Airalo vs Saily vs Nomad: prices, unlimited plans, networks and ratings compared

Airalo, Saily or Nomad: the short answer

The three brands are among the best known in travel eSIM, and all three cover around 200 countries. They differ in price, unlimited rules and how much they tell you about each plan (October 2026):

All three sell through their own apps for iPhone and Android, where you also install and top up the eSIM, and through their websites.

• Lowest price for a fixed amount of data: usually Nomad.
• Most generous unlimited plan: Saily, with 3 or 5 GB a day at full speed.
• Most choice, network details and calls: Airalo.

Price comparison: who is cheapest for the same data?

To compare like with like, we took every country where all three sell a single-country plan with the same amount of data and at least 7 days of validity, and checked which one was cheapest. The result at the time of writing:

The comparison uses each provider's cheapest plan per country with exactly that amount of data. Regional plans, day passes and subscriptions such as the Nomad Pass are not included, because they are not directly comparable.

Nomad wins most often, and its lead grows with the data amount. Saily does relatively well on 3 GB, Airalo on 5 GB. Keep the validity in mind: Saily and Nomad sell most packages from 3 GB upwards for 30 days, while Airalo also offers 7- and 15-day versions, which are cheaper but end sooner. For a two-week trip, the shorter Airalo package can be the better deal even if the 30-day price of another brand is lower.

All three are well-known brands, but they are rarely the cheapest option overall. For most destinations, smaller providers sell the same data for less, as the table for Thailand shows:

Prices change daily, so check the current offers on our destination pages before you buy, and look at our promo codes.

Unlimited plans: price versus daily allowance

All three sell unlimited plans with a daily full-speed allowance, after which the speed drops to about 1 Mbps until the next day. The allowance differs:

• Nomad: mostly 2 GB a day. For a 7-day unlimited plan, Nomad was the cheapest of the three in 37 of the 43 countries where all three sell one.
• Airalo: mostly 3 GB a day, a few plans with 5 GB, with validities from 3 to 30 days.
• Saily: 3 or 5 GB a day depending on the destination, the highest allowance of the three.

Availability differs as well: in our database Airalo sells unlimited country plans for about 140 countries, Saily for about 75 and Nomad for about 70. For less common destinations, Airalo is often the only one of the three with an unlimited option.

So the cheapest unlimited plan is not automatically the best one. If you mainly use maps, messaging and social media, 2 GB a day is usually enough. If you stream video or share your connection with a laptop, the extra gigabytes per day from Saily or Airalo can matter more than the price difference. The table shows the cheapest unlimited plans of all providers for Europe, with a column for plans that keep at least 3 GB a day:

Our guide Unlimited eSIM plans: how unlimited are they really? explains what the speeds mean in practice.

Networks, 5G and calls

If you care which network you get, Airalo and Nomad are easier to judge. Both name the partner network for almost every plan in our database and state 5G where it is included: around 1,200 Airalo plans and around 650 Nomad plans list 5G. In the plan data we collect from Saily, neither the network nor 5G is stated, which is the main reason Saily scores lower on transparency.

For calls and texts, Airalo is the only one of the three with a wide range of plans that include them: its plus plans for countries such as the USA, the UK and Canada, and the global Discover+ plan. Saily's and Nomad's regular plans are data-only, so you call through apps such as WhatsApp or keep your home SIM active for calls; see Dual SIM with a travel eSIM.

Top-ups, subscriptions and refunds

All three let you top up in their app, so you can start small and add data when you need it. There are differences in the terms worth knowing:

• Nomad sells a Europe “Nomad Pass” that renews every 30 days as a subscription. Since July 2026 several customers have reported difficulties cancelling it, and according to Nomad's refund policy its unlimited plans and the Pass are non-refundable. Our score deducts points for both. If you take the Pass, check in the app how to cancel it.
• Saily offers Saily Ultra, a separate monthly subscription that bundles global data with other Nord Security apps; its regular travel plans are one-off purchases.
• Airalo sells one-off plans only in our data, without subscriptions.

Whichever you choose, check before you buy whether the plan renews automatically and under which conditions it can be refunded.

User ratings and our score

All three have large user bases with good ratings. In early October 2026:

The number of ratings differs a lot: Airalo has about three times as many as Saily and almost five times as many as Nomad, so its average rests on the broadest base.

In our score, which combines price, coverage, plan terms, transparency and user ratings, Nomad ranked highest of the three at the time of writing thanks to its prices, coverage and network information, despite the deductions for its terms. Airalo and Saily were close behind each other: Airalo loses points on price, Saily on price and transparency. The current scores are on the provider pages for Airalo, Saily and Nomad; the method is explained on our methodology page.

Which one should you choose?

1. You want the lowest price for a fixed amount of data: start with Nomad, then compare all providers on the destination page, where smaller brands are often cheaper still.
2. You want unlimited data with plenty of full-speed data each day: Saily, or Airalo if the destination has no Saily unlimited plan.
3. You want to know the network, need calls or want many plan sizes: Airalo.
4. You value app features such as web protection: Saily.

You do not have to commit to one brand. Most eSIM phones store several eSIM profiles, so you can pick the best offer for each trip and keep older eSIMs for later top-ups.

For more detail on each brand, read our Airalo review and Saily review. To see every provider for your trip side by side, open your destination, for example Japan, USA or Europe.