Georgia SIM Cards for Tourists 2026

Most flights into Tbilisi land between two and five in the morning. You walk out into a quiet hall, the Bolt app needs data to book the car, and the only desk with its lights on is selling SIM cards. That is the moment this guide is for. It covers the three networks, the 2026 prices at the airport against a shop in town, how to put a Georgian number on an eSIM without visiting a store, and when a travel eSIM wins.

The three networks, ranked by people who live there

Georgia has three operators. Magti (Magticom) is the big one. Silknet is the old Geocell, rebranded after a merger. Cellfie is the old Beeline Georgia, also renamed, which is why older posts use all three names for two networks.

The r/tbilisi thread that ranks first for this search is unusually consistent. The top answer is go to a Magti store. The strongest warning is about Cellfie: locals call it the cheap option that is fine inside cities and falls apart in the countryside, and visitors who took it on a road trip agree. Silknet sits in between.

If you are only in Tbilisi and Batumi, any of the three works. If Kazbegi, Svaneti, Tusheti or the wine roads of Kakheti are on the plan, Magti is the one. It reaches almost every inhabited corner of the country, including Mestia, and it is what our own Georgia eSIM connects to.

What a SIM costs in 2026

Georgian data is cheap, and that is the whole argument for going local if you are staying a while. These prices come off the Magti tariff pages in September 2026.

Both unlimited packs are marked promotions, so those prices can move. The fixed bundles are standard.

Can tourists get a Magti eSIM?

Yes, and you do not have to be in Georgia to buy one. Putting a number on eSIM costs 10 lari, in the MyMagti app, on the website, or at a service centre with your passport.

The app route is the one no guide in the top ten walks. Open Order, then Purchase a Number, then filter to the free 0 lari numbers. The app scans your passport and runs a face check, and the name it fills in can come out wrong, so rescan until it matches. Then pick SIM Card Change to eSIM, which is where the 10 lari lands. A traveller who posted the flow on Tripadvisor paid with a foreign card in October 2025; an August 2026 reply says Google Pay worked.

It works for many and fails for some. A Georgia travel guide updated in July 2026 says foreign issued cards do not always go through, and the check sometimes reads a foreign passport as unreadable. Use a counter instead.

Silknet eSIM: 5 lari online, and the full tourist ladder

Silknet's eSIM is 5 lari in its online shop and that is the whole bill, because standard numbers are listed at 0 lari. Gold numbers start at 4 lari. An earlier version of this guide mentioned an activation fee on top. There is none.

It also has the fullest tourist range in the country, started from the My Silknet app or a dial code.

Two things other guides leave out. All five renew while balance sits on the number, so spend it down before you fly home. And Tourist Start is the only capped pack: past the 4 GB it is 10 tetri a megabyte inside the 15 days, 70 tetri after, which is 100 lari a gigabyte.

Cellfie eSIM for 1 lari, and the Travel eSIM trap

Cellfie sells the cheapest eSIM in Georgia at 1 lari, and moving an existing Cellfie SIM to eSIM is also 1 lari. Sold online at any hour, the QR code never expires, it lives in the MyCellfie app, and a deleted one reinstalls with the same code for nothing.

The flow runs number, tariff, identification, summary, payment. We could not see which documents that step takes; the prepaid SIM wiki says a selfie and a passport photo, unconfirmed for foreign passports. Tariffs run 30 days: Mini 7 lari for 1.5 GB, Pro 17 lari for 7 GB, Maxi 25 lari for 20 GB. It is still the city network.

The airport desk at 3am

Magti publishes its arrivals offer and it is the same at Tbilisi and Kutaisi. The 30 lari welcome pack is a free SIM card, 3 GB, 30 international minutes and free local calls, for 15 days. The 15 lari pack is 5 GB, also 15 days. Neither Magti nor the airport publishes desk hours, so treat all night opening as likely rather than promised.

That is the airport premium in one line. The Reddit advice is to skip the airport, because the desks only sell tourist packages. Honest, with one caveat. At 3am, with a taxi to book, the extra 15 lari is the cheapest problem you will solve all trip. Buy the small pack, then top up in town. One guide updated in August 2026 puts Cellfie straight ahead in the hall, Magti right, Silknet left.

Which code, which app: activating a pack on each network

Apps drop into Georgian mid flow, so save the codes. Magti: *220# for the 35 lari month of unlimited, *157# for the 10 lari week, *243# for a 2 lari day, *290# for Everything Unlimited 90 Day. Airport packs need a text, OK to 2230 or OK to 3315. Silknet sits under *017#, Cellfie inside MyCellfie.

