The best travel eSIMs, compared honestly
Most eSIM comparisons tell you a plan is “unlimited” and that hotspot is “yes”. Neither is really true, and the numbers that matter — the daily cap before you get throttled, the tethering limit in gigabytes, what happens to data you don't use — are almost never published. That's not an oversight: the providers with the least generous fine print tend to pay the most commission.
So this page publishes them. Every fair-use threshold below was read on the provider's own terms, with the source linked and the date we checked it. Where a provider doesn't publish a figure, we say so rather than repeating a number copied between blogs.
Airalo pricing refreshed automatically from 3,175 live plans — last updated 2026-07-20. Other providers checked by hand on 20 July 2026.
The short answer
Biggest catalogue by far (215 countries), metered GB plans so you can actually compare cost, and the only provider here with genuinely uncapped tethering. Cheapest we currently track is $0.88/GB.
The catch: Refunds for a change of mind come back as in-app credit, not to your card. Only a faulty eSIM gets cash.
Consistently cheap across Thailand, Japan and Vietnam, and the only one bundling an ad blocker and tracker protection.
The catch: Poor value in Europe — 10GB there costs over three times the same allowance in Thailand. Once activated, a refund needs 99% of the data unused.
Routinely the lowest headline price of anyone we checked, often by a wide margin.
The catch: The most common complaint is eSIMs that never activate. Prices are shown in an in-app currency whose balance is non-refundable.
Unlimited day passes with no metering anxiety, flat-priced whatever the destination.
The catch: Tethering is capped at 1GB/day, top-ups no longer exist, and it costs the same $73.90 in Bangkok as in Tokyo — poor value in cheap-data countries.
A prepaid balance metered per megabyte, so it never expires on a countdown.
The catch: €10 per gigabyte is punishing, it requires ID at activation, and a dormant balance is consumed by fees.
The fine print, side by side
This is the table other comparisons don't run. Every cell links to the source we read it from. “Not published” means exactly that — we looked and the provider does not state it.
What it actually costs per gigabyte
Providers quote bundles — 5GB here, 10 days there — which makes them almost impossible to compare. Normalising to cost per gigabyte is the only honest way to line them up. Airalo's column recalculates every day from its live catalogue; the rest were read by hand on 20 July 2026.
| Destination | Airalo (live) | Saily | Yesim | GigSky | Holafly |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Europe | $2.35/GB 20GB · 15d · $47 | $3.60/GB 10GB · 30d · $35.99 | £1.44/GB 10GB · 30d · £14.4 | $2.30/GB 10GB · 30d · $22.99 | $73.9 unlimited · 30d |
| Japan | $1.2/GB 20GB · 15d · $24 | $1.80/GB 10GB · 30d · $17.99 | £1.44/GB 10GB · 30d · £14.4 | $1.68/GB 10GB · 30d · $16.79 | $73.9 unlimited · 30d |
| Thailand | $0.88/GB 20GB · 15d · $17.5 | $1.10/GB 10GB · 30d · $10.99 | £0.99/GB 10GB · 30d · £9.9 | $0.98/GB 10GB · 30d · $9.79 | $73.9 unlimited · 30d |
| USA | $1.8/GB 20GB · 15d · $36 | $2.30/GB 10GB · 30d · $22.99 | £1.26/GB 10GB · 30d · £12.6 | $2.15/GB 10GB · 30d · $21.49 | $73.9 unlimited · 30d |
Currencies are shown as each provider quoted them to us and are not converted — publishing a converted figure would mean quoting a price no provider actually charges. Yesim and Saily both detect your location and may show a different currency. Holafly sells unlimited day passes rather than gigabytes, so it has no per-GB figure; Drimsim is metered at a flat €10/GB plus a €10 joining cost.
The things that go wrong
Is “unlimited” data actually unlimited?
