Key takeaways
Across 271 traveler reports from India and our tests, the best option for most trips is Nomad: it worked well for 29 of 31 travelers who reported from India, on Airtel, and its misses were setup trouble, not dead zones. Maya Mobile (46 of 50) suits a week or more on unlimited data and is the cheapest global unlimited plan in our comparison, but sells nothing shorter than 3 days. Jetpac (19 of 21) had the best Rajasthan and Golden Triangle reports and adds voice packs, though its unlimited plans are 4G only. Holafly (25 of 28) names both Airtel and Jio, but in our test its speed was capped from the start.
- Best for most trips Nomad 94% worked well in India 29 of 31 reviewers 7.2 our score
- Long trips, unlimited data Maya Mobile 92% worked well in India 46 of 50 reviewers 8.4 our score
- Rajasthan and the Golden Triangle Jetpac 90% worked well in India 19 of 21 reviewers 6.9 our score
- Unlimited data on two networks Holafly 89% worked well in India 25 of 28 reviewers 7.1 our score
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The best eSIM for India is mostly a question of which network it lands on. According to Opensignal's February 2026 report, Jio won download speed in all 22 of India's telecom circles (the licence areas operators run separately), Airtel came close in a northern band from Punjab to Rajasthan, and Vi (Vodafone Idea) scored lowest of the private operators on coverage, with no measurable 5G in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Assam, the North East or Odisha. Three of the providers compared here name Jio but limit India to 4G, one names Vi only, and five of the providers compared here do not name an Indian network on their page at all.
Buying a local SIM got harder on 21 Aug 2026, when India's Telecommunications (User Identification) Rules made biometric identity checks mandatory for every new SIM, tourists included, according to the Internet Freedom Foundation's analysis of the gazette notice. A data-only travel eSIM is provisioned under the provider's roaming agreements and skips that process. Whether the arrival halls at Delhi or Mumbai still sell tourist SIMs is something our research could not confirm, because the published travel advice contradicts itself. One more thing to plan for: Airalo and Holafly were removed from India's app stores in January 2024, as reported by several Indian news outlets, and travelers in late 2025 and September 2026 reported that these apps and the Nomad app still would not load inside India. Install your eSIM at home, on Wi-Fi, before you fly.
Terrain and politics both cut into coverage. Access Now counted 65 government-ordered internet shutdowns in India in 2025, the second-highest number in the world, and no travel eSIM survives a regional shutdown, because it is ordered against every operator at once. In the traveler reports, every eSIM used in Jammu, Srinagar or Leh failed, whatever the provider. The 271 reports below say which providers worked where, and the local SIM section says when a Jio or Airtel tourist pack is still the better buy. If your trip continues to Dubai, our United Arab Emirates eSIM article covers that leg; Southeast Asia stopovers are in the Thailand eSIM article.
Article Contents
Best eSIM Providers for India
eSIM plans in India at a glance
- Cheapest plan Yesim €0.45 0.3 GB 1 days
- Cheapest 5 GB plan Jetpac $7.5 5 GB 1 days
- Cheapest 10 GB plan Jetpac $12.5 10 GB 1 days
- Cheapest 20 GB plan Global YO $20.99 20 GB 30 days
- Most data Ubigi $290 200 GB 360 days
- Longest validity Roamless $442.5 150 GB 999 days
- Lowest price per GB Global YO $56.69 100 GB 60 days
How well each provider's eSIM works in India
The Vefru score is our overall rating of the provider. The percentage shows how many reviewers said their eSIM worked well in India. Since unhappy customers review more often, it is best used to compare providers with each other.
Worked well in India
29 of 31 reviewers
94%
Worked well in India
46 of 50 reviewers
92%
Worked well in India
19 of 21 reviewers
90%
Worked well in India
25 of 28 reviewers
89%
Worked well in India
31 of 45 reviewers
69%
Worked well in India
17 of 17 reviewers
100%
Worked well in India
5 of 5 reviewers
100%
Worked well in India
3 of 3 reviewers
100%
Worked well in India
9 of 10 reviewers
90%
Worked well in India
11 of 13 reviewers
85%
Worked well in India
16 of 19 reviewers
84%
Worked well in India
10 of 14 reviewers
71%
Worked well in India
6 of 15 reviewers
40%
Worked well in India
0 of 0 reviewers
0%
How we got these numbers: we read 271 public customer reviews that mention India or a place in it, published between March 2023 and August 2026, and counted a report as "worked" when the reviewer said the eSIM connected, even with small hiccups. We treat 20 or more reports as strong evidence, 3 to 19 as limited, and fewer than 3 as too few to judge. A count like 29 of 31 means the eSIM worked well for 29 of the 31 travelers who reported from here; each provider section says what went wrong for the rest. The Vefru test score is a separate number: our own hands-on test of the provider, run outside India, so it says how the provider behaves, not how the network performs here. Local operator prices in the text were checked on 25 September 2026; provider ratings, the plan tables and the price-per-GB chart are live and update on their own.
| Provider | Vefru test score | Worked in India (reports) | Best for | Network in India | Speed cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nomad | 7.2 | 29 of 31 (strong) | Best for most trips | Airtel | Unlimited: 2 GB/day, then 1 Mbps |
| Maya Mobile | 8.4 | 46 of 50 (strong) | Long trips, unlimited data | not named on its page (checked September 2026) | Unlimited: 5 GB/day, then 3 Mbps (our tool) |
| Jetpac | 6.9 | 19 of 21 (strong) | Rajasthan and the Golden Triangle | not named on its page (checked September 2026) | Unlimited: 3 GB/day, then 1 Mbps; unlimited is 4G only |
| Holafly | 7.1 | 25 of 28 (strong) | Unlimited data on two networks | Airtel + Jio | Capped from the start (our test); operator fair use, hotspot 1 GB/day |
| Airalo | 7.5 | 31 of 45 (strong) | Calls and texts, weak record here | Vi | Unlimited: 3 GB/day, then 1 Mbps |
| GigSky | 7.1 | 17 of 17 (limited) | Delhi and South India, at market price | not named on its page (checked September 2026) | Unlimited: 2.5 or 3.5 GB/day (its page gives both) |
| Roamless | 7.1 | 5 of 5 (limited) | Light use, pay as you go | Jio (4G only) | None stated |
| Yesim | 6.6 | 3 of 3 (limited) | not a top pick here | unknown | Unlimited: fair-use throttling, limit not published |
| Saily | 8.1 | 9 of 10 (limited) | First eSIM, best help desk | not named on its page (checked September 2026) | No unlimited plan for India in our tool |
| GoMoWorld | 7.8 | 11 of 13 (limited) | Cheapest here, app only | not named on its page (checked September 2026) | None found in our test |
| Ubigi | 6.3 | 16 of 19 (limited) | not a top pick here | Jio (4G only) | Unlimited: 25 to 60 GB by plan, then 2 Mbps |
| ByteSIM | 6.1 | 10 of 14 (limited) | not a top pick here | Airtel | Daily and total plans: 128 kbps after quota; unlimited limit not stated |
| Global YO | 8.0 | 6 of 15 (limited) | not a top pick here | Jio (4G only) | Day plans: 1 GB/day, then reduced |
| eSIM4Travel | 8.8 | no reports yet | no reports, cheaper rivals here | Vi + Airtel | Unlimited: 3 GB/day, then 1 Mbps |
We ranked on the India record first, price position in our comparison second and our hands-on test third, and kept the Best group to the four providers with 20 or more reports and a record of 89% or better; Airalo has the reports but worked for only 69%, so it opens the Other group.
