The short answer
You have AT&T or Verizon and a flight to Beijing, and the question is whether to roam or buy an eSIM. I read both carriers' pages on 31 October 2026 and set them against the five travel eSIMs and Ringo Light, priced on 25 October 2026. For a day or two I would roam. For two weeks or a month I would buy Ringo Light, with a VPN installed before the flight.
Unlimited data at full speed, $22.99 for 2 weeks or $35.99 for 30 days, one payment, nothing renews. Airalo asks $49 for 15 days and $69 for the month.
20 GB for 30 days at $22 and 10 GB at $19, on China Unicom and China Telecom. Its 15 days of unlimited is $39 at 2 GB a day. Ubigi's 10 GB at $17 is cheaper still.
3 days at $11.50 on China Unicom, with 3 GB a day at full speed, then 1 Mbps.
Priced by the day on China Mobile, the largest network. Its page states that WhatsApp, Google and Instagram work without a VPN. A week is $27.50.
Prices read on 25 October 2026: Airalo, Holafly, Saily, Nomad, Ubigi, AT&T, Ringo Light, Verizon on their own sites or listings, Ringo Light from its catalogue. All in US dollars unless stated. Treat every number as a snapshot.
See the full price index for every country.
Travelling further? Compare the best eSIM for Asia and the eSIM for Asia-Pacific.
The prices, charted
US dollars, 25 October 2026. Ringo Light sells 2 weeks, the others 15 days. Nomad's 15 days is 2 GB a day at full speed, then 1 Mbps. Ubigi's 15 days is 30 GB at full speed, then 2 Mbps.
The 30-day plan at each brand. Ringo Light is unlimited data at full speed. Ubigi's month is 60 GB at full speed, then 2 Mbps.
Holafly sells no buckets. Ringo Light sells no bucket either: its 2 weeks is unlimited and lasts 2 weeks, not 30 days.
Side by side
Swipe to compare →
Get Ringo Light for China, from $6.99.
Installed once, next to your own SIM. Your eSIM arrives by email in seconds.
- 7 days $6.99
- 2 weeks $22.99
- 30 days $35.99
- 90 days $71.99
We sell data eSIMs for now to fund the full Ringo service. Ringo is self funded. Every plan bought here pays for the build of one plan that works everywhere.
Want to keep your own number abroad?
That is the full Ringo service: one plan that works everywhere, with your own number included.
It is a separate product from Ringo Light and it is still being built, so it is not on sale yet. Join the waitlist to hear when it opens.
What to see in China, and what your phone needs for it
Eight places most first trips include, from the Great Wall and Beijing to Xi'an, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Guilin and Chengdu, with the one thing your data does for you at each. All of them sit on or near the high-speed rail lines.
Roam with your carrier, or buy an eSIM
AT&T's International Day Pass is $12 a day in China, $168 for two weeks and $360 for a month, read 31 October 2026. Verizon TravelPass lists China at the same $12 a day on the same date. Three days is $36 on either. Ringo Light is $22.99 for 2 weeks and $35.99 for 30 days, unlimited data at full speed, paid once. It sells no 3-day plan for China.
Against the cheapest rival, the gap holds. For about two weeks, Nomad asks $39 for 15 days at 2 GB a day, Ubigi $45 for a fixed 30 GB and Airalo $49. For a month, Ubigi asks $66 and Airalo $69. For 3 days Airalo asks $11.50, and for a week Nomad asks $25, against Ringo Light's 7 days at $6.99. Ringo Light is $145.01 under either day pass on two weeks, and $324.01 under on a month.
Here is what the carrier wins. Your own number keeps ringing, calls and texts are included, and there is nothing to install. Both bill only for days the phone is used in China, so a day or two costs $12 or $24. For one or two days I would roam. For three days, Airalo's $11.50 is under the $36 pass. From two weeks, I would buy Ringo Light.
AT&T adds $6 a day for each additional line used on the same day. Two phones on one account is $18 a day, $252 over two weeks, against $45.98 for two Ringo Light eSIMs.
Networks in China, blocked apps, and what changes for a visitor from the United States
China has three networks: China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom. China Mobile is the largest and reaches furthest into the countryside and the west. In the table, Holafly rides China Mobile, Airalo China Unicom, Ubigi China Telecom, Nomad Unicom and Telecom, and Saily lists Telecom and Unicom. Ringo Light rides a local partner network. For Beijing, Xi'an and Shanghai I would not pick on the network.
Blocked apps need a plain note, because an American's phone is full of them. A Chinese SIM bought at the airport sits behind the Great Firewall: Google, Gmail, Google Maps, WhatsApp, Instagram and most Western news sites do not open on it. A travel eSIM usually gets around that, because its data normally leaves the country through the provider's own gateway abroad. Holafly's China page states it outright. Ringo Light is a travel eSIM on a local partner network, like the others in the table, and I have not tested it from inside mainland China, so I promise no more than the usual case.
The AT&T and Verizon pages I read do not say how roaming data is routed in China, so I cannot tell you whether the blocked apps open on a day pass. Whichever you pick, I would keep a VPN installed as a fallback before you fly, since the app stores in China will not offer one. The Chinese apps work on every plan: WeChat, Alipay, Didi, Amap and the 12306 rail app. Link your card to Alipay or WeChat Pay before you land.
