Sim Local

Sim Local runs at $0.117/GB at travel sizes, the third-best price we track after RedteaGO and Stellar. Unlike those two, it covers 192 destinations, which puts it close to the majors.

1,295 plans, of which 1,227 are single-country. That's the most locally weighted split in our entire catalogue: just 65 regional and 3 global.

What sets it apart from most is that several of its plans include calls and texts, not only data. It's the point travellers' published tests raise most often, and it solves something a data-only eSIM can't: receiving a verification SMS, or phoning a hotel from inside the country.

One specific criticism recurs in user reviews: you can't check how much data you've used from their app.

That's a real problem if you've bought a tight bundle. Not knowing what's left means either over-buying out of caution or risking running dry mid-trip. In a provider whose argument is price, that detail costs more than it looks.

We can't verify it from the feed — this is usage experience, not catalogue data — but it appears often enough to be worth flagging.

Sim Local goes up to 500 GB in a single plan, the second-largest size in our catalogue. A bundle that size isn't built for a two-week trip: it's for long stays or work teams, and its per-gigabyte price looks tiny purely because of the size. We cap our ranking calculations at 200 GB so that doesn't distort the comparison — and even then, Sim Local stays among the three cheapest.

Its feed doesn't declare tethering or 5G. Both columns come up empty, which costs it in those criteria — excluded from the weighting rather than scored zero, but no credit either.

Entry price $2.75, a little above RedteaGO or Yesim. For a short layover there are finer-grained options.