The Best Residential Proxies for Web Scraping Compared & Tested (2023)

Justin Shin

Are you looking for the best residential proxies to use for your scraping project without getting blocked? Then you are on the right page as the article below provides you recommendations on the best providers out there.

Embrace the world of residential proxies to supercharge your web scraping journey. These providers are meticulously compared, ensuring you have the data you need to make an informed choice.

Web scraping demands proxies as a shield against request limits and blocks. Residential proxies reign supreme due to their undetectable IPs routed through regular users' devices. Their automatic IP rotation further aids in seamless scraping. Among the multitude of residential proxy networks available, we've done the research, comparing the top options, making your decision-making process effortless.

Discover the ultimate residential proxies for effective web scraping without encountering blocks. Explore recommendations for the finest providers and compare their success rates, speeds, and features.

Table Of Contents

Overview of Best Residential Proxies for Web Scraping

The Best Residential Proxies for Web Scraping Compared

Provider Success Rate Download Speed Response Time Proxy Pool Size Notable Features Starting Price (1GB)
Bright Data 99.25% 34.43 Mbps 754 ms 72M+ IPs Largest proxy pool, IP rotation, static IPs $15
Smartproxy 99.03% 31.32 Mbps 638 ms 40M+ IPs High-rotating proxies, 195+ locations $8.5
Soax 98.32% 27.83 Mbps 985 ms 5M+ IPs Clean proxy pool, performance-focused $99 (8GB)
Nimbleway 97.37% 33.71 Mbps 854 ms Millions Enterprise-focused, web scraping API $300
Netnut 96.42% 27.95 Mbps 993 ms 52M+ IPs Large proxy pool, geo-targeting $300
Shifter 95.32% 29.97 Mbps 1.02 secs 32M+ IPs Unlimited bandwidth, great for image scraping Varies
Proxy-Cheap 94.29% 21.63 Mbps 1.25 secs 6M+ IPs Affordable, suitable for small scraping projects $5
ProxyEmpire 94.43% 25.38 Mbps 986 ms 7M+ IPs Bandwidth rollover support $15
Hydraproxy 92.47% 19.62 Mbps 1.38 secs 5M+ IPs Unlimited proxy endpoints, great for logins $5
Oxylabs 84.01% 29.65 Mbps 1.02 secs Large Large proxy pool, disappointing performance Varies

Web scraping requires proxies. Without them, your will quickly raise the request limit red flag and get blocked by most sites with anti-spam systems. This is because most websites do not support being scrapped, and among other things, they monitor requests and the frequency of requests they get from individual IPs. Residential proxies have proven to be the best in terms of web scraping.

This is because their IPs are undetectable since they route requests via the devices of regular Internet users. Another reason I favor residential proxies is because of their automatic support for IP rotation. With this, you only get one proxy endpoint that gets assigned IPs randomly based on a specific period of time or after every request.

There are a good number of residential proxy networks in the market you can use for web scraping. However, I have researched the best residential proxies for web scraping and have compared them for you to make it easier for you to make a choice.

1. Bright Data — Overall Best Residential Proxies for Web Scraping

The Bright Data service is arguably the best proxy provider in the market. It does have proxies in all of the proxy categories. It residential proxy network is the best I recommend for web scraping. It has one of the largest pools with over 72 million residential IPs, which you are given access to as a subscriber. This provider is my de facto provider for scraping, and whenever I do, I get over 80% unique IPs which is about the highest you will get in the market.

This provider is compatible with all websites on the Internet as it offers undetectable proxies. IP rotation is automatic, and it also does support static IPs for session management. I measured the performance of this network and recorded a success rate of 99.25% with an average download speed of 34.43 Mbps.

The response rate I got was 754 ms which I consider also one of the best in the residential proxy market. Interestingly, Bright Data residential proxies have become cheaper as you can get started with them by purchasing 1GB for $15 in their Pay-As-You-Go Plan.

2. Smartproxy — Fastest Residential Proxies for Scraping

Smartproxy is a premium proxy provider that operates in the United States. It is one of the best residential proxy networks for scraping data from the Internet. This provider, just like Bright Data, does offer proxies in different categories. Compared to Bright Data, it can be said to be a little stripped-down, looking at the size of its pools.

While Bright Data has over 72 million IPs, it does have 40 million residential IPs. However, it has been able to perform better in terms of response time. While testing out the two providers, I discover the response time for Smartproxy is 638 ms which is a little faster than Bright Data. In terms of the other performance metrics measured, I got a success rate of 99.03% with an average download speed of 31.32 Mbps.

