Taiwan's cheapest verified eSIM rate is $1.39 a gigabyte, and only one plan gets there
Airalo's 50 GB Taiwan plan works out at $1.39 a gigabyte. Its 1 GB plan works out at $6.00. Eighteen prices, all read off the checkout on 17 August 2026, from the one provider we hold for Taiwan.
One seller, eighteen prices, one date
We hold plan data for exactly one eSIM provider in Taiwan: Airalo. Eighteen plans, all eighteen verified — read off airalo.com on 17 August 2026. That is the whole of our Taiwan coverage, and it is not a survey of the market. Saily, Holafly, Nomad, eSIMCard and eSIM Go all sell travel eSIMs; we have not priced any of them in Taiwan yet, so none of them appears below with a number beside it. When someone here has read their Taiwanese checkouts, the numbers will arrive with a date attached, the way these did.
Airalo sells its Taiwanese plans under the name Xie Xie. That is Airalo's own product label — the way a supermarket brands its own-label tea — and it is not a carrier. Airalo publishes no host network for Taiwan, and publishes none for any other country either, so we cannot tell you which Taiwanese operator your phone will attach to. Nor can anyone who has not asked Airalo directly.
The full ladder
| Data | Days | Price | Per GB |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 GB | 3 | $6 | $6 |
| 3 GB | 3 | $12.50 | $4.17 |
| 3 GB | 7 | $13 | $4.33 |
| 5 GB | 7 | $16 | $3.20 |
| 5 GB | 15 | $16.50 | $3.30 |
| 5 GB | 30 | $17.50 | $3.50 |
| 10 GB | 7 | $25 | $2.50 |
| 10 GB | 15 | $26 | $2.60 |
| 10 GB | 30 | $27 | $2.70 |
| 20 GB | 15 | $40 | $2 |
| 20 GB | 30 | $41.50 | $2.08 |
| 50 GB | 30 | $69.50 | $1.39 |
That is the whole metered ladder — it starts at 1 GB and stops at 50 GB, with nothing above. The shape of it is worth stating plainly, because it decides most of what follows: the small plans are dreadful value. The 1 GB plan works out at $6.00 a gigabyte and the 50 GB plan at $1.39. Same company, same country, same day, and a 4.3-fold difference in rate decided entirely by how far down the page you scrolled.
What the next rung up actually costs
The more useful question is not which plan has the lowest rate — it obviously has to be the biggest one — but what the extra data costs when you step up a single rung. From the rows above:
- 5 GB to 10 GB, both over 7 days: $16.00 becomes $25.00. Five more gigabytes for $9, or $1.80 each.
- 10 GB over 7 days to 20 GB over 15: $25.00 becomes $40.00. Ten more gigabytes for $15, and double the window.
- 20 GB over 15 days to 50 GB over 30: $40.00 becomes $69.50. Thirty more gigabytes for $29.50, under a dollar each.
Every step up buys its extra data more cheaply than the plan you are stepping off. That is why the largest plan holds the lowest rate, and it is why the small tiers are worth buying only when you are certain you want that little.
Unlimited is a bet on duration, not on data
Airalo also lists six unlimited plans here: $18 for 3 days, $27 for 5 days, $42 for 7, $50 for 10, $69.50 for 15 and $98 for 30. Those are priced by time, and two crossover points matter.
The 15-day unlimited plan is $69.50 — exactly what the 50 GB plan over 30 days costs. If you can stay under 50 GB, the metered plan gives you twice the window for the same money. At the other end, the 3-day unlimited at $18 is $5.50 more than 3 GB over 3 days at $12.50, which is a fair price for a weekend spent not thinking about it.
Which tier to buy
- A long weekend, maps and messaging. 3 GB over 3 days at $12.50, or 5 GB over 7 days at $16.00 if you would rather not count.
- A week, hotel wifi in the evenings. 10 GB over 7 days at $25.00. The 15-day version is $26.00 — if your dates are at all loose, pay the extra dollar.
- Two weeks, or a phone tethering a laptop. 20 GB over 15 days at $40.00.
- A month, or two people sharing a hotspot. 50 GB over 30 days at $69.50, the only Taiwanese plan we hold that comes in under $2 a gigabyte.
Taiwan is expensive, and this is the comparison
$1.39 is a poor floor by the standards of the rest of this site, and the fairest way to show it is against the same seller in the same month. Airalo's Thai 50 GB plan was $27.50 on 13 August — $0.55 a gigabyte. Its Austrian equivalent was $29 the same day, $0.58. The Taiwanese one is $69.50. Same company, same plan size, two and a half times the rate.
We have no explanation for that, and we are not going to invent one. Airalo does not publish how it prices country by country, and wholesale rates are not something anyone here has seen.
What this page does not tell you
We hold no local SIM data for Taiwan at all: no airport counter prices, no shop advice, no registration rules, no operator names. Plenty of pages will give you all four with great confidence. We have not researched it, so this page says nothing about it, and it will stay silent until someone has.
We also hold nothing for the other five sellers here. If one of them beats $1.39 a gigabyte in Taiwan, we would not know it — and neither would a page that lists all six with figures nobody read. That distinction is the whole of how we test. Our Airalo page covers what the company is like to buy from across every country we hold, and the cheapest eSIM plans puts Taiwan's $1.39 next to every other rate on the site.
Common questions
Which eSIM is cheapest in Taiwan?
We can only answer for Airalo, because it is the only provider whose Taiwanese prices anyone here has read. Its lowest rate is the 50 GB plan over 30 days at $69.50, which is $1.39 a gigabyte. Saily, Holafly, Nomad, eSIMCard and eSIM Go are not priced here yet, so we cannot tell you whether one of them is cheaper.
Which Taiwanese network does an Airalo eSIM use?
We do not know, and Airalo does not say. It publishes no host network for Taiwan or for any other country. Xie Xie, the name on the listing, is Airalo’s own product label for its Taiwan plans rather than an operator, so it tells you nothing about coverage either.
Is the unlimited plan worth it in Taiwan?
Only on a short trip. The 3-day unlimited at $18 costs $5.50 more than 3 GB over the same 3 days, which is a reasonable premium. The 15-day unlimited is $69.50, identical to the 50 GB plan that runs for 30 days, so unless you expect to burn through 50 GB in a fortnight the metered plan gives you far more room.
Why is Taiwan so much dearer than Thailand?
We cannot say why, only that it is. Airalo’s 50 GB plan is $69.50 in Taiwan and was $27.50 in Thailand on 13 August — $1.39 a gigabyte against $0.55, from the same seller. Airalo does not publish its per-country pricing logic, and guessing at wholesale costs would be exactly the kind of invention this site exists to avoid.