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Every provider here sells the same product. What separates them is whose Japanese network they resell, how hard they throttle you, and whether the price survives contact with the checkout page. We checked all three.
UbigiThe only eSIM here riding both Docomo and KDDI, so it keeps a signal on mountain roads and small-town platforms where the rest go quiet.
Buy Ubigi. It is the only eSIM here that rides both NTT Docomo and KDDI, so it holds a signal on mountain roads and small-town platforms where the others quietly drop to nothing. If you would rather never think about data again, buy Holafly: it is genuinely unlimited with no daily allowance to burn through, and it has the happiest app reviews of any provider in this guide. If your whole trip is Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto, Airalo is the easiest thing to set up and you will not notice the difference. Everything below is the reasoning, the real prices, and the fine print that decides which of those three is yours.
It is 11:40pm at Haneda. Your bag is finally off the belt, the last train leaves in twenty minutes, and your phone is clinging to an airport Wi-Fi network that wants an email address before it will do anything. The taxi app spins. The map you screenshotted is a grey rectangle. Somewhere in your pocket is a device that can do a thousand things, and right now it will not do the one thing you need.
I have had that exact night. It is a very specific kind of panic, and it is entirely avoidable for about the price of a bowl of ramen.
An eSIM fixes it. You buy a Japanese data plan before you fly, it downloads onto your phone as software, and when you land you flip one switch and you are online. No plastic tray, no paperclip, no counter at the airport with a queue and a photocopier. If you have never used one, our explainer on how eSIMs differ from a normal SIM card covers the basics in a couple of minutes.
Here is the part the marketing pages leave out. An eSIM is a delivery method, not a network. None of these companies own a single tower in Japan. They buy wholesale access from a Japanese carrier and wrap an app around it. So when you pick a provider, what you are really picking is a carrier, and the three carriers in Japan do not cover the country equally. That one detail decides whether your phone works on a mountain road outside Takayama or whether it becomes a very expensive camera.
We compared eight providers on the things that survive contact with a real trip: which Japanese network you actually get, what happens after you hit the fair use limit, what the plan costs at the size people really buy, and whether the app is any good once you are tired and jet lagged.
Network Matters More Than The Price
No eSIM company owns towers in Japan. They buy wholesale access from one of three carriers and put their own app on top. So the question is never really which brand to trust. It is which carrier you end up on, and whether the brand will tell you.
Japan’s largest network, and the only one most locals trust on mountain roads, rural rail lines and small island towns. If your trip includes Hakone, the Nakasendo, Shirakawa-go or anywhere with a single-track station, this is the network you want under your eSIM.
A strong second. Excellent everywhere people live, and good on most tourist routes, though it thins out before Docomo does in the mountains. For a normal Tokyo to Kyoto to Osaka trip you will never notice a difference.
Built around dense urban coverage and very good at it. Step off the main lines into the countryside and it is the first of the three to leave you staring at a loading spinner. Fine for a city break, risky for a road trip.
What this means when you are standing there: in Shibuya, all three work and the choice barely matters. On a bus to a trailhead two hours outside Nagano, Docomo is often the only one with bars. That single fact is why the ranking below starts where it does.
Providers are not required to tell you any of this, and plenty of them do not. Jetpac will not name its Japanese partner at all. MobiMatter sells listings from several different upstream operators under one roof, so the answer changes depending on which plan you tap. When a company is vague about its carrier, assume it is not Docomo. Companies that have Docomo tend to say so, loudly, because it is the strongest thing they can say.
None of this matters if your trip is Tokyo, then Kyoto, then Osaka, then home. All three networks are excellent in the places most visitors spend most of their time. It starts to matter the moment your itinerary includes a word ending in “-san”, a ryokan with a hand drawn map, or a bus that runs four times a day.