The proxies offered are high-rotating proxies that change IP after every request. And I got close to 80% unique IPs too. Interestingly, with this provider, you can maintain the same IP address for up to 30 minutes, making it perfect for managing accounts. It has got support for over 195 locations and has got a cheaper and more affordable package compared to Bright Data. 1GB is sold for $8.5 in their Pay-As-You-Go option.

3. Soax — Cleanest Residential Proxy Pool for Web Scraping

Soax is another provider I recommend for web scraping. Its main selling point is the clean proxy pool it offers. This provider regularly monitors the IPs in its pool in other to remove bad and inactive IPs. The result of this s a clean proxy pool that minimizes the number of retries and drops connections. However, it does have one obvious setback compared to Bright Data and Smartproxy; its proxy pool is quite small, with only over 5 million IPs.

This might not be a problem for small to mid-scale scraping projects. However, if you have a fairly large proxy that needs millions of IPs, this might be an issue for you. In terms of performance, Soax is one of the best. While testing its performance, I recorded a response time of 985 ms with a success rate of 98.32%. For the average download speed, the value I recorded was 27.83 Mbps which I consider fast, too, for a residential proxy network.

My only major problem with this service is pricing. While bigger providers are providing their service for $15 and less, you need $99 to get started with them, and that gives you 8GB.

4. Nimbleway — Best for Enterprise Web Scraping Projects

The Nimblway service made its debut in the market only recently. One thing you will come to like about this service is that it is built from the ground up as a scraping infrastructure comprising a web scraping API, an automation browser, and a proxy network. These 3 are decoupled and modularised, and our interest here is with their proxies, most especially their residential proxies.

The service is quite expensive and requires a minimum of $300 to get started with their service, making it out of reach of small proxy users. But for enterprise users, Nimbleway has a lot to offer. In fact, as an enterprise user, you are entitled to a 22GB free trial after KYC. It didn’t state the number of residential IPs in its pool, but from our testing, the number is in the millions.

It is also a good performer on our test. This provider can be compared to Bright Data in terms of response time, as I got 854 ms. For the average download speed, I recorded 33.71 Mbps, and the scraping request success rate is 97.37%.

5. Netnut — Reliable Residential Proxy Network for Web Scraping

The Netnut service is another service I recommend for web scraping. This is because of some of its features that make it a good candidate for web scraping. This service has got one of the largest proxy pools in the market, with over 52 million IP addresses. As with the other providers, including Bright Data and Smartproxy, you shouldn’t expect all of these 52 million IPs to be online all the time.

However, a larger part of it is online at any given time. It does rotate the IPs for you automatically, so your scraper doesn’t get blocked. You can also choose the location you need the IPs for, as in the case with the others, thanks to their geo-targeting feature.

It has also got good performance metrics as far as web scraping is concerned. This network has an average download of 27.95 Mbps, a response time of 993 ms, and a success rate of 96.42%. As in the case of Nimbleway, you need $300 to get started with this service.

6. Shifter — Unlimited Residential Proxies for Scraping Images

When scraping is mentioned, what we think of is majorly text. However, there are instances where the data you want to scrape is in the form of an image. The other providers mentioned above are priced based on bandwidth, and costs can rack up for big projects. With Shifter, you enjoy unlimited bandwidth and get charged based on the number of ports.

This means you can scrape as many images or videos as you want, and the cost will remain the same. In terms of performance, it can be said to be good. I recorded a success rate of 95.32% and an average speed of 29.97 Mbps. The response time recorded was a little above 1 second (1.02 sec).

You can see that the likes of Bright Data and Smartproxy are still quite better than this provider, but its unlimited bandwidth could make you want to make use of it. It does have a large pool, too, with over 32 million IPs. If you intend to scrape Amazon, you need to speak to their agent to activate such for you, as Amazon is not supported by default.

7. Proxy-Cheap — Cheapest Proxies for Scraping

Proxy-Cheap does not have all of the fancy and advanced features you get from Bright Data or Smartproxy. It also has a fairly small pool as it has only over 6 million IP addresses in it pool. This, compared to the likes of Bright Data, is small. However, it can be compared to Soax as Soax has only over 5 million. However, it is here because of one major reason — affordability.

For this service, pricing for their proxies starts from $5 per GB, and the more bandwidth you purchase, the cheaper the price of GB gets. While you can’t use this for large scraping projects, as you will get a good number of retries and dropped connections because of its small proxy pool size.

However, it is a good fit for small scraping projects. In terms of performance, Proxy-cheap has an average speed of 21.63 Mbps with a success rate of 94.29%. The response time I recorded was 1.25 seconds. IP rotation is automatic here, and you can also choose the specific locations you need IPs from.

