Nord Security — the company behind NordVPN, NordPass, and NordLocker — launched its own eSIM app, Saily, in 2024. It’s an odd pivot for a privacy-software company, but two years in, Saily has become a real competitor to Airalo, the eSIM marketplace Traroro covered in its broader eSIM explainer. Saily now covers over 200 countries and regions, holds a 4.7-star rating across tens of thousands of App Store and Google Play reviews, and bundles its parent company’s ad- and malware-blocking tools in for free rather than selling them separately. Here’s what it actually offers, what it costs as of November 2026, and where it genuinely wins or loses against Airalo.
Built by the same people who make NordVPN
Saily sits under NordSec B.V., the same corporate structure as NordVPN, NordPass, NordLocker, and the data-removal service Incogni. It isn’t a VPN itself — it’s a straightforward eSIM data marketplace — but it inherited the family’s security instincts. Every Saily plan includes built-in blocking of malicious sites and ads, a feature most competing eSIM apps don’t offer at all, let alone for free. That’s Saily’s actual differentiator, more than price: it’s the only major eSIM seller treating basic web protection as part of the product rather than an upsell.
How installing it actually works
Saily’s biggest practical difference from Airalo is reusability. You install one Saily eSIM profile on your phone a single time, then buy, switch, or top up country and regional plans entirely inside the app — no reinstalling a new eSIM profile for every new destination. Airalo, by contrast, generally requires a fresh eSIM install for each local plan you buy.
On iPhones running iOS 17+ and Android phones on Android 12+, installation is a one-tap push straight from the Saily app — no QR code needed. Older devices, or anyone installing the plan onto a second phone, fall back to scanning a QR code instead. Once bought, a plan has a 180-day window to activate; it switches on automatically the moment Saily detects you’ve landed in a covered destination with the eSIM’s data roaming turned on, so there’s no manual “activate now” step to remember.
The plans, with real prices
Saily sells three plan shapes: single-country, regional (several countries under one eSIM), and global (110+ destinations on one plan). Pricing varies a lot by destination. Japan — one of the most-searched eSIM destinations — looks like this on Saily’s own site right now:
- 1GB / 7 days — $3.99
- 3GB / 30 days — $7.99
- 5GB / 30 days — $10.99
- 10GB / 30 days — $17.99
- 20GB / 30 days — $24.99
- Unlimited / 15 days — $48.99 (up to 5GB/day at full speed, then throttled to 1Mbps)
- Unlimited / 30 days — $71.99
The regional Asia plan — 22 countries including Japan, Thailand, South Korea, Vietnam, and India under a single eSIM — runs $4.99 for 1GB/7 days up to $48.99 for a 25GB/60-day plan, with an unlimited option (5 to 30 days, your choice) at $54.99. Every plan earns a small percentage back in Saily credits toward future purchases.
Saily is data-only by default, like most eSIM apps — no calls or texts on the new line. In June 2026, Saily added an optional US phone number add-on for a couple of dollars a month, letting you receive real calls and SMS abroad on top of the data plan. Most travelers still won’t need it: your existing number keeps working over Wi-Fi calling for WhatsApp, iMessage, and 2FA texts regardless.
Saily Ultra: the $59.99/month tier
For frequent travelers, Saily also sells a monthly subscription called Ultra, at $59.99/month. It bundles unlimited global data (30GB at full speed per month, then throttled to roughly 1Mbps), a free NordVPN subscription, 8% cashback in Saily credits, priority support, and airport lounge access plus fast-track security lanes through a partner network. It’s a genuinely unusual bundle — no other eSIM app pairs data with lounge access — but at nearly $60 a month it only pencils out for people traveling internationally more or less constantly, not someone taking two trips a year.
Saily vs. Airalo, specifically
Both now claim 200+ destinations, so breadth is roughly a wash on paper, though several independent reviewers still rate Airalo’s partner-carrier network as slightly stronger in rural or remote regions. On price, the two are close at the entry level — a 1GB global plan runs about $8.99 on Saily versus roughly $9 on Airalo — but Saily tends to undercut Airalo more noticeably on single-country, short-trip plans, which is the purchase most travelers actually make.
The bigger differences are structural. Saily’s reusable single-eSIM-profile approach means you’re not reinstalling a new profile every time you add a destination; Airalo generally requires a new local eSIM per country unless you buy one of its broader regional or global packages. Airalo, in turn, offers voice calling and SMS more broadly across its lineup, while Saily restricts real calls/SMS to its separate phone-number add-on. Airalo has also been around since 2019 and carries a much larger review base — roughly 263,000 Trustpilot reviews at a 4.4 average — against Saily’s smaller but higher-rated pool, around 4.6–4.7 across both Trustpilot and the app stores. Airalo also runs a rotating “Airmoney” loyalty program; Saily’s equivalent is a referral discount for both sides rather than ongoing cashback on every plan.
Where Saily falls short
It’s data-only unless you pay extra for a number. Support is chat and email only — there’s no phone line, which matters if your eSIM fails to activate the night before a flight. And Ultra’s $59.99/month price tag is steep enough that it only makes sense for genuinely constant travelers, not the average once-or-twice-a-year vacationer who’s better served by a single country plan.
Does your phone support it
Same rule as any eSIM provider: you need an eSIM-capable, factory-unlocked phone. That covers iPhone XS (2018) and later, Google Pixel 4 and later, and Samsung Galaxy S20 and later on unlocked models — carrier-locked Android phones sometimes have eSIM access disabled in software even when the hardware supports it. Saily’s app includes a compatibility check before you pay, which is the fastest way to confirm rather than guessing from the model number.
The bottom line
Saily is a legitimate, well-rated alternative to Airalo rather than a knockoff trading on the NordVPN name. It’s generally cheaper for short, single-country trips, reinstalls less often because one eSIM profile covers multiple destinations, and throws in ad- and malware-blocking that no competitor matches for free. Airalo still wins on raw network breadth in harder-to-reach regions and on built-in voice/SMS. For most travelers doing the thing eSIMs exist for — landing, turning on data, and not thinking about it again — either works, but Saily is the one worth pricing out first for anyone used to NordVPN’s ecosystem or buying short-trip, single-country data.
Pricing above reflects Saily’s own published rates as of November 2026 and is subject to change — always confirm current pricing in-app or at saily.com before purchasing.
