12 Best Proxy Servers in 2026: Tested & Ranked

Why You Shouldn’t Use Free Proxy Servers

We won’t be looking at the best free proxy servers. Why? Let’s face it: free proxy servers are terrible for anything beyond the most basic tasks. Are you interested in hiding your IP address and browsing the web anonymously? Don’t use a free proxy server that is likely tracking your every move. Unprotected web proxy servers can also steal your data or inject ads into the websites you visit. Beyond that, they’ll be slow and often already blocked or abused.

None of the proxy providers in our list are free. Heck, some of the best anonymous proxy services aren’t even cheap! That’s because good service costs money, and we’re looking at the best the proxy server market has to offer.

How We Selected the Best Proxy Servers

When selecting the best proxy servers, we relied on our technical expertise and experience, as no universal standards exist for testing proxies. We developed a comprehensive approach based on two pillars: a performance test and a manual analysis.

The performance test evaluates critical factors like the size and quality of the proxy pool, its infrastructure performance, and success rate with real targets. Meanwhile, the manual analysis explores the provider’s features, price, and user experience. We compiled all the data in our annual Proxy Market Research.

Unique IPs

Advertised proxy pool sizes can be only so much marketing. And it is impossible to ascertain how true those numbers are without some breaking-and-entering. However, during PMR 2026, we ran some representative tests to see how many unique IPs would be found in the pools during a specific amount of time.

Residential Proxy Network Connection Success Rate and Response Time

During PMR2026, we also tested the infrastructure performance to see how well and and how fast the proxies performed. For residential proxies, this meant running 3.6 million requests in the global pool over 21 days. This is the data displayed in the second table below.

Resi: global pool, 3.6M requests over 21 days; DC: US pool, 70k connection requests over 7 days; Mobile: random pool, 1.2M requests over 21 days. May 2026 data.

	Resi	DC	Mobi
Decodo	2,853,543	39,730	1,190,939
Oxylabs	3,241,404	21,714	1,192,449
Byteful	1,909,605	–	371,704
DataImpulse	1,538,768	54,427	373,240
Webshare	1,745,672	48,632	–
Evomi	1,668,674	25,312	460,077
NetNut	2,544,236	30,361	412,359
Infatica	2,130,875	11,542	605,307
IPRoyal	2,330,578	–	–
Rayobyte	1,887,661	50,413	154,718

Resi: global pool, 3.6M requests over 21 days. May 2026 data.

	Resi success rate	Resi response time
Oxylabs	99.93%	0.60 s
Decodo	99.92%	0.53 s
SOAX	99.78%	0.89 s
DataImpulse	99.74%	0.97 s
Byteful	99.69%	0.41 s
Evomi	99.58%	0.79 s
Webshare	99.28%	0.86 s
Rayobyte	98.02%	1.86 s
Infatica	97.57%	1.64 s
IPRoyal	96.11%	1.24 s
NetNut	95.28%	1.66 s

The Best Proxy Server Providers of 2026

1. Decodo (ex Smartproxy)

Best bang for your buck.

10% off all self-service products for new users.

General info

Protocols: HTTP, HTTPS, SOCKS5, QUIC over UDP
Authorization: Credentials, IP whitelist
Extras: Sub-users, management API, browser extension, proxy checker
Support: 24/7 via live chat, Discord, or email
Trial: 100 MB for residential mobile proxies. 14-day refund available

Decodo is a smart pick regardless of which proxy type you’re after. The proxies come from large pools covering a wide range of countries. Every plan grants access to the full pool, though you can also opt for a fixed number of IPs if you prefer. We are also impressed by Decodo’s consistently high connection success rate and quick response times across most proxy types.

Beyond technical performance, Decodo offers thorough documentation and handy proxy management tools (like a browser extension). If anything goes wrong, there’s the award-winning 24/7 customer support.

Pricing-wise, Decodo positions itself comfortably between budget and premium providers. Some of its offerings are super affordable. For example, shared datacenter proxies start at just $0.035 per IP.

Now for the drawbacks. For one, the location coverage for datacenter & ISP proxies is somewhat limited. Secondly, the plans are less flexible compared to competitors’ offerings, such as non-expiring traffic.

For more information and performance tests, read our Decodo review.

2. Oxylabs

Best proxies for enterprise.

Use the code proxyway35 to get 35% off your first purchase.

