Trip-shaped. Not a monthly guess.

How much data do you need abroad?

Most calculators guess a monthly total. Ours is trip-shaped — set your destination, trip length, and habits, account for hotel Wi-Fi, and get a live estimate matched to a real eSIM plan.

Hotel Wi-Fi factored in Matched to a live eSIM plan Buffer built into the recommendation

Your trip

Destination

Trip length

Traveller profile

Daily activities

Hours per day on cellular + Wi-Fi combined. We subtract Wi-Fi next.

Social media

Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, X

1 h200 MB/day

Short-form video

TikTok, Reels, Shorts

0.5 h175 MB/day

Video streaming

YouTube, Netflix, Disney+

0.5 h600 MB/day

Music

Spotify, Apple Music

1 h100 MB/day

Navigation

Google Maps, Apple Maps, Waze

1 h8 MB/day

Web browsing

News, shopping, search

1 h60 MB/day

Email & messaging

WhatsApp, iMessage, Gmail

1 h5 MB/day

Video calls

Zoom, Meet, FaceTime

0 h0 MB/day

Voice calls (VoIP)

WhatsApp / Signal voice

0.25 h10 MB/day

How often are you on Wi-Fi?

Hotels, cafés, and airports cut your cellular use. Most travellers sit around “Some”.

RarelySomeMostly

Cloud photo backup on cellular (~250 MB/day)Hotspot for a second deviceOne-off app updates on the trip (~400 MB)Download offline maps once (~150 MB)

Quick reference

What 1 GB actually gets you

Handy equivalents when you’re sizing a plan at a glance.

~5 hoursSocial media scrolling
~50 minutes720p video streaming
~128 hoursTurn-by-turn navigation
~200 hoursMessaging & email
~10 hoursMusic streaming

How we calculate

Transparent data rates

We multiply hours by typical MB/hour rates, subtract the share you spend on Wi-Fi, then scale by trip length. App updates and offline maps are one-offs — not billed every day.

Social media feed: 200 MB/h
Short-form video: 350 MB/h
Video streaming (480p): 700 MB/h
Video streaming (720p): 1.2 GB/h
Video streaming (1080p): 2.4 GB/h
Video streaming (4K): 6.8 GB/h
Music streaming: 100 MB/h
Navigation: 8 MB/h
Web browsing: 60 MB/h
Email & messaging: 5 MB/h
HD video calls: 1.6 GB/h
VoIP voice calls: 40 MB/h

Estimates only. Compression, resolution, and network conditions change real usage.

Frequently asked questions

How much mobile data do I need for a week abroad?

Light travellers often manage on 1–3 GB for a week if they use hotel Wi-Fi. Explorers who map, message, and scroll typically need 3–8 GB. Heavy streamers or remote workers can exceed 10–20 GB. Use the calculator with your trip length and Wi-Fi habits for a tighter estimate.

Why do you ask about Wi-Fi?

Is this more accurate than a monthly data calculator?

What uses the most data when travelling?

What happens if I run out of eSIM data?

Does an eSIM use more data than a physical SIM?

How can I reduce data use abroad?

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