Nomad eSIM in India: best for most trips
- Purchase process8/10
- Mobile app7/10
- eSIM installation8/10
- Customer support2/10
- Speed test8/10
- Prices7/10
- Customer feedback8.6/10
- Coverage9/10
Average of eight categories from our own paid test and customer reviews.
Nomad is a US travel eSIM brand run by LotusFlare, with plans for more than 200 destinations. It has a polished native app, fast data and prices close to the market average almost everywhere. Its weak spot is support: the chat is an AI bot with no route to a human.
Key facts
200+ destinations
iPhone app 4.8
Android app 4.5
Top-ups
Hotspot
2 GB/day cap
Trustpilot
- 4.3/544,625 reviews
Payments
Credit or debit card
Apple Pay
Google Pay
PayPal
Pros and cons
Nomad eSIM in our hands
Based on the traveler reports, we recommend Nomad for most trips to India: it has the best record of any provider with strong evidence, and it runs on Airtel, the network Opensignal places second nationally and first on 5G in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. It worked well for 29 of 31 travelers who reported from India (94%, strong evidence). The successes describe a 50 GB plan that connected on landing in Punjab and held across Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Himachal Pradesh, three weeks with no dropouts, "the middle of India", the Himalaya of north-east India, and a plan activated on arrival that worked at once.
The misses were setup and plan trouble, not dead zones. One traveler could not connect right outside Delhi airport in May 2026 and bought an Airtel eSIM instead; another, in July 2026, watched a 20 GB and then a 50 GB plan drain while on hotel Wi-Fi, after which the eSIM stopped with data still on the meter, and nobody at Nomad answered. Two more reviewers kept their plans but reported a dead patch in South India (July 2026) and slow Airtel speeds (July 2026). Two others expected phone calls and found there are none on the India plans. That last point is the one to plan for: the help desk is a bot with no route to a person, which is also what we found in our test.
Nomad sells India plans from 1 GB to 50 GB, 7 to 30 days, plus unlimited for 5 or 10 days at 2 GB a day before a hard slowdown, and regional Asia Pacific and global plans that include India. In our comparison tool the fixed plans are listed as 4G, and the Punjab reviewer wished for 5G. The app's remaining-data widget is the best we have used, but each plan is a new eSIM and add-on data is not available on every plan; one reviewer could not extend a 30-day India plan while in India. Price sits a little below the market average for India. Install at home, because the Nomad app was among those reported unreachable inside India in late 2025. Details of the app, the bot and the speed test are in our Nomad review.
One traveler on 5 Aug 2026, after Punjab: "4G access was brilliant and worked flawless across all of Punjab that I travelled."
Plans: Nomad.
Nomad eSIM Plans in India
Selection of the best eSIM data plans for NOMAD in India.
Maya Mobile eSIM in India: long trips, unlimited data
- Purchase process9/10
- Mobile app8/10
- eSIM installation9/10
- Customer support6/10
- Speed test9/10
- Prices8/10
- Customer feedback9/10
- Coverage9/10
Average of eight categories from our own paid test and customer reviews.
Maya Mobile sells one product: a global unlimited eSIM plan for 165+ countries that you install once and switch on for every trip. It was fast in our test, and it is the cheapest global unlimited plan we have compared. There are no single-country plans, and nothing shorter than 3 days.
Key facts
165+ countries
iPhone app 4.5
Android app 4.7
Auto Top-Up
Hotspot
5.5 GB/day at full speed
Trustpilot
- 4.5/512,788 reviews
Payments
Credit or debit card
Apple Pay
Google Pay
PayPal
Pros and cons
Maya Mobile eSIM in our hands
Maya Mobile is the pick for stays of a week or more where you do not want to count gigabytes: it sells one global unlimited plan, and travelers report it on Jio, the network Opensignal rates best in India. It worked well for 46 of 50 travelers who reported from India (92%, strong evidence), the largest sample of any provider here. The successes cover 3, 4 and 6-week stays, Kerala, Goa, Gujarat and Punjab (both on Jio, per the reviewers), a 4-week trip around southern India with "very few places where there was no signal", and plans that started the moment the plane landed.
The misses cluster at the edges. One traveler had zero service in Srinagar after an hour-long activation (September 2025); one got two days in Mumbai, then nothing in other states and nothing on return to Mumbai (January 2025, refunded); one reports it "only worked a few times" and not at all in some cities (December 2025); one could not get either of two eSIMs going on a Huawei phone (January 2025). A Gujarat reviewer had Jio everywhere except Daman, a union territory next door, where there was nothing. Several others needed the help desk to get connected on arrival and were sorted within minutes; one UK traveler found the chat bot looping at night.
What sets Maya Mobile apart is the plan range: no India plan at all, only global unlimited for 3, 7, 14 or 30 days, with a cruise variant, and nothing shorter than 3 days. In our comparison tool the terms give 5 GB a day at full speed, then a slowdown that is the gentlest we have tested; Maya's own page says no caps, which a competitor disputes, so we could not confirm either side. Hotspot is included. Price: the cheapest global unlimited plan in our comparison by a wide margin, but poor value for a 1 or 2-day stop. Maya's page did not name an Indian network when we checked in September 2026. Our Czech test, with the APN set by hand and 5G at once, is in our Maya Mobile review.
Plans: Maya Mobile.
Maya Mobile eSIM Plans in India
Selection of the best eSIM data plans for MAYA MOBILE in India from 2 GB.
Jetpac eSIM in India: Rajasthan, Golden Triangle, voice packs
- Purchase process5/10
- Mobile app5/10
- eSIM installation9/10
- Customer support5/10
- Speed test8/10
- Prices5/10
- Customer feedback9.4/10
- Coverage9/10
Average of eight categories from our own paid test and customer reviews.
Jetpac is a Singapore eSIM provider with plans in 129 countries. It adds extras like in-app calls, free WhatsApp and Google Maps after your data runs out, and lounge access on delayed flights. Its website, app and support are rough, so it suits travelers who can fix small issues themselves.
Key facts
129 countries
iPhone app 4.0
Android app 4.1
Top-ups
Hotspot
3 GB/day cap
Trustpilot
- 4.7/53,528 reviews
Payments
Credit or debit card
Apple Pay
Google Pay
Pros and cons
Jetpac eSIM in our hands
Jetpac is the pick for the classic Delhi, Agra, Jaipur route and for Rajasthan, because those are the places its reports come from, and because it is the only Best-group provider that keeps WhatsApp, Google Maps and Uber working after the data runs out. It worked well for 19 of 21 travelers who reported from India (90%, strong evidence). One traveler went New Delhi, Jaipur, Agra and Varanasi on Jio 4G without a drop; another bought a pack for Rajasthan and reports it "worked perfectly, even in the desert zones"; a third praises coverage on the roads between cities.
