Best Way to Build a Platform Like Saily or Airalo: Real Costs, Features, Tech Stack & Strategy

 

No Buzzwords. No Fluff. Just the Real Path to Building Scalable eSIM Marketplaces.

Before I actually talk and share insights, I want to address the elephant in the room.

As we step into 2025, the internet is flooded with cookie-cutter content written purely for SEO. You have probably seen countless blog posts titled “How to Build a Platform Like XYZ” and while they may rank well on Google, most are written by content writers with zero technical experience. Their goal is to drive traffic. And sure, with high-ticket projects like Airalo or Saily style platforms, some clicks may convert into leads.

But here is the problem. These articles are all noise.
They recycle the same formula, research, plan, choose a tech stack like MERN or PHP, without offering any real, nuanced insight into what actually goes into building a complex, scalable product. The truth is, most of these writers have never touched a line of code or sat through a product sprint, and it shows.

I am not here to spoon-feed you generic steps or push you toward whatever tech stack is trending. I have spent years as a developer, and today I work directly with founders to architect and launch products, often through unconventional, lean, and highly efficient approaches that save both time and budget without compromising on quality or scalability.

So, why should you listen

Because I have seen what works and more importantly, what does not.
I have worked with founders who burnt through their entire budget before even reaching launch. I have seen teams collapse under tech debt, or get trapped in endless development cycles because no one thought through the roadmap realistically. And I have helped teams course-correct when it mattered most.

In fact, we have worked with a client in Africa to build a similar eSIM marketplace platform.

While that startup eventually had to shut down due to funding challenges, the entire process gave us first-hand experience in both what works and where founders often hit the wall. This is not just theory, we have learned from both successful and failed journeys in this exact vertical.

In This Guide, We Will Cover

The tech stacks that scale vs. the ones that only sound good on paper
Tools, frameworks, and architectures that actually work
A practical approach to building fast without cutting corners
The real cost of building an eSIM marketplace in 2026

This is not a theory. This is what is working in the real world right now.

Let us get into it.

The Tech Stack

Before diving into the specific tech stack and frameworks, let us first break Airalo or Saily down into a few core components. This will help us better understand how each part works and how the tech stack supports it.

The Core Layers

Content and Visual Layer
Landing pages, plan catalogs, regional eSIM offers, SEO content, help center, knowledge base.

Commerce Layer
eSIM plan listings, pricing engines, cart and checkout flows, subscription renewals, multiple currency support.

eSIM Provisioning Layer
Integrations with telecom providers and aggregators, real-time eSIM issuance, activation QR generation, device provisioning.

Operations Layer
KYC verification, fraud detection, payments reconciliation, multi-telco settlement, support tools.

Maintenance and Support
Monitoring, uptime, alerting, version upgrades, data privacy compliance including GDPR and telecom regulations.

1. Content + Visual Layer (The App Interface)

When we talk about the content and visual layer, we're referring to the app and website itself — the regional plan catalogs, pricing pages, banners, country selectors, plan activation guides, user dashboards, and all the dynamic content users interact with.

Traditionally, many teams opt for a custom backend (built in Node.js, PHP, etc.) to manage this. That includes handling functionality like updating plan information, changing promotional banners, managing FAQ content, sending notifications, etc. But there are two major challenges with this approach:

• You not only have to build the backend, but also design and develop an admin panel from scratch.
  
  

• Making the app dynamic (for example, updating offers for different countries, launching new plans, or seasonal discounts without forcing users to update the app) becomes complex, time-consuming, and difficult to scale.
  
  

So, what's the better alternative?

Enter: Headless CMS

If you're unfamiliar with headless CMS platforms, think of them as backend-only content management systems. They don't include a frontend, so you can fully customize how and where the content appears. They're SaaS-based or open-source self-hosted, scalable, and allow dynamic content updates without requiring app updates from users.

With a headless CMS, you can:

• Easily manage country-specific offers, banners, and regional pricing.
  
  

• Schedule and launch global marketing campaigns.
  
  

• Instantly update your platform’s content without requiring app store releases.
  
