What Are Shared Proxies? Best Cheap & Fast Providers
Simply put, a shared proxy is an IP address used by multiple users simultaneously. This shared model makes them the most cost-effective choice, allowing you to buy shared proxies for as low as $0.50 per IP.
Finding cheap options that offer fast speeds for bulk scraping can be tricky. We evaluated the top services to identify the most reliable providers. Here are the top-ranked solutions:
Key takeaways: Which provider should you choose?
1. Shared residential proxies (for tough targets)
If you are scraping highly protected sites like Google or Amazon, you need high success rates above all else.
- Best speed: Bright Data had the fastest, most stable response times (~2-3s), making it ideal if you need both speed and reliability.
- Top success rate: Nimble (38%) and IPRoyal (37%) had the highest quality IPs in our tests.
2. Shared ISP proxies (for speed)
ISP proxies combine the speed of datacenter IPs with the legitimacy of residential ones.
- Most reliable: Decodo achieved the highest success rate (39%) in the entire benchmark.
- Fastest connection: According to our response time charts, Bright Data had the lowest latency.
3. Shared mobile proxies (for social media)
For platforms like Instagram or TikTok, you need carrier-grade IPs that rotate frequently.
- Top success rate: Oxylabs (35%) significantly outperformed others.
- Fastest mobile IP: IPRoyal demonstrated the quickest response times for mobile networks in our test.
4. Shared datacenter proxies (for bulk & budget)
If you need affordable IPs for high-volume scraping on easier targets.
- Best success rate: ProxyEmpire (36%), which surprisingly led the pack for reliability in shared datacenter pools.
- Fastest speed: Bright Data and Oxylabs provided the fastest connections (~2s).
Compare prices of the top providers
The pricing details for the providers listed in the table are for shared residential proxies.
Shared proxy services benchmark results
Success rates
Response times
- The gray line in the center represents the median response time.
- The boxes show the variability, indicating the range between the upper and lower quartiles.
Detailed reviews of the best shared proxies
Bright Data shared proxies are available in two plans: pay-per-usage and unlimited. The pay-per-usage option rotates through a pool of 10,000 IPs.
City targeting isn’t available for shared proxies; they only support country-level targeting. The provider offers a $5 credit to test shared proxies.
Pros:
- Top-tier speed: Consistently showed the lowest response times in our ISP and Datacenter tests.
- High success rate: Achieved a solid 37% success rate in residential proxies.
Cons:
- Price: Premium features cost more than those offered by budget providers.
Bright Data has a 50% discount: Matches deposits up to $500 for shared proxies.
Visit WebsiteAll Decodo plans (except the dedicated ISP and datacenter plans) provide access to shared IP addresses. City-level targeting is only available for residential and mobile plans. For both ISP and datacenter proxies, you have two billing options:
- Unlimited pool access: Entire IP pool and pay only for the traffic you use (pay-per-GB).
- Fixed IP allocation: A specific number of “sticky” IPs.
Pros:
- #1 in ISP success: Dominated the ISP category with a 39% success rate, the highest score in our entire test.
- Speed: Median response times are incredibly low, perfect for real-time data fetching.
Cons:
- Residential performance: Scored lower (23%) in shared residential tests compared to its ISP performance.
Get 50% off Decodo residential proxies with code RESI50.
Visit WebsiteWebshare offers shared datacenter and ISP proxy networks. The provider also offers semi-dedicated proxies, shared with at most two users. Shared proxies are static by default; however, you can add auto-refresh to your plan to rotate IPs.Unlimited bandwidth is available on plans with 1,000 shared proxies.
Try Webshare for Free (10 Shared Proxies)
Visit WebsiteOxylabs provides shared datacenter IPs in 15 locations, including the United States, Europe, and Asia. The shared datacenter proxy network supports country-level targeting but not city-level targeting. These proxies rotate IPs by default with each new request. You can use session parameters or sticky entry nodes to maintain the same IP across multiple requests.
Pros:
- #1 in shared mobile success: Winner for mobile proxies with a 35% success rate, ideal for Instagram/TikTok scraping.
- Enterprise scale: Massive infrastructure capable of handling millions of concurrent requests.
Cons:
- Residential score: Scored lower (25%) in shared residential tests compared to dedicated options.
Try Oxylabs Shared Satacenter Proxies for Free (5 GB/month)
Visit WebsiteIPRoyal’s shared residential proxies span 195 countries and don’t include a free trial. You can choose between subscription-based and pay-as-you-go models, and the subscription plan lets you specify exactly how many IPs you need.
