Cheapest global eSIM

What the cheapest global eSIM costs right now

As of 17 October 2026, 06:01 GMT, the best rate on a Global plan is ASIMGO at $0.58 per GB: 50 GB for 20 Days at $29.24, across 54 countries. The median across all 355 plans is $4.50, so half of what is sold in this region costs more than that.

• Smallest ticket price ASIMGO, Unlimited500 MB/day for 1 Day at $0.56. Useful for a short hop, rarely the best value per GB.
• Best rate on a large plan ASIMGO, 50 GB for 20 Days at $29.24, $0.58 per GB. Buying bigger is almost always cheaper per GB than topping up twice.
• Longest validity MobiMatter, 365 Days on one plan. Long itineraries lose money on short plans that have to be replaced.
• Features across these plans 175 can be topped up, 260 advertise 5G, 324 allow hotspot use, and 139 are sold as unlimited.

Which is the best eSIM for international travel?

Best depends on the trip, so here are the winners on today's numbers rather than one name. Each line is the first row of a different sort on the 355 live plans above:

• Best value ASIMGO, 50 GB for 20 Days at $29.24: $0.58 per GB across 54 countries.
• Widest coverage Yatelo, 190 countries on one eSIM, 20 GB for 30 Days at $54.02.
• Best for a long trip MobiMatter, 365 Days on one plan, 40 GB at $59.99.
• Highest daily cap on an unlimited plan ASIMGO, 9 Days at $13.37, full speed up to 3 GB a day. Set that daily cap against the fixed plans before you pay for the word unlimited.

Call it a global eSIM, an international eSIM or a world eSIM: it is the same product, one profile with a country list, and the list is what you are buying. Read it before the price.

Is a global eSIM worth it, or is one plan per country cheaper?

This is the comparison that decides the purchase, and nobody publishes it, so here it is from our own catalogue. We price both sides on the same basket: a plan of 5 to 50 GB lasting at least 15 days, which is what a real trip needs. Bulk data pools are excluded from both sides, because nobody buys 500 GB for a fortnight.

That regional figure is ASIMGO, 50 GB for 20 Days at $29.24, covering 54 countries. The country figure is the average of the cheapest comparable plan in each of the 203 countries we have prices for that global plans reach.

The averages hide a wide spread, and the spread is where the decision actually lives. The cheapest country reached by these plans is Ukraine at $0.23 per GB on its own plan, well under the regional rate. The dearest is Belize at $7.09. If your itinerary leans towards the expensive end, the regional plan is worth more than the averages suggest. If it leans cheap, buy per country.

How many countries does a global eSIM actually cover?

There is no standard. Across the 355 plans on this page the country lists differ enormously, and the name on the plan tells you almost nothing. These are the widest plans each provider currently sells in this region.

The countries below are the ones travellers assume are covered. The share is live: it is the proportion of the 355 Global plans in our catalogue that currently include that country.

Country	Plans including it	Share
UAE	264 of 559	47%
China	428 of 559	77%
UK	559 of 559	100%
Hong Kong	393 of 559	70%
Nigeria	226 of 559	40%
Russia	115 of 559	21%
USA	455 of 559	81%
Vietnam	371 of 559	66%

No global eSIM covers the world, and the gap is enormous

Every provider sells its global plan on a round number of destinations. The plans themselves tell a different story. Across the 355 global plans we track, coverage runs from 41 countries to 190. Both ends are sold under the same word.

Read as: the smallest and largest country list each provider sells under a global plan, from the live catalogue on 17 October 2026, 06:01 GMT.

The practical rule is to ignore the word and read the number. Every row in the table at the top of this page shows how many countries that specific plan covers, which is the only figure that decides whether your trip is covered.

What a global plan costs you against a regional one

A global plan buys convenience, and convenience has a price. Measured on the same basket we use everywhere on this site, a plan of 5 to 50 GB lasting at least 15 days, here is what the best global plan costs against the best regional plan in each region.

At the other end, a trip that stays inside Europe costs about 1.7 times more per gigabyte on a global plan than on a regional one. That is the whole case against buying global by default: for a single region trip you are paying a large premium for countries you will never enter.

Validity, top ups and the frequent traveller case

Global plans are the only category where a year of validity is normal. 17 of the 355 plans here last 365 days, which changes what you are buying: not data for one trip, but a line that stays alive between trips and wakes up wherever you land.

175 of these plans can be topped up. That matters more on a global plan than anywhere else, because the alternative is buying a second global plan at full price. Topping up is still normally dearer per gigabyte than sizing the plan properly at the start, so the cheap route is to buy for the whole trip and treat top ups as the emergency option.