The misses were a 5G icon with no data behind it on a USA and India trip (December 2025) and an eSIM that never registered on the network and was billed twice (July 2025). A third traveler, over four weeks in India and Egypt in 2024, found it fine in major cities and unreliable on the move between them, and says a SIM bought on arrival had been steadier. Several reviewers needed Wi-Fi at the hotel or airport to finish activation, so this is one to install at home. The WhatsApp help desk gets credit in almost every review, including fixes done within minutes.
Plans in our comparison tool run from 3 GB to 40 GB and from 1 to 30 days, plus unlimited for 3 to 30 days at 3 GB a day before the slowdown, and Asia Pacific and global packs that include India. Two flags from the plan terms: every India unlimited plan and every pack shorter than 30 days is marked 4G only, and only the 30-day packs carry 5G. Jetpac's page names no Indian network ("multi-network", checked September 2026), while the reviews mention Jio. In-app voice packs make it the Best-group option if you need to phone a hotel. Price sits around the market average for India. The rough app and the slow site in our test are in our Jetpac review.
Plans: Jetpac.
Jetpac eSIM Plans in India
Selection of the best eSIM data plans for JETPAC in India from 2 GB.
Holafly eSIM in India: two networks, capped speeds
- Purchase process7/10
- Mobile app7/10
- eSIM installation9/10
- Customer support6/10
- Speed test4/10
- Prices5/10
- Customer feedback9.4/10
- Coverage9/10
Average of eight categories from our own paid test and customer reviews.
Holafly is an Irish eSIM provider built around unlimited data, with trip eSIMs for 200+ destinations. Travelers report it working more often than any other provider we track. Its weak points are speed and price: our test ran at about 30 Mbps on 5G, and its unlimited plans cost more than most.
Key facts
200+ destinations
iPhone app 4.8
Android app 4.7
No top-ups
Hotspot 1 GB/day
30 to 40 Mbps
Trustpilot
- 4.7/5113,513 reviews
Payments
Credit or debit card
Apple Pay
Google Pay
PayPal
Pros and cons
Holafly eSIM in our hands
Holafly is the safe choice for travelers who want unlimited data and never want to think about it, with one stated drawback: in our test its speed was capped from the first megabyte, before any data was used. That is enough for maps, WhatsApp, browsing and streaming, and slow for large downloads, uploads, cloud backups and laptop work. It worked well for 25 of 28 travelers who reported from India (89%, strong evidence), and it is the only provider here whose page names both Airtel and Jio. Successes include a month across several destinations, three weeks for a first-time eSIM user, Goa, and a traveler who found unlimited data "much quicker than all the WiFi outlets we had in hotels" (28 Jul 2026).
The misses all came in mid-2026: a month-long eSIM that worked for five days and then stopped for good (July), one that lasted "a day or two" (August), and one that showed no data at all on arrival at the airport, with no refund once the eSIM had been used (June). A fourth traveler, on a business trip in July 2026, could not run WhatsApp on it and lost the connection entirely after two hours with the help desk. The fix that worked for others was selecting the network by hand in the phone settings, which the setup instructions did not mention; the WhatsApp help desk walked two reviewers through it.
Holafly sells only unlimited India plans, 3 to 30 days in our comparison tool and up to 90 days on its page, with the hotspot capped at 1 GB a day and no top-ups: when the plan ends you buy a new eSIM. Holafly's page warns that coverage is weaker in deserts, mountains and jungles. On price it is among the most expensive unlimited offers in our comparison, and India is one of the few countries priced above Holafly's usual grid. Install before you fly: the app was removed from Indian app stores in January 2024 and reported blocked since. The speed finding and the one-tap install are in our Holafly review.
Plans: Holafly.
Holafly eSIM Plans in India
Selection of the best eSIM data plans for HOLAFLY in India from 2 GB.
Other eSIM Providers for India
We tested all of these too. They sit here because their India record is weaker, their sample is small, or because something in our test or the plan terms counts against them for this country.
Airalo eSIM in India: weakest record, calls available
- Purchase process9/10
- Mobile app8/10
- eSIM installation9/10
- Customer support7/10
- Speed test7/10
- Prices5/10
- Customer feedback8.2/10
- Coverage7/10
Average of eight categories from our own paid test and customer reviews.
Airalo is an eSIM marketplace from Singapore with plans for 200+ destinations, some with calls and texts. It is easy to buy and install. But prices sit at the market median, and travelers report more failed connections than with any other provider we track.
Key facts
200+ destinations
iPhone app 4.6
Android app 4.3
Top-ups
Hotspot
No cap on fixed plans
Trustpilot
- 4.1/545,721 reviews
Payments
Credit or debit card
Apple Pay
Google Pay
PayPal
Pros and cons
Airalo eSIM in our hands
Airalo is the biggest name and the one with the most India reports, and it worked well for only 31 of 45 travelers who reported from India (69%, strong evidence), the weakest record of any provider with strong evidence here. The misses are specific and recent: no signal at all in Leh (August 2026), working in Mumbai but dead in Pune (August 2026), a long fight with the help desk to connect on arrival in Bengaluru (August 2026), "not connected for 90% of the stay", nothing at all in Hyderabad, a 15 GB plan that reported itself used up while the phone was on Wi-Fi, and a package that would not activate. Most of the failure reports were published in August 2026. The successes are real too: Delhi, Varanasi, Bodh Gaya and Sarnath on one week-long trip, Punjab on Jio LTE, Baroda and Chennai, and long-time users who have never had a problem.
Airalo's page names Vi as its India network, the private operator with the lowest coverage score in Opensignal's report, though two third-party sites say Jio and one reviewer landed on Jio, so we could not resolve which you will get. Its Indicomm plans run from 1 GB to 20 GB and 3 to 30 days, plus unlimited at 3 GB a day; the regional Discover+ plans that include India add calls and texts with a US number, which no India-only plan here does. Airalo is among the two most expensive providers in India in our comparison. The app was removed from Indian stores in January 2024 and the site reported blocked, so install at home and keep the QR code. Our purchase and install tests, both smooth, are in our Airalo review. Plans: Airalo.
Airalo eSIM Plans in India
Selection of the best eSIM data plans for AIRALO in India.
GigSky eSIM in India: all reports positive, limited sample
- Purchase process7/10
- Mobile app6/10
- eSIM installation8/10
- Customer support9/10
- Speed test6/10
- Prices4/10
- Customer feedback8.6/10
- Coverage8/10
Average of eight categories from our own paid test and customer reviews.
GigSky is a US travel eSIM that works like its own operator, with plans for 190+ destinations plus cruise, ferry and in-flight plans. Its app stays partly online after your data runs out. But its fixed-data plans are the most expensive of the 12 providers we compared.
