We benchmarked the majority of datacenter proxies with 72,000 requests. Based on our experience, we chose the leading solutions. See the rationale behind each selection by following the links:
| Vendor | For | |
|---|---|---|
1. | Large scale operations & granular geo-targeting | |
2. | Mid-level customers requiring customizable plans | |
3. | Affordable pricing | |
4. | Dedicated datacenter proxies for web scraping | |
5. | Shared IPs in the US and India | |
6. | Affordable dedicated datacenter proxies | |
7. | Datacenter IPs in up to 26 countries with strong U.S. coverage | |
8. | ||
9. | ||
10. | ||
This article explains what datacenter proxies are, how they work, and provides a list of the best datacenter proxy servers along with their features and pricing:
The best datacenter proxy providers
| Providers | Monthly price | Traffic | Free trial | PAYG/GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bright Data | $499 | 1 TB | $5 for 30 days | $0.60 |
| Webshare | $2.99 | 100 IPs | 10 free IPs | ❌ |
| Oxylabs | $50 | 77 GB | 5 free IPs | ❌ |
| Decodo | $30 | 50 GB | 14 day money-back | ❌ |
| NetNut | $90 | 100 GB | 7 days | ❌ |
| IPRoyal | $1.80 | 1 IP | ❌ | ❌ |
| Limeproxies | $25 | 10 IPs | 3-day trial for $1.99 | ❌ |
| Rayobyte | $4 | 5 IPs | 2 days | ❌ |
| Proxy-Seller | $1.80 | 1 IP | 24-hour refund | ❌ |
Datacenter proxies benchmark
We analyzed 8 batches of requests made to 1,800 URLs from major e-commerce domains between December 2024 and January 2025, which led to 72,000 requests.
Response times
Compare datacenter proxy services’ response times in our benchmark:
Success rates
Proxy success rates are no longer included in our reports, as they fluctuate due to variables such as time of crawl and proxy settings. For more insights, please see the success rates of proxy vendors.
Pricing
The following graph depicts a thorough price range for various datacenter proxy services. For further information, check our benchmark strategy.
Bright Data
Bright Data offers three types of datacenter proxies: shared (pay per GB), shared unlimited, and dedicated unlimited.
- Shared (pay per GB): Access a shared pool of 40,000 rotating IPs.
- Shared unlimited: Offer access to a fixed set of IPs, paid per proxy.
- Dedicated unlimited proxies: Provide exclusive access to IPs with unlimited usage.
All datacenter proxies support country-level targeting. Refreshing datacenter IPs incurs additional costs, which vary by proxy type. For example, refreshing shared datacenter IPs costs $0.02 per IP.
Webshare
Webshare offers three datacenter plans: shared (accessible by more than two users), private (shared with 1-2 users), and dedicated (exclusively for your use). By default, datacenter proxies are static but can be rotated for each request. Its free plan includes a limited number of datacenter proxies (10 free IPs). Webshare allows users to choose the number of proxies and set a bandwidth limit.
Oxylabs
Oxylabs offers both shared and dedicated datacenter proxies. Shared datacenter proxies are available from 24 countries and come in two plans: semi-dedicated (up to 3 users) and traffic-based shared proxies. These support country-level targeting. Dedicated datacenter proxies from 8 countries offer more precise targeting at the city and state level. Oxylabs provides a 5GB plan from the U.S for shared datacenter proxies.
Decodo
Decodo offers shared and dedicated datacenter IP addresses. It provides 100,000 traffic-based shared IPs across the US and Europe, and IP-based proxies from 8 countries. Their dedicated datacenter pool includes 400,000 U.S. IPs. Rotation is available with every connection request.
NetNut
NetNut offers over 150K dedicated datacenter IPs covering static and rotation proxies in the US and India. Datacenter IPs rotate with every request and support the SOCKS5 protocol. There is no pay-as-you-go option, and NetNut’s plans start at $100 ($1/GB). For customers needing smaller plans, NetNut may not be a suitable choice.
IPRoyal
IPRoyal offers city and state-level targeting, but many cities are frequently out of stock. Proxy rotation is not supported, and each plan allows targeting only one country. Additionally, IPRoyal does not provide access to its full IP pool.
The datacenter proxy provider is one of the affordable solutions, offering $1.80 per IP for a 30-day plan. However, datacenter proxies have a restriction that allows targeting only one country per plan.
Limeproxies
LimeProxies offers both premium and private dedicated datacenter proxies. Private proxies are available in Miami, San Jose, Long Beach, and Germany, but do not support the SOCKS protocol. On the other hand, premium proxies help the SOCKS protocol and are available in 17 countries. The provider doesn’t offer the city-based proxies.
Infatica
Infatica offers both shared and dedicated datacenter IPs. Shared datacenter proxies include a pay-as-you-go option but do not support the SOCKS protocol. For shared proxies, users can choose from various rotation options: timed rotation (up to 60 minutes), rotation with each request, or sticky sessions.
Rayobyte
Rayobyte provides rotating, shared, and dedicated datacenter proxies. Rotating datacenter proxies support geo-targeting within the United States. These proxies are shared and can be set to rotate to a new IP every 10 to 120 minutes. Dedicated datacenter proxies support SOCKS connectivity. Rayobyte offers a two-day money-back guarantee on any package of 5 proxies.
