The short answer
I wrote this for an American on AT&T or Verizon who is flying the long way to New Zealand. I compared what each carrier charges there per day, five rival travel eSIMs priced on 25 October 2026, and Ringo Light. For a few days I would buy Nomad for 3 days at $11. For two weeks or a month I would buy Ringo Light, at $25.99 or $48.99.
Unlimited data at full speed, paid once: 2 weeks at $25.99 or 30 days at $48.99. Airalo asks $48 for 15 days and $71 for the month.
10 GB for 30 days at $16 on 2degrees and Spark, with 5G. It is the only brand that names two New Zealand networks.
3 days of unlimited at $11, and 20 GB for 30 days at $28, on Spark.
Sold by the day on Spark, so there are no gigabytes to count. A week is $27.50, and sharing is limited to 1 GB a day.
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.
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. Ringo Light is unlimited data at full speed. Ubigi's month is 60 GB at full speed, then 2 Mbps. Nomad stops at 10 days.
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
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Get Ringo Light for New Zealand, from $9.99.
Installed once, next to your own SIM. Your eSIM arrives by email in seconds.
- 7 days $9.99
- 2 weeks $25.99
- 30 days $48.99
- 90 days $68.99
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 New Zealand, and what your phone needs for it
These are eight places most trips to New Zealand include, from the Auckland waterfront and Rotorua to Queenstown and Milford Sound. Spark, One NZ and 2degrees cover the towns and main highways, and signal drops on the passes and in the fiords.
Roam with your carrier, or buy an eSIM
AT&T and Verizon both work in New Zealand with nothing bought in advance. AT&T's International Day Pass is $12 a day there and so is Verizon's TravelPass, charged only on days the phone is used, as I read on 31 October 2026. Three days come to $36, two weeks to $168 and a month to $360.
Ringo Light asks $25.99 for 2 weeks and $48.99 for 30 days, which leaves it $142.01 under both carriers for a fortnight and $311.01 under for a month. Among the rivals, the cheapest fortnight is Ubigi at $44 for 15 days and the cheapest month is Ubigi at $65.
What the carrier wins is your own number, calls and texts, and no install. For a stopover day in Auckland I would roam. For three days I would buy the 3-day unlimited from Nomad at $11 against $36 on either pass, because Ringo Light sells nothing under two weeks in New Zealand.
A campervan trip keeps the phone busy every day, so I count every day as used. Ringo Light's month costs $23 more than its fortnight, while a pass adds $12 for each extra day.
Networks in New Zealand, and what changes for an American visitor
New Zealand has three networks, Spark, One NZ and 2degrees. All three cover the cities, the towns and the main highways, and none covers the alpine passes or the fiords. Airalo, Holafly and Nomad ride Spark, Ubigi names 2degrees and Spark, and Saily names none. The road from Te Anau to Milford Sound has no mobile signal for most of its length, so I would save offline maps for each day's drive.
A pass runs on your own plan, not on a new network. AT&T bills days of use, adds $6 a day for every extra line on the same calendar day, and describes unlimited high-speed data when the pass is added to an Unlimited Plan, with speeds that vary by destination. Verizon gives 5 GB of high-speed data per 24-hour session, then unlimited data at 3G speeds. That suits maps and messaging, and a laptop on the hotspot is where I would worry.
AT&T's page says calls to included destinations and to the United States carry no added charge. If a farm stay or a rental car desk will ring your American number, a pass takes that call and an eSIM does not.
If you want a data bucket: Ubigi or Nomad
- Ubigi, $16 for 10 GB. The cheapest 10 GB, on 2degrees and Spark with 5G. 25 GB for 30 days costs $35.
- Nomad, $18 for 10 GB. And the cheapest 20 GB at $28, on Spark. I would buy it for a month of light use.
- Saily, $23.99 for 10 GB. 20 GB costs $37.99.
- Airalo, $24 for 10 GB. 20 GB costs $38 on its Nzcom plan, and small buckets start at $4 for 1 GB.
- ✓Ringo Light, no buckets. Its 2 weeks is unlimited for $25.99 and its 30 days for $48.99. For 10 GB that lasts a month, Ubigi at $16 or Nomad at $18 beats it, and every rival with buckets sells 20 GB or more for less than Ringo Light's 30 days. I would buy Ringo Light for unlimited, not for a bucket.
What Ringo Light is
I write for Ringo, so weigh what follows. Ringo Light is its data eSIM, sold to fund the full Ringo, one plan that works everywhere with your own number ported onto it. For New Zealand it sells three trips, all unlimited data at full speed with no speed cap: 7 days at $9.99, 2 weeks at $25.99 and 30 days at $48.99. Nothing renews, and the eSIM arrives by email and installs in one scan, with no app.
The eSIM sits next to your own SIM, so your number can keep ringing and texting if you leave roaming on for it. Both carrier pages say calls and texts come with the pass, and each day of use is billed, which I would check before the flight.
The card to buy it is further up this page, just after the side-by-side table.
Pick by trip
Roam on AT&T or Verizon at $12. Your own number rings and there is nothing to install.
Nomad unlimited, 3 days, $11, against $36 on either pass.
Ringo Light, 2 weeks, $25.99, against $168 on a pass and $44 at Ubigi for 15 days.
Ringo Light, 30 days, $48.99, against $65 at Ubigi and $360 on a pass.
Ubigi, 10 GB for 30 days at $16. I would count gigabytes.
The second line adds $6 a day, so two phones for a fortnight come to $252. Ringo Light is one eSIM per phone, $25.99 each, $51.98 for both.
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 New Zealand 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/new-zealand-esim?currency=USD, unlimited in dollars on the site, network Spark, read 25 October 2026; fixed data from the esimdb listing dated 4 October 2026
- Holafly: esim.holafly.com/esim-new-zealand/, prices in dollars from its own page, read 25 October 2026
- Saily: saily.com/esim-new-zealand/, dollars, read 25 October 2026
- Nomad: www.nomadesim.com/new-zealand-esim, dollars, read 25 October 2026
- Ubigi: cellulardata.ubigi.com/data-plans-and-coverage/ubigi-esim-data-plans/?destination=NZL&one-off=on, one-off plan list in dollars, read 22 October 2026; the page would not load on 25 October 2026, figures matched the esimdb listing dated 4 October 2026
- 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 New Zealand, read 31 October 2026
- 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 New Zealand at $12 per day, read 31 October 2026
- Ringo Light: ringoesim.com/new-zealand, 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.
