BT vs Sky: same lines, different extras

BT and Sky sell broadband over the same Openreach lines, so at most addresses the speed you can get is the same from either. The difference is everything wrapped around the line. Sky includes a landline and gives you a way out of a price rise, while BT pays bigger reward cards and sells EE TV. The two also publish very different rules for leaving early. Sky also sells 2.5Gbps and 5Gbps tiers on CityFibre's network in the towns that have it.

How do BT and Sky compare at a glance?

The table takes prices, speeds, contract lengths, set-up fees, rewards and scheduled price rises from our live deal feed, so it matches the deals on our comparison pages today. The network, guarantee and exit-fee rows come from each provider's own pages, checked on 11 October 2026.

Is Sky cheaper than BT?

Tier for tier, slightly on the day and more once BT's rises land. When we checked on 11 October 2026, Sky's Full Fibre 150 was £23 a month on 24 months with an £80 gift card. BT's Full Fibre 150 was £23.99 a month, rising to £27.99 on 31 March 2027 and £31.99 on 31 March 2028, with a £90 reward card. At 900Mbps, Sky's Gigafast was £28 with a £100 gift card, against BT's Full Fibre 900 at £32.99 rising to £40.99, with a £175 reward card.

BT's £23.99 becomes £27.99 after the first 31 March in the contract and £31.99 after the second. Sky's £23 has no rise scheduled in our feed, with a £5 set-up fee that Sky credits back. The two reward cards roughly cancel out, so BT's rises decide it, unless Sky announces a rise of its own, which would come with a way out, covered below.

Both sets of prices are online offers and they change, so read the live table rather than either headline.

Do the speeds differ?

Not on Openreach. Both sell the same part-fibre and full fibre tiers, and their uploads are within a few Mbps of each other at each speed, as the table shows.

The exception is Sky's CityFibre range. In towns CityFibre has built, Sky sells 2.5Gbps and 5Gbps tiers with uploads in the gigabits. BT's range stops at 900Mbps. If you want more than a gigabit, only Sky offers it between these two.

Can the price go up during the contract?

Yes with both, in different ways. BT raises broadband by £4 a month on 31 March each year during the contract, for products bought on or after 10 April 2024, according to its price-change page. Every BT deal in our feed carries that schedule, and because the amount and dates are set out in the contract, Ofcom's rules don't give you a penalty-free exit when the rise lands.

Sky's deals in our feed carry no scheduled rise. Sky's terms in the feed say "Sky must give you 1 month's notice for any mid-contract price rises" and "If you are unhappy with a mid-contract price rise, Sky will offer you the right to exit your contract". Sky's rise for broadband in April 2026 was £3 a month, as reported by ISPreview.

So BT tells you the amount and gives you no exit; Sky doesn't fix the amount but lets you leave. On BT's Full Fibre 150 that is £4 a month more after the first rise and £8 more after the second. Our price rise guide explains the rules.

Which rewards, which landline, which TV?

Both pay you to join. BT's reward cards in our feed run from £70 on Fibre 2 to £175 on Full Fibre 500 and 900, with nothing on Fibre 1 and Fibre Essential, plus "Claim up to £200 switching credit". Sky's gift cards run from £40 to £100 on every broadband deal, and Sky's site offers "up to £200 towards your leaving fee".

The landline is the quiet difference. Sky's broadband page says "All our broadband services are inclusive of landline rental and Sky Pay As You Talk (£0pm) as standard". BT's broadband-only deals have no line; the "+Pay As You Go" version of each tier adds one for about £5 a month more in our feed. If you still use a home phone, that £5 a month is part of the comparison.

On TV, BT sells EE TV bundles, from £38.99 a month in our feed with Netflix included, and its Sport tiers carry TNT Sports. Sky sells Sky Stream, from £32 a month in our feed with Essential TV and Netflix. Our EE TV channels guide and Sky Stream channels guide cover what's in each.

Which one guarantees your speed?

