Last updated: August 2026 — All prices are in euros (€) and were read from each provider’s official Europe pages in August 2026, including promotional prices where displayed.
Two exceptions are marked “≈”: Maya Mobile and Saily publish US dollar prices. Their euro figures use an approximate conversion of 1 EUR = 1.1378 USD; Maya’s underlying prices are $9.99, $19.99, $27.99 and $49.99.
Multi-month totals are simple multiples of the published monthly price and assume no price change during the stay. Always confirm the final amount at checkout.
Every guide to long stays compares the price of a 30-day plan. That’s the wrong number. If you’re in Europe for four months, you’re not buying one plan — you’re buying four, on four different days, four months in a row, while you’re busy living somewhere new. That’s four chances to forget, and four moments where a lapsed plan leaves you offline in a country where you don’t yet know anyone. That is why choosing the best eSIM for long stays in Europe requires looking beyond a single 30-day price.
So this guide prices long stays the way they actually work: total cost for three and six months, and how many separate purchases each option demands. The answers are not where you’d expect. Ubigi sells a full year of data for €24 in a single transaction. Airalo sells 100GB valid for 180 days — the only six-month Europe plan on the market. And the cheapest option per gigabyte requires you to buy it six times.
⚡ The answer, by how long you’re staying
🏆 Light use, any duration → Ubigi annual: €24 for 2GB/month across a year, or €49 for 5GB/month. One purchase.
📅 3 months, one purchase → Airalo 50GB / 90 days: €90.50 · or Saily 50GB/90d ≈€84.36
🗓️ 6 months, one purchase → Airalo 100GB / 180 days: €167 — the only plan of its kind
💰 Cheapest per GB → Nomad 50GB €30.77 (€0.62/GB) — but that’s 3 purchases for a quarter, 6 for a semester
🔄 Set and forget → Ubigi monthly €7 (5GB) or €19 (20GB), auto-renewing · or Maya ≈€43.94 unlimited with optional auto top-up
♾️ Unlimited, least admin → Holafly global subscription €59.95/month, cancel anytime
⚠️ The number that reframes everything: three months of Ubigi’s monthly 20GB costs €57. Three months of Holafly unlimited costs €206.70. Same stay.
Why trust this guide: I’m Brazilian, I live in Belgium, and I compare eSIM providers for European travelers full-time. I’ve personally used Holafly (Portugal, Turkey and Thailand), Nomad (Portugal) and Airalo (Portugal).
To be straight about what this guide is and isn’t: I have not run a six-month controlled test of all six providers, and a guide claiming to have done so should show you its data.
What’s here instead is every price read from the providers’ own Europe pages in August 2026. Multi-month totals are calculated openly so you can check the arithmetic, and the number of purchases each option requires is stated next to every figure — the variable long-stay guides usually leave out.
Where a provider’s plans have changed since earlier versions of this article, that is flagged rather than quietly updated. Reviews: Nomad · Holafly · Airalo · Saily.
Best eSIM for Long Stays in Europe: The Repurchase Math
Here are three and six-month totals for every realistic option, with the number of separate purchases each one demands. Read the third column as carefully as the second.
Three months (90 days)
| Option | 3-month total | Purchases | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubigi monthly 5GB | €21.00 | 1 (auto-renews) | 15GB · cancellable after 3 months |
| Ubigi annual 2GB/month | €24.00 | 1 | 24GB over a full year — 9 months left over |
| Ubigi 10GB / 30 days × 3 | €45.00 | ⚠️ 3 | 30GB |
| Ubigi annual 5GB/month | €49.00 | 1 | 60GB over a full year |
| Ubigi monthly 20GB | €57.00 | 1 (auto-renews) | 60GB |
| Nomad 10GB × 3 | €60.66 | ⚠️ 3 | 30GB |
| Nomad 20GB × 3 | €71.19 | ⚠️ 3 | 60GB |
| Airalo 10GB / 30 days × 3 | €84.00 | ⚠️ 3 | 30GB |
| Saily 50GB / 90 days | ≈€84.36 | 1 | 50GB · one purchase, exact fit |
| Airalo 50GB / 90 days | €90.50 | 1 | 50GB · one purchase, exact fit |
| Nomad 50GB × 3 | €92.31 | ⚠️ 3 | 150GB — best €/GB at €0.62 |
| Airalo 20GB × 3 | €130.50 | ⚠️ 3 | 60GB |
| Maya unlimited × 3 | ≈€131.82 | 1 (auto top-up) | Unlimited, global |
| Ubigi monthly unlimited | €147.00 | 1 (auto-renews) | Unlimited |
| Holafly global subscription | €179.85 | 1 (monthly billing) | Unlimited + unlimited hotspot |
| Holafly Europe 30-day × 3 | €206.70 | ⚠️ 3 | Unlimited · hotspot ~1GB/day |
Six months (180 days)
| Option | 6-month total | Purchases | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubigi annual 2GB/month | €24.00 | 1 | Covers the stay and six more months |
| Ubigi annual 5GB/month | €49.00 | 1 | 30GB across the stay, 60GB across the year |
| Ubigi monthly 20GB | €114.00 | 1 (auto-renews) | 120GB |
| Airalo 100GB / 180 days | €167.00 | 1 🏆 | The only six-month Europe plan on the market |
| Nomad 50GB × 6 | €184.62 | ⚠️ 6 | 300GB — the most data here |
| Ubigi annual 20GB/month | €199.00 | 1 | 240GB across a full year |
| Maya unlimited × 6 | ≈€263.64 | 1 (auto top-up) | Unlimited, 165+ countries |
| Holafly Europe 30-day × 6 | €413.40 | ⚠️ 6 | Unlimited · six purchases |
🔁 Three things those tables say that a price-per-plan comparison never will.
