Project Kuiper: Amazon’s Future Satellite Internet Provider

Project Kuiper is an up and coming low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite internet service provider that’s set to launch 1,500 satellites over the next five years.¹ Kuiper plans to reach a total of 3,236 satellites² to build out its constellation and offer satellite broadband internet worldwide.

Project Kuiper promises to deliver satellite broadband—which the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) defines as 25 Mbps—so if you’re in a rural area or a digital nomad, keep an eye on Amazon internet. Satellite internet can reach areas where land-based internet like cable and fiber can’t, even if it does come with higher latency.

Of course, the Kuiper satellites aren’t even up and running yet. But once the United Launch Alliance (ULA) finishes testing its next-generation Vulcan Centaur rocket, it plans to launch a pair of Amazon's Project Kuiper prototype satellites with it. There's still no official word on when the maiden voyage date arrives, but Project Kuiper’s license from the FCC⁴ says that half of the Amazon company’s satellite constellation must be launched by 2026, and the full constellation by 2029.

If you need reliable satellite internet in the meantime, check out our satellite internet service comparison below.

Jump to:

• Other satellite providers
• Does Amazon own Project Kuiper?
• What is the purpose of Project Kuiper?
• Who will launch Project Kuiper?
• Is Project Kuiper part of Blue Origin?
• How fast will Project Kuiper internet be?
• How much will Project Kuiper cost?
• Project Kuiper vs. Starlink
• Why is it called Project Kuiper?
• Who is Rajeev Badyal?
• Should you plan to get Project Kuiper when it's available?
• Methodology

Amazon internet isn't available right now, so as you can see, Starlink and Viasat have the fastest satellite internet you can get your hands on. 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. That is, of course, if you can get Starlink in the first place. It's the least available, and many people have been on its waitlist for years.

We actually highly recommend HughesNet for its cheaper prices (it may start more expensive than Viasat, but it offers more speed for the comparable package) and lack of price hikes. It even recently raised its data cap to 100 GB.

If you want even more details on these satellite internet providers, check out our Best Satellite Internet Review. For more on Project Kuiper satellites and Starlink (and Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk’s space quarrels), see below.

How much will Amazon internet service cost?

Amazon's Project Kuiper satellite equipment and monthly service costs are still to be determined, but we’re fairly certain Amazon is gunning for Starlink. Knowing that Starlink residential internet is $110 a month, we’d project Amazon internet to be priced similarly—possibly even less if it wants to beat out Starlink. 

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently approved Project Kuiper's updated orbital debris mitigation plan. With this, Amazon can go ahead and begin truly constructing and deploying its satellite constellation. That means Amazon satellite internet is one step closer to a reality.

At the end of last year, Amazon's Project Kuiper recently acquired a new factory in Kirkland, Washington that will allow it to expand production of its future satellites. With the recent approval of the satellite constellation, and construction of the satellites now beginning in earnest, lift off might not be too far away

Amazon, owned partially by Jeff Bezos, does indeed own Project Kuiper. That's where it gets the nickname "Amazon internet." With financial backing like that, we have reason to believe the Kuiper system will be stable once its satellite constellation is actually up and running—especially when you consider that Amazon’s investing $10 billion dollars⁵ into the venture. 

Project Kuiper’s goal is to make satellite broadband internet available worldwide and help shrink the digital divide—or that’s what the company likes to make it sound like, anyway. But like all Amazon services and Amazon web services, Amazon's internet service Project Kuiper's ultimate goal is to make money.

That may not be bad for customers, though, particularly those impacted negatively by the digital divide. More competition is usually a good thing for customers, especially when it comes to satellite internet, which has had two primary providers (Viasat and HughesNet) most of its existence, with newcomer Starlink rounding them out to three.

Whether or not Project Kuiper will be good for satellite internet customers, or if, in typical Amazon fashion, it attempts to shoot its competitors out of the sky, we’ll have to see. 

We’ll keep this page updated as more information rolls in, so check back with us in the future.

Blue Origin, Arianespace, and United Launch Alliance (ULA) will all help Amazon’s Project Kuiper launch its satellites into earth orbit. ABL Space Systems was the first company to help Amazon Project Kuiper launch its prototype satellite, and it had plans to help get the KuiperSat-1 and Kuiper-Sat-2 prototypes up at the end of 2022.⁶  However, ULA's Vulcan Centaur will not handle Kuiper's first satellite launches in 2023, plus another future 38 Kuiper launches.⁷

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).

In fact, Amazon has reserved 83 launches over the next five years with these three companies to get its satellite constellation up—making for the largest commercial procurement of launch vehicles in history. That's a lot of possible connectivity in the future, y'all.

Amazon Kuiper's first two prototype satellites are set to launch on the Vulcan Centaur rocket soon, the mission and rocket run by the United Launch Alliance.

Blue Origin is a space tourism company owned by Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, but it isn’t actually owned by Amazon or therefore Project Kuiper. Blue Origin is, however, one of the three services that’ll be launching Project Kuiper’s satellites into earth’s orbit. Be ready to wave when it sends its New Glenn launch vehicle up with Kuiper satellites.

