Will Google and WhatsApp actually work?
China blocks Google, WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and Gmail. Some travel eSIMs route your traffic out of mainland China so those apps work with no VPN; others just put you on a domestic network, where they don’t. This is the single biggest thing to get right, and it is the reason a cheap plan can be the wrong plan.
| Provider | Works without a VPN? | What the provider itself says |
|---|---|---|
| Airalo | Yes — stated plainly | “A VPN is NOT required… your traffic is routed through secure gateways outside mainland China.” |
| Nomad | Yes — stated plainly | “Bypasses the Great Firewall automatically — no VPN installation… at network level, not through software.” |
| Holafly | Yes, but via a bundled VPN | “You don’t need to activate a VPN, as it is integrated into your eSIM.” Note its China network is China Mobile, a domestic connection — so the unblocking comes from the bundled VPN rather than from routing you offshore. |
| Saily | Hedged — no promise | Says traffic “may avoid some of the restrictions” and suggests pairing an eSIM with a VPN. Its own China page also warns the Saily app itself may not work there. |
| Ubigi | Makes no claim at all | We found no statement about the firewall, VPNs or blocked sites on any Ubigi page. Its China plans run on China Telecom, a domestic connection. Treat as no bypass. |
None of these were speed-tested by us in China — this table reports what each provider commits to in writing. “Makes no claim” is not the same as “fails”, but on a trip where it matters, an explicit promise is worth paying for.
What a 10GB month costs in China
Same plan, same duration, five sellers. USD, checked 1 September 2026.
Holafly sells no fixed-data plans anywhere — its 30-day unlimited plan is $73.90, which is a different product and so is not plotted on the same scale.
Nomad
Nomad is the pick: $17 for a 10GB month on sale, and one of only two providers that states plainly it routes you around the firewall at network level. Ubigi matches the price but makes no firewall claim at all — cheap is the wrong thing to optimise for on this trip.
See Nomad China plans →Every verified plan
Prices in US dollars, read off each provider’s own page. Where we could not confirm a price, we say so rather than estimate.
| Provider | Fixed data plans (USD) | Unlimited (USD) |
|---|---|---|
| Saily | 1GB/7d $4.49 · 3GB/30d $10.99 · 5GB/30d $15.99 · 10GB/30d $26.99 · 20GB/30d $39.99 | Not verified Saily sells unlimited here at $49.99, but shows one price against a 5–30 day selector, so we cannot say which duration it buys. |
| Airalo | No fixed-data plans — unlimited only Airalo sells fixed-data China plans, but its page only renders the unlimited tier to us — we could not read the per-GB prices, so they are not published here. | 3d $11.50 · 5d $19 · 7d $27 · 10d $35 · 15d $49 · 30d $69 |
| Nomad | 1GB/7d $4 · 3GB/30d $9 · 5GB/30d $13.50 · 10GB/30d $17 · 20GB/30d $25 · 50GB/45d $35 The 10GB and 20GB prices were sale prices when checked (normally $22 and $30). | 3d $12 · 5d $18 · 7d $25 · 10d $33 We could not confirm whether Nomad sells unlimited beyond 10 days here. |
| Ubigi | 1GB/7d $4 · 3GB/30d $7 · 10GB/7d $14 · 10GB/30d $17 · 25GB/30d $33 Ubigi also sells an auto-renewing 20GB monthly subscription at $16/month. Its search listings quote higher prices than its own product pages — we use the product pages. | 8d $24 · 30d $69 Ubigi publishes a fair-use cap on these: 5GB at full speed, then 2 Mbps. |
| Holafly | No fixed-data plans — unlimited only | 3d $11.90 · 5d $20.50 · 7d $27.50 · 10d $36.50 · 15d $50.50 · 30d $73.90 |
Before you choose on price
The unlimited plans above are not unlimited. Here is what each one gives you at full speed.
| Provider | Full speed until | Then throttled to | Hotspot | Phone number |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saily | 5GB/day | 1 Mbps | Unlimited | Optional paid add-on |
| Airalo | 3GB/day | 1 Mbps | Unlimited | On some Data, Voice & Text packages and Discover+ |
| Holafly | ~2–3GB/day per third-party analysis; Holafly publishes no figure | 256–1024 kbps | 1GB/day | Never |
| Nomad | 2GB/day | 512 kbps | Supported | Thailand 50GB plan only, per review; otherwise unclear |
| Ubigi | No unlimited plan in several markets | n/a | Unlimited | Never — data only, no SMS |
Which network you actually roam onto
An eSIM is a roaming agreement with a local carrier. In China, that means:
| Provider | Local network |
|---|---|
| Airalo | China Unicom |
| Nomad | China Unicom and China Telecom |
| Ubigi | China Telecom |
| Holafly | China Mobile (CMCC) |
| Saily | Not disclosed |
When Australians go to China
The fifth-biggest destination for Australians and one of the most seasonal: 120,490 trips in January against 55,410 in June, roughly double, tracking the Australian summer holidays and Lunar New Year together.