since 2019
Marketplace
50 destinations
Airalo eSIM Review 2026: 985 Plans, Prices and Real Value
The original eSIM marketplace. Every claim below is computed from our live price database — 50 destinations, 985 plans, one formula.
Last updated Oct 4, 2026
Prices shown are Airalo's own list prices as checked on Sep 30, 2026 and can change at any time — confirm the current figure on Airalo's website before you buy.
Wondering which local towers it connects to? Every provider rides the same host networks per destination — see the eSIM network map.
The computed verdict
Airalo is the cheapest provider in 0 of 50 countries we track — 0% of its coverage.
Best $/GB in 3 countries; entry price from $4.00. No editorial star-rating — just the numbers, computed the same way for every brand.
Price competitiveness index (editorial)
Airalo promo code
15% off your first order (new customers) — code
NEWTOAIRALO15
Expires Dec 31, 2026. See all eSIM deals.
Beyond the price tag
Airalo hotspot 5G and fair-use rules
Quoted from Airalo's own published policy. Where a brand publishes nothing, we say so rather than guess.
Hotspot and tethering
AllowedNo separate cap
Tethering is allowed and counted against your plan's data allowance, with no separate hotspot limit and no cap on connected devices.
Fair-use threshold
3 GB/day on unlimited plans
Drops to 1 Mbps
Airalo publishes one fair-use rule for all its unlimited plans: pass 3 GB in a day and speed drops to 1 Mbps for the rest of that day, resetting 24 hours after activation. Metered plans are never throttled - they simply stop when the data is gone.
Top-ups
AvailableTop-ups are available in the Airalo app, so running low mid-trip costs a few dollars rather than a new eSIM.
Every plan is data-only — you keep your own number for calls and texts.
Speed and 5G
5G available5G in 49 of 50 markets
5G comes from the local networks rather than the brand. We profile 147 carrier networks across the markets where Airalo sells, and 5G is live on them wherever the country has rolled it out.
LTE only in Fiji — no brand can sell you 5G there.
Per-country speeds and coverage are on the eSIM network map · fair-use audit
Word of mouth
Airalo eSIM reviews and how to read them
Nobody publishes a review of Airalo on this site — we publish dated prices, not opinions. What we can tell you is where the reviews live and which parts of them are worth your time. Everything we do publish is reproducible: 985 Airalo plan prices across 50 destinations, checked Sep 30, 2026.
What to look for in a review of Airalo
- +One-star reviews that name a specific failure. The failure mode an eSIM actually has is a profile that installs and then never connects — a review describing exactly that predicts more than fifty five-star posts saying it worked.
- +The destination. A verdict written about Thailand says little about Airalo in your country, because the roaming partner and the local network are different.
- +The date. eSIM apps, roaming partners and fair-use limits change every few months, so weight the last two months and treat anything older than a year as history.
What Airalo customers say elsewhere
We do not republish a star rating for Airalo. The same brand scores differently depending on which Trustpilot domain you land on, the figures move weekly, and an average hides the only part that predicts your trip — the one-star reviews, which cluster on the eSIM failing to connect after landing. Read those, filter for your own destination and weight the last two months. Every number on this page is dated and reproducible; a borrowed score would not be.
Read Airalo reviews on TrustpilotForums such as Reddit are useful and unreliable for the same reason: threads are unmoderated, often years old, and written by people whose destination and handset you cannot see. Read them for the failure patterns, not for the verdicts.
The mechanics
How Airalo works
- 1
Buy on the website
Choose the country package and pay online — the eSIM arrives by email within minutes, before you travel.
- 2
Scan the QR code
Settings → Cellular → Add eSIM (iOS) or the equivalent on Android — the profile downloads and sits dormant until the validity window starts.
- 3
It activates on arrival
The line registers on the local partner network when you land. Need more data later? Buy a new package and install it the same way.
Company snapshot
- Founded
- 2019
- Headquarters
- Singapore AIRGSM Pte. Ltd.
- Model
- Marketplace
- Destinations tracked
- 50
- Plans tracked
- 985
- Price range
- $4.00 – $8.00
- Relationship
- Sponsored partner
Support & refunds
Getting help from Airalo
Customer support
- Channels
- 24/7 live chat (website and in-app) and email
- support@airalo.com
As published on Airalo's official site — channels and response times can change; the app is usually the fastest route.
