Wanderly vs Holafly for a US eSIM
The United States is the one destination where the question is not only how much data you get, but where the internet thinks you are — and that decides more of this comparison than price does.
The verdict for the United States
Most of our US plans route on a US IP address. That sounds like a technicality until you try to log into an American bank from a European exit node, or open a streaming service that geo-checks on every launch, or complete a card verification that quietly expects domestic traffic. A foreign-routed eSIM works perfectly well for maps and messaging and then fails at exactly the moment you need it to behave like a normal US connection.
On price, US data is not cheap anywhere and we do not pretend otherwise. Our floor is around seventy-six cents a gigabyte on the 50 GB plan; a fortnight of ordinary use lands most people between eight and fifteen gigabytes. Holafly's unlimited model is at its most defensible in exactly this kind of expensive market, and that is a fair argument rather than one to wave away.
Where we pull ahead is shape. The US is our deepest catalogue — sixteen distinct plans, tiers from 1 GB to 100 GB, daily passes alongside fixed allowances, and windows out to 180 days. American trips are unusually varied: a four-day conference, a three-week road trip, a semester. Those want genuinely different products, not one product bought for different lengths of time.
We don't publish Holafly's prices — we have no live feed for them, so anything we quoted would go stale. Check their site for current pricing; the figures above are our own.
Coverage in the United States
American coverage is excellent along the interstates and in and around cities, and genuinely patchy once you leave them. That surprises visitors more than anywhere else we sell: the gap between a well-covered metro area and a national park an hour away can be total. Expect nothing usable in stretches of Utah and Nevada, much of the Mountain West, and inside most canyon country. 5G is dense in the major metros.
Local networks: AT&T and T-Mobile US, the two networks that carry almost all travel eSIM traffic
How travellers actually use data here
US trips are navigation-heavy in a way European trips are not, because the distances are longer and the transit is thinner. Maps running for hours, rideshare apps, and a lot of hotel and restaurant research. Data use skews higher than a comparable European trip.
Routing: Most of our US plans are marked USIP and break out on a US IP address, which is what American banking apps, streaming services and card verification flows quietly expect. This matters more in the United States than almost anywhere: a foreign-routed eSIM will carry maps and messages perfectly and then fail a bank login. The routing is stated on each plan.
When Wanderly is the better buy in the United States
- ✓You need a US IP address for banking, streaming or card verification
- ✓You want to buy a precise allowance rather than a flat daily subscription
- ✓Your trip is long or slow and a 180-day window beats paying by the day
- ✓You want to choose between a daily pass and a fixed allowance
When Holafly is the better buy
- •You stream video daily and would rather not think about an allowance at all
- •You are tethering a laptop for full working days across a long stay
- •You value never checking a data figure more than the price difference
Holafly took a different bet from most of the category: instead of selling gigabytes, it sells days of unlimited data. That removes the part of buying a travel eSIM that people most dislike — guessing how much data they will use — and it is a legitimately better experience for heavy users. The trade-off is that you pay for the certainty whether you need it or not.
the United States vs Holafly — common questions
How much data does two weeks in the US actually use?
Eight to fifteen gigabytes for most travellers — heavy Maps and rideshare use, a lot of navigation between cities, and photo upload. Hotel and café Wi-Fi is widespread and absorbs a good share of the rest.
Will US banking and streaming services work?
On our USIP plans, generally yes — the traffic breaks out inside the United States, which is what those services check. Plans without the USIP marker route elsewhere and can trigger an extra verification step. The routing is stated on each plan.
Is there anything for a very heavy short trip?
Yes — a 100 GB plan over 10 days, built for event traffic. It is the largest single allowance in our catalogue and is priced accordingly; for ordinary travel the 20 GB or 50 GB monthly plans are far better value.
Get a the United States eSIM in about two minutes
Compare every the United States plan we sell, from $1.99. QR code by email, no app required.
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