10 Best Holafly Alternatives 2026: Better & Cheaper eSIM Deals
Holafly’s simplicity comes at a premium. We compared 10 travel eSIM providers to find options that offer lower prices, better features, and more transparent data limits.
August 31, 2026
The number
Holafly’s 30-day unlimited plan for the USA costs $68.90. A 10GB MobiMatter plan covering the same 30 days costs $9.99.
If you use 10GB in a month — and most travellers use less — you are paying roughly seven times more for the word “unlimited”. That is the entire case for looking at an alternative to Holafly, and every provider below is cheaper than Holafly on a normalised basis.
This is not a hit piece. Holafly is a serious business: founded in Dublin in 2017, over $500 million in cumulative revenue, 15 million eSIMs sold, 10 million users, and a 4.8 rating from 34,000 App Store reviews. It does one thing extremely well.
The problem is that the one thing is expensive, and for most people it is the wrong thing.
Why travellers look for a Holafly alternative?
Four structural issues come up repeatedly. None of them are bugs — they are how the product is designed.
Holafly’s travel catalogue has no capped plans. You cannot buy 3GB. The cheapest entry point is $10.90 for three days in Mexico, $11.90 almost everywhere else. If you need 2GB for a weekend, you still pay for unlimited.
This is the finding that matters most.
Holafly’s FAQ states that unlimited data “isn’t throttled, but some operators may reduce speeds after reaching a high-speed limit.” Their terms say the provider “reserves its right to impose restrictions or limitations on data usage or speed if your usage is deemed excessive.” No number. No post-throttle speed.
Third-party estimates range from 2GB to 5GB per day and from 128 kbps to 1 Mbps after — and they contradict each other, because none of them are confirmed. You are buying an allowance nobody can quote.
Destination pages advertise sharing 1GB of data per day via personal hotspot. So the data is unlimited and the tethering is not. If you work off a laptop, that single line changes the maths entirely.
Holafly’s own FAQ is explicit: “Our eSIMs are data-only, meaning you won’t get a temporary local phone number for SMS or analog calls.” Only the monthly subscription includes a number, it is incoming SMS only, it arrives inside the app rather than your messages, and the prefix is +1 or +44 regardless of where you are.
Add the refund policy — full refund only if the eSIM was never activated, within six months, with a $3.50 administrative fee — and you have a product built for one specific customer: the heavy user who genuinely burns several gigabytes a day and does not tether.
What Holafly actually costs?
Prices checked 3 August 2026. Every plan is unlimited data.
| Destination | 3 days | 7 days | 15 days | 30 days | Cost/day (30d) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mexico | $10.90 | $23.90 | $43.90 | $64.90 | $2.16 |
| Spain | $11.90 | $23.90 | $44.50 | $64.50 | $2.15 |
| USA | $11.90 | $25.50 | $46.90 | $68.90 | $2.30 |
| Europe (33 countries) | $11.90 | $27.50 | $50.50 | $73.90 | $2.46 |
| Japan | $11.90 | $27.50 | $50.50 | $73.90 | $2.46 |
| Thailand | $11.90 | $27.50 | $50.50 | $73.90 | $2.46 |
| UK | $11.90 | $27.50 | $50.50 | $73.90 | $2.46 |
| India | $19.90 | $39.50 | $63.50 | $111.90 | $3.73 |
| Global (142 countries) | $24.90 | $46.90 | $96.90 | $161.50 | $5.38 |
Because there is no stated allowance, cost per gigabyte cannot be calculated honestly. At a realistic one gigabyte per day, the Europe seven-day plan at $27.50 works out to about $3.93 per GB.
Juniper Research puts the travel eSIM market average at $5.50 per GB and traditional roaming at $8.57 per GB, so Holafly still beats international roaming comfortably. It simply loses to almost every capped competitor.
How we compared?
What was measured: advertised list price, data allowance and validity window for each provider, normalised to cost per gigabyte on a like-for-like tier.
Benchmark tier: the USA 5GB / 30-day plan, or the nearest equivalent where a provider does not sell that size. Where a substitute tier is used, it is named in the table.
When: 3 August 2026.
Excluded: Mexico, UK, Türkiye, UAE and India pricing across the alternatives — those tiers could not be confirmed on every provider, and a comparison table with gaps in it is worse than one with fewer columns. Promotional and sale pricing is excluded; list prices only.
