Looking to scale your data extraction without constant blocks and CAPTCHAs? The right web scraping proxy service is your gateway to seamless, high-volume data collection. Whether you're extracting e-commerce pricing, monitoring competitor websites, or gathering market intelligence, proxies let you scrape faster, smarter, and more anonymously—while staying under the radar of even the most aggressive anti-bot systems.

This guide breaks down the ten best proxy providers for web scraping in 2025, covering everything from residential and datacenter proxies to mobile and premium options. You'll learn which proxy types work best for your use case, how to avoid common pitfalls, and what features actually matter when you're scraping at scale.

Why Proxies Are Non-Negotiable for Web Scraping

Think of proxies as your scraper's passport to the internet. They're not just about avoiding blocks—though they're excellent at that. Here's what makes them essential:

Dodging Anti-Bot Detection: Modern websites deploy sophisticated systems that flag and ban suspicious IPs. Premium rotating proxies let you switch addresses with each request, making your scraper virtually invisible to these systems. Free proxies and manual IP switching? They won't cut it against advanced detection.

Precise Geolocation Access: Need data from a specific country or city? Proxies let you route requests through IPs from virtually anywhere, bypassing geo-restrictions and accessing region-specific content. This is crucial for price monitoring, localized SERP data, and market research.

Complete Anonymity: Proxies mask your real IP and device information, protecting your identity and infrastructure from exposure.

Accelerated Performance: With the right proxy setup, you can send more concurrent requests, reduce errors and timeouts, and dramatically improve your success rate. More successful requests mean faster, more efficient scraping.

Understanding Proxy Types for Scraping

Not all proxies are created equal. Let's break down the main types and when to use each.

Residential Proxies

These are IP addresses assigned to real homes by Internet Service Providers. They're the gold standard for web scraping because they look like legitimate user traffic.

When to use them: Scraping sites with strict anti-bot measures, accessing geo-restricted content, large-scale data extraction projects.

Strengths:

• Legitimate, real-world addresses that rarely get flagged

• Precise geolocation targeting down to city level

• Automatic IP rotation for high-volume scraping

Limitations:

• Higher cost per GB than datacenter proxies

• Occasionally slower speeds due to routing through residential networks

Datacenter Proxies

Artificially created IPs managed by cloud services and datacenters. They come in two flavors:

Shared: Multiple users share the same IP pool. Cheaper but higher block risk.
Dedicated: Exclusive IPs assigned only to you. Faster and more stable but pricier and limited in number.

When to use them: Scraping less protected sites, high-speed operations where detection risk is lower, budget-conscious projects.

Strengths:

• Lightning-fast speeds

• Cost-effective, especially shared options

• Reliable performance even with heavy request volumes

Limitations:

• More easily detected and banned by advanced anti-bot systems

• Usually static—you need to manually rotate them

• Less effective against sophisticated protection

Mobile Proxies

IPs from 4G/5G mobile networks. Every new connection gets a fresh IP address routed through mobile carriers.

When to use them: Scraping mobile-specific sites and apps, social media platforms, sites that heavily penalize datacenter IPs.

Strengths:

• Very fast connection speeds

• Lower detection and ban rates

• Ideal for mobile-first platforms

Limitations:

• Premium pricing

• Can struggle with extremely high-volume projects

Public Proxies

Free proxies available to anyone. Sounds great, but they're rarely worth it.

When to use them: Testing concepts, learning how proxies work, non-critical prototyping.

Strengths:

• Free to use

• Good for educational purposes

Limitations:

• Unreliable and frequently offline

• Security risks—some harvest your data or inject malware

• Painfully slow

• Easily detected and banned

Premium Proxies

High-quality proxies combining the best features of other types while minimizing their weaknesses. They offer enterprise-grade reliability, smart rotation, exact geolocation, and excellent cost-to-value ratios.

When to use them: Production scraping at scale, mission-critical data extraction, when you need reliability and performance without managing infrastructure.

Strengths:

• Guaranteed anonymity through large IP pools and intelligent rotation

• No infrastructure management required

• Better performance than standard proxies at competitive prices

Note: Most premium providers use shared IP pools, but with pools large enough that you maintain complete anonymity.

The 10 Best Proxy Services for Web Scraping in 2025

Here's our curated list of the top proxy providers, tested and ranked for web scraping use cases.

1. ZenRows

ZenRows delivers 55+ million premium residential IPs across 185+ countries. Beyond proxies, you're getting a complete web scraping solution—auto-rotating and sticky proxies, flexible geo-targeting, and a full-featured scraping API that handles CAPTCHAs and anti-bot systems at scale.

What sets ZenRows apart is its unified pricing model. You're not paying separately for proxies and API access—everything's bundled. Plus, you only pay for successful requests, so failed attempts don't eat into your budget.

