Top 12 Best Proxies for Web Scraping in 2026

Web scraping lives and dies by one thing: your proxy setup. You can have the most elegant scraper in the world, but if your IPs keep getting blocked, you're going nowhere fast. The problem? The proxy market is a maze of confusing pricing, technical jargon, and providers making bold claims about success rates that don't always pan out in real-world testing.

This guide cuts through the noise. We've tested and analyzed the top 12 proxy providers for web scraping, breaking down exactly what works, what doesn't, and which solution fits your specific needs. Whether you're extracting competitor pricing data, monitoring search rankings, or building massive datasets for machine learning, understanding the difference between residential, datacenter, ISP, and mobile proxies can mean the difference between clean data and endless frustration.

Let's get into the practical stuff: real performance metrics, pricing structures that actually make sense, and honest assessments of when you need enterprise-grade infrastructure versus when a simpler solution will do the job.

Understanding Proxy Types: What Actually Matters

Before diving into specific providers, let's talk about the fundamental decision you'll face: which type of proxy does your project actually need?

Residential proxies use IP addresses assigned by real ISPs to actual homes and devices. They're harder to detect and block because they look like legitimate user traffic. The trade-off? They're more expensive and sometimes slower. Use these when you're targeting sites with aggressive anti-bot systems like social media platforms or major e-commerce sites.

Datacenter proxies come from cloud servers and hosting facilities. They're fast and cheap, but websites can spot them more easily. Perfect for scraping less-protected targets or when you need speed and cost-efficiency over stealth.

ISP proxies (also called static residential) give you the best of both worlds: the legitimacy of residential IPs with the speed and stability of datacenter connections. They're ideal for tasks requiring long sessions, like managing multiple accounts or complex multi-step processes.

Mobile proxies route through cellular networks and are the hardest to detect. They're also the most expensive. Reserve these for the toughest targets where nothing else works.

👉 Get reliable residential proxies with unlimited bandwidth and city-level targeting

1. ScrapeUnblocker

ScrapeUnblocker takes a different approach than traditional proxy providers. Instead of just selling you IP addresses, it gives you a complete scraping infrastructure through a single API. Think of it as the difference between buying ingredients and ordering a meal: you get rotating residential proxies, browser rendering, CAPTCHA solving, and anti-bot bypass all bundled together.

The platform handles JavaScript-heavy websites that would normally require you to run headless browsers and manage complex retry logic. You send a URL, you get back either clean HTML or structured JSON. That's it. No wrestling with proxy rotation strategies or fingerprinting techniques.

What makes this compelling is the pricing model: you pay per successful request, not per gigabyte of bandwidth. This means failed requests don't eat into your budget, making cost forecasting actually predictable. The platform also offers unlimited concurrency and city-level geotargeting, which gives you flexibility when you need to collect localized data.

Key strengths:

• Integrated stack eliminates the need for multiple services

• Simple per-request billing with no hidden bandwidth charges

• Real browser execution for JavaScript rendering

• Sandbox environment for testing before committing

Considerations:

• No public per-request pricing listed on the site

• Better suited for complex targets than simple HTML scraping

Best for: Development teams that want to focus on data processing rather than infrastructure management, especially when targeting protected sites that require browser rendering.

2. Bright Data

Bright Data operates at enterprise scale, and their proxy network reflects that ambition. With over 150 million residential IPs spanning 195+ countries, they're built for massive, global data collection operations where precision matters. The level of targeting they offer is genuinely impressive: you can specify IPs down to city, ZIP code, or even carrier level.

This provider makes sense when you're running large-scale operations that need that kind of granularity. Their free Proxy Manager tool helps you set up advanced routing rules and monitor performance, which is valuable when you're managing complex scraping workflows across multiple targets.

The catch is that this power comes with enterprise-level complexity and pricing. There's a KYC verification process to get started, and while their pay-as-you-go model is great for testing, costs can scale quickly. Monthly committed plans offer better rates for consistent high-volume usage.

Key strengths:

• Massive IP pool with exceptional geographic coverage

• Advanced targeting capabilities for precise data collection

• Comprehensive product lineup covering all proxy types

• Professional-grade monitoring and management tools

Considerations:

• Enterprise pricing and onboarding process

• Overkill for smaller projects or individual developers

• Requires time investment to optimize for cost-efficiency

Best for: Large-scale operations where budget is secondary to scale and you need granular control over IP selection and routing.