  

Building this level of flexibility manually with Node or any custom backend could take 6–8 months, a large dev team, and tons of QA/testing.

Why this approach works

We’ve used this model to launch multiple MVPs quickly in telecom marketplaces, and many global-scale apps use the same strategy. For example, platforms managing multi-region telecom products often rely on headless CMS like Directus to power their dynamic offer management and content operations.

This kind of content layer is often referred to as a Digital Experience Platform (DXP).

Recommended Headless CMS Platforms

Some great options to consider:

• Directus (free open source)
  
  

• Sanity (SaaS)
  
  

• Payload CMS (free open source)
  
  

• Contentful (SaaS)
  
  

These platforms are either open-source or SaaS-based, and depending on your choice, you can build out the content infrastructure in under a month (especially if your UI is ready). Using a headless CMS can reduce development time by up to 60 percent.

If you’re wondering which one is the best fit for your project, check out this guide:
Best Headless CMS in 2025

2. Commerce (The Transactional Core)

Now let’s talk about the heart of any Saily or Airalo-style platform: commerce.

This is where most MVPs start bleeding time, money, and sanity.

We’re talking about:

• eSIM plan and regional package management
  
  

• Cart and checkout flow
  
  

• Payments and wallet top-ups
  
  

• Multi-role access (admin, telecom vendors, customer support)
  
  

• Multi-currency pricing, taxes, and telecom partner settlements
  
  

• Subscription renewals, refunds, and usage tracking
  
  

Most founders make the same mistake: they try to custom-build the entire commerce engine from scratch. Sounds reasonable in theory  until you realize you're basically reinventing telecom-grade subscription commerce and billing engines for your app.

Here’s what that really means in practice:

• Building telecom vendor panels, admin dashboards, and billing systems from scratch
  
  

• Architecting secure checkout, global payment integrations, and wallet balance logic
  
  

• Handling edge cases like failed activations, partial refunds, tax compliance, and partner revenue share
  
  

• Testing for months because one broken billing flow means real money lost
  
  

If you're aiming to launch in under 6 months, forget it. Unless you have millions in funding and a team of 20+ engineers, you’ll burn out before v1 hits production.

So, what’s the smarter route?

Just like how we use headless CMS for content and UI flexibility, the same concept applies here  plug into battle-tested commerce infrastructure that’s:

• Modular
  
  

• Open-source or SaaS
  
  

• Customizable
  
  

• Built to scale from day one
  
  

Tools We Recommend for the Commerce Layer

1. Medusa.js (Open Source)

A headless commerce engine built for developers. Medusa gives you a customizable backend with APIs for products, orders, subscriptions, and payments — plus pre-built admin dashboards.

• Built with Node.js
  
  

• Supports multi-vendor and plugin architecture
  
  

• Great for eSIM plan catalogs and dynamic regional pricing
  
  

• Super fast to set up and iterate on
  
  

• Ideal if you want flexibility but still need speed
  
  

2. Commerce Layer

If you’re going global or planning complex regional pricing models, this is a killer SaaS option.

• API-first, with native support for multi-currency and localization
  
  

• Telecom billing-friendly with subscription management capabilities
  
  

• Integrates well with headless frontends and CMS platforms
  
  

• Scales with your business without heavy infrastructure overhead
  
  

3. CommerceTools

This one is used by enterprise-level companies. Think of it as the telecom-grade equivalent of Shopify Plus for subscription commerce.

• Extremely robust
  
  

• Best-in-class APIs for complex billing models
  
  

• Ideal for businesses expecting high traffic and multi-region compliance needs
  
  

If you’re wondering which one is the best fit for your project, check out this guide:
Best Headless eCommerce platform in 2025

What About Internal Tools Like CRM, Admin Dashboards, or Vendor Ops?

Here’s another common trap: teams spend months building internal tools from scratch — just to manage plans, activations, and support tickets.

Again, don’t build unless you have to.

Use tools like:

• ToolJet – open-source, drag-and-drop internal tool builder
  
  

• Retool – the go-to for building fast admin panels with real-time DB/API integrations
  
  

• Appsmith – a solid open-source alternative for quick dashboards
  
  

These platforms connect to your DB, APIs, or services (like Medusa or your telecom aggregator APIs) and let you build admin tools, vendor portals, subscription dashboards, and support tools — in a matter of days, not months.

