The short answer
No travel eSIM sells Penang on its own: each one sells a Malaysia plan that works on the island. We priced the six that get most of the traffic on the same day, then thought through what your phone does between the airport, the ferry, the hawker stalls and the top of the hill.
Unlimited data at full speed for 2 weeks at $23.99 or 30 days at $35.99, nothing renews. Airalo asks $48.50 for 15 days and $71 for the month.
10 GB for 30 days at $12 and 25 GB at $22, on Maxis and YTL with 5G. Its 15 days with 30 GB at full speed costs $29.
Unlimited for 3 days at $11.50 on Maxis, on its Sambungkan plan, and buckets from $4 for 1 GB.
Days, not gigabytes, on Celcom and Digi. $27.50 for a week; sharing limited to 1 GB a day.
Prices read on 25 October 2026: Airalo, Holafly, Saily, Nomad, Ubigi 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, 25 October 2026. Ringo Light sells 2 weeks, the others 15 days. Ubigi's 15 days is 30 GB at full speed, then 2 Mbps. Nomad stops at 10 days, $33.
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 sells no month.
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 Penang, from $23.99.
Installed once, next to your own SIM. Your eSIM arrives by email in seconds.
- 2 weeks $23.99
- 30 days $35.99
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 do in Penang, and what your phone does for you there
Six places for a first visit to Penang, from the painted lanes of George Town to a sunset on the north coast. Most are a short Grab ride apart, and the signal is dependable almost everywhere except the deep forest.
Getting online at Penang airport
Penang International Airport sits at Bayan Lepas, at the south eastern tip of the island, a drive of about half an hour from George Town when the roads are clear. Turn your eSIM on once you are off the plane. A connection by the time you reach the arrivals hall means you can book a ride and tell your host you are on your way.
Grab cars and the airport taxi counter both take you into George Town, and Rapid Penang runs buses on the same road. Prices and routes change, so check the current ones in the Grab app and on the Rapid Penang site before you fly.
The ferry and the two bridges
Penang is an island with a mainland side. Two long bridges link the island to the mainland, and a passenger ferry crosses between Butterworth and the terminal in George Town. If you come in by train or bus from Kuala Lumpur, you will probably reach Butterworth first and cross from there.
Check the ferry times and the fare before you set off. A phone with data is useful at the Butterworth side, where you will want to see the next sailing and book a Grab for the other end.
Rapid Penang buses, the free CAT bus and Grab
Rapid Penang is the public bus network for the island, with routes to the beaches, the hill and the airport. In central George Town there is also a free bus, the CAT, which loops round the heritage streets. Check the current routes and stops in a maps app, since they are adjusted from time to time.
Grab covers most of what the buses do not, and it is the easy option for the temple and the beaches after dark. Ask the driver to wait if you are heading somewhere with few cars, and save the pickup point before you walk off.
Grab, food finding and your maps app
Food is the reason many people go to Penang, and a lot of the best of it comes from hawker stalls and small kopitiams that have no website. A maps app with recent reviews will show you what is open and how busy it is. Save places you like as you go, so you can find the stall again for breakfast.
Grab also delivers food, which is handy on a rainy afternoon. A translation app helps with handwritten menus. Between maps, rides and messages, a plan that does not run out is calmer than watching a data counter.
Signal on Penang Hill and in the national park
George Town and the beach strip at Batu Ferringhi are well covered. Penang Hill is a short ride up by funicular, and signal at the top is generally fine, but check on the day if you need to book a ride back down at a busy hour.
Penang National Park, at the north west corner of the island, is another matter. The trails to Monkey Beach and beyond run through forest, and you should not count on a signal along the way. Download an offline map of the area and your return plan before you start, and tell someone where you are going.
Which plan fits a Penang trip
A long weekend: Airalo sells 3 days of unlimited at $11.50 and Holafly at $11.90. Ringo Light sells no 3-day plan, so for two or three nights one of those is the better buy.
Around a week: Saily sells 7 days at $26.99, Airalo at $27 and Holafly at $27.50, and Ubigi has 7 days with 20 GB at full speed, then 2 Mbps, for $19. Ringo Light sells no 7-day plan, but its 2 weeks of unlimited data costs $23.99, which is less than any of the three unlimited weeks. The extra days are yours to use.
Two weeks or more: Ringo Light 2 weeks at $23.99 or 30 days at $35.99. Both cover all of Malaysia, so the same eSIM works if you add Kuala Lumpur or the Cameron Highlands before or after Penang.
What Ringo Light is
Ringo Light is the data eSIM we sell alongside the full Ringo, and it is built for exactly this kind of trip. For Penang it comes in two lengths, 2 weeks at .99 and 30 days at .99, each with unlimited data at full speed. Nothing renews, so there is no charge after the end date. A fair use policy applies, see Terms. The eSIM is emailed to you and installs with one scan, with no app to download.
Some trips need only a set amount of data. Ubigi has 10 GB for 30 days at and Nomad 10 GB at , and Ringo Light sells no buckets. You can buy Ringo Light with the card further up this page, below the side-by-side table.
Pick by trip
Airalo unlimited, 3 days, $11.50. Ringo Light sells no 3-day plan.
Ringo Light unlimited, 2 weeks, $23.99, less than a 7-day plan at Saily ($26.99), Airalo ($27) or Holafly ($27.50). Ubigi 7 days at $19 if 20 GB is enough.
Ringo Light 2 weeks at $23.99 covers all of Malaysia, so one install works from the island to the mainland.
Ringo Light unlimited, 30 days, $35.99.
Ubigi 10 GB for 30 days at $12.
Frequently asked questions
How we compared, and our sources
Airalo, Holafly, Saily, Nomad, Ubigi, Ringo Light
We priced Airalo, Holafly, Saily, Nomad, Ubigi and Ringo Light for Penang 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/malaysia-esim?currency=USD, unlimited and network in dollars on the site; buckets from esimdb.com/malaysia/airalo, listing dated 4 October 2026
- Holafly: esim.holafly.com/esim-malaysia/, own site, 25 October 2026
- Saily: saily.com/esim-malaysia/, prices in dollars on saily.com, read 25 October 2026
- Nomad: www.nomadesim.com/malaysia-esim, prices and networks in dollars on nomadesim.com/malaysia-esim, read 25 October 2026
- Ubigi: esimdb.com/malaysia/ubigi, listing dated 4 October 2026; networks from cellulardata.ubigi.com
- 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.
