The 7 Best International SIM Cards For Travel in 2021

When do international SIM cards make sense?

The rule of thumb is that the shorter the trip, the more economical and expedient international SIM cards become.

For business trips

If you're a business traveller, international SIM cards can be very convenient if you’re on a short business trip where time is money.

On a short business trip you probably don’t want to waste precious time getting set up with a new SIM card and mobile plan when you first arrive in a country. You want to be able to hit the ground running.

For fast-paced leisure trips

Also, for fast-paced leisure trips where you’re hopping to a new country every couple of days, it might seem like too much hassle and too much of a waste of scarce holiday time to keep buying a local SIM card every  time you hop to a new country.

Sure, it may not take too long to get set up with a new SIM at an airport kiosk, but what if you're travelling overland and you can't buy a local SIM card anywhere near the border crossing? 

Or what if there’s a limited selection of providers and plans to choose from at the airport, and none of them suit your needs?

You can try to find an official company store, but that will likely consume precious holiday time. 

Moreover, in countries where there’s a major language barrier, getting yourself fixed up with a SIM card in one of these company stores can be quite a struggle indeed.

For example, when I first arrived in Taipei, Taiwan I attempted to buy a Chunghwa Telecom SIM card from an official company store, but none of the employees working in the store could speak a word of English. 

It ended up being a rather stressful and drawn-out process with an English-speaking Taiwanese guy on the phone having to mediate between myself and one of the store clerks. 

I did get my phone set up with a SIM card and a data plan in the end, but not before enduring a lot of hassle and trouble.

The other issue when you’re not spending much time in countries, is that you could end up wasting money by buying local SIMs.

You see, the SIM cards at airport kiosks often come with a compulsory, expensive data plan, and such a plan may provide far more data, texts and calls than you’re going to use during your stay.

Just to illustrate this last point, when I arrived at Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila a while back, the local carrier "Globe" had a kiosk at the airport that was only selling SIM cards with the company’s 4 GB data plan for 599 pesos ($11.34).

I didn't need 4 GB of data, but they would not let me buy a SIM with their cheaper 1.5 GB plan for 299 pesos ($5.68).

For longer trips (sometimes) 

International SIMs can also be useful for longer trips if there’s going to be some difficulty in procuring a local SIM card upon your arrival.

Such a difficulty might arise if you’re entering countries via land border crossings or via airports where it’s not possible to buy a local SIM card.

Not having data when you first arrive in a country can be a major disadvantage, since this tends to be the time when you need an Internet connection the most.

For example, you’ll often need data as soon as you arrive in a country to book a hotel room for the night and then to request a Grab or Uber taxi to take you to the property.

Sure, you might be able to use the free airport Wi-Fi sometimes to book a room or order a taxi but can you trust it to always work, and what about once you step outside the airport terminal to try to find your Uber driver?

Having an international SIM card means that your phone is always able to serve you when you need it most - the moment you arrive in a new country.

The 7 Best International SIM Cards For Travellers in 2020

Below we've rounded up 7 of the best-known international SIM card providers for 2020. We've compared their costs, features and benefits to help you decide which provider will suit your needs best.

WorldSIM

WorldSIM offers a prepaid international SIM card that provides data, calls and SMS plans. It claims that the card will help you to cut roaming costs by up to 95%.

The card is triple-punched so it will fit standard, micro and nano SIM card slots. The card itself is free and you only pay for any credit that you add to it. Any credit that you’ve added to the card will not expire as long as you use the card once per year.

The WorldSIM International SIM card comes with a free UK (+44) and USA (+1) mobile number. You can add more phone numbers (for a monthly fee) for over 50 different countries using the Virtual Numbers service. You can also use this same service to roam on your existing mobile number without any roaming charges.

The card works in 200 countries worldwide, and you can receive free incoming calls from family and friends in 118 countries.

You can buy data-only bundles (up to 4 GB) and voice + data bundles for over 100 different countries.

The prices of these bundles vary considerably depending on what country you’re buying them for. See this page for up-to-date bundle prices for each country.