Discounts: the “after code” column applies our verified discount codes. Where we hold no code, the list price stands.
Which Holafly alternative should you choose?
| If you need… | Choose | Why |
|---|---|---|
| The lowest price per gigabyte | MobiMatter | $1.00/GB — a marketplace where vendors undercut each other |
| A cheap small plan (5GB) | Roamify | $6.50 for 5GB/30 days, the cheapest true 5GB tier here |
| A real phone number for SMS 2FA | Sim Local | Select plans include calls, texts and a local number |
| Unlimited hotspot for a laptop | Amigo eSIM | Unlimited tethering stated on every plan |
| Unlimited data with a published cap | Nomad or Saily | 2GB/day and 5GB/day respectively, both written down |
| Data on a cruise or ferry | GigSky | 290+ ships, ferry routes and inflight — nobody else covers this |
| A single day or a layover | Billion Connect | From $0.91 a day, and never fully disconnects |
| Credit that doesn’t expire | Yesim | Pay-as-you-go balance rolls over between trips |
| Big data blocks cheaply | Instabridge | 10GB USA $12, Thailand 10GB $7 |
| The closest Holafly replacement | Saily | Unlimited too, but cheaper, with hotspot and a phone number |
Master comparison: 10 Holafly alternatives ranked by cost per GB
| Provider | Benchmark plan | List | Our code | After code | Cost/GB | Unlimited? | Hotspot | Phone number |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MobiMatter | USA 10GB / 30d | $9.99 | ESIMDUDE | varies | $1.00 | Via partners | Yes | Varies |
| Instabridge | USA 10GB / 30d | $12.00 | — | $12.00 | $1.20 | No | Yes | No |
| Roamify | USA 5GB / 30d | $6.50 | — | $6.50 | $1.30 | Yes, cap undisclosed | Yes | Some plans |
| Billion Connect | Global 5GB / 15d | $7.14 | — | $7.14 | $1.43 | No — 128 kbps floor | Likely | Some plans |
| Sim Local | USA 5GB / 30d | $9.75 | ESIMDUDE10 | $8.78 | $1.76 | Yes, 5–10GB/day | Operator-dependent | Yes, select plans |
| Amigo eSIM | USA 6GB / 30d | $13.00 | ESIMDUDE | $11.44 | $1.91 | No | Yes, unlimited | Some plans |
| Nomad eSIM | USA 5GB / 30d | $12.00 | ESIMDUDE15 | $10.20 | $2.04 | Yes, 2GB/day | Yes | Limited |
| GigSky | USA 5GB / 30d | $12.49 | ESIMADVICE15 | $10.62 | $2.12 | Yes, 3.5GB/day | Yes, unlimited | No |
| Yesim | USA 5GB / 30d | $10.80 | — | $10.80 | $2.16 | Yes, cap undisclosed | Yes, default | Call add-on |
| Saily | USA 5GB / 30d | $13.99 | ESIMDUDE | $12.59 | $2.52 | Yes, 5GB/day | Yes, unlimited | Yes, $0.99/mo |
| Holafly | USA unlimited 7d | $25.50 | — | $25.50 | ~$3.64 at 1GB/day | Yes, cap undisclosed | ~1GB/day cap | No |
Every provider on this list undercuts Holafly on a normalised basis. Several do it by a factor of three or more.
1
MobiMatter
Best for: anyone who wants the lowest possible price and does not mind choosing between vendors.
MobiMatter is not an eSIM provider. It is a marketplace that aggregates more than 30 telecom vendors — NextLink, Sparks, IIJ, Three, Ubigi, Orange, EE, eSIMGo among them — into one checkout across 200+ destinations.
That structure is why it wins on price: vendors compete against each other inside the storefront rather than against a single house margin.
A NextLink 10GB USA plan runs $9.99 for 30 days, a dollar a gigabyte, against Holafly’s $68.90 for the same window. Japan runs $7.99 for 10GB. Unlimited options exist through partners, including a USA plan at $1.80 per day.
The trade-off is real: the refund policy is stricter than Holafly’s, covering only faults unresolved after 24 hours, and support quality depends on which vendor you bought from.
Why it beats Holafly: roughly seven times cheaper per gigabyte on a 30-day plan, capped plans available so you buy only what you need, hotspot supported.
