Amazon Leo: Starlink Rival’s Launch Date, Cost, & Analysis

In November 2025, Amazon announced a permanent rebranding of its satellite internet service, Project Kuiper, to Amazon Leo. The new name is a play on the low-earth orbit (LEO) satellites the company is using to power the service. Project Kuiper was the original code name for the endeavor, named after the Kuiper belt and famous astronomer Gerald Kuiper. 

In addition to the new name of the service, Amazon announced the names of the three customer terminals it will sell with the service: The Amazon Leo Nano, Amazon Leo Pro, and Amazon Leo Ultra. Read more below on everything we know about Amazon Leo, including its hardware, launch date, and pricing.

Amazon has projected that Leo is on track to begin servicing five countries, including the U.S., starting Q1 of 2026. 

Amazon Leo has previously stated that it will begin testing its network of satellites by the end of 2025. This goal doesn’t necessarily mean consumers will be able to sign up for the upcoming satellite internet service this year, but there’s a chance early beta testing may begin. It all depends on how quickly Amazon can grow its constellation of low-earth orbit satellites.

As of September 2025, the company has launched more than 100 of its satellites. It has faced delays due to scheduling shake-ups with the United Launch Alliance (ULA) for its launch. However, Amazon is confident it can get its service up and running soon.

Amazon Leo plans to launch more than 3,200 satellites over the next few years to form its low-earth orbit constellation. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has given the company a 2026 deadline to launch at least half of its planned satellites and 2029 for the rest. So, if you’re a typical home internet user, you can expect to sign up for Amazon’s service by 2029 at the latest. However, there will likely be plenty of opportunities to get in earlier as Amazon builds its network.

As of summer 2025, Amazon does not have a formal sign-up page to participate in the planned beta program. Since Amazon is still in the process of testing and launching the first wave of satellites, this program isn’t slated to begin until late 2025 and is only for commercial users.

Bookmark and follow this page for all the latest news on Amazon Leo. We’ll provide regular updates on launch dates, sign-up information, pricing details, and more.

Amazon Leo hasn’t revealed the price of its satellite internet service for future customers. However, it hopes to keep costs down so it can sell Amazon Leo dishes for less than $400. 

We don’t know for sure, but Amazon Leo will likely want to stay competitive with Starlink’s up-front equipment costs, ranging from $349 to $499. Amazon's internet service can only thrive if it decides to challenge its solid competition.

Amazon Leo claims that its mid-tier satellite internet, made for residential use, will offer speeds of up to 400 Mbps and hopes to provide even faster download speeds in the future. That's already faster than what Viasat or Hughesnet offer, and 400 Mbps would give even Starlink's speedy internet service a run for its money in its current stage. 

Panos Panay, a lead at Amazon's Devices & Services, demonstrated one gigabit download speed using the Amazon Leo Ultra dish in early September. This test was, of course, with a single terminal connecting to the network without the hundreds of thousands of terminals Amazon hopes to distribute someday.

Of course, raw download speed and throughput aren't everything. Latency has a significant impact on speed, slowing down your internet experience. Amazon Leo's satellites should also help minimize this issue, as they'll be closer to Earth, like Starlink's satellites. Stats on how well its latency performs haven't been revealed.

Amazon Leo shares many similarities with SpaceX’s Starlink internet service. They’re both made possible by a constellation of thousands of LEO satellites. They are both accessed through customer-owned dishes that connect to the constellation, which in turn communicates with ground stations that connect the user to the web. 

A key difference that Amazon boasts makes Amazon Leo special is its satellites’ ability to create a global spanning mesh to boost transmission speeds and lower latency. According to Amazon, its optical inter-satellite link (OISL) technology can sustain consistent transmission speeds, meaning that its first wave of satellites will be ready to link up upon launch.

Amazon has revealed that it will release three Amazon Leo dishes with its satellite internet service in the future. Amazon satellites will be square and come in three models for residential, portable, and enterprise use. The three dishes are analogous to three of Starlink’s equipment, but the most significant difference is that Amazon’s offerings are smaller, with the exception of high-performance equipment.

The Amazon Leo Pro is a square residential dish measuring 11 inches by 11 inches, according to Amazon. It’s comparable to Starlink’s Standard dish, which is 23 by 15 inches. The dishes are primarily designed for use in a fixed location for home internet, but the Starlink Standard can also be used with the portable Roam plan, allowing it to be used almost anywhere. It's unclear if that will be the case for the Leo Pro.

Amazon will also offer a more portable version of the dish called the Leo Nano. It's only 7 inches by 7 inches, which is comparable to the Starlink Mini dish, which is about 11.5 inches by 10 inches.

For business and power users, Amazon Leo Ultra is significantly larger, measuring 19 inches by 30 inches, compared to Starlink’s own High Performance dish, which is 15 inches by 24 inches. 

Amazon's internet service is currently unavailable, so as you can see, Starlink and Viasat offer the fastest satellite internet available. As long as you’re getting only Starlink residential satellite internet, it offers the best speed for the price, with Viasat as a close, if expensive, second. 

We highly recommend Hughesnet for its cheaper plans and lack of price hikes. It has recently raised its data cap to 200 GB, and it also offers Fusion plans that combine its satellite technology with fixed wireless to reduce latency.

Starlink is also an excellent LEO satellite service to tide you over until Amazon Leo launches. However, be warned that it comes with expensive equipment prices that must be paid upfront, and Starlink's customer service is notoriously difficult to access, as it operates through a support ticket system. 

Blue Origin, Arianespace, and United Launch Alliance (ULA) will all launch Amazon Leo's satellites into Earth's orbit. ABL Space Systems was the first company to help Amazon launch its prototype satellite, and it had plans to help get the KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2 prototypes up at the end of 2022, according to Amazon. 

Blue Origin, Arianespace, and United Launch Alliance (ULA) are all prepping Amazon's heavy-lift launch vehicle for the whole satellite-constellation-creating endeavor: Blue Origin (Jeff Bezos's company) will send up New Glenn, Arianespace the Ariane 6, and ULA the Vulcan Centaur (or Vulcan rocket).

To further expedite the rollout of satellites, Amazon also purchased slots on three of rival SpaceX's Falcon 9 launches in 2025, according to Amazon.

Amazon has reserved 83 launches over the next five years with these four companies to get its satellite constellation up, making for the largest commercial procurement of launch vehicles in history. 

Even though Amazon Leo looks promising, with possibly lower equipment prices and satellite constellation coverage that could rival Starlink, Viasat, and Hughesnet, we don't recommend jumping on Amazon Leo the moment it's available.

We suggest holding off on Amazon Leo once it's out for two reasons:

• You want to let Amazon work out the kinks. Every new service runs into unexpected problems once it is released. Let the company work that out while you still (hopefully) have access to an already reliable satellite service, like Viasat or Starlink.
• Just because it's Amazon's service doesn't mean it'll work. Amazon has ventured into various businesses in the past, and while most have been successful, not all have been. The substantial investment Amazon has made in Leo gives us hope, but we'll need to wait and see if it pays off.

We will keep this page updated as we receive more information. There's a lot of time between now and 2029, so check back with us for more details on Amazon Leo in the future.