Starlink vs. Viasat: Which Satellite Internet Provider Is Best?

Starlink offers several plans tailored for different use cases. While the underlying service plan structure is pretty straightforward, the company's branding and presentation of these plans on the website are confusing. 

Essentially, there are four service plans:

• Residential covers basic residential coverage and is best for home use.
• Priority is the basic Business Fixed Site package, designed for businesses and high-demand users (basically, users that want faster speeds).
• Roam is for RVs, campers, and other mobile users. Use internationally and in motion. It comes in a 50GB data plan or unlimited.
• Mobile Priority is for maritime use and land mobility. Best for enterprise businesses that need high speeds while moving, i.e., boats, rescue vehicles, and air travel.

What’s confusing is that the primary home internet plan is called Starlink Residential on certain parts of the site, while on others, it’s called Starlink Standard. The website also makes distinctions for personal or business use, but the actual service plans don’t. 

On a more positive note, unlike Hughesnet and some other ISPs, Starlink doesn’t require contracts so that you can cancel at any time.

Starlink Residential, the most common plan, offers unlimited data (within reasonable limits)—no more data caps. Some plans come with additional Priority Data that gets you faster speeds, but the standard data has no cap once that's gone.  

Viasat Unleashed offers new customers unlimited high-speed data (with no priority data cap) and features no contract. However, your speeds and final pricing are determined by your address since they cannot guarantee their top speeds everywhere. 

Viasat plans start at $129.99 monthly and offer unlimited data with speeds between 25Mbps and 150Mbps, depending on your location. There’s no introductory discount, and you pay month to month. Since there’s no contract, you can cancel anytime, but there’s no price lock guarantee. For example, the fastest available plan in Southeast Georgia is only 30Mbps, although the price remains the same.

Check out the Viasat website or talk with the Viasat sales team for more details on what's available. 

A one-time installation fee may be pending a soft credit check and your location. The total cost of your Viasat service will also involve a monthly equipment lease for $15 or a one-time lifetime lease for $250.

Starlink and Viasat both offer decent download speeds that are more than enough for most people. Viasat’s internet plans advertise download speeds of up to 150Mbps, but the most common top speed we found when entering dozens of zipcodes into Viasat’s website is 100Mbps, which is on par with Starlink Standard’s top speed. However, you may live in an area that can only get 25Mbps. 

Starlink Standard’s residential download speeds are 25–100Mbps. However, according to data we’ve aggregated from over 7 million speed tests, not everyone gets the fastest Starlink speeds—the average is about 48Mbps.  

Keep in mind that advertised download speeds for any satellite provider are not guaranteed, and the speeds you’ll actually experience depend on factors like network traffic, weather, and signal strength.

Depending on the circumstances, Viasat’s speeds can be faster than Starlink's. However, Viasat can’t compete with Starlink when it comes to latency.

For satellite internet, latency is the name of the game, and there’s one clear winner. Starlink’s average latency blows Viasat out of the water. 

Latency is affected by satellites’ distance from the Earth. Viasat uses geostationary orbit (GEO) satellites, which are located 23,000 miles away from our planet. However, Starlink uses low-earth orbit (LEO) satellites, which are closer to the Earth. Low latency is essential for fast, reactive internet uses like buffer-free streaming and online gaming.

“Latency was the biggest surprise,” Starlink customer Jim Olson said. “40ms, which was enough to stream live TV. That was not an option before.”

While Viasat has good download speeds, the latency can make using the service frustrating.

“The service was ok. Speeds were good, but the latency was bad—800ms plus. It was not an ISP to stream anything,” said Jason Astel, a former Viasat customer

Like most other ISPs today, Starlink and Viasat do not have hard data caps. While technically unlimited data, both services institute a soft cap since there’s only so much bandwidth they can offer their customers. If a customer goes over what the provider deems more than normal usage, they reserve the right to slow speeds down. 

Starlink doesn’t specify what that normal usage is and also states that factors like network congestion can determine if they throttle your speeds. Viasat states that 850GB within a month crosses that threshold.

Starlink Priority packages guarantee their fastest speeds with allocated data caps, but they can get expensive. 

The bottom line is that if you want the absolute highest amount of data, get Starlink, but be ready to pay a premium. That’s why we typically recommend Priority plans for businesses.

