Travel data guide, 2026
How Much Data Do You Need for Travel? (2026)
Most travellers use between 150 MB and 1 GB of mobile data a day, which turns into 1 to 7 GB for a week. This guide breaks that number down by app, by day and by plan, and shows the point where buying more gigabytes stops being the cheaper option.
Most travellers use between 150 MB and 1 GB of mobile data a day, so a one-week trip lands somewhere between 1 GB and 7 GB. The number only moves when your habits do: video streaming and video calls are what turn a 5 GB week into a 20 GB one. Below is the breakdown by app, by day and by plan, including the point where buying more gigabytes stops being the cheaper option.
If you want the number for your own trip instead of a table, the data calculator gives it to you in about twenty seconds: pick the activities you plan to do and it estimates the gigabytes and the plan that fits them. What follows is the reasoning behind those numbers, with the consumption rates that decide the answer.
Key Takeaways
- Light use runs at 150 to 400 MB a day, moderate use at 400 MB to 1 GB, and intensive use at 1.5 to 2 GB. A week lands between 1 GB and 15 GB depending on which one you are.
- Google Maps costs 3 to 10 MB an hour, a WhatsApp voice call under 1 MB a minute, and a WhatsApp video call between 150 and 900 MB an hour.
- Netflix’s own figures are about 4 hours of standard video per gigabyte, and about 6 hours with data saver on.
- A gigabyte costs $4.35 on average in the 1 GB plan of the TailSim catalog and $1.18 in the 50 GB plan, so the price per gigabyte falls almost fourfold as the plan grows.
- Unlimited plans include 1 to 3 GB a day at full speed and then drop to 1 Mbps. On a week-long trip they beat every fixed plan from about 1.5 GB a day; on a two-week trip, only above 3 GB a day.
How much data do I need for a one-week or two-week trip?
Three daily baselines cover almost every case. Light use is 150 to 400 MB a day: maps, messaging, email and the occasional search. Moderate use is 400 MB to 1 GB, adding social media, browsing and music streaming. Intensive use is 1.5 to 2 GB a day, driven by video and video calls. Maps, messaging, search and social together land at about 700 MB a day, so a week of that lands at 3 to 7 GB, and a week that adds video calls or video streaming runs past 10 GB.
| Trip length | Light use | Moderate use | Intensive use |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 days | 0.5 to 1 GB | 1 to 3 GB | 4.5 to 6 GB |
| 7 days | 1 to 3 GB | 3 to 7 GB | 10 to 15 GB |
| 14 days | 2 to 6 GB | 6 to 14 GB | 21 to 28 GB |
| 30 days | 4.5 to 12 GB | 12 to 30 GB | 45 to 60 GB |
Read the table down the third column and the answer writes itself: intensive users run out of any fixed plan inside two weeks, which is exactly the case where an unlimited plan starts to make sense. The same column read across the moderate row says that a week of normal use fits in the 5 GB and 10 GB plans, and that the 3 GB plan is a weekend plan rather than a holiday plan.
How long does 1 GB of internet last?
One gigabyte is roughly one day of light use. The table below converts it into the activities that actually drain it, using the per-hour rates that the app makers and the carriers publish.
| Activity | What 1 GB covers |
|---|---|
| Google Maps navigation | 100 to 200 hours |
| YouTube at 480p | about 18 hours |
| Netflix, standard quality | about 4 hours |
| WhatsApp voice call | 60 to 150 calls of 30 minutes |
| WhatsApp photo | about 200 photos |
| Instagram scrolling | 1.5 to 3 hours |
| TikTok | about 1 hour |
Netflix states the ratio directly: roughly 4 hours of standard-quality playback per gigabyte, and about 6 hours per gigabyte in data saver mode. For video at 480p, the figures work out at roughly 55 MB an hour. The messaging and photo numbers come from the published consumption rates: a WhatsApp voice call runs at 0.2 to 0.5 MB a minute, and a single photo can reach 5 MB.
