Mobile Data Usage Calculator
List what you do online with the hours a day and the days a week. You get the data a month and how it compares with your plan allowance.
Data use per hour is typical and varies with the app and the quality setting.
Worked examples
Evening viewing
1 hour of HD video every day and 2 hours of music on 5 days
About 94 GB a month
91 GB for the video and 3.0 GB for the music.
About Mobile Data Usage Calculator
A data usage calculator estimates how much mobile data you use a month. How much you use depends on what you do. Music streaming is light, at about 70 megabytes an hour. Standard definition video uses around 0.7 gigabytes an hour, high definition around 3 and 4K around 7. Video calls take around a gigabyte an hour, and browsing and social media vary widely. The tool multiplies those hourly figures by the time you spend on each.
Each row has an editable figure for gigabytes per hour, so you can use the figures from your own apps. Enter your plan allowance and the page shows the share you would use, how many days it would last, and by how much you would go over. A month is taken as 52 weeks divided by 12. Time spent on Wi-Fi does not use your plan, so only count the time on mobile data.
How to use Mobile Data Usage Calculator
- Add each activity with its data per hour.
- Enter the hours a day and days a week.
- Enter your plan allowance in GB.
- Read the data for a month, a day and a year.
Common uses
- Choosing a mobile plan
- Checking if you will go over
- Cutting your data use
- Setting limits for a family
Frequently asked questions
How much data does an hour of video use?
Roughly 0.7 GB in standard definition, 3 GB in HD and 7 GB in 4K. The exact figure depends on the app and the quality setting.
How much data does music use?
About 70 MB an hour at a typical quality, so two hours a day uses about 4 GB a month.
How much data will I use if I watch an hour of HD video a day?
At 3 GB an hour, daily for a month that is about 91 GB. Lowering the quality can cut it by half or more.
What counts as mobile data?
Only what you use when not connected to Wi-Fi. At home or work on Wi-Fi it does not use your plan allowance.
Is 1 GB 1,000 or 1,024 MB?
Mobile plans count 1 GB as 1,000 MB, and so does this tool. Some computers use 1,024, which is a small difference.