Whether it’s to flex on Instagram, assure your mum you haven’t been kidnapped, or just to check work emails (booo!), most of us cannot imagine travelling without roaming data. You could buy a tourist SIM at your destination but that’s usually a poor value-for-money choice. A data roaming plan with your regular telco may be convenient but the odds are that the best roaming data eSIM is a cheaper alternative.
Travel SIM and eSIM cards are not new but it can still be a nightmare trying to compare all the different plans and packages. So, we did all the homework so you can stay in touch and save money no matter what your destination is.
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How we compared the top roaming data eSIMs
We figured that most readers only want to know the best travel SIM or eSIM for the country or region they are visiting. However, with so many different countries and regions, and so much overlap between country coverage of tourist eSIM cards, it’s almost impossible to list and compare all of them.
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So, we picked the best roaming data SIM and eSIM providers and listed the travel SIM plans that are the cheapest, the most expensive, and the one(s) that offer the most data for each country or region.
Our focus is on the most popular destinations for Singaporeans. Regionally, they are Malaysia and Thailand. For Greater Asia, we used Japan roaming eSIM packages as representative of prices. Internationally, there are also specific data roaming plans for Europe, Australia and the USA.
Some vendors offer both physical SIM cards and eSIMs. After comparing, we found that eSIM plans cost less for the same destination, data limit and validity period than physical SIM cards. Keep that in mind when you choose a package.
We hope that this helps you compare the different choices quickly and easily, no matter where you are going to spend your holiday.
Top travel SIM card & eSIM packages
Malaysia data roaming eSIMs
| Platform | Name | Daily Data/Days | Price (S$) | Cost per GB (S$) | Cost per Day (S$) | Notes |
| Shopee | Wefly | 1GB / 5 Days | $4 | $0.80 | $0.80 | |
| Shopee | Wefly | 3GB / 7 Days | $4 | $0.19 | $0.57 | Cheapest per GB (1 week) |
| Shopee | Travel eSIM | 5 GB / 30 Days | $3.20 | $0.64 | $0.11 | Cheapest per day (1 month) |
| Shopee | Travel eSIM | 15 GB / 30 Days | $7.90 | $0.53 | $0.26 | |
| Lazada | SCT | 1GB / 5 Days | $5.50 | $5.50 | $1.10 | |
| Lazada | SCT | 3GB / 7 Days | $12.96 | $4.32 | $1.85 | |
| Global Provider | Holafly | Unlimited Data / 7 Days | $39 | N/A | $5.57 |
Thailand data roaming eSIMs
| Platform | Name | Daily Data/Days | Price (S$) | Cost per GB (S$) | Cost per Day (S$) | Notes |
| Shopee | Wefly | 1GB / 5 Days | $5.29 | $1.06 | $1.06 | |
| Shopee | Wefly | 3GB / 7 Days | $10.60 | $0.50 | $1.51 | Cheapest per GB (1 week) |
| Shopee | Travel eSIM | 10 GB / 15 Days | $5.93 | $0.59 | $0.40 | |
| Shopee | Travel eSIM | 15 GB / 30 Days | $8.90 | $0.59 | $0.30 | Cheapest per day (1 month) |
| Lazada | SCT | 1GB / 5 Days | $6.12 | $1.22 | $1.22 | |
| Lazada | SCT | 3GB / 7 Days | $15.55 | $0.74 | $2.22 | |
| Global Provider | Holafly | Unlimited Data / 7 Days | $39 | N/A | $5.57 |
Japan data roaming eSIMs
| Platform | Name | Daily Data/Days | Price (S$) | Cost per GB (S$) | Cost per Day (S$) | Notes |
| Shopee | Wefly | 1GB / 5 Days | $3.99 | $0.70 | $0.80 | |
| Shopee | Wefly | 3GB / 7 Days | $13.99 | $0.47 | $2 | Cheapest per GB(1 week) |
| Shopee | Travel eSIM | 10 GB / 15 Days | $6.60 | $0.64 | $0.44 | |
