HOLASIM vs Firsty 2026: Which Travel eSIM Is Actually Better?

HOLASIM is the better choice for travellers who need dependable high-speed data, hotspot sharing and human support in their own language, while Firsty is the smarter pick for light users who mainly want a permanently installed safety net of free, slow data and pay-per-day flexibility across short multi-country hops.

These two providers are not really competing on the same axis, which is what makes the comparison useful. Firsty built its entire proposition around a freemium model: install once, get unlimited throttled data forever at no cost, and pay only on the days you need real speed. HOLASIM is a conventional travel eSIM built around reliability — broad coverage, genuine unlimited plans, a profile that never expires, and support staffed by people rather than a ticket queue.

Choosing between them comes down to a single question: do you need your phone to actually work at full speed away from wifi, or do you just need it to not be a brick? Below we compare pricing, coverage, the real-world limits of each model, and which traveller profile each one serves.

HOLASIM Overview

HOLASIM is an international travel eSIM covering 200+ destinations with both fixed-data and unlimited plans. Its defining structural feature is that the eSIM profile never expires: you install it once and top it up trip after trip rather than buying and installing a new QR code every time you fly. Entry pricing starts from approximately USD 1.70, and support is available 24/7 from real humans in English, Spanish and Portuguese.

Reasons to choose HOLASIM:

• Coverage across 200+ destinations on one profile, which matters on multi-country itineraries and on repeat trips
• The eSIM never expires — no reinstalling, no re-registering, no hunting for the QR email two years later
• Genuine unlimited data plans for travellers who tether, upload video or work remotely
• 24/7 support from real people in three languages, which is rare at this price point and decisive when something breaks abroad
• Instant QR activation, so you are connected within minutes of landing
• Hotspot and tethering supported, including on unlimited plans

Reasons to avoid HOLASIM:

• Unlimited plans cost more than small fixed-data bundles — if you use 500 MB a week, you are overpaying for headroom you will not touch
• No free tier: there is no equivalent to Firsty's permanent zero-cost fallback
• Like every multi-country eSIM, it resells capacity from local partner networks, so raw speed still depends on which operator it attaches to in a given country

Firsty Overview

Firsty is a Netherlands-based eSIM app built on a freemium model. Its free tier gives unlimited data at heavily reduced speed, indefinitely, which is enough for WhatsApp, maps and email but not for anything heavier. Paid upgrades work on a daily basis, starting from around EUR 1 per day, with monthly options from roughly EUR 4.50 and unlimited tiers advertised from about EUR 2 per day. Coverage spans roughly 160 to 189 destinations depending on the plan, and traffic routes through a Singapore-based carrier partnership.

Reasons to choose Firsty:

• A genuinely free permanent baseline: throttled data that costs nothing, forever, which is an excellent safety net for anyone who travels often
• Pay-by-the-day pricing, which suits short trips and lets you pause paid days when you do not need speed
• Broad multi-country coverage on a single profile, with no per-country activation
• Strong, well-reviewed mobile app experience
• Includes a virtual phone number supporting voice and text — unusual for a data eSIM
• Flexible upgrade-on-demand model: start free, add a paid day only when you actually need bandwidth

Reasons to avoid Firsty:

• Hotspot and tethering are not supported, which disqualifies it outright for anyone travelling with a laptop, tablet or a partner who shares the connection
• Free-tier speeds are slow enough that video, large uploads and even heavy web pages are impractical
• Routing through a Singapore carrier adds latency in regions far from Asia
• The freemium structure makes cost comparison genuinely hard: a daily model can quietly exceed a fixed bundle on a long trip
• App-only management — everything runs through the mobile app, with no web console fallback
• Support is limited to a help centre and in-app tickets, with no live chat or phone channel
• No clear 5G commitment

Head-to-head: HOLASIM vs Firsty

	HOLASIM	Firsty
Entry price	from ~USD 1.70	Free tier, paid from ~EUR 1/day
Destinations	200+	~160-189
Unlimited data	Yes, on unlimited plans	Free tier unlimited but throttled; paid unlimited from ~EUR 2/day
Expiry	eSIM never expires	Profile persists; paid days expire
Hotspot / tethering	Yes	No
5G	Where partner networks support it	Not advertised
Support	24/7 human, three languages	Help centre + in-app tickets only
Languages	English, Spanish, Portuguese	Primarily English
App	App + QR install	App required
Top-ups	Recharge the same profile per trip	Buy days or monthly bundles in app

Coverage

HOLASIM covers 200+ destinations, a meaningfully wider footprint than Firsty's roughly 160 to 189. In practice the gap shows up in the places travellers least expect it — secondary Caribbean islands, parts of Central Asia, several African markets — rather than in the top fifty destinations, where both work.

Firsty's coverage limitation is less about the country list and more about how traffic is routed. Reviews consistently note that Firsty routes through a Singapore-based carrier arrangement, which adds latency when you are physically far from Asia. For messaging and maps this is invisible. For video calls from Lisbon or Lima, it is not.