TL;DR: Commerce, the Smart Way

This strategy lets you focus on differentiation, not infrastructure. You're not building the next Stripe or Shopify  you're building a telecom product experience that sits on top of proven infrastructure.

In the next section, we’ll break down the Operations layer  how to handle activations, provisioning, KYC, and compliance without going broke or insane.

Let’s keep going.

 

3. eSIM Provisioning Layer

Now let’s talk about one of the most critical parts of building a Saily or Airalo style platform. The eSIM provisioning layer.

This is where a lot of technical complexity starts to show up. And honestly, how complicated this becomes completely depends on how you want to build your platform.

If you’re planning a very lean MVP with limited telecom partners, things stay simple. But if you want to scale globally, offer multiple carriers, support complex activations, and handle regional regulations, this layer quickly gets a lot more challenging.

We’re talking about:

• Real-time eSIM activation with telecom partner APIs
  
  

• QR code generation and delivery to users
  
  

• Device compatibility checks for different phones and OS versions
  
  

• Partner integrations with multiple carriers or aggregators
  
  

• Handling activation failures, retries, refunds, and escalations
  
  

• Usage monitoring, balance tracking, and subscription renewals
  
  

• KYC and identity verification (depending on country and telecom laws)
  
  

• Compliance with telecom licenses and data privacy laws like GDPR
  
  

A lot of founders initially assume provisioning is just "hit API, activate eSIM, done."
In reality, you are building a system that connects multiple networks, customer accounts, payments, and identity verification all together, usually across multiple countries with different rules.

What this really involves

• Telecom API integration for every partner you work with
  
  

• Secure QR code creation and instant delivery
  
  

• Device compatibility filtering (iPhone, Pixel, Samsung, etc.)
  
  

• Status tracking for each activation and potential failures
  
  

• Logic for re-issuance or fallback if QR codes expire or fail
  
  

• Syncing activation state with payments and subscription billing
  
  

• KYC flow integration for certain regulated countries
  
  

• Telecom license compliance and country-level registration
  
  

If you try to build this entire stack fully custom, you are looking at 12 to 18 months of development and heavy telecom domain knowledge.

So what’s the smarter way to approach this

Just like with CMS and commerce, you want to modularize wherever possible.

You don’t need to build your own provisioning engine if you are not becoming a full telecom operator yourself.

Instead, you can integrate with global telecom aggregators or orchestration providers who already offer most of the provisioning stack you need.

Providers you can consider

Truphone
Direct telecom provider offering global eSIM profiles.
Supports consumer and enterprise activations.
Handles device compatibility across regions.
Offers multiple regional data bundles out of the box.

1GLOBAL
API-first orchestration layer that aggregates multiple carriers.
Simplifies partner onboarding across multiple countries.
Ideal if you want to expand into multi-region quickly without separate carrier deals.

BICS
Carrier-grade global telecom provider.
Robust eSIM profile management.
Good for large scale and enterprise volumes.
Real-time usage, activation reporting, and balance sync supported.

Other Options
There are also regional eSIM providers that may offer APIs depending on your initial markets. Always validate their API quality, activation speed, and regulatory coverage before integration.

What about internal tools like dashboards and KYC

This is where many teams over-engineer too early.
Instead of building custom dashboards for everything, you can easily spin up internal ops tools for your team using:

• ToolJet for activation monitoring
  
  

• Retool for KYC workflows
  
  

• Appsmith for vendor and dispute management
  
  

These platforms let you build exactly what your support, ops, or compliance teams need without burning development cycles for every change.

TLDR. eSIM Provisioning The Smart Way

Provisioning is the engine behind your entire platform.
If this layer breaks, activations fail, customers churn, and partners lose trust.
Start simple. Build clean integrations. Expand your telecom network as you scale.

 

4. Operations Layer

This is the layer most people don’t pay enough attention to at the beginning. But once your eSIM marketplace starts scaling, this becomes one of the most important parts of your system.

