Travel data calculator

Estimate how much mobile data your trip needs from the hours you spend on maps, messaging, social media and video, then see the cheapest eSIM plans that cover it.

Your trip

Destination Days of the trip

How you use your phone

Start from a preset, then change the hours. The figures in the last column are rough planning numbers: change them if you know your own.

Activity	Hours a day	MB per hour
Messaging and email
Maps and navigation
Web browsing
Social media
Music streaming
Video calls
Video streaming (standard quality)

Your phone keeps its own count under Settings, Mobile data (iPhone) or Network and internet (Android). Check it after a normal day at home: that is a better guide than any table.

How the estimate works

The calculator multiplies the hours you enter by a megabytes-per-hour figure for each activity, adds them up for one day, multiplies by the days of your trip and adds 20% for days that use more than planned. The result is rounded up to a tenth of a gigabyte.

With the everyday preset that comes to about 490 MB a day before the buffer. The megabytes-per-hour figures are rounded planning numbers, not measurements: real use depends on the apps, the video quality, the phone and whether it downloads updates in the background. Turn off automatic app updates on mobile data and download offline maps before you leave to keep the use close to the estimate.

For a per-day plan, the allowance resets every day, so the calculator compares it with your need per day rather than with the trip total. Per-day plans can be bought for up to 30 days. Prices and plans come from the eSimNest catalogue as of 2026-10-01; open a plan on its destination page to see its terms.

Questions about data use

How much data do I need for a week abroad?

With the calculator's planning figures, a light week needs about 0.7 GB, an everyday week about 4 GB and a heavy week about 18.3 GB, each including a 20% buffer. These are estimates built from rounded figures, so replace them with your own if you know them.

Which activities use the most data?

In the calculator's figures, video streaming and video calls use the most per hour (700 and 600 MB), then social media, which mixes photos and short videos. Messaging and maps use little.

Should I choose a per-day plan or a fixed-allowance plan?

A fixed plan gives you one allowance to spend over its validity, which suits uneven use. A per-day plan resets its allowance every day, which suits steady use and lets you pick the exact number of days, up to 30. The calculator compares each kind in the way it works.

Does using my phone as a hotspot change the estimate?

It can change it a lot. Laptops and tablets download updates and stream video in ways a phone does not, so if you plan to share the connection, add hours of browsing or video for those devices, and check that the plan allows hotspot sharing on its destination page.

Why does the calculator show a regional or global plan as the cheapest?

It compares every plan that covers your destination: local, regional and global. A regional plan that includes your destination can cost less than a local one for the same allowance. The calculator also shows the cheapest plan that covers only the destination you chose.