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.

Cheapest keeps strict ascending total prices. Provider-diversity adjustments do not apply in this tab, including API and AI results. When you enter trip days, plans that expire too soon are hidden unless you turn off Trip fit. A low-priced small allowance can still appear; the data-estimate warning helps you check whether it is enough.

Fastest scores how quickly you're realistically connected. Skipping an ID check dominates — eKYC can hold you up longer than any network difference. Network generation and a provider-published speed ceiling are separate evidence; unknown attributes never become invented claims.

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 and speed/FUP differences keep products distinct. 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.