Review · 14 countries checked · prices August 2026
Airalo in Asia: the one that covers everywhere
Never the cheapest, never the problem. Airalo is the provider you buy when you do not want to check a coverage table twice.
The verdict the default, and there is nothing wrong with that
Airalo is the largest travel eSIM brand in the world and it prices like it. In most of the 14 countries here it sits $1 to $6 above the cheapest linkable option, and in exchange nothing about it surprises you.
The networks are published everywhere. The coverage list has no holes. The caps are stated. If something breaks at 2am in a Bali villa, the fix is already written down somewhere in a language you read, because a hundred thousand people have hit the same thing before you.
The one country where it is more than a convenience premium is China, where its Dutch exit and access to all three Chinese carriers make it the best combination on the market, not just the safest.
Asialink, the regional plan every size
| Size | Validity | Price | Per GB |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1GB | 3 days | $4 | $4 |
| 3GB | 3 days | $9 | $3 |
| 3GB | 7 days | $9.50 | $3.17 |
| 5GB | 7 days | $14 | $2.80 |
| 5GB | 15 days | $14.50 | $2.90 |
| 5GB | 30 days | $15 | $3 |
| 10GB | 7 days | $23 | $2.30 |
| 10GB | 15 days | $24 | $2.40 |
| 10GB | 30 days | $25 | $2.50 |
| 20GB | 15 days | $38 | $1.90 |
| 20GB | 30 days | $39 | $1.95 |
| 50GB | 30 days | $59 | $1.18 |
| 50GB | 90 days | $69 | $1.38 |
| 100GB | 180 days | $89 | $0.89 |
Airalo sells the same size at several validity lengths, a few cents apart, which is unusual and genuinely useful on a short trip. Unlimited is separate, capped at 3GB a day, from $9.
Airalo country by country local packs and networks
| Country | 10GB local plan | Networks it may use | Unlimited cap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🇯🇵 Japan | $18 /30d | KDDI + SoftBank | 3GB/day from $11.50 |
| 🇨🇳 China | $26.50 /30d | China Mobile + China Telecom + China Unicom | 3GB/day from $11.50 |
| 🇮🇳 India | $24 /30d | Jio + Vi (Vodafone Idea) | 3GB/day from $20.50 |
| 🇹🇭 Thailand | $11 /30d | AIS + True (CAT) + dtac + True | 3GB/day from $9.50 |
| 🇵🇭 Philippines | $19 /30d | Globe + Smart | 3GB/day from $11.50 |
| 🇹🇼 Taiwan | $19 /30d | Chunghwa Telecom + Far EasTone + Taiwan Mobile | 3GB/day from $12.50 |
| 🇭🇰 Hong Kong & Macau | $18 /30d | CSL / HKT | 3GB/day from $12.50 |
| 🇮🇩 Bali & Indonesia | $21 /30d | Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison + Telkomsel | 3GB/day from $11 |
| 🇸🇬 Singapore | $16 /30d | M1 + Singtel + StarHub | 3GB/day from $11.50 |
| 🇲🇾 Malaysia | $20 /30d | CelcomDigi + Maxis | 3GB/day from $11.50 |
| 🇳🇵 Nepal | $24 /30d | Ncell | 3GB/day from $17 |
| 🇰🇭 Cambodia | $21 /30d | Cellcard + Smart Axiata + Metfone (Viettel) | 3GB/day from $12.50 |
| 🇲🇻 Maldives | — | Dhiraagu | not sold here |
| 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | $11.50 /30d | Hutch + Mobitel | not sold here |
Airalo's local packs carry country nicknames rather than the country name: Moshi Moshi in Japan, Maew in Thailand, Indotel in Indonesia, Connect Lah! in Singapore, Sambungkan in Malaysia, Alpas Mobile in the Philippines, Chinacom in China, Xie Xie in Taiwan, Indicomm in India, Ella in Sri Lanka, Patancell in Nepal. The naming is charming and it makes price comparison harder than it needs to be, which may not be an accident.
Where Airalo is the pick on this site: China, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong and Nepal, in each case for network breadth or, in Sri Lanka, for being outright cheapest.