Formats: Shared, semi-shared, dedicated list
Countries: ~15 in four continents
Rotation: Available in all formats, optional
Other features: IP refresh interval, # of manual IP replacements, high concurrency, network priority, 0 fraud score
Starts from: $6 for 20 shared IPs ($0.3/IP) & 250 GB

Formats: Shared, dedicated list, pool with 55k IPs
Countries: 43 in five continents
Rotation: Available in all formats, optional
Starts from: $12 for 10 shared IPs ($1.2/IP), $6.75 for 3 dedicated IPs ($2.25/IP), or $11.8 for 20 GB ($0.59/GB). 5 free IPs with 5 GB/mo available

General info

Protocols: HTTP, HTTPS, SOCKS5, QUIC over UDP
Authorization: Credentials, IP whitelist
Extras: Sub-users, management API, browser extension, Android app
Support: 24/7 via live chat
Trial: For companies, refund available

Oxylabs is a premium provider for medium-scale and enterprise clients. Its proxy networks are some of the largest in the world and cover most locations. Oxylabs proxy performance puts it in the top three positions on our lists. The residential proxies succeeded up to 99.93% of the time while displaying impressive stability and speed.

Let’s not forget the benefits of having a dedicated account manager to help you with whatever query you have. Their flexible proxy management tools include a browser extension and an Android app. The documentation is quality, too.

However, you’ll need a larger budget to reap most of Oxylabs’ benefits. So, if you’re a proxy newbie or looking to use proxies for personal purposes, the provider’s pricing may not be ideal.

For more information and performanc Oxylabs review.

3. SOAX

Advanced features and platform-based pricing.

Use the code PROXYWAY35% to get 35% off.

Advertised pool: 155M IPs
Countries: 195+ with state, city, ASN targeting, ISP, ZIP code filters
Rotation: Every request, sessions up to 7 days or X requests, strict sessions
Other features: Look-a-like rotation, use together with mobile IPs
Starts from: $25 for 5-12.5 GB ($2-$5/GB), depending on IP location

General info

SOAX sells residential and mobile proxies, both packaged as rotating pools. They’re in the middle of the pack by size (except for their large residential pool) and offer competitive infrastructure performance.

The most distinguishing thing about SOAX is how flexible the provider is. City and ASN filtering come in the box, and there are several IP optimization filters. You also get SOCKS5 with UDP and QUIC support, as well as flexible rotation options.

In addition, subscribing to any plan unlocks all products, letting you freely switch between them. This is a big bonus, considering the serious buy-in costs of $90 and per-GB costs that are competitive, but not cheap.

SOAX may not be a great choice if you’re looking for dedicated proxies. It also trails most other providers we tested in accessing popular targets, especially Google.

For more information and performance tests, read our SOAX review.

4. Byteful (ex Ping Proxies)

Great platform and a traffic optimization engine.

Use the code PROXYWAY40 to get 40% off.

Advertised pool: 35M IPs
Countries: 150+ with state, city, ASN/ISP, ZIP targeting
Rotation: Every request, sessions up to seven days
Other features: Pool size & speed filters, Smartpath engine
Starts from: $3.25 for 1 GB. Scaling pay as you go

Advertised pool: 6M IPs
Countries: 100+ with state, city, ASN/ISP targeting
Rotation: Every request, sessions up to seven days
Other features: Pool size & speed filters, Smartpath engine
Starts from: $4.25 for 1 GB. Scaling pay as you go

General info

Protocols: HTTP, HTTPS, SOCKS5, UDP
Authorization: Credentials, IP whitelist
Extras: Management API, proxy checker
Support: 5AM-7PM European time via live chat, email, tickets, Discord
Trial: 1 GB for residential proxies

Byteful is the 2026 name of what used to be Ping Proxies. However, the name change doesn’t matter much, especially when the provider shows great results. This company may not have the largest roster of proxies, but the proxies put up top 5-tier performance, easily running with the big dogs.

It also has some more interesting tricks up its sleeve. Smartpath is a function that will route some of your less important traffic through datacenter proxies. It is claimed to save you up to 60% in data use. Another feature is Byteful’s proxy tester, available in online and installable versions, which is the company’s preferred way for you to check their proxies.

While Byteful isn’t the cheapest option when it comes to per GB/IP cost, it does look very attractive with how low the entry costs are. You’re not required to splash above $5 for anything if you just want to dip your toes in.

