Saudi Arabia (KSA) SIM card from the UAE: local SIM, roaming or eSIM
An stc visitor SIM costs SAR 31 for 6 GB and 2 weeks, but the number works only after you activate it at a branch in Saudi Arabia. An Etisalat (e&) or du GCC pack covers 3 days for AED 99.00–100.00 on your UAE number. A data-only eSIM on 
Zain 5G starts at AED 14.99 for 1 GB and 7 days.
At a glance
- Purchase QR code by e-mail · after payment
- Installation profile on your phone · up to 365 days
- Activation first network on the trip · the clock starts
This KSA SIM card guide is for UAE residents travelling abroad. It compares the SIM you buy there, roaming from the UAE and an eSIM you install before you fly. We sell travel eSIMs, so we have an interest here. The tables show when your operator pack is the better choice.
Four ways to get data in Saudi Arabia from the UAE
You have four options: an stc visitor SIM from SAR 31 that you collect and activate after landing, an e& or du GCC pack from AED 99.00 bought before you cross, Virgin Mobile UAE One Country free of charge on plans of 20GB and up, or a data eSIM installed at home. They start counting days at different moments.
| Option | Price | What you need | Weak point |
|---|---|---|---|
| e& (Etisalat), du or Virgin Mobile roaming pack | AED 35.00 to AED 1,200.00 a pack from about AED 13.33 per GB | Roaming switched on and a pack bought before you fly | Costs more per GB than the eSIM |
| Pocket Wi-Fi router | Not verified | Collect it, keep it charged and return it | One connection for the group, only while you stay together |
| Local SIM bought on arrival | Not verified | A free SIM slot and a shop after landing | On a one-slot phone it replaces your UAE SIM |
| Travel eSIM from this site | from AED 14.99 by card; from AED 5.70 per GB | An eSIM phone that is not locked to one operator | Data only: no calls or SMS on your UAE number |
Pack prices as listed by e&, du and Virgin Mobile on 15 Oct 2026; AED per GB is our derivation (price ÷ GB). eSIM prices are in AED at the day’s rate: your card is charged exactly that amount.
Your e&, du or Virgin Mobile line won’t use mobile data abroad unless you add a roaming pack (e& lets you unlock pay-as-you-go data for 24 hours by SMS).
eSIM for Saudi Arabia: most chosen plans
Your card is charged exactly AED 14.99; the charge is in UAE dirhams. The seller is registered outside the UAE, so some banks may still add a foreign-merchant fee — how card payment works.
What it costs per day
Plan price in AED ÷ days, at the rate of 16 Oct. A longer plan usually costs less per day: pick by your trip length, not by the lowest daily price.
A local SIM on arrival: stc visitor packs, and what to check with Mobily or Zain
The SIM card price in Saudi Arabia starts at SAR 31 on stc’s Sawa Visitor, a Saudi tourist SIM sold in six packs, from visitor 26 (6 GB, 2 weeks) to visitor 165 (100 GB, 4 weeks, SAR 190). Prices include 15% VAT (stc, 15 Oct 2026). The catch: “you must visit the branch upon arrival to activate the number.” Until that visit, the number does not work.
| Pack | Data | Local and international minutes | Validity | Price (SAR, incl. 15% VAT) | about SAR per GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| visitor 26 | 6 GB | 1 hour | 2 weeks | SAR 31 | 5.2 |
| visitor 47 | 21 GB | 2 hours | 2 weeks | SAR 55 | 2.6 |
| visitor 65 | 33 GB | 3 hours | 3 weeks | SAR 75 | 2.3 |
| visitor 86 | 51 GB | 5 hours | 4 weeks | SAR 100 | 2.0 |
| visitor 130 | 72 GB | 6 hours flex | 4 weeks | SAR 150 | 2.1 |
| visitor 165 | 100 GB | 10 hours flex | 4 weeks | SAR 190 | 1.9 |
Source: stc Sawa Visitor page, stc.com.sa (checked 15 Oct 2026). The page says offers expire on 27 Dec 2026. The per-GB column is our arithmetic.
The UAE is on the list of countries covered by the international minutes in all six packs, so calls home come out of the minutes in the pack. stc also states that “booking the number will be for 30 days.” The page names no documents for buying the KSA SIM card, so check the documents list with stc before you go.
On a 3-day trip the smallest pack is poor value: SAR 31 is about SAR 2.2 a day over its 14 days, but you use 3, so you pay about SAR 10.3 for each day you are there.
