Best eSIM for Spain 2026: 7 Plans + Canary Islands Warning

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Best eSIM for Spain: GigSky at $9.79 for 10GB over 30 days, or MobiMatter’s Sparks plan at $13.49 for 15GB if you want the lowest cost per gigabyte.

MobiMatter explicitly covers the Canaries and Balearics, while GigSky does not clearly state island coverage.

That distinction matters. Some major eSIM providers are surprisingly vague about whether their standard Spain plan covers the Canary Islands, and at least one also sells a separate Canary Islands eSIM.

I will show you exactly what each provider says below, including the coverage wording on its own site.

5 Things to Know Before Buying an eSIM for Spain in 2026

If you live in the EU, do not buy anything.

Roam Like At Home covers Spain, the Balearics and the Canaries on your existing SIM. Over 60% of Spain’s visitors are EU residents. Most of you are being sold a solution to a problem you do not have.

Airalo’s Spain Plan Is Unclear About the Canaries.

Its own coverage text reads “Covers mainland Spain but also the Balearic Islands (Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza).” No Canaries. It then sells a separate Canary Islands eSIM.

Orange and Yoigo are now the same network.

Orange completed a €4.25bn buyout of MasOrange on 9 June 2026 and owns 100% of it. Any provider advertising “Orange plus Yoigo redundancy” is selling you one network twice.

The gap between Spain’s fastest and slowest network is 2.5x.

Movistar measured 96.7 Mbps against Vodafone’s 37.7 Mbps in the most recent independent testing. And almost nobody tells you which one you are buying.

Install before you fly.

Every time. QR code activation needs wifi, and Spain’s new biometric border system went fully live on 10 April 2026, so the queues at Barajas and El Prat are longer than they were last year.

Spain eSIM Comparison: 7 Plans at a Glance

Provider	Best for	Spain 10GB/30d	Cost per GB	Carrier	Code
GigSky	Cheapest exact tier	$9.79	$0.98	Undisclosed, multi-network	ESIMADVICE15
MobiMatter (Sparks)	Lowest cost per GB	$13.49 (15GB)	$0.90	Movistar / Orange / Vodafone	ESIMDUDE
Saily	Islands clarity, phone number	$15.99	$1.60	Undisclosed	ESIMDUDE
Nomad	Solid mid-price	$14.00	$1.40	Undisclosed	ESIMDUDE15
Airalo	Named carrier, biggest catalogue	$14.00	$1.40	Orange	ESIMADVICE15
Sim Local	Names all four carriers	$15.50	$1.55	Movistar, Vodafone, Yoigo, Orange	ESIMDUDE10
Amigo eSIM	Multi-country at one price	$20.00 (12GB)	$1.67	Orange, Vodafone	ESIMDUDE

Spain’s Networks, Measured

Opensignal’s Spain report published May 2026, covering January to March 2026, is the most recent independent measurement there is. These numbers should drive your decision more than any brand name.

Metric	Movistar	Orange	Yoigo	DIGI	Vodafone
Download speed	96.7 Mbps	66.8	45.1	39.8	37.7
Upload speed	15.3 Mbps	12.9	12.0	11.8	14.2
5G download	241.7 Mbps	180.4	160.1	260.4	122.9
Time on 5G	45.2%	31.3%	14.8%	16.8%	17.7%
5G availability	83.8%	84.2%	80.7%	77.2%	80.9%
Consistent quality	81.0%	78.8%	77.6%	74.0%	76.6%
Reliability	915	909	900	844	913

Movistar took Best Network with ten outright awards. DIGI was the only other outright winner, taking both 5G speed awards.

Three things fall out of that table.

Movistar’s 96.7 Mbps is 45% ahead of second place. That is not a rounding difference, that is a different product. It also spends 45.2% of the time actually on 5G, against 17.7% for Vodafone.

Vodafone Spain is now the slowest major network in the country. 37.7 Mbps overall and 122.9 Mbps on 5G, which is less than half DIGI’s. It holds up on reliability at 913, so it will not drop you, it will just be slow. Zegona bought Vodafone Spain from Vodafone Group in May 2024 and the speed numbers have not recovered.