With Starlink, you need to pay upfront for the hardware: $349 for the Standard Starlink dish, $599 for the Starlink Mini, or $2,500 for High-Performance equipment.

The Starlink Standard dish is compatible with all plans and is recommended for residential or mobile use. Unless you own a yacht or an enterprise-size business or just need the absolute best quality signal, we don't recommend the Flat High-Performance dish. The Starlink Mini is for ultimate portability since it's the size of a laptop and comes with built-in Wi-Fi

Since you own the equipment, you can take it with you when you move or sell it when you’re done with it.

Viasat leases your equipment for $15 per month on top of your bill. Alternatively, you can pay a one-time lifetime lease of $250. You'll save money if you plan on keeping Viasat long-term (more than 18 months). 

Viasat Unleashed’s installation costs are less transparent. Pending the results of a soft credit check, you'll pay between $0 and $300. You may also be charged for specialized equipment required for installation. However, even if you have to pay $300 for installation, it’s still cheaper than purchasing Starlink’s Standard kit for $349.

Another significant distinction is that Viasat has a technician do the installation, while you must install Starlink yourself. Starlink’s equipment is designed to be fast and straightforward to set up right out of the box. This hands-off approach can have advantages, but you’ll need to break out the handyman gloves for more permanent installations. There are also proprietary accessories like roof mounts and longer cables you may need that you can only get from Starlink and a handful of retailers.

Customers have given Starlink low marks for its hands-off approach to customer service. There is no dedicated support phone line, email, or live chat. Support is only available by submitting tickets through the website or mobile app.

 “The customer service is subpar for a modern company,” Olson said. “If (Starlink) is that good, they shouldn’t be afraid to put up a live chat.”

On the other hand, most customers interviewed for our review rarely had to contact support because everything worked as expected with no interruptions.

It was a similar story with Viasat customers we talked to. The service was reliable enough to rarely need customer support unless they required replacement parts. If you need dependable support (aka, they can get someone on the phone for help), Viasat wins out there.

To improve the reliability of your Viasat internet service, consider asking for help from the tech support team or check out the Viasat Support Forum to see if other people have already encountered and solved your issue.

Viasat satellite internet service is available in all 50 states and covers 99 percent of the United States. Plans are underway to expand the Viasat satellite network to other parts of the world. Contact Viasat to see if they have coverage where you live.

As of October 2024, Starlink’s availability map covers most of the United States. At one time, there were extensive waitlists in the eastern half of the country, but these seem to have largely disappeared (at least for now).

Up to this point, we’ve mainly discussed Starlink and Viasat. However, there’s another major player in satellite internet in the U.S.—Hughesnet. How does it compare?

Overall, Hughesnet is a slightly more affordable option than Viasat or Starlink. It offers plans starting at just $74.99 (with a one-year discount of $25), far cheaper than Viasat’s and Starlink's cheapest plans. That could make Hughesnet a compelling option for users needing an affordable plan (say, as a backup internet option or at a secondary residence). 

Unfortunately, Hughesnet tends to be slower than either Starlink or Viasat. Its top speed is 100Mbps, which makes it hard to recommend for heavy streamers or anyone who needs to download large files regularly. It’s also the only remaining satellite option with a priority data cap, which tops out at a meager 200GB per month.

Ultimately, we recommend Hughesnet for the more budget-conscious buyers out there who just want satellite internet that works at an affordable price and is less concerned with speed.

Starlink is one of the most high-profile satellite internet services, and many people are excited to have it available in their area. If you’re ready to shell out $349.00 or more for the Starlink equipment and are in an area where the fastest, most reliable service can be received, Starlink could be the best choice.

Viasat’s flagship internet plan is slightly more expensive than Starlink’s primary offering but doesn't come with any hefty upfront costs. However, you’re likely to have worse performance due to higher latency.

Speeds can be inconsistent depending on location, network demands, and time of day. These issues can also be found with other satellite internet providers. It also has high equipment costs.

Satellite internet providers in general, not just Starlink, tend to experience lower-quality connectivity and performance during severe weather, such as thunderstorms or heavy rain. For more details on how this happens, check out our How Does Weather Affect Satellite Internet guide. 

Severe weather, such as thunderstorms, ice storms, snow, or heavy rain, can cause connectivity issues for your Viasat service. This problem is not unique to Viasat or Starlink. All satellite internet providers are affected by bad weather.