The scraping API includes headless browsing for interacting with dynamic content, mimicking human behavior, and bypassing JavaScript challenges that would stump basic proxies.

Strengths:

• Smart rotating proxies with automatic management

• Massive, globally distributed IP pool

• Built-in usage statistics and monitoring

• Full-stack web scraping API included

• Single unified pricing—no hidden fees

• Complete anti-bot and CAPTCHA bypass

• Surgical geo-targeting options

• You only pay for successful requests

• 24/7 technical support with comprehensive documentation

Limitations:

• No browser extensions currently available

Pricing: Unified pricing starts at $69 monthly ($5.5/GB). Access both residential proxies and the scraping API under one plan. Free trial available—no credit card required.

When you're building a serious web scraping operation that needs more than just IP rotation, 👉 check out how ScraperAPI's advanced features stack up for handling complex anti-bot systems and CAPTCHA challenges at scale. Both tools excel at different aspects of the scraping workflow, making them valuable additions to your toolkit depending on your specific needs.

2. Oxylabs

Oxylabs runs one of the largest proxy networks with 100+ million IPs. They offer everything: residential, mobile, rotating ISP, shared datacenter, dedicated datacenter, and static datacenter proxies.

The platform supports automatic rotation and geo-targeting. They also sell web scraping APIs separately if you need more than just proxies.

Strengths:

• Multiple proxy types including mobile and residential

• Around-the-clock customer support

• Flexible pay-as-you-go options

• Automatic proxy rotation with geo-targeting

• Excellent global IP distribution

• Chrome extension available

Limitations:

• Full scraping toolkit with CAPTCHA bypass gets expensive

• Steeper learning curve than competitors

Pricing: Residential proxies start at $99/month ($7.75/GB). Pay-as-you-go option at $8/GB.

3. NetNut

NetNut boasts 85+ million residential IPs spanning 200+ countries. They offer rotating, static, mobile, and datacenter proxies.

Beyond proxies, NetNut provides a SERP scraper API and Website Unblocker anti-bot system. Uniquely, they also sell dataset APIs for business intelligence.

Strengths:

• Multiple proxy types including mobile and rotating residential

• Flexible pricing structures

• Large, diverse IP pool

• Web scraping APIs available

Limitations:

• Plans run expensive compared to alternatives

• Knowledge base could be more comprehensive

Pricing: Residential proxies start at $350/month ($17.5/GB). Free trial available.

4. SmartProxy

SmartProxy offers residential, datacenter, ISP, and mobile proxies from a pool of 55+ million globally distributed IPs. Auto-rotation and geo-targeting come standard.

They also sell general and specialized scraping APIs (SERP, e-commerce, social media), though you'll pay separately for these. There's a no-code scraping solution too, but it's pricier than their other products.

Strengths:

• Wide selection of proxy types

• Budget-friendly plans

• Chrome and Firefox browser extensions

• Large IP pool

• 24/7 customer support

• Easy proxy management through browser extensions

Limitations:

• APIs sold separately from proxy plans

Pricing: Residential proxies start at $12/month ($6/GB) or $7/GB pay-as-you-go.

5. Bright Data

Bright Data operates one of the largest proxy pools anywhere—72+ million rotating IPs covering the globe. They offer residential, datacenter, ISP, and mobile proxies.

For scraping, they provide a scraping browser, web scraping IDE, and API. They also run a dataset marketplace with AI-powered market intelligence and customizable data products.

Strengths:

• Multiple proxy types: rotating, residential, mobile, datacenter

• Comprehensive web unlocking and scraping solutions

• Enormous IP pool

• 24/7 customer service

Limitations:

• Premium pricing that may be out of reach for individuals and smaller companies

Pricing: Residential proxies start at $499/month ($6.43/GB). Pay-as-you-go at $8.4/GB.

6. Rayobyte

Rayobyte provides residential, datacenter, ISP, and mobile proxies with automatic IP rotation and geo-targeting.

Uniquely, they offer a proxy reselling service if you want to white-label their infrastructure. They also have a basic web scraping robot.

Strengths:

• Multiple proxy types: residential, mobile, datacenter

• Flexible pricing models

• Reseller program available

• Solid customer support

• Pay-as-you-go options

Limitations:

• Costs can climb quickly for large-scale projects

Pricing: Residential proxy starter plan: $100 ($4.67/GB). Pay-as-you-go starts at $5.25/GB.

7. HomeIP

HomeIP focuses exclusively on residential proxies—50+ million IPs across 195+ global locations. With a public API and third-party integrations, they're a straightforward choice if you only need residential IPs.

Strengths:

• Rotating residential proxies

• Unlimited parallel requests on all plans

• Quality support team

• Pay-as-you-go available

Limitations:

• No web scraping API

• Limited proxy variety

• No free trial

• Customer support hours are limited

Pricing: Starts at $135/month for 25GB or $7/GB pay-as-you-go.

