What is the difference between SpaceX’s Starlink, Amazon Leo and Blue Origin’s TeraWave?

The race for satellite Internet is accelerating. In the years since SpaceX launched its first batch of Starlinks In 2019, many competitors entered the market, including two you’ve probably heard of lately: Amazon Lion and Blue Origin recently announcement TeraWave.

Star linkAmazon Leo and TeraWave are far from the only players in this rapidly growing sector, but they stand out for their massive financial backing and the ambitious strategic visions of their respective billionaire owners. EspaceX CEO Elon Musk oversees Starlink, while Jeff Bezos-through Amazon And Blue origin– develops Amazon Leo and TeraWave.

Each of these brands has taken a unique approach to creating the next generation of satellite internet technology. Understanding the differences between them is essential to understanding how the future of global connectivity might unfold. So, without further ado, let’s dive in.

Very different deployment scales

The first thing to understand is that these networks emerged at different times and their parent companies chose different deployment strategies. As a result, they are at different stages of development.

Starlink is by far the most mature of the three. SpaceX was the first to commercialize its satellite project, announcing in 2015. Since deployment began in 2019, the company has rapidly built the Starlink megaconstellation through hundreds of launches aboard its Falcon 9 rocketwith 9,555 Starlinks currently active and providing high-speed Internet access to millions of people around the world.

Amazon revealed plans to develop a competitor — called Project Kuiper at the time — about a month before SpaceX launched its first batch of operational Starlinks, “but it’s been much slower to actually ramp up and start production,” Kevin Bell, senior vice president of the engineering and technology group (ETG) at The Aerospace Corporation, told Gizmodo. “Part of it was satellite-driven, part of it was rocket-driven,” Bell explained.

While SpaceX’s approach to Starlink development favored rapid iteration and deployment, Amazon took its time finalizing its satellite designs and conducted more extensive prototype testing. Because Amazon does not have its own rockets to support satellite deployment, it partners with launch providers:including SpaceX – to build its constellation.

The company launched its first operational batch of satellites aboard a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket in April 2025. The next launch, together for February 12, will increase the constellation (now called Amazon Leo) to 212 satellites. As it is still in its early stages, the service has not yet been commercially launched.

Then there’s TeraWave, the newcomer. Blue Origin announced the project on January 21, setting a goal of beginning deployment by the first quarter of 2027. The company will likely use its New Glenn rocket launch its satellites, but this has not yet been confirmed. According to the announcement, the TeraWave constellation will eventually have 5,408 satellites located in low Earth orbit (where Starlink and Amazon Leo reside) and medium Earth orbit.

It’s bigger than Amazon Leo’s foreseen deployment of 3,236 satellites, but if Musk succeeds, Starlink will eclipse Bezos’ two constellations. The Federal Communications Commission recently approved a SpaceX application for launch up to one million additional Starlinks with the aim of building an orbital data center.

Serving unique markets

Broadly speaking, the satellite Internet industry serves two types of customers: businesses and individual users. But according to Bell, these markets can be divided into five main segments, namely direct-to-device, direct-to-consumer, broadband (for business users), backhaul (providing connectivity to underserved areas), and sovereign government.

“Although Starlink is actually spread across all of them, Amazon and TeraWave chose, at least initially, to position themselves toward the high end,” Bell said.

Starlink serves a wide range of users, from individuals to the US government. However, its main clientele consists of people living in rural and isolated areas who do not have access to reliable high-speed internet. Amazon Leo ultimately plans to target this market, but its initial deployment phase serve certain corporate, government and telecommunications customers.

TeraWave is unique in that it is not aimed at individual customers at all. This network will serve “tens of thousands” of enterprise, data center and government users, according to Blue Origin.

“One of the big differences is that typically a company negotiates a service level agreement, so it’s necessary for the company to be able to provide a certain level of speed, a certain level of capacity,” Tom Stroup, president of the Satellite Industry Association, told Gizmodo.

To meet this demand, Blue Origin will design TeraWave to deliver data speeds of up to 6 terabits per second anywhere on Earth. In comparison, Starlink and Amazon Leo offer speeds ranging from hundreds of megabits to around 1 gigabit per second, which is suitable for home and some enterprise customers, but is not suitable for high-capacity backhaul links or large-scale enterprise operations.

As these networks grow, the satellite internet industry is undergoing rapid transformation. Competition between them – and their many other competitors – will continue to drive innovation, bringing faster speeds, higher capacity and wider coverage to users around the world.

“Each generation of satellites launched has greater speed and capacity than the previous generation,” Stroup said. “We’re just iterating much faster than ever before.”