Watch for: no 5GB tier — minimums start around 10GB. Refunds are the harshest here.
2
Instabridge
Best for: long stays where you want 10–20GB and nothing clever.
Instabridge is a Stockholm company founded in 2012, originally a crowdsourced Wi-Fi-sharing app, now selling eSIM data across 190+ claimed destinations.
Its pricing is aggressive in the mid-tiers: 10GB for the USA at $12, Europe 10GB at $16 across 33 countries, Thailand 10GB at just $7. Tethering is supported per its own help centre, and one profile works across every country you buy, so no reinstalling.
The app bundles a 50-million-hotspot Wi-Fi database, a VPN and offline maps, and gives away free data through ad-supported rewards. One caveat we will not bury: its Trustpilot score sits at 2.2 out of 5, far below every other provider here.
The app store ratings are considerably better at 4.6 on iOS, but that gap deserves your attention.
Why it beats Holafly: $1.20 per GB against Holafly’s effective $3.64, and a single profile across all destinations.
Watch for: no unlimited tier, and that Trustpilot score.
Roamify is a Toronto company covering 200+ destinations, and on the benchmark tier it is the cheapest genuine 5GB plan in this comparison: $6.50 for 5GB over 30 days in the USA, $1.30 per gigabyte. Its Europe Lite plan starts at $5.00 for 30 countries.
Hotspot is explicitly marketed, some plans include calls and texts with real dialling codes, and there is a cashback and “Roam Credit” loyalty scheme.
Ratings are solid — 4.8 on iOS, 4.5 on Trustpilot from 303 reviews. The weak point is the refund policy: technical failure only, with no change-of-mind refunds and explicit exclusions for locked or incompatible devices.
Unlimited plans exist but the daily cap and post-throttle speed are not published, which is the same criticism we level at Holafly.
Why it beats Holafly: a fifth of the cost per gigabyte, hotspot allowed, and calls and texts on some plans.
Watch for: refunds only for technical faults. Verify your device is unlocked before buying.
4
Billion Connect
Best for: short trips, layovers and topping up in an emergency.
Billion Connect, operated by WeiTaiGe Technology out of Hong Kong, sells on a daily-bundle model rather than monthly blocks — and that makes it the cheapest entry point anywhere in this comparison. A one-day, 500MB USA plan is $0.91.
A one-day gigabyte is $1.07. Japan runs $1.40 per day for a gigabyte a day. Its structural advantage over every provider here including Holafly is that it never cuts you off: once your high-speed allowance is gone, you drop to 128 kbps rather than losing service.
For an eleven-hour unplanned layover, that is a genuinely useful product. Its weakness is opacity — no published refund policy, no published top-up terms, no Trustpilot presence, and destination counts that vary between 150 and 200 depending which page you read.
Why it beats Holafly: you can buy a single day for under a dollar instead of $11.90, and you are never fully disconnected.
Watch for: thin published policies. Buy small until you trust it.
5
Sim Local
Best for: anyone who needs SMS for two-factor authentication.
Sim Local is an Irish company founded in 2011 that started with a single shop at Dublin Airport and now runs kiosks at Heathrow T3 and T5, Gatwick, Athens, Brussels, Madrid and Copenhagen, alongside 150+ countries of eSIM coverage. Two things make it the sharpest answer to Holafly’s biggest gap.
First, select plans include a real local phone number — its USA 18GB plan on Lycamobile at $33 for 30 days comes with calls and texts, so bank OTP codes actually reach you. Second, it names its carrier partners openly: EE, Orange, Three, Lycamobile, au in Japan, dtac in Thailand.
Its USA 5GB plan is $9.75, dropping to $8.78 with our code — $1.76 per gigabyte. Unlimited plans exist with an honest 5GB or 10GB daily cap stated up front.
Why it beats Holafly: a working phone number, named underlying carriers, published daily caps, and less than half the cost per gigabyte.
Watch for: refund terms read inconsistently across its own pages. Confirm before purchase.
6
Amigo eSIM
Best for: people who tether a laptop and are done with hotspot caps.
Amigo eSIM, run by Core Communication Retail in the UK, states unlimited tethering on every plan page. Set against Holafly’s roughly 1GB-per-day hotspot ceiling, that is the single cleanest reason on this list to switch.