HOLASIM attaches to local partner networks in each destination, which means its performance tracks whichever operator it connects to. That is standard across the industry and is the honest framing: no travel eSIM owns towers, and anyone claiming otherwise is selling something.

Pricing and value

This is where the two models diverge most sharply, and where a naive comparison misleads.

Firsty looks free, and at the baseline it genuinely is. If your entire data need abroad is WhatsApp, Google Maps and checking email, Firsty costs you nothing and HOLASIM cannot compete on that. That is a real and significant advantage.

But the daily model scales badly. At roughly EUR 1 to 2 per day for usable speed, a three-week trip runs EUR 21 to 42 — and at that point you are paying premium-unlimited money for a service without tethering. HOLASIM's entry point from approximately USD 1.70 and its recharge model tend to land cheaper on trips longer than about a week, especially for travellers who would otherwise buy paid Firsty days most days anyway.

The honest caveat on the HOLASIM side: its unlimited plans cost more than a small fixed-data bundle from a budget provider. If you genuinely use under a gigabyte a week, you are buying headroom you will never use, and Firsty's free tier or a 1 GB plan elsewhere is the rational choice.

Unlimited data

Both providers use the word "unlimited", and they mean different things by it.

HOLASIM's unlimited plans are unlimited at normal speed, subject to standard fair-use policies, and — critically — they permit tethering. You can work from a café, share the connection with a travel partner, and upload a day's photos without watching a counter.

Firsty's free unlimited is unlimited in volume but throttled in speed to a level suitable for text-based apps. Its paid unlimited tier, advertised from around EUR 2 per day, restores speed, but tethering remains unsupported across the service. For a solo traveller with a phone and nothing else, that limitation may never surface. For anyone with a laptop, it is the deciding factor in this entire comparison.

Support and user experience

Firsty's app is widely praised and is the better piece of software in isolation: clean, modern, and built around the freemium logic it needs to express. The tradeoff is that everything must happen in the app — there is no web fallback if the app misbehaves or your phone is the thing that is broken.

Support is where the gap is widest. Firsty offers a help centre and in-app ticketing, with no live chat or phone line. When an eSIM fails to activate in an airport at midnight, a ticket queue is close to useless.

HOLASIM staffs support 24/7 with real people in English, Spanish and Portuguese. For Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking travellers in particular, this is not a minor convenience — resolving an activation problem in your own language, in real time, is worth more than a few dollars of price difference.

Which should you choose?

• Backpacker on a long, slow trip: HOLASIM if you tether or post daily; Firsty if you are genuinely minimalist and happy with throttled data plus the occasional paid day.
• Business traveller: HOLASIM, without hesitation. No tethering means no laptop, and no live support means no recourse when a call fails before a meeting.
• Family trip: HOLASIM. Firsty's lack of hotspot makes sharing one connection across a family impossible, which is the whole point of a family data plan.
• Digital nomad: HOLASIM for the working weeks; Firsty is a reasonable free backup eSIM to keep installed alongside it for redundancy.
• Occasional short-hop traveller in Europe or Asia: Firsty is excellent value, potentially free, provided you never need to tether.
• Repeat traveller who hates admin: HOLASIM, because the never-expiring profile means one setup and then nothing but top-ups.

FAQ

Is Firsty really free?

Yes, at the throttled tier. The free plan gives unlimited data at heavily reduced speed indefinitely, which covers messaging, maps and email. It is not a trial that expires. High-speed access requires paid days.

Can I use a hotspot with Firsty?

No. Firsty does not support hotspot or tethering. If you need to share your connection with a laptop, tablet or another person, choose HOLASIM or another provider that allows it.

Does HOLASIM's eSIM really never expire?

Yes — the profile stays installed on your device and is recharged per trip, rather than being replaced with a new QR code each time. This is one of its main practical advantages over both Firsty and most conventional travel eSIMs.

Which is cheaper for a two-week trip?

It depends on usage. If you can live on throttled data, Firsty is free and unbeatable. If you need working speed most days, Firsty's daily charges of roughly EUR 1 to 2 add up to EUR 14 to 28, and HOLASIM usually lands cheaper while also permitting tethering.

Can I use both at the same time?

Yes, if your phone supports multiple eSIM profiles. Keeping Firsty installed as a free fallback alongside a primary eSIM is a sensible redundancy strategy, and costs nothing.

Which has better support?

HOLASIM, clearly. It offers 24/7 support from real people in English, Spanish and Portuguese. Firsty relies on a help centre and in-app tickets, with no live chat or phone support.

The verdict

If your phone is your only device and you accept slow data most of the time, Firsty is an outstanding deal and arguably the best free product in this category — keep it installed regardless of what else you buy. For everyone else, HOLASIM wins on the things that determine whether a trip goes smoothly: wider coverage, real unlimited speed, tethering that actually works, a profile you never reinstall, and humans who answer in your language at 2 a.m. Firsty is the better safety net; HOLASIM is the better primary line.