Key facts
190+ destinations
iPhone app 4.5
Android app 3.9
Top-ups
Hotspot
3.5 GB/day cap
Trustpilot
- 4.3/57,194 reviews
Payments
Credit or debit card
Apple Pay
PayPal
Pros and cons
GigSky eSIM in our hands
GigSky worked well for all 17 travelers who reported from India (100%, limited evidence), and it is the only provider with three positive reports from Delhi. The successes name New Delhi, Hyderabad, Vijayawada and "various states of South India", and one long-term user says India is a country where GigSky gives you 5G. The caveats inside those same reviews: it did not work in the Jammu region, one traveler found India slow where Canada and Turkey had been fast, and one, on a free plan, saw speeds between 2G and 3G across five countries including India. GigSky's page names no Indian network ("connects to the fastest network", checked September 2026) and states two different daily allowances for its unlimited plan.
Plans in our comparison tool: India plans from 1 GB to 10 GB over 7 to 30 days, a 1-day unlimited pass, and Asia Pacific, world and cruise plans that include India. The app stays partly online when the data runs out, so you can buy more without Wi-Fi, which only Ubigi matched in our test. On price GigSky is around the market average in India, unlike its 2 to 7 times market pricing in Morocco or Egypt, but it is still the dearest provider overall. The unstable speeds in our test are in our GigSky review. Plans: GigSky.
GigSky eSIM Plans in India
Selection of the best eSIM data plans for GIGSKY in India.
Roamless eSIM in India: pay-as-you-go, light use
- Purchase process5/10
- Mobile app7/10
- eSIM installation7/10
- Customer support7/10
- Speed test8/10
- Prices5/10
- Customer feedback9/10
- Coverage9/10
Average of eight categories from our own paid test and customer reviews.
Roamless is a US provider built around one global eSIM for 203 destinations, paid with pay-as-you-go credit. It was fast and unthrottled in our test, and travelers report it working in 91% of cases. Its weak point is buying: the website forces you into the app, and large data amounts cost more than most rivals.
Key facts
203 destinations
iPhone app 4.8
Android app 4.1
Pay-as-you-go
Unlimited hotspot
No throttling
Trustpilot
- 4.5/51,746 reviews
Payments
Credit or debit card
Apple Pay
Google Pay
Pros and cons
Roamless eSIM in our hands
Roamless worked well for all 5 travelers who reported from India (100%, limited evidence), but the texts are lukewarm: "India is sometimes a bit slow" (May 2026), and one traveler in October 2025 had a signal that worked for minutes and then dropped while switching between automatic and manual networks. Roamless's page names Jio, 4G only, with no speed limit stated (checked September 2026). In our comparison tool the India plans run from 1 GB to 100 GB over 30 days, with a no-expiry variant and a free trial plan, plus Asia and global 30-day plans.
The pay-as-you-go credit, which never expires, makes Roamless the fit for a short India stop on a longer multi-country trip. At 10 GB and above it is dear; in India it sits around the market average. In our test the preselected APN did not work until we picked the partner network by hand, which is the same trouble the October 2025 reviewer describes, so read our Roamless review before you land. Plans: Roamless.
Roamless eSIM Plans in India
Selection of the best eSIM data plans for ROAMLESS in India.
Yesim eSIM in India: few reports, app warning
- Purchase process6/10
- Mobile app7/10
- eSIM installation8/10
- Customer support2/10
- Speed test8/10
- Prices5/10
- Customer feedback8.6/10
- Coverage8/10
Average of eight categories from our own paid test and customer reviews.
Yesim is a Swiss eSIM provider built around unlimited plans sold by the day, with one eSIM for 200+ destinations. Data was fast in our test. But its support was among the slowest we have tested, and its fixed-data country plans cost more than most rivals.
Key facts
200+ destinations
iPhone app 4.6
Android app 4.7
Top-ups
Hotspot
Possible slowdown
Trustpilot
- 4.3/52,963 reviews
Payments
Credit or debit card
Apple Pay
Google Pay
PayPal
Pros and cons
Yesim eSIM in our hands
Yesim worked well for all 3 travelers who reported from India (100%, limited evidence), one of them in Rajasthan, which is too thin a base to rank it any higher. Two things count against it for India. Yesim's own page warns that access to its app and website may be limited in India, which we could not re-check because the page would not load for us in September 2026. And in our test the plan started counting down at purchase, not at first use, so buy it close to departure. The help desk was among the slowest we tested.
Plans in our comparison tool: fixed India plans from 300 MB to 30 GB, unlimited sold by the day from 1 to 30 days with a fair-use limit it does not publish, and Asia, global and day-pass bundles that include India. Yesim's fixed plans are dear in most countries but sit just below the market average in India. Who might still choose it: someone who wants unlimited for an odd number of days and will set everything up at home. Our purchase and speed tests are in our Yesim review. Plans: Yesim.
Yesim eSIM Plans in India
Selection of the best eSIM data plans for YESIM in India.
Saily eSIM in India: best help desk, dearer here
- Purchase process7/10
- Mobile app9/10
- eSIM installation9/10
- Customer support10/10
- Speed test8/10
- Prices4/10
- Customer feedback9.4/10
- Coverage8/10
Average of eight categories from our own paid test and customer reviews.
Saily is the travel eSIM from the company behind NordVPN, with plans for about 200 destinations. It has the smoothest install we have tested, a polished app and a built-in VPN. But prices run above the market in most big European destinations, and traveler reports sit below average.
Key facts
About 200 destinations
iPhone app 4.7
Android app 4.5
Top-ups
Hotspot
3 or 5 GB/day cap
Trustpilot
- 4.7/531,741 reviews
Payments
Credit or debit card
Apple Pay
Google Pay
Pros and cons
Saily eSIM in our hands
Saily is the choice for a first eSIM: the smoothest install and the best help desk in our test, with a sample from India that is positive but small. It worked well for 9 of 10 travelers who reported from India (90%, limited evidence); the reviews describe easy setup and no issues across India, Thailand and Singapore, and one reviewer thought the gigabytes per dollar could be better. The one miss, in April 2026, could not use the eSIM at all, got nowhere with the help desk and was refused a refund; another reviewer's cousin reports the same in India, second-hand.
Plans in our comparison tool: India plans from 1 GB to 20 GB over 7 or 30 days, with no India unlimited plan listed, plus Asia and global plans. Saily's page did not name an Indian network when we checked in September 2026. Its optional phone number is a US number, which does not help with Indian one-time codes. Saily is above the market average in India and among the two most expensive providers in 14 of 24 popular destinations, which is why it is not a top pick here. The in-app install and the 24/7 chat are in our Saily review. Plans: Saily.
Saily eSIM Plans in India
Selection of the best eSIM data plans for SAILY in India.
GoMoWorld eSIM in India: cheapest here, app only
- Purchase process8/10
- Mobile app8/10
- eSIM installation8/10
- Customer support6/10
- Speed test10/10
- Prices7/10
- Customer feedback7.6/10
- Coverage8/10
Average of eight categories from our own paid test and customer reviews.
GoMoWorld is the travel eSIM brand of Irish operator eir, with plans in 202 countries. Every destination has the same four euro prices, and we saw no throttling at all. The catch is that everything happens in the app, and human support works only in office hours.