| Shopee | Travel eSIM | 15 GB / 30 Days | $8.90 | $0.53 | $0.30 | Cheapest per day (1 month) |
| Lazada | SCT | 1GB / 5 Days | $4.63 | $5.50 | $0.93 | |
| Lazada | SCT | 3GB / 7 Days | $4.40 | $4.32 | $0.63 | |
| Global Provider | Holafly | Unlimited Data / 7 Days | $39 | N/A | $5.57 |
Europe data roaming eSIMs
| Platform | Name | Total Data/Days | Price (S$) | Cost per GB (S$) | Cost per Day (S$) | Notes |
| Shopee | Wefly | 5 GB (total)/ 10 Days | $4.88 | $0.98 | $0.49 | Cheapest per day (10 days) |
| Shopee | Wefly | 30 GB (total) / 30 Days | $23.58 | $0.79 | $0.79 | |
| Shopee | Travel eSIM | 5 GB (total) / 10 Days | $4.13 | $0.83 | $0.41 | |
| Shopee | Travel eSIM | 30 GB (total)/ 30 Days | $20.60 | $0.69 | $0.69 | Cheapest per GB (1 month) |
| Lazada | SCT | 5GB (total)/ 10 Days | $11.90 | $2.38 | $1.19 | |
| Lazada | SCT | 10GB (total)/ 30 Days | $16.90 | $1.69 | $0.56 | |
| Global Provider | Holafly | Unlimited Data / 7 Days | $39 | N/A | $5.57 |
Australia data roaming eSIMs
| Platform | Name | Daily Data/Days | Price (S$) | Cost per GB (S$) | Cost per Day (S$) | Notes |
| Shopee | Wefly | 1GB / 5 Days | $6.69 | $1.34 | $1.34 | |
| Shopee | Wefly | 30GB (total) / 30 Days | $61.29 | $2.04 | $2.04 | |
| Shopee | Travel eSIM | 1 GB / 5 Days | $4.76 | $0.95 | $0.95 | Cheapest per GB (5 days) |
| Shopee | Travel eSIM | 30 GB (total)/ 30 Days | $25 | $1 | $0.83 | Cheapest per day (1 month) |
| Lazada | SCT | 2GB / 5 Days | $13.76 | $1.38 | $2.75 | |
| Lazada | SCT | 2GB / 30 Days | $74.90 | $1.25 | $2.50 | |
| Global Provider | Holafly | Unlimited Data / 7 Days | $39 | N/A | $5.57 |
USA data roaming eSIMs
| Platform | Name | Daily Data/Days | Price (S$) | Cost per GB (S$) | Cost per Day (S$) | Notes |
| Shopee | Wefly | 1GB / 5 Days | $5.70 | $1.14 | $1.14 | |
| Shopee | Wefly | 30GB (total) / 30 Days | $48.03 | $1.60 | $1.60 | |
| Shopee | Travel eSIM | 1 GB / 5 Days | $1.99 | $0.40 | $0.40 | |
| Shopee | Travel eSIM | 10 GB / 15 Days | $2.48 | $0.25 | $0.17 | Cheapest per day & per GB |
| Lazada | SCT | 2GB / 5 Days | $15 | $1.50 | $1.10 | |
| Lazada | SCT | 2GB / 30 Days | $74 | $1.24 | $2.47 | |
| Global Provider | Holafly | Unlimited Data / 7 Days | $39 | N/A | $5.57 |
We chose these data and travel duration limits to give you a broad sense of the cost of roaming data to these popular destinations. All these eSIM companies offer many more combinations to suit your travel and data requirements, and you can find each one at their respective link:
Shop their entire range on WEFLY
Shop their entire range on SCT
Shop their entire range on TRAVEL ESIM
Shop their entire range on HOLAFLY
Why use an eSIM?
Is using an eSIM all that different from using a regular SIM? Yes, in 2 very significant ways.
The first and most obvious difference for most people is that an eSIM saves you the hassle of opening up your SIM tray and fiddling with the ridiculously small pieces of plastic. If you use a single-SIM phone, you’re less likely to misplace your original SIM as you can simply leave it in its tray while using the eSIM.
Several colleagues and I, though, feel the main advantage is that it lets a single SIM phone become a dual SIM phone (albeit not simultaneously), and a dual SIM phone work as a triple SIM one (ditto). It’s simply a matter of activating and deactivating the SIM(s) you want, again without having to physically switch SIMs.
A third reason is that eSIM data roaming plans cost less than physical SIM card plans for the same destination, data limit and validity period.