Its USA 6GB plan is $13 for 30 days, $11.44 with our 12% code — $1.91 per gigabyte. Thailand is better value still at 5GB for 14 days at $9.
Like Sim Local, it names its networks: AT&T in the USA, KDDI and SoftBank in Japan, AIS and dtac in Thailand, Three across the UK and Europe. Some Three-powered European plans include minutes, texts and a genuine +44 number. There is no unlimited tier, and support runs UK business hours rather than 24/7, which matters if something fails at 2am in Bangkok.
Why it beats Holafly: unlimited hotspot against a 1GB daily cap, named carriers, and roughly half the cost per gigabyte.
Watch for: no unlimited option, and limited support hours.
7
Nomad eSIM
Best for: buyers who want unlimited data with the ceiling written down.
Nomad is operated by LotusFlare, a Santa Clara software company, and covers 200+ destinations. It earns its place here for one reason: it is the only unlimited provider in this comparison that publishes its throttle threshold. Two gigabytes per day at full speed, then unlimited at up to 1 Mbps.
You can plan around a number like that; you cannot plan around “may be reduced”. Its USA 5GB plan is $12, falling to $10.20 with our 15% code.
Nomad names its carrier partner on every destination page — AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile in the USA, KDDI and SoftBank in Japan, AIS, dtac and True in Thailand. Refunds run 30 days if the eSIM was never installed.
One caution worth knowing: plans bought with a discount code become non-refundable once activated, and unlimited plans are non-refundable outright.
Why it beats Holafly: a published daily cap and post-throttle speed, named carriers, and a clearer refund window.
Watch for: discounted plans lose refund rights on activation. Top-ups add data but not validity.
8
GigSky
Best for: cruises, ferries, and anyone holding an eligible Visa card.
GigSky is a full MVNO founded in California in 2010, and it covers ground nobody else here touches: 200+ countries plus 290+ cruise ships, ferry routes with Brittany Ferries, Color Line, DFDS and Stena Line, inflight plans on 19 airlines, and offshore coverage.
Holafly does not sell cruise connectivity at all. Its USA 5GB plan is $12.49, or $10.62 with our 15% code.
Unlimited plans state a 3.5GB daily cap. There is also GigSky One, a genuine monthly subscription from $33.99 for 25GB across 120+ countries.
The standout, though, is the Visa programme: eligible Visa Infinite cardholders get 7 days of unlimited data free in participating countries plus 30% off everything else, and some issuers — U.S. Bank Altitude Connect, UBS — hand out 3–5GB every month at no cost.
Why it beats Holafly: cruise, ferry and inflight coverage, a real subscription option, unlimited hotspot, and free data if your card qualifies.
Watch for: land plans are mid-priced rather than cheap. Subscription is non-refundable.
Yesim, run by Genesis Group AG in Switzerland, covers 170+ countries and does one thing none of the others do properly: a pay-as-you-go balance that rolls over between trips.
Its “Pay & Fly” model starts around $1.10 per gigabyte across 170+ countries, and unused credit stays yours rather than evaporating with a validity window. That directly answers the most wasteful thing about Holafly’s model, where a 15-day plan you only half-use is simply gone.
Its USA 5GB plan is $10.80, Japan $10.02, Europe $11.09 across 33 countries. Hotspot is enabled by default at no extra charge. There is an optional calls add-on at checkout.
It has the largest install base of the smaller providers here — over a million Android downloads and 24,500 reviews — with a 4.5 Trustpilot score and a 5% cashback loyalty programme.
Why it beats Holafly: credit that does not expire, hotspot by default, and roughly 40% cheaper per gigabyte.
Watch for: unlimited plans do not publish a daily cap. Ycoins are non-refundable.
Saily is built by Nord Security, the NordVPN company, and covers 200+ destinations. It is the closest direct substitute for Holafly because it sells unlimited plans too — and undercuts them on every one. Thailand unlimited is $38.99 against Holafly’s $73.90 for 30 days.
Europe unlimited is $49.99 against $73.90. Critically, Saily publishes its cap: 5GB a day at full speed, then 1 Mbps, with Europe at 3GB.
It also fixes three of Holafly’s four structural gaps — unlimited hotspot on all plans, an optional US phone number for $0.99 a month that handles SMS and 2FA, and a real 30-day refund window if the eSIM was never installed.
