Top 10 Proxy Sites & Providers: Benchmark Results

We test the best proxy providers on major search, e-commerce, and social platforms. Every 20 minutes, we send a new batch of requests from servers in Europe, the US, Singapore, and Brazil.

The results below compare providers on success rate and response time, followed by prices and details for each provider.

Proxy benchmark results by type

Sucess rate

Response time

We expanded our benchmark between Q4 2025 and Q1 2026. The number of URLs increased from about 1,800 to about 17,000 for each benchmark. We also added more target domains. Some of the drop you see is due to the tests becoming harder. See the methodology section for more info.

How much does a proxy cost?

A higher value on the Y-axis indicates better cost-efficiency (more GBs for your money).

For proxy package comparisons costing $ 10k or more, read our guide.

Best proxy sites & providers

Bright Data had the highest success rate in our unblocker tests. Its performance improved during testing. The provider offers advanced IP rotation and session controls for long-running scraping tasks, along with granular geo-targeting options across multiple proxy types.

Residential proxies available as shared IPv4, shared IPv6 proxy IPs, a combined IPv4+IPv6, or a dedicated pool (domain-locked gIPs, KYC required). Shared pools are available with no KYC needed.

Features:

• Proxy types: Datacenter, ISP, residential, and mobile, each set up as a separate zone.
• Targeting: City, state, ZIP, and ASN, set as parameters in the proxy username rather than in the dashboard.
• Rotation: Shared pools assign a new IP per request. Session parameters hold an IP for 1 to 60 minutes.
• Dedicated IPs: Requests to other domains are routed through the shared pool instead.
• Tooling: Open-source Proxy Manager for routing and monitoring.

Oxylabs was consistently among the fastest providers in our residential and mobile tests. Its infrastructure is designed for enterprise-scale performance and high success rates, suitable for large-scale scraping projects.

Features:

• Proxy types: Residential, mobile, ISP, dedicated ISP, datacenter, and dedicated datacenter.
• Targeting: City, state, ZIP, coordinates, and ASN.
• Rotation: Residential proxies rotate by default, users can hold the same IP for up to 24 hours.
• Sticky entry nodes: Country-specific ports do not support city-level targeting.

Decodo was among the fastest providers in every category we tested. Mobile proxies offer city- and country-level targeting. ISP Pay/GB proxies provide rotating on-demand IP addresses with country-specific targeting. Datacenter proxies offer rotating and static IPs, targeting 8 locations, and have an exclusive IP pool.

Features:

• Proxy types: Residential, ISP, datacenter, and mobile. Datacenter comes in rotating and static form.
• Protocols: HTTP, HTTPS, and SOCKS5.
• Targeting: State, city, ZIP, and ASN or ISP, included in the plan at no extra cost.
• Rotation: Per-request rotation or sticky sessions.

Webshare is one of the top choices for users seeking free proxy servers. Unlike unreliable public lists, it offers a free tier with 10 datacenter IPs that you can keep indefinitely. Paid plans start at $2.99/mo, offering one of the lowest barriers to entry in the market

Features:

• Proxy types: Datacenter, static residential (ISP), and rotating residential.
• Protocols: HTTP, HTTPS, and SOCKS5.
• Targeting: City, state, ZIP, and ASN on residential proxies. ISP proxies are mainly US-based.

DataImpulse offers several types of proxy servers that support both rotating and sticky sessions. They sell residential and premium residential proxies designed for enterprise-level workflows where speed and stability are critical.

Premium proxies also support advanced targeting, allowing users to choose IPs by country, city, ZIP code, or ASN.

Features:

• Proxy types: Residential, mobile, datacenter, and ISP.
• Rotation: Per-request rotation or sticky sessions.
• Targeting: City, ZIP, and ASN, with no extra charge.

NodeMaven offers both residential and mobile access in a single plan, with a special IP quality filter that works in four different ways and session control options, from changing IPs with every request to keeping the same one for seven days. Proxy coverage lets you target by region and city.

• Proxy types: Residential and mobile on a single plan. Static ISP proxies were added in 2025.
• Targeting: Region, city, and ISP.
• Protocols: HTTP, HTTPS, and SOCKS5. No UDP support.

ProxyEmpire provides rotating residential, fixed residential (ISP), mobile, and datacenter proxies.

We tested the residential and mobile proxies. The mobile proxies performed well. The residential proxies had slower response times.

Features:

• Proxy types: Rotating residential, static residential (ISP), mobile, and datacenter.
• Protocols: HTTP, HTTPS, and SOCKS5.
• Targeting: Region, city, and ISP. Mobile proxies can be filtered by carrier.
• Rotation: Per-request rotation, timed rotation intervals, or sticky sessions up to 30 minutes.

IPRoyal is one of the more affordable residential proxy providers, but its IP pool size is smaller than that of more expensive providers like Oxylabs.

