Starlink vs. Viasat: Which Satellite Provider Is Better?

Internet services aren’t just slower than their terrestrial competitors, they’re more expensive too.

The base monthly price for a Starlink connection starts at $120 per month. And if you want anything more than the Starlink Residential Plan, you need to pay more than that. In some cases, you may find yourself paying $500 per month or more. But the costs don’t end there. That base Residential Plan requires the Starlink Standard Equipment, which costs $349 ($449 in "high-capacity" locations). Thankfully, on Starlink, you do buy equipment outright instead of renting it on a monthly basis. But that’s still no small amount to pay up front. And if you want connectivity on the go, you need to buy Starlink’s Roam Equipment, which is $599. Or if you want one of Starlink’s higher speed connections, you need to buy its High Performance Equipment, which costs a whopping $2,500. Starlink has no data caps or monthly overage fees, but those seem like small consolations when you have to pay at least $620 just to get started with the service.

Viasat’s pricing isn’t cheap, but it may be a little easier to stomach initially. Viasat plans technically start at $69.99 per month, but most customers will be paying $129.99 per month for the Viasat Unleashed plan. That’s relatively expensive, but to rent Viasat equipment, you can pay $15 per month or $250 for a lifetime prepaid lease. Even if you did pay that $250 to avoid monthly rental fees, you’re paying half of Starlink’s base fee. Viasat’s pricing isn’t cheap, but it may be a little easier to stomach initially. Viasat recommends that you realign your dish annually, and it charges $200 to do so. However, you can also opt for Viasat’s EasyCare plan, which costs $9.99 per month for free service calls and discounts that dish relocation fee to $95.

Just to say that Viasat certainly isn’t cheap, but it’s much cheaper than Starlink in every way. In our score, it’s only marginally better than Starlink because its speeds are also much slower, so it doesn’t technically represent much better value. You get what you pay for, but if you want to pay less, Viasat is the way to go.

Generally speaking, Starlink customers seem happier with their service than Viasat customers. We spoke to a number of Starlink customers who expressed positive views of the service, while the Viasat customers we spoke to were a little more lukewarm.

That’s consistent with studies that have been conducted too. In 2023, Ookla published a study noting, “Starlink users love their provider.” That doesn’t seem to be the case for Viasat customers, who have more issues with speed and reliability. It only took us two minutes to connect to a live agent on the phone, which isn’t bad, but you can’t use the chat service without an account.

To be fair, neither of these two providers seem to be terrible, when it comes to customer experience—but Starlink is better.

Starlink and Viasat have a lot to offer, but the best one for you depends on a few different factors. If you’re willing to spend the cash for a better service, Starlink is probably the way to go, as it offers faster speeds and a better overall customer experience. Again, you have to pay more to get it, but if you need reliability, Starlink has you covered.

Viasat is slower and less reliable than Starlink. That said, the trade-off is that it costs less, so if you’re looking for basic satellite connectivity and don’t want to pay more than necessary, Viasat is still a great Starlink alternative.