Nomad in the USA: the real prices are higher than we published

Correction: our figures were five dollars light

Until 18 August 2026 this page said Nomad priced its US plans in tens — 3GB at ten dollars, 10GB at twenty, 20GB at thirty — that all three were indicative, and that Nomad sold nothing larger and no unlimited option. On that basis it argued Nomad undercut every price we had actually confirmed at 10GB and 20GB, and recommended the 10GB.

Nomad's US catalogue has now been read off its own site. There are fourteen plans, not three. The 10GB month is $25 and the 20GB is $36, five and six dollars above what we published. There is a 50GB, a 75GB and a 100GB, and a full unlimited range. The recommendation the old figures supported does not survive them.

The range

All verified on 18 August 2026, along with unlimited plans at $24 for five days and $42 for ten.

Where Nomad actually lands

Airalo and Saily were read off their own sites on 13 August 2026. The old version of this page could say Nomad beat everything verified at 10GB and 20GB. On the real numbers it beats nothing verified at 10GB — Airalo's Change 10GB is $22.50 and Saily's is $22.99, both below Nomad's $25 — and it wins exactly one rung.

The 20GB is the one to buy

At $36 for 20GB over 30 days, Nomad is the cheapest verified 20GB in the United States: fifty cents under Airalo's Change at $36.50 and ninety-nine cents under Saily's $36.99. It is a narrow win on a size a lot of American trips actually want, and it is the only place on this ladder where Nomad leads.

Everywhere else it is beaten by a checked price. At 5GB it is two and a half dollars above Airalo. At 10GB it is two and a half dollars above Airalo and two above Saily. At 50GB it is $15 above Airalo's Change 50GB at $42, which is $0.84 a gigabyte against Nomad's $1.14 — and $0.84 is the cheapest US rate we hold from anyone.

What it does have that others don't

The long-duration plans are genuinely unusual: 75GB over 180 days at $89 and 100GB over a year at $120. Nobody else in our US data sells anything with a validity window longer than 30 days. If you visit the States several times a year, the arithmetic on those is worth doing — $1.19 and $1.20 a gigabyte is not cheap by US standards, but not having to re-buy for a year has its own value.

The unlimited range is competitive too. Nomad's $15 for three days sits above Airalo's verified $11.50, but at seven days Nomad's $32 is above Airalo's $25, and at 15 days Nomad's $55 is above Airalo's $46. Airalo wins unlimited outright; Nomad's contribution is a 20-day window at $65 that nobody else sells.

Road trips, and the network we can't name

Nomad does not publish a host network for the United States. Nor does Airalo, Saily or eSIMCard — the field is blank across the board, so no comparison here, ours included, can be made on coverage. Our data also carries eSIM Go rows for the United States, and they are absent from the tables above because 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. Anyone telling you which US carrier a travel eSIM attaches to is filling in a blank.

That is worth spelling out because of what American trips look like. Pacific Coast Highway, the Utah canyons, Route 66, the drive between park entrances in Montana or Wyoming — these are long stretches where coverage varies by network and by mile, and where a difference in host carrier would genuinely change your experience. Since you cannot know which one you have, plan as if you will lose signal: download offline maps for the day's route before you leave wifi, and don't let a travel eSIM be your only line in the backcountry. In cities, none of this arises.

Hotspot tethering is reported as supported on Nomad's plans, which matters if you work from coffee shops and hotel desks. We have not verified it.

How much to buy

A ten-day US trip with heavy navigation, social media and the odd video call typically runs 5–8GB, especially given how easy American wifi is to find. That points at 10GB, and at that size you should buy Airalo's Change at $22.50 or Saily's at $22.99 rather than Nomad's $25. If you are going bigger, Nomad's 20GB at $36 is the cheapest verified plan at its size; if you are going bigger still, Airalo's 50GB at $42 is the cheapest data in the country.

One more comparison worth making before you buy anything: a US prepaid SIM bought on arrival is about $20 at an airport counter and requires no ID at all. For a month in one city, that competes directly with every plan on this page.

Verdict

On the corrected prices Nomad is a narrow buy in the United States. Take the 20GB at $36, which is the cheapest verified plan at that size. Take the 75GB or 100GB if you come back repeatedly and want a year of validity.

Do not take the 10GB, which we recommended on a price that was five dollars too low: Airalo and Saily both sell the same month for less, and both figures have been checked. All US prices side by side on our USA hub.