Website: brightdata.com

3. Oxylabs

Oxylabs bridges the gap between accessibility and enterprise power. They've built a reputation for reliability, offering both self-service plans with clear pricing and enterprise-grade infrastructure. The platform provides over 100 million residential IPs, plus dedicated Scraper APIs designed to handle sophisticated anti-bot measures without requiring you to manage the underlying complexity.

Their ISP proxies are particularly noteworthy. These static residential proxies combine the speed of datacenter IPs with the legitimacy of residential addresses, making them perfect for tasks that need persistent sessions like account management or long-form data extraction.

The self-service checkout process and extensive documentation lower the barrier to entry significantly. You can get started quickly without navigating lengthy sales cycles, though scaling beyond 50GB per month on residential proxies typically requires moving to a committed plan.

Key strengths:

• Clear self-service options for smaller teams

• Strong ISP proxy offering for persistent sessions

• Industry-leading uptime claims of 99.9%

• Comprehensive product suite including Web Unblocker

Considerations:

• PAYG plans have volume caps requiring upgrade conversations

• Premium pricing compared to budget-focused providers

Best for: Teams that value high success rates and straightforward onboarding while still needing access to enterprise-grade infrastructure.

Website: oxylabs.io/pricing

4. Decodo (formerly Smartproxy)

Decodo carved out its niche by making advanced proxy features accessible to small and medium-sized businesses. The recent rebrand from Smartproxy might cause some initial confusion, but the core service remains focused on balancing performance with cost-effectiveness. The dashboard is notably clean and intuitive, getting you operational in minutes rather than hours.

With 115 million residential IPs, the platform offers both rotating and sticky sessions. The sticky sessions can maintain the same IP for up to 30 minutes, which is crucial for tasks like social media account management or navigating multi-step processes. The 24/7 support and straightforward interface make it particularly appealing for teams that don't have dedicated proxy infrastructure specialists.

Pricing is competitive, and they frequently run promotions that make the service even more accessible to budget-conscious users. The platform successfully removes much of the friction typically associated with enterprise proxy services while maintaining solid performance.

Key strengths:

• Exceptionally user-friendly interface

• Flexible session management with sticky IPs up to 30 minutes

• Competitive pricing with frequent promotions

• Strong support for teams new to proxy management

Considerations:

• Brand transition from Smartproxy may cause temporary confusion

• Smaller IP pool compared to top enterprise providers

Best for: Growing businesses and developers who prioritize ease of use and value for money without sacrificing reliability.

Website: decodo.com/proxies/residential-proxies/pricing

5. Zyte (Smart Proxy Manager / Zyte API)

Zyte flips the traditional proxy model on its head. Instead of selling bandwidth, they sell successful data extraction. Their API-first approach means you're not managing infrastructure at all—you're sending URLs and receiving clean data. The platform handles proxy selection, rotation, fingerprinting, CAPTCHA solving, and retries automatically.

This success-based pricing model charges per successful request, not per gigabyte. For projects targeting heavily protected websites, this can be significantly more cost-effective than buying bandwidth and dealing with high failure rates. The optional browser rendering feature ensures complete data capture from JavaScript-heavy sites that would be nightmares to scrape with traditional methods.

The trade-off for this convenience is less granular control. You can't manually select specific IPs or manage session persistence at a low level. But for teams focused on extracting data rather than operating infrastructure, this is often the right trade-off.

Key strengths:

• Success-based pricing eliminates wasted budget on failed requests

• Automated unblocking handles retries and ban detection

• Optional browser rendering for dynamic content

• Reduces development time significantly

Considerations:

• Less control over underlying proxy infrastructure

• May be expensive for simple, unprotected targets

• API-first model requires different integration approach

👉 Skip the infrastructure headaches with managed proxy solutions that handle rotation automatically

Best for: Teams that prioritize reliable data extraction from difficult targets and prefer predictable, results-based costs.

Website: zyte.com/pricing/

6. SOAX

SOAX stands out with its unified credit system that lets you seamlessly switch between residential, mobile, ISP, and datacenter proxies without juggling separate subscriptions. This flexibility is valuable when you're testing different approaches or when your scraping needs vary significantly between projects.

The platform provides 155 million residential IPs with targeting across 195+ countries, making it suitable for localized data collection. The credit-based model simplifies budget management: you buy credits once and allocate them as needed across different proxy types based on what your current task requires.

SOAX offers a low-cost trial for just $1.99, which is a genuinely useful way to validate performance before committing to larger plans. However, the 400MB data cap on the trial may not be sufficient for comprehensive testing of complex targets.