Key facts
202 countries
iPhone app 4.8
Android app 4.6
Top-ups
Hotspot
No throttling
Trustpilot
- 3.8/51,987 reviews
Payments
Credit or debit card
Apple Pay
Google Pay
Pros and cons
GoMoWorld eSIM in our hands
GoMoWorld is the cheapest provider for India in our comparison, by a clear margin, and it worked well for 11 of 13 travelers who reported from India (85%, limited evidence). The successes are strong: two weeks from Delhi to Agra, Jaipur and Mumbai without losing signal once, with the hotspot working, "rock-solid 5G" everywhere one traveler went, Chennai, and Mumbai into the north; one reviewer names Airtel as the network. The failures reviewers describe were both in Delhi: one traveler had 5G bars and zero data on two separate plans and no help desk in the evening or at the weekend (November 2025, refunded five days later), and one got an "already activated" error on a plan that had never been used (August 2025). A third traveler lost service for one afternoon in two weeks and found the setup confusing.
The confusion has a cause we found in our test: you must press Start in the app or nothing happens, and the eSIM exists only in the app, never by email, with one account per device. The help desk is a good bot with people only in office hours. Plans in our comparison tool: 3 GB for 7 days and 14, 30 or 45 GB for 30 days, no unlimited, 5G listed. Who might still choose it: a price-driven traveler on a two-week circuit who sets it up at home on Wi-Fi. The fastest speed test we have run, with no throttling, is in our GoMoWorld review. Plans: GoMoWorld.
GoMoWorld eSIM Plans in India
Selection of the best eSIM data plans for GOMOWORLD in India from 2 GB.
Ubigi eSIM in India: 4G only, city dropouts
- Purchase process4/10
- Mobile app3/10
- eSIM installation8/10
- Customer support2/10
- Speed test9/10
- Prices7/10
- Customer feedback8.2/10
- Coverage9/10
Average of eight categories from our own paid test and customer reviews.
Ubigi is the travel eSIM brand of Paris operator Transatel, with one reusable eSIM for 200+ destinations. Data was fast in our test, and its 3 GB, 10 GB and 30-day unlimited plans are cheap. Its weak point is support: a chatbot that ends in an email ticket, with no live agent.
Key facts
200+ destinations
iPhone app 4.6
Android app 3.7
Top-ups
Hotspot
568 Mbps on 5G
Trustpilot
- 4.1/547,238 reviews
Payments
Credit or debit card
Apple Pay
Google Pay
PayPal
Pros and cons
Ubigi eSIM in our hands
Ubigi worked well for 16 of 19 travelers who reported from India (84%, limited evidence), but the misses and the near-misses are all in cities, which is unusual. Zero bars in Mumbai with only slow data (August 2026), an unlimited plan that stopped after day one (July 2026), nothing in Kochi (June 2026), no data in Coimbatore (April 2026), and a plan that worked in Mumbai but not in Pune or anywhere else (April 2026). The successes describe a stable connection with one two-hour gap, easy top-ups when Google Maps ate the data, and a first-time user who found it better than other eSIMs tried before. Two reviewers who liked it still flag 4G only and "no connection outside city".
Ubigi's page names Jio, 4G only with no 3G, and its unlimited plans give 25, 30 or 60 GB at full speed depending on length, then a slowdown (checked September 2026). Plans in our comparison tool: 1 GB to 50 GB over 7 to 30 days, unlimited for 7, 15 or 30 days, plus Asia and world plans that include India. Price is the third-cheapest in India in our comparison, and you can buy more data with a zero balance, which almost nobody else allows. What places it here is the help desk: our email ticket went unanswered for 24 hours, the worst outcome we have tested, as described in our Ubigi review. Plans: Ubigi.
Ubigi eSIM Plans in India
Selection of the best eSIM data plans for UBIGI in India.
ByteSIM eSIM in India: most expensive here, dropouts
- Purchase process4/10
- Mobile app4/10
- eSIM installation7/10
- Customer support2/10
- Speed test8/10
- Prices5/10
- Customer feedback9.6/10
- Coverage9/10
Average of eight categories from our own paid test and customer reviews.
ByteSIM is a Hong Kong eSIM shop with a huge catalog: daily, fixed and unlimited plans for about 200 destinations. Data was fast in our test, and travelers report it working in 88% of cases. The checkout, the app and support were the weak points.
Key facts
About 200 destinations
iPhone app 4.6
Android app 3.8
No top-ups
Hotspot
175 Mbps on 4G
Trustpilot
- 4.8/54,279 reviews
Payments
Credit or debit card
Apple Pay
Google Pay
PayPal
Pros and cons
ByteSIM eSIM in our hands
ByteSIM worked well for 10 of 14 travelers who reported from India (71%, limited evidence), and it is the most expensive provider for India in our comparison. The misses: reception that cut out for no reason over two weeks with never a 5G signal (March 2026), a Kolkata plan that dropped from day three and died again a day after a reinstall (December 2025), and an eSIM that would not load before departure with no reply from the company (2023). The successes name Chennai, Delhi and rural northern India, and nearly every one of them praises the WhatsApp help desk for fast replies, which is not what we found: our message got no reply in 15 minutes.
ByteSIM's page says it partners with Airtel, though the same page also says "Vodafone or Bharti AirTel", and it states that traffic exits on a Singapore IP address (checked September 2026). Plans in our comparison tool are India-only: daily plans of 1 or 2 GB a day, totals from 1 GB to 90 GB over 1 to 30 days, and unlimited from 1 to 30 days, with no top-ups. Who might still choose it: a traveler who pays with a local wallet like Alipay or iDEAL. The clumsy checkout and the no-show help desk are in our ByteSIM review. Plans: ByteSIM.
ByteSIM eSIM Plans in India
Selection of the best eSIM data plans for BYTESIM in India.
Global YO eSIM in India: worked for fewer than half
- Purchase process8/10
- Mobile app8/10
- eSIM installation9/10
- Customer support5/10
- Speed test8/10
- Prices10/10
- Customer feedback8/10
- Coverage8/10
Average of eight categories from our own paid test and customer reviews.
Global YO is a US eSIM provider aimed at young travelers, with plans in 195 countries. It is the second cheapest provider in our price data, and buying and installing took minutes. Its weak spot is support: quick to answer, slow to help.
Key facts
195 countries
iPhone app 4.5
Android app 3.8
Top-ups
Hotspot
Over 150 Mbps
Trustpilot
- 4.0/51,293 reviews
Payments
Credit or debit card
Apple Pay
Google Pay
Pros and cons
Global YO eSIM in our hands
Global YO is the second-cheapest provider for India in our comparison, and it worked well for only 6 of 15 travelers who reported from India (40%, limited evidence), the worst record on this page. The misses are varied and repeated: Edge speeds in Mizoram after a good first day in New Delhi (May 2026), two eSIMs that never connected at all (July 2025), a plan that died after four hours, a 10 GB plan on which WhatsApp would not load even in cities, "not even 3G" on an unlimited plan, hours to get going at Delhi airport, a QR code that failed halfway through install, and a signal that vanished in two cities after working in Hyderabad. The successes: 99% connection on Jio for one traveler, cheap data for another.
