Tired of Oxylabs' steep $75 entry barrier and inconsistent API performance? You're not the only one. Here's a straight breakdown of 5 alternatives that either match or beat Oxylabs—some on price, some on speed, and a few on both. Whether you need raw proxies or a complete scraping API, there's something here that'll work better for your budget and use case.
Look, Oxylabs built their reputation on having one of the fastest proxy networks out there. They've got 175 million+ IPs spread across 195 countries, and in testing, they hit 99.82% success rates with response times averaging just 0.41 seconds. That's legitimately impressive.
They also rolled out something called AI Studio—basically AI-powered tools that automatically crawl and scrape websites without you having to babysit CSS selectors every time a site updates its layout. For teams running continuous data collection, that's a nice touch.
And the support? Pretty solid. Enterprise customers get dedicated account managers, and people generally don't complain about response times when things break. If uptime matters to your bottom line, that level of support can justify premium pricing.
But here's the thing: their pricing model is designed for enterprises, not small to mid-sized operations.
Their Web Scraper requires a $75 upfront commitment just to test if it works for your use case. That's the highest entry point among major providers. And residential proxies? $8 per GB with pay-as-you-go billing that fluctuates based on page sizes. Compare that to alternatives charging $3-$4 per GB, and suddenly that "premium" positioning feels more like overhead.
And if you're evaluating Oxylabs for their Web Scraping API specifically—not just raw proxies—the performance gap becomes obvious fast. Their API delivered 92.52% success rates with 17.5-second average response times in testing. That's notably slower and less reliable than dedicated scraping APIs like Bright Data (98.44% success at 10.6 seconds) or Scrape.do (98.19% at 4.7 seconds).
The pricing makes it worse: Oxylabs charges an average of $6.39 per 1,000 requests, while Scrape.do costs $0.80. You're paying eight times more for objectively worse performance.
Bottom line: Oxylabs built world-class proxy infrastructure. Their scraping API feels like an afterthought.
These providers deliver comparable or better performance than Oxylabs' proxy network, with pricing models that don't require $75 upfront commitments.
SOAX operates 191 million+ proxies across 195+ locations—that's 16 million more IPs than Oxylabs. In testing, they achieved 99.73% success rates with 0.90-second average response times.
Pricing is straightforward: $3.60 per GB for both datacenter and residential proxies. No separate tiers, no complexity.
What works:
Largest proxy pool available (191M+ IPs beats Oxylabs' 175M)
Unified pricing simplicity—one rate for both proxy types
Much cheaper than Oxylabs ($3.60 vs $8/GB) while delivering nearly identical success rates
Precise geo-targeting down to city and ISP level for localized scraping
What doesn't:
$99/month entry point requires monthly commitment
No pay-as-you-go option like Oxylabs offers
Mobile proxies occasionally drop during long sessions
The verdict: SOAX's 191M proxy pool beats Oxylabs' 175M at less than half the cost. Oxylabs counters with faster response times (0.41s vs 0.90s) and slightly higher success rates. For projects where scale and cost matter more than absolute fastest speeds, SOAX delivers better value.
Decodo (formerly Smartproxy) provides 100K+ datacenter and 115M+ residential IPs with flexible rotation options.
Here's the kicker: they achieved 99.86% success rates in testing—higher than Oxylabs' 99.82%. Response times averaged 0.63 seconds, slower than Oxylabs but still competitive.
Pricing starts at $3 per GB for residential proxies.
What works:
Highest success rate tested (99.86% beats Oxylabs' 99.82%)
Much cheaper than Oxylabs ($3 vs $8/GB)
Extremely intuitive dashboard—setup takes minutes
Large residential pool with strong geographic diversity
What doesn't:
Smaller pool than Oxylabs (115M vs 175M residential IPs)
Slower response times (0.63s vs 0.41s)
Scraping API features cost extra beyond base proxy plans
The verdict: Decodo delivers the highest success rate measured while costing significantly less than Oxylabs. If you're prioritizing reliability over absolute speed, Decodo wins. For projects where every fraction of a second matters, Oxylabs justifies the premium.
IPRoyal offers 32M+ residential IPs with datacenter proxies sold per IP starting at $1.57/IP monthly (unlimited bandwidth) and residential proxies from $7/GB.
In testing, they achieved 98.22% success rates with 1.36-second response times. The standout feature is unlimited bandwidth on datacenter proxies—no per-GB fees creating unpredictability.