No. Every unlimited plan we checked has a daily fair-use cap, after which speed drops sharply for the rest of the day. Airalo throttles after 3GB a day, down to 1 Mbps. Saily allows 3GB a day in Europe and 5GB in Japan, Thailand and the USA before the same 1 Mbps limit. Holafly confirms it throttles but will not publish the threshold, saying only that it varies by destination and lasts no more than a day. At 1 Mbps you can message and load maps; you cannot stream or make a decent video call.
Can I use my eSIM as a hotspot?
Usually, but the limit is a number rather than a yes. Airalo is the clear winner: uncapped tethering to as many devices as you like. Holafly caps hotspot use at 1GB a day on its destination plans, which is very little if you are working from a laptop. Saily is the awkward one — its marketing advertises unlimited hotspot sharing, while its terms of service prohibit tethering “beyond occasional personal use” and reserve the right to disconnect you. If tethering matters, that contradiction is worth knowing before you buy.
When does the plan start counting down?
Normally when the eSIM first connects to a network at your destination — but not always. Airalo warns that some of its eSIMs activate on installation regardless of where you are, which can silently burn days off a plan before you have even flown. The safe habit is to install the profile but not enable the line until you land. If you are on a short trip, that difference can be a quarter of what you paid.
Will my bank's security texts still work?
Not on the eSIM. Almost every travel eSIM is data-only: no phone number, no SMS. That means the one-time codes your bank, or your airline, or a ride-hailing app sends by text will not arrive on it. Saily sells a number as an add-on and openly warns it is unsuitable for two-factor authentication. Sort this before you fly: move two-factor codes to an authenticator app, keep your home SIM active for SMS with data roaming switched off, and turn on Wi-Fi calling.
What happens to data I don't use?
You lose it. Every provider here forfeits unused data at expiry with no refund and no rollover. Buy 10GB for a fortnight, use six, and the remaining four are gone. Buying smaller and topping up is usually cheaper than over-buying — though check top-ups are supported first, because Airalo only offers them on eSIMs marked rechargeable and Holafly has withdrawn them entirely.
The providers in detail
Airalo
We earn a commissionThe largest catalogue by a distance — 215 countries and regions, sold as metered GB bundles rather than day passes. Because plans are metered, the per-GB cost is directly comparable, which is why our tables can rank it honestly against itself.
Airalo owns no network — it resells local carriers, so speed depends entirely on which partner you land on and whether you are deprioritised behind that carrier's own subscribers. Support is also chat-based, which requires the internet you do not have when the eSIM fails. Source
- Refunds
- 30 days — but 'wrong purchase' and 'changed plans' refund only to in-app credit, not your card. Only a faulty eSIM gets cash back
- Phone number
- Data only on most plans. The USA and Thailand voice plans are the exceptions
We earn 12% — the lowest rate of any eSIM partner we work with.
Saily
We earn a commissionFrom the NordVPN team, and the only provider here that bundles an ad blocker and tracker protection. Genuinely good value in Asia; markedly poor value in Europe, where 10GB costs more than three times the same allowance in Thailand.
Saily's own product pages advertise '4.7 from 97,400+ reviews' directly beside its Trustpilot badge. Trustpilot itself shows 4.5 from 27,838. The larger figure appears to be a blended app-store composite, not the Trustpilot score it sits next to. Source
- Refunds
- 30 days, but once activated a refund needs over 99% of the data unused — troubleshooting a faulty eSIM can itself disqualify you
- Phone number
- Data only. A number is a paid add-on, and Saily itself warns it is unsuitable for 2FA
We earn 15%. It does not move Saily up this table.
GigSky
We earn a commissionThe most carrier-grade option here — Apple has shipped GigSky on cellular iPads since 2015, and it is the only provider with real coverage on 290+ cruise ships via their satellite-backhauled onboard networks. Its unlimited allowance is also the most generous at 3.5GB a day.
Support is email-only with no live chat, and reported response times run from a few hours to a few days in peak season — a poor fit for a product you only contact when you have no working data. Source
- Refunds
- None. The terms state the SIM and any unused data are not refundable regardless of whether it was ever activated
- Phone number
- Data only — voice, SMS and MMS are excluded in the terms
GigSky pays us 20% — the highest rate of any eSIM partner we work with. It is fourth on this page, because its refund terms are the worst here.
