The short answer
You hold an O2 or Three contract and a flight to Beijing, and the choice is whether to roam or buy a travel eSIM first. I read what each carrier charges in China on 10 November 2026 and set it against the travel eSIMs I priced on 10 November 2026 and Ringo Light. For a trip of two weeks or more I would buy Ringo Light, install it before I fly, and keep my own SIM in for calls and texts.
Unlimited data at full speed for 2 weeks at $22.99 or 30 days at $35.99, 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. Ubigi has the cheapest 10 GB at $17. Nomad also sells 15 days of unlimited at $39, 2 GB a day at full speed.
3 days of unlimited at $11.50 on China Unicom, 3 GB a day at full speed, then 1 Mbps.
Days, not gigabytes, on China Mobile, the largest network. Its page states WhatsApp, Google and Instagram work without a VPN. $27.50 for a week.
Prices read on 10 November 2026: Airalo, Holafly, Saily, Nomad, Ubigi, O2, Three, Three, European Central Bank, 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 best eSIM for Asia and the eSIM for Asia-Pacific.
The prices, charted
US dollars, 10 November 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 trips from Britain include, from Beijing to Xi'an, Shanghai, Guilin and Chengdu. Whichever plan you pick, the tip under each one is where your phone matters, and the Chinese apps for maps, rail tickets and payment matter as much as the data.
Roam with your carrier, or buy an eSIM
O2 Travel works in China at £7 a day, charged only for days of use, and each charge covers 24 hours from first use. At the ECB reference rate of 10 November 2026, £1 = $1.34, so one day is about $9, three days £21 (about $28), two weeks £98 (about $131) and a month £210 (about $281). Three lists China in Go Roam Around the World Extra for Pay Monthly plans, at £8 a day (about $11) on plans joined on or after 18 December 2025 and £7 on earlier ones. That makes about $32 for three days, about $150 for two weeks and about $322 for thirty days at the £8 rate. I read all of it on 10 November 2026. Three's page showed no pass prices that day, so I leave passes out.
Ringo Light is one payment per trip. For China it sells 2 weeks at $22.99 and 30 days at $35.99. Two weeks is about $131 on O2 against $22.99, and a month is about $281 on O2 and about $322 on Three against $35.99. A first trip to Beijing, Xi'an and Shanghai is often two weeks, so the carrier arithmetic runs against you fast.
Among the travel eSIMs, Ringo Light is also the cheapest unlimited for two weeks and a month. Nomad asks $39 for 15 days, Ubigi $45, Airalo $49, Saily $49.99 and Holafly $51.50, and for a month the rivals run $66 to $76.50. For a few days it is the other way round: Ringo Light has no 3-day plan, and Airalo charges $11.50, Holafly $11.90 and Nomad $12 for 3 days of unlimited, against about $28 on O2.
What O2 and Three win is real, and I do not wave it away. Your UK number keeps ringing, calls and texts come with it, nothing needs installing, a phone with no eSIM slot works, and the charge lands on a bill you already pay. For a single day, such as a layover, O2's £7 is the right call, cheaper than any 3-day eSIM here. Beyond that I would buy a plan before the flight.
Networks in China, and what changes for a visitor from the UK
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. Holafly rides China Mobile, Airalo China Unicom, Ubigi China Telecom, Nomad China Unicom and China Telecom, and Saily lists Telecom and Unicom. Ringo Light uses a local partner network. For Beijing, Xi'an and Shanghai I would not pick a plan on network.
The carrier passes have terms of their own. O2 calls the bolt-on unlimited, caps roaming speed at 2Mbps and names no fair use rule, and calls to the UK and within China are unlimited while other countries cost standard roaming rates. Receiving a call or text does not start the day charge, and you switch it on by texting TRAVEL to 23336. O2's page offers the bolt-on to Pay Monthly plans. Three's Go Roam page allows up to 12GB of data a month in a Go Roam destination as its fair use limit, and the page does not state a hotspot rule, so I would ask before I tethered a laptop. Three's destinations page lists China for Pay As You Go too, under Rest of the World, but shows no charge, so I give no price for that.
