10 Best Proxy Providers in 2026: Compared for Scraping, Automation & AI

The best proxy provider fits the workload—not necessarily the company with the largest advertised pool or lowest headline price. A developer running Playwright needs different infrastructure from an enterprise buying parsed product records, while mobile testing and high-volume crawling may require different networks.

This umbrella guide compares ten providers across proxy types, targeting, sessions, protocols, entry costs, concurrency, developer controls, and managed collection products. Follow the narrower guides where you already know the required network or use case.

Quick Answer

There is no universal winner. Proxidize is a strong fit for teams that own their scraper, browser, AI agent, or pipeline and want direct residential and mobile proxy infrastructure. Residential plans start at $25 for 25GB ($1/GB), with rotating/sticky sessions, HTTP(S)/SOCKS5, country/city/ISP targeting, developer controls, high concurrency, and non-expiring bandwidth.

Bright Data is a full-stack enterprise choice; Oxylabs suits enterprise collection and localization; Decodo is an all-round self-service alternative; and SOAX emphasizes granular routing. ProxyEmpire fits raw-proxy buyers prioritizing rollover and flexible rotation. DataImpulse has the lowest normal paid residential entry here at $5 for 5GB. Choose by network, location precision, sessions, protocol, actual entry cost, concurrency, verification, and whether you want raw routing or managed scraping.

Key Takeaways

• Choose the product model first. Raw proxies, scraper APIs, unblockers, hosted browsers, and delivered datasets solve different parts of data collection.
• Residential is not automatically best. Mobile proxies fit carrier-sensitive workflows, ISP proxies fit stable identities, and datacenter proxies can be faster and cheaper on tolerant targets.
• Do not rank by advertised pool size alone. Geographic coverage, sessions, concurrency, support, and usable-output rate matter more.
• Compare actual entry cost, not only “from” pricing. Several low headline rates require hundreds of gigabytes, thousands of IPs, or enterprise negotiation.
• Developers should prioritize standard interfaces. Protocols, authentication, APIs, session controls, and documentation often matter more than dashboard polish.
• For scraping, measure cost per usable record. Include bandwidth, failed requests, browser compute, extraction, validation, and engineering—not just dollars per gigabyte.

Methodology and disclosure: Prices and capabilities were checked on September 9, 2026, from first-party pages. Proxidize publishes this comparison. We lacked equivalent accounts for a shared benchmark, so the order reflects documented use-case fit—not measured speed or success rate. Vendor-reported pools are not independently verified or necessarily comparable. Terms and inventory change. Use proxies only for lawful, authorized work and follow applicable laws, contracts, site terms, privacy duties, and reasonable request rates.

Quick Comparison: Best Proxy Providers in 2026

The pricing column shows the smallest normal residential purchase or public commercial path observed during this review. It does not substitute a high-volume floor for a new buyer's entry price.

What Is a Proxy Provider?

A proxy provider forwards a client's request through another IP address. Your application connects to a gateway or assigned endpoint, and the destination sees the selected exit as the network origin. This does not automatically include a browser, extraction, scheduling, validation, or permission to access a target.

Raw Proxy Providers

A raw product gives you an endpoint and credentials. You connect Python, Node.js, Playwright, Puppeteer, Selenium, Scrapy, cURL, or another client and control rendering, cookies, retries, parsing, validation, storage, and request rates.

Managed Scraping Providers

A managed product may handle proxy selection, retries, JavaScript rendering, extraction, or structured delivery. Billing may be per successful request, page, record, browser gigabyte, compute unit, or dataset—not raw traffic.

Raw proxies and managed scraping APIs are not interchangeable. An $8/GB proxy and a $1.50-per-1,000-record API cannot be compared without knowing response sizes, success criteria, rendering needs, and engineering cost.

How We Compared the Best Proxy Providers

We used nine criteria:

1. Proxy types: Residential, mobile, ISP/static residential, and datacenter.
2. Targeting: Country, region, city, ZIP, ISP, ASN, and carrier controls.
3. Sessions: Rotation, sticky/static assignments, and published durations.
4. Protocols: HTTP(S) and SOCKS5 for the relevant network.
5. Developer experience: Authentication, dashboard, API, docs, and integrations.
6. Pricing: Opening purchase, PAYG, commitments, volume floors, expiry, and surcharges.
7. Scale: Connection/thread limits, bandwidth, controls, and enterprise support.
8. Trust: KYC/KYB, sourcing disclosures, and documented compliance.
9. Managed tooling: Scrapers, unblockers, browsers, search APIs, and datasets.