Nomad
No commercial relationshipWe earn nothing from Nomad and are including it anyway, because it does something none of the others do: it publishes which local network you will actually be on, country by country. On price it is competitive in Europe and Japan.
The most common complaint is 'connected but unusable' — full signal bars with pages that will not load, which is consistent with the 2GB daily throttle biting earlier than people expect. Source
- Refunds
- 30 days, full refund if never installed. But a plan bought with one of Nomad's own promo codes becomes non-refundable once installed
- Phone number
- Data only, and the terms warn it cannot reach emergency services — 999, 112 or 911
Holafly
No commercial relationshipSells unlimited-data day passes rather than GB bundles, and prices them flat across destinations — the same $73.90 for 30 days whether you are in Japan or Thailand. That makes it reasonable value against expensive roaming markets and poor value against cheap ones.
A peer-reviewed USENIX Security 2025 study from Northeastern University found a Holafly eSIM routing traffic through China Mobile, undisclosed to the user. Holafly published a traffic-routing FAQ citing 'trusted international partners' but did not address the finding directly. Source
- Refunds
- Full refund if unactivated, bought direct, within 6 months
- Phone number
- Data only on destination plans — no number, no SMS
Yesim
We earn a commissionConsistently among the cheapest per GB of any provider we checked — often 5–10× cheaper than the unlimited day-pass sellers. Prices are permanently shown as a large discount off an inflated list price; the 'sale' figure is simply the price.
The most common complaint is activation failure — eSIMs that never connect, or that stop working partway through a plan. Prices are also quoted in an in-app currency (Ycoins) whose balance is non-refundable, which obscures what you actually paid. Source
- Refunds
- 30 days, unused and unexpired only. App-malfunction claims must be filed within 1 hour
- Phone number
- Data only. A second number is a separate paid product, inbound only, in 4 countries
We earn 18% — higher than Airalo. It does not move Yesim up this table.
Drimsim
We earn a commissionNot a data plan at all — a prepaid balance drawn down per megabyte at €0.01/MB, which is €10 per GB. That is punishing for normal use, and it only makes sense for someone crossing many borders using very little data. It also carries a €10 up-front cost with no credit attached.
Requires proof of identity at activation — email, phone and a residential address matching your ID. That is unusual for a travel eSIM, and you cannot discover it before buying. Independent testing also put it among the slowest providers measured. Source
- Refunds
- Best of any provider here: if the connection fails and is not fixed in 24h, they refund the SIM cost and the full remaining balance
- Phone number
- Not published
We earn a flat €8. It does not move Drimsim up this table — and we do not recommend it for most trips.
Cheapest plans we're tracking right now
Straight from Airalo's live catalogue, ranked by cost per gigabyte — recalculated on 2026-07-20, not typed in by us.
These are affiliate links — if you buy, we earn a commission at no extra cost to you. It doesn't change which plan we show you: the ranking is purely cost per gigabyte, and Airalo pays us the least of any eSIM partner we work with.
How we put this together
Airalo's prices come from its live product feed — 3,175 plans across 215 countries, re-read every day, with cost per gigabyte calculated by us rather than quoted by them. Every other provider was checked by hand on 20 July 2026 against their own published terms, and each figure links to where we found it.
Where a provider does not publish something, we leave it blank and say so. There are widely-repeated throttle figures for Holafly and Yesim in circulation, but they vary between sources — which usually means people are copying each other rather than reading the terms — so we have left those cells empty rather than pass on a number we cannot stand behind.
We earn commission from Airalo, Saily, Yesim and Drimsim, and nothing from Holafly. That is disclosed against each provider above, and it does not affect the ordering — the provider paying us least is the one we recommend most often.
Best eSIM by destination
Prices, throttle limits and the local rules that change the answer — connectivity is genuinely different country to country, and in a few of these a travel eSIM is the only practical option at all.
Where you're going
Trips, real costs and departure cities for the destinations these plans cover.