Pros:
- High performance with residential proxies: Tied with Bright Data at 37% success rate for shared residential proxies.
- Flexible pricing: Known for its “Pay As You Go” options, which are great for smaller scrapers.
Cons:
- Mobile performance: Scored average (29%) in mobile proxy tests.
- Pool size: Smaller IP pool compared to the industry giants, though of high quality.
Rayobyte offers semi-dedicated datacenter and ISP proxies in the USA, Brazil, and Germany (shared among up to three users) and shared residential proxies. It’s shared proxies that rotate IPs every 10–120 minutes. They offer a two-day money-back guarantee for datacenter and ISP proxies.
Pros:
- Consistency: Maintained a stable 34% success rate in residential tests (mid-range performer).
Cons:
- Not a chart topper: Didn’t rank #1 in any specific category (speed or success) in this particular benchmark.
- Limited locations: Fewer options than global giants like Bright Data.
What are shared proxies?
Shared proxies are a single IP address used by multiple users simultaneously. It is distributed among several users, making it ideal for situations requiring a high volume of proxy connections.
Types of shared proxies
By IP source:
- Shared datacenter proxies: Hosted in data centers, they’re fast and inexpensive. The term “shared” is often associated with affordability in the context of datacenter proxies. In contrast, residential and mobile proxies tend to cost more due to their unique origins.
- Shared residential proxies: Routed through real home ISPs and ideal for avoiding IP blocks.
By rotation behavior:
- Static shared proxies: Keep the same IP until you manually rotate
- Rotating shared proxies: IPs automatically switch, which is suitable for a data collection project.
By sharing intensity:
- Fully shared proxies: One IP is shared among many users.
- Semi-dedicated proxies: Shared with only a small group (e.g., 2–5 users).
When to use shared proxies?
Datacenter proxies: Static shared proxies are a good choice for targeting smaller or less-protected websites (e.g., those with basic CAPTCHA or simple rate limiting).
These sites typically lack the advanced defenses of major platforms like Google or Amazon. If you’re not sending a high volume of requests to the same site, static shared proxies can be an effective and budget-friendly option.
Rotating shared proxies: Shared proxy networks are generally ideal for scraping low-security websites, especially when you’re on a limited budget and need a large pool of IPs to distribute traffic.
While they offer a cost-effective solution, they come with trade-offs in terms of performance and reliability. For high-security sites, large-scale scraping, or when performance is a priority, rotating shared or private proxies are typically the more reliable options.
Shared proxies vs dedicated proxies
Performance
The key distinction between a shared proxy and a dedicated proxy lies in the number of users. A single user exclusively uses a dedicated or private proxy, while multiple users use a shared proxy.
With a dedicated proxy, you get a unique IP address, which improves speed and performance. In contrast, shared proxies assign the same IP address to multiple users. As more users share the same proxy, its speed and performance tend to decrease. A dedicated proxy ensures better performance since only one user utilizes the IP address.
Anonymity
Shared proxies offer high anonymity. Since multiple users share the same IP address, it becomes difficult for websites to track any user’s activity. Even if your actions are monitored, your identity remains hidden because many users share the same IP.
Authority
With shared proxies, all users share the same IP address when browsing and making requests, and you have no visibility into others’ actions. This lack of control increases the risk of being blocked.
Since you can’t ensure that other users are following proper proxy usage practices, the risk of being flagged is higher compared to dedicated proxies. In contrast, a dedicated proxy grants you full control over your activity, as no one else shares your IP address. You are solely responsible for how it’s used.
Pricing
Dedicated proxies are more expensive because you bear the full cost, as they are exclusive. Shared proxies, on the other hand, are less costly because they distribute the same IP address across multiple users, reducing individual costs.
Pros and cons of shared proxies
Pros
- Cost-Effective: Shared proxies are significantly more affordable as the cost is distributed among multiple users.
- Anonymity: Using rotating shared proxies enhances anonymity by frequently changing your IP address.
- Scalability: Shared proxies provide access to a broad pool of IP addresses at a low cost, making them ideal for scaling operations such as web scraping or testing multiple sites.
Cons
- Lower speed: Since multiple users share the proxy server, bandwidth is divided, leading to slower connection speeds, especially during peak usage.
- Limited control: Shared proxies offer fewer customization options than dedicated proxies. Since you do not have exclusive access to the server, you have less control over configuration and troubleshooting.
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