Daily · Free tool
Mobile Data Usage
1080p YouTube uses ~1.5 GB / hour, 4K uses 7 GB / hour. Video calls 0.5 GB / hour. Web browsing barely 100 MB / hour. Estimate your monthly need based on daily hours.
Hours per day for each activity:
How data per activity breaks down
We use published bitrate rules. YouTube / Netflix: 480p ~0.5 GB/hr, 720p ~0.9 GB/hr, 1080p ~1.5 GB/hr, 4K ~7 GB/hr. Video calls: Zoom HD ~0.5 GB/hr, WhatsApp video ~0.3 GB/hr, Google Meet HD ~0.7 GB/hr. Music streaming: Spotify normal 0.04 GB/hr, very-high 0.13 GB/hr. Social scrolling: Instagram reels ~0.5 GB/hr, X feed ~0.1 GB/hr. Browsing: ~0.06–0.15 GB/hr. Online gaming: 0.04–0.3 GB/hr (BGMI ~0.06 GB/hr).
Worked example
Typical urban Indian: 2 hrs YouTube at 1080p (3 GB/day), 30 min Zoom (0.25), 1 hr Instagram reels (0.5), 1 hr Spotify (0.04), 30 min browsing (0.05) ≈ 3.8 GB/day × 30 = ~115 GB/month. Jio's 1.5 GB/day plan at ₹349 caps you out by mid-month and forces a top-up; the 2 GB/day plan at ₹399 or 2.5 GB/day at ₹449 fits better. Heavy WFH professionals doing video calls cross 200 GB/month and need an unlimited home broadband — mobile data is too expensive per GB for that load.
When to use this
- Choosing between the ₹299 (1 GB/day), ₹349 (1.5 GB/day) and ₹399 (2 GB/day) prepaid packs
- Deciding if your household needs JioFiber / Airtel Xstream broadband or mobile-only suffices
- Setting kids' phone data caps before they hit 4K streaming and burn the family pool
For home broadband options compare via the broadband compare tool, or see JioFiber vs Airtel vs ACT.
FAQ
Why does YouTube use so much data?
1080p streams at 1.5 GB/hour. 4K at 7 GB/hour. WhatsApp video calls use 0.5 GB/hour. For most users, video streaming is 70%+ of monthly data.
Wi-Fi at home — does cellular plan matter?
Less. With home Wi-Fi covering most usage, 1.5 GB/day prepaid plan suffices. For digital nomads / commuters, 2 GB/day is the safer choice.
Hotspot tethering — separate counter?
Counts on the host phone's data. So if you tether to your laptop and stream, both contribute to your phone's GB consumption.