Starlink is a satellite internet service operated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX company. Starlink has over 1.5 million subscribers globally, although network capacity remains limited in many areas, as satellite deployment continues.
In this article, I will go over the most recent Starlink pricing for 2023, in the US market. I will cover the hardware costs, the monthly service fee, and break down the different service plans.
Standard (Residential)
The most common Starlink service plan is the home internet package, called Standard (formerly Residential). Starlink Standard costs $120/month, with a one-time hardware cost of $599.
There are no contracts, so you can cancel your service at any time. Starlink offers a 30 day return period.
Other Starlink Plans
In addition to Standard, Starlink offers other types of plans for fixed and mobile applications. Here is what they cost in 2023:
| Plan | Monthly Cost | Hardware Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Standard (Residential) | $120 | $599 |
| Best Effort | $120 | $599 |
| Mobile (Roam/RV) | Starting at $150 | $599 |
| Priority (Business) | Starting at $250 | $2,500 |
| Mobile Priority (Maritime/Mobility) | Starting at $250 | $2,500 |
| Aviation | $12,500 | $150,000 |
For more detail on all the Starlink plan options, check out our guide, Starlink Internet Plans Explained.
Optional Hardware Costs
Standard and Mobile customers have the option to upgrade from the Standard Starlink hardware, to higher performance models.
Standard users can select the High Performance hardware for $2,500, while Mobile users can upgrade to the Flat High Performance hardware for $2,500. The Flat High Performance dish can be used in-motion when using Mobile Priority data.
For more detail on Mobile Priority data and the other types of Starlink data, click here for our full guide.
Starlink Pre-Order
If your address is in a waitlisted area, you won’t be able to place a full Standard order. Instead, you can pay $99 to reserve a spot on the waitlist.
When capacity expands in your area, orders will be given on a first-come, first-serve basis for pre-order customers.
Conclusion
In 2023, Starlink prices have gone up to $120 per month, with a one-time hardware cost of $599. Starlink remains the only available high speed, low latency satellite internet service for US customers. I think the target Starlink market, which is underserved rural customers, will happily accept the costs in exchange for finally getting access to high speed broadband internet.
I just ordered my Starlink yesterday. I put my address in and it says it is available but after looking into it further it has my address across for the road from where I am. I put my mothers address in and it puts it where my house is and it isn’t available there. My question is will it work with it being so close to where it cuts off? Hoping that I will get a good answer because I was so excited to see it was available.
It might work across the street. If it were me, I would order it for the available address. Once you get it, attempt to change the service address by dragging the location to your home on the map in the account dashboard. It might let you change the address to be correct. If not, see if will still work that far away. Worst case, you have 30 days to return for a full refund. Or you can convert to Mobile/Roam and use it anywhere, but with deprioritized service.
Ok not to sound like I am dumb but what is deprioritized service? Also, what is the cost difference in the standard service and the Mobile/Roam?
Deprioritized just means that during times of network congestion (like evening hours between 5pm-11pm), you might get slower speeds compared to higher priority Starlink customers. Standard is $120/month, Mobile is $150/month.
I want to attach my Starlink dish to my 40 Ft TV antenna. The amount of cable that I will need is 175 feet. What is the length of the cable that comes with the Starlink kit and can you add an additional cable to it.
The kit comes with a 50ft cable. You can purchase the 150ft cable in the Starlink shop. 150ft is the maximum length available.
Am looking for internet for RV sprinter van. Looks like the cost is between $120-$150 monthly and equipment fee $599. I live in Phoenix AZ Am I correct in the start up costs. In addition is the unit available now ?
Everything you said is correct, the Mobile (Roam/RV) plan is $150/month for the ability to travel anywhere within your continent. $120/month is the Standard plan meant for a fixed address. The equipment for Mobile is $599. And yes you should be able to order Mobile and the equipment without any delay, there is no waitlist for this service plan.
Do I have to pay the $599 now or when it comes available in my area? I have already paid the deposit
You don’t pay the $599 until it becomes available for your address.
Can you move the starlink weekly from place to place?
I want to offer my clients this internet option. My clients are primarily short-period, mission-oriented, abroad delegations.
Would this be an option for me? Or moving this thing around can cause complications?
