The Ultimate Guide to the Best Proxy Providers in 2024

In today’s dynamic digital landscape, proxy servers have become an indispensable tool to individuals and businesses seeking ultimate freedom and privacy on the internet. By powering major applications and tools and contributing to overcoming digital barriers, they benefit a wide range of expertise.

From private users seeking access to geo restricted content, bypassing IP bans, or just improving their online privacy to businesses looking for efficient SEO and competitor analysis, geo-targeted testing, and price monitoring, proxies provide users with everything.

However, the growing demand for proxy servers has caused numerous companies to offer these tools. Today, you can find so many proxy providers offering different proxy types, varying proxy network sizes, distinctive features, and competitive pricing.

All this makes choosing the best proxy service look like going on an adventure in a dense jungle – you can easily get lost!

Worry not, as we’ll help you find your way by explaining what to look for in a proxy provider and suggesting the best options available in 2024.

Let’s start by unraveling proxies!

Understanding Proxy Servers

Proxy servers , or just proxies, are a gateway between online users and the internet. These servers act as a middleman, separating you from the target websites and online services.

Your traffic flows through them on its way to the destination server. The response then comes back through the same server, which forwards it to you. They carry their own IP addresses, keeping your original one anonymous to the websites and platforms you visit.

This way, the target web server doesn’t know your online identity and where you are in the world. As a result, you can access region-specific web content or blocked resources from anywhere.

However, bypassing geo-restrictions and forwarding web requests are not the only things proxy servers do. They cache data for faster requests and responses, act as a web filter and firewall, and increase online privacy.

All this can be extremely useful for businesses, allowing them to perform sensitive tasks like web scraping and automation anonymously, save bandwidth, improve system performance, and control internet usage in the workplace.

Types of Proxy Servers

While all proxies carry their own IP addresses that you can use instead of yours, there are various types – each with unique features. Understanding the different proxy types will help you pick the right one for your needs.

Let’s discuss the most popular types of proxy servers and their common use cases .

Residential Proxies

Residential proxies are the most widely used proxy servers as they provide the highest level of anonymity. That’s because a residential proxy carries an IP sourced from an actual, physical device associated with real ISPs (Internet Service Providers.)

Using residential proxies means channeling your requests through these real devices. Since they are rotating or dynamic by nature, they change their IP address after each request or at a pre-set interval.

This is why a residential proxy appears as a genuine residential online user to websites and is extremely hard to detect. Thanks to the high trust score this type of proxy enjoys, individuals and businesses use a residential proxy address for all sorts of activities that require optimal anonymity and reliability.

The most popular use case scenarios of residential proxies include:

• Web scraping and data gathering
• Ad verification and SEO monitoring
• Market research and competitor analysis
• SEO content compliance
• Internet marketing
• Brand protection
• Access to geo-blocked content

Datacenter Proxies

These proxies are not related to ISPs as they come from another corporation, usually data centers and cloud hosting services. While this makes their trust score lower, it eliminates ISP constraints, making them faster and more available than residential proxies.

Datacenter proxy servers come in a series of IPs, following one after another. Although they provide anonymity when purchased from the right provider, they are still easier to detect. Hence the lower prices.

In general, you can find two types of datacenter proxy servers – shared and dedicated. The first are assigned to a single user at a time, while the latter are shared between multiple users simultaneously.

Therefore, dedicated datacenter proxies are far better than the shared option when seeking consistent performance and more reliable connections.

Common use cases of datacenter IPs include:

• SEO research
• Web scraping
• Anonymous browsing
• Online gaming
• Streaming

ISP Proxies

These proxies combine features of both datacenter and residential proxies. They are provided by ISPs themselves and are hosted on servers at data centers instead of real devices. This makes them reliable like residential proxies and fast like datacenter IPs.

Also known as static residential proxies, these IPs are static, making them ideal for activities that require high stability or consistent identity. ISP proxy servers are also a great choice for traffic-intensive tasks as they usually come with zero traffic limits.

Common use cases of ISP IPs include:

• Multiple account management
• Online banking
• SEO monitoring
• Ad verification
• Bypassing geo-restrictions

Mobile Proxies

Mobile proxy servers carry IPs assigned by mobile carriers and sourced from real mobile phone users. This way, they make it seem like you’re using mobile data for your online activities.