Mobily, Zain and Salam are other Saudi operators, but their price lists were not available to us on 15 Oct 2026. Check prices and documents on the Mobily or Zain site. On the airport SIM question, one traveller wrote on r/Umrah on 7 Nov 2024: “Whether you are flying into Medina Airport or Jeddah Airport, you will find kiosks at the main entrances of the airport. Zain, Mobily, STC…” That is one person’s experience.
e&, du and Virgin Mobile roaming in Saudi Arabia
Five packs from e& and du cost AED 99.00–200.00 and run 3 to 10 days in Saudi Arabia, and Virgin Mobile UAE gives one country free on plans of 20GB and up (as listed on 15 Oct 2026). All keep your UAE number, and the e& packs add a few minutes.
| Pack | Line | Data · days | Minutes | AED | about AED per day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| e& GCC 3-Day Pack | prepaid + postpaid | 5GB · 3 days | 10 + 10 min | AED 100.00 | 33.3 |
| e& GCC 10-Day Pack | prepaid + postpaid | 15GB · 10 days | 30 + 20 min | AED 200.00 | 20.0 |
| du GCC data bundle | prepaid | 5GB · 3 days | none | AED 99.00 | 33.0 |
| du GCC data bundle | prepaid + postpaid | unlimited · 10 days | none | AED 199.00 | 19.9 |
| du roaming data bundle | postpaid | 10GB · 7 days | none | AED 100.00 | 14.3 |
| Virgin Mobile UAE One Country | plans of 20GB+ | your plan’s data · 1 month | none | free | 0 |
Sources: e& GCC packs, du postpaid and prepaid bundles, virginmobile.ae One Country page (checked 15 Oct 2026). The per-day column is price divided by days, our arithmetic. The same du 10GB bundle costs AED 200.00 on a prepaid line. eSIM Go is not affiliated with e&, du or Virgin Mobile UAE. Pack details are taken from their own pages on the date shown.
For a longer stay, compare the e& GCC 10-Day Pack and du GCC unlimited 10 days. du lists the 10-day pack as unlimited; we could not confirm a daily limit, so check du’s fair-use terms in the du app.
Virgin Mobile UAE is the one place where the operator simply wins: Saudi Arabia is on the Virgin One Country list (34 countries on the page, 15 Oct 2026), and the pass is free on plans of 20GB or more. You choose one country a month, and it does not renew itself: “Don’t forget to re-activate every month.” Trips across several Gulf countries are on the Gulf roaming page.
A week in Saudi Arabia: roaming pack vs eSIM
1.3× cheaper than prepaid packs Free on Virgin Mobile 20 GB+ plans5.6 GB for 7 days (0.8 GB a day, social media and photos): the cheapest prepaid way to get it, and postpaid where it is lower.
On roaming your UAE number also takes calls and SMS; the eSIM is data only. In the Gulf your e& or du roaming pack can be as cheap as an eSIM, and Virgin Mobile plans from 20 GB include one country free. An eSIM wins on short trips, on prepaid lines and against 10-day GCC packs. Packs at the operator’s AED price, as listed on 15 Oct 2026; the eSIM at its AED price on 16 Oct, charged in AED by card. Work out your own trip.
Three days by road or ten days in Riyadh: GCC packs vs a Saudi eSIM
For 3 days, e& GCC 3-Day is AED 100.00 for 5GB and du’s GCC bundle is AED 99.00 for 5GB; a 5GB Saudi eSIM is AED 49.99 for 30 days. For 10 days, du’s GCC bundle is AED 199.00 and e& GCC 10-Day is AED 200.00 for 15GB; our unlimited 10-day plan is AED 129.99, at full speed up to 3GB a day, then 1 Mbps.
In the Gulf your e& or du roaming pack can be as cheap as an eSIM — and Virgin Mobile plans from 20GB include one country free. An eSIM wins on short trips, prepaid lines and 10-day unlimited. The Saudi Arabia eSIM plans also include 10GB for 30 days at AED 75.99 (about AED 2.53 a day) and 25GB for 45 days at AED 189.99. Charged in AED by JET SHARING (USA). Your bank may add a foreign-transaction fee; see how to pay.
When the days start matters more than the price. e&’s Weekly and Monthly packs are “Charged upon purchase but validity starts upon first eligible usage.” du’s data-only bundles “will only be activated during your travel” and can be bought up to 60 days ahead, but voice and data bundles are “activated immediately at the time of purchase.” The du Umrah bundle (AED 150.00, 7 days, 1000 minutes) bought a week before the flight is finished before you land. For postpaid du data bundles the du API and du’s FAQ disagree, so buy shortly before you fly and check the activation note in the du app. We could not read e&’s GCC terms (the page returned an error on 15 Oct 2026), so when its 3-day and 10-day clocks start is not confirmed.
An eSIM starts differently: install before you fly, and it connects when you land in Saudi Arabia. The days count from that first connection. If you need lots of calls home during Umrah, your e& or du Umrah pack is hard to beat; if you mostly need data, or stay longer than a week, an eSIM is cheaper. See Umrah roaming.
