Cheap data in Australia, and why nobody names the network

The number that matters is $0.90 a gigabyte

Australia is a cheap country for mobile data, and the cheapest part of it is at the top of the ladder. Airalo's 50GB for 30 days at $45 works out at $0.90 a gigabyte, and we read that price off Airalo's own site on 13 August 2026. Nothing smaller comes close: the same seller's 5GB is $11, or $2.20 a gigabyte, which is more than twice the rate, and Saily's verified 5GB at $10.99 is the same rate to the cent.

That only helps if you can use the data, and most visitors cannot use 50GB in a month. But it does mean any claim that Australian data bottoms out around $1.40 or $1.50 a gigabyte is wrong — that is where the 20GB plans sit, not where the market ends.

The ladder in full

The Airalo rows were checked on its own site on 13 August 2026 and the Saily rows on 16 August 2026. eSIMCard's rows have been withdrawn. We read its own pages on 18 August 2026, found the figures we held were wrong, and could not store the real ones — see our eSIMCard page. eSIM Go sells wholesale to resellers and publishes no consumer price — checked on esim-go.com on 18 August 2026, where there is no basket, no checkout and no per-country page — so its rows cannot be bought or ever verified. See our eSIM Go page.

For a two-week trip of maps, messaging and a bit of streaming, 10GB is the sensible size. Nomad's verified $15 is now the cheapest — an earlier version of this page listed it at $22, which nobody had read off Nomad's site — followed by Saily's verified $17.99 and Airalo's verified $18. Below Nomad there is nothing, and above it the spread is small enough to pick on whichever app you find least irritating. Airalo's unlimited plans exist too, at a verified $26.50 for 7 days, but 20GB costs $30 and few travellers get through that.

Nobody publishes the network, and here that stings

Every Australian plan in our data has an empty network field. None of the sellers — Airalo, Saily, Nomad or eSIMCard — states which Australian carrier its plans roam onto, and eSIM Go has no consumer page on which it could, and Nomad states one in none of its 47 countries, so nobody can honestly tell you whether you will land on Telstra, Optus or Vodafone. Airalo's Australian packages are sold under the name Yes! Go!, which is a product name at checkout, not a carrier.

That matters more in Australia than in most places, because the coverage difference between carriers is real. Telstra has by far the widest reach outside the cities and along regional highways; the others are fine in the metro areas and thin out sooner beyond them. If your trip is Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, any of these plans will do. If it involves long drives, the Red Centre or coastal towns off the main routes, an eSIM is a gamble on a network you cannot see.

The fix is a physical SIM. On a supermarket or carrier-store shelf you choose the carrier by name, which is the one thing no travel eSIM currently lets you do here.

Buying a local SIM

Australia is one of the easiest countries in the world for this. No ID is required for a prepaid SIM — you buy it and activate it. Activation needs a phone number that can receive an SMS, so keep your home SIM reachable or activate online over hotel WiFi before you swap.

Supermarket kits from Woolworths and Coles are the cheapest route and include a data allowance; we have not verified current prices or inclusions, so read the pack rather than trusting a figure online. An airport counter SIM costs about $18, and carrier stores are priced similarly with more plan choice. The local SIM is genuinely competitive here — this is not a case of eSIM winning by default.

The full plan lists by provider are on the Australia hub.