Yes, sounds like you would need Starlink RV. It’s designed to be portable. You would be restricted to using it within the same continent as the shipping address, and you can’t use it for more than 2 months in the same place (if that place is in a different country than the shipping address).
Hi, do you know if starlink allows you to make payments on the equipment costs, or is the balance all due on your 1st bill? Their map says it will be in my area in 2023, here in Louisiana.
It’s one up-front charge, they don’t do payments on their end for the hardware.
Hi,
thank you for all the information. I have one more question: I read that Starlink and the router consume some energy while using it. As far as I read, it is 50Watt. Does it make sense to disconnect the router at night and restart it again in the morning? It would save about 1/3 of the energy costs. But I do not know., if that is good for the router. Usually routers are not built for switching tham on and off, I think.
The hardware uses an average of 50-75 watts, but during idle (like at night when you aren’t downloading/uploading) it can be as low as 20 watts. I wouldn’t recommend powering it off each night because if you turn the router off, you turn the dish off. It wouldn’t be able to self update the firmware, which it likes to do at around 2-3AM every week or two. More detail about power consumption here:
https://www.starlinkhardware.com/how-much-power-does-starlink-use/
I am looking at Starlink business for our small campground. But I cannot find anywhere how far the range is? Would I need more than one kit for 3 acres for example? It is all unobstructed view to the sky.
The kit just comes with one Wifi router. Really not enough range to cover more than a small house. What I would recommend is hiring an IT company to wire up access points throughout the property. These access points would be wired into a switch, and your Business starlink would also be plugged into the switch. You can either have the Starlink router handle routing and DHCP, or you can use a 3rd party router (seek advice from the IT firm). With this solution, you’ll have reliable coverage throughout the property.
What is the procedure to change Starlink from Residential to RV?
Go to the Starlink.com website, log in to your account dashboard. Click on Manage for your Starlink Residential plan. Then near service type, click the edit icon. You’ll be able to check the box for RV on this page, and this will convert your account.
Edit: I just wrote up a guide showing how to do this if you need more detail!
https://www.starlinkhardware.com/how-to-switch-from-residential-to-rv/
what size convertor from 12v to 100 do i get?
I have a business but in reality it is one perhaps two laptops trying to access the internet. Can I buy the residential option, I really don’t need more and the cost of the full business (up to 20 users) would be prohibitive
While technically that would go against the Starlink terms of service, this is what most small businesses are doing. The cost of the Business tier is too much for most. And the small operations aren’t really what Starlink is worried about when they write those terms of service. It’s worth a shot to see if it works for your business!
do you own the hardware?
Yes, when you buy the kit you own the hardware. You are able to sell it and transfer service to someone else in the future if you need to.
I just ordered my kit and am wondering how do I know I ordered the right one. I ordered the kit for RV usage but nothing in the email order detail reads “RV”?
Log in to your account on the website. It will show you which account type you have. If you accidentally ordered Residential, the good news is that you can convert to RV. You cannot switch RV to Residential, though.
They some what over charge for the first month at least that was my experience. We we’re billed for the first month when we paid for the unit then we’re billed again 13 days later. A lie on prepaid for the first month. Just be aware that the cost is more then you think as your billed immediately for the ‘first’ month even though it was paid.
You aren’t charged for the first months service until about 15 days after the kit ships. On the order page, it shows you the service price, but that isn’t actually included in what you pay up-front. The up-front cost is the hardware $599, shipping $50, and tax, around $50 depending on where you live.
One of my customers, a school, had a lot of troubles with their ISP. They switched already (only two available in the area) but there still happen to be outages here and there and poor quality of service and support.
I’ve been willing for a while to offer them to try Starlink, at least as a backup line, but their IT director has been hesitant.
A school would fall under the ‘business’ category, right ?
If it was doable as residential that could be easy to sell. Business, not sure they can really afford to pay that.
Yes, a school would fall under the Business category from what I understand. The Starlink terms of service say that any commercial or government operation would need the Business tier.
After waiting several years since deposit, we received and installed the equipment last week.
At the moment, we do not have complete unobstructed view of the sky but signal is about 10 times faster than our ATT broadband high speed internet service.
