Travel data calculator: how much data do you need for your trip?
Most travelers use about 0.4–1.3 GB per day: that’s 3–9 GB for one week, and 6–18 GB for two weeks. Enter your destination, number of days, and phone usage habits to find your personalized estimate—and the perfect eSIM plan.
How many GB you need by trip length
Calculated using the exact formula from the tool above, including a 20% buffer. "Light usage": maps, messaging, web searches, and 30 minutes on social media. "Moderate usage": adds ~1 hour on social media, short videos, and one brief video call. "Heavy usage": streaming video, TikTok, video calls, and sharing a hotspot for 1 hour daily.
| Days | Light | Moderate | Heavy |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 days | 1.3 GB | 3.9 GB | 13 GB |
| 7 days | 3.0 GB | 9.2 GB | 30 GB |
| 10 days | 4.3 GB | 13 GB | 43 GB |
| 14 days | 6.0 GB | 18 GB | 60 GB |
| 30 days | 13 GB | 39 GB | 128 GB |
How much data does each app use?
Video consumes the most data: one hour of HD YouTube uses about as much as 300 hours of Google Maps. The table below shows typical consumption figures and their sources.
| Activity | Data consumed | Notes | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Maps (online) | 5–10 MB/hour | Nearly 0 if downloading offline maps beforehand | Telstra, StarHub |
| Web browsing | 15–75 MB/hour | Pages with many images/ads consume more | Telstra |
| Facebook, Instagram (feed) | 150–600 MB/hour | Turning off video autoplay cuts it to about a third | Telstra, StarHub |
| TikTok, Reels, Shorts | 360–840 MB/hour | Almost entirely video; enable in-app data saver | StarHub |
| YouTube, Netflix — low quality | ~300 MB/hour | Netflix Help | |
| YouTube, Netflix — SD | ~700 MB/hour | Netflix Help | |
| YouTube, Netflix — HD | ~3 GB/hour | 5G networks often default to HD | Netflix Help |
| Spotify, Apple Music | 45–145 MB/hour | Varies by quality; pre-downloaded playlists use no data | Spotify Support |
| 1-on-1 video calls (WhatsApp, FaceTime, Zoom) | 540 MB–1.5 GB/hour | Group calls use more data | Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams |
| Voice calls via apps | 30–90 MB/hour | Zoom, Microsoft Teams | |
| Sending photos in chats | ~0.3 MB/image | Original/HD images: 2–5 MB each | Zyesims estimate |
| Ride-hailing (Grab, Uber) | ~5 MB/ride | Zyesims estimate | |
| Tethering hotspot for laptop | ~300 MB/hour or more | Laptop auto-updates and cloud backups consume a lot of data | Zyesims estimate |
How long do 1GB, 5GB, 10GB, and 20GB last?
Enough for 2–3 days of light use—maps, messaging, and web searches—or roughly 2 hours browsing Facebook or over 1 hour of YouTube in SD.
One week of light-to-moderate use, or a short 3–4-day trip with frequent social media use.
Most popular choice: 1–2 weeks of moderate use—maps, ~1.5 hours daily on social media, and a few short video calls.
Two weeks or longer, or daily video streaming, TikTok, video calls, or occasional laptop hotspot use.
Choose unlimited if you need over ~1.5–2 GB per day, work via laptop hotspot, or prefer not to monitor your data. Unlimited plans usually include a daily high-speed data allowance before throttling, so always check the fine print. For under 1 GB/day, fixed-data plans are almost always cheaper.
View unlimited eSIM plans →How we calculate
- Per-activity rates. Multiply daily hours (or frequency) by typical data usage. We prioritize official figures from developers (Netflix, Spotify, Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams); for apps without published numbers, we use carrier data (Telstra, Verizon, StarHub); where no source exists, we apply conservative estimates from Zyesims—with clear notes in the table.
- Converting bandwidth to data. Video calling apps report bandwidth (e.g., 600 kbps bidirectional). 1 Mbps for one hour ≈ 450 MB per direction. This is the theoretical maximum — actual usage is usually lower.
- Defaults err on the safe side. When estimates vary, we choose a slightly higher value: running out of data abroad is far more inconvenient than having a small surplus. Video defaults to SD quality (~0.7 GB/hour); on 5G networks, apps often auto-upgrade to HD (~3 GB/hour).
