Holafly vs Saily: both sell unlimited, only one tells you the limit

At a glance

If you are at the point of choosing a plan, our best travel eSIM guide for Australians compares the current options and their practical trade-offs.

Price, and why trip length decides it

These two do not price the same way, so a like for like table only works on unlimited against unlimited.

Holafly charges Australian dollars at fixed price points, by days:

Saily charges US$48.99 flat for unlimited on any trip from five to thirty days. Same price for a five day trip and a thirty day one.

That produces a very clear crossover.

• One to three days: Holafly wins outright. Saily’s unlimited does not go below five days, and A$6 for a single day is the cheapest unlimited entry point in the category.
• Around five to seven days: close. Holafly’s seven day plan is A$43. Saily’s US$48.99 converts to more than that at the rate on the day we checked, before any card fee.
• Ten days and beyond: Saily, and the gap widens fast. At thirty days Holafly is A$117 and Saily is still US$48.99.

If you are away for a month, that is not a close call, and it is the single most useful thing in this comparison.

One caveat we will not skip. Saily charges in US dollars and only US dollars. Their currency configuration supports US dollars, euros, pounds and Swiss francs. There is no Australian dollar option, so your bank converts and many Australian cards add a foreign transaction fee of two to three per cent. Holafly’s Australian dollar prices are fixed price points, not a live conversion. We are not going to publish a converted Saily figure and call it a price, because the rate moves. Do the sum with your own card’s fee before you commit.

The number that is missing

This is the reason to read this comparison rather than a spec sheet.

Saily, in their terms:

“Users on the Regular Unlimited Data Plan receive a full-speed data allocation for each 24-hour period, running from 00:00 to 00:00 (local midnight) in the User’s current time zone. The size of the allocation depends on the destination country and is either 3 GB or 5 GB, as specified in the applicable offering. If the User exhausts the allocation before the end of a period, data speed will be reduced to 1 Mbps for the remainder of that period, and full-speed data resumes on the next reset.”

That is a complete disclosure. Allowance, throttled speed, reset basis, all three.

Holafly publishes none of it. Their marketing pages say the unlimited data is not throttled. Their terms and conditions say:

“your data coverage and speed may be subject to a network service provider’s fair use policy… the network service provider reserves its right to impose restrictions or limitations on data usage or speed if your usage is deemed excessive.”

We looked across their site for a numeric threshold and a throttled speed. There is no number. “Deemed excessive” is the whole standard.

To be fair to Holafly, an undisclosed ceiling is not necessarily a low one, and plenty of Holafly customers never come near it. But you cannot compare what you cannot see, and if you are choosing between two unlimited products, only one of them has told you what unlimited means.

Saily also commits to trying to warn you before restricting service. Holafly’s clause carries no such commitment.

Our international daily high-speed eSIM guide explains how daily high-speed allowances and reduced speeds work across plans.

Hotspot, and the cap most people miss

Holafly, on their own destination pages:

“Share 1 GB of data per day with family, friends, or fellow travelers. Use your smartphone to create a WiFi network and connect multiple devices. Your total sharable data depends on the length of your plan (for example, a 7-day plan includes 7 GB).”

So on a Holafly trip plan, unlimited data comes with one gigabyte a day of hotspot. If you are a couple with one phone carrying the data, or you work off a laptop, or there is an iPad in the family, that is the whole decision.

Saily permits tethering but prohibits it:

“Excessive tethering or sharing of data via hotspot with multiple devices or users beyond occasional personal use.”

No device count. No definition of occasional. And Saily’s own country pages advertise unlimited sharing with no restrictions, which is not what the terms say. When a company’s marketing and its contract disagree, the contract governs.

Neither is good. Holafly’s limit is low but it is a number you can plan around. Saily’s is unquantified but nothing in their published rules suggests a one gigabyte ceiling. For a traveller who needs to tether meaningfully, Saily is the less constrained of the two, with the caveat that you are relying on a phrase rather than a figure.

Worth noting that Holafly’s separate subscription product advertises unlimited hotspot. The 1GB cap is on the trip plans, which is what a holidaymaker buys.

Refunds

Two very different shapes, and each is better than the other at a different moment.

Before you travel, Holafly is the most generous in the category. Six months to refund an unactivated eSIM. Saily’s equivalent window is 30 days from purchase, which is still better than most, but it is not six months.

After activation, both are hard.

Saily’s threshold is arithmetic:

“The non-subscription-based Data Plan has been activated … but the data remains generally unused (more than 99% of the Data Plan balance left)”

On a 5GB plan that is roughly 51 megabytes. Background app sync on landing can spend that before you open a map.

Holafly’s activated route is a connection failure route, and it carries two things worth knowing about. There is a US$3.50 administrative fee on connection issue refunds, and their policy warns that they “cannot guarantee a refund if you contact us after your trip.” Report the problem while you are still away.

Saily publishes a decision time, five working days, and a thirty calendar day backstop for payout. Holafly publishes a payout time, five to ten business days, which is among the faster figures anyone publishes.