1. The cheapest per gigabyte is the most work. Nomad’s 50GB at €30.77 is €0.62 a gigabyte — nothing here beats it. But three months means three purchases and six means six. If you’ll remember, it’s the best value in the guide. If you won’t, it’s the plan that leaves you offline in month four.
2. Annual plans aren’t for annual stays. Ubigi’s €24 annual plan is cheaper than three months of almost anything else — and it keeps working for nine months after you leave. For a light user on a semester abroad, paying for a year is cheaper than paying for a quarter.
3. Unlimited costs three to twenty times more over months. Three months: €57 on Ubigi’s monthly 20GB against €206.70 on Holafly. Six months: €114 against €413.40. Unlimited is a convenience purchase, and over half a year that convenience costs around €300. Worth it if you tether daily; expensive if you have Wi-Fi at home.
Match Your Plan’s Validity to Your Legal Stay
🇪🇺 Here’s an alignment almost nobody makes, and it’s a useful one. Visitors from outside the EU are generally limited to 90 days within any 180-day period in the Schengen area. Now look at what Airalo sells: 50GB valid 90 days and 100GB valid 180 days — the maximum legal tourist stay, and the full reference period it’s measured against.
📐 Why that matters practically. If you’re in Europe visa-free, buying validity longer than your permitted stay is paying for days you can’t legally use, and buying shorter means a renewal in the middle of a trip. The 90-day plan is sized exactly to the rule. If you’re staying longer than 90 days, you’re either an EU or EEA citizen, on a visa or residence permit, or splitting time in and out of Schengen — and in the first two cases the 180-day plan or an annual one fits better.
⚠️ One honest caveat: entry rules vary by nationality and change, so check the current requirements for your passport with the official EU sources or your destination’s consulate before you book anything.
And note that the EU’s roaming protections don’t help you here either — “Roam Like at Home” covers customers of EU and EEA operators, so a long-stay visitor from the US, Canada, Australia, Brazil or post-Brexit UK falls back on their own carrier’s international rates for the entire stay (the European Commission’s Your Europe page sets out who’s covered). Over three months, that’s the single most expensive way to stay connected.
The Six Providers, Judged for Months Rather Than Days
The best eSIM for long stays in Europe depends on how much data you use, how often you are willing to renew and whether one profile must cover several countries.
Ubigi is the only provider here whose catalogue was designed for someone who lives in Europe for a while rather than passes through. Its annual prepaid plans renew monthly on a single profile: €24 for 2GB a month across a year, €49 for 5GB a month, and €199 for 20GB a month. One transaction, twelve months, nothing to remember.
Its monthly plans do the same job with more flexibility — €7 for 5GB or €19 for 20GB, renewing automatically and cancellable after three months, which maps neatly onto a semester. And the annual tier is genuinely cheaper than the monthly one for the same period: €199 against €228 for twelve monthly purchases of 20GB.
Prices: annual €24 (2GB/mo) · €49 (5GB/mo) · €199 (20GB/mo) | monthly €7 (5GB) · €19 (20GB) · €49 (unlimited) | one-off 3GB €7 · 10GB/7d €12 · 10GB/30d €15 · 25GB €29 · 50GB €54 · unlimited 30d €62 (60GB full speed, then 2 Mbps).