For more information and performance tests, read our Byteful review.

5. Webshare

Affordable and highly customizable plans.

Get 40% off your first purchase.

Formats: Shared, semi-shared, dedicated list
Countries: ~45 in six continents
Rotation: Available in all formats, optional
Other features: IP refresh interval, # of manual IP replacements, high concurrency, network priority, 0 fraud score
Starts from: $2.99 for 100 shared IPs & 250 GB. Free plan with 10 IPs & 1 GB/mo available

Formats: Shared, semi-shared, dedicated list
Countries: ~15 in four continents
Rotation: Available in all formats, optional
Other features: IP refresh interval, # of manual IP replacements, high concurrency, network priority, 0 fraud score
Starts from: $6 for 20 shared IPs ($0.3/IP) & 250 GB

General info

Webshare offers datacenter and ISP proxies in various formats, as well as residential proxies. The provider stands out due to its flexibility. You’re free to choose how many IPs you’d like to get and where. You can then adjust the traffic, threads, and network priority. IP replacement options range from individual refreshes to a full change up to every five minutes.

The service is easy to use for beginners and surprisingly developer-friendly: there are detailed usage stats, and you can replicate most of the dashboard’s functionality via the provided API.

Webshare can be considered an affordable provider. Its basic configurations cost below the market average, and, uniquely, you get refunded for unused traffic if you cancel. Plus, each new user gets 10 free datacenter proxies to try out for free.

For more information and performance tests, read our Webshare review.

6. DataImpulse

Affordable rotating pools with non-expiring traffic.

Advertised pool: 90M IPs
Countries: 150+ with state, city, ASN, ZIP targeting
Rotation: Every request, sessions up to 120 min
Other features: Exclude location, ASN, denylist domains
Starts from: $50 for 50 GB ($1/GB). Pay as you go

Formats: Pool with 90M IPs
Countries: 100+ with state, city, ASN targeting
Rotation: Every request, sessions up to 120 min
Other features: Exclude location, ASN, denylist domains
Starts from: $50 for 100 GB ($0.5/GB)

Advertised pool: 16M IPs
Countries: 100+ with state, city, ASN, ZIP targeting
Rotation: Every request, sessions up to 120 min
Other features: Exclude location, ASN, denylist domains
Starts from: $50 for 25 GB ($2/GB). Pay as you go

General info

DataImpulse offers cheap residential, datacenter, and mobile proxies. For all their affordability, the proxy pools are actually fairly large. One of their latest features is the premium residential proxies. Our tests showed them to perform better than regular proxies, with success rates within 0.08% each other and connection times differing by 0.33s.

DataImpulse’s residential proxies were relatively fast and succeeded over 99% of the time. Combining these factors, they manage to beat some more established proxy providers. All three proxy types support city, ASN, and ZIP code targeting.

Despite having great rates, DataImpulse requires an investment of at least $50. And it’s up to you to decide whether premium residential proxies are worth the 5x price increase. Also, the proxies may see more abuse compared to premium competitors. Still, DataImpulse manages to offer an impressive package.

Read the Dataimpulse review for more information and performance tests.

7. Evomi

Affordable ethical proxies

Advertised pool: 54M IPs
Countries: 150+ with state, city, ASN/ISP, ZIP targeting
Rotation: Every request, sessions up to 120 min, strict sessions
Other features: Filters for more IPs, latency, fraud score, OS, minimum connection time, ad blocking
Starts from: $49 for 100 GB ($0.49/GB). Pay as you go available

Formats: Shared, dedicated list
Countries: US (Ashburn, AT&T)
Rotation: Static
Other features: Virgin IPs (0 fraud score, cost extra)
Starts from: $20 for 20 shared IPs ($1/IP) or $12.50 for 5 dedicated IPs ($2.5/IP)

General info

Evomi is a relatively new (2024) player in the field that’s working hard to make a name for itself. But it has more to offer than free traffic for startups or the reputation of being a member of the Ethical Web Data Collection Initiative. Evomi has a decent, if a bit small, pool of proxies and decent performance stats.

The proxies come with filtering features (for residential) like ad blocking, fraud score, OS, IP quantity, latency, and uptime. As for sessions, they can last up to 120 minutes, or you may opt for a hard session that will keep the same IP as long as possible.

The downsides come from a lack of advanced proxy management features. There’s no IP allowlisting, the usage information is basic, and sub-users are only available for resellers of the 5 TB tier.

