Embodiments described herein relate to managing access to 5G cellular baseband resources for 5G-capable wireless devices. A wireless device can monitor application workloads by analyzing communication network performance requirements for a given application in-use or launching for future use along with system-level indications of overall device usage, battery level, and mobility status to determine whether access to 5G cellular baseband resources is recommended for an application. A 5G cellular baseband resource recommendation is provided for an application indicating a level of bandwidth in current use or expected for future use as well as a confidence metric in the bandwidth level indication. The 5G cellular baseband resource recommendation is used with additional device criteria to determine whether access to one or more 5G radio frequency bands is allowed.