How RoamSonar ranks eSIM plans
Every results page has three tabs — Fastest, Cheapest and Recommended — each a fixed, published formula. Same inputs, same order, every time. No provider can pay to move up, and nothing is personalized to you. This page is the formula in plain English, with the exact point weights the code uses.
Before any ranking runs, verified coupon discounts are applied to prices, and anything a provider doesn't tell us stays unknown — shown as '—', never guessed.
Cheapest — what your trip actually costs per day
Cheapest sorts by trip cost per day: the post-coupon price divided by the days YOU are traveling — not the plan's validity. Ties break by total price, then alphabetically.
| Rule | Definition |
|---|---|
| Sort key | post-coupon price ÷ your trip days |
| Tie-breaks | lower total price, then title A→Z |
Fastest — quickest to get online, honest about unknowns
Fastest scores how quickly you're realistically connected. Skipping an ID check dominates — eKYC can hold you up longer than any network difference. Known 5G beats known 4G; unknown speed gets a deliberately low neutral score, because we won't invent unpublished data.
| Factor | Points |
|---|---|
| No eKYC (instant QR activation) | 40 |
| 5G confirmed | 25 |
| 4G confirmed | 12 |
| Network speed unknown ("—") | 8 |
| Hotspot allowed | 10 |
| Top-up available | 5 |
Ties break by price, then title. If a provider publishes no speed data at all, the Fastest tab says so and effectively ranks by activation.
Recommended — value, fit and simplicity out of 100
Recommended is the default tab: a 0–100 score from three parts.
| Part | Points | How it's earned |
|---|---|---|
| Value | up to 50 | your price-per-GB percentile against the country's other plans — cheapest per-GB gets 50, the median about 25, the worst near 0. Unlimited plans compare on trip-cost-per-day against other unlimited/daily plans (25 if nothing to compare) |
| Trip fit | up to 25 | validity matches your days = 25; longer loses a point per wasted day, floor 5; too short = 0 (hidden by the default "fits my days" filter) |
| Simplicity | up to 25 | no eKYC 10 · top-up 6 · hotspot 6 · includes a phone number 3 (phone points only when your data need isn't "light") |
One hard penalty: a plan without enough data for your trip — your daily need × your days, plus a 20% buffer — is capped at 40 total, no matter how cheap. Ties break by score, then price, then title.
Coupons first
Sorts use the price you'd actually pay.
Unknowns stay unknown
Missing data shows '—'; unknown never beats known.
Rankings aren't for sale
No provider can pay for position.
A worked example, with real arithmetic
Say you're on a 12-day trip with normal data needs (we budget 500 MB/day), and a 15% verified code applies. Two plans:
Plan A — 10 GB, 30-day validity, $18 list → $15.30 with the code. Plan B — 5 GB, 15-day validity, $9 list → $7.65.
Cheapest: B wins. $7.65 ÷ 12 days = $0.64/day of your trip, versus A's $15.30 ÷ 12 = $1.28/day.
Recommended: A wins — here's why. Value: both work out at $1.53/GB after the coupon — a tie, 50 pts each. Fit: B's 15 days fits a 12-day trip (25 pts); A's 30 days leaves 18 unused (25 − 18, floored at 5 → 7 pts). Simplicity: both instant-activation with hotspot and top-up, no phone number → 22 each. Raw scores: A 79, B 97. But we budget 500 MB × 12 days × 1.2 = 7.2 GB for your trip — B's 5 GB isn't enough, so B is capped at 40. Final: A 79, B 40. The cheap plan that would run dry on day 9 isn't recommended — it's still one tab over if you know your usage is lighter.
Fastest: both score 63 (no eKYC 40, unknown speed 8, hotspot 10, top-up 5) — the tie breaks to B on price.
Formulas explain the order; money explains the site. How we earn — and why it never touches these rankings — is documented too.
How we make money →