In this article on the best proxy providers, you will learn:
- What a proxy provider is
- What aspects to analyze when evaluating proxy providers
- What the top 9 proxy providers on the market are
Let’s dive in!
What Is a Proxy Provider?
A proxy provider is a company that offers access to proxy servers of different types around the world. A proxy server operates as an intermediary between a user’s device and the Internet, acting as a gateway. When a user connects to the Internet through a proxy server, their requests are first routed through the proxy. This forwards them to the target website or server. Then, it forwards the server’s responses to the client. During this process, the user’s IP address and location are never revealed.
The main advantages of using a proxy server include increased privacy, improved security, and anonymity. Because the user’s IP is hidden by the proxy server, it is difficult for websites to track the user’s online activities. In addition, proxy servers can improve Internet speed and performance by caching frequently accessed web content. Proxy servers also allow access to geo-restricted content, making the user’s traffic appear to come from the location of the selected proxy server.
Common use cases of proxy servers include web scraping, e-commerce price monitoring, ad verification, and many others. They also allow users to access sites blocked for political reasons and bypass geographical restrictions for streaming services.
What to Consider When Selecting the Best Proxy Providers
Here are the main elements to evaluate when comparing the best proxy providers on the market:
- Proxy types: The proxy IP types provided by the company (e.g. residential proxies, datacenter proxies, ISP proxies, mobile proxies), and whether they are shared or dedicated. The more types of proxies are available to users, the more use cases the provider covers.
- Proxy network: The number of proxy IPs in the network and the locations they are available on. The larger and wider the network, the greater the chances of overcoming geographical limitations and finding a fast server near the user.
- Supported protocols: The type of traffic supported by the provider’s proxy servers.
- Uptime: The percentage of server availability guaranteed by the proxy provider. This is a good indication of the provider’s responsiveness in case of downtime and fatal errors.
- Success rate: The percentage of requests that go through proxy servers successfully. The higher it is, the fewer errors end users will encounter when routing traffic through the provider’s proxy servers.
- Number of customers: The number of companies served by the provider. Only the best proxy providers are transparent about the number of clients and what they are.
- Customer support: The provider’s willingness to solve user problems and guide visitors to the correct offering. The more support channels available, the better for the customer.
- G2 review score: What the users say about the provider on G2.com. The opinion of users is essential to get an idea of the quality of service offered by the provider.
- Free trial: The presence of a trial period that users can benefit from to test the proxy services offered by the provider before purchasing them.
- Pay-as-you-go plan: The presence of a pay-as-you-go plan to prove the provider’s interest in supporting even individual developers or small businesses that have occasional needs for proxy servers.
- Pricing: The price of the most affordable plan for accessing proxy services.
- Products and features: The list of all other products, services, and features that complement the proxy offerings. The products of a proxy provider can support marketers, developers, decision-makers, data scientists, and more.
Find out more in our guide on how to choose the best proxy provider.
Top 9 Proxy Providers
Time to see the 9 best proxy providers compared and ranked based on the criteria presented earlier.
1. Bright Data
Bright Data is the leading proxy provider in the market. In business since 2014, its proxy network boasts millions of reliable, large, and ethical IPs around the entire globe. This includes all proxy services, residential, datacenter, mobile, and ISP proxies on both shared and private servers. These servers can route traffic over the HTTP, HTTPS, and SOCKS protocols.
In addition to that huge network, the provider offers some of the best tools and products for web scraping, data monitoring, ad verification, and many other use cases. Specifically, Bright Data controls the best web scraping proxies.
Bright Data’s services are aimed at both individuals and businesses, with all-in-one plans and pay-as-you-go pricing models. The provider prioritizes transparency with its strict KYC policy and also supports ethical practices through the Bright Initiative. Visitors, new users, and current customers all have a great experience through fast and responsive customer support, even on a free trial. Overall, these aspects make Bright Data the best proxy provider.
- Proxy types: Residential proxies, datacenter proxies, ISP proxies, mobile proxies, both shared and dedicated
- Network size: 72+ million IPs in 195+ countries, with city, ZIP code, carrier, and ASN geotargeting
- Supported protocols: HTTP, HTTPS, SOCKS
- Uptime: 99.99%, but can reach 100% with the 100% uptime feature
- Success Rate: 99.9%
- Number of customers: Over 20k, including partners like Microsoft, McDonald’s, EPSON, and others
- Customer support: 24/7 live chat, email support, ticketing, media inquiries to answer all your questions, sales inquiries to support current users and visitors, dedicated account manager for enterprises
- G2 review score: 4.6/5
- Free trial: 7-day free trial available
- Pay-as-you-go plan: Yes, on all types of proxies
- Residential proxy pricing: Starting from $5.04/GB
- Products and features: Proxy management dashboard with real-time stats, proxy manager desktop application, free proxies, downloadable datasets, browser extensions, Scraping Browser API, Web Scraper IDE, SERP API, Web Unlocker, and much more
2. Smartproxy
Smartproxy does not have a proxy network as extensive as Bright Data’s. At the same time, it emerges as an excellent provider of robust and versatile proxy servers. Its prices are not among the best on the market, but at least there is a free trial and a pay-as-you-go plan. The provider offers the types of proxy servers, on the HTTP, HTTPS, and SOCKS protocols.