Global YO's page names Jio, 4G only, with no ID required (checked September 2026). Plans in our comparison tool: India plans from 1 GB to 100 GB over 3 to 60 days, day plans at 1 GB a day, and Asia and global plans that include India; there is no unlimited plan. Indian credit cards were declined in the app for one reviewer. Who might still choose it: a traveler who installs at home and will not need the help desk, which answered us with a template after 10 minutes. The app-only purchase and the test speeds are in our Global YO review. Plans: Global YO.
Global YO eSIM Plans in India
Selection of the best eSIM data plans for GLOBAL YO in India.
eSIM4Travel eSIM in India: no reports, cheaper rivals here
- Purchase process8/10
- eSIM installation8/10
- Customer support10/10
- Speed test8/10
- Prices10/10
- Customer feedback8.8/10
- Coverage9/10
Average of seven categories from our own paid test and customer reviews. eSIM4Travel has no app, so we do not score one.
eSIM4Travel is a US eSIM seller with plans for 158 destinations and no app. It was the cheapest provider in our price database, and its support was the best we have tested. Without an app, you cannot reach the store to top up once your data runs out.
Key facts
158 destinations
No app
Web only
Top-ups
Hotspot
No throttling
Trustpilot
- 4.4/5202 reviews
Payments
Credit or debit card
PayPal
Apple Pay
Pros and cons
eSIM4Travel eSIM in our hands
eSIM4Travel has the highest Vefru test score of the 14 providers and is the cheapest provider in our comparison overall, but there are no traveler reports from India yet, and in India itself GoMoWorld is cheaper and has a record to show. That is why it sits here rather than in the Best group. What we can say comes from our test outside India: one click took us from the bot to a person on the help desk, who solved the problem and suggested switching network; the eSIM installed from a QR code and worked right away; we bought on the website and got it by email, no app needed.
eSIM4Travel's page names Vi and Airtel for India, so you are not tied to the operator with the weakest coverage score (checked September 2026). Plans in our comparison tool: India plans from 100 MB day passes to 50 GB over 30 days, and unlimited for 3 to 15 days at 3 GB a day before the slowdown. The downsides stand: no app, no Google Pay, and no way to top up without Wi-Fi once the data runs out. Price is below the market average in India, behind GoMoWorld, Global YO and Ubigi. Our full test is in our eSIM4Travel review. Plans: eSIM4Travel.
eSIM4Travel eSIM Plans in India
Selection of the best eSIM data plans for ESIM4TRAVEL in India.
Providers travelers report from India that we have not tested
Simify, an Australian seller, appears in the reviews we read for India but is not in our comparison and has no row in our report count, so it gets no numbers here. The texts describe easy setup and reliable data across India for most buyers, one eSIM that dropped in Agra and again in Jaipur over the 2025 holiday period, and a help desk that replaced failed eSIMs. SimOptions, Airhub and Lebara also sell India eSIMs; we have not tested them.
Best eSIM Plans for India
Price per GB in India by eSIM Provider
How much does each provider charge per GB in India? The chart below compares plans of 1 to 10 GB that last 6 to 14 days, the usual range for a one- or two-week trip. Provider websites show only their own plans, so this side-by-side view is one you would otherwise have to calculate yourself. A shorter bar means a lower price per GB.
Generated 22.10.2026 22:40
Every provider on this page sells something that covers India. Thirteen sell an India-only plan; Maya Mobile covers it only through its global unlimited plan. On price position, GoMoWorld is the cheapest provider for India in our comparison, followed by Global YO and Ubigi, while Airalo and ByteSIM are the two most expensive, a different picture from most countries, where eSIM4Travel and Global YO lead. Unlimited plans for India come from Airalo, Holafly, Jetpac, Nomad, Ubigi, Yesim, ByteSIM and eSIM4Travel, plus GigSky's 1-day pass and Maya's global plan; Saily, GoMoWorld, Roamless and Global YO sell none. The fair-use rule matters more than the word unlimited: full-speed allowances run from 1 GB a day (Global YO day plans) to 2 GB (Nomad), 3 GB (Airalo, Jetpac, eSIM4Travel) and 5 GB (Maya Mobile), and Jetpac's unlimited plans are 4G only. If India is one stop on a Gulf trip, compare plans covering India and the UAE together.
2 GB in India
Comparison of offers for 2 GB data plans in India from the most popular eSIM providers.
5 GB in India
Comparison of offers for 5 GB data plans in India from the most popular eSIM providers.
10 GB in India
Comparison of offers for 10 GB data plans in India from the most popular eSIM providers.
20 GB in India
Comparison of offers for 20 GB data plans in India from the most popular eSIM providers.
Unlimited data in India
Comparison of offers for unlimited data plans in India from the most popular eSIM providers.
Best eSIM for Delhi, Mumbai and South India
Only 68 of the reports name a city or region, so the country-level picks carry most of the weight here. The table lists every place named, with Delhi and New Delhi merged into one row, Agra and the Taj Mahal into one, and South India and Southern India into one. Nomad, the overall pick, has six positive place reports (Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and the north-east) and two failures (Delhi airport and somewhere in South India).
| Where you are going | What the reports show | Our pick |
|---|---|---|
| Delhi (with New Delhi) | Maya Mobile 1/1, Jetpac 1/1, Airalo 1/1, GigSky 3/3, GoMoWorld 1/3, ByteSIM 1/1, Global YO 1/1 | GigSky (3 of 3; GoMoWorld's two misses here were activation failures, not coverage) |
| Mumbai | Maya Mobile 0/1, Airalo 1/1, GoMoWorld 2/2, Ubigi 1/2 | Country pick applies, no provider has 3 or more reports here |
| South India (region) | Maya Mobile 1/1, GigSky 2/2, Nomad 0/1 | Country pick applies, no provider has 3 or more reports here |
| Chennai | Airalo 1/1, GoMoWorld 1/1, ByteSIM 1/1 | Country pick applies, no provider has 3 or more reports here |
| Hyderabad | Airalo 0/1, GigSky 1/1, Global YO 1/1 | Country pick applies, no provider has 3 or more reports here |
| Punjab (region) | Nomad 1/1, Maya Mobile 1/1, Airalo 1/1 | Country pick applies, no provider has 3 or more reports here |
| Agra and the Taj Mahal | Jetpac 2/2, GoMoWorld 1/1 | Country pick applies, no provider has 3 or more reports here |
| Jaipur | too few reports | Country pick applies |
| Rajasthan (region) | too few reports | Country pick applies |
| Varanasi | too few reports | Country pick applies |
| Amritsar | too few reports | Country pick applies |
| Jalandhar | too few reports | Country pick applies |
| Goa | too few reports | Country pick applies |
| Gujarat (region) | too few reports | Country pick applies |
| Pune | too few reports | Country pick applies |
| Delhi airport (IGI) | too few reports | Country pick applies |
| Bengaluru | too few reports | Country pick applies |
| Kolkata | too few reports | Country pick applies |
| Kerala | too few reports | Country pick applies |
| Coimbatore | too few reports | Country pick applies |
| Thiruvananthapuram | too few reports | Country pick applies |
| Vijayawada | too few reports | Country pick applies |
| Vadodara | too few reports | Country pick applies |
| Ludhiana | too few reports | Country pick applies |
| Himachal Pradesh | too few reports | Country pick applies |
| Bodh Gaya and Sarnath | too few reports | Country pick applies |
| Leh | too few reports | Country pick applies |
| Srinagar | too few reports | Country pick applies |
| Jammu | too few reports | Country pick applies |
| Daman | too few reports | Country pick applies |
| Mizoram | too few reports | Country pick applies |
| Northeast India | too few reports | Country pick applies |
Best eSIM for Delhi
GigSky is the Delhi pick on the reports: all three travelers who named Delhi or New Delhi said it worked, one of them straight after an Australia leg with no re-activation needed, and GigSky is at the market average in India. The runners-up each have one positive Delhi report: Jetpac picked up Jio 4G on landing at New Delhi, Maya Mobile and Airalo both report Delhi fine, and a ByteSIM user had no trouble in Delhi or Chennai. The three Delhi failures are all setup, not signal: GoMoWorld twice (5G bars with no data on two plans in November 2025, an "already activated" error in August 2025) and Nomad once, right outside the airport in May 2026. A Global YO traveler needed hours at Delhi airport to get online in April 2024. Delhi is where the Airtel and Jio tourist counters are reported to be, which we could not confirm; the local SIM section has the details.
