What Mobile Data Costs Around the World

A gigabyte of travel data costs $0.22 in Thailand and $17.52 in Monaco. Same gigabyte, same kind of eSIM, a price gap of nearly eighty to one depending on where your plane lands. We publish live prices for 189 countries in our eSIM Price Index, and this post is the tour of what those numbers say about the world, updated from the same database that runs our checkout, so every figure here is a price someone can actually pay today.

The world map of data prices, by continent

Average the cheapest meaningful plan per country, at least 1 GB and a week of validity, and the continents sort themselves into a clear ladder.

Europe's average of $0.86 per GB is the payoff of the most competitive telecom market on earth: dozens of carriers, dense populations, and roaming agreements that let one eSIM sweep the continent. At the other end, the Caribbean averages $6.00 per GB, roughly seven times European prices, and the islands of the Pacific keep it company. The pattern is geography as much as economics, every island pays for undersea cables, and every small market spreads fixed costs across fewer users.

The cheapest data on earth

Thailand stands alone at $0.22 per GB, the product of a brutal three way carrier war that has made Thai data some of the cheapest ever sold anywhere. Turkey follows at $0.43, then a tight pack at $0.48: Japan, Germany, Italy, France, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Indonesia. That pack is no accident, it is what mature wholesale markets converge to, and it is why a two week trip through Western Europe or East Asia can be fully connected for under $6, our Thailand plans being the standing proof.

The most expensive, and why

Monaco at $17.52 per GB tops the index, which amuses everyone until they remember Monaco is a country of two square kilometres whose carrier prices accordingly, the fix is knowing that France's $0.48 rates reach to within walking distance of the casino. French Polynesia at $14.65, then a band of African and Caribbean states, Angola, Gambia, Eswatini, Cape Verde, Belize, Haiti, Aruba, all between $9 and $11. These are small markets, often islands, often single carrier, and wholesale rates there are high for everyone, us included. We would rather show you the real number than pretend a clever brand escapes geography.

The practical trick for expensive destinations is borders. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines runs $9.32 per GB on its own, but a regional Caribbean plan covering multiple islands starts at $4.20, island hopping is exactly the case where regional plans earn their keep. The same logic runs everywhere: the region often beats the country when the country is small.

What this means for a travel budget

The spread rearranges how you should think about connectivity money. In Europe and East Asia, data is a rounding error, buy comfortably more than you need, the difference between 3 GB and 10 GB in Italy is a few dollars. In the mid band, South America at $3.20 and Africa at $4.45 average, size the plan to the trip honestly, our guide to how much data you need has the per activity numbers. In the expensive band, ration deliberately: download maps offline before arrival, let photo backups wait for hotel WiFi, and check whether a regional plan undercuts the single country price.

And everywhere, the comparison that matters most is not between eSIM brands, it is against the alternatives. The US carriers charge $12 a day for roaming, $168 for two weeks, which buys 195 GB at Caribbean prices and closer to 350 GB at European ones. Airport SIM kiosks price by captivity, the same 10 GB that costs $5.99 on our Italy page sells for five times that at a Rome arrivals counter. Knowing the fair price for a destination is most of the defence, which is the entire reason the index is public.

How we build these numbers

Methodology, briefly, because a data post without one is marketing. The index tracks our own live retail prices across 189 countries, refreshed as the catalogue moves. Per GB figures divide plan price by included data on the cheapest plan meeting a floor of 1 GB and 7 days, so no headline rates from 100 MB novelty plans. Averages weight each country once, not by traffic. The full country table, updated continuously, lives on the eSIM Price Index, and journalists and researchers are welcome to the dataset, several publications have already built stories from it, and the door is open, ask through our contact page.

Quick answers

How much does mobile data cost for travellers in 2026?

From $0.22 per GB in Thailand to $17.52 in Monaco on live retail prices. Europe averages $0.86 per GB, Asia $1.63, South America $3.20, Africa $4.45, and the Caribbean $6.00.

Which country has the cheapest travel data?

Thailand, at $0.22 per GB, followed by Turkey at $0.43, with Japan, Germany, Italy, France and South Korea clustered near $0.48.

Why is island data so expensive?

Undersea cable costs, small markets and thin competition. The Caribbean and Pacific average many times European prices for structural reasons that hit every provider, regional multi island plans are the usual workaround.

Is a travel eSIM cheaper than roaming?

Almost always by an order of magnitude. Carrier day passes at $12 per day cost more per fortnight than 100 GB of eSIM data in most of Europe or Asia. The comparison per country is exactly what the Price Index exists to show.