Airalo vs Saily vs Ubigi: The 2026 eSIM Comparison

Ubigi is generally the best value for travellers who want a lot of data and unrestricted tethering, backed by Transatel and the NTT Group, while Saily is the stronger budget and app experience for ordinary trips, and Airalo is worth its premium only when you need the widest destination catalogue or a single regional plan across many countries.

These three sit in the same category but solve different problems. Airalo is the incumbent: the largest catalogue, the most name recognition, and prices to match. Saily is the challenger built by the NordVPN team, priced aggressively with a polished app. Ubigi is the carrier-backed option, quietly offering some of the lowest regional prices in the market along with the most permissive tethering policy of the three.

What follows is a direct comparison on the numbers that actually change your bill: price per gigabyte, what "unlimited" really allows, whether you can share the connection, and what happens to leftover data.

Airalo Overview

Airalo is the largest travel eSIM marketplace, selling local, regional and global plans across roughly 160 to 200 destinations. Its global 10 GB plan runs about USD 57 for 180 days across 160 countries, and its Europe regional plan covers around 41 countries at roughly USD 31 for 10 GB over 30 days. Its Trustpilot score sits near 4.1 from more than 42,000 reviews.

Reasons to choose Airalo:

• The broadest and most mature catalogue in the category, with plans for destinations rivals skip
• Regional plans with genuinely wide country lists, including a Europe plan covering 40+ countries
• Simple top-ups on an existing profile, so a reusable eSIM for repeat trips
• Unlimited regional options with a 3 GB per day full-speed allowance
• Tethering allowed within your plan's data

Reasons to avoid Airalo:

• Consistently the most expensive per gigabyte of the three, at roughly USD 3.10 per GB on a Europe 10 GB plan
• Trustpilot score (around 4.1) is the weakest here, despite the largest review base
• Short validity windows on some entry plans, occasionally as little as 3 days
• Little to differentiate it beyond catalogue size

Airalo is the default many travellers reach for, and the catalogue justifies that for unusual destinations. For common ones, you are paying a brand premium of 50 to 100 percent per gigabyte over Ubigi.

Saily Overview

Saily is the travel eSIM from Nord Security, the company behind NordVPN. It covers around 120 to 200 destinations depending on plan type, with entry plans from roughly USD 3.99, a Europe 10 GB plan near USD 35.99 and a global 10 GB plan around USD 56.99 for 180 days across 121 destinations. Its Trustpilot score is approximately 4.7 from more than 30,000 reviews.

Reasons to choose Saily:

• Excellent country-level budget pricing, frequently around USD 1.80 per GB on 10 GB single-country plans
• The best-regarded app and onboarding of the three, with built-in security features
• Strong Trustpilot score at roughly 4.7, the highest in this comparison
• Generous unlimited full-speed allowances: around 3 GB per day in Europe and 5 GB per day in Japan and the USA

Reasons to avoid Saily:

• Terms explicitly discourage excessive tethering across multiple devices
• Regional Europe pricing (around USD 35.99 for 10 GB) is weaker than its country plans
• Unlimited plans start near USD 49.99 for 15 days, which is not cheap
• Destination count trails Airalo

Saily is the best-rounded choice for an ordinary traveller buying a single-country plan. Its weak spot is the gap between its sharp country pricing and its unremarkable regional pricing, so check both before assuming it is cheapest.

Ubigi Overview

Ubigi is operated by Transatel, part of the NTT Group, which means it runs on genuine carrier infrastructure rather than purely reselling. It covers 200+ destinations, prices regional plans unusually low (around USD 15 for a Europe 10 GB plan and roughly USD 14 for a USA 10 GB plan), and allows hotspot use on every plan without special restrictions. Its unlimited option is structured as 60 GB per 30-day plan, after which speeds fall to about 2 Mbps.

