Saily eSIM review: what Saily is, what it costs, where it stops

What is Saily?

Saily is a prepaid travel eSIM service from Nord Security, the company behind NordVPN. You pick a destination in the Saily app, buy a data plan, install the eSIM and use it for mobile data abroad. Saily's help centre says it offers plans in over 200 countries and regions. There is also an optional add-on that gives you a US +1 phone number for calls and texts. This Saily eSIM review covers what Saily sells, what it costs and where it stops.

It is desk research, not a trip report. A note on method: saily.com refused our page fetches with an HTTP 403 on 8 October 2026, so what we say about its features comes from excerpts of its own pages that a search returned, and we label it vendor claims. The prices come from our own checks of saily.com on 13 and 18 August 2026, held in our verified file.

How does Saily work?

You can buy in the app or on the website. In the iPhone app, you choose a destination and plan and tap Install eSIM at checkout, then allow the new eSIM in Settings. On Android you tap Install eSIM, choose your device and follow the prompts. If the app route fails, Saily describes a manual install: enter the activation details in your phone's SIM settings. Plans bought on the website, such as a global plan, arrive as a QR code by email that you scan in the app.

Keep a stable Wi-Fi connection while installing. Then turn on data roaming for the Saily eSIM and select it for mobile data. Saily says the eSIM activates the first time it connects to a supported network in the destination. We cover the app in more detail on Saily app.

What does a Saily eSIM cost?

This Saily eSIM review quotes only verified US-dollar prices, read from saily.com. Saily's checked ladder has five plans per country: 1 GB for 7 days, then 3, 5, 10 and 20 GB for 30 days. Nothing larger.

US and Japan checked on 13 August 2026, Austria on 18 August 2026. Prices may have changed since. Within Saily's own ladder, the 20 GB plan is the cheapest per gigabyte in every one of the 48 countries where we hold Saily prices, but it is not the cheapest per gigabyte on this site overall, because Airalo and Nomad sell 50 GB plans. The full detail is in our Saily hub.

Saily also sells unlimited plans, in seven lengths from 5 to 30 days. We hold no prices for those, so we cannot rank them.

Is Saily worth it? The verdict of our Saily eSIM review

At matching sizes, a Saily eSIM is close to Airalo. In Austria its 20 GB month at $15.99 sits a cent under Airalo's $16.00. In Portugal and Canada Airalo is clearly cheaper. In Japan, Nomad's 20 GB at $23 (read 17 August) undercuts Saily's $24.99. The honest summary: a sound default for 3 to 20 GB, not the pick for a heavy month, and not a way to learn your network, because Saily names no operator.

What a Saily eSIM adds is the app, and any honest Saily eSIM review has to separate that from price. Every plan, Saily says, includes a virtual location feature, an ad blocker and web protection. Saily says its own test showed the ad blocker cut data use by an average of 28.6%. Treat that as a vendor figure. Saily also states plainly that it is not a full VPN.

Where is Saily unavailable?

In 46 of the 94 countries we cover, we hold no Saily price, including China, Taiwan and Malaysia. In each of those 46, Airalo is the only seller we price. For China, see our China page.

Who should skip a Saily eSIM?

If you need more than 20 GB in a month, look at Saily alternatives. If you want a discount code, see Saily coupon code. Everything we price is ranked on cheapest eSIM.