eSIMratCompareMobile data usage calculator
Not sure how much mobile data you need? This simulator estimates your data usage in GB: tell it what you do online and for how long each day, and it works out your usage per month or per trip, adds a safety margin, and points you to a data plan in the right size.
Simulate your mobile data usage in hours
Wondering how much data you use each day? Pick a profile or set each activity yourself, and the estimate updates live.
Set how much time you spend on each activity per day
What is mobile data usage?
Mobile data usage is everything your phone downloads and uploads when you are not on wifi: the Instagram feed, the Google Maps route, the FaceTime call home, the Spotify playlist. Every activity draws on your data plan, and that is even truer when you travel: you lean on mobile internet far more than you do at home.
The classic trap is picking a plan at random, with no idea of your data usage. Too small and you get cut off (or pay a premium for a top-up); too big and you pay for gigabytes you will never touch. Hence this simulator: estimate your real mobile internet usage, then pick a plan with a little headroom.
How we work out your usage
Every activity has an average data cost per hour of use, measured on the most common apps. The calculator multiplies those values by the time you spend on each one per day to simulate your usage per month or over the length of a trip, then adds a 20% safety margin: better to end the month with a few gigabytes to spare than to run dry on the last day.
The reference table, activity by activity
Here are the reference values used, per hour of activity:
| Activity | Data per hour |
|---|---|
| Social media | 150 MB |
| Full HD video (1080p) | 1 GB |
| Quad HD video (1440p) | 1 GB |
| Music streaming | 100 MB |
| GPS and maps | 10 MB |
| Web browsing | 50 MB |
| Email and messaging | 4 MB |
| Video calls | 1 GB |
| Downloads and updates | 300 MB |
These figures are estimates based on typical usage: your real consumption can vary with video quality, apps and network.
Frequently asked questions
For light use (GPS, messaging, a bit of social media), count on 3 to 5 GB per week. For comfortable use with regular video streaming, aim for 10 to 20 GB per week. And if you share your connection or live on video calls, look at plans of 30 GB and up, or unlimited. The calculator above fine-tunes that against your actual habits.
It depends on the market, and it climbs every year. In France, for example, average mobile data usage sits at around 15 GB per month according to figures from ARCEP, the national regulator. On a trip, usage usually goes up: more GPS, more photos shared, more searching, and hotel wifi you cannot always rely on.
It depends entirely on the activity: roughly 1 hour of Full HD video, 1 hour of video calling, 3 hours of app updates, almost 7 hours of social media, 10 hours of music streaming, 20 hours of web browsing or 100 hours of GPS. That is why two travellers with the same phone can have needs that differ tenfold.
Video, by a wide margin: HD or 2K streaming and video calls use around 1 GB per hour. Next come downloads and app updates (around 300 MB per hour), then social media (around 150 MB per hour, more if you sit through video after video). GPS and messaging are almost negligible.
No, it is the other way round: ordinary web browsing uses around 50 MB per hour, against roughly 150 MB per hour for social media, whose feeds are packed with autoplaying video. Travel tip: turning off video autoplay in your app settings makes a real difference.
It depends on the plan: either the connection is cut until you top up, or the speed is throttled hard (so-called "unlimited" plans that slow down past a threshold). Most providers let you top up from their app. Which is exactly why a 20% margin is worth planning for: it is almost always cheaper than a last-minute top-up.
Know your volume? Find the plan at the best price
Compare eSIM plans by destination, sorted on the real price per GB.