Cheap SIM cards and eSIMs for Hungary

If your plan is European, buy nothing

Hungary is in the EU. An EU or EEA contract roams here at home rates, so for most European visitors the answer to "what is the cheapest SIM card for Hungary" is the one already in the phone. Look up the fair-use data cap on your tariff and you are done.

British, American, Canadian and Australian travellers are the ones who need this page. Roaming from those markets is charged by the day, and a few days of it costs more than any plan below.

What data costs in Hungary

Airalo's Hungarian prices were read from its own site on 13 August 2026 and Nomad's from nomadesim.com on 17 August 2026. The Saily figures were read off Saily's own site on 18 August 2026. Only the Holafly figures are indicative — numbers our data holds but nobody has confirmed at the provider — so use those to compare, not to budget.

Hungary is cheaper than it looks

The last row is the one that matters. Airalo's 50 GB for 30 days at $36 is $0.72 a gigabyte — the cheapest rate in our Hungarian data, less than half the 20 GB rate, and a price we have checked rather than inferred. An earlier version of this page told readers the Hungarian market stopped at 20 GB. It does not, and the mistake made a mid-priced country look expensive.

That said, $36 is only the right buy if you will use the allowance. A fortnight of maps, messaging and photos usually lands under 10 GB, and at that size Nomad's verified $16 and Airalo's verified $19 are the honest recommendations. The floor is what you quote when someone asks what Hungarian data costs; the 10 GB plan is what most people should actually put in the basket.

Holafly and Airalo both sell unlimited. Airalo's verified unlimited runs $11.50 for three days to $69 for thirty, Nomad's verified unlimited runs $11 for three days to $33 for ten, and Holafly's indicative pricing is $19 for five days and $68.90 for twenty-five. Unlimited earns its keep if you tether a laptop; otherwise metered wins on cost every time.

Which network you actually connect to

Airalo does not publish a host network for Hungary. Its Hungarian product is branded Szia!, which is a package name and not a carrier — if a page tells you Airalo puts you on Magyar Telekom, it is inventing the detail. Saily, Nomad and Holafly list nothing at all. An earlier version of this page said Saily and Nomad name T-Mobile and Yettel, and credited Holafly's own product pages with T-Mobile, Vodafone and Yettel; none of those names came from the sellers, and Holafly's pages name no carrier for Hungary or for any country we have read. Nothing at checkout will tell you your Hungarian network.

The ranking of the Hungarian networks themselves is not in doubt. Magyar Telekom, sold as T-Mobile, has the widest 4G and 5G footprint. Vodafone Hungary is excellent in Budapest. Yettel, formerly Telenor, has good rural coverage. If you are buying a local SIM and can choose, Magyar Telekom is the safe pick.

Do not buy your SIM at Budapest Airport

No ID is required for a Hungarian prepaid SIM, so buying one is a straight counter transaction. Our data puts a typical airport tourist package at around $8, but Budapest Airport is the exception rather than the rule: there is a single Airport Hub outlet, it sells Yettel tourist SIMs, and it charges a heavy premium over the same carriers' shops in town.

The fix is easy. Wait until you are in the city and walk into a Magyar Telekom, Yettel or Vodafone store — or, if you would rather not queue at all, install an eSIM before you fly. For a short Budapest trip the eSIM is usually the better trade even where the local SIM is nominally cheaper, because the local SIM costs you an hour of a two-day visit.

Coverage is strong across the country, with a few known dead spots worth planning around: the remote Zemplén Mountains in the north-east, parts of the southern shore of Lake Balaton, and deep inside the Aggtelek caves.

Full plan tables and coverage notes are on the Hungary hub, and the cross-country comparison is at cheapest eSIM.