Reasons to choose Ubigi:

• The cheapest regional pricing of the three by a wide margin, around USD 1.50 per GB on Europe plans
• Hotspot and tethering allowed on every plan with no special cap
• Carrier-grade backing through Transatel and the NTT Group
• 60 GB of full-speed data on the unlimited plan, then 2 Mbps rather than the 1 Mbps rivals impose
• Reusable profile you top up on the next trip

Reasons to avoid Ubigi:

• App and website are functional rather than polished; the buying experience lags Saily
• Weaker marketing means country-specific plans can be harder to locate
• Less third-party review coverage than Airalo or Saily
• Its "unlimited" is really a large capped allowance, which is worth knowing upfront

Ubigi is the specialist's pick. If you compare on numbers rather than brand familiarity, it wins most of the categories that cost money.

Head-to-head: Airalo vs Saily vs Ubigi

Feature	Airalo	Saily	Ubigi
Entry price	~USD 4.00	~USD 3.99	Varies, regional from ~USD 15
Destinations	~160 to 200	~120 to 200	200+
Europe 10 GB / 30 days	~USD 31 (41 countries)	~USD 35.99 (35 countries)	USD 15 (37 destinations)
USA 10 GB	~USD 22.50	~USD 22.99	~USD 14
Global 10 GB	~USD 57, 180 days	~USD 56.99, 180 days	~USD 59, 200+ destinations
Unlimited allowance	3 GB/day, then ~1 Mbps	3 to 5 GB/day, then ~1 Mbps	60 GB per 30 days, then 2 Mbps
Hotspot	Within plan data	Allowed, excessive tethering discouraged	Allowed on every plan
5G	Where available	Where available	Where available
Top-ups	Yes, same profile	Yes	Yes, reusable profile
Trustpilot	~4.1 (42,000+)	~4.7 (30,000+)	Lower review volume

Figures were checked in October 2026. eSIM prices move frequently and promotions are common, so verify at checkout.

Coverage

Airalo wins on raw catalogue breadth. If you are heading somewhere unusual, it is the most likely of the three to have a local plan rather than forcing you into an expensive global one. Its regional Europe plan covering roughly 41 countries is also the widest here, which matters for multi-country rail itineraries.

Ubigi matches it on headline destination count at 200+ and beats it on regional price, but its coverage is organised differently and its country-level plans are less prominently merchandised. You sometimes have to dig to find the plan you want.

Saily sits behind both on destination count, with roughly 121 destinations on its global plan and about 35 countries in its Europe regional plan. For mainstream destinations this is irrelevant; for Central Asia, parts of Africa and smaller island nations it can be the deciding factor.

All three roam onto local carriers and none owns the networks you will actually use. Real-world speed therefore depends on which local partner each plan uses in each country, which none of the three publishes in detail.

Pricing and value

This is where the comparison stops being close.

On regional plans, Ubigi is dramatically cheaper. A Europe 10 GB plan at roughly USD 15 against Airalo's USD 31 and Saily's USD 35.99 is not a rounding difference; it is less than half the price for the same amount of data. The USA comparison is similar, at roughly USD 14 for Ubigi against about USD 22.50 for Airalo and USD 22.99 for Saily.

On single-country plans, the gap narrows and Saily often leads, with 10 GB packages around USD 17.99 in many markets, putting it near USD 1.80 per GB. Airalo typically sits above both.

On global plans, the three converge: roughly USD 57 for Airalo, USD 56.99 for Saily and USD 59 for Ubigi, all for 10 GB. At this tier the decision should be made on destination list and tethering rules rather than price.

The practical takeaway: if your trip is regional, check Ubigi first. If it is a single country, check Saily first. Check Airalo when the other two do not cover where you are going.

Unlimited data

None of these three sells unlimited in the sense of a blank cheque, and the structures differ enough to matter.

Airalo's unlimited regional plans give roughly 3 GB per day at full speed, then throttle to about 1 Mbps for the rest of that day. Tethering is permitted within that daily allowance.

Saily is the most generous on daily full-speed allowance in some markets, at around 3 GB per day in Europe and up to 5 GB per day in Japan and the USA, before dropping to about 1 Mbps. Its 15-day unlimited Europe plan starts near USD 49.99. The caveat is the tethering language in its terms.

