Starlink isn’t just winning the satellite internet race; it’s dominating it. New data from Ookla reveals that 97% of all satellite-based tests from its Speedtest.net tool come from Starlink users, with Viasat and Hughesnet trailing far behind.
SpaceX’s Starlink “accounted for 97.1% of all global satellite Speedtest samples in the third quarter of 2025,” Ookla says. Viasat ranks a distant second with a 1.7% share of test samples, while HughesNet comes in third with a 1.0% share.
It’s not surprising, given that Starlink now serves over 9 million users worldwide. Meanwhile, Viasat has seen its subscriber base shrink to 157,000 while HughesNet’s has fallen to 783,000.
SpaceX’s lead is only expected to grow. The company has been aggressive in offering discounts and perks and in expanding its retail presence in both the US and globally. In addition, Hughesnet has indicated it’ll refer customers to Starlink after its parent company, EchoStar, struck a deal to sell radio spectrum to SpaceX in exchange for company stock.
Ookla also tracked the source of the speed tests, an indicator of Starlink’s largest markets. The US is number one, with 22.5% of the tests in Q3, followed by Mexico, Indonesia, and Brazil.
(Credit: Ookla)
In July, SpaceX said it had over 2 million active customers in the US. Last week, a company executive also noted it was serving over 1 million users in Brazil, making it Starlink’s second-largest customer base.
Ookla’s report offers an interesting snapshot of Starlink’s performance worldwide. In the US, the median download speeds have been improving, reaching 117Mbps, up from 61.7Mbps in 2022 when Starlink faced more user congestion due to its popularity. The speeds have also increased noticeably in Canada, where the median download rate has reached 111Mbps, up from 79Mbps a year earlier.
Median speeds for the US market based on Speedtest.net data. (Credit: Ookla)
But in Mexico, the Starlink median download speeds have reached only 54Mbps, likely due in part to user congestion. The data also shows that Starlink speeds can drastically fluctuate throughout the day.
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Median speeds for the Mexico based on Speedtest.net data. (Credit: Ookla)
In the US, for example, the fastest speeds were recorded at or around midnight, reaching 250Mbps or higher. But then the performance tended to drop as people began their day.
(Credit: Ookla)
SpaceX will soon face fresh competition from Amazon’s Leo, an upcoming challenger to Starlink. For now, Leo remains in a private beta and has only 180 satellites in orbit. But Amazon is already trying to attract enterprise users to Leo by touting gigabit satellite internet speeds. It’s also spending billions to launch hundreds of additional satellites as it races to complete the constellation.
Disclosure: Ookla is owned by Ziff Davis, PCMag’s parent company.
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About Our Expert
Michael Kan
Senior Reporter
Experience
I’ve been a journalist for over 15 years. I got my start as a schools and cities reporter in Kansas City and joined PCMag in 2017, where I cover satellite internet services, cybersecurity, PC hardware, and more. I’m currently based in San Francisco, but previously spent over five years in China, covering the country’s technology sector.
Since 2020, I’ve covered the launch and explosive growth of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service, writing 600+ stories on availability and feature launches, but also the regulatory battles over the expansion of satellite constellations, fights with rival providers like AST SpaceMobile and Amazon, and the effort to expand into satellite-based mobile service. I’ve combed through FCC filings for the latest news and driven to remote corners of California to test Starlink’s cellular service.
I also cover cyber threats, from ransomware gangs to the emergence of AI-based malware. Earlier this year, the FTC forced Avast to pay consumers $16.5 million for secretly harvesting and selling their personal information to third-party clients, as revealed in my joint investigation with Motherboard.
I also cover the PC graphics card market. Pandemic-era shortages led me to camp out in front of a Best Buy to get an RTX 3000. I’m now following how President Trump’s tariffs will affect the industry. I’m always eager to learn more, so please jump in the comments with feedback and send me tips.