Starlink V5 vs Starlink Mini

Our pick: choose by where the dish will live, not by size. The V5 is a home dish sold with Residential plans for one fixed address; per Starlink, the V5 is “currently available in select areas” and is not meant for in-motion use. It’s $349 to buy where it’s sold (or a rental, as your address decides). The Mini is the travel dish: built-in Wi-Fi, DC power, sold with Roam plans for $149 on Starlink’s Nov 4, 2026 list. The bare dishes weigh about the same, and by our math the Mini’s face is about 66% of the V5’s.

Should you get the V5 or the Mini?

Get the V5 if the dish will stay at one home address on a Residential plan, and the Mini if it will travel on a Roam plan. In starlink.com’s kit prices on Nov 4, 2026, the V5 was $349 to buy and the Mini $149. The V5 carries a separate Wi-Fi 6 router and higher weather ratings; the Mini has Wi-Fi built in and runs from 12 V or USB-C power.

The two dishes, side by side

Same dish weight, different kit

Here’s the surprise in the spec sheets: the bare dishes weigh the same, 1.1 kg for the V5 and 1.10 kg for the Mini. The difference is everything around the dish. The V5 comes with a separate Router Mini and power supply, and its whole kit weighs 3.8 kg. The Mini has its router built in, and its entire shipping box weighs 2.72 kg. That all-in-one design is why the Mini packs into a bag and the V5 doesn’t.

Which uses less power, the V5 or the Mini?

The Mini. Starlink’s spec sheets, read Nov 4, 2026, rate the Mini at 25–40 W average and the V5 at 35–50 W. On a home electric bill that gap is a dollar or two a month by our math, but off the grid it decides how big a battery you need, and the Mini can also run straight from a vehicle’s 12 V system.

Our arithmetic from Starlink’s average power figures: watts × 24 for a day, 1,000 Wh ÷ watts for runtime on a 1,000 Wh battery, and the monthly cost of running it nonstop at the US average home electricity price of 18.16 cents per kWh (EIA, August 2026).

On a home’s electric bill the difference is a dollar or two a month. Off-grid, the bigger gap is how each one takes power. The Mini’s sheet lists a DC input and a USB-C option, so it can run from a vehicle’s 12 V system or a power station without an inverter. The V5 runs through the power supply in its box. Our reading of its spec sheet: it lists no DC input, so a battery setup needs an inverter, which costs some energy.

Speed and Wi-Fi: the plan decides

For the V5, Starlink lists peak hardware speed 375+ Mbps for the V5 vs 400+ Mbps for Standard 4 X (Starlink V4). For the Mini, neither the Mini spec sheet nor Starlink’s Mini-vs-Standard 4 X help article gives a peak speed for the Mini. Starlink says the Mini is “for basic internet use” and Standard 4 X is “for high-demand everyday internet use”. In practice the plan sets your speed. Residential 200 Mbps, the usual home plan for a V5, is 80–200 Mbps down, 15–35 Mbps up (expected, not guaranteed). Roam plans, sold with the Mini, are 65–260 Mbps down, 15–35 Mbps up (expected, not guaranteed).

Wi-Fi is the bigger day-to-day gap. The V5’s Router Mini is Wi-Fi 6 with two Ethernet ports and covers about 1,000 more square feet than the Mini’s built-in Wi-Fi 5 (our math from the table). In a house, that’s the difference between one router covering the place and needing a mesh node.

Weather: the V5 is built for a roof

A home dish stays out through every storm, and the V5’s ratings show it: it melts snow faster than the Mini and has a far higher wind rating when mounted (see the table). The Mini is weather-rated too, but note the catch on its rating: it holds only with its own DC cable and Starlink Plug installed, not with a regular Ethernet cable. For a dish that lives outside year-round in snow country, the V5 (or the Standard) is the safer pick.

Could one do the other’s job?

A Mini at home

It works, but it means living on a travel plan. Roam 100GB gives you 100 GB at full speed each billing cycle, after which data keeps flowing at roughly 500 Kbps; unused gigabytes don’t carry over. Home plans come with unlimited data on all three Residential plans. And Roam lines also slow down before Max lines when the network is congested. A household that streams a few hours each evening can use up 100 GB long before the month ends, so a Mini at home usually means Roam Unlimited or a home dish.

A V5 on the road

No. Starlink says the V5 isn’t for in-motion use, and it’s sold with home plans: Roam plans allow in-motion use; Residential service is tied to one fixed address. For travel, it’s the Mini.

Both

Max subscribers can add a rented Mini with no monthly charge and take half off eligible Roam plans for as long as they keep Max. Residential Max showed at $143/mo on the national order list Starlink showed on Nov 4, 2026, and prices vary by address. Our reading: the Mini still needs a Roam plan of its own, at the reduced rate. See Residential 100 vs 200 vs Max.

More on the V5 and the Mini