Thailand eSIM with unlimited data: POVNOMAD vs Airalo vs Holafly

Last updated on 5 September 2026

POVNOMAD Unlimited Smart for Thailand costs €12.90 for 7 days and €39.90 for 30 days. Airalo’s unlimited plan costs €19.00 and €43.50. Smart gives you 1 GB at full speed every day, then a steady 1 Mbit/s. Airalo throttles at 3 GB. Up to 15 days POVNOMAD costs less, at 30 days the two land close together.

The comparison at a glance

All prices as of 5 September 2026, collected from povnomad.com and airalo.com (Thailand product pages, EUR). “—” means Airalo lists no price for 21 days. Fair use: POVNOMAD states both figures on the product page, the daily high-speed allowance (1 GB on Smart, 3 GB on XL) and the speed after that (a steady 1 Mbit/s). Airalo states its 3 GB per day threshold and the drop to 1 Mbps on a general fair-use page, not on the Thailand product page. Holafly names neither a threshold nor a speed for Thailand. Holafly appears here without figures: its German Thailand page, its English one and its Phuket page all show the same price table, while Holafly’s own Thailand roaming comparison page quotes a different price range on the same date (retrieved 5 September 2026). Check Holafly prices directly at esim.holafly.com/de. Prices are subject to change.

One note on buying: purchases in the POVNOMAD app earn up to 10 percent of the amount paid as credits, redeemable on your next order. The web shop does not award credits. The prices in the table stay the same, the credits lower the bill on your next trip.

The network difference

Thailand runs on two large mobile networks. AIS and True cover the market between them, and True has carried the former dtac network since the two merged in March 2023. State operator NT runs a third, described in trade press as filling rural gaps.

The POVNOMAD product page names “AIS or TrueMove” with 4G and 5G. Airalo writes on its Thailand product page: “Operates on the True & AIS network in Thailand.” Holafly names “Networks: True / DTAC” on its English page, its German one and its Phuket page (retrieved 5 September 2026), and dtac now stands for part of the True network rather than a third operator.

On 5G reach, the Chiang Rai Times wrote in March 2026 that True reaches 93 % of the population and AIS sits between 85 and 95 %. Both networks sit inside the POVNOMAD eSIM, and your phone picks the stronger one where you are.

Each provider defines “unlimited” its own way. Airalo’s general fair-use policy reads: “when you use more than 3GB in a day, we’ll slow down (or ‘throttle’) your internet speed to 1 Mbps for the rest of that day.” Holafly’s Thailand page says only that the fair usage policy “is temporarily applied for no more than one (1) day”, with no GB figure attached. None of the three providers checked sells an unlimited plan for Thailand that stays unthrottled.

No provider promises you a signal at a named spot. Travel blogs report good coverage on Phuket, Koh Samui, Koh Phi Phi, Koh Tao and Koh Lanta, workable data on Koh Lipe, and frequent dead zones around the Similan Islands. Chiang Mai and Pai sit in the good column too, the mountains around them weaker. Download maps and tickets before you board a boat.

Data packages instead of unlimited

Plenty of Thailand trips work without unlimited data. Save your maps offline, use the guesthouse Wi-Fi in the evening, and a fixed package costs you less.

Prices as of 5 September 2026 for the standard IP variant, povnomad.com/en/produkt/thailand-esim/. Hotspot comes with every POVNOMAD eSIM for Thailand, and validity starts with the first connection to the network.

The product page carries a second choice next to the duration: the IP variant. Unlimited Smart runs on the Singapore IP, Unlimited XL on the standard IP with Hong Kong as its exit point. The data packages come at the prices above with the standard IP routed through Hong Kong, or for €1 more with a Singapore IP. One package uses a Thai IP, 50 GB over 10 days for €15.90. The page makes no promises about individual apps.

The daily rate on Unlimited Smart does not fall with every tier. Going from 5 days (€8.90) to 7 days (€12.90) costs €2.00 per extra day. Count your travel days before you round up. If you need 3 GB a day, take Unlimited XL: €7.90 for 3 days, €14.90 for 7 days, €29.90 for 15 days. XL shares Airalo’s daily threshold and costs less up to 15 days, while at 30 days it is €55.90 against Airalo’s €43.50. The unlimited plans overview explains the tiers.

Which plan for which trip

Two weeks of Bangkok followed by an island stretch fit Unlimited Smart for 15 days at €22.90. Airalo charges €35.00 for the same 15 days. You call a Grab, keep Google Maps running in the tuk-tuk and book the ferry to Koh Tao in the evening. Days like that usually stay under 1 GB, so the 3 GB a day other providers sell would sit unused. Upload video every day and you do use Airalo’s 3 GB.

A loop through Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pai and the south often runs three weeks. Airalo lists no price for 21 days, while POVNOMAD charges €30.90 for Unlimited Smart over 21 days. Navigation keeps running on the night train north, and once the high-speed gigabyte is gone in the evening, maps, messengers and email carry on at 1 Mbit/s.

At a full month the gap closes against POVNOMAD. Unlimited Smart costs €39.90 over 30 days with 1 GB of high-speed data per day. Unlimited XL with 3 GB a day costs €55.90 for 30 days. Airalo charges €43.50 for the same daily allowance, so for a full month of heavy use Airalo is the cheaper pick. Winter in one place with Wi-Fi at home, and 20 GB for 30 days (€14.90) covers you.

Many travellers add a neighbouring country to a Thailand trip. Vietnam has its own profile, the Vietnam eSIM from €5.90. For Indonesia, the Bali provider comparison runs the same numbers.

Roaming from your home contract

Thailand sits outside EU roaming, so a European domestic allowance does not apply and your operator sells a separate add-on, usually a monthly world package or a day pass. Compare it against €12.90 for seven days of Unlimited Smart or €14.90 for 20 GB over 30 days.

Frequently asked questions

All prices as of 5 September 2026, sources: povnomad.com, airalo.com, esim.holafly.com. Prices are subject to change.