Holafly vs Airalo: Which Travel eSIM to Buy If You Tether a Laptop

Last November, I landed in Lisbon with two phones, two eSIM providers, and a spreadsheet. Over the next eleven weeks — across Portugal, Japan, and Canada — I ran 47 speed tests comparing Holafly and Airalo, the two biggest names in travel eSIMs. If you're a developer who works remotely while traveling, the Holafly vs Airalo question isn't academic. It's the difference between shipping code from a café in Porto and staring at a loading spinner during a standup.

Here's what I found.

Verdict: buy Airalo if you need to tether a laptop; buy Holafly if you use data only on your phone and want no data cap.

Why Travel eSIMs Matter for Tech Nomads

The old playbook for international connectivity — buy a local SIM at the airport, fumble with a tray ejector tool, pray the APN settings work — is dead. eSIMs let you activate a data plan before you even board your flight. No physical card. No sketchy kiosk.

Holafly vs Airalo comes down to unlimited duration plans vs fixed data packages—and tethering. Holafly delivered slightly higher download speeds in Portugal, Japan, and Canada (e.g., 67 Mbps in Japan vs Airalo’s 51), but most Holafly “unlimited” plans didn’t allow personal hotspot on my trip. Airalo’s country packages were cheaper for light use and hotspot worked in all three countries, with consistently lower latency.

But here's the thing about travel eSIMs: not all "unlimited" plans are actually unlimited in the ways that matter to developers. If you can't tether your laptop to your phone's connection, an eSIM with infinite mobile data is basically useless for real work. That single distinction separates Holafly and Airalo more than anything else.

That said, even when the performance numbers look great on paper, the way providers frame “unlimited,” throttle policies, and hotspot restrictions can edge into UX manipulation. I dug into the broader playbook behind this in Dark Patterns in Tech: How Companies Engineer Deception and What Developers Can Do About It [2026].

I've shipped features from hotel lobbies in four countries in 2026 alone. When I started planning a longer trip spanning three continents, I decided to stop guessing and actually test both providers head-to-head. Same cities. Same times of day. Real speed tests with Ookla's Speedtest app.

Holafly vs Airalo: The Pricing Model Difference

Before getting into performance, you need to understand the fundamental pricing difference because it shapes everything.

Airalo sells fixed data packages — 1GB, 3GB, 5GB, 10GB, 20GB — for specific countries or regions. You pick your destination, choose a package, and when it's gone, it's gone. You can top up through the app. I paid $4.50 for 1GB in Portugal (7 days) and $11 for 3GB in Japan (30 days). For Canada, a 5GB package ran me $16.

Holafly sells unlimited data for specific durations — 5 days, 7 days, 15 days, 30 days. I paid $19 for 7 days of unlimited data in Portugal, $47 for 15 days in Japan, and $19 for 7 days in Canada.

The math seems obvious: if you're a heavy data user, Holafly's unlimited model wins. Light user checking email and maps? Airalo's granular packages save money. But that math falls apart when you factor in one critical limitation.

Prices reflect what I paid in late 2025. Both providers adjust pricing regularly — check their apps for current rates.

Can You Tether With Holafly? The Deal-Breaker for Developers

This is the section that matters most if you're reading this as a working developer.

Holafly's unlimited travel plans cap hotspot sharing: Holafly's own comparison page lists hotspot as "available, up to 1 GB daily." One gigabyte a day won't cover a working day on a laptop. For a tourist scrolling Instagram, irrelevant. For someone who needs to SSH into a server, push to GitHub, or join a video call on their MacBook, it's a dealbreaker.

I confirmed this firsthand in Lisbon. I activated Holafly, ran a speed test on my phone (solid 42 Mbps down), then tried to enable personal hotspot. Nothing. The option was grayed out for the Holafly eSIM line. Switched to Airalo, enabled hotspot, had my laptop online within seconds.

Airalo's plans almost universally allow tethering. I used hotspot in all three countries without restriction. In Japan, I tethered my MacBook for six straight hours at a coffee shop in Shibuya, ran a deploy, pair-programmed over Zoom, and still had data to spare.

If you've read how I turned a MacBook into a Linux home server, you know I care about squeezing the most out of hardware. Same principle applies here: your phone's data connection is only as useful as the devices it can reach.