Passport, and the phone registration rule

Every Georgian SIM is registered to a person, so the clerk wants your physical passport, not a photo. Foreign passports are fine at any shop and local guides say there are no exceptions. Online is the softer spot: all three operators run a passport scan and a face check, and those fail for some foreign documents.

Then the part that needs a warning label. Plenty of eSIM blogs, and the earlier version of this guide, say a foreign phone gets 30 days on a Georgian SIM before it must go on the national device list. We went looking for that rule in September 2026 and could not find it. The regulator's site and the electronic communications law text say nothing about device registration or a grace period, so treat it as widely repeated rather than confirmed. For a holiday it changes nothing. Staying a winter on a Georgian number, ask at the service centre when you buy. A phone on a foreign SIM or a travel eSIM never enters the question. Turkey blocks unregistered phones after 120 days and charges over $1,200.

When a local SIM is the right call

If you are in Georgia for a month or more, buy Magti and do not think twice. Thirty five lari for unlimited data for 30 days is one of the best mobile deals anywhere, and a local number helps with Bolt, Glovo, Wolt and guesthouses that prefer a call. Remote workers should go local on day two at a shop, not day one at the airport.

For a one or two week trip, the sums flip. You pay the airport premium or spend a morning finding a shop, give up your home SIM slot on a single SIM phone, and lose bank codes sent to your home number. That last point is why so many travellers end up with a phone that works and a card that does not.

A local number also needs feeding. Local guides say it wants a top up or some use every 60 days, and Silknet drops a suspended package after 180 days.

The eSIM alternative, honestly

A travel eSIM is installed at home and connects to Magti the moment you land, with no desk, no form and your home number still live on the other line. Our Georgia eSIM plans start at $1.49 for 1 GB, a 5 GB month is $5.35, and unlimited from $1.64 a day, which for a week costs less than the airport welcome pack.

The fair comparison: on a month of heavy use, Magti's 35 lari unlimited beats any travel product on price, and an eSIM gives you no Georgian number for local calls. On a short trip, or if you need your home number working for banking, the eSIM wins by a distance. If your phone holds a physical SIM and an eSIM together, run both.

Set it up before you fly

1. Confirm your phone is unlocked and eSIM capable on the device list.
2. Buy and install the eSIM on home WiFi. Leave the line switched off until you land.
3. In the arrivals hall, switch the eSIM on, set it as the data line, keep your home SIM on with data roaming off.
4. Book the Bolt from inside the terminal. The price on screen is the price you pay.

If the eSIM shows no signal after landing, wait a minute, then follow the not working checklist. Manual network selection to Magti fixes almost every case.

If it is a Georgian number you want instead, do the MyMagti purchase at home a day or two before the flight, on WiFi, passport on the desk for the scan. Keep a shop as plan B.

Quick answers

Does MagtiCom offer eSIMs for tourists?

Yes. Any visitor with a passport can put a Magti number on eSIM for 10 lari, in the MyMagti app, on the website, or at a service centre. The app sale works from abroad, so the line is live before you land in Tbilisi.

How much does a Magti SIM card cost?

Ten lari for the SIM, and 10 lari again to move a number onto eSIM. Data is separate: 5 lari for 1 GB, 9 lari for 3 GB, 12 lari for 5 GB and 30 lari for 20 GB, all over 30 days.

Where can I buy a Magti SIM card?

At the Magti desks in the Tbilisi and Kutaisi arrivals halls, at any service centre in town, or with no shop at all through the MyMagti app. Bring the physical passport whichever route you take; every number is registered to a person.

Is a Georgian eSIM a monthly fee?

No. Georgian numbers are prepaid, so you buy a pack and it runs out. Watch one thing before you leave: Silknet's tourist packs renew themselves while there is balance on the number, so spend it down or cancel on the last day.

Which network is best in Georgia?

Magti for coverage, including the mountain roads to Kazbegi and Svaneti, and it was fastest in one Tbilisi speed test this year. Silknet is a solid second with the widest tourist range. Cellfie is the cheap city option, thin outside them.

Does a travel eSIM work in Svaneti and Kazbegi?

Ours runs on Magti, so wherever Magti has signal, which is most villages and the main roads. Expect nothing on the high trails whichever SIM you carry. The Georgia eSIM page lists the coverage notes and the plan sizes.