How we make this list: we compare pricing pages, product documentation and public user reviews. Rankite is independent; if a vendor ever pays for a featured spot, that listing is clearly labeled Partner.
Key takeaways
- Bright Data and Oxylabs remain the safest enterprise picks, with the largest pools and strongest compliance, but you pay $8 per GB for the privilege.
- Decodo (formerly Smartproxy) is the mainstream value choice at around $4 per GB with a 3-day free trial and no enterprise sales process.
- Budget providers like DataImpulse ($1/GB) and IPRoyal ($1.75/GB) deliver residential proxies at a fraction of legacy prices, with trade-offs in tooling depth.
- Webshare's permanent free tier is the best way to prototype before committing to a paid plan.
- Always check the ethics and KYC posture of a provider if you scrape at scale; enterprise buyers increasingly require documented opt-in sourcing.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Best for | Starting price | Free plan |
|---|
 Bright Data | Enterprise scraping and compliance | $8 per GB (pay as you go, residential) | Free trial (limited credit) |
 Oxylabs | High-volume data pipelines | $8 per GB (residential) | Free trial ($5 welcome credit) |
 Decodo | Best value all-rounder | $4 per GB (pay as you go, residential) | Free trial (3 days, 100 MB) |
 SOAX | Precise geo and mobile targeting | $90 per month | Free trial (3-day trial for $1.99) |
 NetNut | Fast static residential IPs | $5 per GB | Free trial |
 IPRoyal | Long sessions and rollover traffic | $1.75 per GB | Free trial |
 Webshare | Developers and prototyping | Free (free plan with 10 IPs) | Yes |
 Rayobyte | Datacenter-heavy US workloads | $3.50 per GB (residential) | Free trial (50 MB free) |
 DataImpulse | Budget residential scraping | $1 per GB (pay as you go) | Free trial |
Is your product missing or out of date?
We review this list regularly. Vendors can request a listing, send updated pricing or ask about featured placement.
Price per gigabyte is the number that matters
Proxy providers sell the same core thing, IP addresses you can route traffic through, but they price it in wildly different ways: per gigabyte, per month, per proxy. The comparison that cuts through the marketing is the effective cost per usable gigabyte at your volume, plus how often requests actually succeed. Below are the providers that consistently top independent 2026 benchmarks, from the compliance-first enterprise tier to the budget disruptors.
Starting price$8 per GB (pay as you go, residential)
Free planFree trial (limited credit)
Bright Data is the default enterprise answer. Its residential pool runs into the hundreds of millions of IPs across 195 countries with ZIP and ASN targeting, and it backs that with explicit opt-in sourcing, KYC and ISO 27001 certification that procurement teams love. Beyond raw proxies, the Web Unlocker, ready-made scrapers and AI agent tooling mean you buy outcomes, not just IPs.
The catch is price: $8 per GB on pay-as-you-go is roughly double the mid-market. Volume discounts exist but require negotiation. If you answer to a compliance department or scrape heavily defended targets, it is worth it. If you are a solo developer, start cheaper.
What we like- Largest IP pool and deepest geo targeting
- Strongest compliance posture (ISO 27001, KYC)
- Mature scraping and unblocking tooling
Watch out for- The most expensive mainstream provider
- Pay-as-you-go costs sting at volume
Starting price$8 per GB (residential)
Free planFree trial ($5 welcome credit)
Oxylabs goes head to head with Bright Data on pool size (177M+ IPs claimed) and success rates around 99.95 percent, with its own Web Unblocker handling JavaScript-heavy targets. It is a member of the Ethical Web Data Collection Initiative and publishes its sourcing handbook, which matters for regulated buyers. Residential pricing starts at $8 per GB, dropping toward $2.50 at real scale.
For a small or mid-size project, the enterprise sales motion is friction you do not need. For a company running continuous data pipelines with SLAs on the line, Oxylabs is one of the two safest choices in the market.
