1 · The 60-second answer
I read both providers' pages side by side. Both are travel eSIMs that lean hard on the word unlimited, and both work. They are not the same product. What I look for first is one question: how much do you need to be reachable on your real phone number while you travel?
Holafly is the unlimited-data name most people know. It sells per-country plans at a fixed daily price. It has a big marketing budget and a decent app. It cannot move your number, and voice and SMS come on only a small handful of plans.
Maya Mobile sells unlimited and capped data plans across 100+ countries. Its plan menu is a little more flexible and its regional bundles are stronger. The trade-off on portability and voice is the same.
My pick for one short trip is Holafly, the simplest unlimited-data brand. For better regional bundles and per-GB flexibility on top of unlimited, I would take Maya Mobile. If you cross many borders or stay for months, I would skip both and look at one unlimited plan for all of it. I come to that below.
Brand pricing and features change often. I last reviewed this page in May 2026. Check each provider's site for the latest.
2 · Side-by-side at a glance
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3 · What Holafly gets right
Holafly is the brand that made "unlimited eSIM" a category. Most travelers who know one travel eSIM know Holafly, and I think that recognition is earned.
- Truly simple unlimited. One plan, one country, one daily price, unlimited data. The fair-use throttle exists, but it's high enough that most travelers never hit it.
- Solid app and onboarding. From what I read, the activation flow is the cleanest in the category. QR scan, install, done in under a minute.
- 24/7 chat support that actually answers. That is rare in eSIM, and it is worth real money on day one in an unfamiliar country.
- Coverage that's wider than most people realise. 170+ destinations, including small markets that most competitors skip.
- One-country pricing is competitive for the unlimited-data shopper, especially when stacked against per-GB rivals.
In short, if you want the nearest thing to "set it and forget it" for a one-country trip and you do not care about your home number, I would defend Holafly as the buy.
4 · What Maya Mobile does well
Maya Mobile has the lower profile, but I take it seriously. It is newer, it moves faster, and it is aimed at travelers who dislike buying a fresh plan in every country.
- Better regional bundles. Maya's Europe, Asia, and Latin America regional plans cover dozens of countries on a single eSIM, which is the right shape for actual multi-country travel.
- Cleaner per-GB and unlimited mix. If you're a 3 GB / week traveler, you can pay like one. If you're a YouTube-on-the-train traveler, you can pay like one. Holafly mostly only sells the latter.
- Modern dashboard. Usage tracking and plan management are visibly more polished than the old-school per-country menus on legacy competitors.
- Sharper pricing on shorter durations. The 1-day and 5-day plans tend to undercut Holafly on the same destination.
Maya's weak spot is the one Holafly has: it is a data-only product. Voice and SMS are not what it sells.
5 · The honest matrix · which one wins by trip shape
I do not rank them. Here is how I would choose, row by row, by trip shape:
- One country, under 7 days, leisure. Either works. Holafly wins on simplicity, Maya often wins on price. I would buy whichever is cheaper on the day.
- Multi-country trip across one region. Maya's regional bundles are the right shape. Holafly forces you into a regional plan that's narrower or per-country plans you swap mid-trip.
- Multi-region trip (Europe → Asia → Americas in one go). Both struggle. You end up buying 3+ separate plans on either. This is the trip shape where a flat global subscription starts to pay for itself.
- 30+ days in one country. Holafly has long plans up to 90 days and Maya stops lower. Holafly wins this row.
- Anyone reachable on your real number while you travel. Neither product solves this. Both leave your home line dark.
- You receive 2FA codes you actually need. Banking, payroll, work systems. Neither delivers SMS to your home number. This is a deal-breaker more often than people realise.
- You run a business and clients call your line. Neither answers your phone for you. You're sending calls to voicemail for the duration of the trip.
6 · The thing nobody talks about
Both Holafly and Maya Mobile assign a temporary local number to every plan. New country, new number, every time. I read that as harmless the first time, and it is not.
- Inbound SMS to your home number doesn't reach you. The line at home goes quiet for the trip.
- 2FA from your bank, payroll, broker, or government portal breaks. Some of these can't be re-routed without being physically present at home. Most travelers find out the hard way.
- Anyone with your number can't call you. Friends, family, the school, the courier. Voicemail at best.
- You start juggling two numbers. And the temporary one changes every country.
On a 4-day Lisbon trip this does not matter. On a 4-week multi-country rotation it is a daily annoyance. For an expat or a digital nomad it can be the reason a bank account gets frozen at month two.
Ringo Light, the plan I write for, does not solve the number problem either. It installs next to your own SIM, so your number stays on your home line. Keep that line on for texts and your carrier's roaming rates apply. What Ringo Light does fix is the plan juggling.
- One plan for 133 countries. Ringo Light Global, $49.99 a month. Cross a border, the data keeps working. No new SKU to buy.
- Unlimited data at full speed. No daily cap, no bucket to size.
- Or a trip. 2 weeks or 30 days, nothing renews. Europe is $22.99 or $35.99.
It is still a data eSIM. It sells the data in a different way.
7 · The numbers · a real 60-day, 4-country trip
Take a route of Lisbon → Barcelona → Bangkok → Mexico City over 60 days, roughly two weeks each. Any of the three can cover it. I ran the sums from the listed prices, and here they are in dollars.
Swipe to compare →
The result flips as the trip gets longer. On a single 7-day Tokyo trip, Holafly is the cheapest, and I would buy it. On a 60-day, four-country trip, a plan per country costs about twice what one Ringo Light Global plan does for the same 60 days.
Most multi-country travelers do this sum once and never repeat it.
8 · When Holafly is genuinely the right pick
- Single-country trip, under three weeks.
- You use a lot of data and want unlimited without thinking about it.
- You do not need to be reachable on your home number for the whole trip.
- You value brand recognition and 24/7 chat support over price-per-GB.
- Your destination is one Maya does not cover well (check the country list before you commit).
9 · When Maya Mobile is the right pick
- Multi-country trip inside one region (Europe, Southeast Asia, Latin America).
- You want a mix of capped and unlimited plans depending on the leg.
- You prefer a polished dashboard to a well-known brand.
- Short 1- to 5-day plans where Maya tends to undercut Holafly.
- You are trying eSIM for the first time and want a flexible vendor before you settle on a yearly travel pattern.
10 · When neither, and Ringo Light is the right pick
- You hit more than one country per trip.
- You want unlimited data at full speed with no daily cap.
- You want a trip: 2 weeks or 30 days, nothing renews.
- You're abroad most months, an expat or a digital nomad: Global is $49.99 a month in 133 countries.
If any two of those describe you, I would not choose between Holafly and Maya at all. I would buy one unlimited plan instead of a plan per country.
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.
