# Which eSIM Plans Offer the Most Data for the Best Price in 2026? > How to compare travel eSIM plans on price per gigabyte, why unlimited plans are throttled, and which providers publish their fair use limits. Source: https://viasimo.com/magazine/most-data-for-the-price-esim-plans/ Published: 2026-09-19 Tags: travel-esim, buying-guide, comparison --- The honest answer to which travel eSIM gives you the most data for your money is that it depends on the destination, and that the plans advertising the most data are often not the ones delivering the best value. This guide gives you a method rather than a league table, because a league table for a category where the same provider can be cheapest in Portugal and dearest in the United States would be misleading. In this guide: - [Work in price per gigabyte, not price](#work-in-price-per-gigabyte-not-price) - [Why unlimited plans are not unlimited](#why-unlimited-plans-are-not-unlimited) - [What each provider publishes](#what-each-provider-publishes) - [Sizing the plan you actually need](#sizing-the-plan-you-actually-need) - [Where the money usually leaks](#where-the-money-usually-leaks) ## Work in price per gigabyte, not price The cheapest plan on a page is almost never the best value on that page. Small plans carry a disproportionate share of the fixed cost, so a 1 GB plan routinely costs more per gigabyte than a 5 GB plan from the same provider in the same country, sometimes twice as much. Divide the plan price by the gigabytes, for every plan on the page, and the ranking usually reorders itself. Then compare that figure across providers for your destination. Two things matter while you do it: - **Compare the same validity.** A 5 GB plan valid for 7 days and a 5 GB plan valid for 30 days are different products. If you only travel for a week, you are paying for validity you will not use. - **Compare in your own currency.** Some providers price in USD and let your bank convert, which adds a foreign transaction margin you will not see on the product page. Destination changes the arithmetic more than provider choice does. Our [guide to avoiding roaming bill shock](/magazine/avoid-roaming-bill-shock/) covers the other side of this, which is what happens when you skip a travel plan entirely. Data in [Europe](/destinations/europe/) and Southeast Asia is cheap by world standards; the [United States](/destinations/usa/) is one of the most expensive markets anywhere. A provider that looks poor value in one can be the best option in the other. ## Why unlimited plans are not unlimited Every unlimited travel eSIM on the market runs a [fair usage policy](/glossary/fair-usage-policy/). You get a full-speed allowance each day, and once you pass it your connection is [throttled](/glossary/throttling/) for the remainder of that day. The plan does not stop working, but it stops being fast. This matters because the throttled speed decides what the rest of your day looks like. At 1 Mbps, maps, messaging, email and standard-definition video still work. Video calls become unreliable, large uploads become painful, and anything involving a big file becomes an exercise in patience. So an unlimited plan is best understood as **a daily allowance with a slow tail**, not as a blank cheque. The right question is not whether a plan is unlimited but what its daily number is, and whether that number is above or below your real use. ## What each provider publishes This is where the category separates, and it is the most useful comparison in this guide. Three of the five largest providers publish a hard number. Two do not. All figures below are taken from each provider's own website or help centre and are **correct as at 19 September 2026**. Fair usage policies change; check the provider's own page before you buy. | Provider | Daily full-speed allowance | Speed after the allowance | Published on their own site | |---|---|---|---| | Airalo | 3 GB per day | 1 Mbps for the rest of the day | Yes, in the unlimited plans fair use policy | | Saily | 3 GB or 5 GB per 24 hours, by plan | 1 Mbps | Yes, in the terms of service | | Nomad | 2 GB per day | Stated inconsistently across two of their own pages | Threshold yes, speed unclear | | Holafly | Not published | Not published | No numeric figure on their own domain | | Ubigi | Not published | Not published | No numeric figure on their own domain | Two observations worth carrying into a buying decision. **Nomad publishes two different throttled speeds.** Its fair usage document states 512 kbps; its help centre article describes roughly 1 Mbps or 2 Mbps depending on plan. The 2 GB daily threshold is consistent across both, so treat that as reliable and the speed as uncertain. **Holafly and Ubigi sell unlimited data without publishing what unlimited means.** Both describe the limit in general terms (speeds may be reduced after a certain usage, subject to an operator's fair use policy) without a threshold or a throttled speed anywhere on their own sites. Numbers for both circulate on comparison blogs, but a third party's figure is not a commitment from the provider. If you are choosing an unlimited plan specifically because you are a heavy user, buying one whose limit is undisclosed is the opposite of what you are trying to achieve. None of this makes those providers bad. It makes the unlimited label a weaker basis for comparison than it appears, and it is why a metered plan with a stated allowance is often the more honest purchase. You know exactly what you bought. Viasimo sells metered plans for this reason: a stated number of gigabytes, a stated validity, one payment. Whether that is better value than an unlimited plan depends entirely on how much data you use, which is the next section. ## Sizing the plan you actually need Buy for your real consumption, not for the worst week of your life. Check your phone's own cellular data statistics for a normal recent week. iPhone users will find it under Settings then Cellular, Android users under Settings then Network and internet then Data usage. Subtract what you know happened on wifi. That gives you a daily cellular figure that is far more reliable than any generic estimate. As a sanity check, typical daily use abroad breaks down roughly like this: - **Maps, messaging and email only:** 150 to 300 MB per day - **Add browsing, ride-hailing and photo uploads:** 300 to 700 MB per day - **Add regular social video:** 1 to 2 GB per day, easily more - **Working remotely, video calls, tethering a laptop:** 2 GB and up per day Remember that a hotel, an apartment and most cafes will carry a large share of your usage on wifi. Travellers consistently overestimate what they need on cellular, which is why the oversized plan is such a common purchase. ## Where the money usually leaks Four habits account for most of the overspending in this category. **Buying defensively.** A large plan bought as insurance, half used, then forfeited at the end of its [validity period](/glossary/validity-period/). Unused data does not roll over at any major provider. A smaller plan plus a [top-up](/glossary/top-up/) if you need it is nearly always cheaper. **Buying single-country plans for a multi-country trip.** Three separate plans for a three-country itinerary usually costs more than one [regional plan](/glossary/regional-esim/), and leaves you with three sets of leftovers. **Paying for a subscription you meant to use once.** Several providers now sell monthly plans alongside one-time ones, and the monthly products can renew automatically. Ubigi's Monthly Plans charge your card each month and cannot be cancelled inside a three-month minimum. Holafly's Plans renew every 30 days. Saily's subscriptions auto-renew with three days' notice. Airalo's renewals are opt-in and off by default. If you are taking one trip, check that what you are buying is a one-time purchase and not a standing order. **Ignoring the destination premium.** If your itinerary includes an expensive market, that leg dominates your total cost. It is worth sizing that plan carefully and being relaxed about the cheap legs, rather than optimising all of them equally. ## The short version Compare price per gigabyte, not price. Treat unlimited as a daily allowance with a slow tail, and find out what that allowance is before you buy. Three of the five biggest providers will tell you, and two will not. Size the plan from your own phone's data statistics rather than from an imagined worst case. And check whether the thing you are buying charges you once or every month.