Best eSIMs For Japan
| Provider | Network | Starts at | Unlimited means | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1Ubigi | Docomo + KDDI | $3.501GB, 3 days | Fair use, 25 to 60GB then 2 Mbps | Rural Japan and mountain routes |
| 2Holafly | KDDI + SoftBank | $11.903 days, unlimited | No daily bucket, carrier fair use only | Never thinking about data again |
| 3Airalo | SoftBank led | $11.503 days, unlimited | Japan lineup is unlimited only | A city trip, set up in minutes |
| 4Saily | KDDI | $3.591GB, 7 days | 5GB per day, then 1 Mbps | Big daily cap plus privacy extras |
| 5MobiMatter | Varies by seller | $7.9910GB, 30 days | None, fixed buckets only | Heavy users counting cost per GB |
| 6Jetpac | Undisclosed mix | $105GB, 30 days | 3GB per day, then 1 Mbps | Short trips and discount hunting |
| 7Matcha | Docomo + KDDI | $3.601 day, unlimited | Unlimited, daily terms not published | Skipping the app entirely |
| 8Nomad | KDDI + SoftBank | $41GB, 7 days | Daily reset, then 512 kbps | Long trips on one big bucket |
Carrier access came first, because it is the one thing you cannot fix later. Then the fair use terms, read from each provider’s own policy page rather than its marketing copy. Then price per gigabyte at the sizes people really buy, not the headline teaser. App store ratings and install counts broke the remaining ties.
One disclosure, up front: Ubigi is a commercial partner of this site. That relationship did not decide the ranking. Its top placement rests on a fact you can check yourself in thirty seconds, which is that it is the only eSIM here with access to both Docomo and KDDI. No provider paid for placement, and nothing below was sent to a provider for approval.
1. Ubigi
Rank One
Ubigi
Transatel, part of the NTT group · Travel and Local
Best overall, and the safest pick for rural Japan.
Ubigi shows both Japanese networks and a 5G tag on every Japan plan before you pay.
| Data | Validity | Price |
|---|---|---|
| 1GB | 3 days | $3.50 |
| 10GB | 7 days | $14 |
| 10GB | 30 days | $16.50 |
| Unlimited | 15 days | $39 |
| Unlimited | 30 days | $65 |
Prices in US dollars, checked when this guide was last updated. Providers run discounts often, so the number you see may be lower.
Ubigi is the boring answer, and boring is exactly what you want at midnight in a foreign airport. It is a full mobile operator owned by Transatel, which belongs to NTT, which also owns Docomo. That family connection is why Ubigi rides both Docomo and KDDI at the same time. Your phone quietly picks whichever is stronger wherever you are standing. No other eSIM on this list does that.
The practical effect is that Ubigi keeps working in places the others do not. Rural rail lines. Mountain switchbacks. The kind of small station where the timetable is a laminated sheet. You will not notice this for the first four days of a city trip and then you will notice it enormously, once, on the day it saves you.
Two more things set it apart. Its unlimited plans throttle to 2 Mbps after the fair use ceiling, which still streams music and loads maps, while most rivals drop you to 1 Mbps or worse. And tethering is unrestricted, with no separate hotspot bucket to run down, which makes it the only plan here you can genuinely work from. Buy it weeks early if you like: SmartStart holds the clock until you actually connect in Japan.
The catch is the small plans. At 1GB Ubigi is poor value and you should ignore it. From 10GB up it is competitive, and at unlimited it is the best plan in this guide. We spent longer with it than any other provider here, and wrote it up separately in our full Ubigi eSIM review.
2. Holafly
Best for people who never want to count gigabytes.
Holafly sells days, not gigabytes. The app has no data meter to watch because there is no allowance to burn.
| Data | Validity | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Unlimited | 3 days | $11.90 |
| Unlimited | 5 days | $20.50 |
| Unlimited | 7 days | $27.50 |
| Unlimited | 10 days | $36.50 |
| Unlimited | 15 days | $50.50 |
| Unlimited | 30 days | $73.90 |
Prices in US dollars, checked when this guide was last updated. Providers run discounts often, so the number you see may be lower.
Almost every provider on this page sells something called unlimited. Read the terms and you find a daily bucket: 2GB, 3GB, 5GB, and then the brakes come on until midnight. Holafly is the one that does not do this. There is no daily allowance to burn through, because there is no daily allowance. You use data, and then you use more data.
That sounds like a small distinction. It is not. It is the difference between a holiday where you check a meter and a holiday where you do not. If you have ever caught yourself deciding not to video call home because it is 9pm and you are running low, you already know which side of that line you want to be on.
Travellers seem to agree. Holafly has the happiest app reviews of anyone here: 4.8 out of 5 on Google Play from more than 79,000 ratings, and 4.8 on the App Store from nearly 36,000. Those are not small samples, and support answers around the clock, which matters when something goes wrong at an hour when your home carrier is closed.
