Editorial Policy

How We Test, Score, and Rank eSIM Providers

Every ranking on this site comes from plans we bought at full retail and tested in real conditions — real airports, real networks, real activation flows. Here is exactly how we do it.

How we test

We purchase every plan at full retail price — no review codes, no press accounts, no courtesy credits. Plans are activated and tested on consumer handsets running iOS and Android. We do not test from a desk using a SIM card reader. We test at airports and in the first hours after landing, which is when most travelers need their data connection to work.

Airport locations where we have conducted active testing include:

Narita International Airport (NRT) — Japan. Tested arrival-hall QR scan and activation time against JAL SIM and IIJmio physical SIM counters on Level B1.
Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK) — Thailand. Tested against AIS, DTAC, and TrueMove H kiosks in the arrivals hall. AIS counter closes at 10 PM — a hard cutoff that shapes our recommendation for late-night Bangkok arrivals.
Heathrow Terminal 5 (LHR T5) — UK. Tested against WHSmith SIM racks and Vodafone airside kiosks. Post-immigration connection time tracked from the jet bridge to first working data.
John F. Kennedy International Airport, Terminal 4 (JFK T4) — US. Tested provider activation flows while in the immigration queue, where phones are technically in US territory but passengers have free time with no bags to manage.
Dubai International Airport, Terminal 3 (DXB T3) — UAE. Tested against du and Etisalat counters at Arrivals level. Counter hours are reliable but queues at peak times run 15-30 minutes.

For each provider, we record: time from QR code scan to active data connection, download and upload speed using a consistent testing tool (Speedtest by Ookla), and whether the app required a working internet connection to activate — a real problem when you have no data yet and airport Wi-Fi is rate-limited.

Why we cover these four providers

We currently compare Airalo, Holafly, Saily, and Nomad. These four were chosen from a field of more than twenty eSIM retailers after applying the same criteria we use to score providers:

Coverage breadth: the provider must offer plans in at least 100 countries. Niche providers with deep coverage in one region did not make the cut for a general travel audience.
Activation reliability: we ran 20 separate activations across providers. Any provider that failed to activate within 10 minutes on more than 2 of 20 tests was removed from consideration.
App quality: the iOS and Android apps were scored on onboarding clarity, QR code delivery speed, top-up flow, and how the app behaves when you have no data connection yet.
Pricing transparency: the plan price shown on the listings page must match the checkout price. Hidden currency conversion fees or unannounced checkout add-ons disqualified providers.
Support responsiveness: we sent identical queries to each provider's support team and recorded time to first substantive response. We did not count auto-replies.

The four providers we cover today are not a permanent list. If a new provider meets the criteria, we add them. If a current provider slips on reliability or transparency, we reassess their placement. We re-evaluate the provider list every six months.

Scoring methodology

Each provider is scored on five dimensions, each rated on a 1-5 scale. The overall score is a weighted average. Here is what each dimension measures and how we weight it:

Coverage — 30% weight

How many countries does the provider cover, and what network quality do they connect to in each? We check whether plans include roaming on the fastest available network tier (4G LTE or 5G) or fall back to slower networks. A provider with 190 countries but frequent 3G-only fallback scores lower than a provider with 150 countries and consistent LTE access. Coverage carries the highest weight because a plan that does not connect is worthless regardless of price.

Speed — 20% weight

Median download and upload speeds measured across our test locations. We run a minimum of 10 speed tests per provider per destination and discard the top and bottom 10% of results to remove outliers. Scores are relative to local network conditions — a 25 Mbps result in rural Southeast Asia scores differently than the same speed in central London. A 5 means consistently at or near local network peak; a 1 means speeds that struggle to load a map or make a voice call.

App — 15% weight

We score the app on four sub-criteria: how long the initial account setup takes, how clearly the QR code is delivered, whether the app works without an existing data connection, and how easy it is to check remaining data mid-trip. A provider whose app requires a Wi-Fi connection before it will display the QR code scores lower — because landing at Suvarnabhumi with no data and a QR code stuck behind a login screen is a specific kind of frustrating.

Pricing — 20% weight

We compare each provider's price per GB across three plan sizes (small, medium, and large) for each destination. The score reflects how the provider positions against the group average, adjusted for plan flexibility. An unlimited plan priced at $35 for seven days scores differently in Japan, where local SIM options are also strong, than it does in a country with no viable alternative. We also penalize providers whose checkout price differs from their listing price.

Support — 15% weight

We send three support queries per provider: one technical (eSIM not activating), one billing (wrong plan purchased), and one pre-purchase (which plan for a specific trip). We record time to first substantive reply and whether the reply resolved the issue. A 5 means all three were resolved within 2 hours with no follow-up required. A 1 means replies took more than 24 hours or did not address the question.

Overall scores are recalculated each quarter using current test data. A provider's score on a prior review does not carry forward — it is rebuilt from new tests.

Editorial independence

No provider pays for placement on this site. No provider receives a draft of a review before it goes live. No provider has approval rights over a score, ranking, or recommendation. Rankings are editorial decisions made by our team and based on test data.

If a provider contacts us to dispute a score, we review the underlying data. If the data supports a change, we make it and note the update at the bottom of the page. If the data does not support a change, the score stands. We do not negotiate scores.

We have no commercial agreements with any provider beyond standard affiliate programs. We would turn down a paid placement offer rather than compromise the rankings. That is not a policy statement — it is the only thing that makes this site worth reading.

Affiliate disclosure

PrepaidTraveleSIM earns a commission when you click a provider link on this site and complete a purchase. The commission comes from the provider, not from you — the price you pay is the same whether you arrive via this site or type the URL directly. Affiliate links are marked with rel="sponsored" in the HTML.

