Best eSIM for Cape Verde

Cape Verde is an island-hopping destination with only two mobile networks, and every travel eSIM we found sells you the smaller one. Airalo and Nomad both connect to Unitel T+, which held about 32 percent of active SIM cards in March 2026 according to figures from the regulator, the ARME. The other 68 percent sit on Alou, the brand that replaced CVMovel when Cabo Verde Telecom folded its mobile arm back into the parent company in July 2023. Holafly does not sell Cape Verde at all. Prices start at 9 dollars for a three-day gigabyte on Airalo and run to 45 dollars for 10 GB over a month on Nomad.

The fact that changes the advice is that Unitel T+ sells its own visitor eSIM, called Morabeza, on the same network, online, before you fly and without documents. Its 10 GB plan costs 1,100 escudos, about 10 euros, for ten days. So the travel brands are a convenience purchase here: one app you already know, English support, and a profile that also works on the rest of your trip. That is worth paying for on a three-night stopover on Sal. On a fortnight that strings Sal, Sao Vicente and Santo Antao together, the eSIM Finder will show how quickly the gap adds up.

Quick Pick: the Best eSIM for Cape Verde

Nomad (Cape Verde 5 GB / 30 days): At 29 dollars for 5 GB over thirty days, Nomad is six dollars cheaper than Airalo's equivalent and covers a typical week on Sal or Boa Vista plus a second island without a top-up. It rides Unitel T+, like every travel eSIM sold for Cape Verde. If you will only be on the ground for three days, Airalo's 9 dollar starter is the cheaper pick.

Cape Verde eSIM Plans Compared

Indicative pricing. Tap through for live rates.

Airalo Cape Verde Plans

Airalo opens at 9 dollars for 1 GB over three days, and that starter is the one plan on the page that makes clear sense. A three-day gigabyte is what a passenger connecting through Sal, or a couple flying in for a long weekend at Santa Maria, actually needs: maps for the taxi, WhatsApp to the hotel, a boarding pass on the way home. Nomad's smallest plan is 15 dollars, so for short trips Airalo is six dollars cheaper.

Past that the ladder is steep and oddly shaped. Three gigabytes cost 22 dollars on a three-day plan and 24 on a seven-day plan. Five gigabytes are 30 dollars for a week, 32 for fifteen days and 35 for thirty. Ten gigabytes cost 47, 48 or 49 dollars depending on whether you take seven, fifteen or thirty days. Validity is almost free on this page, so if you buy anything above the starter, always take the longest version of the allowance you want.

The network is the same as Nomad's. Airalo's Cape Verde page names a single operator, UNITEL, which is Unitel T+, the smaller of the archipelago's two networks. That is fine on Sal, Boa Vista and in Praia and Mindelo. It is the reason we hedge about the steep valleys of Santo Antao and the slopes of Fogo, where the larger Alou network is generally credited with the better reach.

Where Airalo genuinely earns its place is the multi-country trip. Its Africa regional plans start at 11 dollars and list Cape Verde, so a Senegal and Cape Verde holiday, or a work trip that strings Praia together with Dakar and Bissau, can run on one profile.

Nomad Cape Verde Plans

Nomad prices Cape Verde at 15 dollars for 1 GB over seven days, 21 for 3 GB, 29 for 5 GB and 45 for 10 GB, the last three all valid for thirty days. Against Airalo it loses on the smallest plan and wins on everything bigger: 5 GB for a month is 29 dollars here and 35 on Airalo, and 3 GB for a month at 21 dollars undercuts Airalo's 3 GB weekly plan.

That makes Nomad the better of the two for the classic Cape Verde holiday shape, which is a week or ten days on Sal or Boa Vista, often with a side trip to a second island. Three gigabytes covers a hotel-based week with good resort WiFi in the evenings. Five gigabytes covers a week of island hopping where you are navigating, booking ferries and messaging guides from the road.

The network listing is identical to Airalo's: Unitel T+ and nothing else, despite boilerplate on the same page about connecting to more than one local network. In Cape Verde there are only two networks and both travel brands sit on the smaller one. Nomad's sixty-day activation window is useful here, because many visitors book Cape Verde packages months ahead and like to sort the phone at the same time.

The honest caveat is the one that applies to every travel eSIM in this country. Unitel T+ sells its own visitor eSIM on the same network, without documents, for a fraction of these prices. Nomad's advantages over it are an English app you may already have, a profile that works across your other trips, and support that does not depend on a Cape Verdean helpdesk.

Mobile Networks in Cape Verde

Cape Verde has ten islands strung across the Atlantic some 600 kilometres off Senegal, nine of them inhabited, and a population of roughly half a million. A market that small supports exactly two mobile operators, and the regulator, the Agencia Reguladora Multissetorial da Economia (ARME), publishes their shares of active SIM cards. In March 2026 the split was about 68 percent to 32 percent.

Alou is the larger network, and the name most guidebooks have not caught up with. Cabo Verde Telecom built the country's fixed and mobile networks, ran mobile through a subsidiary called CVMovel, and on 1 July 2023 merged CVMovel and its CVMultimedia arm back into the parent company under a single consumer brand, Alou. The masts, numbers and shops carried over. Older CVMovel signs still hang over some corner shops that sell top-ups, and Alou's own terms of service still sit on CVTelecom letterhead. Alou is generally credited with the wider footprint on the mountainous outer islands.

