Explainers · 5 min read
eSIM vs local SIM vs roaming: the real cost per GB in 2026
Three ways to get data abroad. Your home carrier's roaming, a local SIM bought when you arrive, or a travel eSIM installed before you fly. Each one is the right answer for somebody, and the sellers of each have a reason to tell you it is the right answer for you. So we priced all three honestly, per gigabyte, using our live data on 236,811 eSIM plans and the published rates for the other two.
Roaming: the expensive default
Carrier roaming is what happens if you change nothing. It is convenient, it keeps your number, and it is priced to punish you for using it.
- US carriers: AT&T International Day Pass and Verizon TravelPass are $12 a day each, charged on any day the phone uses data. T‑Mobile includes slow international data on its mid tier plans and sells high speed passes on top. A week is $84 on the day pass carriers regardless of usage.
- UK carriers: EU roaming is included on some plans and charged at £2 to £3 a day on others since the post Brexit changes. Outside Europe, £5 to £7 a day is typical.
- EU carriers: roaming inside the EU is included at home rates by law. Outside the EU it reverts to day passes or per MB charges.
- Pay as you go rates: where no pass applies, $2 to $10 per MB is still common. That is $2,000 to $10,000 per GB, which is how a photo backup produces a four figure bill.
For a one or two day trip with light use, a day pass is defensible. For a week, it is the most expensive option by a factor of three to ten.
Local SIM: cheapest per GB, costliest in time
Buy a SIM from a phone shop or a supermarket after you land and you get the local retail rate, which is usually the cheapest data available. Turkey, Thailand, Indonesia and most of Latin America sell 10 to 20 GB for under $10.
The costs are not on the receipt.
- The airport markup. Airport kiosks charge two to four times the city price for the same SIM, and you are buying there because you need data now. We wrote about airport kiosk pricing separately.
- Registration. Most countries require passport registration. Turkey, Indonesia, Pakistan, Egypt and Nigeria also tie the SIM to your phone's IMEI, with a fee or a time limit attached. See our guide to IMEI rules for tourists.
- Your home SIM comes out. On a single SIM phone, a local SIM means your home number is dead for the trip. No bank codes, no calls. On a dual SIM phone it is fine.
- One country only. Cross a border and it is either dead or roaming at the local carrier's rates.
For a month or more in one country, a local SIM is unbeatable. For a week, the hour you spend in a shop and the bank code problem usually cost more than the money saved.
Travel eSIM: the middle, priced country by country
A travel eSIM is a roaming profile from a seller who has bought wholesale data in bulk. You install it at home, it connects when you land, your home SIM stays in and keeps working for calls and texts. The price sits between roaming and a local SIM, and how close it gets to the local SIM price depends entirely on the country and the seller.
Here is the cheapest price per GB we recorded for twelve popular destinations in September 2026, counting only plans sized for a real trip (we exclude bulk pools over 50 GB, which have very low per GB prices that no traveller can actually use).
| Country | Cheapest per GB | Plans tracked | Compared to a $12 day pass, one week, 5 GB |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thailand | $0.22 | 764 | $1.10 vs $84 |
| Turkey | $0.35 | 783 | $1.75 vs $84 |
| Spain | $0.40 | 759 | $2.00 vs $84 |
| United Kingdom | $0.44 | 773 | $2.20 vs $84 |
| Japan | $0.44 | 751 | $2.20 vs $84 |
| France | $0.47 | 736 | $2.35 vs $84 |
| Indonesia | $0.48 | 610 | $2.40 vs $84 |
| Italy | $0.48 | 761 | $2.40 vs $84 |
| United States | $0.68 | 713 | $3.40 vs $84 |
| United Arab Emirates | $0.83 | 520 | $4.15 vs $84 |
| Mexico | $0.90 | 631 | $4.50 vs $84 |
| Egypt | $0.92 | 429 | $4.60 vs $84 |
Those are the cheapest plans. The average across all sellers for a 4 to 5 GB plan is about $20, so a typical buyer who does not compare pays around $4 per GB, still a quarter of the day pass. The cheapest plan in each country is often from a seller most people have never heard of, which is the reason this site exists.
Where each option wins
| Trip | Best option | Why |
|---|---|---|
| One or two days, light use | Roaming day pass, or included roaming | No setup, and $12 to $24 is not worth optimising. |
| Three days to three weeks, one country | Travel eSIM | Installed before you fly, home number stays live, a fraction of roaming. |
| Multi country trip | Regional travel eSIM | One plan across borders. Local SIMs die at the border, roaming stacks day passes. |
| A month or more in one country | Local SIM | Cheapest per GB, and the setup time is amortised over weeks. |
| Anywhere with IMEI registration rules | Travel eSIM | A travel eSIM does not trigger the registration clock in Turkey and most similar countries. A local SIM does. |
The honest caveats about eSIMs
We compare eSIMs for a living, so here is where they lose. Speed: roaming traffic can be deprioritised on a busy tower, so a local SIM can be faster in a crowded city at peak hours. Unlimited plans: nearly all have a daily cap and a throttle after it, which we explain in our guide to fair use caps. Coverage: regional plans skip countries, and the skipped ones are in the small print. And support: a cheap seller with no support is a bad deal at any price, which is why our rankings weigh service alongside price.
The rule: under three days, roam. Three days to three weeks, eSIM. A month or more in one place, local SIM. And in every case, keep your home line alive for bank codes.
To see what a travel eSIM actually costs for where you are going, every one of our 215 country pages ranks every plan we track by real price per GB, with the daily caps and coverage lists shown, not hidden.
Questions people ask
Is a travel eSIM cheaper than roaming?
Almost always, and usually by a wide margin. A US carrier day pass at $12 a day is $84 for a week whether you use 200 MB or 2 GB. A 5 GB travel eSIM for the same week is $8 to $25 depending on the country and seller.
Is a local SIM cheaper than a travel eSIM?
Per gigabyte, usually yes, sometimes by half. But a local SIM costs you time at a shop, often a passport registration, and in some countries an IMEI registration. It also takes your home SIM's slot on a single SIM phone, which kills your bank codes. For trips under two weeks the eSIM's convenience is normally worth the difference.
When does roaming make sense?
For a one or two day trip where you will use very little data, and your carrier's day pass is charged only on days you actually use it. Some plans include limited roaming free, which is worth using for a short hop. Past three days a travel eSIM wins.
Can I use a local SIM and keep my home number?
Only on a dual SIM phone with a free slot, or if your home number is already an eSIM. On a single slot phone you choose one or the other, which is why the bank code problem is the strongest argument for a travel eSIM over a local SIM.
Why are eSIM prices so different between countries?
Wholesale data costs vary enormously. Thailand, Turkey and most of Europe have cheap wholesale data and cheap eSIMs. Places with one or two dominant operators, or high regulatory costs, are expensive. In September 2026 our cheapest tracked plan was $0.22 per GB in Thailand and over four times that in Egypt.
Do travel eSIMs use the same networks as local SIMs?
Yes, they roam onto the same towers. The difference is priority: roaming traffic sometimes gets lower priority when the tower is busy, so a local SIM can be faster at peak times in a crowded city. For most travel it is not noticeable.
Compare plans for the places in this guide
236,811 plans from 61 sellers, ranked by real price per GB, with prices checked against the shops themselves.
