Which is cheaper, Manta or Montañita?

Manta and Montañita cost about the same: roughly $1,350 per month for one person.

Is Manta or Montañita safer?

Manta and Montañita score the same on safety (23), based on national homicide rates and World Bank political-stability scores.

Where is the internet faster, Manta or Montañita?

Manta: a measured median of 25.3 Mbps versus 19.1 Mbps (M-Lab, 2024).

Manta vs Montañita

for digital nomads

Under balanced weights the two cities tie at 59. Neither leads on any factor by 10 points or more. Change the weights in the ranker to see which one wins for you.

Manta

out of 100

Ecuador's tuna port with a long malecón and cheap Pacific beaches

Full Manta profile →Plan a trip to Manta →

Montañita

out of 100

Ecuador's surf and party village on the Pacific coast

Full Montañita profile →Plan a trip to Montañita →

Where they differ

Getting there & around. Montañita leads on getting there & around, 18 to 10, against Manta. Non-stop airport destinations: 2 vs 18.

Where they are close. Within five points on internet, air quality, cost of living, safety, healthcare, visa ease, climate, quality of life.

Pick Manta if you want

faster internet (25.3 Mbps measured)

Pick Montañita if you want

no clear edge over Manta in the data

Factor scores (0–100, balanced weights)

Metric	Manta	Montañita
Cost of living	60	60
Safety	23	23
Healthcare	78	78
Internet	65 ✓	61
Visa ease	78	78
Getting there & around	10	18 ✓
Climate	83	83
Air quality	78	80 ✓
Quality of life	55	55

Cost

Metric	Manta	Montañita
Monthly cost, one personcountry-level estimate for at least one city	$1,350	$1,350
Central one-bedroom rent	no data	no data

Safety and health (country-level)

Metric	Manta	Montañita
Homicides per 100k	38.94	38.94
Political stability (0–100)	54.4	54.4
UHC service coverage (0–100)	78	78
Life expectancy	77.6 yrs	77.6 yrs

Internet (M-Lab measured medians)

Metric	Manta	Montañita
Download	25.3 Mbps ✓	19.1 Mbps
Upload	21.3 Mbps	24.6 Mbps ✓

Visa

Metric	Manta	Montañita
Nomad visa	Digital nomad temporary residence visa (rentista for remote work)	Digital nomad temporary residence visa (rentista for remote work)
Minimum income for the visa	$1,446/mo	$1,446/mo
Entry, US passport	90 days	90 days
Entry, EU passport	90 days	90 days
Entry, UK passport	90 days	90 days

Getting there and around

Metric	Manta	Montañita
Non-stop airport destinations	2	18 ✓
Walkability (1–5, editorial)	2	4 ✓
Transit (1–5, editorial)	2 ✓	1

Climate and air

Metric	Manta	Montañita
Comfortable months per year	10	10
Annual mean PM2.5	14.9 µg/m³	14 µg/m³ ✓

✓ marks the better value in each row; ties and missing data are left unmarked.

Frequently asked

Which is cheaper, Manta or Montañita?: Manta and Montañita cost about the same: roughly $1,350 per month for one person.
Is Manta or Montañita safer?: Manta and Montañita score the same on safety (23), based on national homicide rates and World Bank political-stability scores.
Where is the internet faster, Manta or Montañita?: Manta: a measured median of 25.3 Mbps versus 19.1 Mbps (M-Lab, 2024).

More comparisons

Sources: Cost of Living Global 2026 (city rows); 2026 Cost of Living Index (country level); Worldwide Governance Indicators — Political Stability and Absence of Violence (score 0–100); Victims of intentional homicide per 100,000 population (national data, latest year); UHC service coverage index; Life expectancy at birth (years), both sexes; M-Lab NDT statistics (city aggregates, 2024); Airport destinations (Wikipedia airline and destination tables); NASA POWER climatology (2001–2020 monthly means); SatPM2.5 satellite-derived annual PM2.5 (V6.GL.02.04); Human Development Index (HDR 2025, HDI 2023); EF English Proficiency Index 2024 (band); Walkability and transit ratings (editorial); Passport Index dataset (visa requirements, 199 passports × 199 destinations); OpenStreetMap restaurants (Overpass API); Nostos long-stay visa guides; Starlink availability map. Dataset 2026.11.2. See each city page for per-metric footnotes and the methodology.