Best data plans in Kenya in August 2025

Choosing a data bundle in Kenya often means juggling price, speed, and coverage. As internet needs grow and living costs rise, many users keep multiple SIM cards to maximise network offers. Kenyans often own multiple SIM cards to get the best data, voice, and SMS deals. 

Safaricom holds 63.3% market share, driven by extensive 4G/5G coverage and M-PESA’s stickiness. Airtel offers cheap bundles and Airtel Money, but has under 10% of the mobile money market. Faiba appeals to budget data users, while Telkom serves a smaller loyal base. Safaricom and Airtel have 5G; all offer 4G.

This guide covers the best data options, from daily bundles to unlimited plans, and why users choose them.

Here are some of the most popular data plans from each provider

1. Safaricom 

Tunukiwa offers (August 2025)

This plan provides subscribers with personalised bundles and offers data, SMS, and voice calls. Tunikiuwa is not unified across all customers since it offers custom deals for hourly, daily, weekly, and monthly subscriptions based on their usage patterns. Here is an example of a personalised one, and its charges:

Customers can also purchase a monthly bundle that includes voice and SMS. Here are the prices:

There are cases where customers purchase a data-only one-month bundle. Here are their prices:

2. Airtel Kenya 

Like Safaricom, Airtel Kenya offers customers a wide range of data plans, from hourly to monthly. 

Martin Cheruiyot, who works remotely in Eldoret, says Airtel gives him the best balance: “I get 18GB for KES 1,000 and rarely have to worry about speeds.” However, he admits that Airtel speeds tend to fluctuate in rural areas, but it is a compromise he has accepted. 

Hourly  (August 2025)

Daily (also known as Amazing Daily)

Weekly (Amazing Weekly)

Monthly (Smarta Bundles that combine data, voice, and SMS)

3. Telkom Kenya 

Freedom Bundles  (August 2025)

Abel Makau says he stopped using Telkom after network issues became unbearable. 

“They switched off some towers two years ago, and it’s been poor since then,” he says. He now uses Airtel for most tasks, but turns to Safaricom “when I need to download a big file fast. Safaricom is just unbeaten in that.”

However, Beatrice Osike, a digital marketer based in Nakuru, 160 km from Nairobi, prefers Telkom for specific night bundles:  “Their 5GB night offer is cheap and useful when scheduling uploads or downloads. I just can’t rely on it during the day.”

Telkom Kenya has lost over 60% of its subscriber base between December 2019 and March 2025. It fell from 3.4 million users to just 1.5 million, while rivals Safaricom and Airtel grew significantly during the same period. 

The decline is linked to a prolonged shareholder transition that disrupted strategy and delayed network investment. Despite owning international cable stakes, Telkom fell behind in rolling out 4G and 5G services effectively. A dispute with tower operator ATC led to the shutdown of hundreds of towers due to unpaid debt, worsening coverage gaps, and decreased service reliability.

Quality‑of‑service assessments reflect these issues. In mid‑2023, Telkom scored just 65 %, well below Safaricom’s 90 % and Airtel’s 79 % on key performance indicators like call success ratio and internet availability. Users often report unreliable speeds, frequent outages, and poor customer experience.

4. Faiba Mobile  (August 2025)

Lilian Nyakundi, a university student outside Nairobi, says she often uses Faiba because “it just works, and it’s affordable.” She buys the weekly bundle, which gives her enough data for school research and streaming content.

Faiba appeals to users who want fast, affordable data. Community feedback highlights consistent 4G speeds (around 35–45 Mbps) and low-cost bundles like 1 GB for KES 50, with added night data bonus.

The network expanded gradually since its 2017 launch, covering key urban and peri‑urban areas. Its consistent speeds, budget pricing, and reliable service make it a strong second‑SIM or budget choice, especially for users who need data mainly for browsing, streaming, or remote work. 

Home data plans (fixed and 5G routers)

Tens of ISPs offer fixed data services in Kenya. Safaricom leads the pack with a 36.5% market share, followed by Faiba (JTL), Zuku, Poa! Internet, and Vilicom Networks at 22.5%, 14.4%, 14.1%, and 3.9%, respectively. 

Here are some of the popular choices, and how much they cost per month (note, these are unlimited speeds with a fair usage policy): 

Safaricom Home Fibre  (August 2025 monthly charges)

• 15 Mbps at KES 2,999
• 30 Mbps at KES 4,100
• 80 Mbps at KES 6,299
• 500 Mbps at KES 12,499
• 1 Gbps at KES 20,000

Faiba Home (JTL)  (August 2025 monthly charges)

• 35 Mbps for KES 3,000
• 60 Mbps for KES 4,000
• 90 Mbps for KES 5,000 
• 150 Mbps for KES 10,000
• 200 Mbps for KES 15,000
• 300 Mbps for KES 20,000 
• 1 Gbps for KES 30,000

Zuku (Wananchi Group)  (August 2025 monthly charges)

• 10 Mbps for KES 2,8000
• 20 Mbps for KES 4,200
• 60 Mbps for KES 6,000 

Poa! Internet  (August 2025 monthly charges)

This ISP targets underserved and marginalised areas in Kenya’s top urban centres. All services are capped at 5 Mbps, and customers can access unlimited internet from KES 1575 per month or KES 450 per week. However, they must pay an installation fee of KES 2,500, including the router. 

Vilicom Networks  (August 2025 monthly charges)

• 8 Mbps for KES 2,000
• 18 Mbps for KES 2,800
• 30 Mbps for KES 3,800 
• 60 Mbps for KES 5,000
• 100 Mbps for KES 8,000
• 500 Mbps for KES 12,000

Safaricom and Airtel Kenya sell 5G routers in areas not served by a fixed data network. Both companies have 5G coverage in major towns, but the routers drop to 4G speeds in regions without a 5G signal. 

Safaricom 5G router (August 2025 monthly charges)

Router price: KES 3,000 

• 10 Mbps for KES 3,000 
• 50 Mbps for KES 4,000
• 100 Mbps for KES 5,000 
• 250 Mbps for KES 10,000

*These are unlimited speeds with a fair usage policy. 

Airtel 5G router 

Router price: Free, sometimes at KES 3,000

• 15 Mbps at KES 3,500
• 40 Mbps at KES 5,000

Note that Airtel allows customers to pay two or three months in advance. 

Starlink

Lastly, some groups use satellite internet in Kenya thanks to the availability of Starlink, which has been around since June 2023. The Gen 3 Starlink kit costs KES 50,000, a hefty amount for millions of Kenyans. Starlink makes sense in areas without fixed data connections, and its numbers have dropped (it lost 2,000 customers in three months). It currently has 17,000 subscribers as of March 2025. 

• 50 GB plan for KES 1,300 per month. 
• Unlimited plan for KES 6,500 per month 

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