The one you can test before paying
GigSky in Costa Rica
GigSky is the only brand here that lets you check the signal at your lodge before spending anything. Below 5GB it is a good buy. At 10GB it is the most expensive plan on the site.
The free trial is the actual product
and it solves a real Costa Rica problem
Costa Rica is the destination where "will my eSIM work here" has the least predictable answer. Three networks, sharp rural drop-offs, and lodges whose own staff will tell you conflicting things about which operator reaches them. Every other brand on this site asks you to pay first and find out second.
GigSky hands you 100MB for seven days with no card and no commitment. That is enough to install the profile at home, land, and confirm you get a usable signal at your hotel, on the road to Monteverde, or at the rental desk in Liberia, before you decide how much data to buy and from whom.
Used that way, it is worth more than its price suggests, and it is worth using even if you end up buying Airalo or Yesim afterwards. A free coverage test on Claro and Liberty, the networks most travel eSIMs here name, is the cheapest insurance available for a Costa Rica trip.
The GigSky Costa Rica plans
USD, checked 2026
| Plan | Price | Per GB | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100MB / 7 days | free | — | Take it, no card needed |
| 1GB / 7 days | $6.99 | $6.99 | Fine for a resort week |
| 3GB / 15 days | $16.49 | $5.50 | Yesim does 3GB/30d for $9.36 |
| 5GB / 30 days | $21.99 | $4.40 | Second-cheapest 5GB of the brands we link |
| 10GB / 30 days | $39.99 | $4.00 | Do not buy this. Airalo is $34.00, Yesim $25.20 |
| Unlimited, 1 day | $4.99 | $1.43 | Sold as Unlimited, priced by the day. 3.5GB a day at full speed. The 7-day at $26.49 is the best hotspot value on this site. |
| Unlimited, 3 days | $14.49 | $1.38 | |
| Unlimited, 7 days | $26.49 | $1.08 | |
| Unlimited, 15 days | $36.49 | $0.70 | |
| Unlimited, 30 days | $69.49 | $0.66 |
GigSky's pricing is two different companies stapled together. The fixed-data ladder is unremarkable and gets bad at the top. GigSky Unlimited is the best value per gigabyte of any unlimited plan we link, by a wide margin.
GigSky Unlimited is the good deal
52.5GB of full speed for $36.49
Fifteen days at 3.5GB a day is 52.5GB of allowance for $36.49. The nearest fixed-data equivalent on this site is Yesim's 20GB for $37.80, which is less than half the data for about the same money. Even if you use only two thirds of the daily allowance, you are ahead.
Two honest caveats. The allowance is per day and does not roll over, so a light traveler wastes most of it and should buy a small fixed plan instead. And after 3.5GB the speed drops to a rate GigSky does not publish; data is never cut off, and full speed returns 24 hours from activation, not at midnight. How it compares with every other unlimited plan.
Who this is for: anyone hotspotting a laptop from Santa Teresa, Nosara or Tamarindo for a week or two. 3.5GB a day covers a full working day plus evening video, and $26.49 for seven days undercuts Saily Unlimited by $8.50 and Airalo Unlimited by $10.01 while giving you half a gigabyte more per day. Thirty days is $69.49, about $19.50 under both.
GigSky against the other four
strong at both ends, weak in the middle
| GigSky | Yesim | Airalo | Saily | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free trial | 100MB / 7 days | no | no | no |
| 1GB | $6.99 / 7d | $5.16 / 30d | $7.50 / 3d | $7.99 / 7d |
| 5GB / 30 days | $21.99 | $15.60 | $26.50 | $26.99 |
| 10GB / 30 days | $39.99 (worst) | $25.20 | $34.00 | $36.99 |
| Unlimited daily allowance | 3.5GB/day | no cap published | 3GB/day, then 1 Mbps | 3GB/day, then 1 Mbps |
| 7 days of heavy use | $26.49 | day passes, $6.00/day | $36.50 | $34.99 |
| Trustpilot | 4.3 · 8,403 | 4.3 · 2,996 | 4.2 · 48,959 | 4.7 · 32,870 |
Two rows in bold for the right reasons and one for the wrong one. GigSky wins the free trial and the heavy-use week outright, and loses the 10GB row so badly that it drags the brand's reputation down with it. Buy the ends of this range, never the middle.