DIGI has Spain’s fastest 5G at 260.4 Mbps, but it trails badly on consistency and reliability. Its consistent quality is the lowest at 74.0%, reliability is lowest at 844, and it spends only 16.8% of the time on 5G.

Best Mobile Networks in Barcelona and Madrid

Download speed	Barcelona	Madrid
Movistar	103.3 Mbps	123.5 Mbps
Orange	95.3	99.3
Yoigo	58.1	62.5
DIGI	49.8	53.6
Vodafone	36.8	43.0

Movistar wins both cities on speed, consistency and reliability. Orange leads narrowly on 5G availability. Vodafone is last in both. The same pattern holds in Seville, Málaga, Valencia and Zaragoza, the other four cities Opensignal measures.

The catch on all of this: Opensignal only measures six mainland cities. Barcelona, Madrid, Málaga, Sevilla, Valencia and Zaragoza. There is no independent measured data for the Balearics, the Canaries or rural Spain. Every guide that tells you which network is “best in Mallorca” is guessing.

So am I, and I am telling you that instead of pretending otherwise. What I can say is that Movistar has the strongest published rural footprint, at 95% 5G population coverage and 5G standalone in more than 5,700 municipalities.

The Canary Islands eSIM Trap

This is the single most useful thing on this page, so I am giving it its own section.

The Canary Islands sit outside the EU VAT area and outside the customs union. They are inside the EU roaming zone. All four Spanish networks operate there natively. Legally, a Spain plan should work there.

Some providers sell you a second eSIM anyway.

Provider	Canaries covered by the Spain plan?
Saily	Yes, explicitly. Its Canary Islands page says “buy a data plan that works anywhere in Spain”
Sim Local	Yes, explicitly. Names Gran Canaria, Tenerife and Lanzarote
MobiMatter	Yes. Runs Canaries and Tenerife pages and treats them as covered by Spain plans
Airalo	Unclear — Spain page names the Balearics but not the Canaries; Airalo has previously confirmed Canary coverage separately
GigSky, Nomad, Amigo	Not stated anywhere. They will not tell us

Airalo’s own Spain coverage line is: “Covers mainland Spain but also the Balearic Islands (Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza).” Read it twice. The Balearics are named. The Canaries are not.

And Airalo has been confused about this itself. Airalo’s current Spain product page does not clearly confirm Canary Islands coverage, despite Airalo previously saying the plan covers them. It also continues to sell a separate Canary Islands eSIM.

Two years later the product page still names only the Balearics, and a separate Canary Islands eSIM is still on sale.

The catch: the Balearics and the Canaries between them took 31.4 million visitors in 2025, which is a third of everyone who came to Spain. This is not an edge case. Mallorca, Ibiza and Menorca took 15.7 million. Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Lanzarote took another 15.7 million.

If you are going to the islands, buy from a provider that says so in writing. If a provider will not put it in writing, ask support and screenshot the answer before you pay.

Do You Actually Need a Spain eSIM at All?

Genuine question, and for a lot of you the answer is no.

If you live in the EU or EEA: your existing SIM works in Spain at your domestic rates under Roam Like At Home, including the Balearics and the Canaries.

Your carrier can apply a fair-use cap on data, but that allowance may already be more than enough for a typical one- or two-week Spain trip. Do not buy another plan unless you actually need more data.

If you live in the UK: it depends entirely on your carrier, because Roam Like At Home stopped being automatic after Brexit. O2 customers are repeatedly told on Spanish travel forums to just use their existing SIM, because O2 still includes EU roaming.

If your carrier charges a daily roaming fee, a Spain eSIM beats it on any trip over about three days. Check your carrier’s page before you buy anything here. The UK sent 19.1 million visitors to Spain in 2025, the largest single market, so this applies to a lot of people.

If you live in the US, Canada or Australia: yes, buy a Spain eSIM. Your home carrier’s international roaming will cost you $10 to $12 a day, and the best eSIM Spain sells will cost you less than that for a week. This page is for you.

