The best eSIM for Uzbekistan in 2026: prices, Beeline or UzMobile, and the IMEI question

Part of our Uzbekistan eSIM guide: all articles and key facts →

Choosing the best eSIM for Uzbekistan comes down to three things: unlimited or fixed data, how long you stay, and which network you end up on. Most travel eSIMs connect to Beeline. We read the Uzbekistan pages of five providers on 20 October 2026 and compared price, network and the rules that matter between Tashkent, Samarkand and Bukhara.

Which is the best eSIM for Uzbekistan?

For unlimited data, Yesim was the cheapest of the five providers we verified at every length we compared; for a fixed allowance valid a month, Yesim was cheapest at 5, 10 and 20 GB, by 1 cent over Nomad's euro price at 10 GB (€16 against €16.01); for a stay longer than 30 days, Holafly is the only one of the five that sells unlimited plans up to 90 days. No single brand wins every trip, so here are the winners by need among the five (Maya Mobile's global plan is a special case, discussed below), on prices checked on 20 October 2026:

• A stopover or one day in Tashkent: Yesim sells one day of unlimited data for €3.50, Holafly for €5.90.
• A long weekend (3 days): Yesim costs €10.50, Airalo €11.50 and Holafly €12.50 for three days of unlimited data.
• One week, the classic Tashkent, Samarkand and Bukhara loop: Yesim costs €24.50, Airalo €25.50 and Holafly €25.90 for seven days of unlimited data. With a fixed plan, Airalo's 3 GB for 7 days costs €8 and Yesim's 5 GB valid 30 days costs €9.60.
• Ten days to two weeks, with Khiva added: Yesim costs €29.94 for 10 days and €39 for 15 days; Airalo €32.50 and €45.50; Holafly €34.90 and €46.90.
• A month: Yesim costs €57 and Holafly €68.90 for 30 days of unlimited data; Airalo sells no unlimited plan longer than 15 days. Yesim's 20 GB valid 30 days costs €22.
• Two or three months: Holafly sells 60 days for €100.90 and 90 days for €128.90.

If your trip continues to Almaty, Bishkek or the Fergana Valley, read our guide to one eSIM or two for Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan: a regional plan can cost the same as the Uzbekistan plan alone.

The Uzbekistan eSIMs side by side

The table lists the network each provider names, its unlimited week and a typical fixed plan. All figures were read on the providers' own pages on 20 October 2026 and are quoted in the currency each page displayed.

Unlimited prices by length complete the picture. Holafly sells any number of days from 1 to 90; Yesim sells every length from 1 to 30 days; Airalo sells 3, 5, 7, 10 and 15 days.

aloSIM prices its unlimited plans in US dollars ($12.50 for 3 days, $29.50 for 7 days, $49 for 15 days), so compare them in the currency you will pay in. Saily blocked automated reading of its page on 20 October 2026, and Orange Travel has no Uzbekistan page, so neither appears in any verdict. Nomad also shows US dollars by default, and its page carries its own euro prices: 5, 10 and 20 GB valid 30 days cost $11, $18 and $29, or €9.78, €16.01 and €25.80.

Maya Mobile is a special case, left out of the verdicts above, which compare the five providers' Uzbekistan plans. Its Uzbekistan page sells one global unlimited plan at $9.99 for 3 days, $19.99 for 7 days, $27.99 for 14 days and $49.99 for 30 days. Each package is a one-time purchase: its FAQ says "There is no automatic recurring charge unless you choose to turn on Auto Top-Up", an option you add at checkout. The price card also carries the line "Auto-renews while Travel Mode is on", but the FAQ is explicit that a plan renews only if Auto Top-Up is turned on. Its headline promises "no caps, no throttling", while the plan data on the same page reads "5GB Per Day full speed, then speed drops to 3Mbps". That plan data names Beeline in one network list and Uztelecom in another, so we cannot say which network it uses in Uzbekistan. With 5 GB a day at full speed, $19.99 for a week costs less than the unlimited week of any of the five providers in our tables; with Auto Top-Up off, the plan simply ends with no further charge.

Is an unlimited eSIM for Uzbekistan worth it?

Only if you use a lot of data: in Uzbekistan the big brands' unlimited weeks cost more than the median plan with at least 1 GB a day, and fixed plans are cheap. The comparison database esimdb listed 12,872 plans from 237 providers covering Uzbekistan on 20 October 2026. Among Uzbekistan-only plans with at least 1 GB a day at full speed, the median price was €17.05 for 7 days (164 plans from 87 providers), €20.75 for 10 days and €54.45 for 30 days, with dollar prices converted at the European Central Bank rate.

That puts Yesim (€24.50), Airalo (€25.50) and Holafly (€25.90) above the median for a week. The gap comes from small brands: the cheapest of those 7-day plans cost €3.84, and esimdb lists it as slowing to 128 kbps once its 1 GB daily allowance is used. We did not check those brands' own pages, so we leave them out of the verdicts.

