eSIM for China: who sells one and what it costs

Prices for an identical basket

10 GB over 14 days:

For a short trip the picture is similar. 3 GB over a week: eSIM Tayyor 369 ₽, Unisim 1 343 ₽, Just eSIM 1 800 ₽ on its regional «Asia» package, Yesim 1 581–1 844 ₽.

Three different models on one destination

A country package — eSIM Tayyor

An ordinary «volume × period» package specifically for China. The cheapest option in the catalogue at every basket size. The partner network is undisclosed.

A regional or global package — Just eSIM

An interesting detail here: Just eSIM covers China not with a country plan but with a «Worldwide» package of 20 GB over 30 days. The catalogue displays the region name rather than a bare «20 GB / 30 days» — otherwise the row would read as a local plan at an inexplicable price.

The practical meaning: if your route crosses several countries, a global package may beat a set of country ones. If you are only going to China, you are paying for coverage you will not use.

Per-gigabyte billing — Unisim and Yesim

Unisim charges 3.72 $ per gigabyte in China, Yesim 6.60 $. For comparison, Unisim's gigabyte in Turkey costs 1.15 $: Chinese traffic is three times dearer for the same vendor. The upside is a balance with no expiry; the downside is that at larger volumes it loses to packages.

Whose network

The only one to name the partner operator in China is Unisim: China Telecom. At eSIM Tayyor, Yesim and Just eSIM the network is undisclosed.

That matters more than it looks, for two reasons. First, coverage in China differs between operators. Second, how a roaming profile behaves is determined by the agreement between your seller and the local network, not by the plan.

And here we must say plainly what we do not know. Our eSIM catalogue measures price, coverage, terms and vendor disclosure. It does not measure which sites and services open through a particular network in a particular country. Claims of the sort «everything works in China through a travel eSIM» are common, but we have no data to confirm or refute them, and we will not repeat them. Service availability is handled by another part of this project — and it measures Russian networks, not Chinese ones.

What to check when buying for China

• Payment from Russia. Of the four that price China, three accept it: eSIM Tayyor (SBP), Unisim (MIR and other cards, SBP), Just eSIM (Cloudpayments). Yesim does not declare it.
• The app. Yesim requires its own. It warns about the app being unavailable in Turkey and the UAE; about China its terms say nothing either way.
• Speed after exhaustion. Just eSIM throttles to 32 kbit/s past the threshold. The threshold itself is not named.
• Tethering. Declared at Unisim and Just eSIM; undisclosed at eSIM Tayyor and Yesim.
• QR installation at all of them, so it has to be done before departure on a working connection.

Alternatives

A local Chinese SIM is usually cheaper for a long stay but requires a passport and on-site registration. Your operator's roaming is the simplest route and, as a rule, the dearest; check its rates with them, we do not measure those.

A travel eSIM wins where connectivity from the first minute matters and you do not want to spend time on local formalities.