Short answer: An Egypt-only eSIM starts at $4.49 for 1 GB and runs on 4G/LTE, and none of our Egypt plans is listed for 5G. Egypt’s January 2026 phone-fee rules exempt tourists for 90 days. For a typical week in Egypt, buy the 7 GB, 30-day plan at $10.99.
| Trip length | Typical use (moderate) | Cheapest Egypt plan that covers it |
|---|---|---|
| 3 days | 2–4 GB | 7 GB for 30 days, $10.99 |
| 7 days | 4–7 GB | 7 GB for 30 days, $10.99 |
| 10 days | 6–10 GB | 12 GB for 30 days, $17.99 |
| 14 days | 8–14 GB | 25 GB for 30 days, $31.99 |
| 30 days | 15–25 GB | 25 GB for 30 days, $31.99 |
Prices checked on 2 October 2026. Usage ranges come from our trip data calculator, which also gives light and heavy ranges.
This guide covers what all 9 Egypt plans cost, why the bigger plan is often the cheaper one, what 4G means on an Egypt trip, what Egypt’s phone rules ask of visitors, what a local SIM involves, and when a regional pack makes sense. You can compare the current Egypt eSIM plans or browse the full travel eSIM catalog. Plan details change, so treat the live listing on each product page as the source of truth before you buy.
What do the 9 Egypt plans cost?
Our catalog lists 20 Egypt-only items. Eleven are top-up add-ons for a plan you already hold. The other 9 are plans you buy fresh, from two providers: five from Sparks and four from NextLink.
| Data | NextLink | Sparks |
|---|---|---|
| 1 GB | not offered | 14 days, $4.49 |
| 2 GB | 15 days, $5.49 | not offered |
| 3 GB | not offered | 30 days, $11.99 |
| 5 GB | not offered | 30 days, $15.99 |
| 7 GB | 30 days, $10.99 | not offered |
| 10 GB | not offered | 30 days, $25.99 |
| 12 GB | 30 days, $17.99 | not offered |
| 20 GB | not offered | 30 days, $43.99 |
| 25 GB | 30 days, $31.99 | not offered |
Prices checked on 2 October 2026.
The two ranges never sell the same size, so a straight price match is impossible, but the steps line up. Sparks sells 5 GB for $15.99; NextLink sells 7 GB for $10.99. Sparks sells 10 GB for $25.99; NextLink sells 12 GB for $17.99. Sparks sells 20 GB for $43.99; NextLink sells 25 GB for $31.99. At every step the NextLink plan is both bigger and cheaper, by $5 at the 5 GB step, $8 at the 10 GB step and $12 at the 20 GB step. Per gigabyte, NextLink falls from $2.75 on the 2 GB plan to $1.28 on the 25 GB plan, while Sparks runs from $4.49 down to $2.20.
That is why the headline says 12 GB beats 10 GB: for a ten-day trip, the NextLink 12 GB plan at $17.99 covers the top of the moderate range and still costs $8 less than the Sparks 10 GB plan.
What all 9 plans share:
- Hotspot is allowed on every one.
- Data only. None includes an Egyptian phone number, calls or SMS.
- The clock starts on first data use. All 9 are listed as activating when they first connect to data, not when you install them. You can install at home and switch the line on when you land.
- Top-ups are possible on all 9, so if you run out you can add data to the same eSIM.
- 4G/LTE only. More on that below.
- No unlimited option. Every Egypt plan we list has a fixed data amount.
The one difference our catalog data shows is where your traffic exits to the internet: the five Sparks plans list the United Kingdom and the four NextLink plans list Western Europe. Our data does not show anything else that would explain why Sparks costs more at each step. A simple rule: take NextLink unless you want exactly 1 GB, which only Sparks sells. If you want to see how these prices sit next to the big brands, our Egypt price comparison sets them against Airalo, Saily and Holafly.
Do any Egypt eSIM plans include 5G?
Not on our shelves. All 9 Egypt-only plans and all 38 regional and global packs that include Egypt are listed for 4G/LTE.
