Starlink Dish Comparison 2026: Gen 3 Standard vs Mini vs HP vs Maritime

Starlink's hardware page shows four dishes stacked next to each other with price tags and a paragraph of marketing copy. What it doesn't tell you is which one is engineered for your situation, where each dish quietly fails, and how the upgrade path actually looks when your needs change. A family that buys the Mini for an RV trip and then moves into a rural farmhouse doesn't need to start from scratch — but they do need to know which dish to buy next and when. That decision is what this guide is built around.

If you already know the plan side of the equation and just want hardware sized against your specific situation, our plan picker pairs each plan with its compatible dishes. Otherwise, read on for the full four-dish deep dive.

All four dishes at a glance

Starlink's model selector is the current source for dimensions, weight, power, environment, and included hardware. Per Starlink's official specifications, those values are product-specific. Use this table to decide which fields to compare, then record the current values for the exact products offered to you.

Standard — the fixed-site baseline

Treat Standard as the baseline for a fixed installation when it is offered for the address. Compare the current included router, cable, stand, approved mounts, dimensions, weight, environmental limits, and power on the official product page.

Installation time and the need for networking accessories depend on the property. For off-grid use, take the exact power input and supported accessories from the current specification and use our off-grid power sizer as a worksheet rather than assuming a generic DC conversion.

Idle, startup, and snow-melt draw can differ. Measure the installed system over representative states when energy cost or battery runtime matters.

Mini — the travel-first rewrite

Mini emphasizes portability and a compact installation. Confirm current packed dimensions, weight, router arrangement, input power, cables, and approved mounts in the official specification. Battery runtime must be calculated from measured watt-hours and the battery's usable-energy limits.

Do not assume one terminal can “punch through” an obstruction or that a reported voltage makes an improvised power supply safe. Use an unobstructed view and supported power hardware. To see which compatibility questions matter, run our plan picker , then confirm the current hardware-plan combination in official checkout.

Temperature, wind, and water-resistance limits are model-specific. Read the official rating together with installation instructions; an environmental rating does not make a connector, cable entry, or improvised mount suitable for submersion, ice, salt spray, or every outdoor exposure.

High Performance — the business-grade option

High Performance hardware should be compared when the current business offer, environmental limits, mount, support, or other documented feature addresses a real requirement. Record the official price and model-specific dimensions, weight, wind, temperature, water, cable, networking, and power specifications.

Higher input power can materially change an off-grid design, but use the official specification and measured wall draw rather than the old figures previously in this article. Before committing, run the full ownership cost through our 5-year TCO calculator with current quotes. Calculate downtime from the business's own records; there is no universal cost threshold that makes this kit pay back.

Concurrent-user capacity depends on traffic, plan, router, Wi-Fi design, and the installed link. Obtain networking and reliability claims from current official documentation and have long Ethernet or powered cable runs designed to the applicable standard.

Maritime — the open-ocean specialist

Maritime hardware is a vessel-installation decision. Confirm the current service waters, motion support, environmental ratings, approved mounts, power, cable, redundancy, and price from the exact official offer and maritime installation documents.

Do not infer performance or a direct battery connection from an article. A marine electrical installation requires model-specific documentation and a qualified designer. Recreational users should compare eligible coastal and mobility options in our full plan comparison , then verify the result with Starlink.

Certification, support, prioritization, and insurance must come from the written product and service contract; this site does not claim that a plan includes them. Choose from documented requirements rather than vessel value or an anecdotal regret threshold.

Upgrade paths: Mini → Standard → HP

Hardware replacement and account migration depend on current plan compatibility, charges, cables, mounts, and account controls. Confirm the whole path before buying a second terminal.

Do not assume a resale percentage or that a hardware change automatically keeps the current plan. Verify the old kit's transfer eligibility and the new kit's plan eligibility separately.

The "which dish should I buy?" decision matrix

Strip away the marketing and the decision collapses into a two-column lookup. Match your user type to the recommendation, then sanity-check it against the spec table above. If the two disagree, trust the use case — specs are easy to over-index on when the actual bottleneck is mobility or mount location.

If you are choosing between Mini and Standard for home use, compare the current price, installation, plan eligibility, power, and measured performance rather than applying a fixed throughput penalty. For a home office, start from written requirements and only pay for a higher-tier combination that addresses a measured or contractual need. To validate your real speeds after installation, bookmark our speed test and run it at peak hours for a week before judging.