The rules after heavy use differ. Airalo and aloSIM publish theirs plainly: 3 GB a day at full speed, then 1 Mbps until the next day. Holafly's page says only that operators may apply a fair usage policy "for no more than one (1) day". Yesim's FAQ says that "after reaching a certain amount of provided data some speed reduction might be applied", without giving the amount for Uzbekistan.

Fixed plans are where Uzbekistan is cheap. Yesim sells 5 GB for €9.60, 10 GB for €16 and 20 GB for €22, each valid 30 days. If you mostly use maps, messaging and a few photo uploads, a 5 or 10 GB plan valid 30 days costs less than an unlimited week.

Beeline, Ucell or UzMobile: which network does each eSIM use?

Almost every travel eSIM uses Beeline, which Opensignal ranks second for download speed and nPerf's 2025 ranking places first. Four mobile networks share the market: Beeline Uzbekistan, run by Unitel LLC for the Beeline group VEON; Ucell, operated by the company COSCOM; Mobiuz, the brand of Universal Mobile Systems; and UzMobile, the mobile brand of the state operator Uztelecom.

On esimdb, 9,222 of the plans covering Uzbekistan name a network. Beeline appears in 8,618 of them (93%), Ucell in 1,096, Mobiuz in 511 and UzMobile in 301. Yesim, Holafly and aloSIM name Beeline; Airalo names Unitel, the company that, according to Beeline's own about page, has operated under the Beeline trademark since 2006. Nomad's plans run on UzMobile.

The measurements put the four networks close together. In Opensignal's March 2026 report, based on its users' data from 1 October to 29 December 2025, Ucell had the fastest average download speed at 22.9 Mbps, ahead of Beeline at 21.6, Uztelecom at 20.2 and Mobiuz at 19.6 Mbps. Beeline recorded the highest upload speed (8.4 Mbps) and games score, and Ucell won the consistency and reliability awards.

nPerf's ranking for 2025, as reported by UzDaily, put Beeline first with an average download speed of 20.42 Mbps, from 23,769 tests run by users of the nPerf apps in 2025. For a traveller the gap between networks is small: all four average around 20 Mbps, enough for maps, video calls and photo uploads.

Pros and cons of each provider

Each provider below was read on 20 October 2026. Prices are for Uzbekistan-only plans.

Yesim

• Pros: the cheapest unlimited plan of the five at every length we compared, with every length from 1 to 30 days; cheap fixed plans valid 30 days (1 GB €2.50, 5 GB €9.60, 10 GB €16, 20 GB €22); validity starts on connection, and the plan can be activated up to 180 days after purchase.
• Cons: no published daily full-speed figure for its unlimited plans; several prices are shown as discounts on higher list prices; hotspot "depends on operator"; Beeline only.

Airalo

• Pros: clear rules (3 GB a day at full speed, then 1 Mbps); a wide range of fixed plans, from 1 GB for 3 days at €4 to 20 GB for 30 days at €30.50; rechargeable, and the plan starts on first use in Uzbekistan.
• Cons: unlimited only up to 15 days; its page names 4G only; we found no hotspot rule on its Uzbekistan page.

Holafly

• Pros: any length from 1 to 90 days, the only long-stay unlimited option of the five; 1 GB of shareable data a day for a hotspot; a monthly 1 GB backup allowance it calls "Always On".
• Cons: more expensive than Yesim at every length we compared; unlimited only, with no small fixed plan; no Uzbek phone number. Holafly itself warns that coverage "may be weaker or less stable" in "certain parts of the Kyzylkum Desert, the Ustyurt Plateau, the Nuratau Mountains, and the more isolated areas near the Aral Sea".

Nomad

• Pros: the only brand we read that connects to UzMobile; fixed plans from $4.50 for 1 GB over 7 days to $39 for 50 GB over 30 days; Nomad says its eSIMs support hotspot use; the plan starts on connection or after 60 days.
• Cons: no unlimited Uzbekistan plan; prices in US dollars by default; its Uzbekistan plans name a single network, UzMobile.

aloSIM

• Pros: hotspot allowed and "ID/documentation required: No", according to its Uzbekistan page; a free international phone number with every plan; published fair-use rule.
• Cons: prices in US dollars by default and above Yesim for similar allowances (5 GB for 30 days at $13, against €9.60 at Yesim); unlimited plans only for 3, 5, 7 and 15 days.

Do you need to register your phone's IMEI with an eSIM?

No. A travel eSIM connects in roaming, and Uzbekistan's IMEI registration fee for non-residents using a foreign SIM is zero. Uzbekistan blocks phones whose IMEI is not registered, under a 2019 Cabinet of Ministers decree. The national system, UZIMEI, lists its fees from 1 August 2025: 88,000 UZS for an individual within 30 days of the first connection, and "0 UZS" for a non-resident "when using a foreign SIM (roaming)".

The operator Mobiuz says the same on its IMEI help page: registration "is free and not mandatory if you do not plan to purchase a local SIM card and will only use roaming". This is one practical advantage of an eSIM over a local SIM in Uzbekistan. The rules for a local SIM, including the 30- or 60-day window, are in our guide to Beeline, Ucell and Uzmobile SIM cards.

