← Part of the Brazil money guide
Brazilchecked Aug 2026A catch or twoStaying connected in Brazil.
Almost everything written online about Brazilian SIM cards says a tourist cannot buy one without a CPF tax number. That was a real obstacle once. It is now out of date, and correcting it happens to make our own eSIM look less necessary.
At a glance
Coverage
Good in cities and on the coast
Carrier roaming
$10 to $12 a day
Cheapest
A local chip, about $3 to $6
The CPF myth
A passport is enough at TIM
Coverage is good in the cities and along the coast, thinner in the Amazon, the Pantanal and on interior highways. On the money: a local prepaid chip from Vivo, Claro or TIM costs roughly 17 to 30 reais, about 3 to 6 dollars, for 4GB to 25GB, which undercuts everything else per gigabyte. The famous obstacle is the CPF, Brazil's individual tax number, and the honest 2026 position is that the law lets a foreigner register with a passport and the difficulty is the shop rather than the statute. TIM sells to visitors on a passport most consistently, Claro varies by store and Vivo is the strictest, and the carriers have also added dedicated tourist packages that ask for no CPF. So plan on a carrier store or an airport counter rather than a newsstand, and bring your passport. If you would rather skip that entirely, a Nomad eSIM is a few dollars per gigabyte and works from landing. Roaming on AT&T or Verizon is about 10 to 12 dollars a day, and T-Mobile's mid and upper tiers include 5GB to 30GB of high-speed data before slowing to 256kbps. Never roam pay-per-use, at about 2 dollars a megabyte.
The CPF story, corrected
The internet's Brazil advice has calcified around a rule that has loosened. The CPF is Brazil's individual taxpayer number, every resident has one, and prepaid lines must be registered to an identified person. What follows from that is not that a tourist needs a CPF: the law accepts a passport for a foreign national. What actually goes wrong is human. Every Brazilian customer arrives with a CPF, so some store staff have never processed a passport registration and say it cannot be done.
In practice: TIM is the carrier that handles visitors on a passport most reliably, Claro depends on the store, and Vivo is the strictest even though it has the best rural reach. The carriers have also introduced tourist packages that explicitly do not require a CPF. So the plan is a carrier store in a mall or an airport counter, where staff see foreigners routinely, rather than a kiosk in a neighborhood; your passport; and TIM first if you only want one attempt. If a shop insists on a CPF, that is the shop, not the country.
What each option actually costs
Per gigabyte, the local chip wins and it is not close: roughly 17 to 30 reais, about 3 to 6 dollars, for 4GB to 25GB, with unlimited WhatsApp messaging bundled on many plans. The costs are the store visit, the language, and the small chance of a clerk who says no. A Nomad eSIM is a few dollars per gigabyte, so more per unit of data, and buys arrival-day certainty: it activates before you fly, works on landing, and needs no Portuguese and no counter.
Roaming is the expensive default: AT&T and Verizon day passes are about 10 to 12 dollars a day, so a week is 70 to 84 dollars. Check T-Mobile first if that is your carrier, since its current mid and upper tiers include roughly 5GB on Experience More, Magenta MAX and Go5G Plus, 15GB on Experience Beyond and Go5G Next and 30GB on Better Value before slowing to 256kbps. And do not roam with no plan: pay-per-use at about 2 dollars a megabyte is where the horror-story bills come from, so turn off data roaming until something is active.
Coverage, and where it thins
Brazil is a continent, and the network reflects it. Rio, Sao Paulo, Salvador, Recife, Fortaleza and the coastal strip have strong 4G and widespread urban 5G. Where it thins is predictable: the Amazon basin, the Pantanal, long stretches of interior highway and remote beaches in the northeast. Vivo has the widest rural and remote footprint, which is worth knowing because it is also the carrier strictest about paperwork, so a rural itinerary is the one case where the store hassle may be worth choosing deliberately.
If your trip includes the Amazon, the Pantanal or a long drive between coastal cities, download offline maps and save your bookings so they open without a connection. A lodge deep in the Pantanal will have satellite wifi at best. This guide is written for US travelers departing the US. For more, see cash or card in Brazil, taxis and apps in Brazil, and the Brazil money guide.
Common questions
Quick answers.
Do I need a CPF to buy a SIM card in Brazil?