We did not score vendor-reported pool size or success rate without shared definitions and independent tests; providers can count monthly unique, potential, observed, or concurrently active IPs differently.

The 10 Best Proxy Providers in 2026

The numbering below organizes the shortlist; it is not a universal performance ranking. Each provider is evaluated for the workload where its documented offering fits best.

1. Proxidize — Best for Self-Managed Proxy Infrastructure

Proxidize is a strong fit for teams that own their collection or automation stack and mainly need the network layer. Its Residential Proxies span 195+ countries and support country, city, and ISP targeting, rotating and sticky sessions, HTTP(S), SOCKS5, dashboard/API controls, and non-expiring paid bandwidth. Mobile Proxies cover carrier-network workflows.

Best for: Self-managed scraping, browser automation, AI agents, SEO monitoring, price monitoring, market research, and other teams that want standard proxy access instead of a vendor-owned parser.

Strengths:

• Residential and mobile access through standard protocols, without a required scraping SDK.
• $1/GB residential pricing at the normal 25GB entry plan, plus high-concurrency controls and usage analytics.
• KYC is required, and the Trust Center lists ISO/IEC 27001 and SOC 2 Type 1 and Type 2.

Limitations:

• The customer owns fetching, rendering, retries, parsing, and validation; Proxidize is not a managed scraper or hosted browser.
• Residential routing does not advertise state-, ZIP-, ASN-, or coordinate-level selectors.
• ISP and datacenter products remain Coming Soon on the current pricing page.

Pricing checked September 9, 2026: 25GB for $25 ($1/GB). Larger public bundles retain $1/GB through 1TB, fall to $0.95/GB at 2TB and 5TB, and $0.90/GB at 10TB. Unused bandwidth does not expire.

2. Bright Data — Best Full-Stack Enterprise Option

Bright Data combines all four major proxy types with Web Scraper APIs, Browser API, Web Unlocker, SERP API, and datasets. Its residential pricing page documents country, state, city, ZIP, and ASN targeting, sessions, API controls, and PAYG access. SOCKS5 has network- and target-specific rules.

Best for: Enterprises that want several web-data layers, procurement support, granular targeting, and the option to move between raw proxies and managed delivery.

Strengths:

• All four major proxy types, granular targeting, and unlimited residential sessions.
• A broad managed web-data portfolio, including hosted browsers and structured scraper outputs.

Limitations:

• The $8/GB residential list price is above low-cost raw providers; the displayed promotion is not the permanent list rate.
• Proxies, browsers, unlockers, scraper records, and datasets use different billing units.
• Residential and mobile access requires a compliance/KYC process.

Pricing checked September 9, 2026: Residential PAYG list rate was $8/GB, while the page displayed a 50%-off $4/GB promotion. Bright Data also offered committed plans and custom rates. Always forecast against the renewal terms, not only the coupon.

3. Oxylabs — Best for Enterprise Data Collection and Localization

Oxylabs offers all four major proxy types plus Web Scraper API and Web Unblocker. Its residential plans include rotating and sticky sessions, HTTP(S), HTTP/3, SOCKS5, unlimited concurrent sessions, and continent-to-ZIP targeting.

Best for: Enterprise teams that need precise localization, multiple network types, structured scraping products, and dedicated support.

Strengths:

• Detailed location controls, unlimited residential concurrency, and a four-network portfolio.
• Public datacenter and ISP options, plus managed retrieval for supported sources.

Limitations:

• The smallest residential plan is $30 for 5GB, and managed scraping is a separate purchase.
• Controls differ by product; unlimited residential concurrency does not imply identical ISP or datacenter limits.
• Some targets require additional KYC review.

Pricing checked September 9, 2026: Residential starts at $30/month for 5GB ($6/GB), then $100 for 20GB ($5/GB), $500 for 125GB ($4/GB), and $2,500 for 1TB ($2.50/GB).

4. Decodo — Best All-Round Self-Service Alternative

Decodo, formerly Smartproxy, provides all four major proxy types, Web Scraping API, and Site Unblocker. Its residential offering supports HTTP(S), SOCKS5, rotating and sticky sessions, and continent, country, state, city, ZIP, and ASN targeting.

Best for: Developers and growing teams that want broad proxy choice, easy self-service, small starting plans, and a path to managed scraping without changing vendors.

