Best eSIM for Spain: 20 Providers Tested and Compared

Traveling to Spain? You have a few options for mobile data: order a travel eSIM in advance, buy a local Spanish SIM card on arrival, or in some cases get an eSIM directly from a local Spanish provider. Each has its advantages. As someone who lives in Spain and has tested these options first-hand, I'll walk you through the best travel eSIM options for Spain, and when a local plan makes more sense.

For most trips, a travel eSIM is by far the most convenient option, with plans from under $0.50. It lets you get connected the moment you land and skips most of the registration hassle.

If your mobile carrier charges high international roaming fees, preparing with an eSIM in advance is the smart move. It helps you avoid high fees and enjoy hassle-free internet access throughout your trip.

Short on time? Use code FYESIM for 20% off my top pick Roamless: a sharp price, a great app, and a pay-as-you-go option that never expires (and works beyond Spain too).

How to choose the best eSIM for Spain

Which eSIM suits you best depends on how you travel, so I looked at four things that actually matter on a trip to Spain: the best choice for most travelers, the best quality, the best unlimited plan and the best budget option. These are my picks:

• Best for most travelers: Roamless. My top pick: a sharp rate, plus pay as you go data that never expires.
• Best quality: Ubigi. The best performer of the 20 providers I tested, with a home IP address in some markets.
• Best unlimited: Maya Mobile. The best combination of daily data and performance.
• Best budget: Stellar. The best budget provider: low prices without losing quality, plus a free VPN for your trip.

Most people get by on around 10 GB for a trip: browsing, messages, maps and the occasional call over WhatsApp or a similar app. Not sure how much you need? Our data calculator works it out for you.

One thing worth knowing up front: from 20 to 25 GB, a local Spanish eSIM is simply cheaper. Unlike in many other European countries, prepaid in Spain is cheap. The same goes if you need a local phone number, or if you come to Spain more than twice a year. The downside is the paperwork: you order it online, but you have to identify yourself with your passport first.

So above 20 GB a travel eSIM is really only about convenience: it works within minutes and there is no registration at all, but you pay a lot more for that. If that trade-off suits you, a travel eSIM is still a fine choice. Either way, I cover the local options later in this article.

Want to compare prices yourself? Browse all 45+ providers for Spain in our comparison tool, with plans from under $0.50.

Spain eSIM speed test results (Madrid, 2026)

I tested all 20 providers myself in Madrid, under the same conditions and on the same phone. For speed I used the Ookla Speedtest app, and for response time meter.net.

Most people only look at download speed, but response time matters just as much. Response time is the delay between your phone asking for something and the network answering: tap a link, and it decides how long you stare at a blank screen before anything happens. A fast download with a slow response time still feels sluggish, because video calls stutter, pages take seconds to start loading and games are unplayable.

10 of the 20 will do the job for around 90% of travelers, and 16 of the 20 were good to excellent. Orange Travel, Revolut and eSIMgo get you online without trouble, but on several points they fell behind that group.

At Orange Travel I tested the eSIM with calling, a French one. Bear in mind that Orange Travel is not the same as Orange Spain, the local network. I also tried their unlimited eSIM a few months ago, which ran on Orange Poland rather than the local network, but speed limits have been introduced since then.

Holafly is the negative exception. Its traffic runs through a Spanish server, from the wholesale operator Cogent, and even so its response times were the slowest of the test. Download was fine; upload was too low to do much with. I tested in Barcelona and Madrid, and in neither city was it worth the money, with video calls not workable. Holafly sells unlimited data to heavy users and promises a trip without worries, and on what I measured it is anything but. I saw the same in London recently, on an eSIM again routed from Spain through Cogent; customer service took hours to reach and could not explain it.

So do not go by speed alone. A high download speed with a poor response time will not get you far.

All providers were tested in Madrid in May and July 2026, on an iPhone 16 Pro Max and on 5G unless stated otherwise. Speeds were measured with the Ookla Speedtest app and response times with meter.net, alongside normal everyday use. The ranking is based on how steady and responsive a connection felt in daily use, not on raw download speed alone. Routing (the country your data travels through) is listed too, but providers can change this at any time.

Local networks in Spain

These are the three major mobile networks in Spain:

• Movistar
• Orange
• Vodafone

When you ask locals in Spain about the best mobile network, Movistar often tops the list for its reliability and extensive coverage. However, it can be expensive, and support for non-Spanish speakers may be more limited. For a more affordable option (if you decide to buy directly from them), Orange and Vodafone are great alternatives, offering competitive rates and better flexibility for international customers.

As a Spanish resident I switched from Orange to Movistar myself, but mostly for reasons that will not matter to you as a tourist, such as the TV package. I do notice a slightly better connection in places like the Madrid metro, but overall the differences are small. Network coverage in Spain is excellent across the country, especially in urban areas. When you buy a travel eSIM, remember that those providers usually work across several networks, so network quality should not be a concern for most tourists visiting Spain.

However, if you are heading to remote or mountainous areas, it is wise to check coverage beforehand. Both Nperf and Opensignal are excellent sites for doing your research.

Buying a local SIM card or eSIM in Spain

Looking for a local SIM card? Here are two useful tips.

Prefer a physical SIM card, or an eSIM from a Spanish provider? That is possible, and an eSIM you can buy online from Vodafone or Orange. Be careful though: do not simply google this, because you need the genuine local version.

• Vodafone: esimprepago.vodafone.es (pick voice and data, not data only)
• Orange: esimholidays.com

Make sure you do not end up with the international travel versions of Orange and Vodafone. Those are a different type of product, not the local one. At Vodafone, the data-only option may look attractive because it comes without an identity check, but unless you take the very largest bundle you pay far too much for it, and it is not a normal local prepaid product either.

The Vodafone prepaid cards with voice also include roaming within the EU, but note that you have to start your trip in Spain.

Need an old-fashioned SIM card for Spain? You can also buy one on arrival at the airport. The options may vary between airports, and even between terminals. In Madrid you will come across Sim Local stands, and electronics retailers that sell Vodafone SIM cards, sometimes even airside. In Barcelona, on my last visit in July 2026, Vodafone staff were meeting arriving passengers at the exit, and there was a Vodafone stand as well. In Malaga, in February 2026, I only saw SIM cards in convenience stores.

Outside the airport a SIM card is just as easy to arrange in Spain. Look for a seller who does the identity check with you, so you are not doing it in Spanish on your own, and so you know they can register you with an international passport.