International Travel eSIM Plan Finder
The cheapest travel eSIM that really covers your days, your data and your phone.
Try before you buy.
- Free preview: the best plan for your trip and its price in full, with the phone check and the first rows of each table (up to 3); every other figure is hidden.
- Locked until you unlock it: download, copy and print.
- Unlock: Pro pass, ₹179 for 30 days or ₹79 for 1 week, a one-time payment that never renews. Unlock: Pro pass, $5.99 for 30 days or $2.99 for 1 week, a one-time payment that never renews.
Ways to unlock shows how to get the full result.
Printing this result is locked in the free preview.
Phone check
On your phone
Prices as each provider’s page listed them when last checked: confirm on the page before you buy.
Ways to cover your trip, best first
Fits: the plan covers your days and data. Check: one thing to confirm (a hotspot the page does not mention, a speed limit after a daily amount). Does not fit: it lacks something you asked for.
Exchange rates and card fee
Edit the plans, or add your own
Change any figure to what the provider’s page shows you now; your changes are kept in this browser. Add your carrier’s roaming pack or another provider’s plan to compare it.
| Plan | Data (GB, empty: unlimited) | Days | Price | Hotspot | Actions |
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Saved trips
Save this trip to come back to it or to set trips side by side. Saved trips stay in this browser; back them up as a file.
Where the plans and rules come from
MySmartCoPilot is not paid by these providers and does not sell eSIMs. Plans change often: the provider’s page is always the final word.
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About the International Travel eSIM Plan Finder
A travel eSIM gives your phone mobile data abroad without a new SIM card or your carrier’s roaming charges — but the plans are hard to compare: GB plans, unlimited plans with a daily speed limit, 7, 15 or 30 days, prices in dollars, hotspot rules that differ. This finder takes your trip (where, how many days, how many phones), works out how much data you will use from what you do (maps, social media, video, calls) with the services’ own data figures, and checks every plan two eSIM providers list for 16 popular destinations, from Dubai, Thailand and Singapore to Europe, the US and Japan.
For each plan it works out how many packs your trip needs, the total cost in your currency, the cost per GB you actually use, what is left over, and whether it meets what you asked for: a hotspot to share data with a laptop or another phone, minutes for local calls, a daily full-speed limit above your use. The phone check tells you whether your phone takes an eSIM — by model and where it was bought — and whether it can keep your home number for calls and bank texts at the same time. Every plan’s figures can be edited, and you can add your carrier’s roaming pack or any other plan to compare.
Without a pass, the free preview shows the best plan for your trip and its price, the phone check and the first rows of each table; a Pro pass unlocks every figure, the full comparison, the copy, the CSV, the PDF report and saved trips side by side.
How to use it
- Choose where you are going, the days away and the phones that need data; with more than one, choose an eSIM each or one eSIM shared by hotspot.
- Set your data a day: enter the hours of maps and messaging, social media, video, calls and music (the finder works out the GB), or type the GB a day if you know it. Keep some spare for the unexpected.
- Tick hotspot if you will share the data, and minutes if you need to call local numbers. Choose your phone and where it was bought for the phone check.
- Read the best plan, its cost, the cost per GB and the full list. Edit a plan’s figures to what its page shows you now, or add your own; then copy the summary, download the CSV or the PDF report, or print — with a pass, or after unlocking this result.
Examples
3 hours of maps and messages, 1 hour of social media, 15 minutes of video calls and 30 minutes of internet calls a day, 15% spare: 7.8 GB for the week
Airalo’s Maew 10 GB for 7 days, ₹952.81 at the ECB rate (₹122.53 a GB used); Nomad’s 10 GB for 30 days is ₹968.68 at its own rupee price, and the cheaper one once a card adds 3.5% to dollar payments (₹986.15 for Airalo’s)
48.3 GB on one eSIM: Nomad’s 50 GB for 30 days at $30.00 (a sale price), $0.62 a GB used; Airalo’s 15-day unlimited plan is next at $46.00
20 GB in all: Nomad’s 20 GB for 30 days at $29.00; Airalo’s unlimited plans are marked “check” because their full speed stops at 3 GB a day
Common uses
- Pick the cheapest eSIM that lasts your whole holiday instead of guessing between 5 GB, 10 GB and unlimited.
- Compare a travel eSIM with your own carrier’s international roaming pack.
- Check that your phone takes an eSIM, and can keep your home number for bank texts, before you buy.
- Plan data for a family: an eSIM each, or one shared by hotspot.
How the cost is worked out
- Data a day = Σ hours × data an hour. Video: Netflix’s figures (0.3 GB an hour at low quality, 0.7 at medium, 1 at high SD, 3 at HD). Social media with photos and short videos: YouTube’s recommended speed for 480p, 1.1 Mbit/s. Video calls: Zoom’s 600 kbit/s each way (1.2 Mbit/s each way in HD). Internet voice calls: 80 kbit/s each way. Music: Spotify’s 96, 160 or 320 kbit/s. A speed is turned into GB an hour as kbit/s × 3,600 ÷ 8 ÷ 1,000,000 (1 Mbit/s is 0.45 GB an hour). Maps, messages, email and the web have no published figure, so their rate is yours to set.
- Need = data a day × (1 + spare %) × days; with one eSIM shared by hotspot, every phone’s use adds up on it.
- A plan of G GB valid V days used at d GB a day lasts L = min(V, G ÷ d) days, so a trip of T days needs ⌈T ÷ L⌉ packs (top-ups, or new eSIMs where the plan has none). An unlimited plan needs ⌈T ÷ V⌉ packs, or the cheapest mix of its durations when that costs less.