- Daily background data. Your phone continues syncing, refreshing apps, and delivering notifications even when idle — adding ~50 MB/day. App and OS updates are assumed to occur over Wi-Fi (an iOS update can exceed 5 GB).
- A 20% buffer. Account for unplanned usage: a long video call, group chats full of photos, or map rerouting.
- Data Saver mode and Wi-Fi. Turning on data saver applies lower rates to video, social media and video calls (usually 50–70% less). Time on Wi-Fi is subtracted from every activity except maps and ride-hailing — the things you use while out and about.
This is an estimate: actual usage depends on your phone model, app version, video quality, and network speed. The most accurate method is to monitor your real-world data usage at home for one week, then enter those figures into this tool.
6 ways to avoid running out of data abroad
iCloud Photos and Google Photos can upload several GB of photos and videos in just one session. Set them to back up only over Wi-Fi.
Google Maps and Maps.me let you download entire city maps to your device — navigation uses almost no data.
Facebook, Instagram, and X all offer settings to disable video autoplay over mobile data — cutting consumption by up to two-thirds.
iPhone: Settings → Cellular → Options → Low Data Mode. Android: Settings → Network → Data Saver.
Disable app and OS updates over mobile data; on laptops used as hotspots, mark the connection as "metered".
Download Spotify playlists and Netflix episodes while connected to hotel Wi-Fi — enjoy them offline without using any data.
How to check your current data usage
Settings → Cellular (or Mobile Data). Scroll down to see usage per app. Tap "Reset Statistics" at the bottom before your trip to start counting from zero.
Settings → Network & Internet → SIM → App data usage (Samsung: Settings → Connections → Data usage). You can set an alert when you reach a specific GB threshold.
FAQ
Light users (maps, messaging, web browsing) need about 3–5 GB for 7 days. Frequent social media use and video calls require 8–12 GB. For heavy video streaming or using your phone as a hotspot for a laptop, consider plans with 20 GB or more—or unlimited data.
Most travelers on a 2-week trip use 8–15 GB. Wi-Fi is widely available in European hotels, so if you download offline maps and wait for Wi-Fi to stream videos or back up photos, a 10 GB plan is usually sufficient.
Roughly 100 hours of Google Maps navigation, 15 hours of web browsing, 2 hours on Facebook/Instagram, over 1 hour of SD-quality YouTube, or about 1 hour of video calling. If you only use maps, messaging, and occasional searches, 1 GB can last 2–3 days.
Yes—for moderate users (~0.7 GB/day): maps, messaging, 1–1.5 hours on social media, and a few short video calls. No—if you stream movies or scroll TikTok for hours daily on mobile data.
Online turn-by-turn navigation uses ~5–10 MB per hour. Downloading offline maps before your trip (Google Maps → profile icon → Offline maps) uses almost no data—only small amounts for traffic updates and location searches.
A 1-on-1 WhatsApp video call consumes ~540 MB to 1.5 GB per hour, depending on network quality. Voice calls use only ~30–90 MB per hour. Enable "Use less data for calls" in WhatsApp settings to significantly reduce usage.
Yes—if you need over 1.5–2 GB per day, stream lots of video, use your phone as a hotspot for a laptop, or prefer not to monitor usage. Note: Unlimited plans usually include a daily high-speed data allowance; speeds drop afterward. If you use under 1 GB/day, fixed-data plans are typically cheaper.
Hotspotting itself doesn’t add overhead—but laptops consume far more data than phones: OS updates, cloud syncing, online meetings. One hour of laptop work can easily use 300+ MB. Before enabling hotspot, disable auto-updates and set the connection as "metered" on your laptop.
iPhone: Settings → Cellular → scroll down to see per-app usage (reset statistics before your trip to start fresh). Android: Settings → Network & internet → SIM → Data usage. Check your average weekly usage at home first—entering that into our tool gives the most accurate estimate.
With most Zyesims plans, you can top up data directly on your active eSIM—no reinstallation needed. If top-ups aren’t supported, simply buy a new plan and install it (takes ~2 minutes). That’s why our tool already adds a 20% buffer.