Having reliable mobile data on your phone is essentially required when traveling to France. However, many travelers spend a fortune (and get slow/inconsistent service) when using their home plan’s international data service—that’s why buying a prepaid French eSIM data plan is a much cheaper option.
In this buyer’s guide, I’ll cover everything you need to know about finding the best eSIM for France so you can get fast high-speed mobile data at a cheap price.
Using A Prepaid France eSIM Data Plan Vs Your Plan’s International Data Plan
In most cases, your current mobile phone provider will have an international data plan option but these plans are typically wildly expensive and the service is often slow, inconsistent, and has limited data allowances.
For example, many TMobile plans come with free unlimited international data plans but you’re only guaranteed 2g data speeds… which will struggle to load Google Maps or even email.
Or the AT&T International Day Pass costs $10/day. They also have their AT&T Passport plan which is a monthly plan that comes in two options—$70/month for 2GB of data or $140/month for 6GB of data. And then they charge a crazy high overage of $30 per GB. And Verizon has a $10/day pass but they knock you down to 3G speeds after 2GB each day.
These are crazy prices.
These “international data plans” are 5X as expensive as buying a prepaid eSIM data plan from a third-party provider—for example, eSIM data plans from Orange or Holafly will cost you around $2-$4/day.
For more in-depth information, check out The Savvy Backpacker’s guide on How To Use Smartphones and Data Plans In Europe and The Savvy Backpacker’s Guide To Using eSIM data plans in Europe.
Comparing The Best eSIM Data Plans for France
There are a handful of different eSIM mobile providers that specialize in data plans for visitors to France.
Each plan will vary slightly so it’s important to pay attention to the specific details of each plan. But here are the main things to consider:
- Data Allowance: Most plans give you a set amount of mobile data (i.e. 5GB, 10GB, 30GB, etc) but others give you unlimited data over a set amount of time (5 days, 15 days, 30 days, etc).
- Plan Length: eSIM data plans can be valid anywhere from about 5 days to 90 days. It depends on your plan so it’s something you’ll want to consider when picking a plan.
- Mobile Hot Spot Tethering: Most eSIM plans don’t allow you to use your phone as a mobile hot spot.
- Voice Calls and SMS Texting: Most eSIM plans are data only—which means the plan doesn’t include voice calls or SMS texting. This isn’t much of an issue since you’re probably not going to be calling people anyway but a few plans do come with some voice minutes.
- NOTE: You can still use iMessage to “text” between iPhones but you can’t send messages between iPhones and Android phones. Or you can download WhatsApp to send messages over data (which is what most Europeans do).
Orange Holiday Europe eSIM (50GB): $59.90
UPDATE (June 2024): Orange has automatically upgraded this 50GB eSIM plan to 100GB of data for all activations between June 6th and October 9th, 2024.
- Price: $59.90 (Check SimOptions for details)
- Data: 50GB
- Service Speed: 4G/LTE
- Calls: Unlimited within Europe and 120 min outside of Europe.
- Texts/SMS: Unlimited within Europe and 1000 outside of Europe.
- Credit validity: 28 day
- Data Tethering: Allowed
- Usable on any device (phones, tablets, hotspots…)
- This eSIM plan comes with a French phone number that can still be used anywhere in Europe
- Service works everywhere in the EU
If you need a ton of mobile data, consider the newly released Orange Holiday Europe 50GB eSIM data plan which is a beefed-up version of the Orange Holiday Europe eSIM. It has 50GB of data and it’s valid for 28 days (compared to 14 days with the Orange Holiday Europe plan). This eSIM also comes with many features you don’t find with other plans—including international voice calling and texts (it gives you an actual French phone number that works anywhere in Europe).
The Orange Holiday Europe eSIM plan also allows you to use your phone as a mobile hotspot so you can put that extra data allowance to good use. Orange is also one of the largest mobile companies in Europe so you’ll always get great coverage and high data speeds.
ORANGE HOLIDAY EUROPE ESIM: $49.90
- Price: $49.90 (Check SimOptions for details)
- Data: 20GB (they sometimes give you 30GB of data)
- Service Speed: 4G/LTE
- Calls: Unlimited within Europe and 120 min outside of Europe.
- Texts/SMS: Unlimited within Europe and 1000 outside of Europe.
