About Prepaid SIM

A prepaid SIM (German: Wertkarte) is a mobile plan model in which the customer pays for the service upfront, before consuming it. The customer buys an activation card or tops up an account, then uses calls, SMS, and data until the credit or bundle expires. There is no monthly bill, no contract term, and crucially no credit check.

Prepaid is the dominant entry-level model in Germany for two reasons: it requires no SCHUFA credit check (which expats and new arrivals often fail), and it requires no German bank account for SEPA direct debit. You can buy a prepaid SIM at any supermarket with cash and top it up at the same till. The German market has uniquely strong prepaid brands at the supermarket retail tier (ALDI TALK, LIDL Connect, NORMA connect, KAUFLAND MOBIL, ja! mobil, Penny Mobil).

German prepaid usually uses 4-week billing cycles rather than calendar months. A "EUR 9.99/month" tariff is often actually EUR 9.99 every 28 days, which annualises to EUR 129.87/year rather than EUR 119.88. This matters for direct price comparisons against monthly-billed contract brands (fraenk, 1&1, Blau Flex, N26 SIM).

Common prepaid variants include pay-as-you-go (per-MB / per-minute charging), 4-week bundles (e.g. 25 GB / EUR 8.99), 6-month packs, and annual packs (e.g. O2 Jahrespaket 150 GB / EUR 89.99). All major German prepaid brands now offer 5G and eSIM.