The short answer
You are flying from the States with AT&T or Verizon to London, Edinburgh or both, 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 night or two I would roam. For a week or more I would buy Ringo Light.
Unlimited data at full speed for 2 weeks at $14.99 or 30 days at $26.99, and nothing renews. Airalo, Holafly and Saily charge $26.99 to $27.50 for one week.
10 GB for 30 days at $11 on EE and Three. Its unlimited for 30 days is $44, with 60 GB at full speed, then 2 Mbps.
20 GB for 30 days at $25 to $26, and 3 days of unlimited at $11. Its 50 GB bucket is $39 if you work from the hotel.
Days, not gigabytes, with no daily cap stated for your own phone. 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, 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 eSIM for Europe and the best eSIM for Europe, all brands priced.
The prices, charted
US dollars, 25 October 2026. Ringo Light sells 2 weeks, the nearest length it has.
The 30-day unlimited plan at each brand. Ringo Light is unlimited data at full speed.
The bucket most people buy for a two-week trip. 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 the United Kingdom, from $8.99.
Installed once, next to your own SIM. Your eSIM arrives by email in seconds.
- 3 days $8.99
- 2 weeks $14.99
- 30 days $26.99
- 90 days $62.99
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 the UK, and what your phone needs for it
Eight places most first trips to the UK include, from London to the Cotswolds, with the one thing your phone does for you at each. All of them have good 4G and 5G.
Roam with your carrier, or buy an eSIM
AT&T's International Day Pass is $12 a day in the United Kingdom, $168 for two weeks and $360 for a month, read 31 October 2026. Verizon TravelPass lists the United Kingdom at $12 a day on the same date, so three days is $36 on either. Ringo Light is $8.99 for 3 days, $14.99 for 2 weeks and $26.99 for 30 days, unlimited data at full speed, in one payment.
The charts show a week, since the rivals sell no two-week plan in the UK. A week of unlimited costs Ubigi $21, Nomad $25, Saily $26.99, Airalo $27 and Holafly $27.50. For a month, Ubigi asks $44, Nomad $49 and Airalo $69. Three days is $11 at Nomad. Ringo Light is $27.01 under a day pass on 3 days, $153.01 under on two weeks and $333.01 under on a month.
The carrier wins where I would expect. Your own number rings, calls and texts are included, and there is nothing to install. Both bill only for the days the phone is used, so a night in London with a few maps and messages is $12. For that kind of stop I would roam. For a week or more, a pass for every day adds up to more than any eSIM in the charts.
Networks in the UK, and what changes for a visitor from the United States
In the parent table, Airalo rides EE, Ubigi EE and Three, Nomad Three, EE and Vodafone, and Holafly lists EE, O2, Three, Vodafone and Orange UK. Saily does not name its UK operator, and Ringo Light uses a local partner network. I read nothing that would change my choice between London and Edinburgh. If your route reaches the Highlands, I would look at the multi-network lists first.
Where an American differs is in how the pass is billed. Both carriers charge by the day of use on the line you already pay for. AT&T adds $6 a day for each additional line used on the same day. 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 on an eligible Unlimited Plan.
I found no monthly plan for the UK on either page, so I read the month as thirty days at $12, the worst case. A quiet day on Wi-Fi may not be billed, which brings the real total down.
If you want a data bucket: Ubigi, then Nomad
- Ubigi, $11 for 10 GB. The cheapest 10 GB by a distance, on EE and Three with 5G, and 25 GB for $22. The app is needed for top-ups.
- Nomad, $17.50 for 10 GB. The price moved from $17.50 to $19 on the day I looked. 20 GB at $25 to $26 is the cheapest 20 GB, and 50 GB is $39.
- Saily, $18.99 for 10 GB. 20 GB comes to $30.99, with a full refund inside 30 days if you never install it.
- Airalo, $19 for 10 GB. On EE, buckets from $4 for 1 GB. A wrong purchase is refunded as Airmoney credit, not cash.
- ✓Ringo Light, no buckets. Its 2 weeks is unlimited for $14.99 and its 30 days unlimited for $26.99. If 10 GB has to last all month, Ubigi at $11 is cheaper and lasts longer. I would buy Ringo Light for unlimited, not as a bucket.
What Ringo Light is
Ringo Light is the data eSIM from the company I write for, so keep that in mind as you read. It is sold to fund the full Ringo, one plan that works everywhere with your own number ported onto it. For the United Kingdom it sells three trips, all unlimited data at full speed: 3 days at $8.99, 2 weeks at $14.99 and 30 days at $26.99. Nothing renews. The eSIM arrives by email and installs in one scan, no app.
Put it next to your own SIM. With roaming left on for calls and texts, which both carriers include, your number still reaches you while Ringo Light carries the data.
The card to buy it is further up this page, just after the side-by-side table.
Pick by trip
I would roam on the carrier and pay $12 for the day. Nothing to install, and your number works as at home.
For three days of data, Ringo Light at $8.99 is under the $36 pass, and Nomad at $11 is close behind.
I would buy Ringo Light, $14.99, against $168 on the pass. A week alone is $21 at Ubigi.
I would buy Ringo Light, $26.99. Ubigi asks $44 for the month, and the pass comes to $360.
My pick is Ubigi 10 GB for 30 days at $11.
I would keep the carrier SIM on with roaming for calls. AT&T adds $6 a day for the second line, so I would give each phone an eSIM for the data.
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 United Kingdom 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/united-kingdom-esim, unlimited plans in dollars on the site, 25 October 2026; buckets from esimdb.com/uk/airalo, listing updated 4 October 2026
- Holafly: esim.holafly.com/esim-united-kingdom/, in dollars on the site, 25 October 2026
- Saily: saily.com/esim-united-kingdom/, prices in dollars on saily.com, read 25 October 2026
- Nomad: www.nomadesim.com/united-kingdom-esim, in dollars from the site's own plan data, 25 October 2026; 10 GB and 20 GB on sale at $17.50 and $25 on EE and Three, $19 and $26 on Vodafone
- Ubigi: cellulardata.ubigi.com/rates-and-coverage/uk-data-plans/uk-unlimited-7-days/, 7 days in dollars on the site, 25 October 2026; the other plans from esimdb.com/uk/ubigi, listing updated 4 October 2026
- AT&T: www.att.com/international/day-pass/, daily price and data wording read on the pass page, and the United Kingdom on the destination list at att.com/support/article/wireless/KM1395068, read 31 October 2026
- Ringo Light: ringoesim.com/united-kingdom, 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 the United Kingdom 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.
