Is Saily worth it?

Saily is the travel eSIM arm of Nord Security, the company behind NordVPN and NordPass. That pedigree matters - it means your data routing and account information sit behind the same security infrastructure that protects millions of VPN users. The app launched in 2023 and has grown quickly, currently covering 150+ countries with 4G LTE and 5G access.

Saily keeps things simple: buy a plan in the app, scan or tap to install, and you are online. There are no accounts to create on separate websites, no voucher codes to redeem, and no confusing dashboards. Everything from purchase to usage tracking lives in one place.

For travelers who want a no-fuss data connection without worrying about who is handling their traffic, Saily is one of the most straightforward options on the market.

Saily offers both fixed data plans and a pay-as-you-go option, which is relatively uncommon in the travel eSIM space. Fixed plans start at $5 for 3GB over 7 days, scaling up to unlimited data at $89 for 30 days. The pay-as-you-go rate sits around $4/GB globally.

For short trips to a single country, the smaller fixed plans are hard to beat on value. The unlimited plan makes sense for heavy users or digital nomads who do not want to think about data budgets. One thing to keep in mind: pricing varies by destination.

A 5GB plan for a popular European country will cost less than the same plan for a more remote region. Always check the specific destination price in the app before assuming the advertised starting rate applies to your trip.

The Saily app is where the service really shines. It is clean, fast, and avoids the cluttered feel that plagues some competitor apps. You can browse plans by destination, purchase with Apple Pay or Google Pay, and install the eSIM profile directly - all without leaving the app.

The entire process from opening the app to having a working eSIM takes under five minutes in most cases. The app also handles usage monitoring well. You can see how much data you have consumed, how many days remain on your plan, and top up if you are running low.

Push notifications warn you before your data runs out, so you are never caught off guard in the middle of navigating a foreign city.

Saily covers 150+ countries, which is slightly behind competitors like Airalo or Roamless that advertise 200+. In practice, the gap matters less than the numbers suggest - Saily covers every major travel destination in Europe, Asia, the Americas, and Oceania. You would only notice the difference in very niche destinations.

Network quality is solid. Saily partners with multiple carriers per country (averaging about 1.5), which helps with coverage in areas where a single carrier might have gaps. The service supports both 4G LTE and 5G where available, so you will get fast speeds in cities and reasonable coverage in rural areas.

Hotspot tethering works on all plans, and Saily does not throttle your connection or restrict what you can do with the data.

Support is available through in-app chat and email. Response times average under two hours during business hours, which is above average for the travel eSIM market. The in-app chat is particularly convenient if you run into setup issues while abroad since you do not need to hunt for a support email or navigate a separate help site.

Saily does not offer phone support or 24/7 live agents, so if you hit a problem at 3am local time you may need to wait for a response. That said, the setup process is straightforward enough that most users will never need to contact support at all.

This is Saily's standout differentiator. Being built by Nord Security means the company takes data handling seriously - it is not a startup that bolted together an MVNO and launched a consumer app. Nord Security has been audited by independent security firms and has a track record of transparency around data practices.

That said, Saily is an eSIM data service, not a VPN. Your internet traffic is not encrypted by default just because you use Saily. If you want VPN protection on top of your eSIM connection, you will need a separate NordVPN subscription - unless you subscribe to Saily Ultra, which bundles it in.

The privacy advantage is more about how Saily handles your account data and payment information than about encrypting your browsing traffic.

In 2025, Saily launched Ultra - a monthly subscription plan that bundles unlimited global data with premium travel perks. Ultra includes 30GB of full-speed data per month across 121+ destinations, with unlimited data at 1 Mbps after that. But the data is only part of the package.

Ultra subscribers get one airport lounge pass and one fast-track security pass per month, both of which roll over for up to three months if unused. There is also a delayed-flight benefit that grants lounge access if your flight is delayed two or more hours. On the digital side, Ultra bundles NordVPN, NordPass, NordLayer, and Incogni - the full Nord Security product suite.

Subscribers also earn 8% cashback on Saily data purchases as credits, and get priority 24/7 support. It is a significant step up from the standard plans and positions Saily as more than just a data provider. For frequent travelers who already pay for lounge access and a VPN separately, Ultra could consolidate those costs into a single subscription.