Travel eSIM providers love one comparison metric: price per gigabyte. It is simple, it is sortable, and it is easy to game. This article looks at what the per-GB number really tells you, using the 11 travel eSIM providers in our ranking.
The range
Using the per-GB price taken from each provider's official price pages:
| Provider | Price per GB |
|---|---|
| Airhub | $0.13 |
| BNESIM | $0.56 |
| aloSIM | $0.62 |
| MobiMatter | $0.80 |
| Airalo | $0.84 |
| Roamless | $0.84 |
| Ubigi | $0.88 |
| Nomad | $1.19 |
| Jetpac | $1.50 |
| Truely | $1.62 |
| GigSky | Not verified |
The cheapest is more than ten times cheaper than the most expensive. Does that mean Airhub is the obvious choice? No, and the reason is the point of this post.
Why per-GB is only one input
Per-GB prices depend on the bundle you buy. Larger bundles usually have a lower per-GB price, so comparing a provider's 20 GB bundle with another's 1 GB bundle tells you about the bundle, not the provider. That is why you should always compare the same size and duration.
Two other things the number cannot show:
- Where it works. Coverage is a separate factor. Most providers in the table list 200 countries; Airhub, Truely and GigSky list 190.
- What you can do with the data. Hotspot (tethering), top-up, a phone number or SMS, and a mobile app change how useful a plan is. Not every provider has all of them.
Our ranking therefore uses price as 30% of the Score, not all of it.
How the Score is built
| Factor | Weight | What counts |
|---|---|---|
| Price | 30% | Price per GB, unlimited plans |
| Coverage | 25% | Number of countries, regional and global plans, 5G |
| Features | 20% | Hotspot, top-up, phone number, mobile app |
| Reputation | 15% | App Store rating |
| Transparency | 10% | Refund policy, fair-use disclosure, company age |
Each metric comes from one published fact. A fact without a source does not count, and a missing fact scores zero rather than being guessed. A provider is ranked only if at least 70% of the Score is backed by confirmed facts.
The current top of the table
- Airalo - 93/100
- Nomad - 92
- Roamless - 92
- aloSIM - 91
- MobiMatter - 89
Notice how tight it is: the top four are within two points, and Airhub, with the lowest price per GB, is 7th at 84. That is exactly the effect described above. Price matters, but coverage, features and transparency matter too.
What is checkable and what is not
Everything above comes from official pages: price lists, coverage lists, feature pages, app-store listings. We do not measure real-world speed or coverage quality in specific places. Those depend on the local partner network and on the day, so we don't pretend a desk review can reproduce them.
Practical advice from the data:
- Compare the same bundle size and validity period across providers.
- Check whether your phone supports eSIM and is unlocked before buying anything.
- If you need to share data with a laptop, check hotspot support in the plan.
- Look for a published refund policy and a fair-use statement for "unlimited" plans.
A worked example: reading two rows
Take Airalo (93, $0.84 per GB) and Airhub (84, $0.13 per GB). On price alone Airhub wins by a wide margin, and the price factor reflects that. But the Score is a weighted sum: Airalo has 200 countries against Airhub's 190, plus the full feature set (5G, hotspot, phone number or SMS) and its other facts are confirmed. When you read a ranking, look at the factor bars, not only the total. If you only care about the price per GB, sort by that column and ignore the order; if you travel to a few well-covered countries, the coverage difference may not matter to you at all.
The same logic applies in reverse. A provider with a low total can still be the right pick if its strong factor is the one you need. A ranking is a starting point for a shortlist, not a verdict.
Limitations
- Prices change often. Each fact has a check date on the company page.
- GigSky has no verified per-GB price, which lowers its completeness and, with it, its place (11th, 64/100).
- Some official pages block automated access. We don't bypass protection, so a few cells stay empty.
Full ranking and sources: https://global-rating.com/en/telecom/esim/?utm_source=devto&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=esim
Top comments (1)
a ranking that puts the cheapest per gb provider 7th is the honest part. i'd still want to know which bundle size a traveler on a 5 day trip would actually pick, since that decides who wins for them. do you see people use the score or just sort by price anyway