Saily vs. Maya Mobile (2026 review)

The category’s lowest entry price, with value gated behind Ultra.

Saily’s plans start at $1.99 and earn 3% back in credits. The fuller product sits behind Ultra, three monthly tiers from $29.99 to $59.99, where the VPN, lounge access and unlimited data live. Buy standard and those extras stay separate purchases.

Flexible metered and unlimited options, nothing bundled to sweeten it.

Maya’s metered plans start around $5 and its 5-day unlimited runs about $19, with the flexibility to pick either. What’s missing is bundled value, no number, no cashback, no calling credit, so you pay purely for data, priced fairly but without extras.

Broad 200+ coverage and eight regional plans, no carrier shown.

Eight regional plans span Europe, Asia and Oceania, Africa, the Middle East, the Caribbean, Latin America, North America and Global. That’s genuinely broad, a big step up from Saily’s country-only launch. What’s missing is the carrier name, which isn’t shown until you arrive.

Roughly 200 destinations on land, plus the rare trick of working at sea.

Maya’s land coverage is competitive, and its cruise-line support across 20+ lines is a genuine differentiator no mainstream rival matches. It doesn’t disclose the carrier before purchase and lacks European sub-zones, but the maritime niche is its own outright.

The largest verified review base in this comparison.

Saily carries 4.7 on Trustpilot across roughly 13,300 reviews, 4.7 from 12,000 App Store ratings, and 4.6 on Google Play from 94,300. Praise lands on fast activation and clean design; criticism on rural connectivity and peak-season response times. On sheer volume it leads.

A decent average, but a footprint that’s hard to pin down.

Maya sits around 4.5 on Trustpilot, but the review count varies widely by source, from roughly 2,600 to 12,700, and being app-free means no App Store or Google Play base to cross-check. The signal is softer and harder to verify than the field’s.

Security built into every plan; the rest sits behind Ultra.

Every Saily plan ships NordVPN-powered ad and malicious-site blocking, tested to cut data use by 28.6%. Standard is otherwise data-only, with a US number at $0.99 a month. Full NordVPN and lounge access are Ultra-only, so the headline features cost extra.

Cruise coverage and an app-free install, but a data-only core.

Maya’s distinctive features, working at sea and installing with no app, are real and useful for the right traveller. But the core is data-only: no phone number, no data calculator, no security tools, so outside its niche the feature set is standard.

Included on every plan, with an unlimited throttle to watch.

Hotspot works on both Standard and Ultra, with nothing restricted by plan type. The one caveat is unlimited: past 5GB a day speeds drop to about 1 Mbps, and tethered devices, which lean harder on the connection, feel that throttle first.

Supported where available, with an unlimited throttle.

Maya allows tethering where its plans support it, which covers many trips but isn’t a blanket promise, and unlimited plans throttle after a daily threshold that tethered devices feel first. It’s serviceable rather than a standout, and worth checking per plan.

3% back standard, 8% on Ultra, plus generous referrals.

Saily returns 3% in credits on standard plans and 8% on Ultra, with referrals paying $5 to each side and seasonal promotions reaching $50. Students get 15% off via StudentBeans. The everyday rate is modest, but the referral and student perks are competitive.

No consumer rewards program, only an affiliate scheme.

Maya runs no consumer loyalty or referral program; its incentives sit in an affiliate arrangement that doesn’t benefit the traveller directly. Nothing accrues on what you spend, which is a clear gap against rivals that return credit on every purchase.

24/7 in-app chat backed by Nord’s scale, but app-only.

Saily staffs 24/7 in-app chat, with response times averaging 15 to 45 minutes in independent reviews and a thorough help centre. Nord runs support for millions across its products. The limit is channel: chat is app-only, with no phone line or web fallback.

24/7 across WhatsApp, email and phone, plus a money-back guarantee.

Maya staffs support around the clock across multiple channels, including a phone line few rivals offer, and backs plans with a 100% money-back guarantee. For a nervous first-timer or a high-stakes trip, that reassurance is real, and one of the strongest here.

Clean, fast and polished, the standard of a Nord product.

Every step is obvious, and a compatibility checker confirms your device before you pay. Plans activate on arrival, usage tracking warns you before data runs out, and new country plans load onto the same eSIM, the standout for multi-stop trips.

App-free is clever, but it means fewer tools to manage a plan.

Installing from a QR code with nothing to download is genuinely low-friction, and some travellers love it. The flip side is no app for usage tracking, top-ups or plan management, so mid-trip changes are clunkier than on a full-featured competitor app.