If you are staying longer than two weeks: consider a local Spanish prepaid SIM or a physical Spain travel SIM card instead.

Vodafone Spain’s Prepago plans run around €10 to €15 a month for 50GB to 240GB of prepaid data, which is ten to twenty times better on cost per gigabyte than anything in this article.

The catch is that Spanish law requires SIM registration with a passport, so you normally have to do it in person.

The workaround, which almost nobody publishes: Vodafone’s esimprepago.vodafone.es flow lets you scan your passport and take a selfie to activate a Spanish eSIM remotely before you arrive.

Seven eSIMs for Spain, Ranked by Price & Coverage

1. GigSky: cheapest exact tier, and it is not close

Spain plans: 500MB/7d free, 1GB/7d $2.99, 3GB/15d $5.99, 5GB/30d $8.29, 10GB/30d $9.79, 20GB/90d $16.99, 50GB/180d $33.89. Unlimited daily plans run 3.5GB per day before slowing, at $65.49 for 30 days.

At $9.79 for 10GB it is 30% cheaper than Airalo and Nomad, and 39% cheaper than Saily for the same allowance and the same duration. Hotspot is explicitly unlimited. Top-ups add a plan to the existing eSIM with no reinstall. The free 500MB trial means you can install at home, land at El Prat, and confirm the profile attaches before you spend anything.

The catch: GigSky’s own Spain page currently returns “No country plans found”, so you can only see pricing in the app or at checkout. That is poor. And it does not name its Spanish carrier, saying only that it connects to “the fastest network available”.

If they will not name the carrier, assume it is the cheapest one available. Given Vodafone Spain is now the slowest major network in the country, that is a live risk.

Worth it if you want the lowest price on an exact 10GB tier and you can live without knowing the network.

ESIMADVICE15 takes 15% off GigSky. That drops 10GB to $8.32. AFFMAVEN10 gives 10% if the other one is dead. Verified working. GigSky promo code page.

2. MobiMatter (Sparks): lowest cost per gigabyte in Spain

MobiMatter is a marketplace, not a provider. Its Spain vendors are Sparks, Bouygues, NextLink and Three. The Sparks Spain and Portugal plans are the ones to look at: 7GB/30d $8.49, 15GB/30d $13.49, 30GB/30d $24.49, 50GB/30d $36.49.

There is no exact 10GB tier, which is why it sits second rather than first. But 15GB for $13.49 is more data than any 10GB plan here, for less money than four of them. That is $0.90 per gigabyte, the lowest in Spain.

It also has the cheapest Europe regional plan on this page by a wide margin: NextLink 12GB/30d at $10.99, which is $0.92 per gigabyte against Airalo’s $3.10 and Saily’s $3.60.

MobiMatter’s own Spain guide names Movistar, Orange and Vodafone as the networks its eSIMs use, which is more than most. And it treats the Canaries and Tenerife as covered by Spain plans rather than selling them separately.

The catch: support. MobiMatter’s Trustpilot profile carries a 4.3 score across 52,391 reviews, and the profile itself flags “75% of negative reviews” and “typically takes over 1 month to reply.” One review on r/eSIMs reads “Mobimatter does not prioritize customer satisfaction or accountability.” Refunds and top-up policies vary by vendor, so you are buying from a third party with MobiMatter in the middle.

Worth it if price per gigabyte is your priority, or you are crossing into Portugal, and you accept that support is slow.

ESIMDUDE gives 50% cashback on your first MobiMatter order, capped at $5. On the $13.49 Sparks plan that is close to $8.50 net. MobiMatter coupon details.

3. Saily: the clearest islands answer, and the only phone number

Spain plans: 1GB/7d $3.99, 3GB/30d $6.99, 5GB/30d $9.99, 10GB/30d $15.99, 20GB/30d $22.99, unlimited $43.99.

Two things Saily does better than everyone here.

Its unlimited fair use threshold is 5GB per day, published in its own documentation, before dropping to 1 Mbps or less. Airalo throttles at 3GB per day and Nomad at 2GB. Saily’s 5GB daily allowance is one of the most generous mainstream options.

