The Best Proxies for Google Scraping: Our Top 7 Picks
Google Target Test Results
To test the proxy performance when targeting Google, we used a Splash script with both proxies and test server located in the US. We ran three tests with a total of 5,400 requests at 1 request per second. Results were validated via their response code (200), HTML size, and page title.
Here are the results for our top Google proxy providers:
Top Proxies For Scraping Google
1. Decodo (formerly Smartproxy)
Decodo is, whatever the situation, probably the most balanced choice in the proxy sphere. And in terms of Google proxies, it brings 115 million IPs from around the globe, with prices starting at a very respectable $3.50/GB. What’s more, you can set rotation to occur with every request or every minute, but you may also go as far out as 24 hours. Great customer support, too.
- Large IP pool
- All locations
- Multiple rotation settings
- Competitive pricing
- Large plans may require permission to unlock Google
2. Oxylabs
Oxylabs is the go-to choice for enterprise users. The Google connection stats are good – and then you hit the 175 million IP pool spread across the globe. You can make full use of that too, with filtering down to coordinates and ZIP code.
- Huge residential IP pool
- Global locations
- Competitive pricing
- Detailed filtering options
- Premium rates
3. Infatica
Infatica’s success rate on Google was one of the best. And while it has servers all around the globe, they only include some 15 million IPs. Still too many rotate through all of them manually – yes, that’s one of the options. But with a $4/GB price tag, you’d expect more out of their network (or user experience).
- Great success rate
- Global reach
- Competitive pricing
- Option to manually rotate sessions
- Proxy pool on the smaller end
4. NetNut
With its high entry price at $99, NetNut is a good choice for large businesses. 85 million residential IPs is a decent-enough pool size for most purposes. The filtering options allow you to go town to city, and it’s possible to create sessions lasting up to an hour.
- Good IP pool size
- Global locations
- Good for high loads
- Decent filtering options
- User-unfriendly setup
- High entry price
5. SOAX
SOAX’s proxies offer probably some of the best response times in the US and a respectably large proxy pool. An added bonus are extra filtering options like optimizing for IP uniqueness. And at $4/GB, the starting price is basically industry-standard.
- Large residential IP pool
- Global reach
- A plan unlocks all products
- Flexible rotation
- Reporting API only
6. Webshare
Webshare has a decent proxy pool of 80 million residential IPs, priced very reasonably at $3.50/GB. You can configure them comprehensively – the level of self-service is unparalleled in the industry. On the other hand, you can’t go beyond country-level targeting.
- Decent IP pool
- Good pricing
- Complete self-service
- API access for everyone
- Live chat availability may be limited
- Not great for local SEO
7. DataImpulse
Dataimpulse is an odd duck: <4 second response time (that’s good), ~81% success rate (that’s bad). However, at $50 ($1/GB), the rates are very attractive, so it’s an offer few can ignore. Especially when the 90 million IP pool covers over 100 locations with filtering down to the ZIP code.
- Unbeatable price
- Decent location coverage
- Great response time
- Precise filtering options
- Price doubles with extra features
- Questionable IP quality
- Plans start from $50
How We Chose the Best Proxies for Google Scraping
Scraping Google Search results is a real technical challenge. The search giants are very good at detecting and blocking scrapers, so successful Google scrapes often depend on the quality of your scraping software.
Since we’re a proxy review site and not real hard-core scrapers, we chose the easy way to objectively test proxies: we just sent a huge number of concurrent connection requests to Google and counted the response codes we got.
We also measured the speed of those connections, but this was secondary to success rate; what good is your ultra-speedy proxy when you are experiencing death by ReCaptcha? The top 7 providers in our list rank by their network scalability, speed and features they offer.
While we’re talking CAPTCHAs – proxy network quality is in part determined by how many of them you see, so we counted CAPTCHA response rates as failed connections. That means top Google proxies in our list are also the ones that have the absolute lowest abuse rate.
Are Proxies for Scraping Google Maps Any Different?
Scraping Google Maps for GMB and other SEO data is not that much different. You will still need residential proxies, because datacenter IP addresses are too easy to block via subnetwork bans. Another vital criterion for proxies is that they should not have been abused on Google and have good scalability. This is why our top Google proxy list also applies to scraping Google Maps.
How Proxies Help You Scrape Local Google Results
Scraping local Google results is a bit trickier. You can use Google’s settings to set a location, but to really extract data as it appears for localized searches, you need to have local IP addresses.
This is why scraping Google for local results requires a proxy network with location targeting. For instance, some of the top providers in this list, like Decodo and SOAX, enable backconnect with access to IP addresses in close to 200 countries.
Frequently Asked Questions About Google Proxies
A Google proxy is a proxy IP address that lets you access various Google services. Proxies are used to see how content is displayed in different locations and to avoid IP blocks when scraping Google Search.
Yes. Proxies are perfect for changing your location, so that you can see and scrape local results from Google. In fact, it’s one of their primary use cases.
If you know what you’re doing, datacenter proxies will suffice. But if you need proxies for local results or high-volume scraping, you’ll be better off with residential proxies instead.
Sure, there’s plenty of proxy lists online. But those IPs will be a hassle more than an asset. We strongly suggest investing in paid proxies. If you’re on the fence, most providers offer money-back guarantees. Go try one.