As well as bundles, you can also buy credit. Rates for data, texts and calls also vary widely depending on the countries involved. Luckily, there’s a nice little rate calculator on this page. 

OneSIM

OneSimCard is a branch of Belmont Telecom Inc., a licensed interexchange carrier (IXC) that has provided telecommunications services in the US since 1994.

The company’s prepaid International SIM Card promises to save you 85% on roaming charges while travelling worldwide.

The SIM comes in three varieties; Universal SIM, Expedition SIM and Europe & more SIM. All three cards fit standard, micro and nano SIM slots and come with $10 credit for voice, texts and data included.

All three cards come with two numbers; a primary Estonian (+372) European number and a secondary Canadian, UK, Australian or U.S number.

You can also order unlimited additional numbers known as PEN (personal extra numbers) from 60+ other countries if you wish to.

The Universal SIM costs $29.95 and covers over 200 countries worldwide and your European number can receive free incoming calls in 162 countries. It also has a voicemail service with free delivery to your email.

The Expedition SIM costs $34.95 and is for travellers who want the best data coverage. With this card you get Internet data coverage in over 170 countries worldwide and free incoming calls in 130 countries.

The Europe & more SIM costs $19.95 and is for people who are only travelling to Europe. It has coverage in 70 countries. The chief advantages are the low calling rates to the US and Canada, and direct dial calling from 45 countries.

Outgoing calls with OneSIM start at 25c /min. SMS messages are free to receive everywhere. Mobile data generally starts at 20c/MB with daily, weekly and monthly packages available.

Extras with all the cards include a Wi-Fi calling app for iOS and Android devices, 24/7 live technical support and a free global concierge service to assist you with reservations, language translation, roadside assistance and more.

To see more information about rates for data usage, calling and texting in different countries see this page. 

TravelSIM

TravelSIM offer a prepaid international SIM card that offers plans for calls, texts and data, works in 170+ countries worldwide and can reduce your roaming costs by up to 85%.

All TravelSim SIM cards are triple-punched, fit all phones and tablets, and come with an Estonian (+372) European number. The cards cost €10 and you pay for extra to add a data plan or credit.

Incoming calls are free in 135+ countries and incoming text messages are free in all countries. The SIM card will stay active as long as you add credit to it at least once every 18 months.

You can buy both credit and prepaid data plans with TravelSIM. Countries are classed into three different zones - A, B and C, with plans for Zone A countries the cheapest and plans for Zone C countries the most expensive.

You can check the rates for calling, texting and data usage in any country here, and the prepaid data plans on this page.

GoSIM

GoSIM is another major player in the international SIM card market, and like many of its competitors, provides calls, data and SMS plans.

The GoSIM International SIM card provides coverage in over 210 countries across 340 networks and claims to be able to save you up to 90% on international roaming charges. 

The card comes with an Estonia-based (+372) European phone number and costs $19 AUD with $10 credit included.

With the GoSIM card you get free incoming calls in over 135 countries and free incoming SMS messages in all countries. Unused airtime and credit are valid for 18 months.

Pay-as-you-go rates for data start at $0.25/MB but you can save a lot by purchasing prepaid data plans, which go up to 2 GB with a validity period of 30 days.

To learn more about rates for calls, data and texts in the countries you plan to visit you can use the rate calculator.

KeepGo

First founded in 2009, KeepGo is a company that develops global connectivity solutions for the Internet of Things (IoT) and broadband devices.

The company offers two types of SIM cards – a Smartwatch Data SIM card and a Lifetime Data SIM Card.

The Lifetime Data SIM is a triple SIM (standard, micro, nano) that’s exclusively for data, with no ability to make calls or send texts. It costs $49 with 1GB of data included (see below for our 10% discount code).

At the time of writing the Lifetime Data SIM provides coverage in about 110 countries, and that number is always growing.

Data plans for the SIM cost the same regardless of the country you're travelling in. They range from 500 MB ($14) to 10 GB ($165), with 1GB ($26), 3GB ($61) and 5GB ($88) plans also available. KeepGo recently cut their data plan prices so now is definitely the right time to buy.

