The short answer
Costa Rica sits on Verizon's TravelPass country list at $12 a day, charged on the days the phone is actually used. Over a loop from La Fortuna to Monteverde and the Pacific that adds up quickly, while I would buy Ringo Light for that loop, at $44.99 for 2 weeks or $56.99 for 30 days with unlimited data at full speed. Verizon wins where it always does: your own number, calls and texts, and nothing to set up.
Unlimited data at full speed for 2 weeks at $44.99 or 30 days at $56.99, in one payment that never renews. TravelPass bills $12 on every day the phone is used.
TravelPass runs on your existing plan: calls and texts work on your own number, there is no download or scan, an older phone without eSIM is fine, and charges land on the Verizon bill you already pay.
Prices read on 1 November 2026: Verizon, 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 Colombia, the best eSIM for Brazil and the eSIM for Argentina.
The prices, charted
US dollars, 1 November 2026. TravelPass bills only days the phone is used, so 14 days is the top of the range for a fortnight. Ringo Light is unlimited data at full speed for the 2 weeks.
Verizon shows no monthly international plan on the pages read, so the month is the daily price times 30. Ringo Light is one payment for 30 days.
Side by side
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Get Ringo Light for Costa Rica, from $26.99.
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- 7 days $26.99
- 2 weeks $44.99
- 30 days $56.99
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The short version for Costa Rica
If the question is purely cost, I would buy Ringo Light for any Costa Rica trip that runs past a few days. Two weeks is $44.99 against $168, and a month is $56.99 against $360. If the question is hassle, Verizon is the answer, and that is a proper advantage rather than a consolation: your phone keeps working the way it does at home, your own number rings, texts and verification codes land as usual, and you install nothing. For a quick work trip to San José I would take TravelPass. For a loop through the volcano, cloud forest and beach towns I would take Ringo Light.
Price per trip
On Verizon's countries list I read Costa Rica at $12 per day. Its TravelPass page adds that you are charged only on the days you use your device in a TravelPass country. Both were read on 1 November 2026. Fourteen days is $168, thirty is $360, and the pages show no monthly plan to bring that down.
Ringo Light is paid once, in US dollars: $44.99 for 2 weeks and $56.99 for 30 days. Against TravelPass the saving is $123.01 over two weeks and $303.01 over a month. Going from 2 weeks to 30 days adds $12.00 at Ringo Light, exactly one day of TravelPass. If you will be in the country for a single day, the pass costs less, because Ringo Light starts at 2 weeks.
How much data, at what speed
TravelPass includes high-speed data for the first 5 GB each day, and after that unlimited data at 3G speeds for the remainder of the session. I would expect a day of navigation between towns, WhatsApp and photos from a waterfall to fit comfortably. Uploading video from the trail, or sharing the connection with a laptop, does not, and the slowdown is hard to miss in rural areas where signal is already thin. Ringo Light is unlimited data at full speed with no daily line to cross. Fair use policy, see Terms.
Your number, calls and texts
I give this row to Verizon without a contest. Its page promises unlimited talk and text on TravelPass, including calls within Costa Rica and back to the US, all through your own number. Nothing about how people reach you changes.
Ringo Light carries data and nothing else. For calls you use apps that run on data, which is how most lodges and tour operators here already take bookings, and your own SIM stays in the phone for calls. Your number stays on your own SIM next to it, with the eSIM carrying only data.
Getting it working
For TravelPass, turn on cellular data or data roaming and use the phone. The session starts by itself and a text arrives two hours before it ends. You can also add the pass ahead of time from the Trip Planner or My Verizon.
Ringo Light arrives by email after payment and installs in one scan of the QR code. I would do that on home Wi-Fi, because once you leave Liberia or San José behind for Monteverde or the Osa Peninsula, a good connection to download anything is not guaranteed. The phone must support eSIM. Verizon cautions that some newer SIM cards and eSIMs may have limited service in select destinations, so I would look at My Verizon before going.
Where Ringo Light fits and where it does not
Ringo Light is the data eSIM I write for, sold to fund the full Ringo, one plan that works everywhere. For Costa Rica it sells three trips, each with unlimited data at full speed: 7 days at $26.99, 2 weeks at $44.99 and 30 days at $56.99. One payment, no renewal.
It does not replace your Verizon line, because it has no phone number, and it needs a phone with an eSIM slot. Where Verizon is the one-bill, one-click option, Ringo Light is the lower price for the same days, and I would pay it.
The comparison of the travel eSIM brands for Costa Rica is at /blog/best-esim-for-costa-rica. The card to buy Ringo Light is further up this page, just after the side-by-side table.
Which to pick
- ✓Ringo Light, for a fortnight or a month. $44.99 for 2 weeks or $56.99 for 30 days, against $12 for each day on TravelPass.
- ✓Ringo Light, if you use data all day. Unlimited data at full speed, with no allowance that slows you to 3G.
- ✓Verizon TravelPass, for a day or two. Nothing to buy beforehand, your own number for calls and texts.
- ✓Verizon TravelPass, if the phone lacks an eSIM slot. It uses the plan already inside the phone.
Pick by trip
Ringo Light, 2 weeks, $44.99. TravelPass on all 14 days is $168.
Ringo Light, 30 days, $56.99, unlimited at full speed on the laptop too. A month of TravelPass is $360.
Verizon TravelPass at $12 for the day, nothing to install.
Verizon TravelPass, or Ringo Light for data with your own SIM kept in the phone for calls.
Verizon TravelPass. Ringo Light needs an eSIM-capable phone.
Frequently asked questions
How we compared, and our sources
Verizon, Ringo Light, Ringo Light
We priced Verizon and Ringo Light for Costa Rica on 1 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.
Left out: Other eSIM brands. Airalo, Holafly, Saily, Nomad and others also sell Costa Rica; their prices are laid out in the full guide at /blog/best-esim-for-costa-rica. The question on this page is narrower: TravelPass or Ringo Light. Left out: A three-day Ringo Light plan. For Costa Rica Ringo Light sells 7 days, 2 weeks and 30 days only, so no long-weekend chart is drawn.
- Verizon: www.verizon.com/support/travelpass-faqs/, TravelPass FAQ for the daily price, the 5 GB per day allowance, 3G speeds after it and billing on days used, and the TravelPass countries list at verizon.com/plans/travelpass-countries/ for Costa Rica at $12 per day, read 1 November 2026
- Ringo Light: ringoesim.com/costa-rica, the catalogue the checkout charges, read the same day
- Ringo Light: our own catalogue, the prices the checkout charges on 1 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.