We are talking about

• KYC verification and compliance
  
  

• Fraud detection and high-risk account management
  
  

• Payments reconciliation with payment gateways
  
  

• Multi-telco settlement and partner payouts
  
  

• Subscription renewals and failed payment handling
  
  

• Customer support tools to manage refunds, cancellations, and disputes
  
  

At a small scale, you might be able to manage a lot of this manually. But as soon as you go multi-region and start working with multiple telecom providers, this quickly turns into a full-blown operations engine.

Most founders underestimate how messy things get once money flows between customers, multiple telecom partners, payment processors, and regulatory bodies.

What this really involves

• KYC document collection and ID verification for countries where it's required
  
  

• Ongoing fraud checks for stolen credit cards or abuse
  
  

• Syncing successful activations with your payments system to release revenue
  
  

• Handling partner payout calculations for each telecom vendor
  
  

• Issuing refunds when activations fail or customers request cancellation
  
  

• Tracking disputes and chargebacks across payment gateways
  
  

• Giving your support team full access to monitor and resolve customer issues in real-time
  
  

How to approach operations smartly

You do not need to build every part of this from scratch.

Instead, connect best-in-class tools into your existing system.

• Use 3rd-party KYC providers like Onfido, Sumsub, or Veriff
  
  

• Use built-in fraud detection from your payment gateways like Stripe Radar
  
  

• Use accounting tools to automate telecom vendor settlement calculations
  
  

• Build your admin dashboards for support teams using Retool, ToolJet, or Appsmith
  
  

• Use your commerce engine’s webhook system to coordinate payment reconciliation with activation statuses
  
  

At the beginning, your ops stack can stay pretty lightweight. But if you set it up correctly, you won’t hit major scaling problems once your transaction volume grows.

5. Maintenance and Support

Even if you build the perfect tech stack on paper, your system still needs long-term maintenance to keep running smoothly.

We are talking about

• Uptime monitoring and real-time incident alerts
  
  

• Version upgrades across your backend services
  
  

• Regular security patches and vulnerability scans
  
  

• Ongoing compliance updates for telecom regulations
  
  

• Data privacy management for GDPR, CCPA, and local laws
  
  

• Secure storage for KYC data and transaction logs
  
  

If you skip these things early, you’ll feel the pain once regulators or telecom partners start asking for audits and reports.

What this really involves

• 24/7 uptime monitoring with tools like Pingdom, Datadog, or Upptime
  
  

• Centralized error logging using tools like Sentry or LogRocket
  
  

• Automated backups and disaster recovery plans
  
  

• Compliance checklists for each country you operate in
  
  

• Periodic security penetration tests and audits
  
  

• Data encryption and access control for all customer data
  
  

• Processes for data deletion requests under GDPR
  
  

How to approach maintenance from day one

The good news is you don’t need a full DevOps team at the MVP stage. You just need a clean deployment pipeline and monitoring system that alerts you when something breaks.

• Use cloud platforms like Vercel, AWS, or GCP for hosting
  
  

• Use managed databases with built-in backups
  
  

• Use off-the-shelf monitoring tools to get instant visibility
  
  

• Document your compliance requirements country by country early
  
  

• Build a simple incident response plan your team can follow
  
  

If you don’t want to burn your cash on infrastructure

The simplest way to reduce your ops burden in the beginning is to use the official cloud versions provided by the CMS and commerce platforms themselves.

• Directus Cloud can fully manage your CMS instance, scaling, and backups.
  
  

• Medusa Cloud (official hosted offering) can handle your commerce backend without you worrying about deployments or server management.
  
  

By starting on their official hosted platforms, you avoid dealing with infrastructure until you actually have real scaling or security needs.

Once your business grows, you can always migrate to self-hosted versions later if you want full control.

6. Third-Party Tools You Will Eventually Need

Once everything is connected and your platform is live, there are additional third-party tools you will most likely end up using to operate, optimize, and scale your business properly.