If you fly several times a year, the maths is different from a one trip buyer. A year long plan with a large allowance, bought once, usually beats four separate regional plans bought in a hurry at four airports, even at the higher per gigabyte rate. The filters at the top of this page let you set a minimum length and compare only the plans that survive a whole year.

The countries global plans quietly leave out

The gaps are not random. They are the markets where wholesale roaming is expensive or politically awkward, which means they are often exactly the ones a long haul traveller needs. Russia sits on a small minority of these plans. Hong Kong and the UAE are missing from a quarter to a third of them despite being two of the busiest transit hubs on earth. Cuba is on none of them.

Vietnam is the one that catches people out. It is a mainstream destination on every itinerary through Southeast Asia, and it is absent from a third of the plans sold as global. The shares below are read from the live plan lists, so they show the real state rather than the marketing.

There is a second gap that has nothing to do with country lists. No travel eSIM works at sea or in the air. A cruise connects your phone to the ship's own maritime network and an aircraft to its satellite wifi, and both bill at rates that have nothing to do with the plan you bought. Turn data off before you sail or fly, and turn it back on when you are on land.

Are the unlimited Global plans really unlimited?

That is why unlimited plans carry no price per GB in our table. There is no honest per gigabyte number to print, so we show the daily allowance instead and leave the value verdict blank rather than invent one. At $0.58 per GB from the cheapest fixed plan here, unlimited only pays off if you genuinely burn several gigabytes a day.

How to pick the right Global plan

Every destination covered by a Global plan

These 203 destinations are covered by at least one of the plans on this page. No single plan covers them all, so treat this as the list of places worth checking rather than a promise. Several of these plans also reach countries outside the region, which is worth knowing if your trip crosses into one. Each name links to its own price comparison.

AfghanistanAland IslandsAlbaniaAlgeriaAndorraAngolaAnguillaAntigua and BarbudaArgentinaArmeniaArubaAustraliaAustriaAzerbaijanBahamasBahrainBangladeshBarbadosBelarusBelgiumBelizeBeninBermudaBoliviaBosnia and HerzegovinaBotswanaBrazilBritish Virgin IslandsBruneiBulgariaBurkina FasoCambodiaCameroonCanadaCape VerdeCaribbean NetherlandsCayman IslandsCentral African RepublicChadChileChinaColombiaComorosCongoCosta RicaCroatiaCuracaoCyprusCzech RepublicDR CongoDenmarkDominicaDominican RepublicEcuadorEgyptEl SalvadorEstoniaEswatiniEthiopiaFaroe IslandsFijiFinlandFranceFrench GuianaFrench PolynesiaGabonGambiaGeorgiaGermanyGhanaGibraltarGreeceGreenlandGrenadaGuadeloupeGuamGuatemalaGuernseyGuineaGuinea-BissauGuyanaHaitiHondurasHong KongHungaryIcelandIndiaIndonesiaIraqIrelandIsle of ManIsraelItalyIvory CoastJamaicaJapanJerseyJordanKazakhstanKenyaKosovoKuwaitKyrgyzstanLaosLatviaLebanonLesothoLiberiaLiechtensteinLithuaniaLuxembourgMacauMadagascarMalawiMalaysiaMaldivesMaliMaltaMartiniqueMauritiusMayotteMexicoMoldovaMonacoMongoliaMontenegroMontserratMoroccoMozambiqueNauruNepalNetherlandsNew ZealandNicaraguaNigerNigeriaNorth MacedoniaNorthern Mariana IslandsNorwayOmanPakistanPanamaPapua New GuineaParaguayPeruPhilippinesPolandPortugalPuerto RicoQatarReunionRomaniaRussiaRwandaSamoaSan MarinoSaudi ArabiaSenegalSerbiaSeychellesSierra LeoneSingaporeSint MaartenSlovakiaSloveniaSouth AfricaSouth KoreaSpainSri LankaSt BarthelemySt Kitts and NevisSt MartinSt Vincent and the GrenadinesSt. LuciaSudanSurinameSwedenSwitzerlandTaiwanTajikistanTanzaniaThailandTimor-LesteTogoTongaTrinidad and TobagoTunisiaTurkeyTurks and CaicosUAEUKUS Virgin IslandsUSAUgandaUkraineUruguayUzbekistanVanuatuVatican CityVenezuelaVietnamZambiaZimbabwe

Compare another region

Every region we track, ranked by the cheapest real price per GB, sits on the regional and global eSIM hub. If your trip stays in one country, the country by country comparison will nearly always be cheaper.