That is a statement about the plans, not about Egypt. Connecting Africa reported on 9 June 2025 that Vodafone Egypt, Orange Egypt, e& Egypt and Telecom Egypt launched 5G together, at an event held beside the Pyramids of Giza with the prime minister present. That report does not say which cities were covered at launch. Vodafone Egypt’s own network page says its 5G has “over 2000 sites” across 21 major cities and lists Hurghada, Sharm El-Sheikh, Dahab and Luxor among them. That is the operator describing its own network, not a measurement. Whether a given eSIM can use an operator’s 5G depends on the partner network it roams on and on the listing, so treat 5G in Egypt as a bonus if you see it, not something to plan around.
On speed, Speedtest’s Global Index for August 2026, which uses a rolling three-month window, puts Egypt’s median mobile download speed at 52.32 Mbps, with a median upload of 9.54 Mbps and a median latency of 27 milliseconds. That ranks Egypt 78th in the world, against a global median of 109.05 Mbps. It is enough for maps, messaging, ride-hailing and video calls, but slower than Morocco’s 69.70 Mbps in the same edition, which we covered in our Morocco eSIM guide.
That figure is a national median, and most speed tests are run in cities. It says nothing about a Nile cruise, a dive boat off Marsa Alam or a night in the Western Desert, and we have no measurements of our own on any of those routes. If your route leaves the cities, download offline maps and tickets before you go.
Will the eSIM work on the Red Sea coast and the Nile?
We cannot promise it on every stretch, and we would rather say so than guess. Our catalog data lists a network type for each plan, 4G/LTE for all of the Egypt plans, but not which Egyptian operator the eSIM roams on, and we have not tested any of these plans in Hurghada, Sharm El-Sheikh, Marsa Alam, Luxor, Aswan or on a Nile boat. The guides we found that name coverage by city come from eSIM sellers and are not measurements, so we did not use them. The one place we can point to is Vodafone’s own 5G list, which includes the Red Sea resorts of Hurghada, Sharm El-Sheikh and Dahab and the temple town of Luxor.
What helps on any Egypt route, and matters most once you leave the cities:
- Install the eSIM at home and confirm it shows up, so a problem is fixed before you fly.
- Download offline maps for each city and for the road between them.
- Save tickets, hotel confirmations and addresses offline before a day on the water, at a remote temple or in the desert.
- Keep your home SIM in the second slot, with data roaming off, as a fallback for calls and codes.
Does Egypt check or block foreign phones?
Egypt changed its phone rules in January 2026, and travellers have been asking about it since.
On 20 January 2026, the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, NTRA, published a notice on mobile phones brought in from abroad. It said the exemption “will continue to apply to mobile phones of Egyptians living abroad and to tourists for a period of 90 days.” It also said a 90-day grace period, counted from the day the phone is activated, applies to people who need to regularise a device, and that registering personal phones at customs offices was cancelled. The Egyptian Streets report on the change says it took effect on 21 January 2026 and describes tourists as receiving 90 days from arrival.
So for a normal holiday, a tourist’s own phone is covered. If you are staying longer than 90 days, or you are moving to Egypt, read the NTRA notice itself and check how it applies to you before you land. We did not find a rule that treats a travel eSIM bought abroad differently from any other foreign line, and the notice does not mention eSIMs.
What does a local Egyptian SIM or eSIM ask of a visitor?
Identification, and a store visit.
The regulator’s own rulebook for foreign customers is strict. NTRA’s page on SIM sales says the customer should visit an operator branch with an “original valid passport and residency document” and be present in person to sign the contract. It also says the SIM’s validity is tied to the residency period, and that the line is disconnected one month after residency ends unless a new residency document is provided. Vodafone’s own list of documents for a prepaid line names a valid passport plus residency or an e-visa.
Vodafone Egypt’s website describes a Tourist Line “eligible for tourists visiting Egypt only”, sold as a TourSIM at Vodafone airport stores and at its retail stores across the country. The page says the line combines a data bundle with international and local minutes, and that data used outside the bundle costs EGP 0.19 per megabyte. The page does not list bundle sizes or prices, so we cannot tell you what a tourist bundle costs. Vodafone’s list of documents for a prepaid line names a valid passport plus residency, or an e-visa.
For eSIMs, Vodafone says you can buy one at its stores or through its eShop, at EGP 350 for a new line and EGP 300 to convert an existing physical SIM. Its page says the QR code is valid for five days. The page does not say whether a tourist can buy one, so do not count on a local eSIM being ready when you land. Orange Egypt’s December 2024 eSIM launch announcement says new customers must visit an Orange branch to subscribe and activate, in line with NTRA guidelines.