Amazon internet will be comprised of 3,236 satellites by the time it's all put together, but Amazon doesn't have any satellites in orbit yet. Project Kuiper is, however, planning to launch two prototype satellites into orbit soon here in 2023. Prototypes are the first step to functional internet, so keep a close eye on this page throughout 2023 for all related updates.

Project Kuiper satellite internet will offer up to 400 Mbps,⁷ with hopes to offer 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. Amazon internet service looks sweeter with every update.

Of course, raw download speed and throughput aren’t everything. Latency has a big impact on speed and slow your internet experience. Project Kuiper’s LEO satellites should also help minimize that, since, like Starlink’s satellites, they’ll be closer to Earth to begin with. But we’ll also have to see how well Kuiper maintains its systems after launch, since LEO satellites require more consistent and constant upkeep than GEO satellites.

Project Kuiper hasn’t revealed how much its satellite internet service will cost for future customers. But it hopes to create Project Kuiper customer terminals (the home satellite dish customers will use) for less than $400. For comparison, Starlink at-home satellites have a $500 equipment cost for users.

We don’t know for sure, but it’s possible Amazon Kuiper’s goal with its lower-priced equipment is to purposefully compete with Starlink’s up-front equipment costs, which can range from $599 to $2,500. Knowing Amazon’s common marketing techniques, it could and likely would pass these savings on to its customers to stay competitive with rivals like Starlink. Amazon internet service can only thrive if it decides to challenge its solid competition.

Of course, HughesNet and Viasat don't make you pay for your equipment at all. But those are GEO, not LEO, satellite services--even if they are increasing their speeds with new satellite launches in 2023.

Amazon's Project Kuiper will orbit 370 to 390 miles above the earth's surface, according to its FCC filing.⁴ That means the future constellation is in low-earth orbit, much like Starlink, though Project Kuiper will be just a bit higher compared to Starlink's 340-mile-above-earth orbit. 

If Amazon’s Project Kuiper is giving you SpaceX Starlink vibes, you’re not wrong. We’re pretty sure Jeff Bezos was peeking over at Elon Musk’s paper during study hall. 

As things stand, Starlink Internet has proven itself a satellite internet service to rival even Viasat and HughesNet, the two longest-standing satellite internet providers. Project Kuiper, meanwhile, sounds pretty good on paper, but it hasn’t shown up to prom yet. We’ll have to wait and see if it just talks the talk or walks the walk. 

In the meantime, you can sit back and watch Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk trade cutting remarks at the punch bowl. Will Starlink satellites triumph? Will Jeff Bezos get Kuiper satellites up in time? Grab that popcorn and join us as we watch the juicy drama play out.

Amazon recently revealed that it will be releasing two Kuiper satellites (or customer terminals, as it calls them) with its satellite internet service in the future. Unlike Starlink's satellites, Amazon satellites will be square and come in two different sizes for either more residential or portable use.

Project Kuiper's at-home internet will be 11 inches in size and capable of 400 Mbps, but the smaller Kuiper satellite model will be only 7 inches large, capable of portable internet use, and will be able to deliver up to 100 Mbps.

Amazon’s upcoming LEO satellite internet service is called Project Kuiper. It promises to be a competitive, speedy internet service that will help people from rural and underserved communities get and stay connected, but Amazon's internet service won't be available for a while.

Amazon’s Project Kuiper was named for the Kuiper Belt, a ring-shaped region just beyond Neptune’s orbit that contains icy bodies like Pluto and comets. The Kuiper Belt itself was named after Gerard Kuiper, the dutch astronomer who first proposed its existence.

Rajeev Badyal is Project Kuiper’s vice president of technology. He’s got plenty of experience in the satellite internet space, too, since he also used to be the vice president of satellites at Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

Vice President Kamala Harris recently added Rajeev Badyal to the User Advisory Group of the National Space Council, so he and the other members will help advise the government when facing space regulations, laws, and best practices.

Is Amazon partnered with Verizon?

Amazon internet service is partnering up with Verizon going into the future. Once Amazon's Project Kuiper is operational, Verizon plans to use it to expand its own 5G and 4G mobile network to better serve underserved rural areas. It's also likely Project Kuiper will want to leverage the partnership to create a satellite-wireless internet hybrid to lower satellite internet's innate latency, not unlike HughesNet Fusion's new technology.

Even though Project Kuiper looks promising, with possibly cheaper equipment prices and satellite constellation coverage that could rival Starlink, Viasat, and HughesNet, we don’t recommend jumping on Project Kuiper the moment it’s available.

We suggest holding off on Project Kuiper 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 releases. Let the company work that out while you still (hopefully) have access to an already-reliable satellite service, like Viasat or Starlink.
• Just because Amazon owns Project Kuiper doesn’t mean it’ll work. Amazon has gotten into a lot of different businesses in the past, and while most are successful, not all of them are. The sheer amount of money Amazon has invested in Project Kuiper makes us hopeful, but there’s no proof until you have the pudding. That’s the saying, right?

Of course, we’ll 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 Project Kuiper in the future.  

Our SatelliteInternet.com editorial team bases our analyses on research, results from our speed test tool, and proprietary internet provider data on speeds and pricing. We dig deep to get hard-to-find information on internet plans, fees, and upcoming brand developments. We make this information easy for you to find in one place via our in-depth reviews, and we use our satellite internet industry expertise to analyze the options to help you make the most informed decision for your household.