Ryanair vs Wizz Air vs easyJet: Which Is Cheapest in 2026?

Ryanair vs Wizz Air vs easyJet: the Short Answer

Your €19 fare quietly becomes €79 when the bag you assumed was “hand luggage” turns out to be a paid extra, and you learn that at the gate rather than at checkout. Each of these three advertises a price that only applies to someone carrying one small bag under the seat.

So the useful question is not which airline is cheapest, it is which is cheapest for the way you actually pack. Ryanair and Wizz Air fight over the sticker price. easyJet lets you bring more for free and lands closer to where you are going. For the wider field, see our ranking of the best budget airlines in Europe in 2026 .

Before you pick a side, see which of the three is cheapest on your dates. One search covers all of them.

The Fees, Side by Side

Here is what each airline charges once you go past the free under-seat item. Every figure is an online, one-way, per-passenger band, and all three price bags dynamically by route, season and how close to departure you buy.

Fares and Networks: Where Each One Is Strong

Ryanair has the reach. With around 95 operating bases and more than 235 destinations in 2026, it serves routes nobody else bothers with, from secondary airports that keep costs down: Bergamo for Milan, Charleroi for Brussels, Beauvais for Paris. That is the source of both its low fares and its hidden cost, because a distant airport means a transfer at each end. The map is shifting too: its seven-aircraft Berlin base closes on 24 October 2026 over airport costs and taxes.

Wizz Air owns Central and Eastern Europe, where roughly 75% of its flying happens, with Budapest as its largest hub plus Bucharest, Warsaw, Sofia and the Romanian bases. In 2026 it attacked Ryanair’s western territory: new bases at Madrid and Valencia with daily Madrid to Pisa and Valencia to Naples routes aimed straight at Ryanair, plus a return to Warsaw Modlin after 13 years. Our Wizz Air review covers what that network feels like to fly.

easyJet buys you proximity. It flies mostly from primary airports, with London Gatwick as its biggest base plus Luton, Milan Malpensa and Amsterdam Schiphol, and its 2026 network grew from 913 to 1,170 airport pairs. Fares sit above the other two (its reported average ticket price was about £64 in the first half of FY2025), but you land where you want to be.

Bags: Where the Cheapest Airline Flips

This is the section that decides the winner. All three include exactly one free item that must fit under the seat, and the sizes are not equal: Ryanair and Wizz Air both allow 40×30×20 cm, while easyJet allows 45×36×20 cm including handles and wheels, at up to 15 kg. That is the difference between a daypack and a genuine weekend bag, and it costs nothing.

Need more than that and everyone charges:

• Ryanair: “Priority & 2 Cabin Bags” costs around €6–36 at booking, roughly €20–60 closer to departure, and adds a 10 kg, 55×40×20 cm wheeled bag with guaranteed locker space.
• Wizz Air: WIZZ Priority costs around €10–59 online (around €55–65 at the airport) for a 10 kg, 55×40×23 cm trolley plus priority boarding.
• easyJet: the large cabin bag (56×45×25 cm) runs from around €7 up to roughly €35, Speedy Boarding included. Up Front and Extra Legroom seats stopped including it in June 2023, so a paid seat does not cover it.

Checked bags follow the same pattern: around €20–60 on Ryanair, around €20–35 for Wizz Air’s 20 kg tier, and easyJet’s 15 kg and 23 kg tiers from roughly £6.99 and £9.49, climbing towards £50 at the airport.

Get it wrong and the gate is brutal: around €45–70 at Ryanair, €40–65 at Wizz Air, £48–55 at easyJet, card only. Ryanair raised its staff incentive for spotting non-compliant bags to €2.50 per bag in November 2025. For every European carrier, see our guide to airline baggage fees in Europe .

The rules are moving. The European Parliament voted on 7 July 2026 (646 to 12) to guarantee a free personal item of at least 40×30×15 cm and to make airlines show the fare including that item from the start of booking. Larger wheeled bags stay chargeable, and the rules only take effect in 2027.

Punctuality and the Onboard Experience

Independent data and airline press releases tell very different stories here, so treat the source as part of the number.

On AirHelp’s 12-month measurement to September 2025, Wizz Air scored 77% of flights arriving on time, Ryanair 71% and easyJet 70%. Monthly snapshots run higher for everyone: OAG named Wizz Air the world’s most punctual low-cost airline in May 2026 at 87.8%, with a 99.99% flight-completion rate.