So why is it second and not first? Two reasons, and they are both about limits. Holafly runs on KDDI and SoftBank, with no Docomo, so it is a step behind Ubigi once the buildings stop. And hotspot sharing is capped at 1GB a day, which is fine for pulling up a map on a friend’s phone and not fine for working off a laptop. It is also the most expensive way to start, at $11.90 for three days. Buy Holafly if you want to stop thinking about gigabytes. Buy Ubigi if you want to stop thinking about coverage.
3. Airalo
Rank Three
Airalo
Airgsm Pte. Ltd. · Travel and Local
Best app and smoothest setup for a city trip.
Airalo’s app is the one your least technical friend can install without calling you.
| Data | Validity | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Unlimited | 3 days | $11.50 |
| Unlimited | 5 days | $17 |
| Unlimited | 7 days | $27 |
| Unlimited | 10 days | $34.50 |
| Unlimited | 15 days | $48 |
| Unlimited | 30 days | $69 |
Prices in US dollars, checked when this guide was last updated. Providers run discounts often, so the number you see may be lower.
Airalo is the biggest name in travel eSIMs and it shows in the parts of the product you touch. Buying is three taps. The QR code arrives immediately. The app tells you what is happening in plain language instead of carrier jargon. If this is your first eSIM and you want the smallest possible chance of standing at an airport wondering why nothing is working, this is the one.
Its Japan lineup changed recently and it is worth knowing: the old cheap 1GB starter packs are gone. Every Japanese plan Airalo sells now is unlimited, starting at $11.50 for three days and running to $69 for a month. That makes it simple to choose from and no longer the budget option it used to be.
The network is the compromise. Airalo’s Japan access is led by SoftBank, which is the weakest of the three once you leave the cities, and there is no Docomo in the mix. Most users also report sitting on 4G rather than the 5G the plan badge implies. For a Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto trip you will genuinely never notice. For a road trip through Tohoku, you will. Airalo also appears in our roundup of the best eSIM apps for Android and iPhone, which is worth a look if the app experience is what you care about most.
4. Saily
Rank Four
Saily
Nord Security, the NordVPN team · Travel and Local
Best daily allowance, and the best privacy extras.
Saily bundles ad blocking and web protection into the data plan itself, not a separate subscription.
| Data | Validity | Price |
|---|---|---|
| 1GB | 7 days | $3.59 |
| 20GB | 30 days | $24.99 |
| Unlimited | 15 days | $48.99 |
| Unlimited | 30 days | $71.99 |
Prices in US dollars, checked when this guide was last updated. Providers run discounts often, so the number you see may be lower.
Saily comes from Nord Security, the team behind NordVPN, and it behaves like it. The privacy extras are real: ad blocking, tracker blocking, and a virtual location feature that stops every site you open from assuming you are Japanese and switching language on you. Small thing. Genuinely nice on day six.
The headline number is the daily allowance. Saily’s unlimited plan gives you 5GB a day at full speed before it throttles, which is the most generous daily bucket of any capped plan in this guide. Most people never reach it. If you tether a laptop for a couple of hours, you get 2GB a day for that, separately.
It runs on KDDI, Japan’s strong second network, so cities are excellent and the countryside is decent without matching Docomo. Saily also does not confirm 5G in Japan, so budget for 4G speeds and treat anything faster as a bonus. Starting at $3.59 for 1GB over 7 days, it is one of the cheaper ways in.
5. MobiMatter
Rank Five
MobiMatter
MobiMatter Ltd · Travel and Local
Cheapest data per gigabyte, by a distance.
MobiMatter is a shop window. You are comparing sellers such as IIJ, RoamVault and TSimTech, not buying one house brand.
| Data | Validity | Price |
|---|---|---|
| 10GB | 30 days | $7.99 |
| 20GB | 30 days | $13.99 |
| 30GB | 30 days | $22.99 |
| 50GB | 30 days | $29.99 |
Prices in US dollars, checked when this guide was last updated. Providers run discounts often, so the number you see may be lower.
MobiMatter is not really a provider. It is a marketplace, the eSIM equivalent of a price comparison site, listing plans from operators including IIJ, RoamVault and TSimTech. That structure is exactly why it is cheap and exactly why it needs a warning label.