8. ProxyEmpire — Rotating Residential Proxies with Bandwidth Rollover Support

One problem you will have to deal with is bandwidth expiration when using most residential proxies. The ProxyEmpire is here to put an end to that. Interestingly, it is one of the best residential proxies for web scraping. I have used their proxies a good number of times, scraping Amazon and AliExpress, and the result was superb. I have also used it at some point to scrape Twitter, Wikipedia, and Reddit. Reliability is not an issue for this provider.

The performance is quite good, as the average download speed I record is 25.38 Mbps. Even though this is quite low compared to what you get from Smartproxy, it is quite acceptable. The success rate recorded is 94.43%, with a response time of 986 ms, which is also good.

The service has got over 7 million IPs, a little over what Proxy-cheap provides. However, its pricing is not as cheap as you would expect. It sells 1GB for $15, which is the same price you get from Bright Data, the leader in the market with advanced features.

9. Hydraproxy — Support Unlimited Proxy Endpoint Generation

The Hydraproxy service is another residential proxy provider I recommend for web scraping. I place this provider in the same class as Proxy-cheap, and can even be said to be the best alternative to the Proxy-cheap service. This is because they have got the same pricing (starting from $5 for 1GB) and almost the same number of IPs. Currently, Hydraproxy has got over 5 million IPs in its pool.

However, Hydraproxy does have its own unique advantages too. It is one of the providers that allow you to generate as many proxy endpoints (host and port) at no extra cost. And each will have its own IP and session. This makes it perfect for scraping data from websites that require you to log in.

While it is cheap, the performance it offers is not to be underrated. I measured the average download while testing the service out and recorded an average speed of 19.62 Mbps. The response time was a little slower at 1.38 seconds, with a success rate of 92.47%.

10. Oxylabs — Large Proxy Pool with Disappointing Performance

Oxylabs is a premium residential proxy provider that has been developed from the ground up for web scraping. It has got over 100 million IPs gotten from all locations around the world. It also does offer advanced features such as a proxy manager, granular geo-targeting, and custom session control, and it even provides some handy tools such as an extension too.

However, I did measure the performance, and even though it works, I wasn’t impressed with the result considering its pricing and the fact that it is a big provider. First, I noticed a good number of dropped and failed connections. In total, only about 84% of my requests were successful, which is quite disappointing. The speed I recorded for the requests that went through was fast, though, at an average of 29.65 Mbps.

The response time was not as fast as the other top providers like Bright Data and Smartproxy as I recorded a response time of 1.02 sec — for the average in the market, though, this is OK. It has the same pricing as Bright Data, as 1GB is sold for $15 in their Pay-As-You-Go payment system.

FAQs

Q. Why Use Residential Proxies for Web Scraping?

Residential proxies are not the only proxies that can be used for web data collection. However, it is the best because of the undetectable nature of their IPs and the automatic IP rotation it offers. This makes it possible for you to scrape data at scale without your website of target being suspicious since your requests are routed via different IPs.

When purchasing residential proxies for web scraping, I suggest you purchase rotating residential proxies, as they are the ones meant for scraping. The static residential proxies are best used for account managing and streaming.

Q. Why Do I Need to Do KYC to Use Residential Proxies?

Not all of the residential proxy providers above require you to do a KYC in other to make use of their service. However, the top providers such as Bright Data, Nimbleway, and Oxylabs, among a few others, require you to. KYC is required by some of these providers for complaint sake.

They need you only use their proxies according to their rules which is to use the proxies for legitimate reasons. The KYC is mandated on them by their area of jurisdiction. Some of the providers, such as Smartproxy, do not demand all of their customers to do KYC. They only mandate those with suspicious activities to do a KYC in other to prove they are legitimate.

Q. How Much Are Residential Proxies for Web Scraping?

Residential proxies for web scraping are mostly charged based on bandwidth. Unlike in the past, residential proxies have become cheaper as you can purchase rotating residential proxies for web scraping for as cheap as $5 per GB.

Hydraproxy and Proxy-cheap are the cheapest on the list above. The likes of Smartproxy and Bright can be said to be average charged and competitive as they go for $8.5 and $15 per GB, respectively. The expensive residential proxies for web scraping are Nimbleway ($300), Netnut ($300), Shifter ($199), and Soax ($99).

Conclusion

Looking at the above, you can see that most of the providers have almost the same features — have a large proxy pool, support geo-targeting, and route requests via devices of real Internet users. In other words, they are almost the same.

You just have to look out for the specific details that differentiate them, such as their performance data, the number of IPs in the pool, and some of their unique features. You should make use of that to choose the provider for you. As per recommendations, I recommend Bright Data and Smartproxy as the best for scraping. If you can’t afford these two, you can as well take a look at either Proxy-cheap or Hydraproxy, as they are the cheapest that work.

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