Ubigi takes a different approach: 60 GB of full-speed data across a 30-day plan, used however you like, then 2 Mbps. For a month-long stay that is roughly 2 GB per day on average but front-loadable, which suits irregular usage better than a hard daily reset. The 2 Mbps fallback is also meaningfully more usable than 1 Mbps, which is roughly the difference between standard-definition video and barely loading a map.

If sharing with a laptop or a travel partner is part of the plan, Ubigi's unrestricted hotspot policy is the deciding factor here.

Support and user experience

Saily has the best consumer experience of the three. The app is clean, activation is reliable, the security extras are a genuine bonus for people using public Wi-Fi, and a 4.7 Trustpilot score across more than 30,000 reviews supports the impression.

Airalo's app is mature and well populated, and top-ups on an existing profile are simple. Its 4.1 Trustpilot score across a very large review base suggests a long tail of activation and support complaints that come with operating at scale, rather than a fundamental product problem.

Ubigi is the weakest of the three on presentation. The app works and the network performance is strong, but the purchase flow feels built for enterprise and connected-car customers, which is in fact where much of Transatel's business sits. If you value a frictionless app above saving half the price, this matters.

A note worth making: none of these three advertises 24/7 human-staffed support in multiple languages the way HOLASIM does. For travellers who want a person rather than a help centre when a profile will not attach at 1am, that gap is real and is one reason to look outside this particular three-way comparison.

Which should you choose?

• Backpacker crossing many countries: Ubigi for a regional plan at roughly half the price, or Airalo if your route includes countries Ubigi's regional plan omits.
• Business traveller with a laptop: Ubigi. Unrestricted tethering on every plan is the single most useful policy here.
• Family sharing one connection: Ubigi, for the same reason. Saily's terms discourage it and Airalo's daily allowance caps it.
• Digital nomad on a month-long stay: Ubigi's 60 GB full-speed allowance with a 2 Mbps fallback is the most workable of the three for sustained use.
• Weekend trip, one country, light use: Saily. Sharp country pricing and the nicest app.
• Unusual destination: Airalo. The catalogue is the reason it still wins business.
• Frequent traveller who hates reinstalling profiles: all three allow top-ups, but if a never-expiring profile and multilingual human support matter more than brand familiarity, HOLASIM is worth comparing against these three before you buy.

FAQ

Which is cheapest overall, Airalo, Saily or Ubigi?

It depends on plan type. Ubigi is by far the cheapest for regional plans, at roughly USD 15 for 10 GB in Europe against USD 31 for Airalo and USD 35.99 for Saily. Saily is usually cheapest on single-country plans. Airalo is rarely the cheapest.

Can I use my phone as a hotspot with these eSIMs?

Ubigi allows hotspot use on every plan with no special cap. Airalo allows it within your plan's data allowance. Saily allows it but its terms discourage excessive tethering across multiple devices, so heavy laptop work is a grey area.

What does unlimited actually mean on each one?

Airalo gives about 3 GB per day at full speed, then roughly 1 Mbps. Saily gives about 3 GB per day in Europe and up to 5 GB per day in Japan and the USA, then roughly 1 Mbps. Ubigi gives 60 GB across a 30-day plan, then about 2 Mbps.

Do unused gigabytes roll over?

No. On all three, data expires with the plan's validity period. Buy the tier you will realistically use rather than over-buying as insurance.

Will I get 5G?

All three support 5G where the local partner network provides it and your device supports it. None of them guarantees 5G in a given country, because access depends on the specific roaming agreement behind each plan.

Is Ubigi reliable given it is less well known?

Ubigi is operated by Transatel, which is part of the NTT Group, one of the largest telecoms groups in the world. Its consumer brand is quieter than Airalo's, but the infrastructure behind it is not a small operation.

The verdict

On the numbers, Ubigi wins this comparison for most high-usage travellers: regional plans at roughly half the price of its rivals, hotspot allowed everywhere, and the most usable throttled speed in the group. Saily is the best choice for ordinary single-country trips, where its pricing is sharp and its app is the most pleasant to use. Airalo remains justified when its catalogue reaches somewhere the others do not, or when a single regional plan covering 40+ countries saves you from juggling several eSIMs, but on common routes you are paying a meaningful premium for familiarity. Decide by trip shape, not by which name you have heard most often.