- Proxy types: Residential proxies, datacenter proxies, ISP proxies, mobile proxies, both shared and dedicated
- Network size: 65+ million IPs in 195+ countries, with geotargeting
- Supported protocols: HTTP, HTTPS, SOCKS
- Uptime: 99.99%
- Success Rate: 99.47%
- Number of customers: Undisclosed
- Customer support: 24/7 live chat, email support, sales inquiries, dedicated account manager for enterprises
- G2 review score: 4.6/5
- Free trial: 3-day free trial only for residential proxies
- Pay-as-you-go plan: Only on residential and mobile proxies
- Residential proxy pricing: Starting from $7/GB
- Products and features: User proxy management dashboard, free webinars and guides, browser extensions, anti-detection browser, site unblocker, no-code scraper, scraping API, free proxy checker
3. Oxylabs
Oxylabs controls one of the largest and fastest proxy server networks in the industry. However, its prices are quite high and may not fit the budget of small companies or individual developers. A customer base of 3,500 is good, but far less than that of Bright Data. What the two providers have in common is mandatory card ID verification to access proxy services.
- Proxy types: Residential proxies, datacenter proxies, ISP proxies, mobile proxies, both shared and dedicated
- Network size: 100+ million IPs in 195+ countries, with geotargeting
- Supported protocols: HTTP, HTTPS, SOCKS
- Uptime: 99.9%
- Success Rate: 99.9%
- Number of customers: Over 3.5k customers, including partners like Trivago, SEON, Debunk.org
- Customer support: 24/7 live chat and email support
- G2 review score: 4.5/5
- Free trial: 7-day free trial only for business
- Pay-as-you-go plan: Only on mobile and residential proxies
- Residential proxy pricing: Starting from $8/GB
- Products and features: Proxy management dashboard, free guides and webinars, downloadable datasets, dedicated scraping APIs
4. SOAX
SOAX is the only provider that advertises a proxy network with more than 155 million proxy IPs. Whether this number is true is hard to say. Anyway, more than 10,000 customers decided to choose the provider. What is certain is the absence of both a free trial and a pay-as-you-go plan. The entry price of $99 a month, the concurrency limitations, and the ISP proxies only in the United States do not allow it to be among the top 3 best proxy providers.
- Proxy types: Residential proxies, datacenter proxies, ISP proxies (only in the US), mobile proxies, both shared and dedicated
- Network size: 155+ million IPs (advertised) in 195+ countries, with geotargeting
- Supported protocols: HTTP, HTTPS, SOCKS
- Uptime: 99.9%
- Success Rate: 99.5%
- Number of customers: Over 10k
- Customer support: 24/7 live chat, email support, dedicated customer success manager for large enterprises
- G2 review score: 4.9/5
- Free trial: No, a $1.99 trial is available
- Pay-as-you-go plan: No
- Residential proxy pricing: Starting from $99/month ($6.6/GB)
- Products and features: Online platform for proxy management, Web Unblocker, Scraping APIs
5. NetNut
NetNut has a very large proxy network. It boasts support for all types of proxies and offers more than 85 million proxy IPs. The problems are the entry price of $100 per month, the complete absence of a pay-as-you-go plan, and a not well-defined number of customers.
- Proxy types: Residential proxies, datacenter proxies, ISP proxies, mobile proxies, both shared and dedicated
- Network size: 85+ million IPs in 200+ countries, with geotargeting
- Supported protocols: HTTP, HTTPS, SOCKS
- Uptime: 99.9%
- Success Rate: 99%
- Number of customers: Undisclosed
- Customer support: 24/7 support, ticketing, email support, dedicated customer support manager for enterprises
- G2 review score: 4.9/5
- Free trial: 7-day free trial available
- Pay-as-you-go plan: No
- Residential proxy pricing: Starting from $300/month ($15/GB)
- Products and features: Online platform for proxy management, SERP Scraping API, Social Scraper, Website Unlocker
6. IPRoyal
IPRoyal is a proxy provider that excels when it comes to SOCKS5 proxy servers and for its modern customer support, also available via Discord. Proxy plans can be configured directly on the site before purchase, but there is no free trial. What limits the provider considerably is its small complementary product offering, which is limited to the bare minimum.
