While data roaming has now become essentially "free" for most Europeans, traveling outside Europe and surfing the internet can be quite expensive. But since the recent massive adoption of eSIMs on our smartphones, some comparies launched a brand new type of business: eSIMs for travels, that give you only data (no phone calls, no SMS). These come extremely handy when only web browsing is needed. With apps like WhatsApp, who still uses the basic phone and text features of our phones anyways?

As I was recently traveling outside Europe, I did my fair share of googling and compiled here a list of websites and companies of interest.

Big players

Among the many comparies out there, some names will pop out more often than others. Airalo, Sparks, Airhub and Jetpac are some of these big names with great reviews.

I got to try both Airalo and Sparks, on Android, in Canada and the USA. All I can say is: they worked like a charm. The data consumption rate was matching the numbers reported by my phone, so they are not trying to rip you off. I was always either on a 5G network or on a 4G one, and the speed was very good. I did not perform any speed test, but watching Youtube in HD was no problem at all.

Price-wise, Airalo was a bit more expensive than Sparks. On top of single-country packages, they both offer bundles that include multiple countries. For instance, Airalo has a "North-America" bundle that includes Mexico, the US and Canada, called "Americanmex". I got that one, valid for 30 days, 5 GB, $25.50.

Downloading and installing their eSIMs was effortless and took less than a minute, directly from the airport, on the free Wi-Fi network. There were many options one could chose from: using a QR code, clicking a button from within an app, and a more "manual way". Activating the eSIM was instantaneous after that.

Comparison portals

Airalo, Sparks, Airhub, and Jetpac are not the only players. There are many more out there, and most of them are even cheaper. You can also grab better deals for some companies on marketplaces like MobiMatter, as opposed to directly on the company website. It's fairly easy to find referral codes (discounts) on Reddit for MobiMatter.

However, the best comparison website I've found is eSIMDB. Everything is there, this should be your go-to website before purchasing any eSIM. It's easy to find plans where 1 GB costs $1.

Here is another one (and here's a copy on Reddit, should the website ever go down). This one is not neutral though, it earns commissions through affiliate links.

Hope this helps!