Using a mobile proxy means using a dynamic IP address, forwarding your traffic through numerous mobile devices connected to an LTE, 3G, 4G, or 5G cellular network, depending on the proxy provider.

They are perfect for any activity requiring high trust and anonymity, such as:

• Social media management
• Online marketing
• Web scraping
• Avoiding IP bans
• Bypassing geo-restrictions
• E-commerce

Comparison of Proxy Types

Check out the most popular proxy types compared against each other in terms of IP sourcing, block risk, stability, and pricing.

Criteria for Choosing the Best Proxy Provider

Choosing the best provider is more than just looking for the one with the largest proxy pool. While that’s definitely a key factor, there are plenty of others that are just as important to consider.

Here are the main factors to look for in proxy providers:

• High reputation
• Large proxy pool
• A range of useful features
• Great location coverage
• Ethical IP sourcing
• High speeds
• Responsive customer support
• High reliability
• Compliance with the industry’s standards
• Ease of use
• Cost-efficient solutions

That’s why we only looked at premium or paid proxy services: good service never comes for free!

Best Proxy Providers for 2024

It’s finally time to share the results of our research and reveal our top picks for the best proxy providers currently available on the market. Before we start, we just want to remind you that no free proxy servers are found on our list, as we all know the risks associated with free proxies.

Also, all can be considered residential proxy providers, as their main product is exactly that type of proxy address.

1. IPRoyal

IPRoyal is a reputable proxy service provider known for their ethical IP sourcing methods, transparency, and compliance with the highest data protection standards in the industry. The provider started out in 2020, building their residential proxy network from scratch to provide ethical and trustworthy IPs.

They control a network of over 34 million IPs worldwide. Their rich product catalog includes the most popular types of proxies at competitive prices. IPRoyal’s proxies are ideal for critical tasks such as web scraping, ad verification, SEO and SERP scraping, brand protection, price monitoring, social media management, travel fare aggregation, and much more.

Services and Features

At IPRoyal, you’ll find all the essential proxies infused with up-to-date features. Their catalog comprises datacenter, static residential, mobile, and their flagship product - ethically sourced residential proxies.

Security and Privacy

IPRoyal employs two-factor authentication, SSL encryption, and a KYC policy to understand their customers and their use cases. This way, they ensure no criminals and malicious actors can access their network.

The company monitors their network around the clock, detecting suspicious activities early and preventing IP abuse. Also, they comply with GDPR, CCPA, and other data protection standards. With high trust scores and strong security measures and policies in place, you don’t have to worry about privacy or security issues when using IPRoyal’s proxies.

Support and Resources

This provider offers 24/7 customer support via live chat, email, and Discord. Clients are satisfied with the support service, describing it as fast and useful, with friendly and knowledgeable agents willing to help you any time of the day or night.

Additionally, IPRoyal has a comprehensive Help Center on their official website and dashboard where you can find answers to common questions regarding their service. It also has live documentation including everything you need to get started using their proxies.

With so many start guides, integration tutorials, proxy extensions, a proxy tester, a user-friendly dashboard, and social logins, it’s clear that they want to make the user experience as smooth as possible.

Pricing Overview

IPRoyal has a clear pricing structure with highly customizable plans and zero hidden costs. While there are no free trials, the daily options and the chance to order only 1 GB or proxy allow you to test the proxies at a minimal cost.

The non-expiring residential traffic, generous bulk discounts, and reasonable prices make the service extremely cost-efficient.

Final Verdict

Overall, IPRoyal is a reliable proxy provider ideal for business clients looking for an ethical and global network, transparency, and compliance with the industry’s highest standards.

Pros

• Global, ethical network
• 34+ million IPs in 195 countries
• Precise geo-targeting options
• Excellent sticky sessions
• HTTP/HTTPS and SOCKS5 support
• High speeds and uptime
• Dual authentication
• Unlimited bandwidth
• Non-expiring residential traffic
• Great customer support
• Easy to use
• Daily and pay-as-you-go options
• Reasonable prices

Cons

• No free trial

2. Smartproxy

Smartproxy was established in 2018, and today, it’s one of the top players in the proxy industry. With multiple proxy types and scrapers, this proxy service is heavily oriented toward web scraping professionals. The company also offers free tools such as “Address Generator” and “X Browser.”

