nadanada vs Silent.Link (2026): Two No-KYC eSIMs, Two Different Models
Silent.Link is the original anonymous eSIM: pay-as-you-go, crypto-only, and respected in privacy communities since 2022. nadanada, founded the same year as LNVPN, is the full privacy stack with fixed plans from $0.99, a VPN and phone numbers under the same roof. Both are honestly no-KYC. The differences are total price, pricing model, and what you get beyond data. Last verified November 5, 2026, after Silent.Link's switch to its new .PLUS plans.
| nadanada | Silent.Link | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Fixed plans, from $0.99, no entry fee | Pay-as-you-go balance, $9 entry ($4 eSIM fee + $5 credit) |
| Balance / plan expiry | Plan validity window | Balance never expires |
| Coverage | 200+ countries & regions | 160+ advertised (184 in rate table) |
| Per-GB cost | Fixed per plan, known upfront ($0.57 to $3 depending on destination and size) | Varies by network your phone picks: $0.84 to $1.04 in Germany, $1.60 to $54.64 in the US |
| 10GB in Germany, first purchase | $7.99 | $12.40 (best network + $4 fee) |
| 10GB in Japan, first purchase | $13.99 | $38.60 (best network + $4 fee) |
| Payment methods | Lightning (5% off), BTC, Monero, USDT/USDC + 200 coins, cards, Apple/Google Pay | BTC, Lightning, Monero; USDT and altcoins via swap; no cards |
| Phone numbers | Rental from $12 / 3 months or $44 / year; eSIM bundles with number from $11 | US number at $98/year, inbound SMS only; UK plan discontinued |
| VPN | WireGuard, from $0.50 / day | None |
| API | Full REST API (eSIM, VPN, numbers) | None |
| Availability | Always in stock | Sold out repeatedly in 2026; resolved with .PLUS plans |
| Account / email / KYC | None | None |
Where Silent.Link wins
- Never-expiring balance: buy once, top up rarely, nothing goes to waste
- Operating since 2022 with a strong reputation on Privacy Guides and the GrapheneOS forums
- Frequently reported as reliable behind China's Great Firewall and in VoIP-restricted countries
- Tor-accessible site and crypto-only stance, which some users see as a purity signal
- Much lower rates than before on the new .PLUS plans, especially in Europe and Turkey
Where nadanada wins
- Lower total price in every destination we checked, at 1GB and 10GB, with no entry fee and the price fixed before you pay
- Wider coverage: 200+ countries and regions vs 160+
- Far cheaper phone numbers: rentals from $12 per 3 months vs $98 per year, plus eSIMs that include a UK or French number from $11
- The rest of the privacy stack: pay-per-use WireGuard VPN and phone numbers from the same no-account checkout
- More ways to pay: 200+ cryptocurrencies plus cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay
- A full REST API for developers and AI agents
- No stock-outs: eSIMs are provisioned on demand
The pricing model is the real difference
Silent.Link sells a $9 eSIM that comes with $5 of balance, and you top the balance up whenever you like. It never expires, which is genuinely useful if you travel twice a year and hate buying a new plan every trip. The catch is what happens when you use it: your phone connects to whichever local network has the best signal, and every network has its own per-GB rate. In the US the published rates span $1.60 to $54.64 per GB depending on the network, in Brazil $2.88 to $7.84, and a few markets such as Angola are still above $160 per GB. You find out what a gigabyte cost after you have used it.
nadanada works the other way around: you pick a plan with a known data amount, validity and price, from $0.99, and that is what you pay. If you run out you top up by ICCID in a minute. Neither model is wrong, but they suit different people. Anyone who wants to know the price before paying, or who travels outside Europe, does better with fixed plans; the very occasional traveler who values never thinking about expiry may prefer the balance model.
What changed in late 2026: the .PLUS plans
In autumn 2026 Silent.Link replaced its legacy plans with DATA.PLUS and US.PLUS on a new carrier backend, and the best-case rates dropped a lot: Germany from $2.71 to about $0.84 per GB, the UK to $0.87, the US from $5.64 to $1.60. That closes most of the old gap in Europe. It does not reverse it. The $4 eSIM fee is sunk on day one, so a first 10GB month in Germany costs $12.40 at Silent.Link against $7.99 at nadanada, and in the UK $12.70 against $8.99. Even ignoring the fee, nadanada's 10GB and larger plans work out at $0.57 to $0.90 per GB across Western Europe, which is at or below Silent.Link's best network. The one market where Silent.Link's rate is clearly lower is Turkey at $0.63 per GB.
Outside Europe the difference stays large. A 10GB month in Japan is $38.60 at Silent.Link versus $13.99 at nadanada, in the UAE $65.10 versus $16.99, in Mexico $43.20 versus $14.99. If you travel beyond Europe and North America, the pricing model is not a matter of taste; it is a multiple.
Privacy: both are the real thing
This comparison is not a privacy contest, because both providers pass the strict test: no account, no email, no ID, crypto accepted, and nothing to link a purchase to a person. Silent.Link is crypto-only (Bitcoin, Lightning, Monero, with USDT and altcoins via a Trocador swap) and Tor-accessible. nadanada accepts the same coins plus about 200 others, and also takes cards for people who do not need payment privacy; the card is seen by the payment processor, not stored by us, and there is still no account or email either way. nadanada also runs an onion service for Tor users.
One structural point worth knowing: Silent.Link routes all traffic through Poland, an EU and NATO member with intelligence-sharing agreements. Whether that matters depends on your threat model; for most travelers it does not, but it is the kind of detail privacy-focused buyers ask about.
Phone numbers and everything beyond data
Silent.Link's number offer shrank in 2026. The old $59 per year US and UK identity plans are gone: the US plan is sold out and listed as legacy, the UK +44 plan no longer appears on the order page, and the replacement US.PLUS costs $98 per year ($93 plus $5 balance) for a +1 number limited to inbound SMS. nadanada rents UK numbers for SMS verification and OTP codes from $12 per 3 months or $44 per year, accessible over the same REST API that covers eSIMs and the VPN, and also sells eSIMs with their own number: Nada-Euro from $11 (Europe data, UK number, 50 minutes and 50 SMS) and Nada-World at $79 (20GB in 203 countries with a French number). If your reason for wanting an anonymous number is account verification, a rental number costs less than a quarter of Silent.Link's yearly plan.
The VPN is the other gap: Silent.Link does not offer one, while nadanada's pay-per-use WireGuard VPN starts at $0.50 per day. If you want mobile data, encrypted traffic and a verification number from one provider with one wallet, that combination is the reason nadanada exists.
Availability and reliability
Silent.Link showed a sold-out notice repeatedly during the first half of 2026, sometimes for days. The new .PLUS plans appear to have fixed that; the order page showed unlimited stock when we checked in November. On the reliability side, Silent.Link has earned its reputation for working behind China's firewall, and its China rate on the .PLUS plans starts at $2.71 per GB; nadanada's China 1GB plan is $1.99 and also works via roaming partners. Our China guide covers the setup in detail.
The verdict
Pick Silent.Link if you travel rarely, use very little data, want a balance that never expires, and are happy to pay a $9 entry fee and a network-dependent rate for the veteran option.
Pick nadanada if you want the lowest total price with the number fixed before you pay, wider coverage, phone numbers and a VPN from the same checkout, card payment as an option, and an API. Silent.Link's new rates have made Europe closer than it used to be; everywhere else, and for anything beyond data, nadanada is the clear choice.
Browse eSIM plans from $0.99 →