A travel eSIM is the opposite trade: less to arrange, but no Egyptian number. You buy and install it at home, with no store visit, and it connects when you switch it on. If you want an Egyptian number for a long stay, a local SIM is the route. If you want data from the airport onwards, a travel eSIM is simpler.
Do WhatsApp and FaceTime calls work in Egypt?
Not reliably, going by the one independent source we could read. Freedom House’s Freedom on the Net 2024 report on Egypt says voice-over-internet services “have been intermittently blocked on mobile networks”. It says providers lifted the ban on WhatsApp calls for a short time during the COP27 climate conference in November 2022 and restored it afterwards, and it notes that making international calls over VoIP is “technically illegal” under Article 72 of the Telecommunication Regulation Law.
We found no 2026 statement from the regulator or an operator either way, and the eSIM sellers’ guides contradict each other, so we cannot tell you what works today. We have not tested it ourselves. We also have no source we trust on the legal status of VPNs, so we do not give advice on that.
This matters more than usual for a travel eSIM, because none of the Egypt plans includes calls. Your calls home would normally run over data, through an app. Before you rely on that, place a test call on arrival, first on hotel Wi-Fi and then on the eSIM. A voice call uses little data; video calls use far more, so count them when you choose a plan size. If you must be reachable by phone number, keep your home SIM active in the second slot.
Should you buy an Egypt-only plan or a regional pack?
For a trip that stays in Egypt, the Egypt-only plan costs no more than the pack at every size, and usually costs less.
We list 38 multi-country plans that include Egypt, not counting add-ons. The cheapest range is NextLink’s MENA pack, which covers 13 countries: Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.
| Data | Egypt-only | MENA pack (13 countries) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 GB | Sparks 1 GB, 14 days, $4.49 | 7 days, $5.49 |
| 3 GB | NextLink 7 GB, 30 days, $10.99 | 3 GB, 30 days, $10.99 |
| 5 GB | NextLink 7 GB, 30 days, $10.99 | 5 GB, 30 days, $14.99 |
| 10 GB | NextLink 12 GB, 30 days, $17.99 | 10 GB, 30 days, $26.99 |
| 20 GB | NextLink 25 GB, 30 days, $31.99 | 20 GB, 30 days, $46.99 |
Prices checked on 2 October 2026. In each row the Egypt-only plan shown is the cheapest one with at least that much data.
The MENA pack is listed for 4G/LTE and can be topped up. It covers Egypt, Jordan, Turkey and the Gulf states on one install.
A common route pairs Egypt with Jordan for Petra. Priced as two Egypt-and-Jordan single plans against one pack, the singles still win on our data:
| Route | What to buy | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Egypt and Jordan, about 10 GB in total | Egypt 7 GB for 30 days ($10.99) plus Jordan 3 GB for 30 days ($8.49) | $19.48 |
| Egypt and Jordan, about 10 GB in total | One MENA 10 GB pack for 30 days | $26.99 |
| Egypt and Jordan, 10 GB or more in each | Egypt 12 GB for 30 days ($17.99) plus Jordan 10 GB for 30 days ($18.99) | $36.98 |
| Egypt and Jordan, 20 GB shared | One MENA 20 GB pack for 30 days | $46.99 |
Prices checked on 2 October 2026.
Two plans cost less, and most recent phones hold several eSIM profiles, so you can install both before you leave and switch lines at the border. The pack earns its price only if you want a single install and a single top-up. Our guide to the regional versus single-country break-even shows how to work out which is cheaper, our Dubai and UAE eSIM guide covers a stopover there, and our Turkey eSIM guide covers that leg. Our Jordan eSIM plans are listed separately.
The packs sold under an “Africa” name are a different matter. The cheapest 10 GB, 30-day Ubigi Africa pack costs $66.99, against $17.99 for the Egypt-only 12 GB plan. Buy one only if you are travelling well beyond North Africa.
Where does your traffic exit to the internet?
Not in Egypt, on any plan we list.
- The five Sparks plans list the United Kingdom as their exit point.
- The four NextLink plans list Western Europe.
Among the 38 regional and global packs that include Egypt, 11 list the United Kingdom, 6 list Western Europe, 4 list Singapore and 2 list Hong Kong. The other 15 do not list an exit.