- Cost = packs × price, in your currency: a rupee price the provider shows itself is used as it is; other prices are converted at the European Central Bank’s reference rate, or your own, plus your card’s fee on foreign-currency payments. Cost per GB = cost ÷ the GB your trip uses.
Unlimited plans, daily limits and hotspot
Unlimited plans are unlimited in GB but not in speed. Airalo’s give full speed up to 5 GB a day in Thailand, Europe and the US and 3 GB a day at the other destinations here, then 1 Mbit/s, which still works for maps and messages; Nomad’s give 2 GB a day at full speed, then 1 Mbit/s (512 kbit/s in Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam, 2 Mbit/s in Canada), except two plans whose pages state no daily limit. When your use is above a plan’s daily full-speed data, the finder marks it Check.
Nomad’s pages say all its eSIMs support tethering and hotspot, and Airalo says its unlimited eSIMs do (hotspot use counts toward the daily allowance). Airalo’s country pages do not say it for its GB plans, so with a hotspot those are marked Check: look at the plan’s details before you buy.
Which phones take a travel eSIM
- iPhone: iPhone XS, XS Max, XR and later. iPhone 13, iPhone SE (3rd generation) and later can hold two eSIMs, so your home number can stay on as the second line. In China mainland only iPhone 18 Pro, 18 Pro Max, 17e and Air support eSIM, and in Hong Kong and Macao some models use two physical SIM cards instead. Some models have no SIM tray at all in the US and a few other countries.
- Google Pixel: Pixel 3a and later take one physical SIM and one eSIM (not a Pixel 3a bought in Japan); Pixel 7 and later can use two eSIM profiles where the carrier allows it.
- Samsung and other Android phones: look in the SIM settings (on a Galaxy, Settings → Connections → SIM manager) for an option to add an eSIM.
- Whatever the model, a phone locked to its carrier takes only that carrier’s SIMs: ask your carrier to unlock it before you buy.
Sources
- Airalo — eSIM store and Airalo — unlimited data packages
- Nomad — travel eSIM plans
- Apple — Using Dual SIM with an eSIM and Apple — Identify your iPhone model
- Google — How to use dual SIMs on your Pixel phone
- Netflix Help Center — data usage, YouTube Help — system requirements, Zoom — system requirements, Spotify — Audio quality
- European Central Bank — euro reference exchange rates
Limitations
- Plans and prices change often: each provider’s page is the final word. The figures here are as each page listed them when last verified, and you can edit any of them.
- Only two providers’ plans are listed for 16 destinations; add any other plan yourself to compare it.
- Data use is an estimate: apps, video quality and updates vary. Keep a spare share, or top up during the trip.
- A regional plan covers its own list of countries: check that every country of your trip is on it.
Privacy
Looks up live data online
Everything is worked out in your browser. Your trip, your plans and your saved trips stay on your device, kept in this browser so they are there next time; only the daily exchange-rate table is downloaded.
Frequently asked questions
What do I get without a pass?
Without a pass, International Travel eSIM Plan Finder shows the best plan for your trip and its price in full, with the phone check and the first rows of each table (up to 3); every other figure is hidden. Until you unlock it, the result can’t be downloaded, copied or printed. A Pro, Premium or Ultimate pass, a one-time payment that never renews, unlocks the full result. The pricing page lists the passes and their prices.
How much data do I need for a week abroad?
With maps and messaging for 3 hours a day, an hour of social media, 15 minutes of video calls and 30 minutes of internet calls, about 0.97 GB a day: 7.8 GB for a week with 15% spare. An hour of video at medium quality adds about 0.7 GB (Netflix’s figure), and a laptop on hotspot can use several GB a day. Enter your own hours for your figure.
Is an unlimited travel eSIM really unlimited?
In GB, yes; in speed, not quite. Airalo’s unlimited plans give full speed up to 5 GB a day in Thailand, Europe and the US and 3 GB a day elsewhere here, then 1 Mbit/s; most of Nomad’s give 2 GB a day at full speed. If you use more than that every day, the finder marks the plan Check: a GB plan big enough for your trip may be faster and cheaper.
Can I share a travel eSIM by hotspot?
Nomad says all its eSIMs support tethering and hotspot, and Airalo says its unlimited eSIMs do. Airalo’s country pages do not say it for its GB plans, so the finder marks them Check when you need a hotspot. Sharing adds every device’s use to one eSIM, so the finder adds it up for you.
Will my phone work with a travel eSIM?
iPhone XS, XR and later and Google Pixel 3a and later take one, unless the phone is from China mainland (only a few iPhone models there) or is locked to a carrier. On a Samsung Galaxy, look for “Add eSIM” in Settings → Connections → SIM manager. The phone check on this page goes through your model.
Can I keep my home number for calls and bank OTPs while I use a travel eSIM?
Yes, on a dual-SIM phone: the home line stays on for calls and texts while the travel eSIM gives the data; turn off data roaming on the home line so it uses no data abroad. iPhone 13, iPhone SE (3rd generation) and later can hold two eSIMs at once, so this works even if your home number is an eSIM too.
Are these prices live?
No. They are the prices each provider’s public page listed when last verified, shown with that check beside them; prices and plans change. Edit any figure to what the page shows you, or add the plan you were offered, and the finder works it out again.
Why does a rupee price differ from the dollar price converted?
Some providers set their own rupee prices, and your card may add a fee to payments in dollars. The finder uses a provider’s own rupee price where its page shows one, converts dollar prices at the European Central Bank’s rate (or your own), and adds your card’s fee, so the comparison is what you would actually pay.