How to top up with giffgaff

Want more credit on your account to make premium rate calls, make a phone call abroad, send picture messages (MMS) or use your phone while outside the EU?

Don’t worry, topping up with giffgaff is very straightforward, though it is a little different depending on what kind of plan you have. Have no fear though, as we’ve got easy-to-follow tips below for Pay As You Go, Monthly Rolling and our new Flexible Contracts.

Just choose the heading that matches what you’ve got and jump on to your designated section.

In this article

• What’s the difference between Pay As You Go Plans and top up
• How to top up your giffgaff Pay As You Go Plan
• How to top up your giffgaff Monthly Rolling Plan
• Top up with a giffgaff Flexible Contract Plan
• How to top up using a giffgaff voucher
• Can I top up while I’m abroad?
• Other top up tips

What’s the difference between Pay As You Go Plan and top up

The main difference between Pay As You Go Plans and topping up is that Pay As You Go plans provide a set amount of data plus unlimited minutes and texts. Meanwhile, ‘topping up’ adds credit to your account to pay for extras, like calling internationally, calling premium rate numbers or roaming outside of the UK and EU.

To choose a Pay As You Go Plan, visit our SIM Only Deals page. From here, choose the plan with the amount of data that’s right for you, press continue at the bottom of the screen and follow the steps to pay. If you’re not a giffgaff member yet, you can sign up to get your free SIM card in the post.

Find out more about our full range of SIM Only deals in our unpacking SIMs blog.

How to top up your giffgaff Pay As You Go Plan

Let’s start with the classic giffgaff offering: the Pay As You Go Plan. These plans are giffgaff’s most flexible offering, as you can pick a brand new plan month by month without any commitment. But of course, you can always top up mid-month if you need an emergency influx to spend.

Topping up with Pay As You Go is super simple. Just head over to the giffgaff site, log in and follow the directions on-screen to choose the amount and your payment method.

You can use a credit card, debit card or PayPal to top up, making it easy to add credit to your account.

Another great option is downloading the giffgaff app onto your Android phone or iPhone, giving you easy access to top ups on the go.

The credit you buy can then be used to pay for things that aren’t included in your Pay As You Go Plan, such as calling internationally or sending picture messages. You can also use credit to put toward your next Pay As You Go Plan.

How to top up your giffgaff Monthly Rolling Plan

The Monthly Rolling Plan is an alternative to Pay As You Go that rewards you with more data at the same price, in exchange for an automatic monthly renewal.

Topping up a Monthly Rolling Plan is basically the same as with Pay As You Go. Just visit the giffgaff site or giffgaff app, choose an amount and put in your payment details. You’ll already have a credit card, debit card or PayPal account saved.

The one difference with Monthly Rolling is that you can’t use credit to go toward your next plan, only to pay for things like international calls that aren’t included in your monthly plan.

Top up with a giffgaff Flexible Contract Plan

New to the giffgaff family, Flexible Contract Plans offer a more traditional 18-month contract, but with a classic giffgaff twist.

These plans offer the most value, with more data at a given price point, and you can still change your plan at any time, but you’ll have to pay an early exit termination fee if you cancel your plan before the 18 months are up. That makes this option the best choice for anyone that wants to maximise their data and is confident they’ll want to stick around for the full term.

Adding extra credit to use for international calls, roaming or calling premium numbers is super straightforward. Visit the giffgaff site or boot up the giffgaff app and choose the top up option. From here, choose how much credit to add and select your preferred payment option. You’ll already have a credit card, debit card or PayPal account saved as this is used for the Flexible Contract.

How to top up using a giffgaff voucher

Another way to pay for extra credit is by using a giffgaff voucher. You can buy giffgaff vouchers in some supermarkets and corner stores, then redeem them online, or over the phone by calling 43430 if you prefer.

Can I top up while I’m abroad?

Of course you can! The best way to do this is to use the giffgaff website or giffgaff app using the directions above, which works over the internet and therefore is accessible more or less worldwide. If you run out of data, normally the best thing to do is to start a new goodybag. The I ran out of goodybag data page is useful here!

Remember to visit our using your mobile aboard page and our for more information about the other aspects of data, texts and calls that change when you’re abroad.

Other top up tips

To see how much credit you have, remember that you can check your dashboard or dial the number *100#, including the star and hash signs! It’s worth noting that you need to make a call, send a text or use mobile data every six months (186 days) to keep your account active, with more information available in this excellent community post.

There’s also more information available on the giffgaff site about pricing and roaming charges that might be useful reading too.

With that, we’ve come to the end of our guide! I hope you’ve found it useful, and if you’re not a giffgaff customer, why not explore giffgaff’s SIM-only deals to see what the fuss is all about?

If you’ve got questions or comments, feel free to join us in the giffgaff community forums or tweet me @wsjudd Thanks for reading and we’ll catch you again on the giffgaff blog soon!