If you have searched for a travel eSIM you have seen the same three or four names over and over, each one confidently declaring itself the best. We sell eSIMs too, so treat what follows with the scepticism it deserves. What we have tried to do here is lay out the differences that are actually verifiable, and say plainly where the others beat us.
One thing we are deliberately not doing: printing a table of competitor prices. Everybody in this industry changes pricing constantly and runs different rates by country and currency. Any article claiming to have current prices for four providers across two hundred countries is either automated or out of date, usually both. What we compare below are the structural things, the rules and policies that hold steady for months at a time.
The quick verdict
- Pick Airalo if you want the longest track record and the widest country catalogue, and you are comfortable paying a bit more for that.
- Pick Holafly if you stream heavily, want genuinely unlimited data, and you do not care about sharing your connection with a laptop.
- Pick Saily if you already trust Nord Security as a brand and want a tidy app.
- Pick us if you want the lowest entry price, the choice between sized and unlimited plans, and hotspot use that is not capped at a gigabyte a day.
How they actually differ
| MegaEsimBEST CHOICE | Airalo | Holafly | Saily | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plan types | ✓Fixed size and unlimited | Mostly fixed size | Unlimited only | Fixed size and unlimited |
| Hotspot and tethering | ✓Allowed, no daily sharing cap | Allowed | ✗ Capped at 1 GB per day | Allowed |
| Keeps your phone number | ✓No, data only | No, data only | No, data only | No, data only |
| Top up without rebuying | ✓Yes | Yes | Yes | ✗ Not confirmed |
| Speed after daily limit | ✓Reduced after daily allowance | Reduced after daily allowance | Fair use policy, no stated figure | ✗ Not published |
| Entry price | ✓From $1.29 | Varies by country | Varies by country | Varies by country |
| 10% discount code | ✓SUMMER10 | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Get eSIM → |
A note on how that table was built. The Holafly hotspot cap and unlimited only model come from their own Turkey plan page, checked in August 2026. The Airalo tethering position comes from their help centre. Saily blocks automated access to their site, so two of their cells say not confirmed rather than us guessing. That is the honest state of what we could verify.
Where the others genuinely beat us
This is the section most comparison articles skip, which is exactly why they are worth ignoring.
Airalo has a bigger catalogue and a longer history
Airalo has been doing this longer than almost anyone and has an enormous review base to show for it. If you are travelling somewhere unusual, they will very likely have a plan for it. They are also a safer default if brand familiarity matters to you, because your hotel receptionist has probably heard of them.
Holafly is better for genuinely heavy users
If you are the kind of traveller who streams on the move, video calls for hours and never wants to think about a data counter again, Holafly's unlimited only model fits you better than picking a size. You pay more, but you pay for not having to think. For a heavy user that can be the right trade.
Their catch is the hotspot cap. If you regularly work off a laptop through your phone, one gigabyte of sharing per day will frustrate you quickly.
Saily has the brand backing
Saily comes from Nord Security, the company behind NordVPN, and carries a strong Trustpilot score. If you already pay them for a VPN, keeping things under one roof is a reasonable thing to want.
Where we think we win
The entry price
Our plans start at $1.29. That is genuinely low for this market, and for short trips where you only need maps and messaging, it is hard to spend less.
You get to choose the shape of the plan
Holafly only sells unlimited. Airalo mostly sells fixed sizes, with unlimited limited to a handful of markets. We sell both, in the same place, for the same country. Most people need 3 GB and should not be pushed into an unlimited plan they will never exhaust. Some people genuinely need unlimited. Both are fine, and you should get to pick.
Hotspot is not rationed
If you tether a laptop, our plans let you share your connection against your normal allowance rather than a separate daily sharing cap. For remote workers this is the difference between a plan that works and one that does not.
- ✓Fixed size plans and unlimited, your choice
- ✓Hotspot without a daily sharing cap
- ✓Install before you fly, activate on landing
- ✓196 countries in one account
The things nobody tells you
Every unlimited plan has a limit
This is the biggest piece of misdirection in the whole industry. Every provider selling unlimited travel data, including us, applies a daily full speed allowance. Once you pass it, the connection keeps working but slows down.
Nomad publish theirs plainly, dropping to 512 kbps after the daily allocation. Airalo's regional unlimited plans reduce speed after about 3 GB a day. Holafly's terms mention a fair use policy without stating a number, which is harder to plan around. Our own plans reduce speed after the daily full speed allowance too, and we say so on the product page.
The lesson is not that unlimited is a scam. It is that unlimited means "a generous daily amount then slower", and you should judge providers on whether they tell you the number.
Destination counts are marketing
You will see 200 plus, 190 plus, 160 plus quoted everywhere, and the numbers rarely mean the same thing. Sometimes it counts every country with any plan. Sometimes it counts what a single global plan covers, which is a much smaller list. When you compare providers, ignore the headline number and check the one country you are actually going to.
None of these give you a phone number
All the major travel eSIMs are data only. You do not get a local number for calls or texts. This matters more than people expect, because bank verification codes arrive by SMS to your home number. The right setup is to keep your home SIM switched on for calls and texts with its data roaming off, and use the eSIM purely for data.
How to actually choose
Forget the brand comparison for a moment and answer three questions.
- How much data do you really use? If you are not sure, check your phone's own usage figures before you travel. Most people need far less than they think.
- Will you tether a laptop? If yes, check the hotspot policy carefully, because this is where providers differ most.
- How long is the trip? Short trips favour a small fixed plan. Long trips with heavy use start to favour unlimited.
Answer those and the choice usually makes itself, regardless of which logo is on the plan.
Our bias, stated plainly
We sell eSIMs. We would like you to buy ours. You should assume every comparison article written by a provider is shaped by that, including this one.
What we have tried to do is only make claims we can point at a source for, admit where we could not verify something, and name the cases where a competitor is the better buy. If you are a heavy streamer who never tethers, Holafly probably suits you better than we do. We would rather say that than pretend otherwise and lose your trust the first time you found out.
If you want to see what we charge for your specific destination, the prices are on each country page with no account needed.
- ✓Sized plans and unlimited in one place
- ✓Hotspot allowed on your normal allowance
- ✓Real prices on every country page
- ✓Instant QR delivery by email