtel bills the tier you actually use, so its €287.76 is a ceiling, not a forecast.

How much do promo prices rise after the first year?

Answer: Promo prices in France rise by 27% to 201% when the offer ends, as of October 2026. Série Free 110 GB goes from €12.99 to €19.99 at month 13, B&You 100 GB from €10.99 to €13.99, and Orange Forfait Voyage 250 GB from €24.99 to €33.99. Orange's Forfait 2h triples from €2.99 to €8.99 after 6 months.

The 24-month total is the honest comparison. Série Free 110 GB costs €395.76 over two years. In year two it costs the same €19.99 as Free 350 GB, which gives more than three times the data. Orange's under-26 offer is a different cliff: 200 GB 5G at €15.99 lasts until your 26th birthday, then becomes €34.99, a 119% rise. Flat-price plans such as Sosh Voyage 200 GBor B&You 200 GB at €15.99 have no cliff to plan around.

The defence is simple. Note the promo end date when you subscribe, and set a reminder for month 12. Then compare the new price with a flat plan and move your number for free with the RIO code from 3179. Existing subscribers can also see a mid-contract rise, as SFR, RED and Prixtel customers did in October 2026; the switching section below explains how to refuse it.

Is a 30-day prepaid more expensive than a monthly forfait?

Answer: Only slightly. A 30-day prepaid renews 12.17 times a year, so it costs about 1.4% more than the same price billed by calendar month. Lebara 200 GB at €9.99 costs €121.55 a year against €119.88 for 12 monthly bills, a difference of €1.67. SFR La Carte's 31-day cycle renews 11.77 times a year and costs about 1.9% less.

Some guides quote an 8% prepaid premium. That figure fits a 28-day cycle, which renews 13.04 times a year, and none of the prepaid plans on this page use one. The real prepaid catch is the lapse: miss a renewal and the bundle ends, with its unused data gone. Mobicarte bundles also need a manual renewal each month and never roll over. In exchange, prepaid needs no French bank account, which is why Lebara and Lycamobile suit newcomers before a bank account is open. Activation still requires an identity document, such as a passport, under décret n° 2017-460 of 30 March 2017.

What changes between budget and premium forfaits?

Answer: On the same network, the brand moves the price more than the data. On SFR, Lebara sells 200 GB for €9.99while SFR's own 200 GB plan costs €19.99. On Orange, YouPrice sells 200 GB for €11.99, Sosh for €15.99, and Orange charges €20.99 for 130 GB. The extra money buys shops, phone support and roaming, not a different network.

What the premium buys differs by brand. Orange runs shops and an English helpline; Sosh support is online and chat only, and YouPrice answers by email. Lebara offers English support but cannot send or receive MMS. RED by SFR is no longer the cheapest plan on SFR: same-network MVNOs undercut it, and RED repriced existing customers in October 2026. Network quality depends on the host, not the brand. In ARCEP's 2025 tests, published on 24 September 2026, Orange scored 91% perfect calls, SFR 87% and Free 84%. Check your street on ARCEP's mon réseau mobile map before you pick a host.

What does it cost to switch, leave or roam?

Answer: Keeping your number is free, but leaving is not always free. Since 27 July 2026 the Bouygues group charges a €5 exit fee on every no-commitment plan at Bouygues Telecom, B&You, NRJ Mobile, Cdiscount Mobile and Auchan Telecom. Free Mobile reimburses up to €10of a rival's fees when you switch to it. SIM fees run from €0 at Lebara to €10 at Orange, SFR and Free.

Dial 3179 from the line you keep to get your RIO code, then give it to the new operator. The port is free, takes up to 3 working days under ARCEP rules and cuts service for 4 hours at most. Never cancel the old line yourself: the port closes it. Cancelling a Bouygues Telecom line by phone on 1064 costs €7.50, while cancelling online in the espace client is free. B&You also charges a €5 setup fee since April 2025.

Existing subscribers can see a mid-contract rise. In October 2026, SFR, RED by SFR and Prixtel raised prices by €0.99 to €4.99 a month; some customers got 20 GB extra, others nothing. The operator must give at least one month's notice. You can refuse the change in your espace client and keep the old price, or cancel free within 4 months under article L224-33 of the Code de la consommation. Complaints go to the DGCCRF.

A forfait avec engagement locks you in: SFR Illimité 5G+ with a phone costs €39.99 a month over 24 months, with exit penalties. EU roaming is included, but caps vary: Sosh Voyage 200 GB allows 40 GB abroad, SFR 200 GB allows 100 GB, and Lebara only 10 to 20 GB.

Source: provider pages and tariff documents, checked 13 October 2026; Univers Freebox (5 October 2026) for the SFR, RED and Prixtel rises; ARCEP for portability rules. Verify current prices on the provider's site.

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