Ubigi eSIM for a Long Stay in Europe: How It Works
Ubigi is especially relevant for long stays because the same eSIM profile can support monthly and annual plans. This video shows the setup and the experience before you decide whether its recurring structure fits your stay.
After watching, compare the annual and monthly options above. The important distinction is that annual data resets each month, while the profile itself stays installed for the whole period.
Airalo sells something no competitor does: Europe plans with 90 and 180-day validity. 50GB valid 90 days at €90.50 and 100GB valid 180 days at €167 are the only ways to buy a quarter or a half-year of European data in a single transaction — which, as the tables above show, is worth more than the per-gigabyte price on a long stay.
The 180-day plan is the standout: €167 covers six months with one purchase, against €184.62 and six separate purchases for the equivalent Nomad route. It also has the widest coverage here at 42 European countries, which matters when months in one city include weekend trips across borders.
Prices: 5GB/30d €18 · 10GB/30d €28 · 20GB/30d €43.50 · 50GB/30d €63.50 · 50GB/90d €90.50 · 100GB/180d €167 | unlimited 30d €64 (3GB/day at full speed, then 1 Mbps).
Airalo for 90 or 180 Days in Europe: Video Overview
Airalo is the only provider in this comparison with Europe plans designed around 90 and 180-day validity. This video gives a practical look at the service before you commit to one large allowance for the full stay.
The key decision is whether one shared allowance suits your habits. If your usage changes sharply from month to month, a renewing monthly plan may be easier to control.
On raw value Nomad wins and it isn’t close: 50GB at €30.77 works out at €0.62 a gigabyte, and three months of it delivers 150GB for €92.31 — more data than any single-purchase option here. It includes full hotspot with no separate allowance on fixed plans, and its add-ons chain onto an active plan automatically, so extending mid-month needs no reinstallation.
Prices: 1GB/7d €4.83 · 3GB €10.55 · 5GB €15.38 · 10GB €20.22 · 20GB €23.73 · 50GB €30.77 (both 20GB and 50GB on sale) | unlimited 5d €16.70 · 10d €29.89 | Nomad Pass €2.64/30 days renews 1GB automatically and adds 15% off eligible plans.
Nomad eSIM for Europe: Setup, Value and Rebuying
Nomad offers the lowest cost per gigabyte in this guide, but its regular Europe plans still run on shorter validity windows. This video helps you understand the service before relying on repeated purchases across several months.
For a long stay, the value is strongest when you set a reminder before every expiry. Keep the installed profile and extend through an add-on whenever the active plan supports it.
Maya has changed shape, and any guide still listing its old European catalogue is out of date. It now uses a single global eSIM rather than a separate European product, with unlimited data at roughly €43.94 for 30 days. The same eSIM stays installed, and Auto Top-Up is optional — switch it on and the plan repurchases itself when it ends, which is exactly the behaviour a long stay wants; leave it off and nothing renews without you.
For a stay that continues beyond Europe — a semester followed by travel, or a placement that crosses continents — the 165+ country footprint means one eSIM for the whole thing.
Prices (approximate, converted from US dollars): 3 days ≈€8.78 · 7 days ≈€17.57 · 14 days ≈€24.60 · 30 days ≈€43.94. Maya’s underlying prices are $9.99, $19.99, $27.99 and $49.99, so the euro figure moves with the exchange rate.
Maya Mobile Global eSIM: Long-Stay Video Guide
Maya Mobile now works as a global eSIM rather than a Europe-only catalogue. This video shows the provider in practice and helps explain why optional auto top-up can be useful during a stay that continues beyond Europe.
Remember that unlimited data is still subject to fair-use management. Auto top-up reduces the admin, but you should still check your usage and renewal settings inside the account.
Saily is the quiet alternative to Airalo’s 90-day plan, and slightly cheaper: 50GB valid 90 days at approximately €84.36 against €90.50. It comes from the NordVPN team, so an ad blocker, web protection against malicious sites and virtual location are included — genuinely useful on a long stay spent working from cafés and coworking spaces rather than a secured office.
Prices (approximate, converted from US dollars): 1GB/7d ≈€4.39 · 3GB/30d ≈€10.98 · 5GB/30d ≈€17.13 · 10GB/30d ≈€31.63 · 50GB/90d ≈€84.36 | unlimited 15d ≈€43.94 · 30d ≈€63.27.
