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

Starlink has four options for satellite internet customers: Starlink Standard, Starlink Priority, Starlink Mobile, and Starlink Mobile Priority.

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:

• Standard, which covers basic residential coverage, is designed for home use.
• Priority, which covers the basic Business Fixed Site package, is designed for businesses and high-demand users (basically, users that want faster speeds).
• Mobile, which covers the Starlink Roam package, is designed for RVs, campers, and other mobile users.
• Mobile Priority, which covers Maritime, Land Mobility, and Starlink for Boats, is designed for in-motion use, such as on boats, rescue vehicles, and other similar applications.

What’s confusing is that the basic 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 you can cancel at any time.

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

Viasat offers a few different satellite internet options with different ranges of data limits and speeds.

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’re unable to guarantee their top speeds everywhere. 

Viasat plans start as low as $99.99 a month and offer unlimited data with speeds between 25Mbps and 150Mbps, depending on your location. There’s no introductory discount, and it is paid month to month. Since there’s no contract, you can cancel at any time, but there’s no price lock guarantee. For example, in Southeast Georgia, the fastest available plan is only 30Mbps, although the price remains the same.

For more details on what's available, check out the Viasat website or talk with the Viasat sales team. 

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

Like Starlink, Viasat does not require a contract, allowing you to cancel service at any time.

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 Priority plans are typically recommended for businesses.

With Starlink, you are required to pay upfront for the hardware: $599 for Standard Starlink or $2,500 for High-Performance equipment. Unless you own a yacht or need the absolute best quality signal, we recommend the Standard Starlink dish. 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. If you plan on keeping Viasat long-term (more than 18 months), you’ll save money. 

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 the full $300 for installation, it’s still cheaper than purchasing Starlink’s Standard kit for $599.

Another big distinction is that Viasat has a technician do the installation while Starlink is completely self-install. Starlink’s equipment is designed to be fast and simple to set up, right out of the box. This hands-off approach can have its advantages but for more permanent installations you’ll need to break out the handyman gloves. 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 an occasion 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 needed replacement parts. If you’re someone who needs dependable support (aka, they can get a person on the phone for help), then 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 November 2023, Starlink’s availability map covers most of the United States. At one time there were large 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 mostly 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), which is lower than Viasat’s cheapest plan and far cheaper than Starlink. That could make Hughesnet a very compelling option for users who just need a cheap 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 on a regular basis. It’s also the only remaining satellite option that has 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 lots of people are excited to have it available in their area. If you’re ready to shell out $599.00 or more for the Starlink equipment, and you’re in an area where the fastest, most reliable service can be received, then Starlink could be the best choice.

Viasat’s flagship internet plan is more affordable than Starlink’s basic offering, but due to higher latency, you’re likely to have worse performance.

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.