Both are signatories to Ofcom's Broadband Speeds Code, so both give you a minimum guaranteed speed when you order and a right to leave without penalty if it isn't met and can't be fixed within 30 days. BT's Stay Fast Guarantee adds a £20 reward card for each failed fix, up to four times a year. The feed shows its minimums: 100Mbps on Full Fibre 150 and 300, 425Mbps on 500 and 700Mbps on 900.

Sky's Speed Guarantee page spells out its version. If your speed falls below your Guaranteed Minimum Download Speed "for at least 3 days in a row in the last 30 days", you can change package with no upfront fees or cancel with no early termination charges. Both providers' deals in our feed are part of Ofcom's automatic compensation scheme.

How do their service records compare?

Ofcom's complaints figures for January to March 2026 put Sky at 5 complaints per 100,000 broadband customers and BT at 7, against an industry average of 6. Both appear in the Trustpilot row of the table above, with the caveat that sits under it. Our complaints rankings guide has the full tables.

What does it cost to leave early?

BT's method is published in its Consumer Price Guide, effective 25 September 2026. It starts from the price without VAT, takes off the costs it saves (£15 a month in its own example), discounts by 1% for early payment and adds VAT back. Its example is £35 a month with four months left, which comes to £67.32. On Full Fibre 150 at £23.99 with four months left, the same method comes to about £24.

Sky publishes a set charge per product for each month left, with offer-price customers charged less. Our exit fee calculator has BT's rule built in exactly and models Sky at 60% of the monthly price, which tracks its published table.

What about set-up and contract length?

Both sell 24-month deals in our feed. BT's set-up is £0. Sky's deals carry a £5 upfront fee that, in the feed's words, "is credited back to your account". Both send a router: BT's deals name the Smart Hub 3 on most full fibre tiers, and Sky supplies its Sky Hub.

Where can you get both?

Almost everywhere. Both sell on Openreach's network, so every one of our 153 broadband area pages lists both providers, and the full fibre or part-fibre speed on offer is the same from either at a given address. Sky's CityFibre tiers are the exception: they depend on CityFibre having built in your town. Check your postcode for the exact speeds before you decide.

Why you might choose BT

• You want the bigger reward card, up to £175 on the deals we checked.
• You want EE TV, or TNT Sports through its Sport tiers.
• You'd rather know the rise in advance, £4 each March, than face an unknown one.
• You might leave early and want a published method that deducts the provider's saved costs.
• You want a social tariff: BT Home Essentials is open to new customers on qualifying benefits.

Why you might choose Sky

• You want a landline included at no extra cost.
• You want a right to leave if the price goes up mid-contract.
• You want Sky Stream, or the 2.5Gbps and 5Gbps CityFibre tiers.
• You want the lower monthly price at today's offer rates.
• You want the provider with fewer complaints in Ofcom's latest figures.

How do you switch between them?

This is the easy kind of switch. Both providers use Openreach's lines, so the new provider takes over your existing line rather than installing a new one, and you usually keep the same socket and ONT. One Touch Switch handles it: tell the new provider, and it arranges the end of your old service. Sky's broadband page puts it as "We'll tell your old provider you're leaving so you don't have to", and under Ofcom's rules you shouldn't be without broadband for more than one working day. Our One Touch Switch guide walks through it.

If you're mid-contract, the exit fee above applies to the provider you leave, and each offers up to £200 of switching credit towards the other's fee on the terms we checked. Ask the new provider to port your landline number when you order; both providers run phone services on Openreach, so it is a routine request.

Sources and how we checked

Prices, speeds, contract lengths, set-up fees, rewards and scheduled rises come from our live deal feed, checked on 11 October 2026 and refreshed whenever the site updates. The rest comes from the sources below, read on the dates shown.

• BT, read 10 October 2026: price change page, broadband page, terms and the Consumer Price Guide effective 25 September 2026 at bt.com/tariffguide.
• Sky, read 11 October 2026: broadband page and Speed Guarantee article; its price-rise notice and exit wording are quoted from Sky's own deal terms in our feed.
• Ofcom: telecoms complaints data for January to March 2026, and codes of practice for Speeds Code membership.
• ISPreview: Sky's April 2026 price rise.

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