How we make money

Right now the link is switched on. It appears in the site header, the footer and a one-time welcome card, and in a full order box on three pages. This page and the other pages about the site never carry it.

The link, in five points

Every disclosure beside the link covers these five points; here is each one at full length.

1. It's a referral link

   Clicking it opens starlink.com with the owner's personal referral code built into the address, so checkout has nothing to fill in.

2. The owner is paid too

   When your order qualifies, Starlink rewards the owner as well: $100 Confirmed checked 2026-11-03 in the US, matching yours. The figure that counts is the amount shown in the referrer's Starlink account.

3. Who qualifies

   First-time customers only: Starlink excludes existing and returning customers. You need a US service address (the 50 states or DC; we haven't confirmed the territories), and the order must be a Residential or Roam plan placed directly on starlink.com, through the link. The terms describe buying the kit and the plan there; of the Residential entries on its national list, all 3 were rentals on Oct 30 and Nov 3, 2026, and the terms are silent on whether a rented kit qualifies. Starlink's eligible list holds its Residential and Roam plans (8 names), and no business plan. Kits from stores and resellers don't count: see what doesn't count.

4. How much, and when

   Starlink's terms apply $100 Confirmed checked 2026-11-03 to the second monthly invoice of a qualifying new US customer, and its help center puts the soonest arrival at day 60 after activation. The first month is billed as normal. The reward is account credit, set against a later bill, unless you choose cash where Starlink offers it; cash goes through Stripe. Starlink sets the amount and can change or end the program after 30 days' notice, and referrals already pending stay on the terms they started under. Until Starlink revised its referral terms on Oct 7, 2026, a new customer got a month of service instead, so older videos and pages may still describe that.

5. We're independent

   Starlink vs Leo is an independent publisher: SpaceX, Starlink and Amazon have no stake in it and don't endorse it. None of them pays for, reviews or approves what we publish, and we sell nothing, take no orders and handle no payments. You order from Starlink and pay Starlink.

Where you will and won’t see it

Where the link appears is decided when the site is built, so every visitor and every search engine gets the same page. With the link switched off, every page still answers its question in full.

Who the link isn't for

Starlink's referral terms expect a referred customer to be an active user who means to stay subscribed. So the link isn't meant for you, and we'd rather you didn't use it, if you:

• would switch to Amazon Leo the moment it opens for homes like yours;
• need internet for one season, one trip or about a month;
• plan to pause between trips or seasons.

The buy-or-wait tool shows the link only to readers who need internet now and plan to keep it. For the same reason we never place it on pages about financial hardship or low-income help, and the site has no pages aimed at children.

Before you click

Starlink's help center is clear that a referral is recorded only for an order placed on starlink.com through the link. Order without it, through another person's link, or from a store or marketplace, and the referral never shows up and can't be added later. So everything happens before you pay:

1. Decide first. Take the buy-or-wait check, or read who should wait on the home page.
2. Open the link only when you're ready to order. Nothing needs typing: the code travels inside the link.
3. Keep to the same browser tab. Complete the order where the link opened it, in a web browser rather than the Starlink app (app orders are unverified). Our read of starlink.com's code on Oct 21, 2026 shows the referral stored for that tab only, and in our test with a placeholder code (Oct 29, 2026), a tab opened by hand didn't have it. Both are our own findings; Starlink states no such policy. Closed the tab? Open the link again.
4. Enter your address, then read the price. Starlink's help center says Residential prices and promotions differ with location and account type. If the figure quoted at your address doesn't fit your budget, stop there.
5. Pay only after “Referral Code Applied” shows. That banner on the order page means the referral is on. Seeing “Referral Code Not Applied” instead? Read what to do.
6. Pay the first month in full. The credit follows on the second monthly invoice, per Starlink's terms.

What doesn't count

Starlink issues the reward only for sign-ups made on starlink.com, so none of these qualify:

• A kit from Amazon or any other store. Starlink's help center lists 16 US retailers, Amazon among them, and kits bought there don't earn the reward.
• An order by phone, or anywhere but starlink.com.
• A reseller's kit, or one taken over from someone else. Starlink excludes account transfers; we read a kit bought secondhand, or left in a home you move into, the same way (our reading).
• Anyone who has had Starlink before.
• A business order. The terms limit referred subscribers to individual people, and Business, Priority and Enterprise plans aren't on the eligible list. The help center bars those accounts from earning rewards as the person referring; we read it the same way for new orders.

If the order page doesn't show it

If you expected the referral and the order page says “Referral Code Not Applied”, don't pay yet. First, read the reason Starlink shows with it.

• If it says the code “is not valid” or “does not apply to this order type”, no reward applies to that order.
• Only if it gives another reason, or none: open the link again and start over from the address step, in the tab it opens. That's our reading of Starlink's site, not something we've tested.

In our test with a placeholder code (Oct 29, 2026), opening another referral link in the same tab replaced the stored code, including “Order Now” links in two Starlink help articles.

If your area shows as sold out, Starlink asks for a deposit and emails you to confirm the order once there's room. Whether the referral carries over to that order is unverified.

What being paid doesn’t change

• Our answers. When waiting for Amazon Leo, or another kind of internet, fits a household better, we say so. The tool's “wait” outcomes carry no link at all.
• How we report Amazon Leo. Amazon's facts get the same dated sourcing and the same yardstick as Starlink's, whether or not they help Starlink's case. See the editorial policy.
• What we promise. Nothing: the call on each referral is Starlink's to make, and its terms make that call final.
• Other income. The site has no ads, no sponsored posts and no other referral or commission links, and Amazon pays us nothing. If Amazon starts a referral program for Leo and we join it, this page will say so first, and the same rules will apply.