- Proxy types: Residential proxies, datacenter proxies, ISP proxies, mobile proxies, both shared and dedicated
- Network size: 34+ million IPs in 195+ countries, with geotargeting
- Supported protocols: HTTP, HTTPS, SOCKS
- Uptime: 99.9%
- Success Rate: Undisclosed
- Number of customers: Over 10k
- Customer support: 24/7 live chat, email and Discord support
- G2 review score: 4.4/5
- Free trial: No
- Pay-as-you-go plan: Yes, but only for residential proxies
- Residential proxy pricing: Starting from $7/GB
- Products and features: Online platform for proxy management, browser extensions, free proxy tester, free proxy list
7. Webshare
Webshare offers a good amount of datacenter, ISP, and residential IPs, but has no mobile proxies. As a pure proxy provider, it does not provide extra products and tools, which is bad for its users. It does not have a free trial, but it does offer a free plan with 10 proxies. That is quite unusual for services in this industry, especially considering that free proxies are typically unreliable and data-greedy.
- Proxy types: Residential proxies, datacenter proxies, ISP proxies, both shared and dedicated
- Network size: 30+ million IPs in 195+ countries, with geotargeting
- Supported protocols: HTTP, HTTPS, SOCKS
- Uptime: 99.9%
- Success Rate: 99%
- Number of customers: Over 55k, including users on a free plan
- Customer support: Email support
- G2 review score: 4.8/5 (only 2 reviews)
- Free trial: No, but free plan available
- Pay-as-you-go plan: No
- Residential proxy pricing: Starting from $7/month
- Products and features: Online platform for proxy management, verified proxy servers, free proxy list
8. Infatica
Infatica is a primarily residential proxy provider, as data center proxies are few and only in the United States. Not surprisingly, the paid plan focuses specifically on residential proxies. Support for HTTPS/SSL proxies is limited, there is no free trial, and the number of countries available is not among the highest. The undisclosed success rate is quite concerning.
- Proxy types: Residential proxies, datacenter proxies, ISP proxies, mobile proxies, both shared and dedicated
- Network size: 15+ million IPs in 100+ countries, with geotargeting
- Supported protocols: HTTP, SOCKS
- Uptime: 99.9%
- Success Rate: Undisclosed
- Number of customers: Over 700
- Customer support: 24/7 live chat, tickets
- G2 review score: 4.8/5
- Free trial: No
- Pay-as-you-go plan: Yes, but only for residential proxies
- Residential proxy pricing: Starting from $96/month ($12/GB)
- Products and features: Online platform for proxy management, SERP Scraper, other web scraping services
9. Rayobyte
Rayobyte has one of the smallest proxy server infrastructures among the best proxy providers. Available IPs do not even reach one million, and just over 100 cities are available. The network encompasses all four types of proxies and there is a free trial, though incredibly limited. The offering is complemented by a tool for performing web scraping. G2 does not have reviews for this company.
- Proxy types: Residential proxies, datacenter proxies, ISP proxies, mobile proxies, both shared and dedicated
- Network size: Thousands of IPs in 130+ locations, with geotargeting
- Supported protocols: HTTP, HTTPS, SOCKS
- Uptime: 99.9%
- Success Rate: 98.6%
- Number of customers: Undisclosed
- Customer support: 24/7 live chat, tickets, email support
- G2 review score: — (not available)
- Free trial: Yes, but only 50 MB limited of traffic
- Pay-as-you-go plan: Yes, but only for residential proxies
- Residential proxy pricing: Starting from $7.5/GB
- Products and features: Online platform for proxy management, Scraping Robot, IPv6 support
Best Proxy Providers: Summary Table
Find out the top proxy providers and why they are on the list with the summary table below:
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❌Conclusion
This guide explains what a proxy provider is, how it works, and what elements to consider when evaluating proxy services. We then applied these criteria to select a list of the best proxy providers. As it turned out here, Bright Data is the most complete proxy company in the industry.
Bright Data controls the best proxy servers in the world, serving Fortune 500 companies and over 20,000 customers. Its worldwide proxy network involves:
- Residential proxies – Over 72M residential IPs in more than 195 countries
- Datacenter proxies – Over 770,000 datacenter IPs
- ISP proxies – Over 700,000 ISP IPs
- Mobile proxies – Over 7M mobile IPs
Overall, that is one of the largest and most reliable scraping-oriented proxy networks on the market.
Start your free proxy trial now or talk to one of our sales reps and see which of Bright Data’s products best suits your needs.