No. Brazilian law lets a foreign national register a prepaid line with a passport, and the carriers have added tourist packages that ask for no CPF. The problem is that some store staff have never processed a passport registration and will tell you otherwise. TIM handles visitors most consistently, Claro varies by store and Vivo is the strictest.
How much does a Brazilian SIM card cost?
Roughly 17 to 30 reais, about 3 to 6 dollars, for a prepaid chip with 4GB to 25GB, often with unlimited WhatsApp messaging included. Per gigabyte that undercuts both roaming and a travel eSIM. Buy it at a carrier store or an airport counter with your passport rather than at a newsstand.
Is an eSIM or a local SIM better for Brazil?
The local chip is cheaper per gigabyte. The eSIM is easier: it activates before you fly, works on landing and needs no store visit, no Portuguese and no chance of a clerk who insists on a CPF. If you want the cheapest data and do not mind an errand, buy local. If you want to land connected, buy the eSIM knowing it is the convenience option.
How much does it cost to use my US phone in Brazil?
About 10 to 12 dollars a day on an AT&T or Verizon day pass, so roughly 70 to 84 dollars a week. AT&T caps its Day Pass at 10 daily fees per line per bill period, so about 120 dollars covers the rest of that bill period on land, while Verizon's TravelPass has no equivalent cap and keeps billing daily, which matters on a trip longer than 10 days. T-Mobile is worth checking first, since its mid and upper tiers include 5GB to 30GB of high-speed data abroad before slowing to 256kbps. Never roam with no plan, since pay-per-use runs about 2 dollars a megabyte.
More on Brazil
The little money things nobody warns you about.
- Taxis in Brazil, and the apps to useIn Brazil, the ride apps are not just cheaper than street taxis, they are the safer choice, which is why locals lean on them. Install Uber and 99, and here is how to use them and leave the airport smoothly.
- Tipping in BrazilIn Brazil, a 10% service charge is usually already on your restaurant bill, so a tip is largely built in. Here is what you actually owe, and where a little extra makes sense.
- Do US citizens need a visa for Brazil?Short answer: yes, and it caught a lot of people out. Brazil brought back a visa for Americans in 2025, it is online only, and there is one official site. Here is the cost, the timing, and how not to overpay.
- Do I need cash in Brazil, or can I use cards?Short answer: cards cover most of a city trip, and you need less cash than you would think. The wrinkles are Brazilian: Pix has taken over informal payments but tourists mostly cannot use it, and foreign cards carry a local tax. Here is how to pay well.
- Common money scams in Brazil, and what they cost youBrazil is one of the great travel countries and millions of visits pass without any of this. But we are not going to tell you a few habits defuse it, because that would be dishonest. The main ways money leaves a foreign visitor in Brazil are not an inflated bill or a rigged meter. They are a drink you did not watch being poured, and a car you cannot get out of. That changes the advice: it is about not entering the situation, and about limiting what can be taken if you do. The situations are specific and recognisable. Note that this page covers money; the US State Department has Brazil at Level 2 with a kidnapping risk indicator, so read the full advisory for the wider picture.
- What does getting sick in Brazil cost a visitor?Brazil is one of the most reassuring pages on this site, and we are going to say so plainly: Brazil's public system treats anyone in an emergency, tourists included, without a bill at the door. The money question here is not whether you will be treated. It is whether you choose the private tier, and who pays for a flight home.
Sources, and how this was checked
Last checkedAug 2026
- T-Mobileinternational roaming pages listing the high-speed data allowance by plan tier
- Verizoninternational travel pages, the TravelPass daily rate and what it includes
- AT&TInternational Day Pass, the daily rate and the covered-destination list
- TIM Brasilprepaid plan pages and store locations
- US State DepartmentBrazil country information for US travelers
Our own readChecked Aug 2026, and this page is a correction. The widely repeated claim that a tourist cannot buy a Brazilian SIM without a CPF is out of date: the law accepts a passport from a foreign national, TIM sells to visitors on one routinely, and the carriers added no-CPF tourist packages. Worth saying who benefits from the old version. Much of the Brazil SIM advice online is published by companies selling eSIMs, ourselves included, and the CPF story makes an eSIM look necessary rather than merely convenient. Correcting it costs us sales and is still what the evidence says. What we would flag as genuinely variable is the store experience rather than the law, so bring a passport, start at TIM, and treat a clerk's refusal as a store problem. Carrier day-pass figures are an Aug 2026 snapshot.
How we checkHow every guide is researched, checked and dated