To have unobstructed view of the sky, I’d have to mount the antenna on the roof and I really don’t want to do that. I’ve been told there is a telescoping pole extension available.
I’d like to carry the antenna and router with us while we RV the country for about 3 months. Can that be done and is there an available and maybe shorter cable for sale? I have outfitted our truck camper with lithium batteries and inverter. Thanks for any advice…
To use it when traveling, you’ll need to add the Portability feature to your account. See our guide here:
https://www.starlinkhardware.com/starlink-roaming-mode-explained/
The 75′ cable is the shortest available.
If the obstructions aren’t causing you outages or any problems, I don’t see a problem with leaving it as-is. If you start having issues, roof mounting will be the way to go if it’s high enough. We have a full guide to mounting options here:
https://www.starlinkhardware.com/starlink-mounting-options-a-guide-to-official-and-diy-mounts/
Can I switch from StarLink RV to StarLink Residential when it becomes available in my area?
As of right now, no. Starlink does not allow switching between account types.
Is the speed listed above megabits per second (Mbps)or megabytes per second (MBps)?
Speeds are megabits per second, Mbps.
I live about 15 miles West of Gunnison, CO at about 8,300 ft in the mountains. Just received my Starlink kit yesterday and have been using it for less than 24 hours. When I first set it up, I was getting about 115Mbps download speed and roughly 10Mbps upload speed. Of course, the server site you choose for the bandwidth testing has everything to do with the test speeds; so, choose multiple locations to get a better idea of bandwidth.
Yesterday, the self-moving satellite disk pointed straight up. This morning, the dish was pointed just above the mountains to the North, and I was getting only about 25Mbps down, which is what I have with a microwave ISP now. About 10:30am MDT, I started getting 160Mbps down which is where I am now. Since the satellites are moving, it makes sense the bandwidth is changing, but I don’t see any such documentation about this anywhere on the Starlink site.
The dish actually won’t move much at all in normal operation, once it has properly aligned itself. The antenna is phased-array, so it doesn’t have to physically move much to track the satellites as they move across the sky. There are so many satellites in orbit that the signal just hands off to another one when the current one moves out of range.
Speed differences are much more of an effect of network congestion. Test at 8pm and you’ll usually have much slower speeds than at 3am, for example.
How many GB do you get for the monthly fee? Hughesnet is 20GB and then you are either turtle slow or buy more usage. 20 GB does not last that long.
Starlink does not have any data caps or limits as of right now.
would we get services in Bagdad Arizona a small mining town
If you visit https://www.Starlink.com/ and enter in your address, it will tell you if service is available.
Does it cover regular network programming?
Starlink will support their wireless router and configuration that comes with the kit. If you have advanced networking requirements using 3rd party equipment, you’ll have to figure all that out.
Can I use starlink on my camper?
Officially, no. However, users have reported that with a recent firmware update they have been able to “roam” outside of their service address and use Starlink. So theoretically, yes you could use it on a camper. It’s one of those things you will have to try at your own risk, and the feature isn’t guaranteed to stick around even if it works for you now. If you aren’t going to use Starlink at your home, we don’t recommend trying to buy it just for a camper. It’s too expensive for the occasional camper trip. If you live in your camper, it might be a good option if high speed internet is required, although it’s risky as noted above.
Yes the $99 is a deposit so when your order is converted to a full order, you’ll owe the balance of about $400 + taxes and shipping. You’ll start paying the monthly service fee when you plug in the dish and activate the service.
I recently upgraded to the rv. I had originally paid $99 deposit. After upgrading, was charged the full $599 plus shipping and taxes. Will the $99 be refunded or deducted from my bill? As of now, I have not been credited.
RV and Residential are separate. The $99 deposit is a pre-order for Residential service. If you bought RV service, that wouldn’t affect your pre-order for Residential. You have to log on to your Starlink.com account and cancel the Residential pre-order to get the $99 back.
They sure don’t make it easy to find information on their site once you’re logged in. Put my deposit down last year & still waiting.
When you put the $99 deposit down… do they subtract that from the kit price of $499? Or is that for the first month’s service?
They subtracted the $99. So when we got our notice it was in our area, we paid an additional $480.74