Proxy Pricing Comparison 2026: Every Provider Ranked

Proxy Pricing Comparison 2026: Every Provider Ranked

Proxy pricing varies dramatically across providers, proxy types, and billing models. A single gigabyte of residential proxy traffic can cost anywhere from $1 to $25 depending on the provider and plan. This comprehensive comparison ranks every major proxy provider by price, value, and features to help you find the best deal for your use case.

Quick Pricing Summary

Proxy Type Price Range Avg Price Best For
Datacenter (Shared) $0.50-$3/GB $1.20/GB High-volume, low-sensitivity
Datacenter (Dedicated) $1-$5/IP/month $2.50/IP Static sessions, accounts
Residential (Rotating) $1-$15/GB $5.50/GB Web scraping, general use
Residential (Static/ISP) $2-$8/IP/month $4/IP Long sessions, accounts
Mobile (4G/5G) $3-$50/GB $18/GB Social media, high trust
Scraping API $1-$10/1K requests $3.50/1K Managed scraping

Residential Proxy Pricing Comparison

Pay-Per-GB Plans

Provider Starter Price Mid-Tier Enterprise IP Pool Size Free Trial
Bright Data $8.40/GB $6.80/GB Custom 72M+ Yes (free)
Oxylabs $8.00/GB $6.00/GB Custom 100M+ 7-day trial
Smartproxy $4.20/GB $3.60/GB Custom 55M+ 3-day refund
SOAX $3.99/GB $3.30/GB Custom 155M+ $1.99 trial
IPRoyal $1.75/GB $1.50/GB Custom 32M+ No
Webshare $2.50/GB $2.00/GB Custom 30M+ 1GB free
NetNut $6.00/GB $4.50/GB Custom 52M+ 7-day trial
PacketStream $1.00/GB $1.00/GB $1.00/GB 7M+ No
Shifter $5.00/GB $4.00/GB Custom 30M+ No
Storm Proxies $3.50/GB $2.80/GB Custom 2M+ No

Monthly Subscription Plans

Provider Basic Plan Price/Month GB Included Extra GB Cost
Smartproxy Pay As You Go $12.50 1GB $12.50/GB
Smartproxy Micro $30 2GB $12/GB
Bright Data Pay As You Go $8.40/GB $8.40/GB
Oxylabs Micro $49 1GB $8/GB
SOAX Starter $99 3GB $3.99/GB
IPRoyal Pay As You Go $1.75/GB $1.75/GB
Webshare Free $0 1GB $2.50/GB
NetNut Starter $300 20GB $6/GB

Datacenter Proxy Pricing Comparison

Shared Datacenter Proxies

Provider Monthly Price IPs Included Extra IP Cost Bandwidth
Webshare $5.49/mo 10 IPs $0.55/IP Unlimited
Bright Data $0.066/IP/day Pay per use Same Per GB
IPRoyal $1.39/proxy Per proxy $1.39 Unlimited
Smartproxy $1.30/GB Per GB Same Per GB
Proxy-Seller $0.98/proxy Per proxy Same Unlimited
Storm Proxies $50/mo 10 ports $5/port Unlimited

Dedicated Datacenter Proxies

Provider Per IP/Month Minimum Order Bandwidth Locations
Bright Data $0.90/IP 20 IPs Unlimited 95+ countries
Smartproxy $2.20/IP 3 IPs Unlimited 35+ locations
Oxylabs $1.80/IP 100 IPs Unlimited 86+ locations
Proxy-Seller $1.50/IP 1 IP Unlimited 20+ countries
Webshare $3.18/IP 10 IPs Unlimited 10+ countries
MyPrivateProxy $2.49/IP 1 IP Unlimited 8 US cities
BuyProxies $2.00/IP 5 IPs Unlimited 15+ locations

Mobile Proxy Pricing Comparison

4G/5G Mobile Proxies

Provider Price Model Starting Price Speed Locations
Bright Data Per GB $24/GB 4G/5G 130+ countries
Oxylabs Per GB $18/GB 4G/5G 100+ countries
Smartproxy Per GB $8.50/GB 4G 130+ countries
SOAX Per GB $5.50/GB 4G/5G 120+ countries
IPRoyal Per GB $6.00/GB 4G 35+ countries
NetNut Per GB $12/GB 4G/5G 50+ countries
Proxy-IPv4 Per IP $85/IP/month 4G 15+ countries
AirProxy Per IP $99/IP/month 4G/5G Italy-focused
ProxyLTE Per IP $75/IP/month 4G US-focused

Mobile Proxy Cost Analysis

For 100GB monthly usage:

Provider Monthly Cost Cost/GB Best For
SOAX $550 $5.50 Budget mobile scraping
IPRoyal $600 $6.00 Affordable mobile
Smartproxy $850 $8.50 Balanced price/quality
NetNut $1,200 $12.00 Enterprise reliability
Oxylabs $1,800 $18.00 Premium enterprise
Bright Data $2,400 $24.00 Maximum pool size