What we like- Huge verified pool
- Excellent success rates
- Web Unblocker with JavaScript rendering
Watch out for- Enterprise pricing and sales process
- Overkill for small projects
Starting price$4 per GB (pay as you go, residential)
Free planFree trial (3 days, 100 MB)
Decodo is the new name for Smartproxy, and the rebrand kept what made it popular: residential proxies at $4 per GB pay-as-you-go, dropping to around $2.75 on the 100 GB plan, with 125M+ IPs and success rates that benchmark within a hair of the big two. Signup takes minutes, support is 24/7 live chat, and the 3-day trial with 100 MB lets you test before paying.
You give up some enterprise depth: fewer compliance certifications, less exotic tooling. For agencies, SEO tool builders and mid-market scrapers, that trade is usually invisible in practice. This is the rational default for most buyers.
What we like- Half the price of the enterprise tier with near-equal success rates
- Simple signup
- Free browser extensions
Watch out for- Smaller pool than Bright Data
- Less enterprise tooling depth
Starting price$90 per month
Free planFree trial (3-day trial for $1.99)
SOAX differentiates on targeting precision: city, ASN and carrier-level control across a 155M+ pool of residential and mobile IPs, with real-time pruning of dead nodes. If your use case needs a specific mobile carrier in a specific city, few providers match it. Plans start at $90 a month.
The $1.99 paid trial is a minor annoyance, and buyers who prefer pure pay-as-you-go may chafe at the monthly structure. But for ad verification, mobile app testing and geo-sensitive scraping, the targeting granularity justifies the premium.
What we like- Carrier-level mobile targeting
- Real-time dead-node pruning
- 155M+ IP pool
Watch out for- Monthly plans start higher than pay-as-you-go rivals
- No free trial without the $1.99 fee
Starting price$5 per GB
Free planFree trial
NetNut routes through direct ISP partnerships rather than peer-to-peer networks, which gives it consistently low latency and stable static residential IPs. That makes it a favorite for use cases where speed and session stability matter more than raw pool size, such as sneaker-style purchasing flows and real-time monitoring. Residential pricing sits around $5 per GB.
It is not the cheapest and the dashboard will not win design awards, but the network quality is genuinely good. Pick it when performance per request matters more than price per gigabyte.
What we like- Direct ISP connectivity for low latency
- Strong static residential offering
- 52M+ pool
Watch out for- Pricier than budget rivals
- Dashboard less polished than Decodo's
Starting price$1.75 per GB
Free planFree trial
IPRoyal is the budget provider that does not feel like one. Residential proxies start at $1.75 per GB, sessions can persist up to 24 hours, and unused traffic rolls over instead of expiring at month end. The 32M+ pool covers 195 countries with free state and city targeting.
Benchmarks place its success rates a notch below the enterprise tier, and support is leaner. For multi-accounting, long scraping sessions and anyone who hates watching prepaid bandwidth evaporate, the value is excellent.
What we like- Very low entry price
- Sticky sessions up to 24 hours
- Traffic does not expire
Watch out for- Smaller pool than the leaders
- Support is thinner at the budget tier
Starting priceFree (free plan with 10 IPs)
Free planYes
Webshare's permanent free tier, 10 IPs with no expiry, makes it the easiest way to build and test a proxy integration before spending anything. Paid residential plans start around $1.50 to $3.50 per GB, and the API is clean enough that developers actually enjoy using it.
The 30M+ pool and 50-country coverage are modest next to the giants, so this is not the tool for planet-scale scraping. It is the tool for prototyping, small projects and developers who want to pay as they grow.
What we like- Permanent free tier
- Clean API
- Cheap paid plans from around $1.50 per GB
Watch out for- Smaller residential pool
- Geo coverage limited to 50+ countries
Starting price$3.50 per GB (residential)
Free planFree trial (50 MB free)
Rayobyte built its name on datacenter proxies and has expanded into residential, ISP and mobile with the same infrastructure-first mindset. US-heavy workloads get particularly good performance, and the company emphasizes ethical sourcing. Residential starts at $3.50 per GB with 50 MB free to test.
