A Costa Rican gigabyte costs five times a Thai one
Twenty-eight Airalo plans, read off its own checkout on 17 August 2026. The cheapest rate in the country is $2.75 a gigabyte, and the ladder stops at 20 GB. It is the only provider we have priced here.
One seller, twenty-eight prices, all read on the same day
We hold plan data for exactly one provider in Costa Rica: Airalo. Twenty-eight plans, every one of them read off Airalo's own checkout on 17 August 2026. That is the entirety of our Costa Rican data.
Saily, Holafly, Nomad, eSIMCard and eSIM Go are absent here because we have not priced them in Costa Rica yet, not because they lost a comparison. So read what follows as an accurate account of what one large seller charges, not as a survey of the market.
The headline is not a happy one. The cheapest verified rate in Costa Rica is $2.75 a gigabyte. Our cheapest verified country, Thailand, bottoms out at $0.55 a gigabyte, and Austria at $0.58 — the same seller, priced in the same week. A Costa Rican gigabyte costs five times a Bangkok one.
Twenty-eight rows, but only one ladder worth reading
Costa Rica carries more rows than most countries we have priced. The reason is not extra choice at the top. Airalo runs two parallel product lines here, sold as Hot Telecom and Hot Telecom+. Both are Airalo's own retail names for a Costa Rican plan; neither is a network operator. What the plus adds we cannot tell you, because the listing does not say and we have not tested it.
What we can show you is the price gap, tier by tier. The second line costs more at every size and duration the two share.
| Data / days | Hot Telecom | Hot Telecom+ |
|---|---|---|
| 1 GB / 3 d | $11 | $12.50 |
| 3 GB / 3 d | $24.50 | $26 |
| 3 GB / 7 d | $27 | $29.50 |
| 5 GB / 7 d | $36.50 | $38.50 |
| 5 GB / 15 d | $37 | $39 |
| 5 GB / 30 d | $38 | $40.50 |
| 10 GB / 7 d | $45.50 | $48.50 |
| 10 GB / 15 d | $46.50 | $49 |
| 10 GB / 30 d | $48.50 | $52 |
| 20 GB / 15 d | $55 | $59 |
| 20 GB / 30 d | $57.50 | $62.50 |
Eleven of the twenty-eight rows are that dearer right-hand column, and six more are uncapped plans sold only on the first line. So the extra tiers Costa Rica appears to offer do not change the answer: the country's cheapest gigabyte is on the plain line, at 20 GB over 15 days for $55. That is the $2.75 floor. The plus version of the same plan is $59, or $2.95.
The ladder stops at 20 GB, and that is the whole problem
In most countries we price, the advice is to scroll to the bottom of the list, because a 50 GB plan is usually the cheapest per gigabyte by a wide margin. Costa Rica has no 50 GB plan on either line. Twenty gigabytes is the metered ceiling, and that ceiling is exactly why the floor sits so high — the cheap Thai and Austrian rates both come off 50 GB plans that Costa Rica never gets to offer.
The small end is worse than the floor suggests. One gigabyte over three days is $11. Three gigabytes over three days is $24.50, so the second and third gigabytes together cost more than the first one did. Five gigabytes over a week is $36.50. Only at 10 GB, $45.50 for seven days, does the rate come down to $4.55 a gigabyte, and only the 20 GB plans drop under $3.
The uncapped plans are the genuinely useful part
Uncapped data is sold on the Hot Telecom line only, and for short trips it is the best value in the country.
| Uncapped, days | Price |
|---|---|
| 3 | $28 |
| 5 | $40.50 |
| 7 | $52 |
| 10 | $54 |
| 15 | $69.50 |
| 30 | $126.50 |
Hold that against the metered column. Three days uncapped is $28 while 3 GB over the same three days is $24.50 — for a couple of dollars more you stop counting. Ten days uncapped is $54, a dollar under the 20 GB plan at $55, so the choice is simply whether your trip runs ten days or a fortnight.
The 30-day uncapped plan at $126.50 is the one to avoid. It is more than double the 20 GB plan over the same month at $57.50. We hold no fair-use or throttling terms for any of these uncapped plans: Airalo's listing did not state one and we have not tested what happens after heavy use, so assume a policy exists even though we cannot quote it.
What to buy, by trip length
- A long weekend. Uncapped for three days at $28, or 3 GB over three days at $24.50 if you barely touch your phone.
- A week. 10 GB over seven days at $45.50 is the sensible metered pick. Seven days uncapped is $52 if you will be navigating and tethering constantly.
- Ten days to a fortnight. These two are the real decision: 20 GB over 15 days at $55, the cheapest gigabyte in the country, against ten days uncapped at $54.
- A month. 20 GB over 30 days at $57.50, and only $2.50 separates that from the fortnight version.
Two things this page will not tell you
We do not know which Costa Rican network these plans roam onto. Airalo publishes no host network for any country, Costa Rica included, and every network field in our data for it is empty. If another page names an operator behind an Airalo plan here, ask them where they read it, because it is not published.
We also have not researched local SIM cards in Costa Rica — not airport counters, not shop prices, not what identification you need. Until that work is done there is nothing honest to say about it.
Where Costa Rica sits against everywhere else we have priced is on the cheapest eSIM plans page, and best eSIM for Latin America sets it against the other nine markets we price in the region. How we test explains what verified means here: someone opened the checkout and read the number off it.
Common questions
What is the cheapest verified eSIM for Costa Rica?
Airalo's 20 GB over 15 days at $55, read off its checkout on 17 August 2026. That works out at $2.75 a gigabyte, the lowest rate among all 28 plans we hold for the country. The same plan on the Hot Telecom+ line is $59.
Is there a 50 GB eSIM plan for Costa Rica?
Not in our data. The metered ladder stops at 20 GB on both of the lines Airalo sells here, which is the main reason the per-gigabyte floor is so high — cheaper countries reach $0.55 a gigabyte on 50 GB plans that simply do not exist in Costa Rica.
What is the difference between Hot Telecom and Hot Telecom+?
Both are Airalo product names for a Costa Rican plan rather than carriers, and we cannot tell you what the plus adds because the listing does not say. What the prices show is that the plus line costs more at all eleven tiers the two share, and sells no uncapped option at all.
Which network does an Airalo eSIM use in Costa Rica?
Nobody outside Airalo knows. It does not publish a host network in Costa Rica or in any other country, so every network field in our Costa Rican data is empty. Any page naming a specific operator behind these plans is guessing, and if the network matters to you that is a reason to buy locally instead.