- Credit validity: 14 day
- Data Tethering: Allowed
- Usable on any device (phones, tablets, hotspots…)
- This eSIM plan comes with a French phone number
- Service works everywhere in the EU
The Orange Holiday Europe eSIM data plan is the “Cadillac” of eSIM plans because it comes with many features you don’t find with other plans—including international voice calling and texts (it gives you an actual French phone number as well). The Orange Holiday Europe eSIM plan also allows you to use your phone as a mobile hotspot.
You’ll get 20GB of data with this plan but they often run specials where they give you an extra 10GB. But even 20GB should be plenty of data for most users.
Orange is also one of the largest mobile companies in France so you’ll always get great coverage and high data speeds.
The potential downside to the Orange Holiday Europe eSIM plan is that it’s only valid for 14 days once activated so it’s not great for longer visits (but you can always buy a second plan).
I’ve personally used the Orange Holiday Europe plan on a trip to France and it worked super well. Read my Orange Holiday Europe review to hear more.
Bouygues My European eSIM: $44.90
Bouygues is another major French telecommunications company and they’ve recently released their own prepaid eSIM data plan to compete with the popular Orange Holiday Europe eSIM plan. I used a prepaid Bouygues SIM card on a previous trip to Europe so I’m glad they’re finally offering an eSIM.
There’s a lot to like about the Bouygues My European eSIM plan—especially since it comes standard with 30GB of data and unlimited calls/texts within Europe. I also like how this Bouygues eSIM plan is valid for 30 days so it’s an excellent option for longer trips.
- Price: $44.90 (Check SimOptions for details)
- Data: 30GB
- Data Tethering: Allowed
- Service Speed: 4G/LTE
- Calls: Unlimited within Europe and credit for overseas calls
- Texts/SMS: Unlimited within Europe and credit for overseas SMS
- Credit validity: 30 day
- Phone Number: This eSIM card comes with a French phone number
- Coverage: Anywhere within the European Union (except Switzerland)
HOLAFLY ESIM: STARTING AT $34.00
Holafly is a new data-only eSIM provider that I’ve previously used on a trip to Europe—the service was great and I got very fast data speeds (read my Holafly eSIM Review to get a more in-depth look). Holafly sells both country-specific French plans and Europe-wide data plans. Holafly isn’t an actual mobile carrier but they rent bandwidth from a local French provider (SFR) so you’re more likely to get less priority on the SFR network during peak usage times.
I also like how Holafly’s plans come in durations from 5 to 90 days—so you don’t have to over/underbuy for your particular trip.
Holafly doesn’t allow data tethering in most cases so you won’t be able to use your phone as a mobile hotspot.
- Prices For Unlimited Data (Check Holafly for details)
- 10 Days: $34
- 15 Days: $47
- 20 Days: $54
- 30 Days: $64
- 60 Days: $84
- 90 Days: $99
- Service Speed: 5G/4G/LTE
- Calls coverage: None
- SMS: None
- Tethering: No
- Data service works everywhere in the EU
ORANGE HOLIDAY ZEN ESIM: $29.90
- Price: $29.90 (Check SimOptions for details)
- Data: 8GB (they sometimes give you 15GB of data)
- Service Speed: 4G/LTE
- Calls: Unlimited within Europe and 30 min outside of Europe.
- Texts/SMS: Unlimited within Europe and 200 outside of Europe.
- Credit validity: 14 day
- Data Tethering: Allowed
- Usable on any device (phones, tablets, hotspots…)
- This eSIM plan comes with a French phone number
- Service works everywhere in the EU
The Orange Holiday Zen eSIM is the budget version of the Orange Holiday Europe eSIM plan. It comes with 8GB of data and has fewer voice minutes and texts but otherwise, it’s the same as the Orange Holiday Europe eSIM plan.
Personally, I’d probably use more than 8GB of data but light data users could easily use less than 8GB of data during a typical 10-14 day trip.
More France Travel Tips From The Savvy Backpacker
Here are some more of my favorite articles to help you plan your trip to France (and beyond):
James Feess is the creator of The Savvy Backpacker and the author of the book “The Savvy Backpacker’s Guide To Europe On A Budget”. He’s been blogging about budget travel in Europe since 2010.
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