What Are the Best SIM Cards for Students in Portugal? (2026)
The verdict for students
Updated August 2026. Buy DIGI 50GB at EUR 4 per month for 50 GB on the DIGI network. Portugal did not require any identification to buy a prepaid SIM as of August 2026, so you can have a Portuguese number on the day you land, with no NIF, no address and no Portuguese IBAN. The general ranking weights rural coverage at 25%, which almost no student needs, and this page drops it to 10%.
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Which SIM plan is the best for students?
★ Student pick
DIGI 50GB
Student fit 5 of 5. EUR 4 a month with no contract, paid by card online, with no Portuguese IBAN
- Contract
- Prepaid, no lock-in
- Calls
- Unlimited minutes
- Support
- English support is limited
Plans(4)
- DIGI 50GBOur pick hereEUR 4
50 GB / per month · Unlimited minutes · EUR 0.08 per GB
- DIGI 150GBEUR 5
150 GB / per month · Unlimited minutes · EUR 0.03 per GB
- DIGI eSIM Móvel 150GBEUR 5
150 GB / per month · Unlimited minutes · EUR 0.03 per GB
- DIGI IlimitadoEUR 6
Unlimited / per month · Unlimited minutes
Prices as of 17 August 2026, verify on the provider site.
More details
- Physical network
- DIGI
- eSIM
- Yes
- NIF required
- No, prepaid
- Minimum term
- None
Best for students who want the most data per euro.
Also great
UZO 100GB
Student fit 5 of 5. EUR 5 a month, an instant eSIM and no IBAN: the obvious choice at any age
- Contract
- Prepaid, no lock-in
- Calls
- Unlimited minutes
- Coverage
- Runs on the MEO network
Plans(4)
- UZO pay-as-you-goEUR 0
Pay per use / per month
- UZO eSIM (native, MEO network)EUR 5
100 GB / per month · Unlimited minutes · EUR 0.05 per GB
- UZO 100GBOur pick hereEUR 8
100 GB / per month · Unlimited minutes · EUR 0.08 per GB
- UZO IlimitadoEUR 10
Unlimited / per month · Unlimited minutes
Prices as of 17 August 2026, verify on the provider site.
More details
- Price per GB
- EUR 0.08
- Physical network
- MEO
- eSIM
- Yes
- NIF required
- No, prepaid
- Minimum term
- None
Best for students who need a different physical network.
Best value
WOO 100GB
Student fit 5 of 5. EUR 5, an instant eSIM, and full speed on the NOS network
- Contract
- Prepaid, no lock-in
- Calls
- 2,500 minutes
- Coverage
- Runs on the NOS network
Plans(3)
- WOO 100GBOur pick hereEUR 5
100 GB / per month · 2,500 minutes · EUR 0.05 per GB
- WOO eSIM (native, NOS network)EUR 5
100 GB / per month · EUR 0.05 per GB
- WOO IlimitadoEUR 7
Unlimited / per month · 5,000 minutes
Prices as of 17 August 2026, verify on the provider site.
More details
- Price per GB
- EUR 0.05
- Physical network
- NOS
- eSIM
- Yes
- NIF required
- No, prepaid
- Minimum term
- None
Best for students who need a different physical network.
The decision a student actually makes is not which network is best, it is how many gigabytes EUR 5 buys. The low-cost brands win outright, and all of them run on a real network: UZO on MEO, WOO on NOS, DIGI on its own. The trade is coverage outside the big cities.
Compare two providers
Already down to two? Each comparison declares a winner on every criterion that decides the purchase.
How we ranked this for students5 criteria, weights published
A reader on a student budget is not the average reader, so this page does not use the average weights. Price per GB carries 45% here against 25% on the general ranking, and Coverage carries 10% here against 25% on the general ranking. The weights were fixed on 17 August 2026, before the prices were collected.
Criteria weighting
Fixed 17 August 2026, before pricing was collectedWhat is ruled out, and why
A blocker is not a drawback. It is something that makes the product unbuyable for this reader, and it caps the score at 1.0 however good the tariff is otherwise.
Blocked for this reader
What counts as student proof in Portugal?
None of the plans above ask for it. Portuguese operators do not run student pricing, so there is no enrolment to prove. What exists instead are age gates: WTF is sold to under-25s, Yorn targets under-35s and students, and Moche is for under-35s. The check is your date of birth, not a declaração de matrícula.
Where student status does matter is elsewhere: university services, the propina of EUR 697 a year for EU students, and municipal transport passes. Ask your faculty for the enrolment declaration at registration, not later.
The same tariffs, ranked for other readers
View all 54 plansThe plan picker is the full market overview: every named tier from every provider with its allowance, price and EUR per GB, filterable by situation and re-rankable.Every persona page ranks the same catalogue. Only the weights differ, and each page states its own. If you are already down to two providers, the comparison pages put them side by side and declare a winner on every row.
How we compared these
Five criteria, weighted for this reader and published above, fixed on 17 August 2026 before the prices were collected. Every price comes from the provider's own page, dated in the catalogue. A blocker caps a product at 1.0. Unlimited allowances are capped at 200 GB when calculating EUR per GB, or every unlimited plan would win that column automatically.
One limit worth stating: the catalogue carries one fit score per persona, not a score per criterion, so the ordering reflects that score and the editorial reasoning behind it rather than an arithmetic weighted total. Per-criterion scoring is the next data pass; until it lands, the weights explain the ranking rather than compute it.
Of the 54 plans in the catalogue, 18 score 4 or 5 for this reader, across 6 providers. Where fewer than three providers clear that line, the third card is still the next best option available and is labelled for what it wins on, not presented as a strong fit.
Sources: provider tariff pages and ANACOM, accessed 17 August 2026. Some links earn a commission at the same rate for every provider, so no weighting favours a payer.
Frequently asked questions
Which Portuguese SIM card gives the most data per euro for students?
DIGI, WOO and UZO are the cheapest per gigabyte in Portugal at EUR 4 to EUR 5 a month for 50 to 150 GB, as of August 2026. None requires a Portuguese IBAN and none has a minimum contract term.
Do you need a NIF to buy a prepaid SIM card in Portugal as a student?
No. Portugal did not require identification to buy a prepaid SIM as of August 2026, so a student can have a Portuguese number on the day they land. A NIF becomes mandatory for postpaid contracts, and a law introducing prepaid registration was proposed in May 2026.
Is a student discount available on Portuguese mobile plans?
Portuguese operators do not run student pricing as such. What exists are youth brands with age gates: WTF is for under-25s, Yorn targets under-35s and students, and Moche is for under-35s. The eligibility is age, not enrolment, so no proof of study is needed.