The cheap part first. Ten gigabytes over 30 days costs $7.99. Fifty gigabytes over 30 days costs $29.99, which works out around 60 cents per gigabyte. Nothing else in this guide is close. If you are staying a month, downloading a lot, and you know roughly how much data you use, MobiMatter will save you real money.
The warning: every listing rides a different upstream carrier, so there is no single answer to “which network am I on” and no Docomo guarantee. Support depends on which seller you bought from rather than one central desk. Seeing IIJ on a listing is a good sign, because IIJ is a real Japanese operator rather than a rebadged reseller. Read the listing properly before you tap buy, and this is a bargain. Skim it, and you are rolling dice.
6. Jetpac
Rank Six
Jetpac
Jetpac, part of Circles Global · Travel and Local
Best for discount hunters on short trips.
Jetpac keeps WhatsApp, Maps and ride hailing alive even after your data runs out, which is a genuinely good idea.
| Data | Validity | Price |
|---|---|---|
| 5GB | 30 days | $10 |
| 10GB | 30 days | $16 |
| 15GB | 30 days | $21 |
| 30GB | 30 days | $29.99 |
| Unlimited | 30 days | $65.99 |
Prices in US dollars, checked when this guide was last updated. Providers run discounts often, so the number you see may be lower.
Jetpac is a Singapore based provider with two habits worth knowing. The first is that it discounts constantly and steeply, so the list price is close to fiction. Never pay the first number you see, and check for a code before checkout.
The second is nicer than it sounds: when your data runs out, WhatsApp, Google Maps, Uber and Grab keep working. That is a genuinely thoughtful safety net, because those four apps are exactly what you need in the moment you realise you are out of data and lost.
What holds it back is silence. Jetpac does not say which Japanese carrier it uses, and you cannot plan a rural route around a network you cannot name. It is also the smallest operation here by a wide margin, with roughly 1,100 Play Store ratings against Airalo’s 181,000. Plans start at $10 for 5GB over 30 days, and unlimited gives you 3GB a day before dropping to 1 Mbps. Fine for a city trip where price beats certainty. Not the one for the mountains.
7. Matcha
Best Japan specialist if you never want another app.
| Data | Validity | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Unlimited | 1 day | $3.60 |
| Unlimited | 3 days | $11.70 |
| Unlimited | 7 days | $28.35 |
| Unlimited | 15 days | $54.90 |
| Unlimited | 30 days | $83.70 |
Prices in US dollars, checked when this guide was last updated. Providers run discounts often, so the number you see may be lower.
Matcha only sells Japan. It is run by the team behind a long running Japan travel magazine, and the whole thing lives in a browser: no app to install, no account to create, just a page, a payment and a QR code in your inbox. For anyone whose phone is already full of single use travel apps, that is a feature.
It reaches Docomo and KDDI through an upstream partner, so on paper the carrier base is as strong as Ubigi’s. And the one day plan is the cheapest emergency data in this guide at $3.60 for a full day of unlimited. If you land, discover your main plan has not activated and need to fix it in five minutes, Matcha is the rescue.
Longer stays are where it falls apart. Matcha’s Japanese lineup is unlimited only, and the price climbs fast: thirty days costs $83.70, more than any rival here. It also does not publish daily fair use terms, so you are trusting the description rather than a policy page. Great for a day. Expensive for a fortnight.
8. Nomad
Rank Eight
Nomad
LotusFlare Inc · Travel and Local
Best for slow, long trips on big buckets.
Nomad gives you 60 days to activate a plan you already bought, which suits trips that keep moving.
| Data | Validity | Price |
|---|---|---|
| 1GB | 7 days | $4 |
| 10GB | 30 days | $16 |
| 50GB | 30 days | $35 |
| Unlimited | 7 days | $25 |
| Unlimited | 21 days | $49 |
Prices in US dollars, checked when this guide was last updated. Providers run discounts often, so the number you see may be lower.
Nomad is the one to look at if your trip is measured in weeks and your plans keep changing. Its validity windows are long, and you get 60 days from purchase before you have to activate, so buying early costs you nothing. Big buckets are priced sensibly, and the whole thing is designed around buy once, forget about it.
It rides KDDI and SoftBank. Cities are solid, there is no Docomo, so treat rural coverage as uncertain rather than assured. Plans start at $4 for 1GB over 7 days, which is one of the gentlest ways to test a provider before committing.
