Our detailed Airalo review. Here's what we learned from testing Airalo in 11 countries.

There's no escaping it—Airalo is probably the most popular eSIM on the market. With around 10 million customers as of 2025, as well as a committed user base and lots of flashy marketing, it should come as no surprise that you've heard of them and wondering if they're the right choice for you…

Our team here at Simsurf tested Airalo in 11 countries to learn more about how it works, what its strengths are, and where its limitations lie. What we learned might surprise you.

Stay tuned and happy surfing! 🏄

Airalo at a glance

If you're in a rush, here's all of the relevant info about Airalo condensed into a short section for your leisure. If you want to read deeper and find out about our experiences, the main article continues further down...

What impressed us about Airalo:

• Activation only took two minutes.
• Data plans available in nearly all countries.
• App and website are very simple to use.
• Customer service was quick and helpful.

We didn't impress us about Airalo:

• Setup might be hard for newcomers (check our tutorial video).
• Decent per-gig prices, though not the lowest.
• Trustpilot reviews aren't very positive.
• Airmoney applies to future buys but isn’t actual cashback.

What's Airalo's setup like?

There's no two ways about it. We found installation and activation to be super quick, easy, and understandable with Airalo. Our YouTube producer Jonny reported that it took him just two minutes from start to finish, while it took Jan, our digital nomad expert, just three.

Here's how the process looked for us, step by step:

This process can also be started on the website over desktop (see the GIF below from our test), but you'll be required to finish the installation and activation process on your phone after downloading the Airalo app.

Having bought, downloaded, installed, and activated around 20 eSIMs in dozens of destinations worldwide, our team here at Simsurf has seen our fair share of setups. Airalo's was one of the easiest we've encountered. (Only maybe Saily was easier, but not by much.) This definitely speaks well for Airalo and means it's highly accessible, no matter how tech savvy you are.

Once activated, here's how Airalo works

As mentioned, your installed eSIM should automatically activate upon arrival in your destination country through automatically connecting with local networks.

From here on out, it should be fairly simple. You just get to enjoy your data! But there are a few additional features or experiences we thought were noteworthy. We'll share more below, but in case you're looking for our full thoughts in video form, don't miss Jonny's excellent Airalo tutorial video below:

You can also find out more about exactly how Airalo works in our dedicated guide on the subject.

Your connection is via local networks

The best part about eSIMs is that they connect you directly to local networks, just like if you weren't a tourist at all! Airalo is no exception.

For example, with an Airalo eSIM in Indonesia, you get connection through Indosat's networks. In Canada, you'd be connected via Rogers, Bell, or Telus. In cases where multiple networks are available (e.g., Canada, but also many others), you'll be automatically connected to the fastest network (which is sometimes 5G), but you can manually switch networks in your settings too.

We looked at the top 25 most popular destinations and found that Airalo offers an average of 1.4 carriers for every destination. While less than Holafly (2) or aloSIM (1.8), it's still not too bad, and means you'll more than likely have the option to switch networks on your vacation.

You can top up at any time

Lets say you buy a conservative amount of data just to test it out. Then, after two or three days abroad, you find yourself running out. With Airalo, that's no problem. As long as you've got the app and your original payment method saved, topping up your existing eSIM should take just seconds. You won't even need to install another eSIM—it's your original eSIM (already installed) that you're topping up, after all.

Customer support is top-notch

Our testers contacted Airalo's customer support a few times during our travels, but to test it out and to address real questions.

In general, feedback from our team has agreed that Airalo's customer support is helpful and courteous, although it wasn't always as fast as we'd have liked. For example, in Jonny's test, it took him 22 minutes to be put in touch with a human being.

It's also worth noting that phone and email support aren't available with Airalo, so your only option is via the in-app live chat. Fortunately, it's available 24/7, but for customers who prefer the personal side of phone calls or the slower pace of emails, this may not be totally ideal…

Airalo has other special perks & plans too

Below are a few other things we found noteworthy:

Regional plans and a global plan

You can buy packages for entire regions like Asia or Africa (although this is pretty standard among eSIM sellers these days). However, Airalo also offers a global plan that's quite a bit superior to other options on the market.

It's called Airalo Discover and covers 138 countries around the globe. It's also relatively affordable, with per-gig rates ranging from just $3.45 to $9 depending on the plan you choose.

Airmoney (it's not real ‘cashback’ though)

As mentioned earlier, Airmoney is a rewards currency you accumulate by making eSIM purchases on Airalo, including for things like top ups or referring friends. You can see how much Airmoney you've got by looking at the USD value in the Airmoney & Membership section of the app:

While nifty if you're planning to buy lots of Airalo eSIMs, it's not really cashback though, despite all of Airalo's attempts to market it as such. We found this aspect a bit misleading.

We liked the helpful widget, though

One thing we found quite unique about Airalo is that it lets you add a special widget to your phone's home screen. It tracks your remaining data and lets you get an overview of your plan without opening the app. Here's how it looked on Jonny's iPhone:

While more of a nice-to-have feature than anything else, we still appreciated this as a positive touch. After all, it's not a feature we've observed yet among other eSIM sellers.

Is Airalo really as affordable as it says?

Airalo charges based on gigabytes. For instance, a 1 GB plan has a single upfront cost (usually around $4.50). If you go for a larger plan like 20 GB, you can divide the total cost by the number of gigabytes to find the per-gig rate, which drops as the data amount increases thanks to economies of scale (with 20 GB plans, it can be as low as $1.50 per gig in many countries).

According to our comparison with nearly two dozen other eSIMs in around 200 destinations, Airalo's prices are particularly good for normal data usage (e.g., 1–5 GB), but not quite as competitive for heavy usage (> 5 GB).

You can compare pricing of the top eSIMs for yourself in real time using Simsurf's free comparison tool:

Is Airalo legit? What are other customers saying?

Yes, Airalo is a fully legit company that provides access to eSIMs in over 200 countries and territories. It was founded in 2019 and has already served 10 million users and counting.

Airalo holds strong ratings on both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. On the App Store, it has a 4.6-star average from 61,000 user reviews. On Google Play, it has a 4.5-star average based on 72,000 reviews. These are not too shabby and reflect a well-liked app experience.

Airalo's Trustpilot rating is much lower, with only 2.6 out of 5 stars. Still, while this isn't great, this is probably a result of Airalo not paying for good reviews on Trustpilot and letting the market have their say on a platform which, admittedly, is known for its complaints and negative feedback.