The proxy service comprises a pool of over 55 million IP addresses in 195 locations. Besides web scraping and data collection, other use cases for Smartproxy’s IPs include multi-accounting, price aggregation, SEO, and ad tech.

Services and Features

Smartproxy’s product catalog includes the essential proxy types: datacenter, ISP, mobile, and residential proxies. The provider also offers several web scraping APIs, along with some free tools.

Security and Privacy

Smartproxy’s network is safeguarded with a KYC policy that requires verifying your identity to be able to purchase anything. The company stores your personal data for up to two years from your last login but doesn’t share it with any third parties that are not their service providers.

In addition, their proxies are ethically sourced as the company stays up-to-date with current legal requirements concerning privacy and data protection.

Support and Resources

You can contact Smartproxy’s support agents 24/7 via email and live chat. User testimonials indicate readily available customer support, with dedicated account managers included for enterprise clients.

The company’s website offers quick-start guides, configuration instructions, integration tutorials, and a FAQ page to help you get started.

Pricing Overview

Overall, Smartproxy’s pricing is competitive, with monthly and pay-as-you-go options depending on the type of service.

The company has recently introduced a limited free trial, allowing you to test their residential proxies for 3 days. However, we’re not sure whether the trial will still be available after publishing this review.

Final Verdict

Smartproxy offers ethical proxies, various pricing plans, and multiple scrapers and tools, so it definitely deserves its spot on our list of best proxy server providers in 2024.

Pros

• Global proxy pool
• Ethical proxies
• 55+ million IPs in 195 locations
• Precise geo-targeting
• HTTP/HTTPS and SOCKS5 support
• Dual authentication
• High speeds and uptime
• Rotating and sticky sessions
• Pay-as-you-go plans
• Free trial

Cons

• Dedicated datacenter IPs only in the US
• ISP proxies with no SOCKS5 support
• No unlimited plan for mobile proxies

3. Bright Data

Next on our list of best proxy services is Bright Data, an Israeli-based provider with a proven history. Founded in 2014, the company boasts a powerful data collection infrastructure , providing various proxy types, scraping solutions, and pre-collected datasets.

With over 72 million IPs, Bright Data has one of the largest proxy networks in the industry. Its products are ideal for web scraping professionals, but some of them are quite expensive despite the limited SOCKS5 support.

Services and Features

At Bright Data, you can find datacenter, ISP, mobile, and residential proxies. You can also find dedicated and rotating options.

Security and Privacy

With ethical IP sourcing and a strict KYC policy, it’s evident that Bright Data cares about their clients’ privacy and security. Their residential proxies are compliant with GDPR, CCPA, and other data protection legal requirements.

The company has a compliance team that ensures their network users remain compliant and their proxies are not abused.

Pricing Overview

Bright Data’s entire pricing structure is rather ambiguous and constantly changing. Right now, there are pay-as-you-go options, micro packages, and subscriptions based on proxies and usage.

Also, there’s a 7-day free trial, but you can only take advantage of it if you’re a company. Let’s learn more about the current pricing plans of each of Bright Data’s proxy services.

Final Verdict

Bright Data seems like a good choice for scraping and data collection agencies and companies looking for more than just proxies. While you can also find multiple scraping tools and datasets, you won’t find certain proxy features, and others are only available as an upsell.

Pros

• Global proxy pool
• Over 72 million IPs in 195 countries
• Precise geo-targeting options
• Ethical IP sourcing
• Unlimited concurrent sessions
• Dual authentication
• High uptime
• HTTP/HTTPS and SOCKS5 support
• Rotating and sticky sessions
• Scraper APIs
• Pre-made datasets
• Pay-as-you-go options
• Free trial for companies

Cons

• Ambiguous pricing structure
• No native SOCKS5 support (only with their proxy manager)
• Sticky sessions up to 60 seconds
• Geolocation targeting and unlimited bandwidth at an extra cost
• No mobile proxy plans with unlimited bandwidth

4. Oxylabs

Controlling a network of over 100 million IP addresses worldwide, Oxylabs stands as one of the industry’s leading giants. Founded in 2015 in Lithuania, this company has quickly become one of the biggest names on the market, offering a diverse range of proxies, AI and ML-driven scraper APIs, and custom no-code datasets.