Buying and activating GigSky
trial first
- Start with the free 100MB. Install it at home on wifi, no card required, and leave the line switched off until you land.
- On arrival, switch it on and walk around. Check the signal at the hotel, at the rental desk, on the first stretch of road. This is the test the other four do not let you run.
- Then buy the size that matches: 1GB or 5GB fixed if you are light, GigSky Unlimited if you are hotspotting. Skip the 10GB.
- If nothing attaches, set network selection to manual and pick Claro, then Liberty. In the Osa or Sarapiquí neither may appear, which is the Kölbi gap, not a GigSky fault.
Buy it or skip it
the honest split
Buy GigSky if
You want to test coverage before paying. Nothing else here offers that, and Costa Rica is the country where it matters most.
You are hotspotting for a week or two: 3.5GB a day for $26.49 over seven days is the best heavy-use price on this site.
You need a small plan from a brand with a clean record: $6.99 for 1GB, $21.99 for 5GB.
Skip GigSky if
You want 10GB fixed: $39.99 is indefensible when Airalo is $34.00 and Yesim is $25.20.
You want 20GB or more: GigSky does not sell it for Costa Rica.
You want the absolute floor price at small sizes: Yesim undercuts it, caveats and all.
Questions
on GigSky in Costa Rica
Is the GigSky free trial really free?
Yes: 100MB valid for seven days, no card details required. It is a real eSIM profile on the same Claro and Liberty networks as the paid plans, which is what makes it a valid coverage test rather than a marketing gesture.
Which network does GigSky use in Costa Rica?
Claro and Liberty, listed under Liberty's former Movistar name in some documentation, per GigSky's plan details earlier in 2026. GigSky does not name Kölbi, so the rural gaps apply.
Does GigSky sell unlimited data for Costa Rica?
Yes. GigSky Unlimited is priced by the day: $4.99 for one, $14.49 for three, $26.49 for seven, $36.49 for fifteen, $69.49 for thirty. GigSky's Costa Rica page gives 3.5GB a day at full speed, then slower data (speed not published) until full speed resumes 24 hours from activation. That is the highest daily allowance among the brands we link; Saily and Airalo give 3GB. Sim Local, which we do not link, prints 5GB and 10GB a day.
Why is GigSky 10GB so expensive?
We do not know, and it is a genuine outlier: $39.99 against Airalo's $34.00 and Yesim's $25.20 for the same size and validity. Our advice is simply not to buy that row. The 5GB plan and GigSky Unlimited are competitive.
Can I hotspot with GigSky?
Yes, on both the fixed and Unlimited plans, drawing from the same allowance. On Unlimited the full 3.5GB is available to tethering, which is what makes the seven-day plan the best laptop option in this comparison.
GigSky or Airalo for a two-week trip?
Depends on how you use data. Light to moderate, GigSky 5GB at $21.99 wins on price. Ten gigabytes or more, Airalo at $34.00 wins clearly. Hotspotting daily, GigSky Unlimited for 15 days at $36.49 beats everything.
Test Costa Rica coverage for free
100MB for seven days, no card, on the same Claro and Liberty networks the paid plans use. Then buy the size that fits, here or elsewhere.
See GigSky's Costa Rica plansSources & freshness: GigSky list prices checked 2026 on GigSky's own Costa Rica page, in USD (1GB, 3GB, 5GB, 10GB with their validity, Unlimited for 1, 3, 7, 15 and 30 days, and the free 100MB); GigSky was running a temporary sale when we checked. The 3.5GB daily cap, the slowdown after it and the 24-hour reset from activation are from the same page, 2026; GigSky does not publish the reduced speed. Rival prices re-checked 2026. Trustpilot score from trustpilot.com, 2026. Compare all five: best eSIM for Costa Rica.