Affordable travel eSIM plans: what they really cost
Every travel eSIM site says "cheap". Almost none of them show you the numbers. This page does: live prices across twelve popular destinations, the cost per gigabyte that decides which plan is genuinely the best deal, and the honest reason prices differ so much between countries. Entry price across the catalogue today is £1.49.
Cheapest right now£1.49· 1 GB
What a travel eSIM actually costs
The entry price across our whole catalogue is £1.49, and that is not a single loss-leader in one obscure country — 51 destinations sit at that price, including Spain, Netherlands, Turkey, Austria. At the other end, the most expensive entry price on the list is £45.49 for New Caledonia.
That spread is the first thing worth understanding, because it is not margin. It is what the local networks charge for wholesale data in each market, and it varies by a factor of ten between a competitive European market and a small island with one operator. Anyone selling you a single flat "cheap eSIM" price worldwide is either averaging it out and overcharging you in Spain, or losing money in the Caribbean.
Real prices for twelve popular destinations
Live figures, pulled from the catalogue when this page was built. The last column is the best value on offer in that country — the plan with the lowest cost per gigabyte, which is usually not the cheapest plan.
| Destination | 1 GB | 5 GB | 10 GB | Best £ / GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spain | £1.49 | £4.49 | £7.49 | £0.60 (20 GB) |
| France | £1.49 | £4.99 | £7.99 | £0.60 (20 GB) |
| Italy | £1.49 | £4.49 | £7.49 | £0.60 (20 GB) |
| Greece | £1.49 | £4.49 | £7.49 | £0.70 (20 GB) |
| Portugal | £1.49 | £4.49 | £7.49 | £0.60 (20 GB) |
| Germany | £1.49 | £4.49 | £7.49 | £0.60 (20 GB) |
| Turkey | £1.49 | £4.49 | £7.49 | £0.67 (20 GB) |
| United States | £1.99 | £6.49 | £11.49 | £1.05 (20 GB) |
| Japan | £1.49 | £4.99 | £7.99 | £0.60 (20 GB) |
| Thailand | £2.49 | £6.49 | £9.49 | £0.65 (20 GB) |
| United Arab Emirates | £3.49 | £14.99 | £19.99 | £1.57 (20 GB) |
| Mexico | £3.49 | £13.99 | £18.99 | £1.52 (20 GB) |
Prices in GBP, charged in the currency shown at checkout. No activation, delivery or card fees are added.
Why the cheapest plan is usually the wrong plan
Take Spain. The entry plan is £1.49 for 1 GB — genuinely the least you can spend. But divide it out and that is £1.49 per gigabyte, the most expensive data on the entire Spain list.
The 20 GB plan costs £11.99, which works out at £0.60 per gigabyte — roughly 60% less for every gigabyte you use. And here is the part that catches people out: buying the 1 GB plan twice costs £2.98.
So the honest advice is not "buy the cheapest". It is: estimate what you will use, then buy one size up from that. Running out mid-trip and topping up is where a cheap plan stops being cheap. If you are not sure what you will use, how much travel data you actually need works through it with real app-by-app numbers.
The ten lowest entry prices on the catalogue
If you are choosing where to go partly on connectivity cost — or just curious where data is cheap — these are the lowest starting prices we currently sell.
| Destination | From |
|---|---|
| Austria | £1.49 |
| Belgium | £1.49 |
| Bulgaria | £1.49 |
| Croatia | £1.49 |
| Cyprus | £1.49 |
| Czechia | £1.49 |
| Denmark | £1.49 |
| Estonia | £1.49 |
| Finland | £1.49 |
| France | £1.49 |
Five ways to pay less, in order of how much they save
- Buy the right size, not the smallest size. This is worth more than everything else on this list combined — see the per-gigabyte maths above. A single correctly sized plan beats two small ones on price and on hassle.
- Check a regional plan if you are crossing borders. A multi-country package starts at £1.49 and covers a whole region on one profile. For two countries it is usually a wash; for three or more it normally wins. Regional or local compares them properly.
- Use a discount code. VENTURE10 and ACTIVE10 each take 10% off at checkout. Enter one in the promo field before paying.
- Buy before you fly, not at the airport. Not because the price changes — it does not — but because airport Wi-Fi is where eSIM installs fail, and a plan you cannot install is 100% wasted. Validity counts from first connection in the destination, so buying days ahead costs nothing.
- Do not buy data you will not use. The largest plan is not automatically the smart one. Unused data does not roll over and does not refund.
What "cheap" should never mean
There is a version of cheap that costs more later, and it is worth naming:
- An "unlimited" plan with a fair-use cap. A plan advertised as unlimited with a 5 GB throttle threshold is a 5 GB plan that does not say so on the price tag. Ours show a number instead — the reasoning is in fixed data or unlimited.
- Fees added at checkout. There are none here: no activation fee, no delivery charge, no card surcharge, no auto-renewal. The plan price is the charge.
- Validity so short you cannot use it. A cheap plan valid for one day is not cheap if your trip is a week. Validity is listed on every plan and counts from first connection abroad, not from purchase.
- A plan for a phone that cannot take it. The most expensive eSIM is one that will not install. Thirty seconds on device compatibility rules that out.
Three real trips, with real numbers
A week in Spain. 5 GB at £4.49 (£0.90 per GB, valid 30 days). Enough for maps, messaging, a normal amount of scrolling and some photo uploads. The 1 GB entry plan at £1.49 would cover a short city break but not this. All Spain plans →
Two weeks in Thailand. 10 GB at £9.49 (£0.95 per GB, valid 30 days). Enough for maps, messaging, a normal amount of scrolling and some photo uploads. The 1 GB entry plan at £2.49 would cover a short city break but not this. All Thailand plans →
A business trip to United States. 5 GB at £6.49 (£1.30 per GB, valid 30 days). Enough for maps, messaging, a normal amount of scrolling and some photo uploads. The 1 GB entry plan at £1.99 would cover a short city break but not this. All United States plans →
Frequently asked questions
Buy an eSIM online in about two minutes
Pick a destination, pay by card, and the QR code plus activation details appear on your order page and in your email within minutes. Install it before you fly; it starts when you land. Check your phone is compatible first if you have never used one.
