Picture messages (MMS) on Vodafone cost between 66p and 75p per message when sent outside your plan allowance. Pay Monthly customers pay 75p per MMS as of April 2026, while Pay As You Go 'Simply' users now pay 70p following a price rise in September 2025. These charges apply only when your tariff does not include MMS or you have exhausted your allowance.
Most Vodafone plans today treat picture messages as an out-of-bundle cost. Basics plans do not support MMS at all. If you send photos regularly, switching to a data-based app like WhatsApp or iMessage will save you money, since a 1MB photo uses just 1MB of data rather than costing 75p.
## Current Vodafone MMS pricingVodafone applies different rates depending on whether you are on a monthly contract or a prepaid tariff. Here are the official charges for sending a picture message (up to 300KB) within the UK:
Standard SMS text messages are cheaper. Pay Monthly customers pay 48p per SMS (as of April 2026), and Pay As You Go 'Simply' users pay 27p (up from 26p in September 2025). The gap between SMS and MMS pricing is substantial: a Pay Monthly customer pays 27p more for a picture message than a text, while a Pay As You Go user pays 43p more.
## Which Vodafone plans include picture messages?The claim that most Vodafone plans bundle unlimited MMS is outdated. Many current tariffs offer unlimited standard texts but exclude picture messages from that allowance.
Vodafone's Basics plans explicitly bar MMS. Pay As You Go 'Big Value Bundles' typically include unlimited SMS but not MMS. If you send picture messages often, Vodafone offers an 'Unlimited Picture Messages' Extra that you can add to your plan for a monthly fee. Whether this is worthwhile depends on your usage: sending eleven picture messages a month on Pay Monthly would cost £8.25, so an add-on priced below that figure would save you money.
To check whether your plan includes MMS, open the My Vodafone app and review your plan details, or dial 191 from your Vodafone mobile to speak with customer services.
## Sending picture messages abroadRoaming charges apply when you send a picture message while outside the UK. Vodafone's official charges guide states that sending an MMS while roaming in Rest of World Zones 1, 2, 3, and 4 costs 66p per message. This is separate from the cost of sending a message from the UK to an international number.
Roaming rates change periodically. Before you travel, check the specific rates for your destination on Vodafone's travelling abroad page.
## Three ways to avoid MMS chargesAt 75p per message for many users, costs can mount quickly if you send photos regularly. Here are practical alternatives.
Switch to internet messaging apps. WhatsApp, iMessage, Google Messages (with RCS chat features enabled), Facebook Messenger, and Signal all send media files using your mobile data or Wi-Fi connection. If you are on Wi-Fi, sending photos is free. If you use mobile data, a 1MB photo consumes 1MB of your allowance, which on most monthly plans is far cheaper than a 75p MMS fee. For example, a typical 30GB monthly allowance would let you send 30,000 one-megabyte photos before running out of data.
Connect to Wi-Fi before sending. Ensure your phone is connected to a Wi-Fi network before you share a photo. This guarantees that apps like iMessage and Google Messages will use the free internet connection rather than defaulting to the mobile network's MMS service if your data signal is weak.
Review your plan. If you frequently need to send picture messages to contacts who do not use modern messaging apps, it may be cheaper to adjust your mobile plan. Contact Vodafone to see if moving to a different tariff or adding the 'Unlimited Picture Messages' Extra would cost less than paying the per-message rate. Sending just ten picture messages a month on Pay Monthly would cost £7.50, which may exceed the cost of a plan add-on.
## Frequently asked questions ### how much does vodafone charge for picture message 2025 Vodafone charges 70p per picture message (MMS, up to 300KB) in the UK as of April 2025. This is an increase from the previous rate of 66p. The charge only applies if you're sending outside your bundle allowance or on pay-as-you-go, as most pay monthly plans include MMS at no extra cost. ### vodafone mms cost vs text message A Vodafone picture message costs 70p while a standard text message costs 48p as of April 2026, making MMS 22p more expensive. Both rates apply only to out-of-bundle charges on pay-as-you-go or Basics customers, as standard plans typically include these services. ### when did vodafone increase picture message price Vodafone increased picture message prices on 8 April 2025, raising the cost from 66p to 70p per MMS. Text messages also increased on the same date from 43p to 45p, with a further text increase to 48p taking effect from 14 April 2026. ### does vodafone include mms in monthly plans Yes, the vast majority of Vodafone pay monthly plans include picture messaging (MMS) at no extra cost. The 70p per message charge only applies to customers on pay-as-you-go or Basics plans who are sending outside their allowance. ### how much to send picture message abroad vodafone Vodafone charges 66p per picture message when sending abroad, which is 4p less than the standard UK out-of-bundle rate of 70p. This rate applies to international MMS messages sent from the UK. ## Sources 1. [[PDF] Your Vodafone Basics Charges Guide](https://binaries.vodafone.co.uk/gbnnsauqav4t/Gq89ks4RRnwVBKEDOr209/7c06451fff6426bad23ba5dd35a2b868/evo-basics-charges-guide.pdf) (binaries.vodafone.co.uk) 2. [MMS Costs by UK Network: Are Picture Messages Free?](https://connection-technologies.co.uk/help/mms-messaging/costs) (connection-technologies.co.uk) 3. [Out-of-bundle price changes for Pay monthly plans and Vodafone Basics | Vodafone](https://www.vodafone.co.uk/pricechanges/out-of-bundle) (www.vodafone.co.uk)