PrepaidAbout PrepaidTraveleSIM
PrepaidTraveleSIM publishes independent buying guides for prepaid data in 211+ countries. We exist to answer one question for every destination on earth: what is the cheapest, easiest way to get prepaid data here?
Our angle is the prepaid buying decision — specifically the trade-off between buying an airport SIM on arrival versus installing a prepaid eSIM at home before you fly. That comparison is at the heart of every country guide on this site. The short answer is that airport SIMs cost 2-5x more per GB and require a passport. A prepaid eSIM costs less, installs in five minutes, and needs no ID.
What we do
We compare four prepaid eSIM providers (Airalo, Holafly, Saily, and Nomad) against local alternatives at airports, city shops, and online delivery services. Every country guide tells you which option wins, what ID you need, what you should expect to pay, and how to activate your plan in under 5 minutes.
First-hand field experience
The team behind this data has bought physical SIMs at 14 airports across Asia, Europe, and the Americas. Narita Terminal 1 at midnight. Suvarnabhumi after a red-eye from Sydney. Heathrow Terminal 5 during the holiday rush.
Every buying experience taught us what a prepaid eSIM replaces: the queue, the passport photocopy, the $40 tourist markup, and the 25 minutes you spend standing when you should be in a taxi.
At Don Mueang in Bangkok, the True Move counter ran out of SIM stock on a Friday night. At JFK Terminal 4, the kiosk required a US billing address for card payment. At Changi Terminal 3, the Singtel counter was open but the queue was 40 people deep at 7 AM. We write from those experiences, not from a desk.
How we make money
We earn a commission when you click through to a provider and make a purchase. This is affiliate revenue. It never changes our rankings or the price you pay. Airalo is our top pick because it works, not because of any commercial arrangement. When a cheaper option suits you better, we say so plainly.
How we verify prices
Prices on this site are checked against official provider websites and refreshed monthly, with a full review of each major guide every quarter. The "Updated" date at the top of every page tells you when we last verified it. When a provider changes a plan or a country tightens its SIM rules, we update the affected guides rather than letting them drift out of date.
Editorial independence
No provider pays for placement. No provider reviews content before publication. No provider has approval rights over our ratings. We buy plans at full retail, test them in real conditions, and publish what we find. If a provider slips in quality, they come off the recommended list. Read our Airalo review for an example of how we structure our provider assessments. Our editorial policy sets out the full rules we follow for every guide.
Research and corrections
Every guide is built from real plan data verified against official provider websites. Read our research methodology for a detailed breakdown of how we collect prices, ID requirements, and network data for each country. When we get something wrong, we fix it and record it on our corrections log.
Contact
Have a question, correction, or partnership inquiry? Visit our contact page.