Features:

• Proxy types: Rotating residential, static residential (ISP), datacenter, and mobile.
• Protocols: HTTP, HTTPS, and SOCKS5. No UDP support.
• Datacenter and ISP: Both come with dedicated IPs.

Zyte offers an unblocking API with a proxy pool. You send a URL, and the provider chooses the proxy type for you. It begins with datacenter IPs and changes to residential ones when the website requires them.

This product works differently from the others. You pay per request. You do not buy data by the gigabyte or manually switch proxies.

Features:

• Proxy selection: Starts with datacenter IPs and moves to residential ones when the target requires it. Can be disabled.
• Sessions: Same IP can be held across multiple requests.

Apify is a web scraping platform, and its proxies are included with the platform rather than sold separately. You use them within Apify’s own scraping tasks.

There are two types: datacenter and residential. Datacenter IPs are charged based on the number you use and are included with every plan. Residential IPs are charged based on data used and cost more.

Apify was the slowest provider in both categories we tested it in: residential and datacenter.

Features:

• Product: Proxies come with the Apify platform and are not sold separately.
• Proxy types: Datacenter and residential.

Proxy benchmark methodology

We send requests from servers in Europe, the United States, Singapore, and Brazil. Each one runs the same tests independently, since server location changes how a provider routes traffic.

Each server runs a cycle every 20 minutes, staggered so a new batch goes out roughly every 5 minutes.

Which URLs we test

Each benchmark draws from a pool of around 17,000 URLs: product pages, listings, profiles, and search results. Across all our benchmarks we keep more than 180,000.

Every request hits a different URL, so providers cannot cache responses to raise their scores. Target sites include:

Success rate

A request counts as a success if two things are true:

1. The response code is between 200 and 399.
2. The page contains the content we expect. We look for specific elements, like a product title, using CSS selectors.

Empty pages, block pages, and CAPTCHA pages count as failures.

Response time

The time from sending a request to receiving the last byte. We count successful requests, timeouts do not skew the numbers.

Proxy vs VPN

Both tools hide your IP address, but they work in different ways. A VPN protects your whole internet connection, which is good for general privacy.

Proxies let you control specific apps and rotate IP addresses, making them faster and more flexible for automated work.

As anti-bot systems become more sophisticated, the focus has shifted from raw IP volume to IP reputation. This is why we see a massive surge in residential proxy providers; they provide the human signal required to bypass strict scoring systems.

Don’t miss our benchmarks and data-driven insights. The button opens Google; selecting AIMultiple confirms that you wish to see AIMultiple more often in Google search results.

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Proxy buying guide

Geo-targeting:

Many websites restrict access to their content based on the user’s geographic location due to legal requirements, local censorship, or content personalization.

You may need to collect location-specific data, such as localized pricing, serve localized content, or verify your ads are displayed correctly in different regions. Geo-targeted proxies allow users to access localized content or bypass geographic restrictions.

Speed and response time:

Speed refers to the data transfer rate between the client, the proxy server, and the target website. High-speed proxies provide faster data transfers, which are essential for large-scale web scraping.

Response time, also known as latency, is the time it takes for a request to travel from a client to a server. Low response times are crucial for time-sensitive web scraping tasks, such as live event streaming.

Number of available IP addresses:

When you collect a significant amount of data from a large website or collect data from numerous smaller websites simultaneously, you need to change your IP addresses more frequently.

A large pool of IP addresses enhances anonymity by allowing users to switch between different IP addresses when accessing target servers. This enables clients to bypass rate limits and anti-scraping measures imposed by websites.

When choosing an IP pool operator, consider the number of available IP addresses in the proxy pool and the diversity of those IP addresses (e.g., residential and datacenter).

Cost:

When evaluating proxy pricing, consider:

• Types of proxies: Datacenter proxies are fast and inexpensive, but they are also easier to block. In contrast, residential or mobile proxies are more expensive but offer higher trust and anonymity.
• Pricing plans: Compare pay-as-you-go vs subscription models; assess data caps, overage fees, and additional geo-targeting costs.
• Extra features and support, Such as city-level targeting, dedicated IPs, and API integration, often justify higher plans.

FAQs

Cite this benchmark

Pick the format that matches where you're publishing. Pasting the link version into your CMS preserves the backlink.

@misc{karatas2026,
  author = {Karatas, Gulbahar},
  title  = {{Top 10 Proxy Sites & Providers: Benchmark Results}},
  year   = {2026},
  month  = sep,
  howpublished    = {\url{https://aimultiple.com/proxy-providers}},
  note   = {AIMultiple. Retrieved September 2, 2026}
}

Gulbahar Karatas

Industry Analyst

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Gülbahar is an AIMultiple industry analyst focused on web data collection, applications of web data and application security.

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