Both push you toward store credit. Holafly’s HolaCoins have no published conversion rate. Saily’s refund centre determines the split between your card and Saily credits rather than letting you choose it.

One trap that is specific to Saily and genuinely dangerous: “If you delete your account after purchasing a Data Plan … and subsequently request a refund, no refund will be granted.”

Full write-ups: how a Holafly refund works and how a Saily refund works.

If it stops working

Saily publishes a reinstall path. If the eSIM is misbehaving you have a route back.

Holafly contradicts itself. Their newer help material describes a limited number of reinstalls on the same handset. Their main installation page says “Do not remove the eSIM from your device as you will not be able to use it again.” When a company’s own pages disagree, assume the harsher one.

Either way: disable the line rather than deleting it while you troubleshoot. Our sequences are here for Holafly and Saily.

Support, where Holafly has something Saily does not

Holafly has WhatsApp. When your data is broken and you are standing in an airport on hotel wifi, that is genuinely useful. One caveat we found in their terms of use: the WhatsApp line is described as “operated 9.00 – 17.00 Central European Time”, which is roughly 5pm to 1am in eastern Australia, even though other pages advertise 24/7. Their chat and email carry no such caveat.

Saily is chat and email, 24 hours, and states in writing that there is no phone support. The catch is that live chat only works inside the app: “Please note that Live Chat is available only via the Saily application.” On the web, the chat button shows you a QR code that points back at your phone. If your phone has no data and no wifi, the only route left is the email form from another device.

Neither has a channel that works with zero data. Screenshot your installation details before you fly, on either.

The Australian angle

Saily names a different contracting company depending on your tax country. For Australia:

“Australia: CyberQuay Pty Ltd, company code 689 412 119, principal business address LEVEL 41, 161 Castlereagh str., Sydney, NSW, 2000, Australia”

And their governing law clause acknowledges that local consumer law can override it.

Holafly contracts under an Irish entity and Irish law, with no Australian entity and no local law carve out.

Australian consumer guarantees apply to services supplied to Australian consumers regardless of what a contract says. The practical difference is how hard they are to exercise. A company with a Sydney address is within reach of the ACCC and a local tribunal in a way an Irish entity is not, for a dispute over a small data plan.

Which one for an Australian traveller

Choose Holafly if your trip is one to four days, you want prices in Australian dollars with no conversion, you want six months to change your mind before activating, you want WhatsApp support, or you want the simplicity of not thinking about data at all.

Choose Saily if your trip is longer than a week and especially if it is two weeks or more, you want to know the throttle threshold before you buy, you need to tether more than a gigabyte a day, you want the security extras or a phone number add on, or you want an Australian company on the contract.

Choose neither if you would rather pay in Australian dollars to an Australian company that publishes its supplier-backed data terms. We sell fixed-data plans and a new unlimited range for Indonesia, Japan and Thailand. The exact thresholds, reduced speeds, shop hotspot policy and supplier unknowns are in what unlimited actually means; our destination pages show current plans and prices.

Questions people actually ask

Is Holafly or Saily cheaper?

It depends entirely on trip length. Holafly is cheaper for one to three days, where A$6 buys a day of unlimited. Saily charges a flat US$48.99 for unlimited on any trip from five to thirty days, so from about ten days onwards Saily is substantially cheaper, and at thirty days it is not close.

Does Holafly throttle you?

Holafly’s marketing says the unlimited data is not throttled, while their terms reserve the right to restrict usage “deemed excessive.” No numeric threshold and no throttled speed is published anywhere on their site. Saily publishes both.

How much hotspot do you get on Holafly?

One gigabyte per day on trip plans, regardless of the unlimited headline. Their own destination pages state it. Saily has no published number but prohibits tethering “beyond occasional personal use.”

Does Saily charge in Australian dollars?

No. US dollars, euros, pounds and Swiss francs only. Holafly prices in Australian dollars at fixed price points.

Which has the better refund policy?

Holafly before you activate, at six months against Saily’s thirty days. After activation both are restrictive: Saily needs more than 99% of the plan unused, and Holafly’s connection failure route carries a US$3.50 administrative fee and asks you to report the problem before your trip ends.

Can I reinstall either one if I delete it?

Saily publishes a reinstall path. Holafly’s own pages contradict each other, with the installation page saying you will not be able to use it again. Disable the line rather than deleting it on either.

Which one has WhatsApp support?

Holafly. Saily is chat and email only, and its live chat only works inside the Saily app. Holafly’s terms of use note that the WhatsApp line runs 9am to 5pm Central European Time, which is evening in Australia.

Who am I buying from as an Australian?

Saily contracts through CyberQuay Pty Ltd in Sydney and carves out local consumer law. Holafly contracts through an Irish entity under Irish law with no Australian presence.

Sources

Holafly pricing from their own destination pages, and policy from their refund policy, terms and conditions and terms of use. Saily pricing from their own published US dollar rate card and currency configuration, and policy from their Terms of Service (last updated 15 July 2026) and Support Centre. All retrieved 17 to 20 August 2026. We re-check every price in this article monthly.

Written by Lachlan, who runs The SIM Shop from Brisbane and answers the support email himself.