Saily is the only provider here that explicitly offers a separate phone-number add-on. Its call and SMS add-on plans are separate purchases, but they exist. Everything else here is data only.

Its Canary Islands page is also the clearest statement of coverage anyone publishes: “Get more than an eSIM for Canary Islands, buy a data plan that works anywhere in Spain.” One plan, no surcharge.

Trustpilot 4.7 across 28,763 reviews is the highest of any major provider on this page.

The catch: Saily will not tell you which Spanish network it uses. Its own FAQ says it “isn’t actually a network operator but an eSIM app that uses these existing Spanish networks as partners”, which names nothing.

That opacity is the specific, repeated criticism on Reddit: “The issue here is Saily doesn’t tell you the network.” Its Europe regional plan is also the most expensive on this page at $35.99 for 10GB, which is 2.25 times its own Spain price.

Worth it if you are island hopping, you want a number, or you want the most generous unlimited threshold.

ESIMDUDE takes 10% off Saily. AFFMAVEN5 gives 5%. Take the 10%. Saily coupon code page.

4. Nomad: fine at the price, quiet about everything else

Spain plans: 1GB/30d $3.00, 1GB/7d $4.00, 3GB/30d $6.00, 5GB/30d $9.00, 10GB/30d $14.00, 20GB/30d $21.00, 50GB/30d $35.00.

The 1GB for 30 days at $3.00 is a genuinely useful SKU that most providers do not offer, and the 50GB at $35.00 is competitive for a long stay.

The catch, and there are three. Nomad’s “unlimited” is 2GB per day before throttling to 1000 kbps, which is one of the lowest thresholds here. It does not name its Spanish carrier.

And one digital nomad’s report on Reddit is worth quoting in full: “I have bought 5 esims from them and had problems with 2 (bad ratio).” A 40% failure rate in a sample of five is not statistically meaningful, but it is not nothing either. Others report Android installation friction.

Worth it if you want a low-commitment small plan, or a 50GB long-stay plan.

ESIMDUDE15 takes 15% off Nomad, bringing 10GB to $11.90. Nomad promo code page.

5. Airalo: names its network, but Leaves Island coverage unclear

Airalo’s Spain product is branded Guay Mobile. Fixed data: 1GB/3d $4.00, 3GB/7d $6.00, 5GB/30d $9.00, 10GB/30d $14.00, 20GB/30d $20.00, 50GB/30d $39.00. Unlimited on Orange runs 3 days $11.00 up to 30 days $63.00, with fair use at 3GB per day before dropping to 1 Mbps.

Airalo names Orange as the primary network on its own Spain page, which almost nobody else does, and Orange is genuinely the second-fastest network in Spain at 66.8 Mbps. That is worth something.

Note the restructure: every guay-mobile product URL now renders the Orange unlimited lineup. The fixed tiers still exist and are still on sale, they are just not what the page shows you first.

The catch is the Canaries. Covered above, and it is the reason Airalo sits fifth rather than second. Its Europe regional Eurolink plan does include the Canaries, but at $31.00 for 10GB it is 2.21 times its own Spain price.

Worth it if you are staying on the mainland or the Balearics, you want the carrier named, and you want the polished app.

New to Airalo? ESIMADVICE15 takes 15% off, bringing 10GB to $11.90. Already a customer? ESIMADVICE10 gives 10% off any order. Both verified. Airalo promo code page.

6. Sim Local: the most honest carrier disclosure, and a Trustpilot problem

Spain plans under its Smartroam brand: 1GB/3d $4.00, 3GB/7d $6.75, 5GB/30d $9.75, 10GB/30d $15.50, 20GB/30d $22.50. Unlimited 7 days at $27.50 with 5GB per day, or Unlimited Pro at $34.25 with 10GB per day.

That 10GB per day Pro threshold is the highest in this article by a factor of two. If you are hotspotting a laptop from an apartment in Barcelona for a week, it is the only plan here that will not throttle you.

Sim Local also does something nobody else does: it names the actual Spanish operators on the product listing, citing Telefónica Móviles España, Vodafone España, Xfera Móviles and France Telecom España. That is Movistar, Vodafone, Yoigo and Orange. Multi-network, named, in writing. It also states Canaries coverage explicitly.

