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Top 10 Residential Proxy Service Providers of 2024

Residential proxies play a crucial role in successful web scraping process, helping users to navigate various challenges associated with data collection. Residential proxies differ from datacenter proxies by offering genuine IP addresses from internet service providers, thus ensuring higher levels of legitimacy.

Incorporating residential proxies into your web scraping tool can significantly enhance data collection capabilities and improve the efficiency of your web scraping initiatives.

This article provides an in-depth analysis of the top residential proxy providers, focusing on their unique features, overall performance, and pricing options.

What is the price of residential proxy services?

The list is sorted in an ascending order based on the lowest price level, with the exception of the products of the article’s sponsors which are linked to sponsor websites.

Pricing structures of top residential proxy service providers (cost per GB)

VendorsStarts from (1 GB)*PAYGFree trial
Bright Data$6.3$8.47-day
Oxylabs$9$107-day
Smartproxy$7$8.53-day
Nimble$87-day
NetNut$157-day
PrivateProxy.$57-day
IPRoyal$7N/A
Webshare$7N/A
SOAX$6.63-day trial for $1.99
Infatica$12N/A3-day trial for $1.99

* Refers to the minimum cost of a residential proxy service.

Vendors above are sorted starting first with sponsors (vendors with links). The remaining vendors are ranked by ascending starting price.

The cost of residential proxy services can vary depending on a variety of factors, including the number of IPs you need, long-term contract, rotation, dedicated vs. shared IPs, and other specific features. Most residential proxy providers don’t offer free trials to non-business users. Instead, they typically provide a limited money-back guarantee.

Best Residential Proxy Services: A Features-Based Comparison

Comparison table of residential proxy providers based on distinguishing features

ProvidersProxy Pool (million IPs)*Response Time (seconds)**Supported Protocols***City-Level Targeting****
Bright Data72 0.5 HTTP/S
SOCKS5
Oxylabs100 0.6 HTTP
Smartproxy55 0.6 HTTPS
NimbleN/A0.25HTTP/SOCKS5
NetNut20 N/A
HTTP/S
Privateproxy.N/A N/A
HTTP/SOCKS5
IPRoyal2 N/A
HTTP/S
SOCKS4/5
Webshare30 N/A
HTTP/SOCKS5
N/A
SOAX5 1.1 HTTPS
SOCKS5
Infatica10 N/A
HTTP/SOCKS

We relied on vendor claims to determine proxy capabilities such as response time, IP pool, and supported protocols. As we gain experience with these services, we will update this table to reflect the actual capabilities observed in our research.

Table features explained:

  • Proxy pool*: The number of IPs that are available for use.
  • Response time**: The time it takes for the proxy service to process the connection request and return a response from the target site.
  • Supported protocols***: The type of protocol a proxy server can handle. For example, HTTPS protocol can handle web traffic over the HTTP protocol and encrypted traffic as well.
  • City-level targeting****: The ability to select a proxy server located in a specific city.

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1. Bright Data

Bright Data is one of the leading proxy provider in the market, offering an extensive collection of rotating residential IP addresses. Bright Data’s rotating residential proxies allows proxy users to target specific locations based on City, State, Zip code, or ASN.

Key features:

  • Geo-targeting: City, ASN and Zip code level targeting with 72 million real residential IPs.
  • Shared and dedicated: You can opt for shared or dedicated residential IP addresses.
  • IP rotation: Changes IP addresses for each new connection request and offers customizable sticky sessions.
  • Supported protocols: HTTP(S) and SOCKS5 

Performance:

  • 99.9% success rate
  • <0.5 sec response time
  • 72+ million IPs

Pricing details:

2. Oxylabs

Oxylabs, like Bright Data, is a notable proxy service provider recognized for its extensive proxy pools. The proxy provider offers two types of residential proxies: next-gen and regular residential proxies. Next-gen residential proxies come equipped with advanced functionalities, including automatic fingerprint generation and an auto-retry system.

