5 best residential proxy providers in 2024
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Akvilė Tamašiūnienė
Senior Tech Editor
Residential proxies are essential for online privacy and data security in today's digital landscape. They act as a virtual disguise, allowing users to stay undetected and bypass geo-restrictions, making them perfect for data-gathering tasks.
With so many options, choosing the right provider can take time and effort. That's why, in this article, we'll explore the top 5 best residential proxies of 2024, helping you make an informed choice to meet your online demands.
5 best residential proxy servers providers in 2024 – shortlist
- Smartproxy – best full self-service provider
- Oxylabs – best premium residential proxy provider
- Webshare – best small to midsize market proxy provider
- IPRoyal – most affordable residential proxy provider
- Bright Data – most features and excellent proxy management
How we tested residential proxies
The proxy providers listed in this article were selected based on the following criteria.
- Performance. To estimate a proxy’s efficiency, we examined parameters such as speed, network stability, and reliability.
- Proxy pool size. This criterion indicates a specific proxy pool's number of proxy servers and their geographical coverage.
- Customer support. Another crucial aspect is how responsive and helpful customer support is when dealing with clients and the issues they encounter.
- Reviews. We studied reviews and ratings from major platforms like G2 and Trustpilot.
- Ethics and reputation. We assessed factors like transparency in data handling practices and adherence to legal and ethical guidelines.
- Starting price. We reviewed pricing for various plans, from starter to enterprise.
- Free trial. We checked whether it’s possible to get the residential proxies tested before committing to a subscription.
Best residential IP proxy providers – detailed list
After testing multiple services, we’ve selected 5 best residential proxy providers based on the criteria above. Here are detailed reviews of each:
1. Smartproxy – best residential proxy provider with self-service
| Locations: | 195 countries |
| Protocols: | HTTP(S), SOCKS5 |
| Uptime: | 99.99% |
| Price from: | $2.2/GB |
Smartproxy stands out as one of the most reliable proxy providers in the market. It offers a vast pool of 55M+ ethically sourced residential IP addresses across 195+ global locations. It's also one of the fastest residential proxy servers, ensuring swift onboarding through self-service for all its offerings.
Smartproxy claims to be the most efficient way for testing, launching, and scaling up your data projects. They back up their claim with ease of use, offering the quickest time-to-value and full self-service. Additionally, their robust infrastructure and high performance are unmatched, with their residential proxies boasting the industry's top speeds and success rates.
Also, Smartproxy distinguishes itself because of its affordability – it offers a 3-day self-service free trial, unlimited trial for companies, and a 14-day money-back guarantee. There's also a pay-as-you-go option for extra flexibility, enabling users to pay solely for the data they use.
Smartproxy provides user-friendly features such as an intuitive dashboard, round-the-clock responsive customer support, a browser extension for easy proxy management, and additional tools like an anti-detect browser and proxy address generator. This makes it suitable for both businesses and individual entrepreneurs.
Smartproxy’s Trustpilot and G2 ratings are 4.7 and 4.6 stars, respectively, with customers highlighting the customer support and quality of residential proxies.
Smartproxy offers extra features, including HTTPS & SOCKS5 support, unlimited concurrent sessions, country and city-level targeting, rotating and sticky sessions, <0.6s response time, and 99.99% uptime.
The prices depend on the plan you choose, starting from $2.2/GB. You can take advantage of Smartproxy’s 3-day full self-service free trial with 100 MB. An unlimited trial for companies is also available – contact the sales team to claim it.
2. Oxylabs – best residential proxy provider with premium services
| Locations: | 195 countries |
| Protocols: | HTTP(S), HTTP, SOCKS5 |
| Uptime: | 99.99% |
| Price from: | $4/GB |
Oxylabs is widely recognized as a top premium player in the industry. It features a vast pool of over 100M Residential IPs covering 195 countries. Oxylabs provides unlimited bandwidth and advanced geo-targeting capabilities without additional fees, which sets it apart from rivals who commonly impose charges for such features.
Additionally, Oxylabs ensures robust support for their proxy solutions, offering tools like a proxy manager app and extension, third-party integrations, a residential proxy endpoint generator, and more.
Yet, what truly distinguishes Oxylabs is their commitment to ethical procurement practices for residential proxies. Oxylabs meticulously selects residential proxies from trusted partners, making most of the network Tier A+ model proxies.
Oxylabs is highly rated by its customers, with a 4.8-star rating on Trustpilot and 4.5 stars on G2. Users mainly praise the top-notch customer service, fast speed, and reliability of residential proxies.
Oxylabs support HTTP, HTTP(S), and SOCKS5, offers unlimited concurrent sessions, country, city, state, ZIP code, coordinate, and ASN-targeting.
Residential proxy prices start from $4/GB. You can also get a free trial by contacting Oxylabs’ Sales Team via email at [email protected]. Besides, to get the best deal, you can use code cybernews30 at checkout to get 30% off your first purchase.
3. Webshare – residential proxy provider for small to medium markets
| Locations: | 195 countries |
| Protocols: | HTTP(S), SOCKS5 |
| Uptime: | 99.99% |
| Price from: | $4.5/GB |
Webshare has quickly established itself as one of the premier proxy providers offering excellent value for small to midsize market segments. This company stands out in the market through its exceptional price-to-performance ratio and commitment to ethically sourced proxies, all while ensuring high levels of anonymity across all proxy types.