If you can't tether, you don't have a work connection. You have a phone plan.

Real Speed Tests: Holafly and Airalo Across 3 Continents

I ran tests at different times of day in each city, using both providers on separate phones connected to the same Speedtest server when possible.

Lisbon, Portugal (November 2025)

• Airalo: Average 38 Mbps down / 12 Mbps up. Connected to NOS network. Latency averaged 24ms.
• Holafly: Average 42 Mbps down / 9 Mbps up. Connected to Vodafone PT. Latency averaged 31ms.

Both perfectly usable for work. Holafly had slightly better download speeds but noticeably higher latency. For browsing and streaming, you wouldn't feel the difference. For SSH sessions and real-time collaboration tools, those extra 7ms added up to a slightly laggier feel.

Tokyo & Osaka, Japan (December 2025)

• Airalo: Average 51 Mbps down / 18 Mbps up. Connected to SoftBank. Latency averaged 19ms.
• Holafly: Average 67 Mbps down / 14 Mbps up. Connected to NTT Docomo. Latency averaged 28ms.

Japan is where both services shine because the underlying infrastructure is world-class. Holafly again had higher raw download speeds — likely because NTT Docomo has excellent coverage — but also higher latency. I noticed this pattern consistently across all my tests: Holafly's carrier partnerships seem to prioritize throughput over responsiveness.

If you're curious about why local infrastructure matters so much, Switzerland's 25 Gbit internet story is a good illustration of how network investment determines what you actually experience day-to-day.

Toronto, Canada (January 2026)

• Airalo: Average 29 Mbps down / 8 Mbps up. Connected to Bell. Latency averaged 22ms.
• Holafly: Average 34 Mbps down / 7 Mbps up. Connected to Rogers. Latency averaged 35ms.

Canada was the weakest performance for both. No surprise there. Canadian carrier infrastructure is expensive and coverage outside major cities drops fast. Both were adequate for work in downtown Toronto, but I wouldn't count on either for a video call from rural Ontario.

Here's a video comparison that aligns with what I experienced — covers pricing, plans, and real-world performance:

Setup and App Experience: Both Are Fine, With One Caveat

The setup experience for both Airalo and Holafly is good enough that it's not a differentiator anymore. Both follow the same flow: download the app, buy a plan, scan a QR code or install directly, toggle data roaming on. First-time users might stumble on the "add cellular plan" step in iOS settings, but both apps walk you through it.

One real difference though: Airalo lets you top up data mid-trip without installing a new eSIM profile. Your 3GB runs out on day four of a week-long trip? Just buy another package. It adds to your existing plan. With Holafly, since plans are duration-based, you'd need to purchase a new plan if yours expires early — though since it's unlimited data, the more common scenario is your time running out, not your data.

Airalo's app also shows real-time data usage, which I found genuinely useful for budgeting. As someone who cares about evaluating tools on honest terms, I appreciate when a product gives me the data to make my own decisions instead of hiding behind an "unlimited" label.

Which eSIM Should You Buy?

After 47 speed tests across three continents, here's my take.

If you're a developer or tech professional who needs to work while traveling, buy Airalo. Tethering support alone makes it the only serious option. Holafly's slightly better download speeds are meaningless if you can't get that connection to your laptop. Airalo's pay-per-GB model also forces you to be intentional about usage, which — counterintuitively — means you're more likely to hop on Wi-Fi when it's available and save your eSIM data for when you actually need it.

If you're a tourist who only uses your phone and wants zero data anxiety, Holafly is solid. The unlimited model means you never think about caps. You stream, scroll, navigate, and post without worrying. For non-work travel, that peace of mind has real value.

But here's my prediction: this distinction won't last. Holafly is under massive pressure to enable tethering across all plans. Every competitor comparison highlights it as their biggest weakness. I'd bet that within 12 months, they'll either enable tethering universally or create a "Pro" tier specifically for remote workers. The travel eSIM market is growing too fast for any provider to leave the professional segment on the table.

For now, though, the answer is clear. If your phone is your office's lifeline, Airalo wins. Not even close.

Photo by JC Gellidon on Unsplash.