How RoamSonar ranks eSIM plans

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.

Country pages initially show up to two matching plans per provider, taken from the selected order. This makes room for alternatives without changing prices or scores. Lowest price stays in ascending total-price order within that shortlist. Choose Show all plans, turn off Two plans per provider, or select one provider to browse every matching plan. Full-catalogue Cheapest, API and AI results keep strict price order without provider-diversity demotions.

When you enter trip days, Only plans covering your days and Meets my data needs start enabled. The first removes plans that expire too soon; the second uses our data estimate to remove smaller allowances. Turn off either control to compare those plans too. Show all plans removes the provider limit, not your trip filters. Browsing without trip days starts without these filters.

Network & setup uses the Fastest score below. It combines published ID requirements, network generation, hotspot, top-up and speed-ceiling information. No ID check does not prove instant activation. This score is not a measured download speed or a delivery-time guarantee.

Ties break by price, then title. A missing speed ceiling receives the default 20 points; this does not verify an unrestricted connection. A missing network generation remains unknown.

Smart match (Recommended) is optional: a 0–100 score from three parts, not a lowest-total-price order.

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.

Before scoring, genuinely identical same-price variants collapse to the longest validity, because extra days at no extra cost are strictly better. Cap period, no-expiry, speed/FUP, phone, voice and SMS differences keep products distinct. Unknown and confirmed features are kept separate. After scoring, a plan can never appear above another plan with the same coverage that costs no more while providing at least as much data and validity.

The formula is unchanged, but displayed results are diversified so one provider cannot occupy the whole page: no provider may hold more than three of the first eight or six of the first 24 positions. Countries covered by at least ten providers target five distinct providers in the first eight. Deferred plans retain their relative order. This changes display variety, never the underlying score, price or paid placement.

An eSIM can connect in one country while routing its public internet address through another. When a provider publishes that routing country and it differs from your destination, we show it in the plan details. This can affect local streaming catalogues, banking checks, search results and services that use an IP address to infer location. IP egress does not change a ranking score.

RoamSonar does not offer an open review form. A Clicked out via RoamSonar badge comes only from a one-use invitation tied to a recorded provider click. Verified purchase is stricter: the provider's imported conversion must match that click ID. One email can review a provider once, every submission is moderated, verified reviews sort first, and only published reviews count toward the public average or structured data.