giffgaff SIM only: plans, the free SIM and what it costs abroad

What is giffgaff, and which network does it use?

giffgaff is a UK mobile network with no shops of its own. Its help centre says it runs on O2's mobile network, so a phone locked to O2 works on giffgaff without unlocking. Everything is managed in the giffgaff app or online, and there are no credit checks when you buy a plan or an 18-month contract plan, according to its plan guide.

This is desk research from giffgaff's own help centre, press office and contract documents. We have not bought or tested a giffgaff plan. One warning before the numbers: giffgaff.com put our browser behind a security check on 10 November 2026, so we could not open the live plans page. Where a price below comes from giffgaff's indexed plan pages rather than a page we opened, we say so.

What giffgaff SIM only deals were on offer in November 2026?

giffgaff sells three kinds of plan, and the names matter:

• Monthly plans (goodybags). giffgaff renamed goodybags as plans. Each lasts one calendar month, with unlimited UK minutes and texts. Unused data does not carry over. You can buy one at a time, or set it to recur, which giffgaff calls a golden goodybag on its monthly rolling pages.
• 18-month contract plans. A fixed price for 18 months, with an early termination charge if you leave after the 14-day cooling-off period.
• Pay as you go credit. Credit pays for anything outside a plan.

giffgaff's press office set out two live 18-month offers on 23 October 2026:

Both come with unlimited calls and texts and up to 5GB of EU roaming. An earlier promotion, unlimited data for £14 a month on 18 months (usually £25) or £20 a month rolling for 12 months (then £35), needed activating by 2 October 2026 and has ended. The usual prices it quoted, £25 for 18-month unlimited and £35 for rolling unlimited, are the only unlimited prices we can confirm.

For the monthly rolling golden goodybags, giffgaff's own plan pages, as indexed by search engines, listed £6 for 2GB, £8 for 5GB, £10 for 20GB, £12 for 26GB, £15 for 50GB, £20 for 100GB and £25 for 200GB. We could not open those pages to check they were current on 10 November 2026, so treat them as a guide and check the app before you buy.

What happens when your plan's data runs out?

You pay from credit at giffgaff's pay as you go rates. Its contract information gives 10p per MB for data, 25p a minute for UK calls and 10p a text. At 10p per MB a gigabyte works out at about £100, which is why running dry on a small plan is expensive. From your third plan purchase, plans of £10 or more get 1GB extra once the data runs out; the £6 and £8 plans do not qualify. You can also start a new plan early once you are down to 500MB or less, but that wipes what is left on the old one.

How do you get a free giffgaff SIM card?

Order it online. giffgaff's ordering guide says the SIM is free, usually arrives within two working days, and orders placed before 5pm usually arrive the next working day. It only delivers to UK addresses. Most people can order up to three at a time.

If you are looking for where to buy a giffgaff SIM card in person, giffgaff says you can pick one up at most local shops; its eSIM guide puts the price at about £1 in supermarkets and convenience stores.

To activate, go to giffgaff.com/activate and enter the 13-digit code printed on the SIM. You need to make a payment to activate. Activation can take up to 24 hours but is usually quicker. To keep your old number, giffgaff's contract information says you give it a PAC code from your old network.

Can you get giffgaff on an eSIM?

Yes, at the same price as a physical SIM. New customers create an account and activate the eSIM in the giffgaff app, and giffgaff says an eSIM can no longer be activated with pay as you go credit alone, so you need a plan. Switching is open from 4.30am to 9.30pm and needs a text code sent to your giffgaff number, so do it before you travel. Full steps are in our giffgaff eSIM guide.

Does giffgaff SIM only work abroad?

In the EU and selected destinations, yes. giffgaff's EU roaming help page, updated 30 September 2026, says you can use up to 5GB from your plan, and that cap is per plan, not per month or per trip. If your plan has less than 5GB, your UK allowance is the limit. After that, data is 10p per MB. Calls and texts are included under the fair use policy, and you need to have used giffgaff in the UK in the 63 days before you travel to roam for up to 63 days.

Switzerland, Turkey, the USA and most of the world are outside that allowance. There your plan does not apply and calls, texts and data come out of credit. Our giffgaff roaming guide has the rates and the travel data add-ons.

Is a travel eSIM cheaper than giffgaff abroad?

In Europe, usually not. On a giffgaff plan with 5GB or more, a week in Spain or France costs nothing extra up to 5GB. The sum changes only if you need more than 5GB.

Outside Europe it is the other way round. giffgaff's Switzerland article lists data at 20p per MB on its Rest of the World rates, which is around £200 for a gigabyte. Our verified prices for a US travel eSIM, read on each seller's site in August 2026, were $21.50 for Airalo's 10GB over 7 days, $22.99 for Saily's 10GB over 30 days and $25 for Nomad's 10GB over 30 days. giffgaff's own travel data add-ons narrow the gap, and the roaming page is the place to compare them.

If you add a travel eSIM, keep giffgaff on for calls and texts and switch its data roaming off. Our data roaming guide shows where the setting is.

Who does giffgaff suit?

UK residents who want a cheap monthly plan with no credit check, who mostly travel in Europe, and who are happy to do everything in an app. It is a poor fit for visitors: SIMs ship only to UK addresses, and the eSIM needs an app account, a plan and a text code to a giffgaff number. A visitor is better off with a travel eSIM or a SIM bought on arrival, compared in our UK SIM card guide. If you want to compare the parent network, see O2 SIM only.