How the major eSIM sellers actually differ

Why a straight price comparison usually misleads

On the day we checked, some sellers' Japan pages listed only unlimited-data plans priced by duration, while others listed gigabyte buckets with a validity. The two answer different questions. Unlimited answers "how many days?"; a bucket answers "how much data?". If your daily use is modest, a bucket is usually clearly cheaper; if you stream and tether all day, unlimited makes the cost predictable.

What each seller publishes

The refund policies as each one words them

• Airalo: its Terms of Use state a consumer right to withdraw within 14 days, plus a refund or replacement where an activated service is unusable through an error on Airalo's part, and state that there is no right to a refund in other situations.
• Holafly: a full refund if bought on its own site or app and the eSIM has not yet been activated, within six months of purchase; incompatibility refunds require that the QR was never scanned and no data used; connection-issue refunds are partial or full minus a USD 3.50 administrative fee and must be raised during the trip.
• Nomad: its terms allow a refund or change before the eSIM is installed and activated, or where there is a known technical problem originating from Nomad after activation; no time limit is stated.
• Ubigi: it states that a preloaded profile can be refunded only if the emailed QR was never scanned, that recharges cannot be refunded once the service has been used, and that requests must come within 14 business days — while the same document also carries a summary line that a purchased data plan cannot be refunded, so read both parts together.
• eSIMonline: while the profile is still uninstalled you can refund it yourself from the order page within 14 days; we check the state with the supplier and answer on the spot, with no form and no administrative fee.

The reference prices we saw on the day

This table is not a ranking of who is cheapest, because the plan shapes differ too much to line up. It exists to show where each seller places its product. Figures are in US dollars as the pages rendered them that day.

The limits of this check

• We read the pages as the server returned them. Tiers hidden behind tabs or loaded by script would not appear, so "no bucket plan listed" means "none in the page we read", not proof that none exists.
• At least one seller prices by the visitor's location, so we forced US dollars to make the figures comparable. Browsing from Thailand you may see baht and a different number.
• Two further sellers' sites refused our fetch, so we left them out entirely rather than guess at their figures.
• We sell eSIMs too, so this page is not a disinterested source. What we do about that is decline to rank anyone and link the source for every claim so you can check us.

What is worth comparing more than the number

• The refund terms while the profile is still uninstalled, because that is the window in which changing your mind is actually possible
• Whether data can be topped up on the same profile, because if not, running out mid-trip means installing a whole new one
• Which contact channel still works when you are abroad and the data is the thing that is broken
• Whether the seller publishes which networks the plan runs on at the destination

See our plans and the full terms

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