How refunds work
Airalo lets you withdraw within 14 days of purchase, but the right expires once the eSIM is activated or used. If an activated eSIM fails because of an Airalo error and cannot be restored, you can claim a replacement or refund within 30 days of the issue. Refunds arrive as Airmoney credit or to the original payment method (up to 30 business days).
Summarised from Airalo's published refund terms. Full conditions live on the provider's own policy page — read them before relying on a refund.
Price record
Where does Airalo win on price and where does it lose
We re-priced Airalo against every other provider in each of its 50 countries. It is the strictly cheapest option in 0 of them. In the typical country where it loses, its entry plan costs about 8× that country's cheapest entry. Every row below links to the full country table.
Where Airalo is the cheapest you can buy
Airalo is not the strictly cheapest provider in any of the 50 countries we track — it competes on plan design instead of entry price. Compare it brand-by-brand in the provider matchups before buying.
Where another brand beats Airalo on price
-
Egypt
$5.50 vs $0.51
11×
-
Argentina
$5.00 vs $0.51
10×
-
Saudi Arabia
$4.50 vs $0.51
9×
-
Indonesia
$4.50 vs $0.51
9×
-
Georgia
$4.50 vs $0.51
9×
Airalo's entry price vs the cheapest provider in that country. It pays to compare in all 50 of these markets — open the country table and check who wins before you buy.
Plan shape
Sells both metered buckets (708 plans) and unlimited plans (277) across 50 destinations.
Typical entry price across its markets: $4.00.
Best value anywhere: $0.55/GB.
Strengths
- +Widest country coverage in the industry
- +Established trust and brand recognition
- +Regional plans (Asia, Europe) for multi-country trips
Watch out for
- –No longer the cheapest in most single countries
- –Smaller data allowances at entry price points
Alternatives by market
Who beats Airalo on price and where to go instead
Another brand sells a comparable plan for less in 46 of the 50 markets where we track Airalo. We put like against like: an identical data allowance and validity where a rival sells one, otherwise the nearest rival plan that covers at least as much data and at least as many days. Every gap below is a real list-price difference from the same dated snapshot, and where nothing is genuinely comparable we list nothing.
| Country | Airalo cheapest | Cheaper rival | Rival price | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Costa Rica
|
$7.50 1GB / 3 d | Roamic | $3.00 1GB / 7 d | −60% |
Fiji
|
$7.50 1GB / 3 d | Roamic | $3.00 1GB / 7 d | −60% |
|
Indonesia
|
$4.50 1GB / 3 d | Roami | $1.99 1GB / 3 d | −56% |
|
Georgia
|
$4.50 1GB / 7 d | Roamic | $2.00 1GB / 7 d | −56% |
Austria
|
$4.00 1GB / 3 d | Roami | $1.99 1GB / 3 d | −50% |
Australia
|
$4.00 1GB / 3 d | Roami | $1.99 1GB / 3 d | −50% |
Belgium
|
$4.00 1GB / 3 d | Roami | $1.99 1GB / 3 d | −50% |
Switzerland
|
$4.00 1GB / 3 d | Roami | $1.99 1GB / 3 d | −50% |
China
|
$4.00 1GB / 3 d | Roami | $1.99 1GB / 3 d | −50% |
Czechia
|
$4.00 1GB / 3 d | Roami | $1.99 1GB / 3 d | −50% |
How we matched: first the same data allowance and validity as Airalo's cheapest plan in that market; if no rival sells that exact combination, the cheapest rival plan that covers at least as much data and at least as many days; where that does not exist either, the market is left out rather than compared across mismatched plans. Both prices are dated list prices before promo codes and taxes.
The brand that beats Airalo most often is Roami, ahead in 40 of those markets. Read its review or open a full matchup Roami · provider matchups
Destinations & coverage
Where you can buy Airalo eSIMs
Grouped by region, with each country's cheapest Airalo plan. Countries marked cheapest are where Airalo is the lowest-price provider we track.
A note on coverage: we verify and rank Airalo in the 50 destinations listed below. Airalo itself sells eSIMs for roughly 200+ destinations — the list here is our tracked scope, not the limit of what Airalo offers.
