Dutch SIMs and eSIMs: the easiest country on this site

Check this before reading further

If your everyday plan was issued in the EU or EEA, roam-like-at-home covers the Netherlands at your domestic rates. You need nothing. Given how many visitors to Amsterdam arrive from elsewhere in Europe, this paragraph is the correct answer for a large share of the people reading it.

The rest of this page is for arrivals from outside the EU and EEA.

The network is genuinely exceptional

KPN was ranked the number one mobile network globally by umlaut in March 2025, with the highest score ever recorded in those international benchmarks. Average 4G runs 75–90 Mbps, and our national figure across all networks is 80 Mbps — the fastest country in this comparison set. 5G is widely deployed.

Coverage gaps are close to nonexistent for a tourist. The country is flat and densely populated. The only weak spots worth naming are some of the North Sea Wadden Islands and the interior of the Hoge Veluwe forest, which is slightly weaker than everywhere else rather than actually bad.

So unlike Morocco or Italy, network choice here is not a decision. KPN, Odido and Vodafone Netherlands will all give you an excellent connection wherever you are likely to go.

Local SIMs: no passport, wide availability

KPN, Odido and Vodafone NL prepaid SIMs are sold at Amsterdam Schiphol, at Rotterdam, at carrier stores, and in Albert Heijn supermarkets across the country. Tourist packages run €10–20 and no passport is required — it is an instant purchase.

One caveat: our figure for a SIM bought at a Dutch airport is around $18, at the top of that €10–20 band. Buying in an Albert Heijn rather than at Schiphol is the cheaper move, and it takes about the same amount of time.

We do not hold verified data allowances for those €10–20 packages, so we cannot give you a like-for-like cost per gigabyte against the eSIMs below.

The eSIM options

Cheapest entry plan from each provider, from our Netherlands data — Airalo checked 13 August 2026, Saily 16 August, Nomad 18 August:

Provider	Cheapest plan	Price	Network	Status
Saily	1 GB / 7 days	$3.99	not disclosed	verified
Airalo	1 GB / 3 days	$4	not disclosed	verified
Nomad	1 GB / 7 days	$4.50	not disclosed	verified
Holafly	Unlimited / 3 days	$11.90	not published	verified

We do not hold current plan pricing for eSIM Go in the Netherlands. Airalo, Saily, Nomad and Holafly publish no host network for the Netherlands or for any other country, so those cells say so. Earlier versions of this table put KPN / Odido against Nomad and Vodafone Netherlands against Holafly; both came from our own records rather than from the sellers, and both have been removed. Holafly's went when we read its Dutch prices at source on 18 August 2026 and found no carrier named anywhere on its site. As noted above, all three Dutch networks are excellent, so it matters less here than almost anywhere.

At volume, two verified price lists sit a penny apart:

Saily undercuts Airalo by exactly one cent at 5, 10 and 20 GB, and both sets of figures have now been read from the sellers' own sites. The margin is real and it decides nothing — rounded to the cent, the cost per gigabyte is the same either way. Nomad, whose Dutch prices we had never read until 17 August 2026, breaks that stand-off in the middle: $16 at 10 GB and $20 at 20 GB, two and seven dollars under the pair. Above and below it does worse: $2.50 a gigabyte at 5 GB, and 90 cents at 50 GB against Airalo's 72, which leaves the country's per-gigabyte floor with Airalo.

Unlimited, if you want it

Holafly and Airalo are close here, and both ladders are now verified: $11.90 against $11.50 at three days, $20.50 against $18.50 at five, $27.50 against $27 at seven, $36.50 against $34 at ten, $50.50 against $48 at fifteen and $73.90 against $69 at thirty. Airalo is cheaper at all six and supports hotspot, which Holafly does not. Nomad is cheaper again up to ten days — $11, $18, $25 and $33. Given a network this fast, unlimited is a real proposition if you plan to tether a laptop for a working week — in which case Holafly is out on the hotspot restriction alone.

Verdict

EU or EEA plan: buy nothing.

Everyone else, short trip: an eSIM at $2.90 to $4 is the least effort, and whichever of the three Dutch networks you land on will be excellent.

Longer stay or heavy data: Nomad's 20 GB over 30 days at $20, which at $1.00 a gigabyte undercuts Saily's $26.99 and Airalo's $27 for the same allowance — or Airalo's 50 GB month at $36, which at $0.72 a gigabyte is the best verified rate we hold. Failing that, pick up a €10–20 local SIM in an Albert Heijn with no ID needed.

Full plan list on the Netherlands hub.