Strengths:

• Detailed targeting, unlimited residential sessions, $4/GB PAYG, and small monthly plans.
• Dashboard, API, examples, and a separate managed scraping layer.
• A 3-day, 100MB trial and conditional 14-day refund are publicly documented.

Limitations:

• The “from $2/GB” headline requires larger volume; the visible 3GB plan costs $3.75/GB.
• Proxy, unblocker, and scraping-API prices are separate, and product-level concurrency differs.

Pricing checked September 9, 2026: Residential starts at $11.25/month for 3GB ($3.75/GB); 10GB is $35; PAYG is $4/GB. The full proxy catalog lists separate mobile, ISP, and datacenter prices.

5. SOAX — Best for Granular Targeting Under One Credit Model

SOAX uses account credits across residential and mobile traffic. Its pricing page divides locations into traffic tiers and includes country, region, city, and ISP targeting; ASN and ZIP are plan-gated. Residential access supports rotating and sticky sessions, HTTP(S), SOCKS5, UDP/QUIC, APIs, and unlimited sessions.

Best for: Teams that value granular filtering, configurable sessions, residential/mobile flexibility, and one account-level credit model.

Strengths:

• Granular filtering, unlimited sessions, and residential/mobile continuity advertised up to one hour.
• US datacenter access, dedicated options on request, and a separate Web Data API.

Limitations:

• Effective cost changes by geographic tier, plan fee, and traffic bucket; Sandbox includes no free credits.
• The first paid plan is $200/month.
• SOAX's own site says SOC 2 and ISO 27001 work is in progress, so those should not be presented as completed certifications.

Pricing checked September 9, 2026: Sandbox listed Tier 1 traffic at $5/GB, Tier 2 at $3.75/GB, and Tier 3 at $2/GB. Builder costs $200/month with 200 credits and reduces those rates. Credits roll for 60 days on monthly plans and 365 days on annual commitments.

6. ProxyEmpire — Best for Rollover Traffic and Flexible Rotation

ProxyEmpire offers rotating residential, static residential/ISP, rotating and dedicated mobile, unlimited residential, and datacenter products. Its rotating residential page documents country, region, city, ISP, and ASN targeting; per-request, sticky, and timed rotation; HTTP, HTTPS, HTTP/2, and SOCKS5; rollover on eligible plans; unlimited sessions; and API controls.

Best for: Self-managed teams with uneven traffic that value rollover, several rotation modes, broad location filters, and multiple raw proxy types.

Strengths:

• Rotating and static residential, mobile, and datacenter options under one account.
• Rollover on eligible plans, unlimited concurrent sessions, API management, and examples for common languages.
• A $1.97 paid trial provides a smaller test path than the normal 1GB PAYG purchase.

Limitations:

• The displayed 50%-off residential rates are temporary; the 1GB list price is $7/GB.
• ProxyEmpire documents username/password authentication but not IP-whitelist authentication.
• No broad managed scraping, rendering, or structured-extraction platform was documented; customers operate the collection layer.

Pricing checked September 9, 2026: Residential PAYG lists 1GB at $7, with a $3.50 promotional price during review. The page also displayed a $1.97 paid trial and volume pricing, including a $0.75/GB custom floor at 5TB+.

7. DataImpulse — Best for Low-Commitment, Non-Expiring Residential Traffic

DataImpulse offers residential, mobile, and datacenter proxies without a subscription requirement. Its residential page lists $5 for 5GB, country targeting, HTTP(S)/SOCKS5, rotating/sticky sessions, API access, and non-expiring traffic.

Best for: Small or intermittent self-managed projects that want a low opening payment, non-expiring traffic, and standard raw proxy access.

Strengths:

• $5 is the lowest normal paid residential entry here; standard traffic is $1/GB and does not expire.
• Country targeting is included, and sticky sessions can last up to 120 minutes.
• A default allowance of 2,000 concurrent threads can be increased after support review and KYC.

Limitations:

• State, city, ZIP, and ASN selection costs extra or requires the $5/GB Premium product.
• The 2,000-thread allowance is not unlimited; no ISP product or broad managed scraper was documented.

Pricing checked September 9, 2026: Intro purchase is $5 for 5GB; 50GB is $50; 1TB is $800 ($0.80/GB). Country targeting is included, while advanced targeting changes the effective rate.

8. IPRoyal — Best for Long Configurable Residential Sessions

IPRoyal sells all four proxy types plus Web Unblocker and Video Scraper API. Its residential product supports HTTP(S), SOCKS5, country/state/city targeting, API controls, unlimited sessions, sticky windows advertised up to seven days, and non-expiring traffic.