Asia 13
Europe 18
-
Austria
from $4.00
-
Belgium
from $4.00
-
Switzerland
from $4.00
-
Czechia
from $4.00
-
Germany
from $4.00
-
Spain
from $4.00
-
France
from $4.00
-
UK
from $4.00
-
Georgia
from $4.50
-
Greece
from $4.00
-
Croatia
from $4.00
-
Ireland
from $4.00
-
Iceland
from $4.00
-
Italy
from $4.00
-
Netherlands
from $4.00
-
Poland
from $4.00
-
Portugal
from $4.00
-
Turkiye
from $4.00
Americas 8
Africa & Middle East 8
Network reality
Which local networks Airalo rides on
An eSIM does not build towers. In every market Airalo buys capacity from that country's national operators, so the networks below are the same ones every reseller in that country uses. We profile 147 of them.
5G is live in 49 of 50 markets
5G is live in these markets, but Airalo is not the cheapest provider in any of them — check the price table above before assuming the fastest network comes at the best price.
Where 5G is not available at all
Host networks in these markets run LTE only, so no eSIM on any brand can be faster than that:
- Fiji — Vodafone Fiji · Digicel Fiji
Speeds and generations come from our per-country network profiles, built from operator material and third-party measurement. eSIM network map
Where Airalo plans cost the least and the most
Same provider, very different entry prices by country. If your destination sits in the right-hand column, compare against the full table before buying.
Lowest entry prices
Highest entry prices
Price structure
Airalo pricing at each data tier
The lowest price we have recorded at each data tier, across the 50 Airalo destinations we track. The cost per gigabyte comes from that same plan, so the two columns always describe one purchase.
| Data tier | Destinations | Lowest price | Lowest cost per GB |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1GB | 62 | $4.00United Arab Emirates | $4.00/GBUnited Arab Emirates |
| 3GB | 121 | $4.50Czechia | $1.50/GBCzechia |
| 5GB | 180 | $7.00Austria | $1.40/GBAustria |
| 10GB | 180 | $10.00Austria | $1.00/GBAustria |
| 20GB | 117 | $14.50Austria | $0.72/GBAustria |
| 50GB | 46 | $27.50Thailand | $0.55/GBThailand |
Unlimited plans by trip length
| Trip length | Destinations | Lowest price |
|---|---|---|
| 3 days | 47 | $9.50Belgium |
| 5 days | 47 | $15.00Belgium |
| 7 days | 47 | $21.00Belgium |
| 10 days | 47 | $28.50Croatia |
| 15 days | 45 | $38.50Croatia |
| 30 days | 44 | $49.00Thailand |
Tiers sold in fewer than 10 destinations are left out, so the table shows the standard line-up rather than every plan on sale. Where several destinations tie on price the table names one of them. Prices are the lowest we have recorded, not offers, and they change.
Alternatives
Airalo vs the field
Each bar is the share of the 50 destinations in our database where that provider posts the lowest price of any brand we track; the fraction repeats the same number. A short bar means it is rarely the outright cheapest, not that it is expensive — check the per-gigabyte column there.
Head to head
The two brands closest to Airalo
These two are not picked by hand. We rank every rival by how close its record is to Airalo's number of cheapest-market wins and show the two nearest. The three lines below are the numbers that actually separate them.
Airalo vs aloSIM
- ·aloSIM is the cheapest provider in 0 of the 50 markets where it sells, against 0 for Airalo.
- ·Its entry price is $3.50 against $4.00 for Airalo.
- ·Its best value on our $/GB measure is $0.50/GB against $0.55/GB.
Airalo vs Holafly
- ·Holafly is the cheapest provider in 0 of the 50 markets where it sells, against 0 for Airalo.
- ·Its entry price is $10.90 against $4.00 for Airalo.
- ·It sells unlimited plans only, so it has no $/GB figure to compare.
Trip calculator
What Airalo would cost for your trip
Pick a destination, a trip length and your expected daily use. We price Airalo's own catalogue against the cheapest plans in the same market. A plan qualifies when its validity covers the trip and its data covers your need, and unlimited plans always qualify.
The full cross-brand version, with a usage estimator that turns app hours into gigabytes, is on the trip cost calculator.
FAQ
Is Airalo the right eSIM for your trip
How many countries does Airalo cover?