Tracking and Analytics

Google Analytics 4 (GA4)
Segment
Mixpanel

Advanced Analytics

Metabase
Tableau
Power BI

Custom Dashboards

Snowflake
Looker Studio
Metabase

User Behavior Tracking

Hotjar
FullStory
Amplitude

Fast Delivery and Caching

Cloudflare
Akamai
AWS CloudFront
Redis
Varnish

A/B Testing and Optimization

Optimizely
VWO Visual Website Optimizer
Google Optimize

User Search Queries

Algolia
Elasticsearch
Typesense

Customer Queries and Support

Zendesk
Intercom
Freshdesk

OTA (Over-The-Air) App Updates

Expo EAS Updates
Microsoft CodePush
Firebase App Distribution

Tech Stack Summary (2025-Ready)

 

Let’s Talk About Pricing

When estimating the cost of running this modern tech stack at scale for an eSIM marketplace like Saily or Airalo, here’s a realistic scenario:

Hypothetical Usage

5 million users
Approximately 50 million API calls per month (telecom provisioning, activations, payments, CRM, and support)

Based on this scale — and depending on which platforms you choose for CMS, commerce, real-time provisioning, telecom integrations, and support — the annual infrastructure and platform cost typically ranges between $100,000 to $300,000.

And to operate and maintain this stack efficiently, you will only need a small team of 4 to 5 developers.

 

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What If You Build a Custom Backend

Now let’s compare this with a fully custom backend approach.

While server costs might be slightly lower, the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is significantly higher.

You would require a team of at least 20 plus developers to build, maintain, and scale the system.

Annual costs can easily exceed $1 million, factoring in:

• Telecom API integrations and ongoing partner management
  
  

• Infrastructure and DevOps
  
  

• Backend development
  
  

• QA, monitoring, and global compliance
  
  

• Maintenance and ongoing scaling complexity
  
  

 

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Summary

 

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Development Cost Breakdown

Assuming you’re using the modular tools and platforms outlined above, the cost of development will largely depend on the scope, scale, and which telecom partners you're integrating with.

For a typical Saily or Airalo-style eSIM marketplace, here’s a realistic estimate.

Initial Development Cost

$80,000 to $200,000+

This estimate includes:

• Customer-facing website and mobile apps (iOS and Android)
  
  

• Telecom vendor integration and eSIM provisioning setup
  
  

• Subscription management and wallet top-ups
  
  

• Admin dashboards for vendor management and support teams
  
  

• KYC, identity verification, fraud protection flows
  
  

• Payments, billing, partner settlements
  
  

• CMS integration for plan catalogs, landing pages, and SEO content
  
  

• Telecom regulatory compliance and data privacy setup
  
  

• QA, testing, and deployment
  
  

 

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Factors That Influence Cost

• Number of platforms (Web, iOS, Android)
  
  

• Number of telecom vendors and countries supported
  
  

• Regional pricing, multi-currency, tax, and billing logic
  
  

• Telecom provisioning integration complexity
  
  

• KYC, fraud, and compliance setup
  
  

• Admin dashboards and internal support tools
  
  

• Realtime monitoring, notifications, and activation status tracking
  
  

• Subscription renewals, failed payment retries, and customer balances
  
  

 

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Summary

 

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Development Cost: Custom Backend

If you attempt to build everything fully custom with Node.js or equivalent backend frameworks, your costs go up very quickly.

Estimated Cost

$300,000 to $1,000,000+

What’s Included

• Full custom backend architecture for provisioning, billing, and subscription logic
  
  

• Telecom API integrations across multiple carriers
  
  

• Complex vendor, billing, settlement, and payment reconciliation systems
  
  

• Customer-facing apps (web and mobile)
  
  

• Admin, KYC, compliance, and reporting dashboards
  
  

• Realtime activation state management systems
  
  

• QA, testing, deployment, and global scaling
  
  

 

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Key Cost Drivers

• Complexity of real-time telecom provisioning
  
  

• Number of supported countries and regional compliance requirements
  
  

• Multi-currency payments, fraud, and settlements
  
  

• KYC identity verification per-region
  
  

• Internal operations tooling and monitoring
  
  

• Number of developers and specialists required
  
  

• Longer timelines (12 to 18 months to reach full feature parity)
  
  

 

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Summary

 

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Cost Breakdown: Hiring Teams vs Building In-House

Let’s assume you are building a global eSIM marketplace platform like Saily or Airalo, using Medusa.js for commerce, Sanity or Directus for the CMS, and integrating with telecom provisioning APIs like 1GLOBAL, Truphone, or BICS.