Is a local SIM cheaper than a travel eSIM?

Yes, per gigabyte, by a wide margin, but it brings a shop visit, a passport check and, after a while, IMEI registration. Beeline's Hello plans for foreigners sell data add-ons such as 7 GB for 7 days at 30,000 UZS, about €2.22 at the Central Bank of Uzbekistan's rate of 20 October 2026 (13,525.02 UZS to the euro). Uztelecom's Travel 5 plan includes 6,144 MB and 500 minutes for 55,000 UZS a month, about €4.07.

Against Yesim's €16 for 10 GB, the local offers cost far less. The catch is the process: you need an operator office or dealer, your passport, and a registered IMEI if you keep the line longer than the grace period. A travel eSIM installed at home works as you land, which is why many visitors use one for the first days and buy a local SIM only for a long stay.

Which eSIM should you pick for your trip length?

Among the five, Yesim for unlimited data up to 30 days, a 5 to 10 GB fixed plan for a light user, and Holafly for stays beyond a month. Here is how the choice plays out on a typical itinerary.

A stopover or a long weekend

For a day in Tashkent, Yesim's €3.50 day of unlimited data is the cheapest option we verified. For three days, Yesim (€10.50), Airalo (€11.50) and Holafly (€12.50) are within €2 of each other; Airalo publishes its 3 GB daily full-speed allowance.

One week on the Silk Road cities

For a week in Tashkent, Samarkand and Bukhara, unlimited data costs €24.50 to €25.90 at the three big brands. If you mostly use maps and messaging, Airalo's 3 GB for 7 days (€8) or Yesim's 5 GB valid 30 days (€9.60) costs well under half as much.

Two weeks or more

Yesim costs €39 for 15 days and €57 for 30 days of unlimited data, and €22 for 20 GB valid 30 days. Beyond a month, Holafly's 60-day (€100.90) and 90-day (€128.90) plans are the long-stay options among the five.

When does the plan start, and can you share it?

All five providers let you install the eSIM at home and start the plan in Uzbekistan. Airalo's policy is "first-usage"; Yesim's validity "begins upon connection to a compatible network"; Nomad's plan "starts automatically when connected to network, or after 60 days"; Holafly says to set up the eSIM before departure and the plan begins when you arrive and turn it on.

Hotspot rules differ more:

• Holafly: 1 GB of shareable data a day.
• Yesim: "depends on operator".
• Nomad and aloSIM: hotspot supported, according to their pages.
• Airalo: no hotspot rule on its Uzbekistan page.

None of the plans includes an Uzbek phone number; aloSIM adds a free international number, not an Uzbek one. Keep your home line on with data roaming off if you need bank codes by SMS. Our guide to running two eSIMs at the same time explains how to keep both lines without paying roaming.

What should you sort out before landing in Tashkent?

Install the eSIM at home, check that your phone is unlocked, and download offline maps for the desert legs. Islam Karimov Tashkent International Airport lies about 6 km south of the city centre, so you will want data for a map or a ride as soon as you leave the terminal.

Three checks on the phone itself save trouble on landing:

• eSIM support: find your model on our list of eSIM-compatible phones, for example the iPhone 17 range or the Galaxy S25 range.
• Unlocked: a phone locked to your home operator will refuse a foreign profile. Read do you need an unlocked phone for a travel eSIM.
• Installation: on Android, follow our step-by-step eSIM activation guide; if the line stays on "Activating", see our fixes for an eSIM stuck on activating.

If a seller asks for your phone's EID, our guide shows where to find the EID number. If nothing connects on arrival, check that data roaming is on for the eSIM line, then work through 10 fixes for a travel eSIM not working abroad.

In the cities, the crowdsourced maps are reassuring. On nPerf's coverage maps, which show where users ran tests rather than guaranteed coverage, Beeline users had recorded 4G and 4G+ tests across central Samarkand, Bukhara and Urgench, the gateway to Khiva, and along the main roads around them when we looked on 20 October 2026; in Bukhara, UzMobile users had also recorded some 5G tests in the centre. We found no usable nPerf view of Khiva itself.

How we compared

We read each provider's Uzbekistan page, or the plan data it embeds, on 20 October 2026, and recorded price, validity, data, network, start of validity and hotspot rule. We cross-checked plans and computed market medians with the esimdb database, using Uzbekistan-only plans with at least 1 GB a day at full speed, promotions included, and dollar prices converted at the European Central Bank rate of 19 October 2026 (1 euro for 1.1225 dollars) for the medians only.

Network measurements come from Opensignal's March 2026 report and from nPerf's 2025 ranking as reported by UzDaily. IMEI rules come from UZIMEI and Mobiuz. We did not buy the plans or measure speeds in Uzbekistan. Prices change often, so check the provider's page before you buy. If your trip continues to the Caucasus, Yesim's Central Asia plan also covers Georgia; for that country, see our best eSIM for Georgia.