Best eSIM for Mumbai
The country pick applies in Mumbai, because no provider has three reports from the city, but the six that exist agree on one thing: Mumbai itself works and the trouble starts when you leave it. GoMoWorld worked for both travelers who named it, one on a two-week loop that ended in Mumbai, one who went from Mumbai into the north. Airalo worked in Mumbai and then failed in Pune (August 2026); Ubigi worked in Mumbai and then failed in Pune and everywhere else (April 2026); a second Ubigi user had zero bars in Mumbai with slow data (August 2026); and Maya Mobile's one Mumbai miss was a plan that ran two days there, died in other states and never came back (January 2025). Both reports from Pune, on two different providers, are failures. Opensignal gives Jio the 5G download lead in the Mumbai circle, which favours the Jio-based providers, but with Ubigi and Global YO limited to 4G that edge goes unused.
Best eSIM for South India
The country pick applies across South India, and the four regional reports lean towards GigSky (2 of 2, "various states of South India" and Hyderabad plus Vijayawada) and Maya Mobile (1 of 1, four weeks around the south with very few dead spots, and Kerala separately). The one miss is Nomad's: a period without data somewhere in South India in July 2026 on a trip that was otherwise good. City reports from the south are mixed. Chennai worked for Airalo, GoMoWorld and ByteSIM; Hyderabad worked for GigSky and Global YO and failed for Airalo; Bengaluru needed the Airalo help desk to connect on arrival; and Ubigi failed in both Kochi and Coimbatore. Opensignal's report has Jio winning download speed by its widest margins in Tamil Nadu and Kerala and gives Vi only 8% 5G availability in Tamil Nadu, so an Airalo eSIM on Vi is the weakest choice for the south on paper, and the Hyderabad and Bengaluru reports do not contradict that.
No traveler reports come from the Himalaya beyond one Nomad success in Himachal Pradesh and the north-east, and every report from Jammu, Srinagar and Leh is a failure (GigSky, Maya Mobile and Airalo, one each, between September 2025 and August 2026). Opensignal measured no Vi 5G in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal, Assam, the North East or Odisha, and Vi's time on network in Jammu and Kashmir was the lowest of any operator in any circle; Jio led there by its widest download margin. For the mountains, a Jio- or Airtel-based eSIM is the only sensible bet, and a local SIM is the backup.
Local SIM Cards and Operator eSIMs in India
A local Jio or Airtel tourist pack beats a travel eSIM on cost for any stay of a month with a fixed base, and gives you an Indian number for the one-time codes that train booking, food delivery and payment apps send. For a trip of a week or so, or one that starts with a domestic flight, the travel eSIM wins, because the local SIM now means handing over your passport, a photo, a hotel booking and, since 21 Aug 2026, a face, fingerprint or iris scan at the counter, then waiting hours for activation.
Prices are consistent across five third-party travel sources but none is an operator page, so we could not confirm them (as of 25 September 2026): Jio's entry tourist pack at ₹299 (about $3.50) for 28 days with 1.5 GB a day, unlimited calls and 100 SMS a day; Airtel's main tourist plan at ₹349 to ₹350 (about $4.15) for 28 days with the same allowance; and an Airtel tourist SIM sold at Delhi airport at around ₹800 (about $9.50) for 30 days, cash only. Longer 84 to 90-day packs are reported at around ₹900 to ₹1,300. Vi requires a local reference number with a code sent to that Indian contact, which rules it out for most unaccompanied visitors. BSNL has the cheapest long-validity packs and, by Opensignal's measure, the weakest network by far.
The paperwork: original passport, valid visa or e-Visa, proof of a local address (a hotel booking is accepted), one photograph, and a headshot taken by the staff. The Telecommunications (User Identification) Rules, 2026, in force since 21 Aug 2026, add live biometric verification for every new SIM, replacement or update of your details, according to the Internet Freedom Foundation's analysis; operators have until about November 2026, extendable to February 2027, to build the systems, so expect counters to be switching to the new process during the winter season. Activation is reported to take two to four hours at airports and anything from 30 minutes to two days elsewhere. There is no instant online operator eSIM for a short-term visitor, because Jio and Airtel send the activation code to an existing Indian number; an Airtel airport counter can issue a QR-code eSIM after the same in-person check.
Where to buy: an official Jio, Airtel or Vi store, not a third-party retailer, which is the one point every source agrees on. Whether the international arrivals halls still have Airtel and Jio kiosks is disputed between the sources, so do not count on it. A data-only travel eSIM is provisioned under the provider's roaming agreements and sits outside the identification rules entirely. Keep your home SIM active alongside it for the codes your bank sends.
Mobile Networks in India
Jio is the network to want in India and Airtel is the close second; which one your eSIM uses matters more than which provider sells it. Jio and Airtel together hold 77% of wireless subscribers, with Vi at about 15% and the state-owned BSNL at 7%, according to the regulator TRAI's June 2026 subscription report [1]. The same report shows how dormant the BSNL base is: only 55% of its subscribers were active at peak, against 99% for Jio and Airtel [1]. Opensignal's February 2026 report, measured from October to December 2025, has Jio winning download speed in all 22 circles, with the widest margins in Jammu and Kashmir, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Rajasthan, and leading on coverage, 5G availability and time on network; Airtel wins upload speed, games and voice-app experience, and beats Jio on 5G download in Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat and Bihar.