Websites will see a European address, not an Egyptian one. That rarely affects maps, messaging or email. It can affect Egyptian banking apps, local streaming and any service that decides what to show you by IP address, and search results may default to the exit country until you set your location. The mechanism is explained in our guide to travel eSIM IP addresses and country egress.
Is a US carrier’s day pass cheaper?
Not for more than a day or two. If you are coming from the United States:
- Verizon TravelPass lists Egypt at $12 per day, charged only on days you use the phone abroad, and each day includes 5 GB of high-speed data before speeds drop.
- AT&T International Day Pass includes Egypt among its destinations and charges $12 a day on land, with $6 a day for each additional line used on the same day.
Those are the prices as the two carriers’ pages read in October 2026.
At $12 a day, a week of roaming costs $84 for one phone. The 7 GB, 30-day Egypt plan costs $10.99 for the whole stay. A day pass keeps your own number working for calls and texts, which a data-only eSIM does not. For a one-day stop, such as a cruise call at Alexandria or Port Said, it can be the simpler choice; for ships at sea, see our cruise Wi-Fi versus eSIM roaming guide.
When does the clock start, and what happens after you pay?
All 9 Egypt plans start counting days when they first use data, not when you install them, so you can set the eSIM up at home. Our guide to when travel eSIM validity starts explains the three activation types.
The eSIM arrives by email as a QR code. We measure the time from payment to the delivery email being accepted by the recipient’s mail server: across the 9 orders where we hold delivery records, the median is 11 seconds and the slowest was 13 seconds. From payment to order completion, the median across 16 orders is 7 seconds, and the slowest order we have handled took 14 minutes. These are small samples, so treat them as a record of what has happened so far, not a guarantee.
If no QR code arrives within an hour of payment, a refund is started automatically. You do not have to ask for it. Card refunds then take the usual few working days to reach your account.
None of the Egypt plans comes with a phone number, so keep your home SIM active in the second slot for bank and email codes, with its data roaming switched off. Our guide to data-only eSIMs and one-time passcodes covers that setup.
FAQ
What is the cheapest eSIM for Egypt?
Sparks’ 1 GB, 14-day plan at $4.49 is the cheapest Egypt-only plan we list. For more data, NextLink’s 7 GB plan costs $10.99 and its 12 GB plan costs $17.99, each for 30 days.
Is there 5G on an Egypt eSIM?
Not on the plans we list. All 9 Egypt-only plans and all 38 regional packs that include Egypt are listed for 4G/LTE, even though Egypt’s four operators launched 5G in June 2025.
Do I need to register my phone to use an eSIM in Egypt?
Egypt’s NTRA said on 20 January 2026 that its phone exemption continues to apply to tourists for 90 days. We found no rule that treats a travel eSIM differently from another foreign line. If you stay longer than 90 days, read the NTRA notice first.
Can I use an Egypt eSIM as a hotspot?
Yes. All 9 Egypt-only plans allow hotspot use, and so do all 38 regional and global packs that include Egypt. Tethering a laptop uses data quickly, so choose a larger plan.
Can I top up an Egypt eSIM?
Yes. All 9 Egypt-only plans can be topped up, so if you run out you can add data to the same eSIM instead of buying a second plan.
Conclusion: 7 GB for a week, and take the bigger plan before the smaller one
For a trip that stays in Egypt, buy an Egypt-only plan: 7 GB at $10.99 for a long weekend or a week, 12 GB at $17.99 for ten days, 25 GB at $31.99 for two weeks or a month. Choose NextLink unless you want exactly 1 GB. If the trip adds Jordan, buy a separate Jordan plan and skip the MENA pack.
Before you buy, confirm
- Your phone is eSIM-capable and not carrier-locked.
- You installed the eSIM before you fly, so you land connected.
- The plan’s validity covers your whole stay, counted from first data use.
- You compared the bigger plan with the next size down, because the bigger one is often cheaper.
- If your route includes Jordan or another country, you priced two single plans against one pack.
Soft next step
Affordable travel eSIM, refund if no code in 1 hour. Compare the current Egypt eSIM plans side by side, or see every plan that covers Egypt, packs included, in the catalog at 10 GB for 30 days. Plan details change, so treat the live listing on each product page as the source of truth before you buy.