The cheapest Starlink kit, route by route

Every Starlink kit route, cheapest first

“Up front” is what the hardware costs on order day. A monthly plan comes on top on every route, including the $0 ones. “Who owns it” matters later: a rented kit has to go back when you cancel.

The Performance kit ($1,999) is listed for completeness. It costs more than 5 times the Standard kit (our math) and is never the cheap route.

For a home: your address picks rent or buy

You don’t pick the home kit route from a menu. The offer at your address decides whether a home kit is rented or sold to you: each Residential entry on the national list was a rental on Oct 21, 25, 30 and Nov 3–4, 2026, while 8 of 11 had purchase tags on Oct 29.

On Nov 3, 2026, the no-address Residential list held three home dishes at $349 apiece, to buy or rent: the Standard 4 X (Router 3 in the box), and the Standard 4 and Starlink V5 (each shipping with a Router Mini). Which one an address gets isn’t shown until you enter it.

If you’re offered a rental

The one-time rental activation comes in three sizes, $0, $99 and $199, and the address and plan pick one. The two higher levels bundle professional installation. The Starlink V5 rental shows a $349 list price that is adjusted down to $0.

Starlink says any monthly rental fee appears at checkout and is billed each month alongside the plan. RV Mobile Internet reported a $10/mo rental fee on new Residential orders in June 2026; SatelliteInternet.com reported the monthly rental fee removed for new Residential orders in July 2026. Check the checkout screen before you pay.

Rental hardware has to reach Starlink in good shape no more than 30 days after you cancel, or you pay the kit’s full retail price. That’s the real price of a $0 kit: you have to keep it in good shape and ship it back.

If you’re offered a purchase

Buying is $349 once, and the kit is yours. A starlink.com purchase can be returned undamaged up to 30 days past the Payment Due Date, and the refund covers the first month’s fee as well. Standard and Mini kits come with a 12-month limited warranty in the US. Whether buying beats renting over one, two or three years depends on a rental fee; we work it out month by month on rent or buy.

What installation adds

Starlink’s home page offers professional installation at no charge on the 200 Mbps and Max home plans. Residential 100 Mbps isn’t on that list. On any plan, a $0 activation or a bought kit means you set the dish up yourself.

The kit is the smaller part of the bill

Residential 100 Mbps was $49.50 a month on Starlink’s no-address US price list on Nov 4, 2026, after Oct 29 levels of $44 or $49.50, and only some areas get it. Residential Max, sold everywhere, was $143 on the same list. The price at your address can differ. See the cheapest plan, or put kit and plan together in the cheapest-path calculator.

For travel: the Mini is the cheapest kit to buy

The Starlink Mini is $149 on starlink.com (Nov 4, 2026). It runs on Roam plans, which are priced nationally: Roam 100GB is $55 a month. The Standard kit for a Roam plan is $349, so the Mini is the cheaper way onto the same plans, whether you’re a weekend camper in the Mountain West or a snowbird in Arizona.

If you’d choose Residential Max for your home anyway, there’s another route: a Residential Max household can add a rented Mini with no monthly charge and pay half price on eligible Roam plans (subject to change, not offered everywhere, one per customer). It’s only cheap if Max is the plan you’d pick on its own merits; every $0 hardware path runs the numbers. For plan prices with the Mini, see the cheapest Mini plan.

starlink.com or a store kit?

Starlink’s retailer page names 16 US chains that stock its kits, Walmart and Amazon among them, and a kit from any of them earns no referral reward. Starlink’s help center is blunt about it: an order placed without the link, through a different person’s link, or at a retail store never shows the referral, and Starlink won’t attach it afterward.

Store prices change often and we don’t track them. To compare, add twelve months of your plan to each kit price and set the totals side by side; the referral credit only belongs on the starlink.com side, and only if you qualify. Year-one totals by plan does that math for starlink.com.

Two smaller differences: a kit from a retailer is returned to that retailer, and the 12-month warranty runs from the store purchase date. On starlink.com you deal with Starlink for both.