Every Starlink Dish Decoded: Gen 3, Gen 4, V5, Mini X

There is no Starlink dish called “Gen 4.” The dish forums call “Gen 3” is what Starlink now sells as Standard 4 and Standard 4 X, the “new one” is the V5 home dish that went on sale in July 2026, and the Mini X is the same Mini with a second router in the box. If you are buying in the US today, there are four kits that matter: the Mini ($199, or $16 a month for 12 months with a Roam plan), the Standard 4 X ($349 with Roam, or rented on Residential), the V5 (rented with the Residential 100 Mbps plan, in select areas), and the Performance (Gen 3) at $1,999. Every price here is a US figure as of August 25, 2026. Starlink changes prices, plan rules, and which dish it will sell you without notice, so check starlink.com/service-plans and your own address in the ordering flow before buying; if this page and Starlink disagree, Starlink is right. The rest of this page identifies the dish you already own, decodes every name, and lines the current kits up on power, size, speed, and plan rules.

The short answer

Not sure which row is you? The Starlink picker asks six questions and hands you a kit, a plan, and an accessory list. The cost side of the decision, including Standby versus renting, lives in the Starlink Mini buy-rent-standby guide.

Which Starlink do you have? Identify it by shape

Starlink’s own kit-identification page lists nine kits, and it identifies them by the shape of the dish and whether it has a motor; where three kits share the same description, the dish width and the router in the box separate them. Hold your dish up and match it:

The quoted descriptions are Starlink’s. The dish widths come from the spec sheets and the V4-versus-V5 page. One gap worth knowing: as of August 25, 2026, that identification page still does not list the V5 at all, so a V5 owner looking for their kit on it will not find it. Starlink also lists the Enterprise kit, a rectangle without a motor that is sold to businesses; it is not a consumer purchase and is left out of the tables below.

The name decoder: Gen 3 is Standard 4, and Gen 4 is not a dish

Starlink renamed its consumer dishes in one help-center note: “Starlink Standard Kit is now Standard 4 X” and “Starlink Standard with the Router Mini is now Standard 4,” with the clarification that “Standard 4 refers to the same hardware many customers previously called ‘Gen 3 Starlink.’” So the Standard 4 and the Standard 4 X are the same dish; the only difference is the router in the box.

The high-end line got the same treatment: “Actuated High Performance is now Starlink Performance Kit (Gen 1)” and “Flat High Performance is now Starlink Performance Kit (Gen 2).” The kit Starlink sells today is the Performance (Gen 3), which Mobile Internet Resource Center described at launch as “expected to replace the Flat High Performance dish.”

“Gen 4” appears in search boxes because the numbering skipped. Starlink’s own V4-versus-V5 comparison calls the Standard-era dish “Starlink V4” and the new home dish “Starlink V5,” so a shopper who hears “gen 3” for the Standard naturally expects a “gen 4” next. There is none: the V4 is the Standard 4 (the “Gen 3”), and the next dish is the V5. SatelliteInternet.com calls the V5 “the fifth generation of its personal terminals.”

The Mini X is the easiest to decode. Starlink: “This kit includes the Starlink Mini and a Router Mini,” and it “is currently available in Argentina and Germany but, will launch in additional markets soon.” The Mini X spec sheet lists the identical dish (298.5 × 259 × 38.5 mm, 1.10 kg, 25 to 40 W) with a Router Mini added. A US listing that says “Mini X” is either an import or a mislabel; the dish inside is a Mini.

The four current US kits, side by side

Every figure below is from a Starlink document. The source is named per row, since Starlink’s own pages disagree with each other on a few of them.

IP stands for Ingress Protection: the first digit is dust, the second is water, and IP67 means sealed against dust and safe in a metre of water for half an hour. Starlink says the Performance kit’s IP68/IP69K rating makes it “suitable for 1 meter of water submersion for up to 30 minutes and pressure washing.” Field of view is how much sky the dish can see; a wider view means more satellites in reach, which matters on a rolling boat or under partial tree cover. Starlink says the wider-view Performance (Gen 1) “can see 35% more sky” than the Standard.

The two power figures for the Standard 4 X deserve a second look. A shopper who lands on the spec sheet plans for 100 W; one who lands on the Performance comparison page plans for 62 W. Both pages are Starlink’s, both are live, and the gap is large enough to change which battery you would buy. Plan on the higher number and be pleasantly surprised.