Key features:

  • Geo-targeting: Covering 195 locations including country, city-level and and state-level geo-location targeting.
  • IP rotation: Assigns a different residential IP with each request and allows users to customize the desired length of the session to maintain the same IP (up to 30 mins).
  • Supported protocols: HTTP, HTTPS and SOCKS5

Performance:

  • ∼99.95% success rates
  • ∼0.6s response time
  • 100M Residential IPs

Pricing details:

  • Minimum package price: $99 for 11 GB
  • Pay-as-you-go: $10/GB/mo
  • 7-day free trial

3. Smartproxy

Smartproxy offers a residential proxy pool 55 million IPs. Users can leverage residential IPs to route their requests through specific locations, including cities, states, and zip codes. For tasks requiring a consistent IP for website login and navigation, an advanced proxy rotation algorithm allows users to change IPs per connection request or maintain a constant IP for up to 30 minutes.

Key features:

  • Geo targeting: 55M residential IPs in 195+ locations, including cities, US states and zip code level targeting.
  • Dedicated IPs: Provides dedicated residential IPs
  • IP rotation: Assigns a different residential IP address for every request and allows users to maintain the same IP address for up 30 minutes. The default session time is 10 minutes.
  • Supported protocols: HTTP(S) and SOCKS5

Performance:

  • <0.6s response time
  • 55M IP pool

Pricing details:

4. Nimble

Nimble provides residential proxies along with a proxy scraping API and unblocker proxy solutions. These residential proxies can be integrated with your in-house web scraping API or used alongside other third-party scrapers. If you require a proxy provider that combines scraping API capabilities for Web, SERP, Maps, and E-commerce, along with built-in proxies, Nimble could be a fitting solution for your needs.

Key features:

  • Geo-targeting: Covering 195 locations including country, city-level and and state-level targeting.
  • Dedicated IPs: Offers private residential proxies
  • IP rotation: Provides residential proxies that automatically change IP addresses as a default feature, and offers sticky sessions that rotate after 10 minutes without activity.
  • Supported protocols: HTTP and SOCKS5

Performance:

  • ∼0.25s response time

Pricing details:

  • Minimum package price: $600/month includes residential proxies and scraping API
  • 7-day free trial

5. NetNut

NetNut offers 52 million rotating residential proxies suitable for large-scale use cases. Residential proxies combine both ISP and P2P proxy networks to maximize performance of data scraping projects. Residential network offer users the flexibility of a custom rotation feature, you can tailor the rotation of IP addresses according to your needs.

Key features:

  • Geo-targeting: Allows users to select IP addresses from specific cities and states.
  • Dedicated IP pool: Provides private residential proxies
  • IP rotation: Every request
  • Supported protocols: HTTP(S) and SOCKS5 

Pricing details:

6. IPRoyal

IPRoyal is one of the reliable proxy provider that offers 2 million rotation residential proxies. They provide rotating residential proxies that allow users to customize the rotation interval up to 24 hours.

With IPRoyal, you have the flexibility to buy the specific amount of traffic you need, without being tied to monthly proxy plans. It’s important to note, though, that IPRoyal’s proxy pool has a smaller residential proxy plan compared to leading providers such as Bright Data, Smartproxy, and Oxylabs.

Key features:

  • Geo-targeting: Includes country, state, and city-level targeting
  • Dedicated IPs: Offers private residential proxies
  • IP rotation: Automatic proxy rotation every 1, 10, or 30 minutes
  • Supported protocols: SOCKS5

Performance:

  • 2M+ residential IPs
  • ~99.67% success rate

Pricing details:

  • Minimum package price: $7 for 1 GB
  • 24-hour refund

7. SOAX

SOAX is a recently established player in the proxy service industry, founded in 2019. Their network covers diverse proxy types, such as rotating residential, US ISP, mobile, and US datacenter proxies.

Key features:

  • Geo-targeting: Offers granular targeting options such as city and ASN (Autonomous System Number) level.
  • IP rotation: Provides rotation options ranging from 90 seconds to 600 seconds. You can keep your IP address for a set duration, as long as your IP stays connected online.
  • Supported protocols: HTTP(S) and SOCKS5

Performance:

  • 155M residential IPs
  • 1.19 sec response time

Pricing details:

  • Minimum package price: $7 for 1 GB
  • Free trial: Offer a trial period for 1.99$ lasts for 3 days and has 100 MB of traffic.

8. Infatica

Infatica’s residential proxy network includes 10 million Residential IP addresses compatible with HTTP/SOCKS protocols. You have the option to keep the same IP for a maximum of 30 minutes before it changes.

