Choose exact countries, or buy a regional plan?

Hoam eSIM publishes this page and sells custom-country plans. Our editorial policy requires the cases where a regional bundle is the better buy to be stated as plainly as the cases where it is not, and there are real ones in the table below.

The trade in one paragraph

A regional bundle prices a block of countries as a unit. If your route covers most of that block, nothing is wasted. If it covers three countries in a forty-country region, you are paying for the rest. A custom-country plan prices only your route. With Hoam eSIM, the price of a route is the price of its most expensive country, so adding a cheaper neighbour costs nothing extra. Neither is a trick; they are different products for differently shaped trips.

What actually decided it

The price of the dearest country on the route. This mattered more than anything else in our sample. In Europe our price for most countries is low enough that a regional plan never caught up, whatever the route. Where one country on the route is expensive for us — Panama at US$38.00, the United Arab Emirates at US$31.00, Japan at US$18.00 for 5 GB — a regional plan that averages it in with cheaper neighbours came in lower.

Whether a regional plan covers the route at all. A regional plan stops at its region's edge. Morocco is not in Airalo's Europe plan (Airalo covers it in its Middle East and North Africa plan and in Global), so Gibraltar + Morocco + Portugal + United Kingdom needs its global plan, at US$35. Saily's Europe plan does not include Albania, Serbia or North Macedonia. Its 9-country Balkans plan does, along with Bulgaria, Croatia and Greece, at US$19.99. A route that adds one of them to any other EU country falls to Saily's Global plan, at US$33.99, or, with North Macedonia, which the Global plan leaves out, has no single plan at all. Neither provider includes Nepal in a regional or global plan, and Airalo does not include Afghanistan in one. Nepal is available from both only as a single country eSIM, as is Afghanistan from Airalo. A route that crosses a region's edge costs the global price or a second eSIM.

How much of the region you visit. We expected this to matter most, and our sample could not show it either way. The highest share of a region any sampled route covered was 2 countries of Saily's 5-country Scandinavia plan, and our price was still lower. A route covering most of a small regional plan — three or four Nordic countries, say — is where a regional plan has the strongest case, and we have not priced one yet.

How long the trip is. Every Hoam eSIM plan runs 30 days. Airalo also sells shorter regional packages, such as 7 and 15 days, and we priced only 30-day plans. For a short trip, compare against the shorter package as well.

The itineraries

All prices are for at least 5 GB and at least 30 days, collected on 15 October 2026, in US dollars, with tax included on every side. Each regional plan shows how many of its countries the route uses. "60 days" marks a global plan whose smallest 5 GB option lasts 60 days. The routes were picked by a fixed rule before any price was read, and the methodology explains how.

Inside Europe

Outside Europe, or across regions

Two more sampled routes have no row because neither Airalo nor Saily has a single plan that covers Nepal together with the other countries on the route: Australia + China + Nepal and India + Nepal + Sri Lanka + United Kingdom. Hoam eSIM sells both, at US$33.

The same data, with every product's source page, is published as CSV and JSON.

Where a regional plan wins

On our sample, four routes, all outside Europe, and Airalo had the lower price on each:

• Colombia + Panama. Airalo Latin America (Latamlink) costs US$22.00 and Hoam eSIM US$38.00.
• Egypt + United Arab Emirates. Airalo Middle East and North Africa (Menalink) costs US$18.00 and Hoam eSIM US$31.00.
• Bangladesh + Japan and Japan + Philippines. Airalo Asia (Asialink) costs US$15.00 and Hoam eSIM US$18.00 for each.

In each case one country on the route is priced high in our catalogue — Panama, the United Arab Emirates or Japan — and a regional plan spreads that country's cost across the region. If your trip looks like one of these, the regional plan is the better buy, provided every country you will enter is on its list.

Where exact countries win

• Every European route we sampled. Hoam eSIM cost US$7.00 to US$12.00 on routes where the lower regional price was US$14.00 to US$19.50.
• Routes that cross a region's edge. Gibraltar + Morocco + Portugal + United Kingdom and Brazil + France + Mexico fall outside any one regional plan at Airalo or Saily, and each needs a global plan at US$33.99–35.00. Hoam eSIM charged US$19.50 and US$15.00.
• Routes with a country no regional plan includes. Neither Airalo nor Saily includes Nepal in a regional or global plan, and Airalo does not include Afghanistan in one. Nepal is available from both only as a single-country eSIM, as is Afghanistan from Airalo.

What this page does not claim

• One collection date and one plan size. Prices were read on 15 October 2026 and every comparison is for 5 GB over 30 days. Other sizes can come out differently.
• A limited set of providers. We compared Airalo and Saily, and retail list prices only. Holafly sells unlimited-data plans by the day, which have no 5 GB equivalent; its prices are in the dataset but not in this comparison.
• No measure of network quality. This page does not compare network quality or speed. That is a separate question, and a cheaper plan on a weaker network is not the same product.
• Dense regional trips are not yet tested. No route in this sample covers most of a regional plan's countries, which is the case a regional plan is designed for.