Key strengths:

• Unified credits work across all proxy types

• Broad protocol support including SOCKS5, UDP, and QUIC

• Extensive geographic coverage

• Low-cost trial for initial validation

Considerations:

• Limited trial bandwidth may restrict thorough testing

• Some users report variable session stability in certain regions

• Credit pricing requires calculation to compare with GB-based plans

Best for: Teams experimenting with different proxy strategies or those with varied scraping requirements across multiple projects.

Website: soax.com

7. NetNut

NetNut focuses on performance and reliability by sourcing residential IPs directly from ISPs rather than peer-to-peer networks. This architecture minimizes hops, resulting in faster response times and more stable connections. The platform is built for production workloads where uptime and speed are non-negotiable.

With 85 million residential IPs and unlimited concurrent connections, NetNut removes a common bottleneck for teams running parallel scraping operations. The pricing is structured in clear tiers based on data usage, making it straightforward to scale as your needs grow.

The direct ISP connectivity approach can provide a performance edge, particularly for high-throughput tasks like real-time price monitoring or large-scale market research where every millisecond matters.

Key strengths:

• Direct ISP connectivity optimized for speed

• Unlimited concurrent connections and threads

• Clear, scalable pricing tiers

• Production-focused reliability

Considerations:

• Higher-volume plans require sales team contact

• Less flexible for intermittent or unpredictable usage patterns

• Premium pricing reflects performance focus

Best for: High-volume production environments where speed, stability, and unlimited concurrency are essential.

Website: netnut.io/residential-proxies/

8. Rayobyte

Rayobyte, a US-based provider, emphasizes ethical sourcing and transparent pricing. Their focus on ethically acquired residential IPs provides peace of mind for compliance-conscious organizations. The platform offers a well-rounded suite of residential, ISP, and datacenter proxies with particularly strong US coverage.

One unique feature is their never-expiring bandwidth option on certain plans. This is valuable for developers with intermittent scraping needs who don't want to lose unused data at the end of a billing cycle. They also offer reseller programs for agencies managing multiple clients.

The straightforward pricing and free residential proxy trial make it accessible for teams carefully evaluating their options. While it may lack some advanced features found in top-tier enterprise platforms, the core service is solid and reliable.

Key strengths:

• Ethical sourcing emphasis for compliance

• Never-expiring bandwidth on select plans

• Transparent, upfront pricing

• Strong US proxy coverage

Considerations:

• Smaller global footprint compared to larger providers

• Some advanced features tied to higher-tier plans

• Better suited for US-focused projects

Best for: US-centric data collection projects and teams that prioritize ethical practices and flexible, transparent pricing.

Website: rayobyte.com/pricing/

9. IPRoyal

IPRoyal targets budget-conscious users with its never-expiring residential traffic model. Instead of losing unused bandwidth at the end of each month, you purchase a data package that remains valid until you've used it completely. This removes the pressure of monthly deadlines and makes it easier to manage irregular scraping schedules.

With 32 million ethically sourced residential IPs and unlimited concurrent connections, the platform covers the essentials for common scraping tasks. It supports both rotating and sticky sessions across residential, ISP, datacenter, and mobile proxy types.

The provider is known for frequent promotional offers and steep discounts, often making it one of the most affordable options available. While it may not have the scale of enterprise providers, the straightforward dashboard and competitive pricing make it an excellent entry point.

Key strengths:

• Never-expiring traffic eliminates monthly deadline pressure

• Frequent discounts and promotional pricing

• Unlimited concurrent connections

• Support for multiple proxy types

Considerations:

• Smaller IP pool compared to enterprise providers

• May require more sophisticated retry logic for complex targets

• Performance varies by region and target difficulty

Best for: Budget-conscious teams with intermittent scraping needs and those new to web scraping who want a low-risk starting point.

Website: iproyal.com/pricing/

10. Webshare

Webshare focuses on datacenter proxies with an emphasis on affordability and accessibility. The standout feature is a genuine forever-free plan providing 10 shared proxies with monthly bandwidth. This isn't a limited trial—it's a permanent free tier that's useful for low-volume tasks or learning how to integrate proxies into your scrapers.

The platform strips away complexity with instant provisioning and straightforward, self-service billing. For individual developers, students, or small projects testing the waters of web scraping, this removes significant barriers to entry.

The trade-off for this accessibility is that datacenter proxies, especially shared ones, are more susceptible to blocks from sophisticated anti-bot systems. They work well for less-protected targets or when speed and cost matter more than undetectability.

