El Salvador SIM Card for Tourists: Claro, Tigo and Movistar Prices, ID Rule and Coverage

Last updated on 30 October 2026

A local SIM in El Salvador costs a few dollars: Movistar sells 30 GB for 31 days at $10 (about €8.98) as a limited offer, Claro 5 GB for 8 days at $4 (€3.59), and every operator has to keep a record of its prepaid users, so bring your passport. The POVNOMAD El Salvador eSIM costs €4.90 for 1 GB over 7 days and €16.90 for 5 GB over 30 days, runs on Claro, Tigo or Movistar and needs no Salvadoran registration. As of 29 October 2026.

On price, the local SIM wins clearly in El Salvador. The eSIM earns its place elsewhere: you are online when you land at the airport, you skip the shop, and your eSIM is ready before you reach the coast or the border with Guatemala.

Local SIM, travel eSIM or roaming: what is the difference in El Salvador?

As of 29 October 2026. Prices from movistar.com.sv and Claro El Salvador’s package catalogue, POVNOMAD prices from the El Salvador product page. El Salvador uses the US dollar; converted at the ECB reference rate of 29 October 2026 (€1 = $1.1130). Registration rule from the 2022 reform of article 30 of the Telecommunications Law.

How much does a SIM card cost in El Salvador?

Four operators sell prepaid SIMs: Claro, Tigo, Movistar and Digicel. Movistar and Claro showed readable prices on 29 October 2026. Tigo’s website refused our requests (HTTP 403), and we did not check Digicel, so we quote no prices for either.

Sources: movistar.com.sv, Paquetes and the Claro package catalogue behind claro.com.sv, Paquetes Prepago, both retrieved 29 October 2026. Neither operator states a speed limit for its unlimited packs on these pages.

Claro’s first top-up on a new Chip Express starts at $1.25 and adds a free Superpack Express, according to Claro. We found no published price for the SIM card itself, and no price list for SIM sellers at San Salvador airport.

Compare that with travel eSIMs bought before departure, as of 29 October 2026:

Read on 29 October 2026 on povnomad.com, airalo.com/de/el-salvador-esim (EUR view) and esim.holafly.com/de/esim-el-salvador/. Holafly sells unlimited plans only. “–” = no such plan.

Our El Salvador eSIM stops at 5 GB. If you need more, Airalo and Holafly sell larger and unlimited plans, and our Latin America eSIM offers 10 GB for 30 days at €49.90. Against Movistar’s 30 GB for $10, no eSIM comes close on price.

Do you need a passport for a SIM card in El Salvador?

Bring it. On 26 October 2022 the Legislative Assembly changed article 30 of the Telecommunications Law: every operator has to keep a reliable record of all users, prepaid included, and store an image of the identity document with the customer’s face (El Salvador Now, 27 October 2022). The text names the Salvadoran ID card, the DUI. We found no published operator rule for foreigners. Travellers report that shops register tourists with their passport.

A travel eSIM is not sold in El Salvador and needs no Salvadoran registration. It roams on a local network like a foreign SIM.

Which network covers the coast and the mountains?

Tigo and Claro, according to the latest Opensignal report for El Salvador. Opensignal compared all four networks from August to October 2024. Tigo scored 7.7 out of 10 for coverage experience and Claro 7.3, well ahead of Movistar with 4.8 and Digicel with 4.4. Claro was the fastest.

Source: Opensignal, El Salvador Mobile Network Experience Report, December 2024, data from 1 August to 29 October 2024. Coverage experience rates how often users find a signal where they are, not the share of the country’s area.

That matters for the cheap SIM: Movistar’s 30 GB offer runs on the network with the weaker coverage score. For the surf coast around El Tunco and El Zonte we found no coverage figures by region from any operator. Holafly names weak spots inland, not on the coast: parts of El Imposible and Montecristo national parks, the routes around the volcanoes and some rural stretches of the Ruta de las Flores (esim.holafly.com, 29 October 2026).

The POVNOMAD El Salvador eSIM uses Claro, Tigo or Movistar 4G, depending on the plan, according to the product page. Airalo names Movistar 4G only, Holafly names Tigo, Claro (CTE Telecom Personal) and Movistar. After purchase you see the networks in use in the POVNOMAD app under “Available networks”.

What happens to your SIM when you cross into Guatemala?

El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua belong to the CA-4 agreement of 2006, so the land border is a passport check. Your phone moves into a new country all the same.

• Claro SIM from El Salvador: Claro lists “Claro Sin Fronteras” for its Superpack Express packs, with data in Central America, and promises calls, messages and data across Central America and Panama at the local rate for prepaid (Claro El Salvador, Chip Express Prepago). Turn on data roaming after the border.
• Movistar or Tigo SIM from El Salvador: Movistar links to a separate prepaid roaming page, whose prices for Guatemala we did not check. For Tigo we could not check either, because Tigo’s website blocked our requests.
• POVNOMAD El Salvador eSIM: it covers El Salvador only. Add the Guatemala eSIM (from €5.90 for 1 GB) as a second profile, or take one Latin America eSIM for 17 countries including both, 5 GB for 30 days at €29.90.

Prices, the passport rule and the Tigo-Claro question on the other side are in our Guatemala SIM card guide.

How do you buy the local SIM the right way?

• Take your passport. Operators have to record every prepaid user.
• Buy in an operator shop if you can, where the staff register and activate the line for you.
• Ask for the current data pack. Movistar marks several of its packs as limited offers, so the 30 GB for $10 may change.
• Pick Claro or Tigo if you head into the mountains or national parks: both scored clearly higher than Movistar for coverage.
• Check that your phone is unlocked. A phone locked to a German network will not accept a Salvadoran SIM.
• If you take your German SIM out, you will not receive SMS codes from your bank. A dual-SIM phone keeps both lines active.

When is the eSIM the better choice, and when is it not?

The local SIM is the better deal for anyone who stays more than a few days and reaches a shop. Movistar gives you 30 GB for 31 days at €8.98, and Claro or Movistar give you a week of unlimited data at €4.49. Our largest plan is 5 GB for 30 days at €16.90.

The eSIM fits better in these cases:

• You want maps, a ride app and messages working when you land, without a shop visit. Install the eSIM at home on Wi-Fi (instructions for iPhone and Android); validity starts on first contact with a Salvadoran network.
• You stay only a few days and a shop visit is not worth it: 1 GB for 7 days costs €4.90 with us, €5.50 for 3 days at Airalo.
• You want a choice of networks: our eSIM can use Claro, Tigo or Movistar, while a local SIM ties you to one.
• El Salvador is one stop of several. The Latin America eSIM covers 17 countries on one profile.

One honest point: we sell no El Salvador plan above 5 GB and no unlimited plan, and for a surf trip of two weeks or more a local SIM is cheaper by a wide margin. This guide is also available in German.

Frequently asked questions

Last updated on 29 October 2026. Prices read on that day on movistar.com.sv, claro.com.sv, povnomad.com, airalo.com and esim.holafly.com; network data from Opensignal (December 2024); exchange rate of the ECB of 29 October 2026. Prices and rules may change at any time.