In the US, the average monthly salary for experienced developers is roughly $10,000 and often closer to $15,000 to $20,000 for senior developers who understand full-stack development, telecom integrations, real-time systems, and KYC compliance.

To build and manage your eSIM platform effectively, you would typically need:

• At least one senior frontend developer (Next.js, React Native, Flutter)
  
  

• One senior backend developer (Node.js, Medusa.js, telecom APIs)
  
  

• A cloud infrastructure and DevOps specialist
  
  

• A project manager (PM)
  
  

• A quality assurance (QA) specialist
  
  

• Telecom integration consultants (depending on carrier complexity)
  
  

This means you are easily looking at a core team of 6 to 8 people. Over the course of a full project cycle, your total in-house cost could reach between $700,000 to $1,000,000+ depending on the number of telecom partners, countries, and features you plan to support.

Additionally, if your in-house team lacks prior experience building telecom provisioning flows, subscription commerce, and KYC pipelines, you will almost always hit trial and error stages. Expect significant time spent debugging provisioning failures, billing sync issues, and handling regulatory edge cases. This learning curve alone can easily delay your launch by 6 to 12 months.

 

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Using an Agency Like Us

For the same project, you can work with an experienced agency like ours that specializes in headless eCommerce, telecom marketplaces, and subscription platforms.

• Project development cost typically ranges from $50,000(basic MVP)  to $150,000+.
  
  

• Support and maintenance is highly customizable depending on your needs.
  
  

We typically offer:

• 3 months of free support after project completion
  
  

• For early-stage startups without an internal team, ongoing support starts as low as $500 per month
  
  

• For high-growth businesses needing 300 to 400 hours per month (including maintenance, telecom partner expansions, regulatory updates, and continuous feature development), ongoing support typically ranges between $10,000 to $15,000+ per month
  
  

Agencies focused exclusively on these stacks bring refined processes, reusable modules, pre-built provisioning integrations, and years of telecom integration experience. This allows us to reduce development time significantly, avoid major technical mistakes, and launch your MVP within 4 to 5 months.

Most of the core systems like CMS, commerce engine, KYC, billing, vendor portals, and provisioning orchestration are modularized. We reuse and customize these components rather than reinventing them, which dramatically improves both speed and stability.

 

Conclusion

Pricing always depends on company size, country, and agency experience. You will find agencies offering to build eSIM marketplaces for $20,000 but in reality, these solutions are usually low quality, highly fragile, and rarely able to scale in production.

Overpromising and under delivering is extremely common at that price point.

If you're serious about building a global eSIM marketplace that can actually scale with real telecom partners, here’s the reality:

Using Modular Headless Stack

• Development cost for a solid MVP: $50K to $120K
  
  

• Timeline: 4 to 5 months
  
  

Fully Custom Telecom Backend

• Development cost for production-grade global platform: $300K to $500K+
  
  

• Timeline: 12 to 18 months
  
  

 

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Final Thoughts for Early-Stage Founders

To all early-stage founders building telecom marketplaces  do not overcomplicate your tech stack on day one.

The real key is not to build everything from scratch. Do not reinvent provisioning engines, billing systems, or commerce engines.

Instead:

• Use proven modular APIs
  
  

• Use telecom aggregators to simplify carrier integrations
  
  

• Focus your energy on customer experience, pricing models, and market positioning
  
  

• Build your internal tools with no-code and low-code platforms
  
  

• Delay custom engineering as long as you can
  
  

• Launch fast, validate, and scale only what matters
  
  

Custom builds make sense once you have raised significant funding, built a strong team, and hit product-market fit.

If you need help choosing the right stack or implementing it, feel free to reach out. We offer 20 hours of complimentary development and consultation time to help you get started the right way.

Let’s build something great  faster, smarter, and scalable.