UK data prices, and the Airalo tier nobody explains

Start here if you are coming from Europe

The UK is outside the EU, so roam-like-at-home no longer covers it by law. In practice many European operators still include the UK in their roaming zone as a commercial choice, and some quietly do not. Check your own contract's country list before you fly — that one lookup decides whether the rest of this page is relevant to you at all.

Two Airalo products, not one

Airalo sells the UK under two names, Uki Mobile and Uki Mobile+, and both appear at every size. So a headline like "Airalo 10 GB in the UK costs $19" is only half true: $19 buys Uki Mobile, and Uki Mobile+ at the same size is $23.50.

We do not know what the plus adds. Our data records two products and two prices, nothing more, and we are not going to guess that the dearer one is faster, better-covered or better-prioritised. Read Airalo's own product page before paying the difference, because on the evidence we hold, the cheaper tier at a larger size beats the dearer tier at a smaller one every time.

Look at the two rows that matter. Uki Mobile+ at 20 GB is $38.50. Uki Mobile at 50 GB is $39. Fifty pence separates them and one gives you two and a half times the data.

$0.78 per gigabyte is the cheapest rate we can stand behind for the UK, and it comes from that 50 GB plan. It is a middling figure by world standards — Thailand runs to $0.55 — but it is well clear of anything the small plans offer.

Where the unverified prices point

Nomad undercuts Airalo at 20 GB, at a verified $25 against Airalo's verified $31, and at 10 GB, at a verified $17.50 against $19. Our data also carries lower eSIM Go rows — $22 at 20 GB and $14 at 10 GB — which earlier versions of this page presented as the best value on the list. They are not on the list now: 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.

Nomad's figures were read at source on 17 August 2026. Saily's are verified: 3 GB for $8.99, 5 GB for $12.99, 10 GB for $18.99 and 20 GB for $30.99, all over 30 days — a genuine like-for-like alternative to Airalo's cheaper tier.

Unlimited, and the arithmetic against it

Airalo's verified unlimited plans run $11.50 for three days, $18.50 for five, $27 for seven, $34.50 for ten, $48 for fifteen and $69 for thirty. Holafly's verified prices are close but higher at most lengths: $20.50 for five days, $27.50 for seven, $36.50 for ten, $50.50 for fifteen, $73.90 for thirty. Nomad's verified unlimited runs $11 for three days, $18 for five, $25 for seven and $33 for ten — below Airalo at every one of those lengths.

Fifteen days of unlimited from Airalo costs $48. Fifty gigabytes over thirty days costs $39. You would need to burn more than 50 GB in a fortnight for unlimited to make sense, and in a country this thoroughly covered by hotel, pub and rail wifi, most people do not come close.

The supermarket SIM is a real option

UK prepaid SIMs require no ID at all — no passport, no registration, no waiting. They are sold at Heathrow across all terminals, and outside the airport at Boots, WHSmith, Sainsbury's, Tesco, ordinary newsagents and every carrier's own shop. Airport price is about $10.

We do not hold what allowance that $10 buys, so it is not in the table above and we will not pretend to compare it. What we can say is that buying one is trivially easy, and that it is the only way to choose which network you are on.

What we can and cannot tell you about coverage

EE has the widest 4G coverage in the UK at 99.8%, the highest 5G availability at 77.4%, and the best overall Opensignal ratings. That is a fact about British networks.

It is not a reason to buy any particular eSIM, and an earlier version of this page said otherwise. Airalo, Saily, Nomad and eSIMCard do not publish a host network for their UK plans — not one of them — and eSIM Go has no consumer page on which it could. Holafly names none either — the Three UK and Virgin Media O2 pairing this page used to attribute to its listing came from our own data rather than from Holafly, which names no operator in any country. If a specific network matters to you, buy a physical SIM in a supermarket and pick the operator yourself.

Coverage gaps are worth knowing wherever you buy: the Scottish Highlands and islands, particularly the Outer Hebrides, Orkney and Shetland; rural Wales; the North York Moors; parts of Cornwall; and remote Lake District valleys. Emergency calls connect without an active plan.

Every UK plan and price we hold, both Airalo tiers included, is on the UK hub.