Starlink Maritime Plans Explained: Coastal, Ocean Mode and Global Priority (2026)

Choosing the Starlink antenna is the easy part. The service plan is what decides your monthly bill, where your vessel stays connected, and whether your crew gets cut off once you pass the 12-mile line. This guide explains how Starlink Maritime plans work in 2026, in plain terms, so you can pick the right one for your vessel or fleet.

First: the three zones that decide your plan

Starlink treats your location in three broad zones:

• On land: standard residential and roaming plans.
• Coastal / territorial waters: roughly within 12 nautical miles of shore. Some plans include this; others don’t.
• Open ocean: beyond territorial waters. This is where data is either billed per GB or drawn from a priority data allowance.

Most of the cost surprises we see come from vessels that spend more time beyond 12 nautical miles than the owner expected.

The main plan types for boats and ships

1. Roam / mobile plans (leisure, mostly coastal)

Built for people on the move. They work on land and near shore, and you can switch on Ocean Mode to stay connected further out, paying per GB. There are limits on how long you can use them outside your home country. Good for a weekend boater, not for a working vessel.

2. Personal Maritime (leisure boats)

A newer plan launched in some markets in August 2026 for personal vessels under about 40 feet. It gives unlimited data in territorial waters worldwide, with open-ocean use billed per GB through Ocean Mode. It is not for commercial use, and availability varies by country.

3. Global Priority (commercial vessels and serious offshore use)

This is the plan for working vessels. You buy a block of priority data that works on land, along the coast and in the open ocean. Priority data gets preference over consumer traffic when the network is busy, and data can be pooled across several terminals in a fleet. If your vessel is commercial, or regularly operates beyond 12 nautical miles, this is usually the right choice.

Ocean data just got more expensive on consumer plans

In late September 2026, Starlink raised the per-GB price of Ocean Mode data on consumer plans to roughly three times the previous rate. For a vessel that spends real time offshore, that changes the maths. A Global Priority data block now works out better value for many owners who previously relied on Ocean Mode top-ups.

How much data do you actually need?

A rough guide to typical usage:

Activity	Typical data use
Email, WhatsApp, weather updates	1–2 GB per person per month
Video call (WhatsApp, Teams, Zoom)	about 1–2 GB per hour
Social media scrolling with video	about 0.5–1 GB per hour
HD video streaming	about 3 GB per hour
Engine/IoT monitoring, AIS, telemetry	usually under 1 GB per month
Phone and laptop software updates	several GB each, if not controlled

A crew of 10 with unrestricted video streaming can burn through hundreds of GB a month. The same crew with sensible limits may use a fraction of that.

Which plan for which vessel?

Vessel and operation	Usually the best fit
Leisure boat, mostly coastal	Roam or Personal Maritime
Yacht making ocean passages	Global Priority, or Ocean Mode for short trips
Tug, workboat, crew boat in port and coastal waters	Global Priority (commercial terms)
Offshore support, fishing beyond 12 nm	Global Priority
Fleet of several vessels	Global Priority with pooled data

Note: commercial vessels should be on a commercial plan. Consumer plans have terms that restrict business use.

Five ways to keep data costs under control

1. Use a marine router with per-user quotas so one crew member can’t use the whole month’s data in a day.
2. Separate crew and operations networks so navigation, email and monitoring always get through.
3. Block automatic updates on phones and laptops while offshore; let them run in port on Wi-Fi.
4. Schedule large uploads such as CCTV footage and backups for when you are back in coastal coverage.
5. Review usage monthly and resize your data block to match actual use.

Hardware works with any plan

The antenna and the plan are separate decisions. For vessels underway we recommend the Starlink Performance Gen 3. If you already run a Flat High Performance unit, see our Gen 2 guide, or compare both in Gen 2 vs Gen 3. For mission-critical vessels, add a backup link with our Dual-LEO Resilience package.

Get the right plan from Envision Data

Envision Data supplies Starlink Maritime hardware and Global Priority airtime for vessels across Singapore and ASEAN, with local support and SGD billing, backed by 20+ years in cables, telecom and satcom. Tell us your vessel, route and crew size, and we’ll recommend a plan and data size that fits.

Request a Starlink plan quote →