What works:
Slightly cheaper than Oxylabs ($7/GB vs $8/GB residential)
Unlimited bandwidth on datacenter proxies eliminates overage concerns
Solid e-commerce performance on Shopify, Footsites, and moderate anti-bot protection
What doesn't:
Smallest proxy pool (32M vs Oxylabs' 175M)
Lower success rates (98.22% vs 99.82%)
Slower response times (1.36s vs 0.41s)
The verdict: Oxylabs dominates on infrastructure—175M vs 32M IPs, 0.41s vs 1.36s response, 99.82% vs 98.22% success. IPRoyal counters with slightly cheaper residential pricing and unlimited datacenter bandwidth. For budget-conscious operations where you can tolerate slower speeds, IPRoyal works. For reliability at scale, Oxylabs wins.
Oxylabs' Web Scraper API delivered 92.52% success with 17.5-second response times—a performance that trails dedicated scraping APIs by a wide margin. If you're looking for a scraping API specifically, these alternatives provide faster speeds, higher success rates, and lower costs.
And speaking of better alternatives—if you're tired of dealing with inconsistent API performance and inflated costs, there's a smarter way forward. 👉 Check out how ScraperAPI delivers reliable scraping with transparent pricing that won't blow your budget. It's designed for teams who need results without the enterprise overhead.
Scrape.do delivered 98.19% success rates and 4.7-second average response times in testing—nearly 4x faster than Oxylabs' API.
The platform operates 110M+ IPs across datacenter, residential, and mobile networks with transparent credit multipliers. The freemium plan includes 1,000 requests monthly with no phone verification required, and the $29 starter package provides 250K requests.
What works:
Nearly 4x faster than Oxylabs API (4.7s vs 17.5s)
Notably higher success rate (98.19% vs 92.52%)
Dramatically cheaper per request ($0.80 vs $6.39 per 1K)
Transparent opt-in pricing—parameters disabled by default, enable as needed
No verification freemium access (1,000 free requests)
What doesn't:
No official SDKs (community SDKs exist for popular languages)
Limited ready-to-use scrapers compared to enterprise platforms
The verdict: Scrape.do dominates on API performance across every metric—nearly 4x faster, notably higher success, and dramatically cheaper. If you need a web scraping API, Scrape.do is the clear winner. Oxylabs' strength is proxy infrastructure, not API scraping.
Bright Data's Web Scraper API delivered 98.44% success rates with 10.6-second response times in testing—the highest success rate measured across all providers.
The platform operates over 150 million IPs and offers 120+ ready-made no-code scrapers for popular websites including Amazon, LinkedIn, Walmart, and social media platforms. Pricing is $1.50 per 1,000 requests for standard domains and $2.50 for premium targets.
What works:
Highest API success rate tested (98.44% beats Oxylabs' 92.52%)
Significantly faster than Oxylabs API (10.6s vs 17.5s)
Much cheaper per request ($1.50 vs $6.39 per 1K)
120+ no-code scrapers eliminate custom parsing work
Automatic parameter selection through Web Unlocker
What doesn't:
Fixed pricing regardless of complexity (charges same for static HTML and JS-heavy pages)
Slower than Scrape.do (10.6s vs 4.7s)
Pay-per-GB proxy model creates unpredictability like Oxylabs
The verdict: Bright Data's Web Scraper API dominates Oxylabs across every metric—higher success, faster response, cheaper pricing, plus 120+ no-code scrapers. On proxy infrastructure, Oxylabs holds advantages with a larger pool and faster response. But if you need a web scraping API, Bright Data wins decisively on performance and features.
Here's the quick decision tree:
For largest proxy pool with better pricing: SOAX's 191M IPs beats Oxylabs at $3.60/GB with unified pricing across datacenter and residential proxies
For highest success rate among alternatives: Decodo delivers 99.86% success—outperforming even Oxylabs—at $3/GB with an intuitive dashboard
For unlimited bandwidth on budget: IPRoyal's flat per-IP pricing with unlimited datacenter bandwidth at $7/GB eliminates overage concerns
For highest web scraping API success rate: Bright Data delivers 98.44% success at 10.6s and $1.50 per 1K, plus 120+ no-code scrapers
For fastest web scraping API: Scrape.do delivers 98.19% success at 4.7s and $0.80 per 1K—nearly 4x faster than Oxylabs API at dramatically lower cost
Oxylabs built their reputation on proxy infrastructure, and that's still where they shine—99.82% success rates with 0.41-second response times on raw proxy access is legitimately impressive. But their Web Scraping API feels like an afterthought, with 92.52% success and 17.5-second response times that trail dedicated alternatives by wide margins. The $75 entry barrier and $8/GB residential pricing push them firmly into enterprise-only territory, leaving smaller operations looking elsewhere. If you need raw proxies and can afford the premium, Oxylabs delivers. But for web scraping APIs specifically, alternatives like Scrape.do and Bright Data provide faster speeds, higher success rates, and dramatically lower costs—making them the smarter choice for most use cases. 👉 That's why ScraperAPI remains one of the top picks for teams who need reliable scraping without the enterprise tax.