The free trial amount is small enough that serious testing will cost you something. But if your stack mixes datacenter and residential proxies, buying both from one vendor with one dashboard simplifies life considerably.
What we like- Deep datacenter and ISP proxy catalog
- Strong for US workloads
- Ethical sourcing focus
Watch out for- Residential pool smaller than specialists
- 50 MB trial is thin for real testing
Starting price$1 per GB (pay as you go)
Free planFree trial
DataImpulse is the price disruptor: $1 per gigabyte, pay as you go, no minimums, traffic that never expires, across a 90M+ residential and mobile pool. For high-volume scraping where the enterprise premium buys you nothing measurable, the savings are dramatic, turning an $800 monthly proxy bill into $100.
What you lose is the enterprise wrapper: less sophisticated unblocking tooling, leaner support, fewer compliance badges. For cost-sensitive teams with in-house scraping expertise, that is a fine trade. For procurement-led enterprises, it is not.
What we like- True $1/GB pay-as-you-go with no minimums
- 90M+ pool
- Traffic never expires
Watch out for- Thinner tooling and support than mid-market rivals
- Fewer compliance credentials
Residential vs datacenter vs mobile: pick the right type
Residential proxies route through real home IPs and are the hardest to detect, which is why they cost the most. Datacenter proxies are cheap and fast but get blocked more often. Mobile proxies use carrier IPs and are the priciest per GB, best for mobile-specific targets. Most buyers on this list want residential; only choose datacenter if your targets tolerate it, and test with a trial before committing budget.
How we chose
We ranked providers by 2026 independent benchmark data on success rates, latency and real cost per usable gigabyte, then verified starting prices and trial terms against each vendor's own site. Enterprise picks were weighted on pool size, geo granularity and compliance posture; budget picks on effective price and honest limitations. We did not run our own scraping tests.
Frequently asked questions
Are proxies legal to use?
Using a proxy is legal in most jurisdictions; what you do through it determines legality. Scraping public data is generally permissible, but bypassing access controls, violating terms of service at scale, or collecting personal data can create legal exposure. Check the rules for your use case and region.
How much proxy bandwidth does web scraping need?
It varies enormously. A few thousand product pages might use under 1 GB; continuous price monitoring across a large catalog can burn through hundreds of GB monthly. Start with pay-as-you-go, measure your actual consumption for a month, then decide whether a volume plan saves money.
What is the difference between rotating and sticky sessions?
Rotating proxies change IP with each request or on a timer, which suits large-scale scraping. Sticky sessions keep the same IP for minutes or hours, which suits logins, carts and multi-step flows. Most providers on this list offer both.
Why do some providers require KYC?
Know-your-customer checks help providers keep their networks abuse-free and comply with regulations. Enterprise-focused providers like Bright Data and Oxylabs enforce it strictly; budget providers may let you buy anonymously. If you need no-KYC purchasing, confirm it before signing up.
Can I use these proxies for SEO rank tracking?
Yes, SEO tools commonly route rank checks through residential proxies to avoid blocks and get location-accurate results. Geo-targeting features, city or ZIP level on the better providers, are what make local rank tracking possible.
Sources we checked (9)
- https://www.brightdata.com/
- https://www.oxylabs.io/
- https://www.decodo.com/
- https://www.soax.com/
- https://www.netnut.io/
- https://www.iproyal.com/
- https://www.webshare.io/
- https://www.rayobyte.com/
- https://www.dataimpulse.com/
Is your product missing or out of date?
We review this list regularly. Vendors can request a listing, send updated pricing or ask about featured placement.
Shihab Mia · Founder, Rankite
Shihab has spent more than a decade helping SaaS and e-commerce brands grow through search. He writes Rankite's software buying guides from pricing pages, documentation and public user reviews. More about Shihab.