Which German supermarket prepaid SIM is best in 2026?

What does each supermarket SIM cost per gigabyte?

Headline price · Data cap · Cost per GB · Annualised over 13 cycles

On a flat-price basis the entry tariffs cluster between €7.99 and €9.95 per 4 weeks. But the real number to compare is cost per GB and the annualised total — supermarket prepaid bills every 28 days, not monthly, so a "€8.99" tariff bills 13 times a year (€116.87) rather than 12 (€107.88). ALDI TALK leads on cost per GB at €0.32/GB; ja!mobil's M tariff is the priciest at €1.00/GB but buys premium D1.

Source: alditalk.de, lidl-connect.de, ja-mobil.de, pennymobil.de, kaufland-mobil.de, norma-connect.de, verified May 2026

Two things stand out. First, ALDI TALK's €69.99 Jahrespaket (60 GB across 12 months) annualised is the cheapest SIM-only option of any kind in Germany — sub-€6/month equivalent. Second, the four congstar-backed Telekom brands all price 4-week tariffs identically because they share wholesale tariffs; the difference is purely where you can walk in and buy a top-up voucher.

Which supermarket SIM runs on the best network?

D1 (Telekom) · D2 (Vodafone) · O2 (Telefónica)

Germany has three radio networks. Telekom (D1) wins the connect mobile-network test 13 years running — best rural and rail coverage. Vodafone (D2) ranks second with strong urban 5G. O2/Telefónica is the youngest network from the E-Plus merger — strong in dense cities (Berlin, Hamburg, Munich exceed 99% 5G), thinner in rural Lower Saxony and Mecklenburg.

Source: BNetzA Mobilfunk-Monitoring 2025, connect Netztest 2025, verified May 2026

If you commute by ICE, hike in the Alps, or live in a village under 5,000 inhabitants, the four Telekom-backed supermarket brands are functionally interchangeable and beat the other two on coverage. If you live in central Berlin, Munich or Hamburg and use a recent eSIM-capable phone, LIDL Connect or ALDI TALK are cheaper at equivalent speeds.

What's the difference between ja!mobil, ALDI TALK, and LIDL Connect?

Network · Pricing · Activation · Annual pack · eSIM · Extras

The three flagship supermarket SIMs differ on host network and feature surface. ja!mobil is the Telekom-network premium pick — D1 coverage at a 4-week premium. ALDI TALK has the deepest distribution and the cheapest annual pack. LIDL Connect uniquely ships eSIM by default and the Unlimited-on-Demand 1 GB re-top mechanic.

Source: Operator tariff pages & FAQ, verified May 2026

The headline trade-off is network versus reach. ja!mobil charges €2 more per 4-week cycle than ALDI TALK and gives you less data — you pay that delta for D1 coverage. LIDL Connect sits in the middle: better network than O2 in rural pockets, cheaper than ja! on cost-per-GB, and the only one of the three with eSIM as a first-class purchase path.

Where do you buy each supermarket SIM in Germany?

Checkout aisle · Branded store · Online order

Every supermarket prepaid SIM in this list is sold both at the supermarket's own checkout and online. The starter pack (Startpaket) typically costs €9.99 and includes €10 starter credit — effectively the SIM card is free. You activate it via the operator's app or website. Top-up vouchers (Aufladekarten) are stocked at the same checkout in €15, €20 and €30 denominations.

• ALDI TALK. Available at all ~1,800 ALDI Nord and ALDI Süd stores, on the ALDI Onlineshop, and via alditalk.de. The largest physical footprint of the group.
• LIDL Connect. Stocked at every ~3,250 Lidl Deutschland store and at lidl-connect.de. eSIM can be purchased online and provisioned within minutes.
• ja!mobil. Sold at all ~3,700 Rewe supermarkets including the smaller Rewe-to-go formats. Also available online at ja-mobil.de.
• Penny Mobil. Stocked at every ~2,150 Penny-Markt store in Germany and at pennymobil.de.
• KAUFLAND MOBIL. Sold at every ~770 Kaufland hypermarket and via kaufland-mobil.de.
• NORMA Connect. The smallest footprint: roughly 1,450 Norma stores, heavily concentrated in Bavaria, Thüringen, Sachsen and Baden-Württemberg. Online via norma-connect.de.

How do you activate a supermarket prepaid SIM?

Starter pack · ID verification · Tariff selection · First call test

Activation takes 5–20 minutes after purchase. Germany requires identity verification on every prepaid SIM under §111 of the Telekommunikationsgesetz (TKG), enforced by the Bundesnetzagentur. You need a valid passport, EU national ID, or German residence permit. An Anmeldung is not legally required for prepaid SIMs, but the registered address must match your ID.