The number to watch is the throttle. Once you pass the daily allowance on an unlimited plan, Nomad drops you to 512 kbps, the harshest slow lane in this roundup. That speed will not load a map tile without a fight. If you are the kind of traveller who reliably blows through a daily cap, this is the wrong plan and Holafly is the right one.
How much data do you actually need in Japan?
Maps, messages, a few photos to the group chat, train times. This is most people, and most people massively overbuy.
Buy the smallest plan that covers your trip. You will not run out.
Figures are typical usage, not a guarantee. Japanese hotels, konbini and most train stations have free Wi-Fi, so real-world use usually lands under these numbers.
One more thing that changes the maths: Japan is soaked in free Wi-Fi. Most hotels, nearly every konbini, the big stations, a lot of cafes. If you are the kind of person who downloads offline maps and a few episodes before you leave, you can genuinely get through a week on 5GB and spend the difference on food.
Just do not trust that free Wi-Fi with anything that matters. Open hotel and station networks are open to everyone on them, which is why it is worth having a VPN set to stay on over public Wi-Fi before you go, rather than remembering halfway through a booking page.
How to install and set up your Japan eSIM
Do it at home, on your own Wi-Fi, the night before you fly. The whole thing is six taps and one habit most people get wrong.
- Deleting the eSIM to reinstall it. Most profiles are single use. Delete it and the plan is gone, with no refund.
- Assuming the clock starts when you land. Some plans start counting the moment you buy. Others wait until you first connect in Japan. Check which one you bought before you buy it three weeks early.
- Leaving home mobile data switched on. Your phone will happily use it, at roaming prices, while your Japan plan sits there untouched.
If your phone connects but nothing loads, it is almost always one of two things: data roaming is off for the Japan line, or the phone is still trying to use your home SIM for data. Both are two taps away in the same settings screen. Our guide to an Android that says it is connected with no internet walks through the same class of problem in more detail.
eSIM, pocket Wi-Fi, or a SIM card at the airport?
All three still exist in Japan, and the honest answer is that one of them has quietly won.
Pocket Wi-Fi made sense when phones could not take a second SIM. You rent a small box, it makes a hotspot, everyone in the group shares it. It is still the cheapest option for a family of four, because one rental covers all of you. But it is another thing to charge every night, another thing to lose, another thing to post back, and if the person carrying it walks off to a different museum, everyone else is offline.
A physical SIM from the airport means finding the counter, queueing, handing over your passport, swapping out your home SIM and keeping that tiny piece of plastic safe for two weeks. It costs more than an eSIM and takes forty minutes you would rather spend on the train. There is one case where it wins: an older or carrier locked phone that cannot take an eSIM at all.
An eSIM is already installed before you board. You land, flip a switch, and you are online before you reach immigration. Your home number keeps working for texts and two factor codes, which the physical SIM route takes away from you. For one or two travellers with phones from the last five years, it is not close.
Four mistakes that cost travellers money in Japan
- Buying unlimited when you need 5GB. Unlimited plans cost three to four times what a small bucket costs. Most sightseeing days use well under a gigabyte. Check the numbers above before you upgrade out of fear.
- Ignoring the hotspot cap. The data limit gets all the attention while the tethering limit is where people actually get stung. Holafly gives you 1GB a day of hotspot. Saily gives 2GB. Ubigi does not cap it at all. If a laptop is coming with you, that line matters more than the headline.
- Leaving home mobile data on. Your phone does not know you bought a Japanese plan. Switch data off for your normal line the moment you land, or it will keep using it at roaming rates while your eSIM sits idle.
- Assuming unlimited means unlimited. Almost every unlimited plan here has a daily ceiling and a slow lane behind it. The difference between 2 Mbps and 512 kbps is the difference between a map that loads and a map that does not.
Japan eSIM questions, answered
Which eSIM is best for Japan?
Ubigi. It is the only eSIM in this guide that connects to both NTT Docomo and KDDI, so it holds a signal in rural areas where single network plans give up. If you want unlimited data with no daily allowance to run out, Holafly is the better pick. If your trip stays in Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto, Airalo is the easiest to set up and you will not notice the coverage difference.
Does Japan have good eSIM coverage?
Yes. Japan has some of the best mobile coverage in the world, and eSIM support is universal across all three carriers. Cities are excellent on any provider. The gap only opens in mountains, on rural rail lines and on small islands, where Docomo reaches further than KDDI and SoftBank.
Which Japanese network has the best coverage?