That per-gigabyte view is also how to read the plans in the catalog. The 5 GB plan is five times this table, so it covers a week of light use with room to spare and a moderate week almost exactly.
| Plan | Light use | Moderate use | Intensive use |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 GB | 2 to 6 days | 1 to 2 days | a few hours |
| 3 GB | 7 to 20 days | 3 to 7 days | 1 to 2 days |
| 5 GB | 12 to 33 days | 5 to 12 days | 2 to 3 days |
| 10 GB | 25 to 66 days | 10 to 25 days | 5 to 7 days |
| 20 GB | 50 to 133 days | 20 to 50 days | 10 to 13 days |
| 50 GB | 4 months or more | 2 to 4 months | 25 to 33 days |
How much data does Google Maps use?
Navigation is the cheapest thing on the phone and the one people worry about most. The published rates cluster between 3 and 10 MB an hour for standard turn-by-turn navigation, 7 to 10 MB an hour when live traffic is on, and 30 to 60 MB an hour when satellite view, Street View or heavy zooming is added. Four hours of driving therefore costs roughly 20 to 40 MB.
The signal itself is free: the GPS receiver listens to satellites, and what consumes data is the online map, the traffic layer and the route recalculations. That is also why downloading the map for the area before you leave takes the running cost to almost nothing, and it is the first thing to do on a trip that crosses several countries.
Two hours of navigation a day adds up to 0.6 to 1.4 GB over a week, which is more than the entire 1 GB plan. Navigation is rarely the reason people run out of data, but on a road trip it can be.
How much data does video streaming use?
Video is the single biggest consumer on the list, and the difference between quality settings is larger than most people expect. Netflix’s help centre publishes the consumption per hour at each level.
| Netflix quality | Data per hour | Hours per gigabyte |
|---|---|---|
| Data saver, 320p | 0.3 GB | about 6 |
| Standard, 480p and 720p | 0.7 GB | about 4 |
| High, 1080p | 3 GB | 1 |
| Ultra HD, 4K | 7 GB | less than 1 |
YouTube sits close by: around 1.5 to 2 GB an hour at 1080p, and roughly 55 MB an hour at 480p. One hour of HD video a day is 21 GB in a week, which is past the 20 GB plan and into the territory where an unlimited plan is the only sensible answer. It is also the fastest way to burn through the daily high-speed allowance of an unlimited plan.
How much data do WhatsApp, Instagram and TikTok use?
| App and activity | Data per hour |
|---|---|
| WhatsApp voice call | 12 to 30 MB |
| WhatsApp photo | up to 5 MB |
| WhatsApp video call | 150 to 900 MB |
| 300 to 600 MB | |
| TikTok | about 840 MB |
| Facebook and Twitter | about 60 MB |
The WhatsApp line is the one that surprises people. A voice call uses barely more than a text message chain, while a video call can cost as much as a whole day of light browsing. Meta’s own figures also show that 10 minutes of Instagram costs about 207 MB on a 5G connection against 120 MB on 4G, because faster connections stream more of the higher-quality files.
TikTok is the heaviest of the three: about 840 MB an hour at the default quality, and around 360 MB an hour with data saver enabled. A week of one hour a day of TikTok is close to 6 GB on its own, which is more than the entire 3 GB plan.
What does unlimited data really mean in an eSIM?
Unlimited does not mean unlimited speed. It means the connection never cuts off. Every unlimited plan in the TailSim catalog works the same way: a daily high-speed allowance of 1 to 3 GB, depending on the destination, and after that the connection stays up at 1 Mbps, or 512 Kbps in 17 destinations. The allowance is 3 GB a day in 116 destinations, 1 GB in 41 and 2 GB in 4.