Support is the fastest in the category, answering in-app chat in about a minute. The catch: refunds are usually issued as store credit rather than cash.
Why it beats Holafly: cheaper unlimited, a published throttle threshold, unlimited hotspot, an actual phone number, and far better support.
Watch for: store-credit refunds. Data roaming is off by default, which causes most “bars but no data” complaints.
What this means for you?
You almost certainly use under 1.2GB a day — I have tracked every gigabyte I have bought since 2021 across 900-plus rows and have never exceeded it.
Buy a capped plan. Sim Local at $8.78 with the code, or MobiMatter at $9.99, gives you a month of data for a third of Holafly’s seven-day price.
Cost per gigabyte matters more than convenience, and so does hotspot. Amigo eSIM for unlimited tethering, Yesim if your travel is irregular and you want a balance that rolls over, or GigSky One at $33.99 a month for 25GB if you are effectively always abroad.
None of these is an enterprise product, but the requirements are the same everywhere: a single consolidated invoice, a VAT receipt, per-line usage reporting, and no employees expensing personal cards.
GigSky’s enterprise arm is the only one here built for that, running multi-IMSI across 800+ operators with a management portal and MDM deployment through Jamf, InTune and SOTI.
If you are approving this as an expense line rather than reimbursing one traveller, start there and ask for those four things by name.
Stay with Holafly, or take Saily’s unlimited. At that consumption level, unlimited pricing stops being a premium and starts being a discount.
When Holafly is still the right answer?
It would be dishonest to end without this. Holafly wins in four situations.
You are a heavy user who does not want to think about data. You are travelling somewhere its coverage is genuinely strong — Japan, Southeast Asia, Western Europe and the Americas all score well in user reviews.
You value support: Holafly’s support ratings are among the highest in the category. Or you want the free 1GB per month “Always On” backup that ships with its plans across 150+ countries.
Holafly’s problem is not quality. It is that it sells one shape of product at a premium price, and most travellers need a different shape.
Limitations of this comparison
Frequently asked questions
What is the best Holafly alternative?
For most travellers, Sim Local or MobiMatter — both give you capped plans at roughly a third of Holafly’s effective cost per gigabyte. If you specifically want unlimited data, Saily is the closest replacement and undercuts Holafly on every unlimited plan while publishing its daily cap.
Is Holafly worth it in 2026?
Only if you use more than about 3–4GB a day and do not need to tether. Below that, capped plans from almost any provider on this list cost substantially less for the same trip.
Why is Holafly so expensive?
Because it sells unlimited data exclusively, with no capped tiers. You pay for an unlimited allowance whether or not you use one. A 30-day USA plan is $68.90 against $9.99 for a 10GB MobiMatter plan covering the same window.
Does Holafly really give unlimited data?
Holafly does not publish a daily high-speed threshold or a post-throttle speed. Its FAQ says data “isn’t throttled, but some operators may reduce speeds after reaching a high-speed limit.” Third-party estimates range from 2GB to 5GB per day and disagree with each other. Treat it as unlimited with an undisclosed ceiling.
Which Holafly alternative allows hotspot?
Amigo eSIM, GigSky and Saily all state unlimited hotspot on their plans. Yesim enables it by default at no charge. Holafly caps hotspot sharing at around 1GB per day even on unlimited plans.
Which alternative gives you a phone number?
Sim Local offers select plans with a real local number and calls and texts — its USA 18GB Lycamobile plan at $33 is the clearest example. Saily sells an optional US number for $0.99 a month that works for SMS two-factor codes. Holafly’s travel eSIMs include no number at all.
What is the cheapest Holafly alternative?
MobiMatter at roughly $1.00 per gigabyte on a USA 10GB plan, followed by Instabridge at $1.20 and Roamify at $1.30. For a single day, Billion Connect starts at $0.91.
Can I get a refund from Holafly?
Only if the eSIM has not been activated and the purchase was within six months, and a $3.50 administrative fee applies. Activated eSIMs are reviewed case by case. Saily and Nomad both offer clearer 30-day windows for uninstalled plans.
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About the author
Director of Research, Pricing & Coverage
I lead pricing and coverage research at eSIMTweaks and maintain the dataset behind every comparison we publish across 200+ destinations. My background is in telecommunications analytics, where I spent six years building rate and coverage models for carrier partners. My analysis determines which providers earn a recommendation.