Data only: calls and SMS stay on your UAE number
Our eSIMs for Saudi Arabia are data-only — keep your UAE number on your main SIM for calls and SMS. Unlike a local KSA SIM card, our Saudi eSIM has no number, no minutes and no SMS (catalogue, 15 Oct 2026), so your UAE SIM stays in the phone as the second line while the eSIM carries data.
That second line costs money when you use it. Pay-as-you-go calls in Saudi Arabia cost AED 0.808 a minute to receive on e& and Virgin Mobile UAE and AED 0.81 on du, and AED 2.203 a minute to call the UAE on e& and Virgin Mobile UAE and AED 2.21 on du (15 Oct 2026). Keep your UAE SIM switched on for SMS; e& and Virgin Mobile don’t charge for SMS you receive abroad; calls you receive are charged per minute. du doesn’t publish a price for SMS you receive abroad — check with du. Setup is in keep your UAE number.
Our eSIMs are for use outside the UAE; they do not provide service in the UAE. Steps: eSIM installation guide. If the eSIM has not connected to any network, you can get a refund within 30 days of purchase.
Check before you fly
What if the eSIM doesn’t work when you land in Saudi Arabia?
Check four settings, in this order, before you write to us.
The first is the line for mobile data. On iPhone it is Settings > Cellular > Cellular Data; on Android, the SIM manager. Pick the travel line there; your UAE line stays on for calls and SMS, with its mobile data off.
The second is data roaming, for the eSIM line only. The eSIM is a foreign profile, so the phone treats Saudi Arabia as roaming for it.
The third is the APN. The plan does not set it by itself here: add globaldata/isp on Android under the eSIM line’s mobile network settings.
The fourth is a restart. Restart the phone or switch airplane mode on and off, and let it find Zain; this can take a few minutes after you leave the plane.
Still no data? Write to us on WhatsApp or at support@esimgo.ae with your order number, or go through the no-signal checklist. Do not delete the eSIM to “try again”: a deleted profile usually cannot be installed twice from the same code. If the eSIM doesn't work and it isn't your phone's fault, we refund the payment whether or not it was installed.
What I’d choose (and when NOT to buy the eSIM)
For a week of maps, rides and messaging I’d take 1 GB for 7 days, AED 14.99. For two weeks or more, with photos and social media, I’d go for 5 GB for 30 days, AED 49.99. If you video-call and stream every day, take the unlimited plan for 7 days, AED 104.99, with 3 GB a day at full speed, then 1 Mbps.
I would not recommend the eSIM in three cases. If you need calls or SMS on your UAE number every day, roaming on your e&, du or Virgin Mobile line keeps them, and some packs include minutes (compare the packs). If your phone has no eSIM or is locked to one operator, it cannot take the plan: check your model first. And if your group travels together all day and shares one connection, a pocket Wi-Fi can cover everyone.
FAQ
How much is a SIM card in Saudi Arabia?
A KSA SIM card from stc’s Sawa Visitor range costs SAR 31 for 6 GB and 2 weeks up to SAR 190 for 100 GB and 4 weeks, VAT included (stc, 15 Oct 2026). We have no Mobily or Zain prices; check their sites.
Can visitors buy a Saudi SIM at the airport?
stc says its SIM is sold at its sales offices and must be activated at a branch on arrival. One traveller on r/Umrah (7 Nov 2024) reported operator kiosks at the main entrances of Medina and Jeddah airports. We have no official airport list.
What documents do I need to buy a SIM in Saudi Arabia?
stc’s Sawa Visitor page names no documents, so we list none. Check the documents list with stc before you go; for Mobily or Zain, ask on their sites.
Is a Saudi SIM worth it for a 3-day trip?
Rarely. The smallest stc pack lasts 14 days at SAR 31, so a 3-day trip pays for 11 unused days, and the number works only after a branch visit. An e& or du GCC pack for AED 99.00–100.00 is bought before you cross, and an eSIM is installed before you fly.
Can I keep my UAE number with a Saudi eSIM?
Yes. Our Saudi Arabia eSIM carries data only, so your UAE SIM stays on for calls and SMS. Calls you receive are charged per minute.
Sources checked: stc, Sawa Visitor packages: stc.com.sa (15 Oct 2026) · e&, GCC roaming packs, Umrah pack and standard roaming rates: eand.ae (15 Oct 2026) · du, roaming bundles and FAQ: du.ae (15 Oct 2026) · Virgin Mobile UAE, One Country roaming and country rates: virginmobile.ae (15 Oct 2026) · r/Umrah, thread “Is it possible to get an eSIM in Saudi Arabia?”: reddit.com (7 Nov 2024).
Get an eSIM for Saudi Arabia, from AED 14.99 Pay by card in AED. The seller is registered outside the UAE, so some banks may still add a foreign-merchant fee. Install the profile at home on Wi-Fi before you fly. The QR code arrives by e-mail after payment. See plans