For a visitor, the other difference is billing. AT&T and Verizon charge per day of use on the line you already pay for. Verizon says each 24-hour session carries 5 GB at high speed, then unlimited data at 3G speeds. AT&T describes unlimited high-speed data when the pass is added to an Unlimited Plan, with speed varying by destination. I found no monthly plan for China on the AT&T page, so I count a month as thirty days at $12, and I do the same for Verizon.
If you want a data bucket: Ubigi or Nomad
- Ubigi, $17 for 10 GB. The cheapest 10 GB, on China Telecom, installed by QR code. 25 GB is $33.
- Nomad, $19 for 10 GB. The cheapest 20 GB at $22, on China Unicom and China Telecom.
- Airalo, $26.50 for 10 GB. Its Chinacom plan: 20 GB for $40.
- Saily, $26.99 for 10 GB. 20 GB at $39.99, read on saily.com on 25 October 2026.
- ✓Ringo Light, no buckets. Its 2 weeks is unlimited for $22.99 and its 30 days unlimited for $35.99. For exactly 10 GB, Ubigi is $5.99 under Ringo Light's 2 weeks and Nomad $3.99 under, and both last 30 days. For 20 GB, Nomad at $22 is $13.99 under Ringo Light's 30 days. I would buy Ringo Light for unlimited, not for a bucket.
What Ringo Light is
Ringo Light is Ringo's own data eSIM, and I write for Ringo, so weigh my verdict with that in mind. It is sold to fund the full Ringo, one plan that works everywhere with your own number ported onto it. For China it sells three trips, all unlimited data at full speed: 7 days at $6.99, 2 weeks at $22.99 and 30 days at $35.99. Nothing renews. The eSIM arrives by email and installs in one scan, no app. Install it before you fly, since Google services may not open on hotel Wi-Fi in China.
It sits next to your own SIM, so your number can still ring for calls and texts if you leave roaming on, which both carriers include. Remember how AT&T bills: the pass starts the first time the phone uses data, sends a text or takes a call, so a day with a call on it costs $12. I would turn roaming on only for the days a call matters.
The card to buy it is further up this page, just after the side-by-side table.
Pick by trip
I would roam for one or two days, $12 or $24. For all 3 days, Airalo unlimited at $11.50 beats the $36 pass. Ringo Light sells no 3 days.
I would buy Ringo Light, $22.99, against $168 on either day pass and $39 to $51.50 at the rivals.
I would buy Ringo Light, $35.99. The carriers come to $360, and the cheapest rival month is Ubigi at $66.
My pick is Ubigi 10 GB for 30 days at $17, or Nomad at $19, if you will mostly use maps and messages.
I would pick Holafly at $76.50 for a month only if you want China Mobile and a written statement on those apps. Otherwise Ringo Light, with a VPN installed as a fallback.
I would keep the carrier SIM in the phone and put the data on Ringo Light. Roaming on that line costs $12 on any day it is used.
Frequently asked questions
How we compared, and our sources
Airalo, Holafly, Saily, Nomad, Ubigi, AT&T, Ringo Light, Verizon, Ringo Light
We priced Airalo, Holafly, Saily, Nomad, Ubigi and Ringo Light for China on 25 October 2026, all on the same day, in US dollars. Each rival's price comes from its own website where it showed dollars, otherwise from an esimdb.com listing, and every source and its date is listed below. Ringo Light's prices come from the catalogue our checkout charges.
We compare the trips people actually book: a week, two weeks and a month of unlimited data, and a 10 GB bucket. We read each brand's fair use and speed rules and quote them as the brands state them. We did not run speed tests, so this page makes no speed claims for any brand.
Ringo Light is our own product. We put it in the table on the same terms as everyone else, and where a rival is the better buy the page says so.
Left out: Maya Mobile. We could not read its own prices for this country on the day, so it stays out rather than being guessed.
- Airalo: www.airalo.com/china-esim?currency=USD, unlimited in dollars on the site, read 25 October 2026; fixed-data plans from the esimdb.com/china/airalo listing dated 4 October 2026
- Holafly: esim.holafly.com/esim-china/, prices in dollars, network and the statement on WhatsApp, Google and Instagram from its own page, read 25 October 2026
- Saily: saily.com/esim-china/, saily.com/esim-china, dollars, read 25 October 2026
- Nomad: www.nomadesim.com/china-esim, nomadesim.com/china-esim, dollars, read 25 October 2026; 10 GB and 20 GB at sale prices
- Ubigi: cellulardata.ubigi.com/data-plans-and-coverage/ubigi-esim-data-plans/?destination=CHN&one-off=on, one-off plan list in dollars, read 22 October 2026; the esimdb.com/china/ubigi listing dated 4 October 2026 shows the same prices
- AT&T: www.att.com/international/day-pass/, International Day Pass price, additional lines and what it includes, with the destination list at att.com/support/article/wireless/KM1395068/ showing China, read 31 October 2026
- Ringo Light: ringoesim.com/china, the catalogue the checkout charges, read the same day
- Verizon: www.verizon.com/support/travelpass-faqs/, TravelPass FAQ for the daily price, the 5 GB allowance and billing on days used, and the TravelPass countries list at verizon.com/plans/travelpass-countries/ for China at $12 per day, read 31 October 2026
- Ringo Light: our own catalogue, the prices the checkout charges on 25 October 2026.
Written and priced by the Ringo team. Prices change often; if you spot one that has moved, tell us through the contact page and we will update the table.