8. Proxyrack

Proxyrack offers datacenter and residential proxies with 5+ million global IPs. Their private unmetered residential service dedicates residential IPs exclusively to you—though it costs more than standard residential proxies.

They support geo-targeting and proxy auto-rotation at set intervals, but rotating proxies fall under separate pricing.

Strengths:

• Proxy auto-rotation

• Geo-targeting capabilities

• Good customer support

• Proxy integration dashboard

• API available

Limitations:

• Smaller IP pool than competitors

• Each plan type priced separately

• No enhanced scraping features like APIs

• No free trial

Pricing: Residential plan starts at $49.95/month ($5/GB).

9. GeoNode

GeoNode provides residential, datacenter, mobile, and ISP proxies. They also offer a web unblocker service under separate pricing.

They maintain a free proxy list for testing and prototyping, plus a proxy manager for browser integration.

Strengths:

• Flexible pricing structures

• Free proxy list included

• Large proxy pool

• Multiple proxy types

• Web unblocker available

• Pay-as-you-go options

Limitations:

• Free trial requires payment info upfront

• Separate pricing for each service

• Customer support could be better

• No dedicated scraping API

Pricing: Residential proxies start at $59/month. Premium residential is pay-as-you-go only, starting at $4/GB.

10. IPRoyal

IPRoyal provides residential, datacenter, mobile, and ISP proxies. With 34+ million residential IPs covering 190+ countries, they enable geo-restricted content access through IP rotation and targeting.

Free Chrome and Firefox extensions let you set up and manage proxies—including those from other providers—directly in your browser.

Strengths:

• Auto-rotating proxies

• Geo-targeting

• Multiple proxy types: residential, mobile, datacenter, ISP

• Browser extensions

• Free proxy checker tool

• Flexible pricing

Limitations:

• No specialized web scraping services

• No free trial

• Customer support can be slow

Pricing: Residential proxies start at $7/GB, consumable (no expiration—use it as you need it).

Integrating Proxies Into Your Scraper

Adding proxies to your web scraper is straightforward. Here's how to do it in Python and Node.js—the two most popular languages for scraping. We'll request https://httpbin.io/ip, which returns your current IP address so you can verify the proxy is working.

Python Example

Using the Requests library with a simple proxy:

python
import requests

Free proxy example

proxy = "http://123.456.789.012:8080"
proxies = {"http": proxy, "https": proxy}

response = requests.get("https://httpbin.io/ip", proxies=proxies)
print(response.text)

For a premium residential proxy from ZenRows, grab your credentials from the Residential Proxies Dashboard in the Request Builder:

python
import requests

ZenRows premium proxy

username = "your_username"
password = "your_password"
proxy_host = "proxy.zenrows.com"
proxy_port = "1337"

proxy = f"http://{username}:{password}@{proxy_host}:{proxy_port}"
proxies = {"http": proxy, "https": proxy}

response = requests.get("https://httpbin.io/ip", proxies=proxies)
print(response.text)

Done. You've integrated ZenRows into your Python scraper.

Node.js Example

Using Axios with proxy support:

javascript
const axios = require('axios');

// Free proxy example
const proxy = {
host: '123.456.789.012',
port: 8080
};

axios.get('https://httpbin.io/ip', { proxy })
.then(response => console.log(response.data))
.catch(error => console.error(error));

For ZenRows premium proxies, use the auth parameter:

javascript
const axios = require('axios');

// ZenRows premium proxy
const proxy = {
host: 'proxy.zenrows.com',
port: 1337,
auth: {
username: 'your_username',
password: 'your_password'
}
};

axios.get('https://httpbin.io/ip', { proxy })
.then(response => console.log(response.data))
.catch(error => console.error(error));

Perfect. Your Node.js Axios scraper is now routing through ZenRows residential proxies.

Wrapping Up: Choose Your Proxy Strategy

Proxies are essential for modern web scraping—they distribute traffic across multiple IPs, dodge rate limits and bans, and unlock geo-restricted content. But even premium proxies have limits when facing sophisticated anti-bot systems.

That's where comprehensive solutions come in. Services like ZenRows go beyond basic proxy rotation to provide complete scraping APIs that handle CAPTCHAs, JavaScript rendering, and advanced anti-bot measures at scale. When you're serious about data extraction, you need more than just IP rotation. Similarly, if you're looking for API-first approaches to tackle complex scraping challenges, 👉 ScraperAPI offers robust infrastructure designed specifically for handling enterprise-scale data extraction with built-in anti-bot bypass.

The right proxy setup depends on your specific needs—target sites, scale, budget, and technical requirements. Start with residential proxies for most use cases, upgrade to premium services when you need reliability at scale, and consider full scraping solutions when you're facing sophisticated protection systems.