Key features:

  • Geo-targeting: Country, state, city, and ASN level targeting
  • IP rotation: Extend proxy sessions for up to 30 minutes. Multiple proxy rotation options, including scheduled rotation at intervals ranging from 5 to 60 minutes, rotation with every request, or a sticky option.
  • Supported protocols: HTTP/SOCKS

Performance:

  • 10 million residential IPs

Pricing details:

  • Minimum package price: $96 for 8 GB
  • Free trial: Offers 3-day trial for $1.99 with 100 MB of traffic, and 24 hours refunds.
  • Pay-as-you-go: Available

9. Webshare

Webshare provides 30 million static residential and rotating residential proxies. It is better suited for smaller and mid-sized businesses due to its self-service model. However, the service has restricted targeting choices and lacks custom rotation features.

Key features:

  • Geo-targeting: Country level. There’s no city, ASN, or ZIP code level targeting options.
  • IP rotation: For every 5 minutes, or you can customize rotation duration.
  • Supported protocols: HTTP/SOCKS5

Performance:

  • 30M Residential IPs located in 195 countries
  • 4 seconds average successful response time

Pricing details:

  • Minimum package price: $7 for 1 GB

10. PrivateProxy

PrivateProxy, an IT company based in Hong Kong, specializes in Cloud IT services, providing rotating residential proxies.

Key features:

  • Geo-targeting: Offers proxies that are located in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Kazakhstan, Hong Kong, and South Africa.
  • IP rotation: Provides static and rotating IP options for residential proxies.
  • Supported protocols: HTTP/S protocols

Performance:

  • 7M+ residential IPs

Pricing details:

  • Minimum package price: $5 for 1 GB
  • Free trial: 7-day free trial that includes 3 private proxies.

11. Storm Proxies

Storm Proxies offer 200K rotating proxy network that combines dedicated datacenter and residential IPs from US and EU. However, you don’t have the option to select IP addresses from a particular country or city. Storm Proxies changes all the IPs to new ones every week.

Key features:

  • Geo-targeting: Country and city level
  • IP rotation: Changes every 3 or 5 minutes
  • Supported protocols: HTTP(S)

Performance:

  • 70,000 rotating residential IPs

Pricing details:

  • Minimum package price: $50 for 5 ports residential proxies
  • Free trial: 24-hour money-back guarantee

What is a residential proxy?

Residential proxies serve as a gateway between clients and web servers, preventing the actual API addresses of clients from being revealed. They do that by masking the IP addresses of client machines and assigning a different IP address. Unlike datacenter and mobile proxies, residential proxies’ IP addresses are provided by an ISP (Internet Service Provider). Based on IP rotation, residential proxies are divided into two groups:

  1. Rotating residential proxies: Rotating residential proxies alter the IP addresses of their clients with each new request.
  2. Static residential proxies: Static residential proxies assign clients the same IP address for each connection request to the destination.

How do residential proxies work?

In general, each proxy server operates in the same manner. The steps in the process are roughly shown in Figure 3. However, several factors, such as the proxy IP rotation function, influence how a proxy server operates.

For example, suppose you use a rotating residential proxy rather than a static residential proxy. In that case, the proxy server returns to the IP pool and selects a different IP address for each of your connection requests before forwarding them to the target website.

Figure 3: Step-by-step breakdown of how proxy services work

The diagram explains how residential proxies work

Why do you need residential proxies?

People utilize proxy services for various reasons, including:

Bypassing geographical restrictions on content. Since websites use web tracking technologies such as browser fingerprinting, they can easily detect your IP address and identify your geolocation based on that. If you are in a restricted area, the website will block your IP address so you cannot access the content.

Obtaining web data. Most websites employ anti-scraping technologies to manage a high volume of client requests and prevent their servers from becoming overloaded with incoming connection requests.

If the target website has robust  protection mechanisms such as honeypot traps, CAPTCHA blockers, etc, you should use a residential proxy network to access and retrieve data without risk of IP blocking. Residential Proxy IPs are more reliable and trustworthy than datacenter proxies due to their provision by a real ISP. Blacklisting residential proxies is more difficult.

More on proxy server

For guidance to choose the right residential proxy service, check out data-driven list of residential proxy providers, and reach out to us:

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Access Cem's 2 decades of B2B tech experience as a tech consultant, enterprise leader, startup entrepreneur & industry analyst. Leverage insights informing top Fortune 500 every month.
Cem Dilmegani
Principal Analyst
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This article was
Gulbahar Karatas
Gülbahar is an AIMultiple industry analyst focused on web data collections and applications of web data.

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