What each generation draws, for the older kits too

Starlink publishes one power table that covers the older dishes alongside the current ones, and it is the one reference for anyone running an older kit off a battery or solar:

All four rows are verbatim ranges from that page. The Mini’s own power article uses the same 20 to 40 W (the spec sheet says 25 to 40 W; one more pair of official figures that disagree by a few watts) and adds the rule that decides whether a power bank will work: “You will need a USB Power Delivery (“PD”) source with a rating of 100W (20V/5A) for the Starlink Mini to operate optimally,” and “Starlink Mini will not work with USB PD ratings below 65W.” The V5 and the Performance (Gen 3) are missing from that older table; their figures are the ones in the table above: 35 to 50 W for the V5, and for the Performance either 75 to 100 W (spec sheet) or 70 W (comparison page), depending on which Starlink document you read.

The router decoder: Gen 1, Gen 2, Router 3, Router Mini

Half the “which generation” confusion is really about the router: Starlink ships the same dish with different routers and names the kit after the pairing. Its router-identification page describes four:

• Gen 1 Router: “Prism-like with a dual-tone design,” one Ethernet port on the back.
• Gen 2 Router: “Stands tall with a glass front,” light at the bottom. Shipped with the Standard Actuated kit, whose “power supply is integrated into the router.”
• Router 3: “Wide and lays horizontally,” multiple Ethernet ports. Wi-Fi 6, tri-band, up to 297 m². Ships with the Standard 4 X.
• Router Mini: “Compact, flat rectangular shape with a built-in kickstand.” Wi-Fi 6, dual-band. Ships with the Standard 4 (the non-X), the V5, and the Mini X.

The Router Mini’s coverage figure changed between spec sheets: the Mini X sheet lists “Up to 120 m^2 (1300 sqft)” and one Ethernet port, while the V5 sheet lists “Up to 204 m² (2200 sqft)” and “Two (2) Ports 1Gbps Ethernet.” Whether that is a revised router or a revised claim, Starlink does not say; the V5 is the newer product. The Mini has no separate router at all: Wi-Fi 5 is built into the dish, with one latching Ethernet port. The Performance (Gen 3) ships with an Advanced Power Supply and no router; Starlink lists it as compatible with the “Starlink Gen3 Router,” the “Starlink Router Mini,” and “3rd Party Routers.”

Which kits can drive, and which can pause

Two plan rules decide more purchases than any spec. First, in-motion use. Starlink allows it on Roam and Priority plans “up to 100 mph (160 km/h) in authorized locations,” and lists the supported hardware as Performance (Gen 3), Performance (Gen 2), Standard 4, Standard 4 X, and Starlink Mini. The motorized kits are marked “Not recommended”: “Actuated Starlinks (e.g., Standard Actuated, Performance Gen 1) — these contain motors and are not designed for in-motion use.” And the V5 is out by design: “Starlink V5 is not intended for in-motion use.”

Second, Standby Mode, the low-speed pause Starlink sells “for emergency messaging and easy reactivation in dead zones for a small monthly fee.” That fee doubled in 2026: The Next Web reported on May 18 that SpaceX was “doubling the cost of its budget Standby Mode from $5 to $10,” effective “immediately for new subscribers” and for existing customers “from their next billing cycle on or after 18 June.” Starlink’s pausing page carries two exclusions that map straight onto hardware: “Standby Mode is not available for V5 hardware” and “Standby Mode is not available for select rental customers.” A V5 is a home dish that stays on a home plan. If part-time use is the point, buy a Mini or a Standard 4 X, and buy it rather than rent it.

What each one costs and how Starlink sells it, as of August 2026

Starlink changed how it sells hardware several times in the summer of 2026, so the date matters more than the number.