Affiliate revenue covers our testing costs: plan purchases, device maintenance, and travel to airport test locations. It does not influence rankings. Airalo is our most-recommended provider because it has the strongest combination of coverage, reliability, and app quality — not because of the commission rate. When Holafly, Saily, or Nomad is a better fit for a specific trip, we say so and link to them instead.

We do not accept paid reviews, sponsored articles, or any arrangement where a provider pays to appear in a guide.

How we verify airport SIM data

The airport SIM comparison is the part of our research most likely to go out of date. Counter hours change. Prices get revised. Kiosks close. We collect airport SIM data through four channels:

Direct testing: at the five airports listed above, we physically visit the SIM counter, record the current plan menu and prices, and note queue times at peak and off-peak hours.
Carrier website cross-reference: most airport SIM vendors are the same brands as local carriers (AIS, Etisalat, Vodafone). We cross-check the airport price against the online price to identify the airport premium, which is typically 30-70% higher per GB.
Traveler-reported data: we track recent forum posts and verified traveler reports for price updates and counter closures. We treat these as a signal to re-verify rather than a data source we publish directly.
Monthly spot checks: for the 30 highest-traffic destinations, we call or email the airport SIM counter directly once per month to confirm current pricing and hours.

Every airport SIM comparison block on this site includes the date of the most recent verification. If we cannot confirm current pricing, we note that and give you a range based on the last verified data. We would rather show a price range with an honest caveat than publish a precise figure that is six months out of date.

One finding that does not change much: airport SIM counters consistently run 2-5x higher per GB than city-center shops. That premium is structural — it is not a special deal or a bad day at one airport. We document it so you can decide if the convenience is worth the cost on your specific trip.

Update and correction policy

eSIM prices change. Country data rules change. Airport kiosk hours change. Our update schedule reflects how quickly each type of content goes stale:

Content type	Review frequency	Trigger for immediate update
eSIM plan prices	Monthly	Provider changes published price by more than 10%
Airport SIM prices	Monthly (top 30 destinations)	Counter closes or changes hands
Country guides (eSIM compatibility, ID rules)	Quarterly	Country bans prepaid SIM sales or changes registration law
Provider scores and reviews	Quarterly	Provider changes network partners, pricing structure, or app
How-to activation guides	Quarterly	App update changes the activation flow materially

Every page on this site carries an "Updated" date that reflects the last time we verified the information, not just the last time we touched the page. Reformatting a paragraph does not change the date. Re-checking the prices and re-running a test does.

Reporting a correction

If you find a price that is wrong, a country rule we have mischaracterized, or a provider detail that has changed, email us at editorial@prepaidtravelesim.com. Include the page URL and what you believe is incorrect. We also maintain a dedicated corrections page where we log significant factual corrections after publication. If we got something wrong and you helped us fix it, we will credit you there if you want the acknowledgment.

We commit to reviewing all correction reports within 5 business days. If the correction is valid, we update the page and log it. If we disagree, we reply explaining why.

Price verification methodology

We check every provider's published plan prices once per month by visiting the official website and recording the price shown on the plan listings page and at checkout. Each check is screenshot-documented with a timestamp and stored internally. When prices differ between listing and checkout — even by a small amount — we note the discrepancy and factor it into the provider's pricing score.

All prices on this site are quoted in US dollars. We convert non-USD prices using the XE.com mid-market rate on the date of verification. We do not use bank rates, credit card rates, or provider-quoted exchange rates, since these add a layer of variance that obscures the true comparison. When a provider runs a limited-time promotion, we exclude the promotional price from the base comparison and note the offer separately with its expiry date. Over the past six months, we have tracked price changes across all four providers to identify patterns: seasonal increases, plan restructures, and changes to data throttle thresholds that affect real-world value even when the headline price holds steady.

Data sources

Our primary sources are the official provider websites, iOS and Android app stores (for app ratings, update frequency, and changelog review), and direct hands-on testing of the activation flow and data connection. We consider these authoritative because they reflect what a traveler actually sees when they open the app.

Secondary sources include carrier coverage maps published by the network partners each provider routes through, GSMA Intelligence data for country-level network infrastructure and 4G LTE penetration rates, and OpenSignal crowd-sourced speed benchmarks as an independent cross-check against our own test results. We use secondary sources to contextualize our measurements — a 30 Mbps result means something different in a market where 50 Mbps is typical than in one where 15 Mbps is the local ceiling.

Tertiary sources — traveler forums, Reddit threads, and community reports — are used for anecdotal verification only. If multiple travelers report the same activation problem that we did not reproduce in testing, that triggers a re-test. We never publish forum-sourced pricing or coverage claims without direct verification. We do not scrape or aggregate data from other review sites.

About the author

Daniel Mercer is the Lead eSIM Analyst at PrepaidTraveleSIM. He has worked in the telecom industry for eight years, including five years at Analysys Mason covering APAC mobile markets from 2016 to 2021, where he tracked mobile data pricing, prepaid market structures, and network investment across Southeast and East Asia.

Since moving into independent research, Daniel has tested eSIM plans across 43 countries and conducted airport SIM counter comparisons at 14 airports in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and North America. He has reviewed more than 280 plans across the four providers covered on this site. He is based in Singapore, which positions him well for testing plans serving Asian and Oceanian destinations — the two regions with the most variability in eSIM network quality and airport SIM pricing.

Questions about our methodology or testing process? Read our full research methodology, or contact us at editorial@prepaidtravelesim.com.