Tourist eSIM Price Index 2026
Local-SIM price surveys tell you what a resident pays — not what a visitor can actually buy on arrival. This index measures the real thing: the cheapest 5GB tourist eSIM (valid 7–30 days) a traveler can buy for each country, ranked from cheapest to most expensive. The result is a 25x spread driven not by local living costs but by wholesale network access — island and remote destinations pay dramatically more.
Cheapest countries for a tourist eSIM
Where 5GB of travel data costs the least. Big-tourism and well-connected markets — Turkey, much of Europe, and major Asian hubs — cluster near $8–9 for 5GB, because dense competition and cheap wholesale data keep prices down.
| Country | Cheapest 5GB eSIM | Best $/GB |
|---|---|---|
| Turkey | $8.05 | $0.91 |
| Ukraine | $8.33 | $1.00 |
| Germany | $8.33 | $1.01 |
| Italy | $8.33 | $1.19 |
| Spain | $8.33 | $1.19 |
| Switzerland | $8.33 | $1.19 |
| United Kingdom | $8.33 | $1.19 |
| Poland | $8.33 | $1.44 |
| Malta | $8.33 | $1.44 |
| Greece | $8.33 | $1.44 |
| Guadeloupe | $8.33 | $1.44 |
| Belgium | $8.33 | $1.44 |
Most expensive countries for a tourist eSIM
Where staying online costs the most. Remote islands and small or single-operator markets dominate: French Polynesia, the Maldives, Greenland and Eswatini all run many times the global median, reflecting expensive satellite/backhaul and thin wholesale competition rather than local wealth.
| Country | Cheapest 5GB eSIM | Best $/GB |
|---|---|---|
| French Polynesia | $200.73 | $32.62 |
| Eswatini | $127.78 | $24.15 |
| Maldives | $111.12 | $17.97 |
| Greenland | $93.69 | $8.40 |
| Ethiopia | $87.50 | $17.50 |
| Dominica | $80.99 | $13.16 |
| Suriname | $80.88 | $13.49 |
| Rwanda | $80.81 | $15.15 |
| Haiti | $80.50 | $9.84 |
| Trinidad and Tobago | $80.50 | $9.84 |
| Bermuda | $80.50 | $9.84 |
| Guyana | $80.25 | $13.51 |
Why the 25x spread isn’t about local prices
A common assumption is that data is expensive where countries are rich. The tourist-eSIM picture says the opposite: the United States ($11.90) and Switzerland ($8.33) are mid-pack, while the priciest spots are remote, low-population or single-operator markets where the wholesale cost of carrying a visitor’s traffic is high. For a traveler this is the number that matters — not the local SIM price they can’t easily get, but the eSIM they can activate before takeoff.
Methodology & notes
For each country we query our live catalog for the cheapest single-country plan offering 5–6GB with 7–30 days validity (non-unlimited), and record its price plus the best available price-per-GB across all that country’s plans. Figures are a snapshot taken on 18 June 2026 and move as suppliers update wholesale rates. 169 countries had a qualifying 5GB plan at snapshot time.
This is deliberately different from local-SIM surveys such as Cable.co.uk: those measure the SIM a resident buys, while this measures the eSIM a visitor can actually purchase and activate remotely. Prices reflect retail tourist-eSIM pricing (wholesale plus markup), so absolute levels run above local rates — but the cross-country ranking is the citable signal. Regional/multi-country bundles are excluded.
Free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 with a link to this page.
Sources
- 1Cellesim — live tourist eSIM catalog (single-country plans) — cheapest 5GB / 7–30 day plan per country, snapshot Jun 2026
- 2Cable.co.uk — Worldwide Mobile Data Pricing — context: local-SIM price per 1GB (a different metric)
- 3ITU — Measuring digital development: ICT price baskets
Lock in the local rate before you fly
See the exact tourist eSIM price for your destination and activate it before takeoff — no arrival-counter roaming.