Ryanair’s own corporate page (airline-reported) shows 95% for June 2026 across 116,800 flights, and Wizz Air reports a 99.61% completion rate for 2025. Those are not contradictions of the AirHelp figures, they are different definitions over different periods. When numbers disagree this much, plan around the independent 12-month one.

Onboard, the three are closer than the marketing suggests: the same dense cabins, the same buy-onboard food, no free seat choice on the cheapest fare. easyJet’s edge is the bigger free bag and the shorter trip from airport to city.

Which One for Which Traveller

• Backpack only, flexible dates. Ryanair or Wizz Air, whichever is cheaper that day. With nothing but a 40×30×20 cm bag you never touch an add-on, so the headline fare is the real fare.
• You carry a small carry-on. easyJet. Its free 45×36×20 cm item swallows a bag that costs €6–36 on Ryanair or €10–59 on Wizz Air, and that gap normally exceeds the fare difference.
• Family with checked bags. Wizz Air’s 20 kg band (around €20–35) is the tightest, easyJet’s 15 kg tier the cheapest entry point. Multiply by passengers and legs first.
• Primary-airport city breaks. easyJet. Gatwick, Malpensa and Schiphol beat Beauvais and Bergamo once you count the transfer at both ends.
• Central and Eastern Europe. Wizz Air, on network depth alone. Nothing comes close on Romania, Bulgaria, Poland and the Balkans.

If your shortlist is down to two, our Ryanair vs easyJet comparison runs the same maths in more detail.

If Your Flight Is Delayed

EU261 pays €250 for flights up to 1,500 km, €400 for intra-EU flights over 1,500 km and €600 for longer flights, for arrival delays of three hours or more where the airline is at fault. Those amounts are unchanged through 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is cheapest, Ryanair, Wizz Air or easyJet?

Ryanair and Wizz Air win on the headline fare, with one-way seats commonly around 15 to 60 euros against easyJet’s 25 to 85 euros. The ranking flips once you carry a real cabin bag: easyJet’s free under-seat allowance is 45x36x20 cm and up to 15 kg, while the same bag costs around 6 to 36 euros as Ryanair Priority or 10 to 59 euros as WIZZ Priority.

Which of the three is most punctual?

Wizz Air leads on independent data. AirHelp’s 12-month figures to September 2025 put Wizz Air at 77% of flights on time, Ryanair at 71% and easyJet at 70%. OAG also named Wizz Air the world’s most punctual low-cost airline in May 2026 at 87.8% on-time performance. Airline-reported numbers run far higher because they measure differently.

Which of the three gives the most free luggage?

easyJet, by a clear margin. Its free under-seat item is 45x36x20 cm including handles and wheels and may weigh up to 15 kg, while Ryanair and Wizz Air both cap the free item at 40x30x20 cm. None of the three includes a free overhead cabin bag or checked bag on its cheapest fare.

Is Wizz Air cheaper than Ryanair?

On like-for-like routes the two usually land within a few euros of each other. Wizz Air’s checked-bag pricing is tighter (around 20 to 35 euros for 20 kg versus roughly 20 to 60 euros on Ryanair), while Ryanair’s cabin-bag add-on starts lower, around 6 euros at booking against about 10 euros for WIZZ Priority.

How much is the gate fee if my cabin bag is too big?

Ryanair charges around 45 to 70 euros for a non-compliant cabin bag at the gate, Wizz Air around 40 to 65 euros and easyJet around 48 to 55 pounds, normally card only. Buying the bag online in advance costs a fraction of that, so measure your bag at home before you leave.

Do easyJet’s primary airports make it cheaper overall?

Often yes for city breaks. easyJet flies mainly from primary airports such as London Gatwick, Milan Malpensa and Amsterdam Schiphol, while Ryanair leans on secondary fields like Bergamo, Charleroi and Beauvais where the transfer adds time and cost at both ends. Add two long transfers and a higher easyJet ticket can win door to door.

Find Your Cheapest Fare of the Three

There is no permanent winner. Ryanair and Wizz Air keep undercutting each other on the sticker price, easyJet wins the moment you pack more than a daypack, and Wizz Air holds the independent punctuality crown. What decides your trip is the total: fare, bag, seat, transfer. Shifting your departure by a day often moves that total more than switching airline does, so our cheapest day of the week to fly breakdown is worth two minutes first.