Thanks to the EU Roaming Regulation, travelling within Europe has become much simpler for Europeans. Since its introduction in 2017, you can use your mobile plan throughout the EU, as well as in Liechtenstein, Norway, and Iceland, just like at home, without worrying about roaming costs.
However, the EU Roaming Regulation doesn’t cover all European countries, and when travelling, you often need more data than at home. Therefore, it can still be worthwhile, especially for visits to multiple European countries, to find a suitable eSIM plan.
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How it Works
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.
Comparing European Plans
Europe comprises 46-49 countries, depending on where you draw the border. It’s rather unrealistic (but certainly a nice challenge) to visit all these countries in one trip. Therefore, in our European plan comparison, we focused on the following countries:
Countries considered:
- Austria
- Belgium
- Bulgaria
- Croatia
- Czechia
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finnland
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Hungary
- Iceland
- Ireland
- Italy
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Malta
- Netherlands
- Norway
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Turkey
- UK
Countries not considered (can be activated additionally):
- Albania
- Andorra
- Azerbaijan
- Belarus
- Bosnia and Herzegowina
- Channel Islands / Isle of Man
- Cyprus
- Faroe Islands
- Georgia
- Kazakhstan
- Kosovo
- Moldova
- Monaco
- Montenegro
- North Macedonia
- Russia
- San Marino
- Serbia
- Ukraine
Cheapest Provider
For our selection of plans with varying data volume requirements, Monty eSIM is the most affordable provider, followed by Manet and Mobimatter. Generally, data eSIMs for Europe are so affordable that even plans with 10 GB of data are reasonably priced.
| Providers | 1GB for 7 days | 3GB for 7 days | 2GB for 14 days | 3GB for 30 days | 10GB for 30 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manet.travel | €3 | €5 30 days | €4 15 days | €5 | €11 |
| Monty eSIM | 30 days | 3GB 30 days | |||
| Mobimatter | 30 days | 15 days | |||
| eSIM4Travel | 30 days | 3GB 30 days | |||
| ETravelSim | 30 days | 4GB 30 days | 4GB 30 days | 4GB | |
| Instabridge | 15 days | 3GB 15 days | 10GB | ||
| Jetpac | 30 days | 30 days | 3GB 30 days | ||
| Airhub | 3GB 15 days | 15 days | 3GB 15 days | 5GB | |
| Nomad | 30 days | 3GB 30 days | |||
| iFree Mogo | 15 days | 30 days | 3GB 30 days | 90 days | |
| Flexiroam | 30 days | 15 days | |||
| Airalo | 30 days | 3GB 30 days | |||
| Gigsky | 5GB 30 days | 5GB 30 days | 5GB | ||
| MTX Connect | €7 2GB | €25 4GB 14 days | €24 | €30 10GB | €30 |
| Ubigi | 30 days | 15 days | 3GB 15 days | 10GB | |
| Textr | 30 days | 3GB 30 days | |||
| Holafly | |||||
| RedteaGO | 6GB 15 days | 6GB 15 days | 6GB 15 days | - | - |
Unlimited Data Plans
Unfortunately, unlimited data plans are not common even within the EU. Holafly is the only provider offering unlimited data plans for our selected European countries. However, these plans are only worthwhile if you will consume a very large amount of data.
Pay-as-You-Go
Among our selections, only MTX Connect and Yesim offer a pay-as-you-go plan. With MTX, you pay 1.2 euro cents per MB (equivalent to €12 per GB) of data, while with Yesim, the cost depends on the country you are in. In many European countries, you pay 0.45€ per MB (equivalent to €4.5 per GB).