NTT Docomo. It has the widest rural and mountain coverage of the three Japanese carriers. KDDI, sold as au, is a strong second. SoftBank is excellent in cities and the first to thin out in the countryside. On this list, only Ubigi and Matcha reach Docomo.
How much does a Japan eSIM cost?
Small data plans start around $3.50 for 1GB over a few days. A realistic week for a normal traveller is 10GB, which costs roughly $10 to $17 depending on the provider. Unlimited plans start around $11.50 for three days. A month of unlimited runs $65 with Ubigi, $69 with Airalo and $73.90 with Holafly, with Matcha the outlier at $83.70. MobiMatter is the cheapest per gigabyte at about $0.60 on its 50GB listing.
Is unlimited data in Japan really unlimited?
Usually not. Most unlimited plans give you a daily allowance at full speed and then throttle you for the rest of the day: Saily allows 5GB a day, Jetpac 3GB, Nomad an allowance then 512 kbps. Holafly is the exception here, with no daily bucket at all. Ubigi has a high overall ceiling and throttles to 2 Mbps, which is still fast enough for maps and music.
Do Japan eSIMs work on iPhone and Android?
Yes, on any unlocked eSIM capable phone. That means iPhone XR, XS and newer, Google Pixel 3 and newer, Samsung Galaxy S20 and newer, and most recent mid-range Android phones. Check Settings for an EID number on iPhone, or a download a SIM option under Settings, Network and internet, SIMs on Android.
Can I make phone calls with a Japan eSIM?
Not with a Japanese number. Every plan here is data only, so you do not get a Japanese phone number. Calls and messages still work over WhatsApp, LINE, FaceTime or Google Meet, and your home number keeps receiving texts and two factor codes as long as you leave your normal SIM switched on for calls.
Do I need to activate my eSIM before I fly to Japan?
Install it before you fly, on your home Wi-Fi, but do not switch it on. Installation and activation are different steps. Some plans start counting validity from the moment you buy, and others, like Ubigi with SmartStart, wait until you first connect in Japan. Check which type you have bought before you buy weeks early.
What happens if I run out of data in Japan?
You top up in the provider’s app, which is why installing the app before you leave is worth the two minutes. Most providers let you buy more data even with no connection left, because the app can still reach their servers. Jetpac goes further and keeps WhatsApp, Google Maps, Uber and Grab working after your data runs out.
Is an eSIM better than pocket Wi-Fi in Japan?
For one or two people, yes. An eSIM has nothing to rent, charge, carry or return, and it works the moment you land. Pocket Wi-Fi is still cheaper for a group of three or more sharing one device, as long as you all stay together.
Can one eSIM cover Japan and other countries on the same trip?
Yes, if you buy a regional or global plan instead of a Japan-only one. Ubigi, Airalo, Nomad and Saily all sell Asia regional packs that cover Japan alongside South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and others. A Japan-only plan is usually cheaper per gigabyte, so buying two country plans can still beat one regional plan if you are only visiting two places.
Can I keep my normal number while using a Japan eSIM?
Yes, and you should. Leave your home SIM active for calls and texts, set the Japan eSIM as your mobile data line, and turn mobile data off for your home line. Bank codes and login texts keep arriving, and none of your browsing goes through your home carrier at roaming prices.
The bottom line
If you read nothing else: buy Ubigi. Dual carrier access to Docomo and KDDI, unrestricted tethering and the gentlest throttle in this group make it the plan least likely to let you down, and the clock does not start until you land. It is the answer for most people on most trips.
If the thought of watching a data meter on holiday makes you tired, buy Holafly instead. It is the only genuinely unlimited plan here, with no daily bucket waiting to trip you up, and travellers rate its app higher than anyone else’s. Just check the 1GB daily hotspot limit if you plan to work.
City trip, first eSIM, want it to be simple? Airalo. Staying a month and counting every yen? MobiMatter, once you have read the listing properly. Need data for one day because something went wrong? Matcha, for $3.60.
Whichever you pick, install it at home the night before you fly. Then you land, flip one switch, and the airport is just an airport. Heading somewhere else afterwards? Our guide to the best eSIM providers for international travel covers the same ground for the rest of the world.
In partnership with Ubigi. The research, ranking, prices and fair use terms in this guide are our own, and were checked against each provider’s published policies. Ubigi did not see this article before it was published.
