The short answer
New Zealand sits in Zone 1 of Telstra's roaming at A$5 a day, which changes the answer from Europe. I set the Day Pass, read on 31 October 2026, against the five travel eSIM brands and Ringo Light, priced on 25 October 2026. I would roam for a day or two. For a week, two weeks in a campervan or a month, I would buy Ringo Light, $9.99, $25.99 or $48.99.
Unlimited data at full speed, 7 days at $9.99, 2 weeks at $25.99 or 30 days at $48.99, nothing renews. Airalo asks $48 for 15 days and $71 for the month. From the third day of daily use it also costs less than A$5 a day at Telstra.
A light user gets 10 GB for 30 days at $16, on 2degrees and Spark with 5G. No other brand here names two New Zealand networks.
Three days of unlimited at $11, and 20 GB for 30 days at $28, both on Spark.
Sold in days, not gigabytes, on Spark. 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, Telstra, Ringo Light, European Central Bank 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
Eight places that many first trips include, from Auckland through the volcanic North Island to the lakes and fiords of the South, with the one thing your phone does for you at each. The towns have good signal, while the parks and passes between them often have none.
Roam with Telstra, or buy an eSIM
Telstra's roaming page lists New Zealand in Zone 1 at A$5 a day, charged only on days the phone is used, and I read it on 31 October 2026. Three days of use is A$15 (about $10.50), a week is A$35 (about $24.50), two weeks is A$70 (about $49) and a month is A$150 (about $105), since the page shows no monthly pass for New Zealand. I converted at the ECB reference rate of 30 October 2026, A$1 = $0.70.
Ringo Light is $9.99 for 7 days, $25.99 for 2 weeks and $48.99 for 30 days. That is $14.51 under a week of Day Pass, $23.01 under two weeks and $56.01 under a month. The crossover is three days. Two days of Telstra, about $7, costs less than Ringo Light's 7 days, and from the third day of use the eSIM is the cheaper buy. Among the other eSIMs, Ubigi asks $44 for 15 days and Airalo $48, with the month at $65 and $71.
Telstra wins more here than in Europe, and I say so plainly. For a day or two it is the cheaper option, because two days of Telstra is about $7, under Ringo Light's 7 days at $9.99 and Nomad's $11 for 3 days. Your own number keeps ringing, standard calls and texts are included, nothing needs installing, and a phone with no eSIM slot works. Ringo Light is data only and needs an eSIM phone.
Networks in New Zealand, and what changes for a visitor from Australia
New Zealand has three networks, Spark, One NZ and 2degrees. All of them cover the cities, the towns and the main highways well, and between towns there are long stretches with no signal on any network, whichever eSIM or pass you carry. Airalo, Holafly and Nomad ride Spark. Ubigi names 2degrees and Spark, which I count as its edge. Saily does not name its network.
Telstra's pass runs on your own plan. It includes 2 GB of data a day, which expires at the end of each day, and a day is billed whenever the phone makes a call, sends a text or uses data in New Zealand, background data included. A 2 GB top up is A$10 (about $7), valid for 31 days. The road from Te Anau to Milford Sound has no signal for most of its length, so I would download offline maps before any long drive.
If you want a data bucket: Ubigi or Nomad
- Ubigi, $16 for 10 GB. The cheapest 10 GB I found, on 2degrees and Spark with 5G. 25 GB for 30 days is $35.
- Nomad, $18 for 10 GB. And the cheapest 20 GB, $28, on Spark.
- Saily, $23.99 for 10 GB. 20 GB is $37.99, read on saily.com.
- Airalo, $24 for 10 GB. Its 20 GB is $38, and its buckets start at $4 for 1 GB.
- ✓Ringo Light, no buckets. It sells unlimited, 2 weeks at $25.99 and 30 days at $48.99. If 10 GB is enough for a month, Ubigi at $16 or Nomad at $18 costs far less, and every rival that sells buckets offers 20 GB or more 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, sold to fund the full Ringo, one plan that works everywhere with your own number ported onto it. I write for Ringo, so weigh that. For New Zealand it sells three trips, all unlimited data at full speed: 7 days at $9.99, 2 weeks at $25.99 and 30 days at $48.99. The eSIM arrives by email and installs in one scan, no app.
It sits next to your Telstra SIM, so your own number can keep working for calls and texts if you leave roaming on for those, which the Day Pass includes. Telstra bills A$5 for each day the phone does anything on roaming, so I would leave it on only when you need it. The card to buy Ringo Light is further up this page, after the table.
Pick by trip
The Telstra Day Pass, A$5 a day, nothing to install. Nomad's 3 days at $11 is no cheaper.
Ringo Light unlimited, 7 days, $9.99, against about $24.50 for a week of the Day Pass at A$35 if you use the phone every day.
Ringo Light, 2 weeks, $25.99, if you use the phone most days. Fourteen days of Day Pass is A$70 (about $49).
Ringo Light, 30 days, $48.99, unlimited at full speed. A month of Day Pass would be A$150 (about $105).
Ubigi, 10 GB for 30 days, $16. I would count the gigabytes before I chose it.
The Day Pass, or Ringo Light for data with your Telstra SIM left in the phone.
Frequently asked questions
How we compared, and our sources
Airalo, Holafly, Saily, Nomad, Ubigi, Telstra, Ringo Light, European Central Bank, 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
- Telstra: www.telstra.com.au/international-roaming, International Roaming Day Pass zones, A$5 a day for Zone 1 with New Zealand listed, the 2 GB a day allowance, billing on days used and the A$10 2 GB top up, read 31 October 2026
- Ringo Light: ringoesim.com/new-zealand, the catalogue the checkout charges, read the same day
- European Central Bank: www.ecb.europa.eu/stats/eurofxref/eurofxref-daily.xml, euro reference rates of 30 October 2026, the latest published on 31 October 2026, used for the dollar figures (A$1 = $0.70)
- 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.
