What is the cheapest country for digital nomads?

We only cover Thailand, Portugal and Vietnam, so this is a ranking of three countries, not of the world. Within those three the order is clear on every source we opened on 2 October 2026: Vietnam first, Thailand second, Portugal third.

How the three countries compare

Read as percentages, Numbeo's country pages put Vietnam 24.4 percent below Thailand and 47.5 percent below Portugal with rent included, and Thailand 30.5 percent below Portugal.

What a month costs in our four bases

These are Numbeo's city figures in US dollars, updated on 2 October 2026; the last column is our addition. Numbeo has no comparable page for Koh Tao. There, BAANLYY puts a single person's budget month at 30,000 to 50,000 THB with rent, which it converts to about USD 860 to 1,430, so a careful month on the island can match Da Nang and a comfortable one costs more.

Why the cheapest country may not be the cheapest for you

1. Nomad budgets run higher. Nomads.com shows USD 919 a month for a nomad in Da Nang, USD 2,305 on Ko Tao and USD 4,873 in Lisbon, well above the Numbeo and BAANLYY figures for the last two.
2. The visa has a price. Vietnam has no remote work visa, so a long stay means leaving every 90 days, with flights each time. Thailand's DTV asks you to show 500,000 THB, and Portugal's D8 asks for an income of EUR 3,680 a month in 2026. We compare them in which of our three countries has the easiest digital nomad visa.
3. Your income sets the scale. A budget that feels generous in Da Nang may not pass the Portuguese income test at all.

For line by line budgets, read our guides to the cost of living in Da Nang, on Koh Tao, in Lisbon and in Porto. To weigh cost against visas and internet, use the destination comparison tool read Thailand vs Vietnam for remote workers, or see Da Nang vs Koh Tao vs Lisbon.