Best for: Teams that need unusually long residential session settings or want several raw proxy types in a self-service catalog.

Strengths:

• Long sticky settings, unlimited residential sessions, IP whitelisting, and language examples.
• ISP and datacenter bandwidth is subject to a fair-use policy.

Limitations:

• The headline $1.75/GB requires 10TB; one gigabyte costs $7 by subscription or $7.35 PAYG.
• A requested seven-day sticky window cannot guarantee that an underlying peer device remains online for the full period.
• Managed tooling is narrower than the broad enterprise suites.

Pricing checked September 9, 2026: A 1GB residential subscription was $7/GB and PAYG was $7.35/GB. The $1.75/GB subscription floor applied at 10TB; the comparable PAYG floor was $1.84/GB.

9. Webshare — Best for Free Entry and Customizable Self-Service

Webshare offers rotating residential, ISP, and datacenter proxies, but not mobile. Its residential page documents HTTP/SOCKS5 and country-to-ASN selectors with combination limits. Its endpoint generator supports rotation and one-minute-to-24-hour sticky windows.

Best for: Developers who want a permanent free datacenter starting point, granular plan customization, and a straightforward dashboard/API before moving to paid residential or ISP access.

Strengths:

• Ten datacenter proxies and up to 1GB/month are available permanently without a card.
• API documentation, downloadable lists, two authentication methods, and configurable plans support self-service use.

Limitations:

• No mobile proxies or broad managed scraping API were documented.
• The displayed $3.50/GB rate was promotional against a $7 list price.
• Limits vary by plan; ISP shows 500–3,000 threads. The free tier is datacenter, not residential.

Pricing checked September 9, 2026: Residential displayed 1GB at $3.50/month under a 50%-off promotion, with a $7/GB list price. General datacenter access starts free; paid proxy-server plans start at $2.99/month, and static residential starts at $6/month.

10. Infatica — Best for Detailed Proxy-List and Session Controls

Infatica offers all four major proxy types plus Web Scraper, SERP, AI Search, and custom data products. Its residential documentation covers two authentication methods, country/region/city/ISP/ZIP/OS filters, per-request or 5–60-minute rotation, sticky mode, HTTP/SOCKS5, and up to 1,000 ports per list.

Best for: Technical teams that want detailed proxy-list generation, operating-system filters, several session modes, and raw proxies plus optional managed APIs.

Strengths:

• Detailed filters, documented list/session controls, PAYG, and a small paid trial.
• Managed scraping and search products are available separately.

Limitations:

• The site-wide $0.30/GB claim is a volume floor; public PAYG entry is $4/GB.
• Residential lists support up to 1,000 simultaneous ports, not unlimited concurrency.
• KYC requires a government-issued document and selfie before purchase.

Pricing checked September 9, 2026: Residential PAYG is $4/GB; 25GB costs $96 ($3.84/GB), 100GB costs $360 ($3.60/GB), and 1TB costs $2,600 ($2.60/GB). The seven-day, 1GB trial costs $4.

Best Proxy Providers: Network and Targeting Comparison

“Available” means the provider had a current first-party product page or documented commercial path on September 9, 2026. It does not mean every location, selector, or protocol is available on every plan.

All ten providers advertise SOCKS5 somewhere in their proxy portfolio, and all ten advertise rotating and sticky residential behavior. That does not mean the implementations are identical. Bright Data documents SOCKS5 hostname and target restrictions, Webshare limits filter combinations, and session continuity on a peer-to-peer network still depends on the exit remaining online.

Best Proxy Providers: Pricing and Developer Features

Which Proxy Provider Is Best for Web Scraping?

For self-managed scraping, choose standard endpoints with the required locations and sessions. Proxidize combines $1/GB residential traffic, non-expiring bandwidth, mobile availability, and control over HTTP or browser workers. DataImpulse has the smallest paid entry; Decodo offers more granular residential selectors at a higher entry rate.

For vendor-managed rendering, retries, access logic, or structured output, shortlist Bright Data, Oxylabs, Decodo, SOAX, or Infatica by supported target and schema. This is a managed-product decision, not merely a proxy choice.

See the residential scraping shortlist or proxy setup guide for implementation details.

The useful metric is:

cost per usable record = (proxy + browser + retries + extraction + validation + engineering) / validated records

A cheap route returning challenge pages, incomplete HTML, or the wrong market can cost more than a route producing valid records.

Which Proxy Provider Is Best for Developers?

