The short answer
I wrote this for an American with AT&T or Verizon who is heading to France. I compared what each carrier charges to roam there, the five rival travel eSIMs priced on 25 October 2026, and Ringo Light. Past a single night I would buy Ringo Light, at $9.99 for 3 days, $14.99 for 2 weeks or $26.99 for a month. Only a stopover day is better spent on the carrier.
Unlimited data at full speed and paid once: $9.99 for 3 days, $14.99 for 2 weeks and $26.99 for 30 days. The rivals ask $41.99 or $42 for about two weeks and $59 or $59.99 for a month.
10 GB for 30 days at $10 and 25 GB at $19, on all four French networks with 5G. Its 15-day plan is $25 for 30 GB, then 2 Mbps.
20 GB for 30 days at $21, which is $5.99 under Ringo Light's month, and 10 GB at $14. It runs on Free and Orange.
Sold by the day with no daily cap stated for your own phone, on Orange, SFR, Bouygues and Free. A week is $27.50.
Prices read on 25 October 2026: Airalo, Holafly, Saily, Nomad, Ubigi, AT&T, Verizon, Ringo Light 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 eSIM for Europe and the best eSIM for Europe, all brands priced.
The prices, charted
US dollars, 25 October 2026. The rivals sell 15 days, Ringo Light 2 weeks. Ubigi's 15 days is 30 GB at full speed, then 2 Mbps. Nomad sells no 15-day unlimited.
The 30-day plan at each brand. Nomad sells no 30-day unlimited.
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 France, from $9.99.
Installed once, next to your own SIM. Your eSIM arrives by email in seconds.
- 3 days $9.99
- 2 weeks $14.99
- 30 days $26.99
- 90 days $49.99
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 France, and what your phone needs for it
These are eight places most first trips to France include, from Paris to the Alps. All of them are reached by train or a short drive, and the four French networks cover them.
Roam with your carrier, or buy an eSIM
Both big carriers will let you use the phone in France without buying anything first. AT&T lists France for its International Day Pass at $12 a day, and Verizon lists it for TravelPass at $12 a day. Either way that is $36 for three days, $168 for two weeks and $360 for a month, and both bill only the days the phone is used in France. I read the pages on 31 October 2026.
The carriers charge $168 for two weeks and $360 for a month, where Ringo Light charges $14.99 for 2 weeks and $26.99 for 30 days, and for a 3-day visit it is $36 on either pass against $9.99. The gap is $26.01 over three days, $153.01 over two weeks and $333.01 over a month. Among the travel eSIMs, Ubigi is the nearest rival at $25 for 15 days and $39 for a month, with a fixed amount at full speed.
The carrier wins on three things. Your own number keeps ringing, calls and texts come with the pass, and you install nothing. For one night in Paris on the way to somewhere else, I would roam and spend $12. Even then, a single pass day costs more than Ringo Light's whole 3 days at $9.99, so the pass is the easy choice and not the cheap one.
AT&T and Verizon bill by the day, and a phone that sits in airplane mode on some days is not charged on those days. I priced every day as a day of use, because on a trip with maps, ticket apps and translation open, that is how most days go.
Networks in France, and what changes for an American visitor
France has four networks, Orange, SFR, Bouygues and Free, and the travel eSIMs split between them. Holafly, Saily and Ubigi list all four. Nomad rides Free and Orange, and Airalo does not name a network on its Elan plan. I would not choose between them on coverage for Paris, the Riviera or the Alps.
The passes work differently from an eSIM. AT&T's 24 hours start the first time the phone uses data, texts or calls, and the fee goes on your bill at the end of the billing cycle. Verizon gives 5 GB of high-speed data in each 24-hour session, then unlimited data at 3G speeds for the rest of it. AT&T describes the pass as unlimited data on land when added to an eligible unlimited plan.
On calls, both carriers include calls within France and back to the United States on an eligible plan, according to their pages, while Verizon bills calls to other countries as if placed from home. A pharmacy in Lyon or a rental agency that rings you back will reach your own number, and a travel eSIM does not give you that.