• Mini: “Starlink Mini Kit starting at $199” on the US product page. Since late July, Roam customers can also take it on installments: “$16/month for 12 months,” which “totals $192 at 0% APR,” with the catch that “canceling Starlink service before the 12-month installment period is complete makes the full remaining balance due immediately.”
• Standard 4 X on Roam: reported removed from new Roam orders on July 1, 2026, then put back: “The Standard 4X dish is once again available to purchase directly from Starlink with Roam service for $349.”
• Standard 4 X on Residential: in June 2026 Starlink moved new Residential customers to a “$10/month rental program” under which they “no longer own their hardware and cannot use features such as Standby Mode.” By July 20 SatelliteInternet.com reported the fee gone: “After a little more than a month of adding the fee, it’s now been removed from new purchases of residential Starlink,” with the equipment line for every Residential tier now reading “$349 or free rental.” Renters who cancel “must return it,” and can buy it “for the regular price of $349.”
• V5: on sale in the US since July 15, 2026, when Engadget reported “SpaceX confirmed in a post on X that the product will arrive today in the US in certain regions at first,” with one region, Drummond, Montana, offering it “only with the least expensive $55 per month 100Mbps Residential plan.” SatelliteInternet.com: “The dish is available for rental in select areas on the 100Mbps Residential plan ($55/mo.) for no extra cost,” and “no pricing for this dish without the rental option has been confirmed.” Starlink’s own page says only that it “is currently available in select areas.”
• Performance (Gen 3): “$1,999” at launch, sold “with consumer Roam plans, or business Local and Global Priority plans.” As of July 2026 Starlink was offering it on Roam only to existing account holders: “the Performance dish does not appear to be offered to new users who do not already have an existing Starlink account.”

The service menu is the same list for every dish, Residential at $55, $85, or $130 a month and Roam at $55 for 100GB, $80 for 300GB, or $175 unlimited, but which dish Starlink pairs with which tier is not: in the Montana example Engadget reported, “The pricier Residential and Residential Max plans only support the V4 dish with the superior Router 3, for now.” The 30-day trial is listed as a key feature on both.

Should you wait for the next one?

Two unreleased products are circulating. A Mini with a battery: Tech Digest reported firmware labelled “mini2_prod1” and a “built-in four-cell lithium battery pack,” while stating that “SpaceX has not yet officially announced a formal release date or pricing structure.” SatelliteInternet.com, citing the same firmware find, adds that “Starlink hasn’t officially announced the new dish.” Mobile Internet Resource Center writes that it suspects “a new-generation Starlink Mini may be in the pipeline as well - in the interview where the V5 was first glimpsed, a new Mini design was also seen sitting on the table.”

None of that is a product with a name, a price, or a ship date, and Starlink’s kit-identification page still lists the current Mini as a current kit. If a battery Mini would change your purchase, the 30-day trial Starlink lists on its plans page is the cheap hedge, since Mobile Internet Resource Center describes it as being able to “return it for a full refund in the first 30 days”: buy now, and if the successor lands inside the window, return the old one. For a home dish, there is nothing to wait for; the V5 is the successor, and Starlink is already renting it out where it has capacity.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between Starlink Gen 3 and Gen 4?

There is no Gen 4. “Gen 3” is the community name for the kickstand rectangle Starlink now calls Standard 4 (with Router Mini) or Standard 4 X (with Router 3); Starlink says “Standard 4 refers to the same hardware many customers previously called ‘Gen 3 Starlink.’” The next dish after it is the V5.

Is the Starlink V5 better than the Standard 4 X?

Smaller, lighter, and lower-power, not faster. Starlink lists 375+ Mbps for the V5 against 400+ Mbps for the V4, 1.1 kg against 2.9 kg, and 35 to 50 W against 75 to 100 W. The V5 is also “not intended for in-motion use” and cannot use Standby Mode, so it is the better home dish and the worse travel dish.

Is the Starlink Mini X a new dish?

No. Starlink: “This kit includes the Starlink Mini and a Router Mini.” The dish figures on the Mini X sheet (size, weight, power, field of view, IP rating, wind, snow melt) match the Mini sheet. As of August 2026 it is sold in Argentina and Germany, not the US.

Which Starlink dishes work in a moving vehicle?

Starlink’s supported list is Performance (Gen 3), Performance (Gen 2), Standard 4, Standard 4 X, and Starlink Mini, on Roam or Priority plans, up to 100 mph. Motorized kits are “Not recommended,” and the V5 is “not intended for in-motion use.”

Does an old Starlink router work with a new dish?

The Router Mini is “Compatible with all Starlink routers except Gen 1” for meshing, and the Router 3 meshes with “Starlink Gen 2 and Router 3 Mesh Nodes.” The Performance (Gen 3) needs no Starlink router at all and accepts third-party ones. Powering a Standard dish from the Advanced Power Supply works, but “the Router 3 will need its own power source.”

What to actually do

Match your dish to the shape table, then read its row in the power table before you buy a battery. If you are shopping, the decision is the plan rule, not the spec: a V5 for a house that never moves, a Mini for anything that does, a Standard 4 X bought outright if you need both, and the Performance only if you have already priced the boat. Then run the picker to confirm, and use the cost guide to decide between owning and Standby.