Vi is the one to avoid for a trip outside the metros. Opensignal scores its coverage experience at 4.1 out of 10 against Jio's 9.1, measured no Vi 5G at all in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal, Assam, the North East or Odisha, and puts its 5G availability below 10% in Tamil Nadu and Haryana. Vi is about half owned by the Indian government after its debts were converted into shares, and its thin network build-out is the direct result; Airalo and eSIM4Travel are the providers here that inherit it, eSIM4Travel with Airtel as a second network. BSNL is last on every national measure. 3G is not something to plan around: Ubigi's page states no 3G and no 5G, 4G only, and the three Jio-based providers all limit India to 4G, which is the trap in this market, because Jio's lead is largest on 5G.
Who rides what, as stated on each provider's own page when checked in September 2026: Holafly on Airtel and Jio; Nomad on Airtel (its blog adds Vi); ByteSIM on Airtel, with "Vodafone or Airtel" elsewhere on the same page; Airalo on Vi, which two third-party audits contradict with Jio; eSIM4Travel on Vi and Airtel; Global YO, Ubigi and Roamless on Jio, all 4G only. Saily, Jetpac, GigSky, GoMoWorld and Maya Mobile did not name a network on their pages, and Yesim's page could not be opened. In the reviews, Maya Mobile and Jetpac users report Jio and a GoMoWorld user reports Airtel. Airtel publishes a state-by-state list of its 5G Plus cities [2] and a coverage checker by PIN code [3]; we could not locate official coverage maps for Jio, Vi or BSNL. A multi-network eSIM that can reach both Jio and Airtel is the safest kind of eSIM for a trip that leaves the main cities; switching operator by hand fixed several of the arrival problems in the reviews.
How to Set Up an eSIM for India
Install at home, on Wi-Fi, before you fly: that single rule would have prevented most of the setup failures in the reviews, because the Airalo, Holafly and Nomad apps were reported unreachable inside India and Yesim's page warns of the same. Almost every plan here starts on first connection in India, not on install, with three exceptions: GoMoWorld starts only when you press Start in the app, Yesim's plan started at purchase in our test, and some Airalo packages start on install.
- Check that your phone takes an eSIM, and that it is unlocked. iPhones sold in mainland China take an eSIM only on the iPhone 17e and iPhone Air, according to Apple's iOS 26 documentation; our list of phones that take an eSIM covers the rest.
- Buy and install at home. Follow our steps for adding an eSIM on an iPhone or on a Samsung phone. Screenshot or print the QR code: Holafly's can be scanned only once, and a deleted eSIM cannot be reinstalled with Holafly or Global YO. Mind the activation window: 30 days for Nomad in our comparison tool, 3 months for Jetpac, 90 days for eSIM4Travel, 180 days for Saily, 6 months for Ubigi.
- On landing, turn on data roaming, select the eSIM as your data line and keep your home SIM on for one-time codes. Maya Mobile needs the APN set to "globaldata" and Ubigi to "mobiledata"; Roamless's preselected APN did not work in our test until we chose the partner network by hand.
- If you see bars but no data, pick the network manually in the phone's network settings. That one step fixed Holafly, Jetpac and ByteSIM eSIMs for reviewers who had been stuck at the airport. Switching the physical SIM off briefly fixed Jetpac in our test.
- GoMoWorld only: open the app and press Start, or schedule the start date; an unstarted plan does not expire and does nothing.
- Still nothing? Work through our eSIM troubleshooting article, then the provider's chat. Jetpac, Maya Mobile, Holafly and Saily answered reviewers within minutes; Nomad and Ubigi did not answer at all in our test.
Calls and SMS in India
India's calling code is +91, and no India-only eSIM plan on this page includes calls or texts; every one of the 13 country plan families in our comparison tool is data only. The exceptions are regional or add-on: Airalo's Discover+ plans, which include India, bundle calls and texts with a US number; Jetpac sells in-app voice packs by the minute; Roamless and Global YO offer app-based outgoing calls, and Roamless adds an optional second number; Saily's number add-on is a US number. Two Nomad travelers found out the hard way that their India plan could not place or receive a call.
The bigger issue is the Indian number itself. Train booking, food delivery and payment apps send one-time codes that often will not reach a foreign number, and none of the numbers above is Indian. If you need one, a Jio or Airtel tourist pack with unlimited calls and 100 SMS a day is the answer, with the paperwork described in the local SIM section. For everything else, WhatsApp calls over data work on every eSIM here, and Jetpac keeps WhatsApp chat alive even after the data runs out.
Free eSIM Data for India
Two providers give away India data outright. GoMoWorld lists a free 1-day 500 MB India plan on its page, and Roamless gives new users free credit worth about 450 MB that works in India, both as of September 2026. Nomad's free 1 GB trial, GigSky's free 100 MB trial and Jetpac's free 100 MB Eterna eSIM are general offers that also cover India, and GigSky gives free plans to some Visa cardholders. Our list of free eSIM data plans and trials tracks all of them. Yesim's trial is paid.
Frequently Asked Questions About eSIMs in India
Which eSIM works best in India?
What is the cheapest eSIM for India?
How much data do I need for India?
Can tourists buy a SIM card in India?
Does Airalo work in India?
Which India eSIM gives you 5G?
Summary: the best eSIM for India
Based on 271 traveler reports and our tests, we recommend Nomad for most trips to India: it worked well for 29 of 31 travelers, runs on Airtel, and its weakness is a help desk you cannot reach, so set it up at home. Maya Mobile (46 of 50) is the option for a week or more on unlimited data, the cheapest global unlimited plan in our comparison, with nothing shorter than 3 days and a few misses in Srinagar, Daman and on trips out of Mumbai. Jetpac (19 of 21) is the one for Rajasthan and the Golden Triangle, with voice packs and apps that keep working after the data ends, but its unlimited plans are 4G only. Holafly (25 of 28) names both Airtel and Jio and is the easiest unlimited option, with its speed capped from the start in our test and no top-ups.
Airalo had the most reports and the weakest record, 31 of 45, on Vi, and GoMoWorld is the cheapest provider for India with an 85% record and an app-only setup that trips people up. Whichever provider it is, install before you fly, keep your home SIM for one-time codes, and do not count on coverage in Jammu, Srinagar or Leh. That is how the evidence reads for the best eSIM for India in 2026, and the plan tables above carry the live prices.
Sources
We cite only the telecoms regulator and the network operator's own pages.
Links last checked
Opens in a new tabRegulators and official bodies
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1
Telecom Subscriptions Reports
The regulator's monthly subscription reports, behind the operator market shares and the share of active subscribers in the networks section.
Official provider pages
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2
Airtel 5G Plus cities
Airtel's own state-by-state list of towns with 5G Plus, as stated by Airtel.
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3
Airtel Open Network
Airtel's coverage checker by PIN code, for checking the places on your route, as stated by Airtel.
Compare All eSIM Plans for India
Every India plan from the 14 providers in this article, in one comparison with live prices.
Showing 30 of 413 plans
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- App works after data exhausted
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- 4 days
India
- App has calling functionality
- 30 days
India
- 7 days
India
- 15 days
India
- App has calling functionality
- 5 days
India
- 15 days
India
- App works after data exhausted
- 15 days
India
- App has calling functionality






