Buy the Standard kit if Starlink is your household's main internet connection. Buy the Mini if you travel — it's a fraction of the size and power draw, and it fits in a backpack. The Standard dish has the higher speed ceiling and is built to sit on a roof for years; the Mini trades peak performance for portability. Here's how they actually compare.
Side-by-side comparison
| Feature | Standard (Gen 3) | Mini |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Home internet, fixed sites | Travel, vans, camping, backup |
| Typical speeds | 100–400 Mbps down | 100–230 Mbps down |
| Power draw | ~75–100W | ~20–40W |
| Router | Separate Gen 3 WiFi router | Built into the dish |
| Size | Laptop-bag sized, kickstand | Fits in a backpack |
| Setup | Kickstand or roof mount | Prop it anywhere with sky view |
| In-motion use | Not supported | Limited (check your plan) |
See live kit prices by country →
The real difference: what they're built for
The Standard kit assumes a permanent home. It ships with a separate WiFi router, wants a clear roof or pole mount, and pulls wall-outlet levels of power. In exchange you get the highest consumer speeds Starlink sells — on the top US Residential tier that means 400+ Mbps on a good day.
The Mini assumes you'll be moving. The router is built into the dish, it powers from a compact supply (vanlifers commonly run it straight off DC), and the whole thing weighs about as much as a hardcover book. You give up peak speed, but you gain the ability to have real broadband literally anywhere with open sky.
Speed: how much do you actually lose with the Mini?
On paper the Mini tops out around half the Standard's best case. In practice the gap matters less than it looks:
- Video calls need ~5 Mbps. Both dishes clear that bar dozens of times over.
- 4K streaming needs ~25 Mbps. Still no contest for either.
- The difference shows up with many users at once — a family of five saturating the connection will feel the Mini's ceiling; a couple in a van won't.
Congestion matters more than hardware. On portable plans your traffic is deprioritized during busy hours, which affects both dishes. If speed consistency is critical, the plan tier you pick matters as much as the dish — see our plan-by-plan breakdown.
Power: the hidden decider for off-grid use
If you're running from batteries, this is usually the whole decision:
- Mini: ~20–40W. Roughly 2–3.5 Ah per hour from a 12V system. A modest camper battery bank runs it all day.
- Standard: ~75–100W. Triple the draw, plus an AC inverter unless you rewire it. Overnight use eats a serious chunk of storage.
That's why the Mini dominates the RV and vanlife setups owners report on this site.
Price: it depends where you live
Kit pricing is where comparisons online get misleading — Starlink prices hardware very differently per country, and runs frequent regional promotions. The Mini has sold anywhere from bargain-promo pricing to more than the Standard kit, depending on market and month.
Two rules of thumb:
- Never assume the US price applies to you. Check your country's live prices — kit costs range from around $199 to $599+ worldwide for consumer dishes.
- Factor the monthly plan, not just the dish. A cheap kit on an expensive plan costs more within months. The cost calculator totals both for your country.
Which one should you buy?
- Fixed home, multiple users → Standard. More speed, better antenna, made to live outside permanently.
- Vanlife, RV, sailing, digital nomad → Mini. Power draw and packability beat peak speed on the road.
- Home internet + occasional trips → Standard for the house; add a Mini later if travel becomes regular. Many contributors here run both.
- Emergency backup connection → Mini. Small enough to store in a closet, fast enough to run a household in an outage.
Own one of these already? Add your kit and plan to your profile — real-owner setups help the next person pick, and you'll see how your price compares worldwide.