Airalo against the field same sizes, same week
| Airalo | GigSky | Saily | Yesim | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regional 10GB / 30 days | $25 | $22.99 | $35.99 | $21.61 |
| Cheapest country here (10GB) | $11 Thailand | $9.79 Thailand | $10.99 Thailand | $12.78 Thailand |
| Dearest country here (10GB) | $26.50 China | $96.99 Philippines | $26.99 China | $21.61 China |
| Unlimited daily cap | 3GB | 3.5GB | 5GB | not published |
| Covers, of our 14 countries | 12 | 11 | 12 | 12 |
| Publishes its networks | Yes, everywhere | Yes | No | Yes |
| Publishes its exit country | Yes, Netherlands | Yes, US | No | Yes, Poland |
| Trustpilot | 4.1 / 41,238 | 4.3 / 6,084 | 4.7 / 30,290 | suspended |
Trustpilot scores and review counts as of 2026-08-31. Airalo has by far the most reviews of any provider here, which makes its 4.1 a more settled number than a higher score on a tenth of the volume.
Where Airalo puts your traffic the Netherlands, always
Airalo releases your data to the internet in the Netherlands, wherever in Asia you are standing. That has three practical consequences.
In China it means the Great Firewall does not apply to you. Google, WhatsApp, Instagram and Gmail work with no VPN, because the filtering happens at China's border and your traffic never crosses it. This is the single strongest argument for Airalo in Asia. The China page covers it in full.
Everywhere else it means you look Dutch. Banks occasionally ask for a second factor, streaming services show you European libraries rather than your home ones, and a few local services that geo-check will treat you as a foreign visitor, which you are.
And it is published, which two providers in this comparison cannot say.
Buy it if, skip it if the short version
Buy Airalo if
Your route includes the Philippines and you want one regional plan. GigSky's cheaper plan does not cover it.
You are going to China and want three-carrier access plus a documented non-Chinese exit.
You want the brand with the most support documentation in the world when something goes wrong at an inconvenient hour.
You are buying small: its 1GB and 3GB packs are the cheapest entry sizes in several of these countries.
Skip Airalo if
You are staying in Thailand, Japan, India or Indonesia and price leads. GigSky is cheaper in all four.
You need a large unlimited cap. Airalo's 3GB a day is the smallest of the major providers except Nomad.
You are travelling for months. Airalo's longest Asia validity is 30 days against GigSky's 180.
You want a phone number. Every plan here is data-only, Airalo included.
Airalo questions asked and answered
Is Airalo good for Asia?
Yes, and it is the safest single choice. Asialink at $25 for 10GB reaches 12 of the 14 countries documented here, it publishes its networks and its exit country everywhere, and it is the best option in China, Cambodia and Sri Lanka. It is rarely the cheapest, which is the trade.
What is Airalo Asialink?
Airalo's regional Asia plan, one eSIM profile that works across a large list of Asian countries, including 12 of the 14 on this site. Nepal and the Maldives are the two it leaves out. Sizes run from 1GB to 100GB, with an unlimited option capped at 3GB a day. It costs roughly twice what a local pack costs per gigabyte, which is normal for regional plans.
Is Airalo or GigSky better for Asia?
GigSky on price, in Japan, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, and its regional plan is cheaper. Airalo on coverage: it includes the Philippines, where GigSky's regional plan does not, and it is priced sanely in every country rather than four of them. Neither covers Nepal or the Maldives. If you buy one brand for all your Asia trips without checking, buy Airalo.
Does Airalo work in China without a VPN?
Yes. Airalo routes your traffic out through the Netherlands, so the Great Firewall does not filter it, and it can use all three Chinese carriers. Install it before you land, because buying an eSIM inside China is genuinely hard.
Does Airalo unlimited have a data cap?
Yes, 3GB a day on the Asialink unlimited plans, then reduced speed until the next day. It is the smallest published cap among the major providers here. Saily's is 5GB and GigSky's is 3.5GB.
Why are Airalo plans named things like Moshi Moshi and Maew?
Airalo gives each country pack a local nickname instead of the country name. Moshi Moshi is Japan, Maew is Thailand, Xie Xie is Taiwan, Ella is Sri Lanka, Patancell is Nepal. It is friendly and it makes comparing prices at a glance harder, so the country table above lists them by country instead.
Asialink · 10GB · $25
12 of our 14 countries on one profile, Philippines included, with networks and exit country published.
Get Airalo AsialinkSources & freshness: Airalo plan prices, sizes, validity, networks, exit country and fair-use caps from provider feeds via esimdb, 2026-08-31, in USD. Trustpilot score and review count as of the same date. We have not run our own speed tests on Airalo in Asia. Back to the Asia eSIM comparison.