Proxy-Seller
Proxy-Seller provides dedicated datacenter IPv4/IPv6 IPs. Dedicated datacenter proxies are available from approximately 50 locations, with country- and city-level targeting. However, city-level targeting is not yet supported in all countries. When purchasing a datacenter plan, you can select a specific country or opt for one of the provider’s mixed-location packages.
What are datacenter proxies?
Datacenter proxies, also known as DC proxies, are intermediaries between a user and the internet, forwarding connection requests from the user to the target website and returning the requested data.
Datacenter proxies are hosted on servers in data centers. They replace the user’s original IP address with one temporarily leased from a data center.
How do datacenter proxies work?
Datacenter proxies are a gateway between a user’s device and the target website. Here’s a step-by-step explanation of how datacenter proxies work:
- The user sends a connection request to the proxy server using a web browser or web scraping tool.
- The datacenter proxy receives the connection request from the user’s device.
- This request includes headers containing additional information about the client, request, or user agent.
- The datacenter proxy replaces the client’s IP address with its own to prevent the target server from revealing the client’s actual IP address.
- The proxy server forwards the request to the target server on behalf of the client.
- The server receives the request and extracts the client’s IP address from the request headers.
- The web server generates a response based on the client’s request.
- The proxy server receives the provided data from the target server and forwards it to the client.
What are the types of datacenter proxies?
There are three common types of datacenter proxies, each with its own capabilities and use cases.
1. Shared datacenter proxies: Shared datacenter proxies are IP addresses that are used by multiple users simultaneously (Figure 1). The shared datacenter proxy server processes each user’s request and forwards it to the destination website using the same IP address.
Shared datacenter proxies are typically more affordable than dedicated datacenter proxies. However, they pose certain challenges, including slower connection speeds, a higher risk of being blocked, and lower reliability. Shared proxies are suitable for those who require basic anonymity and security while accessing online resources.
Figure 1: This diagram illustrates how a shared proxy works
2. Dedicated datacenter proxies: Dedicated datacenter proxies, also referred to as private proxies, are exclusively assigned to a single user. Since the IP address is not shared with other users, dedicated proxies provide enhanced performance, faster connection speeds, and increased reliability.
3. Rotating datacenter proxies: Rotating datacenter proxies automatically change IP addresses at predetermined intervals or after every request made by the user. Rotating proxies can be shared or dedicated IP addresses.
Rotating IPs are particularly useful for tasks that require frequent access to websites, such as large-scale web scraping and load testing.
What is the difference between datacenter and residential proxies?
Residential proxies and datacenter proxies are two types of proxies that act as a gateway between a user and the internet. Datacenter proxies differ from residential proxies, which use IP addresses assigned to residential users by ISPs. Here are the main differences between datacenter and residential proxies:
- Source of IP addresses:
The primary distinction between residential proxies and datacenter proxies is the source of IP addresses. Residential proxies use IP addresses that are assigned by ISPs to residential users, whereas datacenter proxies use IP addresses that are assigned to data centers. - Anonymity and privacy:
Since residential IPs are provided by a real ISP (Internet Service Provider), they appear more “legitimate” to websites. Datacenter proxies can be easily detected and blacklisted by websites since their IP addresses are associated with data centers. - Speed and performance:
Datacenter IPs are hosted in data centers with high-speed internet connections and higher bandwidth than residential internet connections, which makes datacenter proxies faster than residential proxies.
What are the benefits of using datacenter proxies?
Datacenter proxies offer several benefits that make them a popular choice for various use cases, such as search engine scraping, managing social media accounts, brand security, and market research.
1. Faster connection speed
Datacenter Proxies are known for their speed as they use IP addresses that are sourced from a remote cloud server. However, they may be more easily detected and blocked by websites since their IP addresses are associated with data centers instead of residential networks.
2. Web scraping
Proxies are an important part of any web scraping project. Since web scraping requires many requests to a server from a single IP address, the target website can detect your activities as suspicious and ban the IP address to prevent further scraping.
Rotating datacenter proxies change users’ IP addresses at predetermined intervals or after every request to prevent individual IPs from being flagged for suspicious activity. When choosing a proxy provider for web data extraction, you can consider choosing a larger and more diverse IP pool for a smoother web scraping.
3. Accessing geo-restricted content
Companies gather and analyze market data to better understand their customers’ buying habits, expectations, and current competition. They use proxies to acquire and extract data from web platforms to have up-to-date and accurate information about their target market.
One of the most typical roadblocks to tracking competitor data is geo-blocking. When trying to access video content on YouTube, for example, you may have received a message that says “This video is not available in your country.” Online media firms like Amazon Prime and Netflix use geo-blocking to comply with different nations’ legal systems. Datacenter proxies enable users to access geo-restricted content and bypass IP barriers.
4. Alt Data for investing
Businesses, investors, and trade organizations collect and analyze company data in real-time for investing. Such data can improve investors’ understanding of market prices, sales levels or pending bills. However, it is difficult to obtain accurate real-time data due to anti-bot measures such as CAPTCHAs.
Data center proxies can be one of the tools in investors’ arsenal for overcoming such anti-bot measures.
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