Webshare provides 30M residential IPs in 195 countries and a very adaptable proxy environment facilitated by its user-friendly dashboard and infrastructure.
Upon registration, users are effortlessly guided through the proxy setup process via tutorial videos and helpful pop-up prompts. Moreover, custom plan options, sub-user management, usage tracking, and other features make the user experience enjoyable.
Webshare enjoys an established 4.3-star rating on Trustpilot. Customers are mainly positive about the quality of the product and customer service.
Extra features include HTTPS and SOCKS5 support, IP authorization, and proxy usage and dashboard analytics.
Prices start at $4.5/GB if you choose longer subscriptions with more gigabytes. Unfortunately, there is no free trial for residential proxies.
4. IPRoyal – residential proxy provider with affordable prices
| Locations: | 195 countries |
| Protocols: | HTTP(S), SOCKS5 |
| Uptime: | 99.99% |
| Price from: | $1.75/GB |
IPRoyal is yet another established market player in the proxy realm. This company offers 32M+ ethically sourced IPs in 195 countries.
In addition to proxies, IPRoyal provides user-friendly browser extensions that are compatible with Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. These extensions come with various management tools to simplify switching between proxies.
Among the disadvantages is the absence of subscription-based payments and a free trial.
IPRoyal earns high acclaim from its customers, securing a 4.7-star rating on Trustpilot and 4.5 stars on G2. Users specifically highlight affordable pricing and seamless proxy integration.
Extra features that IPRoayal offers include country, state, and city-level targeting, rotating and sticky sessions.
The prices start at $1.75/GB. IPRoyal offers a flexible discount system, meaning the more gigabytes you purchase, the bigger the discount. Unfortunately, there is no free trial. However, as there are no subscription plans, you can cancel at any time.
5. Bright Data – residential proxy provider with the most features and great management
| Locations: | 195 countries |
| Protocols: | HTTP(S), SOCKS5 |
| Uptime: | 99.99% |
| Price from: | $5.04/GB |
Bright Data is another prominent proxy service provider renowned for its vast proxy pool, which includes 78M IP addresses from 195 countries, exceptional services, and top-notch performance.
Additionally, Bright Data provides a range of handy proxy management tools, including an open-source proxy manager, browser extension, and API. However, beginners may find their dashboard surprisingly challenging to navigate at first.
Bright Data receives high praise from its clients, boasting a 4.6-star rating on both Trustpilot and G2. Customers particularly commend the exceptional customer service and the performance of residential proxies.
Bright Data features include country, city, zip code, carrier & ASN targeting, unlimited concurrent sessions, SSL verification, and more.
The prices start from $5.04/GB for resitencial proxies. Free trial is available only after signing up, and the length will depend on individual circumstances.
Best residential proxy providers compared
Let’s see the key features compared in one table:
| Provider | Proxy pool size | Locations | Rating | Free Trial |
| Smartproxy | 55M+ | 195 | 4.7 on Trustpilot, 4.6 on G2 | 3-day trial with 100 MB or unlimited trial for companies via email request |
| Oxylabs | 100M+ | 195 | 4.7 on Trustpilot, 4.6 on G2 | Free trial via email request |
| Bright Data | 78M+ | 195 | 4.6 on Trustpilot, 4.6 on G2 | Available after signing up |
| IPRoyal | 32M+ | 195 | 4.7 on Trustpilot, 4.4 on G2 | Not available |
| Webshare | 30M | 195 | 4.4 on Trustpilot | Not available |
Note: The table represents data from May 2024
Conclusion
In the ever-evolving digital landscape, the top five providers of 2024 have established themselves as trustworthy options for users in search of both anonymity and high performance. From Smartproxy's adaptable pricing and extensive IP selection to Oxylabs' superior deals and commitment to ethical practices, each provider brings something distinct to the table.
Whether it's for personal surfing or managing business tasks, these providers deliver valuable solutions to meet a variety of needs. Overall, users can confidently select from these reputable providers to boost their online experiences and smoothly explore the digital world.
FAQs
What is the best residential proxy service provider?
The best choice hinges on factors such as budget and desired features. In 2024, leading proxy providers include Smartproxy, Oxylabs, and Bright Data. Each offers unique features like extensive proxy pools and flexible pricing, catering to various user needs.
Can residential proxies be tracked?
It’s possible, however, trustworthy residential proxy providers implement strategies to reduce tracking, including frequent IP rotation and utilization of advanced security protocols. Selecting a reliable provider and implementing extra precautions are essential to safeguarding privacy and security when using residential proxies.
What is the difference between a datacenter proxy and a residential proxy?
A datacenter proxy is a type of proxy server that is provided by a data center and uses IP addresses owned by the data center. A residential proxy uses IP addresses assigned by internet service providers (ISPs) to actual homes, making them appear as if real people are accessing the website. This makes residential proxies less likely to be blocked, providing better access to localized content and more effective for tasks requiring higher levels of authenticity.
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