Unitel T+ is the challenger, controlled since 2012 by Angola's Unitel group. It is the network that every travel eSIM brand we checked connects to: Airalo's Cape Verde page names UNITEL and nothing else, and Nomad's names Unitel T+. Unitel T+ is also unusual in one way that matters to visitors. It runs its own tourist eSIM shop at esim.uniteltmais.cv, priced in escudos or euros, with plans called Morabeza, the Cape Verdean word for the islands' easy hospitality.

Both operators advertise 4G across all the inhabited islands, and on the flat, low islands of Sal, Boa Vista and Maio the topography helps: there is little to block a signal. The hard places are the deep ribeiras, the steep stream valleys of Santo Antao, Sao Nicolau and Santiago's interior, where a village can sit in a fold of rock with no line of sight to any mast. Travel guides consistently report coastal towns there as fine and the trails between them as patchy or dead. We could find no official island-by-island coverage map from either operator, so treat any claim of full coverage, including the providers' own, with some caution.

Two practical points round this out. The escudo is pegged to the euro at 110.265, so 1,100 escudos is always almost exactly 10 euros, and euros are widely accepted on Sal and Boa Vista. And getting between islands is its own connectivity problem: Cabo Verde Airlines took the domestic network back from the Angolan carrier Bestfly in 2024, the ferry concession sits with CV Interilhas, and delays on both are common, so a working phone for rebooking is worth more here than in most beach destinations.

Coverage Across Cape Verde

Coverage where travelers actually go:

How to Choose the Right Plan

Start by asking how many islands you will see. If the answer is one, and it is Sal or Boa Vista, any of the options works and the choice comes down to price and convenience. Unitel's own Morabeza eSIM is the cheapest at about 10 euros for 10 GB over ten days, provided you are happy creating an account on a Cape Verdean portal. If you would rather stay in an app you already use, buy Nomad: 3 GB at 21 dollars or 5 GB at 29 covers most resort weeks. For a stopover of three days or less, Airalo's 9 dollar gigabyte is the cheapest travel-brand plan. If you are island hopping into Santo Antao, Fogo or Brava, remember that all of these ride Unitel T+, and consider adding an Alou line, either Alou's own eSIM from alou.cv, where a 5 GB monthly pack costs 700 escudos, or a physical card from an Alou shop in Mindelo or Praia. And if Cape Verde is one stop on a longer West African trip, Airalo's Africa regional plans from 11 dollars may beat buying country plans one by one.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do Airalo and Nomad both use Unitel T+ in Cape Verde?

Because that is the wholesale deal on offer. Both brands buy access from a local operator, and in Cape Verde the operator selling to them is Unitel T+, the smaller of the two networks with about a third of active SIMs. Alou, the larger network formerly called CVMovel, sells its own eSIM direct but not through the travel brands. On Sal, Boa Vista, Praia and Mindelo the difference is minor. On Santo Antao, Fogo and Brava, where Alou is generally reported to reach further, it can matter.

Is Unitel's Morabeza eSIM a better deal than Airalo or Nomad?

On price, clearly. Morabeza 10 is 10 GB for ten days at 1,100 escudos, about 10 euros, and Morabeza 15 is 15 GB for fifteen days at 1,650 escudos, against 45 dollars for 10 GB on Nomad. It runs on the same network, includes 30 minutes of national calls, needs no documents, and can be bought before you fly with 45 days to activate. The trade-offs are that you must create an account on a Cape Verdean portal, each QR code installs only once and cannot be reinstalled if deleted, and support runs through Unitel's local channels. We did not complete a purchase, so we cannot confirm which foreign cards its checkout accepts.

Did CVMovel disappear?

Only the name. On 1 July 2023 Cabo Verde Telecom merged CVMovel back into the parent company and moved everything to a single brand, Alou. The network, numbers and shops are the same. If an older guide tells you to buy a CVMovel SIM, ask for Alou, and you will still see the old logo on some top-up stickers around Santa Maria and Mindelo.

Will my eSIM work on every island?

It will work in the towns of every inhabited island, since Unitel T+ advertises nationwide coverage. What it will not do is hold a signal in every valley. Santo Antao's hiking trails, the caldera on Fogo and parts of interior Santiago have long gaps on both networks. Save offline maps and trail notes before you leave a town, and do not count on a call for help from the bottom of a ribeira.

Do I need data to deal with Cape Verde's inter-island flights and ferries?

It helps more than people expect. Domestic flights are run by Cabo Verde Airlines, which took the network back from Bestfly in 2024, and the ferries are run by CV Interilhas. Schedule changes are common on both, and notices often arrive by text, email or WhatsApp. If your trip is a single resort on Sal or Boa Vista this barely matters. If you are hopping, keep a working line on throughout.

Can I just use roaming from Europe in Cape Verde?

Cape Verde is outside the EU, so EU roam-like-at-home rules do not apply, and standard roaming rates from European carriers are typically steep. Several French budget mobile plans include a sizeable data allowance usable in Cape Verde, so check yours before you buy anything. If it does not, a local eSIM bought before you fly is almost always cheaper than roaming.