I want to get temporary numbers. I used to use TextNow or 2nd Number, but now they require payment, whereas they used to be free. I’m looking for something similar—either free, a paid service that costs less, or a way to get them for free.
The free number was never the part that went missing — the free code was 
One goal: a number that opens everything. Four rungs get you there, and the last one lands somewhere between nothing and six cents a month.
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Rung 1 · a number for nothing — a real line, from an account, no card -
Rung 2 · a number per cents — billed by the line, not by an app -
Rung 3 · a real mobile line — bought from abroad, paid by card -
Rung 4 · the one that opens everything — a mobile-range number, from €3
What decides it — before a code leaves, the sender asks the carrier one question: mobile, landline, or VoIP? That answer decides whether a text ever arrives.
What it costs — a US number runs at six cents a month, a Croatian eSIM costs €3 and stays alive for about a year on €2, and a UK line comes free with a VoIP account.
The free number was never taken away. The code is what moved behind a paywall — and the numbers below bring it back.
🆓 Free real numbers nobody writes about
- Voipfone — “When you sign up with Voipfone we give you a FREE UK phone number so that you can receive calls from ordinary phones.” No card, no monthly fee, inbound calls and voicemail included. A real Ofcom-allocated 056 number.
Aloha Numbers — free UK 01, 02, 03 and 0800 numbers, issued instantly, with 30 pooled redirect minutes each month. One answered call every three months keeps it.
Net-Telco — a free UK number from any area code, with no setup, monthly or annual fee. Park it for £10 a year and it stays put.
GMX FreePhone — a free German mobile number with a flat covering calls and SMS, on an eSIM. Open the GMX Mail app ten times a month and it stays free.
satellite by sipgate — a free German mobile number that lives in the app, works worldwide on data alone, with 100 outbound minutes a month at no cost.
💸 The cents-per-month route — billed by the line, never by an app
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BulkVS — their own page calls it “$0.06 MRC” for US and Canadian numbers, with SMS available. Six cents a month from a carrier that sells direct, which is why no consumer list carries it.
Voxbeam — wholesale numbers across 50+ countries from $0.25 a month, with porting in more than 30.
Localphone — incoming numbers at $0.99 a month, one of a small tier of resellers that sit under the big carriers on price and never appear in consumer lists.- VoIP.ms — a working US or Canada number from $0.85 a month, messages at about $0.0075 each, answered in a free softphone. A DID priced per line, which is exactly why no app mentions it.
Anveo — a free account tier whose US, Canada and UK numbers receive messages and forward them anywhere.
Zadarma — numbers from free to $2 a month in over 110 countries, with message reception switching on once a line has been held three months.
📱 A real mobile line, bought from abroad
A1 Croatia — a €3 eSIM with a genuine +385 mobile number, QR and number mailed minutes after payment. A €2 top-up carries it roughly a year. The cheapest real mobile line in Europe, and almost nobody outside the Balkans knows it exists.
A1 Serbia — about €8 for 200GB over 7 days on a real +381 number, activated by QR and paid by card.
Three Ireland — €15 for 5GB and a real +353 number, activated completely online, and it takes messages.- Vodafone Ireland — €20 for four weeks of unlimited 5G with 100 any-network minutes. The rare carrier that tells you to buy before you arrive.
SMARTY — £8 for 16GB with unlimited UK calls and texts, eSIM chosen at checkout, no credit check.- Lycamobile UK — £3.50 for 5GB over 30 days on a real +44 number.
Tello eSIM — a genuine US cellular number on T-Mobile’s network for $5 a month, prepaid, no credit check, and Wi-Fi Calling included so it keeps working from anywhere.- PikaSim — a real US +1 voice-and-SMS line from $7, and the only one here asking for no email, no account and no identity at all.
- Simbye — a standalone +44 number for $9.99 a month, renewable, with the data eSIM optional and no ID at any step.
eSIM.Net SMS-only — $8 for 30 days of a +44 O2 number for inbound messages, sold with the words “not blocked by banks etc” — the single most direct answer to the question in this thread.
BuyUKeSIM — a real +44 number for $25, checkout by card or crypto, and no UK address or passport required.- SecondSim — a real +44 Vodafone number at £5.99 a month, no ID checks, and money back within 7 days when a bank or WhatsApp turns it down.
- WorldSIM — the SIM is free and a UK +44 number comes with it; one top-up a year keeps the number and the account alive indefinitely.
🧠 Three things that decide how this ends
The number hiding in a data SIM. A data-only SIM still carries a real number, and a 4G router’s own admin page reads and sends its messages. A plan bought for internet quietly becomes a line that receives texts.
Move your number before you let one go. Ofcom’s own guidance puts UK recycling at as little as 70 days without a call, text or byte, so update it everywhere while it still reaches you.- Keep a second way in. An authenticator app or passkey in front, backup codes saved offline, and a second recovery method added while the first one still works.
This answer was just AI-upgraded by the Core-Community.
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