Shopping for an eSIM for Egypt? Then you’re in the right place because this detailed guide will tell you all about the best eSIM options for Egypt!
At A Glance: Best eSim Providers in Egypt
No matter where you’re traveling, it’s always a good idea to get a travel eSIM. Egypt is no exception, mainly because the country doesn’t have great free WiFi coverage, and you will need some local sim plan to access the Internet whenever you want.
The challenge in finding an eSIM in Egypt is price. Although I was tempted to get a SIM card when I landed, I knew it was a painful experience. So, I opted for a mix of Airalo and Holafly, depending on whether I used much data.
Of course, we used the most data in our hotel at night after being out all day at the pyramids or on a cruise. So, honestly, we did not need unlimited data. But, if you are on Insta a lot or watch a lot of videos, your choices might differ.
Here are the two best options we found in Egypt:
Maya Mobile has some of the best deals on prepaid eSIMs for Egypt. They offer a range or sizes between 1-10 GB and you can tweak the number of days between 10-180 with discounts for shorter periods.
Here are some of their prices to give you an example:
They use one of the best providers around – Orange, and offer local 4G which should be fast enough for most of you.
Holafly is an international eSIM provider best known for its unlimited data plans for most worldwide countries. Unfortunately, they don’t offer an unlimited data plan for Egypt; instead, they only have one plan you can purchase. It’s 6 GB, valid for 15 days, and for the price of $34.
Holafly’s data plan for Egypt is quite expensive, but it has one of the most generous data allowances out of all these eSIM providers.
The Holafly eSIM uses the Etisalat Misr network which just got the fastest download speed ratings in March. So, you will have excellent coverage all throughout Egypt.
Unfortunately, Holafly does not allow hotspots with their eSIM plans, which is bad news if you want to share your Internet access with other travelers in your group.
Airalo is one of the most popular international providers of eSIMs because they offer the cheapest data plans for various countries in the world. Their Egypt eSIMs are a bit pricey compared to plans for other countries, but that’s because there’s very little support for eSIMs in Egypt. Airalo’s plans for an Egypt eSIM are:
Airalo partners with Orange in Egypt and that’s great because they’re one of the top network operators in the country. Orange offers good network coverage throughout Egypt, so you will have a fast and stable Internet connection with Airalo.
If at any point you want to purchase more data from Airalo, you can easily do it on their website or through the Airalo app. A top-up will also extend the validity period of the eSIM.
Yesim is an eSIM company that operates in 138 worldwide countries and they’ve got four data plans for Egypt. The data plans are slightly more expensive than Airalo’s but only by a couple of dollars, and they provide you with access to the Etilsat network.
Yesim’s data plans for Egypt are:
The major downside of using Yesim instead of Airalo is that, even though they’re priced similarly, Yesim’s data plans have much shorter validity periods. Whereas Airalo’s eSims are valid for up to a month, Yesim’s eSIMs are valid for 10 days at most, which is certainly not enough for longer stays in the country. The plans are also quite expensive, and just not worth it if you can still use a physical card in your phone.
One advantage of getting an eSIM in Egypt is that you don’t have to roam around a foreign city looking for a store where you can purchase a physical SIM card. It’s the more convenient solution, especially since you don’t have to remember to pack a sim tray eject tool or worry about where you will keep your other sim card safe.
However, the benefit of getting a physical sim card for use in Egypt is much better value for money. The local network operators don’t have support for eSIMs in Egypt and you can’t get one in the country, so the plans from International providers are fairly expensive.
I’ll put it this way – the cheapest eSIM plan for Egypt is from Airalo, and it’s $9.5 for 1 GB of data you can use for a week. But for $9.7 you can get a physical sim card from Etilsat, which includes 12 GB, 250 local minutes, and 20 minutes for international calls. So, think twice about purchasing an eSim plan if you have a dual sim device.
No local network operators in Egypt offer eSIMs, so you can’t get one in the country. You can either purchase an eSIM from an international provider or get a physical SIM from a local mobile operator in Egypt.
It’s worth considering a physical SIM card if your device still supports it because it’s much better value for money than any of the eSIM plans featured here. Tourist sim cards from local providers in Egypt get you 7 GB of data for as little as $6.5, compared to the 59 Euros you’d have to pay Yesim for the same amount of data. An Etilsat sim card also includes a phone number with free minutes for local and international calls.
Vodafone has a good option for tourists in Egypt if you’re okay with a physical sim card. You can purchase it at any Vodafone store in the country or at the airport, and load it up with as much money as you want. Then you register on their website and purchase a data bundle, which ranges from $0.65 for 1 GB, to $13 for 40 GB.
Telecom Egypt also has a simple prepaid WE plan. It’s a good option for cheap phone calls, but not the best Egypt sim card for internet browsing.
Mobile devices that support embedded SIM technology will work with any eSIMs in Egypt. This includes all iPhone devices from the iPhone XR onward, Samsung Galaxy S phones from the S20 onwards, and Google Pixel phones from the third generation onward.
However, not all smartphones support embedded SIM cards, even if they were manufactured in the last year or so. Some manufacturers are reserving this feature for their premium devices, plus it depends on where the phone was made.
You can check out our list of compatible devices here.
The easiest way of checking whether your device supports an eSIM is to dial *#06#. This will allow you to see a list of unique serial codes for your phone; if you see an EID number, it means that your cell phone is eSIM compatible.
How much data you need for your trip to Egypt depends on the length of your trip and your habits for data usage.
Up to 3 GB should be enough for trips up to two weeks if you only use the mobile data to access maps, social media, and email. Just don’t stream any videos while connected to mobile data and you should be fine. And if you have wifi at your hotel, it should be no problem.
If you want to work while you’re in Egypt and that’s why you’re looking for eSIMs in the first place, I highly recommend a physical SIM card because they are much more generous with data allowances.
No, you can’t buy an eSIM in Egypt. You can purchase an eSIM that will work in Egypt from an international provider, but it is currently not possible to purchase a prepaid eSIM plan from any of the local providers in Egypt.
You can’t buy an eSIM in Egypt, but you can buy an eSIM that will work in the country. You must purchase it from one of the international eSim providers because the local network operators in Egypt do not offer any eSims to prepaid customers.
On average, an eSIM plan for Egypt costs around $20-30. The cheapest plan is $9.5, while the most expensive eSIM plans in Egypt cost around $60.
To activate an eSIM fo Egypt it’s enough to turn on the mobile data on your phone, provided you’ve already added the eSIM to your cellular plan. This can be done by either scanning a QR code or adding the eSim plan manually through the network settings. If you have any issues setting up the eSim plan on your device, it’s best to contact the support team of the eSim provider for help.