Saily eSIM for a 90-Day Europe Stay: Video Review
Saily combines a 90-day fixed-data option with security tools from the NordVPN team. This video gives more context on the app, installation and everyday use before you choose it for a semester or extended trip.
Buy close to departure because Saily has an activation deadline. Once installed, keep the profile on the phone and confirm the exact start date shown for your selected package.
If you want unlimited data across months and genuinely don’t want to think about any of this, Holafly does that one job well. Its global monthly subscription at €59.95 includes unlimited hotspot and can be cancelled at any time — which for someone tethering a laptop full-time across a long stay is the cleanest arrangement here, and cheaper over three months (€179.85) than buying its 30-day Europe plan three times (€206.70). There’s also a Light tier at €45.95 a month for 25GB. It’s the provider I’ve used most personally, across three countries.
Prices: Europe unlimited 30 days €68.90 (also 1d €3.79 · 7d €25.50 · 15d €46.90) | global subscription €59.95/month unlimited with unlimited hotspot · Light 25GB €45.95/month.
Holafly for Long Stays in Europe: Unlimited Data Video
Holafly is the simple unlimited option for travelers who prefer not to count gigabytes. This video shows the experience and helps you compare the destination plan with the monthly global subscription discussed above.
For several months, the subscription is usually the more practical Holafly format because it renews monthly and includes broader hotspot use. Compare the total six-month cost before choosing convenience over a fixed allowance.
When a Local SIM Finally Beats an eSIM
🏠 An affiliate guide isn’t supposed to write this section, so let’s be direct about it: past a certain point, a local SIM is the better answer.
📅 Weeks 1 to 8 — the eSIM wins outright. No registration, no proof of address, no shop visit, and it works the day you land. In most European countries a prepaid SIM requires identity registration at a counter, and some ask for a local address you won’t have yet. At €21 to €90 for a couple of months, the eSIM is cheaper than the errand.
🔀 From roughly three months — the calculation changes. Local prepaid and contract plans in most European countries become competitive on price, and they add the one thing no travel eSIM in this guide provides: a local number. Over a long stay that stops being cosmetic. Banks send SMS verification codes. Delivery drivers call. Landlords, doctors, gyms and public services want a national number, and some authentication systems reject virtual ones outright.
✅ What actually works for a long stay: both, in this order. Buy the eSIM before you fly so you land connected and can navigate, book and communicate from minute one. Then, once you have an address and a bank account, add a local SIM for your number and administrative life. The eSIM keeps covering you for weekend trips across borders, where a domestic plan’s roaming allowance runs thin. If you’re studying, the same logic applies — see Best eSIM for Students in Europe, and for the full comparison, eSIM vs Physical SIM for Europe.
How Much Data a Long Stay Actually Needs
This is where most long-stay budgets go wrong, and the error is always in the same direction. You’re not a tourist any more. You’ll have Wi-Fi where you sleep, probably where you work, and in the café you end up treating as an office. Mobile data covers the gaps, not the day.
| How you’ll live | Monthly mobile data | Best fit |
|---|---|---|
| Settled — home and café Wi-Fi, occasional outings | 2–5GB | Ubigi annual €24 or €49 — for a whole year |
| Mobile — moving between cities, working from public spaces | 10–20GB | Ubigi monthly €19 · Nomad 20GB €23.73 |
| Heavy — daily hotspot, streaming on mobile, patchy home Wi-Fi | 30–50GB | Nomad 50GB €30.77 · Airalo 100GB/180d |
| Working remotely full-time from mobile data | Unlimited | Holafly subscription €59.95/mo (unlimited hotspot) |
| What long-stay travellers usually buy | Unlimited, from month one | €200–€400 more than needed over six months |
Practical Rules for a Long Stay
Once you have selected the best eSIM for long stays in Europe for your budget, these setup rules help prevent avoidable gaps, roaming charges and lost profiles.
Set a calendar reminder the day you buy. If your plan doesn’t auto-renew — Nomad, Airalo and Saily’s standard plans don’t — put the expiry date in your calendar with two days’ notice, on the same day you purchase. This is the single highest-value habit on this page, and the failure it prevents is the most common long-stay problem there is.
Don’t delete the profile between plans. Ubigi’s profile is reusable, Maya keeps the same eSIM installed, and Nomad’s add-ons chain onto the active plan. Most QR codes are single-use, so deleting to “start fresh” usually means contacting support for a replacement. Switch the line off if you need to; don’t remove it.