If you want a data bucket: Ubigi or Nomad
- Ubigi, $10 for 10 GB. The cheapest 10 GB for 30 days, with 25 GB at $19, on Orange, SFR, Bouygues and Free with 5G.
- Nomad, $14 for 10 GB. Its 20 GB at $21 is the cheapest 20 GB. It runs on Free and Orange, and its unlimited plans are not refundable.
- Airalo, $17 for 10 GB. The France plan is now called Elan after Bonbon was retired, and 20 GB is $23.
- Saily, $16.99 for 10 GB. It covers all four networks, 20 GB costs $22.99, and I read the prices in dollars on saily.com on 25 October 2026.
- ✓Ringo Light, no buckets. Its 2 weeks is unlimited for $14.99 and its 30 days unlimited for $26.99. If you need 10 GB to stretch over a whole month, I would buy Ubigi at $10.
What Ringo Light is
Ringo Light is the data eSIM of Ringo, the company I write for, sold to fund the full Ringo, one plan that works everywhere with your own number ported onto it. For France it sells three trips, all unlimited data at full speed: 3 days at $9.99, 2 weeks at $14.99 and 30 days at $26.99. Nothing renews. The eSIM arrives by email in seconds and installs in one scan, with no app.
The eSIM sits next to your own SIM, so your number stays on that SIM for calls and texts. Both carrier pages say calls and texts come with the pass, so before you leave roaming on for them I would find out how your carrier bills a day of use.
Paris has its own page at /blog/best-esim-for-paris, and a trip that goes on to Italy, Spain or Switzerland is compared at /blog/best-esim-for-europe. The card to buy Ringo Light is further up this page, just after the side-by-side table.
Pick by trip
Roam on your carrier at $12 and install nothing. It is the one case where I would skip the eSIM.
Ringo Light, 3 days, $9.99, against $36 for three pass days on AT&T or Verizon. Airalo and Nomad ask $11 for the same three days.
Ringo Light, 2 weeks, $14.99, against $168 on a carrier pass and $41.99 at Saily.
Ringo Light, 30 days, $26.99, unlimited at full speed. A carrier would be $360, and Verizon's 5 GB session cap is the part I would watch.
Ubigi, 10 GB for 30 days at $10. I would count gigabytes and leave roaming off.
Leave your own SIM in the phone beside the eSIM. The pass keeps calls working on your number, and a travel eSIM carries only data.
The second line is $6 a day on top of $12, so a fortnight for two phones is $252. Ringo Light is one eSIM per phone, $14.99 each, $29.98 together.
Frequently asked questions
How we compared, and our sources
Airalo, Holafly, Saily, Nomad, Ubigi, AT&T, Verizon, Ringo Light, Ringo Light
We priced Airalo, Holafly, Saily, Nomad, Ubigi and Ringo Light for France 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/france-esim?currency=USD, unlimited in dollars on the site, 25 October 2026; buckets from esimdb.com/france/airalo, 4 October 2026
- Holafly: esim.holafly.com/esim-france/, dollar prices on its own site, 25 October 2026
- Saily: saily.com/esim-france/, prices in dollars on saily.com, read 25 October 2026; networks from en.selectra.info, 25 August 2026
- Nomad: esimdb.com/france/nomad, listing dated 4 October 2026; networks from nomadesim.com/en/france-esim
- Ubigi: cellulardata.ubigi.com/destinations/france/, and esimdb.com/france/ubigi, 4 October 2026
- AT&T: www.att.com/international/day-pass/, International Day Pass price, extra lines and billing, with the destination list at att.com/support/article/wireless/KM1395068/ naming France, read 31 October 2026
- Verizon: www.verizon.com/support/travelpass-faqs/, TravelPass FAQ for the daily charge, the 5 GB session allowance and billing, and the TravelPass countries list at verizon.com/plans/travelpass-countries/ for France at $12 per day, read 31 October 2026
- Ringo Light: ringoesim.com/france, the catalogue the checkout charges, read the same day
- 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.