Developers should prioritize HTTP(S)/SOCKS5, required authentication, documented session identifiers, predictable rotation, APIs, and usable examples. Standard endpoints should work with Python, Node.js, Scrapy, cURL, Playwright, Puppeteer, Selenium, and cloud browsers that accept bring-your-own proxies.

Proxidize provides the network layer without a proprietary scraping SDK. Decodo combines conventional endpoints with self-service and managed options. Webshare has a REST API and free datacenter tier; IPRoyal publishes language examples. Bright Data and Oxylabs add enterprise tooling with more product-specific configuration.

Test compatibility: SOCKS5 may need an adapter, browsers may configure proxies at different scopes, and providers may impose protocol-specific rules. See Best Proxies for AI Agents for agentic browsers.

Which Proxy Provider Offers the Best Value?

Value depends on the workload. Proxidize and DataImpulse both publish $1/GB residential rates, but Proxidize opens at $25 with its dashboard model while DataImpulse opens at $5 and charges more for advanced targeting. Webshare's lower cash entry was promotional. Bright Data and Oxylabs cost more per raw gigabyte but sell managed products that may reduce engineering work.

Compare at least:

• Minimum, renewal rate, promotions, volume thresholds, and expiry.
• Targeting surcharges, failed requests, retries, concurrency, and browser/API fees.
• Engineering, support, validation, and total cost per usable output.

The Residential Proxy Pricing comparison tracks entry rates, and the Proxy Pricing Index examines advertised versus effective cost. Also compare pay per GB with pay per proxy.

Best Proxy Provider by Use Case

These are shortlists, not guarantees. Location inventory, target rules, account verification, contract limits, and the behavior of a particular exit can change the result. Run an authorized representative test before committing.

Raw Proxies vs Scraping APIs

Choose raw proxies when you:

• Already have a collector, browser, crawler, or agent tool.
• Need direct control of sessions, rendering, validation, and custom sources.
• Can maintain source-specific code and prefer bandwidth/IP-based network pricing.

Choose a scraping API when you:

• Want the vendor to manage routing, retries, rendering, and access logic.
• Need structured output from supported sources and accept less implementation control.
• Prefer per-result billing because engineering time costs more than the premium.

Choose both when your collector handles ordinary sources economically but managed retrieval is cheaper for a difficult subset. Model billing separately and validate both paths against the same schema.

How to Choose a Proxy Provider

1. Decide Which Proxy Type You Need

Use datacenter for tolerant high-volume targets, residential for consumer-network origin and broad geography, ISP for stable identities, and mobile when carrier origin matters. See the dedicated residential or rotating mobile provider comparison once the network is confirmed.

2. Define Geographic Precision

Country is not equivalent to city, ZIP, ISP, ASN, or carrier targeting. Check availability and surcharges, then verify the target's visible location and localized fields.

3. Map Rotation to the Work Unit

Rotate between independent observations. Use a sticky/static identity for a multi-step task that preserves location, cookies, or cart state; application state cannot restore a disconnected peer.

4. Check Protocol and Authentication Requirements

Confirm product-level HTTP(S)/SOCKS5, DNS behavior, and username/password or IP-whitelist support. Vendor-wide protocol logos can hide network-specific restrictions.

5. Estimate Concurrency and Bandwidth

Measure assets, redirects, retries, and simultaneous workers. “Unlimited connections” remains bounded by target policy, application capacity, bandwidth, and reasonable request rates.

6. Compare the Real Pricing Model

Record the minimum, renewal price, promotion, volume threshold, expiry, overage, and targeting fees. Normalize raw traffic and managed-result prices to usable output.

7. Review Sourcing, Compliance, and Verification

Review sourcing, acceptable-use, privacy, trust, and KYC/KYB material. Understand which documents approval requires and how long it takes.

8. Test the Actual Workload

Test representative targets, locations, session lengths, and peak load. Track valid outputs separately from successful connections; a 200 response can still be a challenge, wrong market, or incomplete record.

For a deeper selection checklist, read How to Choose the Best Residential Proxy Provider.

Choose the Provider That Matches the Stack You Already Own

A comparison narrows a test plan; it does not replace one. Choose raw or managed access, then validate the network, locations, sessions, protocols, load, billing, and complete records against real targets.

If your team already owns the application layer and wants direct network control, explore Proxidize Residential Proxies, Mobile Proxies, or current pricing. For workload-specific architecture, see the Web Scraping and AI Agents use-case guides.