Airalo sells eSIMs for 50 of the 50 destinations this site tracks, all priced from the same dated snapshot. Its own catalogue lists 200+ destinations in total — we track the 50 where demand is highest. For a specific trip, open that destination's page in the country comparison and every Airalo plan sorts against the field.
Is Airalo the cheapest eSIM provider?
No provider wins everywhere — it depends on the destination. Airalo is the cheapest provider in 0 of the 50 countries where we track its plans (0% of its coverage).
Does Airalo have unlimited data plans?
Yes — 277 of the 985 plans we track from Airalo are unlimited. Every one carries a fair-use policy that can throttle speed after a threshold, so read the verbatim notes in our fair-use audit before a streaming-heavy trip.
Can I buy an eSIM from Airalo without installing an app?
Yes — Airalo is a web marketplace: pick your destination, check out on the website, and the eSIM QR code arrives by email within minutes. No app is required. Install the profile at home on Wi-Fi before departure so you land connected.
Is there a discount code for Airalo?
Yes — code NEWTOAIRALO15 gives 15% off your first order (new customers) (15% off, One redemption per customer, up to a maximum discount of 100 USD. Cannot be combined with other promotions or Airmoney credit. Campaign may end early if the redemption cap is reached.). Copy it on our eSIM deals page, which also calculates whether the discounted price still loses to a cheaper rival in each country.
What is Airalo's cheapest eSIM plan?
The entry price in our database is $4.00 — the smallest bucket in the cheapest destination, not necessarily the right plan for your trip. Sort by $/GB on your destination's page before choosing; prices exclude promo codes and taxes.
Is Airalo a legit eSIM provider?
Airalo launched in 2019 and sells marketplace plans across 50 destinations. It is operated by AIRGSM Pte. Ltd., headquartered in Singapore. It is a sponsored partner of this site — rankings here are still computed by price alone (see our methodology).
How do I contact Airalo support?
Airalo offers 24/7 live chat (website and in-app) and email. Email: support@airalo.com. Before writing in, test once on Wi-Fi and check that data roaming is on for the eSIM line — most "no connection" reports turn out to be a roaming toggle, not a broken eSIM.
Can I get a refund on an eSIM from Airalo?
Airalo's refund terms are quoted in the support card above — we keep that summary rather than restating it here. The part that actually decides whether you can claim is timing: buy a day or two before departure and install at home, because the withdrawal window normally closes the moment the eSIM is activated. Install early, test the connection, and a problem is still fixable; install at the airport and you have usually spent the right.
How does Airalo compare with Yesim?
Across the destinations we track, Airalo is the cheapest provider in 0 countries vs Yesim in 42. The full country-by-country table is our Airalo vs Yesim comparison.
Does Airalo support hotspot sharing?
Airalo sets its hotspot rules at brand level rather than country by country, so one answer covers every market we track. What Airalo publishes: No separate cap. Tethering traffic is drawn from the same allowance as your phone unless that note says otherwise, so a laptop session drains a metered plan noticeably faster — size the plan for the devices you are actually bringing.
Does Airalo support 5G?
An eSIM cannot invent a network the destination does not have. 5G is live on the host networks in 49 of the 50 markets where Airalo sells, so whether you get 5G is decided by where you fly, not by which brand you bought. One market we track is LTE only — Fiji — and no brand can change that. Check your own destination on our eSIM network map before you count on 5G speeds.
Who is cheaper than Airalo?
It depends on the market. In 46 of the 50 countries where we track Airalo, another brand sells a comparable plan — same data allowance, same validity — for less. The most frequent winner against it is Roami, ahead in 40 markets. Our Airalo vs Yesim comparison shows the same gap brand by brand, and the table above lists all 46 markets with both prices side by side.
Keep reading
What else to check before you buy Airalo
Guides for your trip
Where these numbers come from
Every figure here is computed from our price database — 985 Airalo plans across 50 destinations, list prices in USD before promo codes and taxes, rebuilt Sep 30, 2026. Rankings are sort positions, not editorial scores.
Airalo vs Yesim? We computed the numbers.
Every price, badge and ranking on this page is a literal sort position from our price database — no editorial pay-to-rank. How we collect and check data is in our methodology; how we make money in our disclosure.