Planning a trip to Brazil, but you want to avoid expensive roaming charges and still surf the internet with your smartphone? Then a digital eSIM is just right for you. You can get them before you fly to South America and continue surfing right after landing.
What is an eSIM and is my smartphone compatible?
An eSIM is a digital SIM card that can be loaded directly onto a compatible device without the need for a physical SIM card. This type of SIM card is particularly convenient for travellers because it is easy and quick to buy and activate online without having to worry about a physical SIM card.
You will find numerous providers of eSIM plans on the Internet. With most of them, you buy a one-off prepaid plan for a certain number of days and data volume. After expiry, there are no further costs and you do not need a subscription.
Unfortunately, not all smartphones support an eSIM. You have good odds with an iPhone 11 / 12 / 13, but also with an Android smartphone, e.g. Google Pixel 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 or Samsung Galaxy S20, S21, or Note 20. You can find a list of smartphones that support eSIM here: Which devices support an eSIM?
If your Android smartphone does not support eSIM profiles, eSIM.me is a physical SIM card that you can use with eSIM profiles.
Most eSIM providers only offer data volume and no free minutes. Since these are also prepaid plans, outgoing calls are generally not supported. With some smartphones, e.g. iPhones, you can still be reached via your normal SIM card and make calls.
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Plans Compared
Here you can easily find the right plan. Simply select your travel period and the required data volume, and you will be shown the appropriate eSIM plans:
Cheapest Providers
For our selected packages for 30 days with 3-10 GB data volume, Airhub is usually the cheapest provider, and that’s not even taking the 5% coupon into consideration. For smaller packages, Saily and Instabridge are slightly cheaper, especially the latter as you can use this 20% coupon to pay even less.
Without Duration Limit
If you are staying in Brazil for a longer period of time, are there regularly or want to be as flexible as possible, you can buy data volume from BNESIM without an expiry date. The prices are a bit more expensive than with time restrictions, but at least you’re not bound to a specific time limit.
Without Data Limit
True unlimited data is rare for Brazil. Holafly is currently the only provider offering this, with prices between €19 for 5 days and €57 for 20 days.
Pay-as-you-go
If you don’t use much data or are only in Brazil for a very short time, it may make sense to use YESIM. While they charge €10/GB, which isn’t exactly cheap, you only pay as much as you use. So if you e.g. only use 90 MB, you’d only pay 90 cents.
For Several Countries in South America
If you are not only planning to visit Brazil on your trip but also other countries in South America, it can be worth choosing a plan that covers several or all countries of South America. In our eSIM comparison, you can simply select other countries besides Brazil.
The LatAm+ plans from Maya Mobile are particularly interesting. They not only cover South America but also many countries in Central America and are affordable, starting at e.g. £9 (~€11) for 1 GB for 15 days. Other providers with plans for South America are e.g. Airhub and Airalo.
The Best Network in Brazil
There are four mobile network operators in Brazil: Vivo, TIM, Claro Mobile and Oi Mobile. With Vivo, TIM and Claro you can’t go wrong on the coast and in the big cities. If you are moving inland, it is advisable to check the network coverage of the respective provider with nperf beforehand.
Buy Local SIM Cards
Classic SIM cards can also be bought locally, but of course, they are not as convenient and are not much cheaper. TIM offers e.g. 1.5 GB per week for R$25 (~€4) for tourists.