With a clear and neat website, dedicated account managers, and multiple certifications, it’s a great option for enterprise clients. In addition to enterprise plans, Oxylabs also has plans tailored for regular users.

Services and Features

Oxylabs has a rich proxy catalog including all sorts of proxy servers. You can find static residential, shared datacenter, dedicated datacenter, mobile, rotating ISP, and, of course, residential proxies.

Security and Privacy

Oxylabs employs ethical IP address sourcing methods and is a member of the Ethical Web Data Collection Initiative. It also has a strict KYC policy that requires everyone to go through a verification procedure before being able to start using their services.

With so many certifications on Oxylabs’ homepage, it’s clear that the company invests much in ethics and compliance with the highest regulatory standards. On top of that, all of their products are insured, guaranteeing maximum security and privacy.

Support and Resources

You can reach Oxylabs’ support agents via email and live chat 24/7. You can also get assigned a dedicated account manager, but only if you subscribe to their higher enterprise plans.

Other useful resources include quick-start guides, integration tutorials, scraping lessons, quality documentation, and a FAQ page available on both the dashboard and homepage. The provider also offers a host of useful tools, such as a browser extension for Chrome and a proxy manager for Android.

Pricing Overview

The company follows the subscription pricing model for most of its services with the addition of a pay-as-you-go option for their mobile and residential proxies. However, the pay-as-you-go plans come with traffic limitations, so you can order up to 30 GB of mobile proxy traffic or up to 50 GB of residential traffic.

There are regular and enterprise plans charging per proxy or usage, depending on the type of service. In addition, there’s a free trial allowing you to test the proxies at no charge.

Let’s learn more about the pricing structure of each Oxylabs’ service:

Final Verdict

Oxylabs is all about business. With a wide range of proxy types, tools, scraper APIs, certifications, and a gigantic number of residential IPs, we’re talking about a top-notch proxy provider. Of course, certain drawbacks make the service far from ideal.

Pros

• Extensive global network
• Over 100 million IPs in 195 countries
• Country, state, city, ZIP code, and ASN-level targeting
• HTTP/HTTPS and SOCKS5 support
• Dual authentication
• Rotating and sticky sessions
• High speeds and uptime
• Scraper APIs
• Datasets
• Great customer support
• Free trial

Cons

• No ISP, mobile, and shared datacenter proxy plans with unlimited bandwidth
• No SOCKS5 support under shared datacenter and self-service dedicated datacenter plans
• Self-service dedicated datacenter plans with limited locations
• Pay-as-you-go plans with limited traffic

How to Choose the Right Proxy Provider for You

Picking the best proxy service for you can be challenging. So here are a few factors to consider when making your decision:

• Look for reliable proxy providers
• Stay away from free proxy servers
• Look for a global and large proxy network, considering only proxy server providers that support the IP address locations you need
• Opt for an ethical and compliant proxy service provider
• Consider your particular use case, whether it’s to access geo-restricted content, perform market research, social media management , or data scraping, to determine if you need an ISP, datacenter, mobile, or residential proxy provider
• Look for advanced features such as HTTP/HTTPS and SOCKS5 support and precise sticky session control
• Search for unlimited traffic, bulk discounts, and non-expiring traffic for maximum cost-efficiency
• Look for fast proxies and high uptime
• Avoid unclear pricing structures with plenty of upsells and look for a plan that fits within your budget
• Look for proxy server providers with responsive and knowledgeable customer support

To Sum Up

The number of proxy service providers is on the rise, along with the increasing demand for proxies. Since each proxy service comes with its own strengths and weaknesses, choosing one can be daunting, even if you’re only considering reliable proxy providers.

To make things easier for you, we covered everything you need to know regarding proxy types and their applications, followed by a detailed review of the best proxy server providers for 2024. Armed with this knowledge, we hope you can pick the option that best suits your needs. Best of luck!

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