The catch, and it is serious. Sim Local’s Trustpilot profile currently reads “This company’s rating is unavailable due to a breach of our guidelines” and “We’ve removed a number of fake reviews for this company.”

Category listings still show 4.5 across roughly 3,029 reviews, but the profile itself is flagged. Separately, both Spain product pages I opened showed “Out of stock”, so availability is unstable.

I am not saying the product is bad. Its Google Play rating is 4.7 across 864 reviews and its carrier disclosure is the best here. I am saying you should know about the Trustpilot flag before you decide, because nobody else will tell you.

Worth it if you need the 10GB per day unlimited threshold, or you specifically want a multi-network Spanish product with the operators named.

ESIMDUDE10, ESIMADVICE or ESIMNINJA10 each take 10% off Sim Local. On the Unlimited Pro that is about $3.43 back.

7. Amigo eSIM: one price for Spain or all of Europe

Spain plans: 1GB/7d $6, 6GB/30d $13, 12GB/30d $20, 18GB/30d $26, 30GB/30d $44. The 6GB tier and above include minutes and texts, which is unusual.

Here is the genuinely interesting thing about Amigo, and it is the reason it is on this list rather than off it: its Europe regional plans are priced identically to its Spain plans. 1GB $6, 6GB $13, 12GB $20, 18GB $26, 30GB $44. Every other provider here charges 1.6 to 2.4 times more for Europe than for Spain alone. Amigo charges the same.

So if your trip is Barcelona then Lisbon then Marseille, Amigo’s 12GB at $20 beats Airalo’s Eurolink 10GB at $31 and Saily’s 10GB at $35.99 outright. On a Spain-only trip it is mid-table. On a multi-country trip it is one of the best deals here.

It names Orange and Vodafone as its Spanish networks. Hotspot is stated as unlimited.

The catch: there is no 5GB tier and no 10GB tier, so you cannot compare it like for like. It publishes nothing about 5G support, top-ups or island coverage. And its Trustpilot base is 76 reviews, which is not a sample, it is a focus group. There is effectively no Reddit or YouTube footprint for it at all.

Worth it if you are crossing borders and want one price, or you want minutes and texts bundled.

ESIMDUDE takes 12% off Amigo eSIM, bringing 12GB to $17.60 for Spain or the whole of Europe.

Unlimited in Spain, and What It Actually Means

Every “unlimited” plan here has a daily cap. The number that matters is not the word on the box, it is the gigabytes per day and what speed you drop to afterwards.

Provider	Spain unlimited price	Full speed per day	Throttled to
Sim Local Pro	$34.25 / 7 days	10GB per day	Not stated
Saily	$43.99 / 30 days	5GB per day	1 Mbps or less
Sim Local standard	$27.50 / 7 days	5GB per day	Not stated
GigSky	$65.49 / 30 days	3.5GB per day	Slowed, never capped
Airalo	$63.00 / 30 days	3GB per day	1 Mbps
Nomad	$33.00 / 10 days	2GB per day	1000 kbps
Amigo	None offered	n/a	n/a

Two readings.

Sim Local Pro at 10GB per day is the only threshold you will not hit. Spain’s own domestic average is 14.6GB per month, so 10GB in a single day is more than two thirds of what a Spanish resident uses in four weeks.

Airalo’s 30-day unlimited at $63.00 is worse value than its own 50GB fixed plan at $39.00. Fifty gigabytes over thirty days is 1.67GB per day, which is above the honest tourist average. You would be paying $24 extra for the word “unlimited” and getting throttled at 3GB per day anyway.

How Much Data You Actually Need in Spain?

Spain’s own regulator publishes the number nobody in this industry quotes: the average Spanish mobile line uses 14.6GB per month, per CNMC’s 2025 annual report. That is 0.48GB per day, and that is for a resident who has wifi at home.

There is no credible study of tourist data consumption in Spain. None. Every “you need 20GB” claim you have read comes from a company selling you 20GB.