The catalogue carries unlimited plans in 161 destinations, in eight validity windows from 3 to 30 days, from $8.99 to $91.99. Whether that is the right buy depends entirely on how much you use a day, and the comparison is closer than most providers want it to be.
| Daily use | Cheapest fixed plan | Unlimited 7-day plan | Cheaper option |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.3 GB | 3 GB, $6.99 | $17.99 | Fixed |
| 0.5 GB | 5 GB, $8.99 | $17.99 | Fixed |
| 1 GB | 10 GB, $13.99 | $17.99 | Fixed |
| 1.5 GB | 20 GB, $19.99 | $17.99 | Unlimited |
| 2 GB | 20 GB, $19.99 | $17.99 | Unlimited |
| 3 GB | 50 GB, $34.99 | $17.99 | Unlimited |
On a week-long trip the crossover sits at about 1.5 GB a day. On a two-week trip it moves: the 50 GB plan costs $34.99 and the 15-day unlimited plan costs $37.99, so the fixed plan stays cheaper even at 3 GB a day. The unlimited plan is the answer for heavy daily use, not for long trips.
The catch is the allowance. If your daily peak goes past 1 to 3 GB, the connection stays up but drops to 1 Mbps, and video is the first thing to suffer.
Which data plan should you buy for your trip?
| Plan | Price from | Covers |
|---|---|---|
| 1 GB | $3.99 | A weekend, or light use with Wi-Fi nearby |
| 3 GB | $6.99 | A week of light use |
| 5 GB | $8.99 | A week of moderate use |
| 10 GB | $13.99 | A week of intensive use, or two moderate weeks |
| 20 GB | $19.99 | Two weeks of intensive use |
| Unlimited | $8.99 (3 days) to $91.99 (30 days) | Unpredictable usage, streaming and hotspot |
Every one of those plans is in the catalog, with the price varying by destination according to the agreement with the local operator. The full price list, from the $3.99 entry point to the 30-day unlimited plan, is in the guide to cheap eSIM plans, and the choice between a fixed plan and an unlimited one is broken down in which eSIM to buy.
Set against roaming, the gap is not close. Home-carrier roaming for 14 days runs from $140 to $210 depending on the operator, while a 5 GB plan for the same trip starts at $8.99. The eSIM versus roaming comparison covers what changes when you cross a border with your own SIM.
What should I do next?
Work out your number with the data calculator, then open the destination catalog to see every plan available where you are going. Each destination page lists the plans on sale, the coverage, the hotspot policy and the speed after the daily allowance, so the two things you need to confirm are on the same screen.
If you already know the trip length but not the gigabytes, the guide to which eSIM should I buy starts from the days and works down to the plan. And if you want to spend less rather than more, the guide to saving data while travelling covers the habits that cut the bill without touching the coverage.
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How much data do I need for a 7-day trip?
Between 1 GB and 15 GB, depending on what you do with the phone. Light use — maps, messaging and email — lands between 1 and 3 GB. Adding social media and browsing takes it to 3 to 7 GB. Video streaming and video calls push it to 10 GB or more.
Is 5 GB enough for one week of travel?
For light and moderate use, yes. 5 GB covers a week of maps, messaging, browsing and social media with room to spare. It runs out if you watch video on mobile data or share your connection with another device.
How long does 1 GB of data last?
Netflix's own help centre puts it at about 4 hours of standard-quality video per gigabyte, and about 6 hours with data saver on. For navigation, messaging and browsing, 1 GB is roughly one day of light use.
Is unlimited eSIM data really unlimited?
Not in terms of speed. Every unlimited plan in the TailSim catalog includes a daily high-speed allowance of 1 to 3 GB, depending on the destination. After that the connection stays up at 1 Mbps, or 512 Kbps in 17 destinations, so messaging and browsing keep working while video slows down.
What happens if I run out of data during my trip?
You top up the same eSIM profile with another plan: no second QR code and no second profile to install. The full procedure is in the guide to what to do when the allowance runs out.
How do I work out how much data I use?
Check the data counter in your phone settings for a typical day and multiply it by the number of days, or use the data calculator on this site: select the activities you plan to do and it estimates the gigabytes and the plan that fits them.