ISP (Static Residential) Proxy Pricing

Provider Per IP/Month Pool Size Speed Locations
Bright Data $5.00/IP 1.6M+ Fast 25+ countries
Oxylabs $3.50/IP 500K+ Fast 28+ countries
Smartproxy $2.40/IP 400K+ Fast 8+ countries
NetNut $2.00/IP 1M+ Fast 50+ countries
IPRoyal $1.75/IP 100K+ Fast 10+ countries
SOAX $3.00/IP 200K+ Fast 15+ countries

Scraping API Pricing Comparison

Provider Price/1K Requests Success Rate JS Rendering Free Tier
Bright Data (SERP API) $2.70 99.9% Yes 100 free
ScraperAPI $2.50 99% Yes 5K free/mo
Oxylabs (Web Scraper) $3.00 99.7% Yes 5K free
ScrapingBee $3.30 99% Yes 1K free
Zyte (Smart Proxy) $2.80 99% Yes 500 free
Apify $2.50 98% Yes $5/mo free
Crawlbase $1.30 98% Yes 1K free
Zenrows $2.90 98.5% Yes 1K free

Cost Comparison by Use Case

E-Commerce Price Monitoring (1M products/day)

Solution Est. Monthly Cost Success Rate
DIY + Datacenter Proxies $800-$1,500 70-80%
DIY + Residential Proxies $2,000-$5,000 92-98%
DIY + Mobile Proxies $5,000-$12,000 96-99%
Scraping API $3,000-$8,000 98-99%
Data-as-a-Service $5,000-$15,000 99%+

Social Media Monitoring (100K profiles/day)

Solution Est. Monthly Cost Success Rate
DIY + Residential $1,500-$3,000 85-92%
DIY + Mobile $3,000-$8,000 95-99%
Social Media API (official) $500-$5,000 100% (limited)
Scraping API $2,000-$5,000 90-96%

SERP Tracking (50K keywords/day)

Solution Est. Monthly Cost Success Rate
DIY + Datacenter $200-$500 60-75%
DIY + Residential $500-$1,500 90-95%
SERP API $400-$1,200 98-99%
SEO Tool (Ahrefs, SEMrush) $100-$500 99%

Value Rankings: Best Price-to-Performance

Best Overall Value

Rank Provider Why
1 Smartproxy Best balance of price ($4.20/GB), pool size (55M), and features
2 IPRoyal Lowest residential price ($1.75/GB) with decent pool
3 SOAX Affordable mobile proxies ($5.50/GB) with 155M pool
4 Bright Data Most features and largest network, premium pricing
5 Oxylabs Enterprise-grade with comprehensive tools

Best Budget Options

Category Provider Price
Cheapest Residential PacketStream $1.00/GB
Cheapest Datacenter Webshare $0.55/IP (10 free)
Cheapest Mobile SOAX $5.50/GB
Cheapest ISP IPRoyal $1.75/IP
Cheapest Scraping API Crawlbase $1.30/1K requests

Best Enterprise Options

Category Provider Why
Largest IP Pool SOAX/Oxylabs 100M-155M+ IPs
Most Features Bright Data Full data platform
Best Support Oxylabs Dedicated account managers
Best Compliance Bright Data KYC, ethical sourcing
Best API Oxylabs/Zyte Developer-friendly tools

Hidden Costs to Watch For

Hidden Cost Providers Affected Impact
Minimum commitment Most enterprise plans $300-$5,000 minimum
Bandwidth overage Pay-per-GB plans 10-50% price increase
Failed request billing Some providers Charged for 403/timeout
Session time limits Some rotating plans Forced reconnection
Geo-targeting surcharge 3-4 providers 20-50% premium
API access tier Several providers Extra $50-200/mo
Concurrent limit Most plans Throttling or upgrade

FAQ

What is the cheapest residential proxy?

PacketStream offers the cheapest residential proxies at $1.00/GB, though with a smaller IP pool (7M). For better balance of price and quality, IPRoyal at $1.75/GB with 32M IPs is recommended.

How much should I budget for web scraping proxies?

For a typical web scraping project, budget $500-$5,000/month for residential proxies depending on volume. Small projects (under 50GB/month) can use budget providers at $1-3/GB. Enterprise operations typically spend $5,000-$50,000/month.

Are expensive proxies worth it?

Premium proxies from providers like Bright Data and Oxylabs offer higher success rates (98-99% vs 85-92%), larger IP pools, better support, and compliance features. For mission-critical data collection, the higher cost is typically justified by the 30-40% higher success rate and reduced development time.

Should I use proxies or a scraping API?

Use proxies if you need full control, have engineering resources, and want to optimize costs at scale. Use a scraping API if you want a managed solution, need JavaScript rendering, and prefer paying per successful request. Scraping APIs typically cost 2-3x more but save significant development time.

How do I avoid overpaying for proxies?

  1. Start with a free trial to test success rates before committing
  2. Calculate your actual GB usage before choosing a plan
  3. Consider annual plans for 20-40% discounts
  4. Match proxy type to your use case (don’t use mobile for SERP tracking)
  5. Monitor failed request billing policies

Prices verified as of early 2026. Pricing changes frequently; check provider websites for current rates. Some providers offer custom enterprise pricing not reflected here.

Internal links: Residential Proxy Pricing Guide | Mobile Proxy Pricing Guide | Proxy Cost Calculator