A proxy service routes your web requests through other IP addresses, so the sites you visit see the proxy's address and location instead of yours. Businesses use proxies to collect public web data at scale, monitor prices and search results in different countries, check that ads display correctly and test region-specific content.
Proxies come in several types. Datacenter IPs are fast and cheap but easy for websites to recognize. Residential and mobile IPs come from real household and phone connections, which makes them harder to block and more expensive, and they are usually priced per gigabyte. ISP proxies sit in between. Compare the cost per successful request on the sites you need to reach rather than the price per gigabyte, and ask how residential IPs are sourced, because consent practices vary between providers.
At a glance
| Tool | Best for | Starting price | Free trial |
|---|---|---|---|
 Bright Data | Best for registered companies that want proxies and scraping APIs under one contract | $1.40/mo | Yes |
 Decodo | Best for small teams buying residential proxy traffic by the GB on a self-service account | $3.33/mo | 3 days |
 IPRoyal | Best for small teams with irregular proxy needs who prepay for traffic that doesn't expire | $1.57/mo | No |
 Oxylabs | Best for companies with steady proxy volume that need ZIP, ASN or coordinate targeting | $1.60/mo | Yes |
 SOAX | Best for data teams that split residential and mobile proxy access across projects or clients | Free plan | No |
5 of 5 tools
The ranking
In order, with what each tool is for and what it costs. Use the filters above to narrow the list.
Best for registered companies that want proxies and scraping APIs under one contract
Bright Data sells residential, datacenter, ISP and mobile proxies plus scraping APIs to companies collecting web data at volume. Residential traffic costs $8 per GB pay as you go, less on a monthly commitment, and needs a company KYC review.
$1.40/mo
free trial
Best for small teams buying residential proxy traffic by the GB on a self-service account
Decodo, formerly Smartproxy, sells residential, ISP, mobile and datacenter proxies plus scraping tools to small and mid-sized data teams. Residential traffic costs $4 per GB pay as you go, or $2.75 to $3.75 per GB on monthly bundles.
$3.33/mo
3-day free trial
Best for small teams with irregular proxy needs who prepay for traffic that doesn't expire
IPRoyal sells residential, ISP, datacenter and mobile proxies to buyers with small or irregular workloads. Residential traffic costs $7.35 per GB for a 1 GB pack, less in bulk, and never expires; datacenter and ISP proxies are leased per IP.
$1.57/mo
starting price
Best for companies with steady proxy volume that need ZIP, ASN or coordinate targeting
Oxylabs sells residential, mobile, ISP and datacenter proxies plus scraping APIs to companies with steady monthly data collection. Plans are billed monthly with a fixed allowance, and residential starts at $30 a month for 5 GB.
$1.60/mo
free trial
Best for data teams that split residential and mobile proxy access across projects or clients
SOAX sells residential and mobile proxy traffic on credit-based plans, aimed at teams that split access across projects or clients. Plans run from a free Sandbox to $3,000 a month, and traffic is priced per GB by geo tier.
Free plan
paid from $200/mo
Head to head
Feature-by-feature matchups between leading Proxy Services tools, with a clear verdict.
Methodology
We compare the tools on this page using what can be checked from the outside: published pricing and plan limits, documented features, and each vendor's own security, compliance and support documentation. This is desk research, not hands-on testing. Where something can only be judged by using a product, we say so rather than imply we measured it.
What we weigh here:
How the order is set:
Buyer's guide
Per-GB prices leave out failure rates. Proxy traffic is metered in bytes, not results: Bright Data counts request and response headers and data in both directions, so a blocked response still uses paid traffic. Buy a small amount, run it against your own targets and divide the spend by the pages you got back. Decodo's pay as you go costs $4 per GB, and IPRoyal sells a 1 GB pack for $7.35. The Web Scraper API products from Bright Data and Oxylabs work differently and charge only for successful results.
Datacenter IPs cost the least, and sites recognize them more easily: Decodo's shared datacenter traffic runs $0.45 to $0.60 per GB, against $2.75 to $4 for its residential traffic. Residential IPs come from household connections and mobile IPs from carrier networks, and both cost more. Start with the cheapest type that works on a target and move up only where it fails.
Residential and mobile IPs run over real people's connections, so ask how those people consented. Bright Data describes opt-in through partner apps, a consent screen, a two-click opt-out and compensation for participants, and Decodo says peers give explicit consent before their traffic is shared. IPRoyal names users of its Pawns.app application and provider partners as sources without describing the consent step. Ask for the sourcing document and check that it covers both opting in and opting out.
What's allowed depends on what you collect, where you operate and each site's terms, and personal data can bring obligations under laws such as the GDPR even on a public page. Providers screen use cases too: Bright Data limits residential traffic to the approved use case, and Decodo blocks banking, government, streaming, app store and ticketing sites. Get legal advice before building a business on collected data, not after a complaint arrives.
FAQ
Residential traffic costs $4 to $8 per GB on pay as you go: $4 at Decodo, $7.35 for a 1 GB pack at IPRoyal and $8 at Bright Data. Larger monthly bundles cut the rate, to $2.75 per GB on Decodo's 100 GB bundle and $4 on Oxylabs' 125 GB Advanced plan. Shared datacenter traffic starts at $0.45 per GB at Decodo, and small mobile bundles cost $6.80 per GB at IPRoyal and $7.50 at Decodo and Oxylabs. Compare cost per successful request on your own targets, not just the per-GB rate.
Start with datacenter proxies where a target accepts them, because they cost far less: Decodo's shared datacenter traffic runs $0.45 to $0.60 per GB, against $2.75 to $4 per GB for its residential traffic. Move to residential IPs, which come from household connections, on sites that block datacenter addresses, and to mobile IPs where residential isn't enough. ISP proxies, static IPs registered to internet service providers, sit in between and are sold per IP.
From people who agree to share their home or mobile connections, and in some cases from partner networks. Bright Data describes opt-in through partner apps, with a consent screen, a two-click opt-out and compensation for participants. Decodo says peers give explicit consent, SOAX says its IPs come from users who willingly share bandwidth, and IPRoyal names users of its Pawns.app application and IP service provider partners. Ask any provider to show its consent and opt-out steps in writing.
It depends on what you collect, where you operate and what each site's terms say. Personal data can bring obligations under laws such as the GDPR even when it sits on a public page, and copyrighted content, data behind a login and getting around technical protections raise separate issues. Providers screen use cases too: Bright Data limits approved residential traffic to the stated use case, and SOAX's terms ban bypassing logins or paywalls. Take legal advice before building a business on collected data.
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