Key strengths:

• Forever-free tier with actual usable resources

• Instant automated provisioning

• Extremely budget-friendly paid plans

• Simple, no-frills approach

Considerations:

• Datacenter IPs are easier to detect and block

• Shared proxies on free tier have lower success rates

• Limited effectiveness against advanced anti-bot systems

Best for: Getting started with web scraping, testing integration code, or low-volume projects where cost is the primary constraint.

Website: webshare.io/pricing

11. ScraperAPI

ScraperAPI bundles proxy management into a simple API call, abstracting away the complexity of IP rotation, CAPTCHA solving, and JavaScript rendering. Instead of managing raw proxy lists, you send your target URL to their endpoint and receive clean HTML from a successful request.

The platform uses a mix of residential, mobile, and datacenter IPs to maximize success rates. For standard scraping tasks like e-commerce price collection or SERP data extraction, this integrated approach significantly reduces development overhead. You don't need to worry about retry logic, fingerprinting, or session management.

Pricing is based on API credits tied to successful requests, providing predictable costs. A generous 7-day trial with 5,000 free credits gives you substantial time to test the service against your actual targets before committing.

Key strengths:

• Managed infrastructure eliminates proxy complexity

• Automatic handling of rotation, CAPTCHAs, and rendering

• Predictable, credit-based pricing

• Substantial free trial for thorough testing

Considerations:

• Limited direct control over IP selection

• Country-level targeting restricted on lower tiers

• Less suitable for use cases requiring manual session management

Best for: Developers who want to outsource infrastructure management and focus on data processing rather than proxy logistics.

Website: scraperapi.com

12. Proxyrack

Proxyrack differentiates itself with unmetered residential proxy plans priced by concurrent threads rather than data consumption. This pricing model is powerful for high-volume, consistent scraping operations where gigabyte-based billing becomes unpredictable and expensive.

The platform offers residential, datacenter, and ISP proxies with support for HTTP, SOCKS, and UDP protocols. This versatility accommodates various scraping tasks beyond standard web data collection. The dashboard provides live reporting for monitoring usage and troubleshooting in real-time.

The thread-based pricing requires careful planning. You need to accurately estimate your parallel connection requirements to avoid overpaying for unused threads or under-provisioning your infrastructure.

Key strengths:

• Unmetered plans eliminate data cap concerns

• Thread-based pricing for predictable costs

• Broad protocol support for diverse applications

• Live reporting dashboard for real-time monitoring

Considerations:

• Requires accurate estimation of concurrent connection needs

• Less flexible for variable workloads

• Limited advanced compliance features compared to top-tier providers

Best for: High-volume scraping operations with consistent, predictable workloads that benefit from unlimited data usage.

Website: proxyrack.com

Making the Right Choice for Your Project

After analyzing these twelve providers, the decision comes down to a fundamental question: do you want to manage infrastructure or extract data?

If you have deep technical expertise and need granular control over every aspect of your scraping operation, a dedicated proxy network like Bright Data or Oxylabs gives you the flexibility to optimize for your specific needs. You can fine-tune rotation logic, manage sessions manually, and implement sophisticated retry strategies.

But this control requires significant engineering investment. The hours spent debugging failed requests, reverse-engineering anti-bot systems, and managing IP bans add up quickly. For many teams, this time is better spent analyzing data and building products.

This is where the paradigm shifts from buying proxies to buying successful requests. Services like ScrapeUnblocker, Zyte, and ScraperAPI handle the infrastructure complexity for you, letting you focus on what the data tells you rather than how to acquire it.

Your decision checklist:

Consider target complexity. Simple HTML sites work fine with datacenter proxies. Dynamic JavaScript applications protected by Cloudflare or similar systems benefit from integrated scraping platforms that handle rendering and anti-bot measures automatically.

Evaluate team resources. Do you have dedicated engineers to manage proxy infrastructure? Or do you need a solution that works out of the box? Your team's bandwidth is often the constraining factor.

Calculate total cost of ownership. Don't just compare per-gigabyte pricing. Factor in development time, failed request costs, and maintenance overhead. A higher-priced API often proves more cost-effective when you account for engineering hours.

Test before committing. Use free trials to benchmark your most difficult target URLs with your top contenders. Measure success rates and data quality empirically rather than relying on marketing claims.

The web scraping industry is evolving toward abstraction and specialization. Just as businesses moved from managing servers to using cloud platforms, data teams are increasingly moving from managing proxy pools to using intelligent scraping platforms. This lets them focus on their core mission: transforming web data into actionable insights.