Check when the clock starts before buying early. Long stays are often booked months in advance, which is exactly when this bites. Saily’s plans auto-activate within 30 days of purchase whether you’ve travelled or not. Nomad’s activate around day 60 if unused. Some Airalo packages start at installation rather than on connection. Buy close to departure, not at booking. Full walkthrough: How to Activate an eSIM for Europe.
Keep your home SIM alive with roaming off. Over months you’ll still need your original number for home banking, two-factor codes and family. Dual SIM handles it — just turn data roaming off on the home line and disable automatic data switching, or your own carrier will bill you for the privilege.
Check the country list against your weekend plans, not just your base. A long stay in Lisbon or Berlin usually includes trips, and that’s where the narrower lists run out. Coverage runs from Holafly’s 33 countries up to Airalo’s 42, with Ubigi’s Europe Extended reaching 55. If the Balkans are on your list, check before you commit to six months. Comparing the full field: Best eSIM Providers for Europe — 11 scored.
If your data slows mid-stay, it’s usually the fair-use cap, not a fault. Ubigi’s unlimited gives 60GB at full speed then 2 Mbps; Airalo 3GB a day then 1 Mbps; Nomad’s unlimited around 2GB a day; Maya may drop to 10 Mbps above roughly 3GB a day. Diagnosing it: Slow eSIM Internet in Europe? 8 Fixes.
FAQ — eSIMs for Long Stays in Europe
Final Verdict
Long stays are where the eSIM market’s pricing logic breaks down, because everything is built around 30-day cycles and a semester isn’t one. The providers that solve a long stay properly aren’t the ones with the best monthly price — they’re the ones that let you buy once. Ubigi does it with annual plans, Airalo with 90 and 180-day validity, Maya with auto top-up. In practice, the best eSIM for long stays in Europe is the option that stays active with the least unnecessary spending and the fewest chances to forget a renewal.
🏁 The picks for one to six months, August 2026
🏆 Light user, any length → Ubigi annual €24 (2GB/mo) or €49 (5GB/mo) — cheaper than three months of nearly anything else → ANDREONDIGITAL −10%
🗓️ 6 months, one purchase → Airalo 100GB / 180 days €167 — the only plan of its kind → ANDRE15 −15%
📅 3 months, one purchase → Saily 50GB/90d ≈€84.36 or Airalo 50GB/90d €90.50
💰 Most data per euro → Nomad 50GB €30.77 (€0.62/GB) — if you’ll remember to rebuy → ANDRE15 −15%
🔄 Set and forget → Ubigi monthly €19 (20GB) or Maya ≈€43.94 with auto top-up
♾️ Full-time laptop tethering → Holafly subscription €59.95/month, unlimited hotspot, cancel anytime → ANDREONDIGITAL −5%
🏠 And from month three, add a local SIM for a European number — your bank will need it.
If a friend messaged me tonight saying they’d taken a four-month contract in Lisbon, I’d send them Ubigi’s €49 annual plan — 5GB a month, one purchase, still running when they got home — and tell them to sort a Portuguese SIM in week three for the bank. If they said they’d be tethering a laptop from cafés every day instead, Holafly’s €59.95 subscription, without hesitating.
This article contains affiliate links — if you buy through them I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. It has not shaped the advice: the headline recommendation is a €24 annual plan.
The guide also states plainly that from around three months a local SIM can become the better answer. Holafly — the provider I have used most personally — is also identified as the most expensive route to a long stay.
All prices are in euros (€) and were read from each provider’s official Europe pages in August 2026, including promotional prices where displayed. Nomad’s 20GB and 50GB figures are sale prices and may revert.
Maya Mobile and Saily publish US dollar prices. Their euro figures use an approximate conversion of 1 EUR = 1.1378 USD and are marked “≈”. Maya’s underlying prices are $9.99, $19.99, $27.99 and $49.99, so the checkout total may differ.
Multi-month totals are simple multiples of the published monthly price and assume no price change during the stay. Fair-use figures come from each provider’s own documentation.
Maya’s commercial page promotes no limits, while its usage guidelines describe reductions to about 10 Mbps above roughly 3GB a day and 1 Mbps under very heavy continuous use, lifted within 24 hours.
Earlier versions of this article listed Maya fixed-data Europe packages that are no longer in its catalogue; it now uses a single global eSIM. Schengen entry rules vary by nationality and change, and local SIM comparisons vary by country.
I have not run a six-month controlled test of these providers. I have personally used Holafly in Portugal, Turkey and Thailand, Nomad in Portugal and Airalo in Portugal. Always confirm prices, entry rules and terms at checkout.
Last verified: August 2026
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