Google, WhatsApp and Instagram sit behind the Great Firewall on a Chinese SIM. A travel eSIM usually sends data out through the provider's gateway abroad, so those apps usually open without a VPN, and only Holafly states it on its China page. Neither O2's nor Three's page says what opens in China, and I have not tested Ringo Light from inside mainland China, so I would keep a VPN installed as a fallback before departure.
The travel eSIMs here are data only, with no Chinese number. Calls go over apps that use data, such as WhatsApp or FaceTime.
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, no app needed. 25 GB for $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.
- ✓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 costs $5.99 less than Ringo Light's 2 weeks and Nomad $3.99 less, and both last 30 days; for 20 GB, Nomad costs $13.99 less than 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 that. 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. It is data only, with no number, no calls and no texts. Nothing renews. The eSIM arrives by email in seconds, with one payment, and installs in one scan, no app. Install it before you fly: Gmail may not open on hotel Wi-Fi in China.
It sits next to your own SIM, so your UK number keeps working for calls and texts if you leave roaming on for those. O2's page says calls to the UK and within China are unlimited, though I would check how your carrier bills the day before leaning on that.
The card to buy it is further up this page, just after the side-by-side table.
Pick by trip
O2 Travel. A single £7 day, about $9, no purchase and nothing to install.
Airalo unlimited, 3 days, $11.50, or Holafly at $11.90. Ringo Light has no 3-day plan in China, and O2 would be about $28.
Ringo Light unlimited, 2 weeks, $22.99, against about $131 on O2 or about $150 on Three.
Ringo Light unlimited, 30 days, $35.99, against about $281 on O2 or about $322 on Three. Holafly at $76.50 only if you want China Mobile and a written promise on WhatsApp and Google.
Ubigi 10 GB for 30 days at $17, or Nomad at $19.
Keep your own SIM in beside the eSIM. O2 and Three carry calls and texts on your number and the travel eSIMs do not; the full Ringo, which Ringo Light funds, ports the number you have.
Frequently asked questions
How we compared, and our sources
Airalo, Holafly, Saily, Nomad, Ubigi, O2, Three, Three, European Central Bank, Ringo Light, Ringo Light
We priced Airalo, Holafly, Saily, Nomad, Ubigi and Ringo Light for China on 10 November 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.
- Airalo: www.airalo.com/china-esim?currency=USD, unlimited in dollars on the site, read 10 November 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 10 November 2026
- Saily: saily.com/esim-china/, saily.com/esim-china, dollars, read 25 October 2026; not readable on 10 November 2026, figures kept from 25 October
- Nomad: www.nomadesim.com/china-esim, nomadesim.com/china-esim, dollars, read 10 November 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
- O2: www.o2.co.uk/international/o2-travel, O2 Travel bolt-on page, read 10 November 2026: £7 a day, charged for the 24 hours from first use, unlimited data capped at 2Mbps while roaming, unlimited calls to the UK and within the destination, for Pay Monthly plans; China is on the page's list of destinations
- Three: www.three.co.uk/go-roam, Go Roam daily charges of £8 for plans joined on or after 18 December 2025 and £7 for earlier ones, and the 12GB a month fair use limit, read 10 November 2026
- Three: www.three.co.uk/support/roaming-and-calling-abroad/roaming-abroad/roaming-destinations, roaming destinations page, read 10 November 2026: China is listed under Go Roam Around the World Extra for Pay Monthly and under Rest of the World for Pay As You Go, with no charge shown
- European Central Bank: www.ecb.europa.eu/stats/eurofxref/eurofxref-daily.xml, euro reference rates of 10 November 2026, the latest published that day, used for the dollar figures (£1 = $1.34)
- Ringo Light: ringoesim.com/china, the catalogue the checkout charges, read the same day
- Ringo Light: our own catalogue, the prices the checkout charges on 10 November 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.
