1GB a day or 5GB in total: which Korea eSIM fits your trip?

Is a daily plan or a total-data plan cheaper for Korea?

Compare Kedanto's Korea plans by data amount on 27 September 2026 and the total-data plan never costs more. The 5-day plan with 1GB a day costs ₩8,900 ($6.60), and even if you use every day's allowance, that's 5GB at full speed. The 5GB total-data plan costs ₩6,900 ($5.12) and lasts up to 30 days. 2GB a day for 10 days costs ₩27,900 ($20.67), while 20GB in total costs ₩15,900 ($11.78). Eight of the nine daily plans cost more than the total-data plan that gives at least as much data, and the 3-day plan with 1GB a day costs the same as 5GB total, ₩6,900 ($5.12). The extra money doesn't buy more data. It buys a connection that keeps going at 1 Mbps after the day's allowance is gone. Prices here are in Korean won as listed, with the US dollar price in brackets. The English pages show them in US dollars, because PayPal charges in USD rather than KRW. Every plan is on the Korea eSIM page.

How much data do maps, translation and messaging use in an hour?

Map navigation uses 6 to 12MB an hour by the figure the UK carrier EE publishes, so your daily total depends on social media and video, not maps. We checked each of these published figures at the original source on 14 September 2026:

• Map navigation: 100 to 200KB a minute, or 6 to 12MB an hour (EE, UK)
• Basic internet use such as email, Google search, news and weather: 15 to 75MB an hour (Telstra, Australia)
• LINE or Skype voice calls: about 18MB an hour (SoftBank, Japan)
• TikTok, watched continuously with data saver off: about 2 hours per 1GB (Rakuten Mobile, Japan, article dated 17 March 2026)
• YouTube at standard quality: about 450MB an hour (SoftBank)
• FaceTime or Zoom video calls: 480MB an hour (AT&T, US)

Kedanto's data calculator uses these sources to set hourly usage at 12MB for maps, 45MB for web, messaging and translation, 500MB for social media, 450MB for standard-quality video and 480MB for video calls. It then adds 15% for app updates and photo uploads. Translator apps and text chats on WhatsApp or KakaoTalk all go under the web, messaging and translation row.

How many GB do I need for a Korea trip of a given length?

Five days of mostly maps and messaging fit inside 1GB. Five days of 2 hours of maps, 1 hour of social media and 1 hour of web come to about 3.3GB. The figures below use the same formula as the data calculator: hourly usage × hours a day × days, plus 15%. The last column is the plan the calculator lists first among Kedanto's Korea plans on 27 September 2026.

The first row uses a little over 70% of 1GB, which doesn't leave much room. If you'll post photos often or watch a few videos, move up to 5GB total, which lasts 30 days and costs the same as 3GB total: ₩6,900 ($5.12). Once your daily need goes over 1GB, as in the third row, the calculator stops suggesting 1GB-a-day plans. For the same 7 days it offers 2GB a day (₩19,900 / $14.75) as the alternative. If you share your data with travel companions over hotspot, raise "People using this eSIM" in the calculator, because the amount you need goes up with each person.

Who is the pricier daily plan actually for?

It suits travelers who can't guess how much they'll use in a day and don't want the connection to stop when the data runs out. On Kedanto's daily plans, the line stays connected at 1 Mbps after the day's allowance is used up and refills the next day. The 1 Mbps speed is the supplier's specification. Kedanto's calculator notes that at 1 Mbps maps and messaging still work, but video needs a lower quality setting. A total-data plan, as the Korea page puts it, has no drop to reduced speed and ends when the total runs out. If you expect to spend far more time on social media and video than the table assumes, a daily plan for the same number of days, or the next size of total-data plan, is the safer choice.

What can I switch on to make my data last longer?

iPhone's Low Data Mode, offline languages in your translator app and Seoul's free public Wi-Fi all cut down what you use. All three were checked against official pages on 14 September 2026.

• Low Data Mode: Apple says that with Dual SIM you go to Settings › Cellular (Mobile Data in some regions), tap one of your numbers and turn on Low Data Mode. Apple says it turns off Background App Refresh and automatic downloads and backups, and pauses updates for services such as iCloud Photos.
• Offline languages in Google Translate: Google's help page says you can download languages to your device and translate without an internet connection. To avoid slow downloads or extra data charges, it says to download only while connected to Wi-Fi.
• Seoul's free Wi-Fi: the Seoul Metropolitan Government's English page lists SEOUL_Secure (ID and password both "seoul") on main streets, at tourist attractions, in urban green spaces, at traditional markets, on city buses, at welfare facilities and at bus stops.

Kedanto's Korea page also says that if you're staying within Seoul, a total-data plan is enough.

Do I count the day I arrive and the day I leave?

Count both, so you don't come up short. Kedanto's product pages give the length only as a number of days. They don't say whether a day means 24 hours from when you connect or a calendar date. The 1GB-a-day plans come in 3, 4, 5, 7, 10 and 15 days, and the 2GB-a-day plans in 5, 7 and 10 days. So a 6-day stay moves up to the 7-day plan, an 8- or 9-day stay to the 10-day plan, and for more than 15 days only total-data plans are left. Total-data plans are used within 30 days, except the 1GB total plan, which is used within 7 days. When to install the eSIM is covered in our post on installing before you land.

If you picked the wrong length or size, you can fix it before installation. Kedanto's refund policy says that if you bought the wrong product, you get a full refund as long as the eSIM hasn't been installed, and can buy again. After installation there's no refund, even if it hasn't been activated yet.

Say you land at Incheon on a Tuesday afternoon and fly out on Saturday morning. That's five dates on the calendar. If it's mostly maps and messaging, you're choosing between 1GB total and 5GB total, which costs the same as 3GB. With an hour of social media a day, it's the 5GB total plan. If you'd rather never worry about running out, it's the 5-day plan with 1GB a day.