1. Buy the Startpaket at the checkout. Pay roughly €9.99 cash or by Girocard. The slip contains your new mobile number, PUK, and an activation URL or QR code.
2. Install the brand app or open the web activation page. ALDI TALK, LIDL Connect, ja!mobil and Penny Mobil all have native iOS/Android apps. NORMA and KAUFLAND lead users to a browser flow. (takes 1–2 minutes)
3. Complete VideoIdent or PostIdent. VideoIdent is a 3–5 minute live video call with an ID verifier — available 7 days a week. PostIdent is an alternative where you visit a Deutsche Post Filiale with your starter pack and ID; instant verification on the spot. (VideoIdent: 5–10 min; PostIdent: same-day branch visit)
4. Pick your tariff and pay the first cycle. Choose the Kombi or Smart pack you want, enter SEPA direct-debit or top up via voucher. The first 4-week cycle starts the moment your tariff activates — not the moment you bought the SIM.
5. Insert the SIM and place a test call. Restart the phone, wait for the carrier name to switch from "No service" to "alditalk", "Telekom.de" or similar, then dial a test number to confirm voice and data work. eSIM users scan the QR code on the activation slip. (if the SIM is silent for more than 30 minutes, call the brand's hotline — activation occasionally needs a manual nudge)

Should you trust supermarket SIMs vs premium MVNOs?

Speed caps · Customer service · Network priority · Feature surface

Supermarket SIMs use the same radio cells as their host networks — coverage and uptime are identical. The trade-offs are speed caps, support quality, and feature breadth. Most supermarket tariffs cap downloads at 25–50 Mbit/s where premium MVNOs like congstar, fraenk or O2 postpaid offer 100–300 Mbit/s. Customer service is app-only.

• Speed cap. ALDI TALK and the congstar-backed brands typically throttle 5G downloads to 25–50 Mbit/s. fraenk and congstar postpaid lift the cap to 100–300 Mbit/s for €10–20 more per month. If you stream 4K or tether often, the supermarket cap can bite.
• Customer support. Supermarket brands route support through chat and email. Premium MVNOs (Telekom MagentaMobil, Vodafone GigaMobil) offer phone support and German-language Twitter teams. For visitors and new arrivals lacking German, the brand-app self-service flow is often enough.
• Network priority. In congested cells, MNO postpaid customers get traffic-priority over MVNO traffic. In practice this is rarely noticeable except at stadium events, Oktoberfest or major rail stations during commute hour.
• Feature breadth. Supermarket SIMs ship a single Kombi pack — no multi-line family plans, no smartwatch eSIM, no fixed-mobile bundle. If you want all of those, step up to Telekom MagentaMobil or 1&1 postpaid.
• Number portability. All six supermarket brands accept incoming portierte Rufnummer (PAC code from the previous carrier). Porting is free as of December 2021, mandated by the Telekommunikationsmodernisierungsgesetz.

What's the 4-week billing catch on these tariffs?

28 days ≠ 1 month · 13 cycles per year · ~8% hidden surcharge

Every supermarket prepaid tariff in Germany bills every 28 days, not every calendar month. That sounds harmless, but it means you renew the tariff 13 times a year instead of 12. A €8.99/4w headline price is really €116.87/year, not €107.88 — an effective surcharge of ~8.3%. The same trap applies to ALDI TALK, LIDL Connect and every congstar-backed brand.

Math: 365 days ÷ 28 days = 13.04 cycles. Verified May 2026.

Two ways to dodge the surcharge. ALDI TALK Jahrespaket (€69.99 for 60 GB / 12 months) is annual, not 4-weekly — effectively €5.83/month equivalent. KAUFLAND MOBIL 6-Monats-Paket (€29.99 for 25 GB / 6 months) ships as a six-month block. Both bypass the 13-cycle math entirely. If you stick with 4-week tariffs, treat the headline price as the floor and the ×13 figure as the real annualised number when comparing with monthly postpaid plans.

How did we rank these supermarket SIMs?

Five-dimension scoring · operator-verified data · affiliate-independent

We score every supermarket-brand prepaid SIM on five equally-weighted dimensions: host network quality, cost per GB, annualised cost over 13 cycles, distribution footprint, and feature surface (eSIM, annual packs, EU roaming, speed cap). Prices were pulled from each operator's public tariff page on May 14, 2026 and cross-checked against in-store rate cards at ALDI Süd, Lidl, Rewe, Penny, Kaufland and Norma.