Cheapest Data Plan in Nigeria: All Networks and Codes (2026)

For a monthly plan of up to ₦2,500, T2mobile (the new name for 9mobile) gives the most data: 2GB for ₦1,000, where MTN and Airtel have no 30-day plan at that price. From ₦3,000 upwards Glo is ahead at every step, with Airtel close behind. MTN charges more per gigabyte than Glo at every price we compared.

The long lists of activation codes this page carried from 2013 are gone. Every network now uses the same short codes, set by the Nigerian Communications Commission: *312# to buy data and *323# to see what is left. The plans and prices below are from each operator’s own data page.

Monthly data plans compared

These are 30-day plans, and the figures are data you can use at any hour. Night data, YouTube data and free call minutes are left out and covered further down. Where a network has no plan at a price, the nearest one is shown.

T2’s lead ends at ₦2,500. Its bigger plans grow slowly, and by ₦20,000 it gives less than half of what Glo or Airtel does.

What a gigabyte costs

Each figure is the plan’s price divided by its anytime data, using the plans in the first table. On MTN, Airtel and Glo, the more you pay at once, the less each gigabyte costs. T2’s rate barely moves. A ₦100 daily plan is 110MB on MTN and Airtel, 120MB on Glo, and 83MB plus 50MB for social apps on T2. That is over ₦800 a gigabyte on any of them, at least twice what a ₦5,000 monthly plan charges.

Data plan codes for all networks

The shared codes come from an NCC directive that gave the networks until 17 May 2023 to move over. It also fixed *310# for airtime balance, *311# for recharge, *303# for borrowing and 300 for customer care. The old data codes this page used to list, *131# on MTN, *141# on Airtel, *127# on Glo and *229# on Etisalat, are not on any of the four operators’ data pages now.

The last column is the one that empties a line. On MTN and Glo, browsing stops when a plan finishes unless you have opted in. On Airtel and T2, check that a plan is active before you go online: 1GB at T2’s rate without a plan would cost more than ₦51,000.

MTN

MTN’s data page has the longest list. Most plans have a keyword you text to 312, which is quicker than the menu: 106 for the ₦1,500 monthly plan, 130 for ₦2,000, 131 for ₦2,500, 110 for ₦3,500 and 117 for ₦11,000.

Several monthly plans come with extras: 2 to 10 free call minutes, 200MB or 300MB of YouTube data, and 2GB or 4GB for streaming at night. MTN also lists two “Always On” monthly plans, 18.6GB for ₦5,500 and 45GB for ₦9,000. The 45GB one works out at ₦200 a gigabyte, well under MTN’s other plans near that price, but the page does not say how the data is released. On Airtel and Glo, plans with that kind of name hand out a fixed share each day.

For heavy use MTN has 165GB for ₦35,000 and 250GB for ₦55,000 over 30 days, 480GB for ₦90,000 over 90 days and 800GB for ₦125,000 over a year. One daily plan is sold only in the myMTN NG app: 1GB for ₦200, valid 24 hours.

Airtel

Airtel’s plans from the ₦1,000 weekly one to the ₦20,000 monthly one add 2GB of YouTube data that works only from 12am to 5am, plus 200MB for YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. The step worth knowing is from ₦2,500 to ₦3,000: ₦500 more doubles the data from 4GB to 8GB.

Airtel’s Everyday-ON plans release data daily: 15GB for ₦4,000 at 500MB a day, or 40GB for ₦7,500 at 1.33GB a day. Its biggest plans are 160GB for ₦30,000 and 210GB for ₦40,000 over 30 days, 300GB for ₦50,000 over 90 days and 685GB for ₦100,000 over a year. Airtel’s call plans are on our page about the best Airtel tariff plan for calls.

Glo

Glo adds night data, usable from 12am to 5am, to most plans and prints the two together as one headline number. The ₦5,000 plan is advertised as 16.5GB; 14.5GB of it works at any hour. The table above uses the anytime figure.

The cheapest gigabyte on a 30-day plan from any of the four networks is on Glo’s Always ON: 45GB for ₦7,000, which is ₦156 a gigabyte, released at 1.5GB a day. The ₦5,000 version gives 30GB at 1GB a day. Every Glo plan, with the night, weekend and social bundles, is on our page of Glo data plans.

T2mobile

T2’s list is the shortest: 17 plans, all bought with *312#. Daily plans run from 40MB for ₦50 to 250MB for ₦200. There are two weekly plans, 650MB plus 100MB for social apps at ₦500 and 3.4GB at ₦1,500. The monthly plans are the ones in the table, and above ₦20,000 there is one more, 118GB for ₦50,000.

T2’s monthly plans have no night or YouTube portion to subtract. What you see is what you can use.

Rollover and renewal

MTN, Airtel and Glo all carry unused data forward if you buy again in time. The grace period after expiry is one day for a daily plan, three days for a weekly one and seven days for a monthly one. MTN and Glo ask for a plan of the same category. Airtel’s page says the same bundle in one place and the same category in another, so renewing the same bundle is the safe choice. Miss the window and the data is cleared.

All three ask at the point of purchase whether the plan should renew by itself. Choose the one-off option if you would rather not have airtime taken when it expires. On Airtel, the code to cancel a monthly plan’s renewal is *312*4*amount*1#.

Which one should you pick?

• You spend ₦1,000 to ₦2,500 a month: T2. Its ₦2,000 plan is 4.5GB, half as much again as Airtel’s 3GB.
• You spend ₦3,000 to ₦20,000: Glo, or Airtel if its signal is better where you live. Glo’s lead over Airtel is between 3% and 12%.
• You use about the same amount every day: Glo’s Always ON at ₦5,000. A gigabyte a day for a month, where the ordinary ₦5,000 plans give 11.4GB to 14.5GB.
• You are staying on MTN: use the SMS keywords, and look at the 45GB Always On plan before the ordinary ₦9,000 one, which is 25GB.
• You need more than 100GB a month: ₦20,000 buys 105GB on Glo and 100GB on Airtel. Past that, a router plan may suit you better, and we compare those in unlimited data plans in Nigeria.

A price list cannot tell you which network has a signal in your house. If two networks are close on price, the one that works in your sitting room wins.

Quick answers

What is the data plan code for all networks?

*312#. It opens the data menu on MTN, Airtel, Glo and T2.

What is the cheapest data plan in Nigeria?

The lowest price is ₦50: 40MB for a day on T2, or 40MB plus 5MB of night data on Glo. Airtel’s ₦50 plan is 250MB, but it works only from midnight to 5am. The cheapest gigabyte on a 30-day plan is on Glo’s ₦7,000 Always ON plan, at ₦156.

Which network has the cheapest 1GB?

For a day, MTN at ₦200 in the myMTN NG app, or Glo at ₦350 from the *312# menu. For a week, MTN and Airtel both charge ₦800, and Glo has 1.1GB for ₦750 that lasts 14 days. For a month, T2’s ₦1,000 plan gives 2GB, which is ₦500 a gigabyte.

How do I check my data balance?

Dial *323# on Airtel, Glo and T2. On MTN dial *323*4# or *310#, or text 2 to 323.

What is the data plan code for MTN?

*312#, or *312*1# to go straight to the list. You can also text a plan’s keyword to 312, such as 106 for the ₦1,500 monthly plan.