The only real datapoint I could find is a traveller on a Fodor’s forum reporting 2GB across 12 days using maps and browsing without video.

The average stay in Spain is 6.6 nights, which is the number to size against.

Trip style	Per day	7 nights	14 nights
Maps and messaging, hotel wifi at night	0.2 to 0.4GB	3GB	5GB
Typical tourist: maps, socials, restaurant search, translation	0.5 to 1GB	5 to 10GB	15GB
Heavy: video calls home, photo backup, streaming	1.5 to 2GB	15GB	30GB or unlimited
Hotspotting a laptop, working from an apartment	2 to 3GB+	Unlimited	Unlimited

For most people on a week in Barcelona or Madrid, 10GB is plenty and 5GB is probably enough. Spain has excellent café and hotel wifi and you will be on it more than you think.

Setting Up a Spain eSIM

Check your phone is unlocked.

iPhone: Settings, General, About, Carrier Lock. It should read “No SIM restrictions.” An eSIM for Spain on iPhone needs an XR or newer; on Android, most flagships from 2019 onward.

Buy and install before you fly.

QR code activation needs wifi, and with EES queues you do not want to be scanning anything at passport control. Install at home, activate on landing.

Check when the clock starts.

Most Spain plans activate on first connection to a Spanish network, not at install. Some do not. Read yours.

Turn data roaming ON for the travel line only.

This is the most common reason a Spain eSIM appears broken. Your eSIM attaches to a Spanish partner network, your phone classes that as roaming, and it blocks data until you allow it. Settings, Cellular, tap the travel line, Cellular Data Options, Data Roaming on. Leave it off on your home line.

Set the eSIM as your data line and turn off Allow Cellular Data Switching,

Which is the setting that quietly moves your data back to your home carrier at their prices.

If nothing attaches after five minutes,

Go to Network Selection, turn off Automatic, and pick a network by hand. Movistar first, then Orange.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Verdict

The best eSIM for Spain is the one that covers where you are actually going, at a price that reflects what the data costs.

GigSky wins on price. $9.79 for a 10GB Spain eSIM over 30 days is 30% below Airalo and Nomad and 39% below Saily, with 5G, unlimited hotspot and a free 500MB trial so you can test it before you commit. ESIMADVICE15 takes it to $8.32. The trade is that it will not name its Spanish network.

MobiMatter wins on cost per gigabyte. The Sparks Spain and Portugal plan gives you 15GB for $13.49, which is $0.90 per gigabyte and the lowest in the country, and its NextLink Europe plan at $10.99 for 12GB is the cheapest multi-country option here by a mile. ESIMDUDE adds 50% cashback capped at $5. Support is slow, and that is the catch.

Saily is the pick for the islands and for anyone who wants a number. It covers the Canaries on the same Spain plan in writing, its 5GB per day unlimited threshold is the most generous of the mainstream options, and its 4.7 Trustpilot across 28,763 reviews is the strongest here. ESIMDUDE takes 10% off.

Nomad and Airalo both land at $14 for 10GB. Airalo names Orange and has the better app; Nomad has a genuinely useful $3 one-gigabyte plan. ESIMDUDE15 and ESIMADVICE15 each bring their 10GB plans to $11.90. Airalo ranks lower mainly because of the uncertainty around Canary Islands coverage and the separate Canary Islands eSIM it continues to sell.

Sim Local is worth it for one specific thing, the Unlimited Pro at 10GB per day, which is double anyone else’s threshold, plus the only full carrier disclosure on this page. Weigh that against a Trustpilot profile currently flagged for fake reviews. ESIMDUDE10 takes 10% off.

Amigo eSIM is the multi-country answer because it charges the same for all of Europe as it does for Spain alone, which nobody else here does. ESIMDUDE takes 12% off.

And the answer nobody selling an eSIM Spain tourist package wants to give: if you live in the EU, use your own SIM. If you are staying more than a fortnight, get a Spanish prepaid SIM and pay a tenth as much per gigabyte. If you are visiting from outside Europe for a week or two, buy from the table above, install it before you fly, and turn data roaming on for that line only.

That is the whole thing. The rest is marketing.