Note that all data plans expire after 1 year, unless you refill again in the meantime, thereby resetting the clock for another year.

KeepGo's other SIM card offering, The Smartwatch SIM card, is similar to the Data SIM, but is designed to connect your smart watch to 2G and 3G networks in 110+ countries. It costs $10 with 5MB of data included.

There are three data plans for the Smartwatch SIM with the largest plan being for 3GB. You can view the current plans and pricing on the website.

N.B - If you visit KeepGo through any of our links or by clicking the big red button directly below, you can apply our discount code TWOBIRDSBREAKINGFREE to get 10% off your KeepGo SIM card purchase.

Gigsky

Like Keep Go, GigSky also provides a triple-cut, data-only International SIM card that works in 120+ countries worldwide.

Once you’ve purchased the SIM from Amazon ($9.99) and downloaded the GigSky smartphone app to configure and activate the SIM you’re ready to go.

GigSky provides two types of data plans – regional plans (for Europe, North America, Asia etc. and non-regional plans for individual countries.

Validity periods normally range from 1 day to 30 days, and data plans range from 300 MB up to 5 GB, although for some countries plans only go up to 1GB or less.

You can view the latest rates for the regional data plans on this page and for the non-regional plans here. 

KnowRoaming

Unlike the last two providers, Knowroaming sells an international SIM that works that works with voice calls and texts, as well as data. 

But Knowroaming has a slightly different modus operandi to its competitors. The company provides a special sticker that you place over your home SIM card to convert it into a prepaid international SIM.

Once the sticker is applied and you’ve got the app downloaded you can start saving money on roaming charges in 200+ countries. The sticker costs $29.99.

If you don't want to use the sticker, Knowroaming also sells a regular international SIM card for $9.99, which works just like the sticker.

With Knowroaming you get a free US(+1) number but you can also purchase additional foreign numbers for about 50 different countries for a fee that ranges from $3 to $12.50 a month.

Unlimited data plans are available in 125+ countries from $7.99 a day. Pay-as-you-go rates for data usage start at $0.15/MB. Credit in your account will expire if you don’t top-up for 9 months.

Another selling point of Knowroaming is that you receive free WhatsApp data for 30 days any time you purchase credit via the app.

You can view the company’s data plans and check pay-as-you-go rates for texts, calls and data in any country on their website.

So which international SIM card provider should you go with in 2020?

If you need unlimited data, you’ll have to go with KnowRoaming, since this is the only company that offers unlimited data plans.

You could buy a month’s worth of unlimited data for $100 by purchasing the 3-day unlimited plan ten times.

If you just need a few gigabytes of data and you don't need to make calls or send texts, we’d recommend that you get the GigSky Data SIM.

With the GigSky Data SIM you can get 5GB of data with 30 days validity for most countries for just $50, which is way cheaper than the other providers (which generally charge $90+ for the same thing). 

However, if you're travelling to Africa, GigSky becomes expensive and you’ll pay $50 for just 1 GB of data there.

If you need an international SIM card for the whole works (calls, texts and data) OneSIM is a solid overall provider with very reasonable rates and a strong reputation.

If you're travelling to offbeat countries your best bet might be TravelSIM, as they don’t bump up their data plan tariffs as much as their rivals for more offbeat (zone B) countries.

What we’d also advise is that you first determine your dominant mode of communication when overseas (text, voice, data) and then compare the relevant rates for the countries you’re visiting across all the providers we’ve listed.

Don't forget travel insurance...

As well as getting an international SIM card, you may also want to take out travel insurance for your upcoming trip. 

We've compared the best travel insurance providers for backpackers and nomads in our  2020 comparison guide. 

If you don't have time to review all the options, you can get a free quote for World Nomads travel insurance, which is preferred by many nomads, backpackers and adventure travellers.

If you liked this article or found it useful, please share it with other travellers. What’s your favourite way to avoid roaming charges overseas? Have you ever used an international SIM card before? Leave us a comment below and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

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