For more information and performance tests, read our Evomi review.

8. IPRoyal

Flexible proxies with friendly entry plans.

Use coupon PROXYWAY30 to get a 30% discount.

Advertised pool: 64M IPs
Countries: 150+ with state, city & coordinate targeting
Rotation: Every request, 1s-24hr, manual
Other features: High-end pool, exclude ISP proxies, exclude IP ranges, denylist domains
Starts from: $7 for 1 GB. Scaling pay as you go available

Advertised pool: 64M IPs
Countries: 150+ with state, city & coordinate targeting
Rotation: Every request, 1s-24hr, manual
Other features: High-end pool, exclude ISP proxies, exclude IP ranges, denylist domains
Starts from: $7 for 1 GB. Scaling pay as you go available

General info

IPRoyal is a strong option for small to medium needs. Its main product is rotating residential proxies. You can also get a dedicated ISP, datacenter, or dedicated mobile proxies. All four cover a good number of locations and have cheap entry plans, allowing for the bare minimum buy-in.

The company has a comfortable dashboard and a browser extension for easier proxy management. Additional benefits? Filtering for better quality IPs as well as excluding ISP proxies or IP ranges. You may even set up allow/deny lists for domains. The customer service is also good.

The residential proxy pool performs well, with flexible rotation and city targeting. And based on our testing, IPRoyal has overcome its issues with IP quality, easily taking the #1 spot.

For more information and performance tests, read our IPRoyal review.

9. Infatica

Solid choice for all proxy types.

Use the code proxyway2024 to get 20% off your first purchase.

General info

Infatica covers all four corners of the proxy, er, house, with residential, datacenter, ISP, and mobile proxies. The provider’s proxy networks include versatile location targeting options, including city and ASN. You can create lists of up to 1,000 proxies at once.

As far as locations go, the selection isn’t bad, though we’ve seen companies that offer more mobile locations right on this list. In our benchmarks, Infatica’s proxies showed a good deal of unique IPs. Performance-wise, they were OK, and the connection success rate was much better than the connection speed.

Infatica’s rates, however, are beyond what mid-market alternatives like Decodo or SOAX would ask from you. This includes the PAYG pricing as well. All in all, there’s nothing particularly remarkable about this provider, just a solid service.

For more information and performance tests, read our Infatica review.

10. Rayobyte

Proxy servers covering all the bases.

Use the code proxyway to get 5% off.

Formats: Shared, dedicated list, pool with 60k IPs
Countries: Up to 29 in five continents, with city targeting in some locales
Rotation: Only for the rotating pool
Starts from: $5 for 5 shared IPs ($1/IP), $12.5 for 5 dedicated IPs ($2.5/IP), $0.30 for 1 GB (scaling pay as you go)

Formats: Shared, dedicated list, rotating pool
Countries: 6 in two continents, with city targeting in the US
Rotation: Only for the rotating pool
Starts from: $12.5 for 5 shared IPs ($2.5/IP), $25 for 5 dedicated IPs ($5/IP), $3.75 for 1 GB (scaling pay as you go)

General info

Protocols: HTTP, HTTPS, SOCKS5
Authorization: Credentials, IP whitelist (excl. rotating DC)
Extras: Reseller API, browser extension, proxy checker
Support: 24/7 via email, ticketing system, or live chat
Trial: 2-day refund

Rayobyte is well known for its datacenter proxies, but that’s not all. It also sells residential, ISP, and mobile proxies in several formats. The residential and mobile proxy networks cover over 100 countries, with city-level targeting and several rotation settings.

The IP pool is stable, but its response time really underwhelmed, barely reaching the mid-tier. In terms of price, Rayobyte is very affordable if you need rotating proxies. The PAYG plans are a good deal for those with minimal needs, too. Mobile proxies are the real outlier there, with a very hefty minimum price.

Rayobyte’s main downsides include its lack of speed. You may also miss some features like ASN targeting or SOCKS5 support. The user experience is questionable, too.

For more information and performance tests, read our Rayobyte review.

Providers We Haven't Tested Recently

12. Bright Data

Best platform for proxies.

Use the code PROXYWAY60 to get 60% off all proxy plans and Browser API. New users only.

Advertised pool: 400M IPs
Countries: 195+ with state, city, ASN/ISP, ZIP, coordinate targeting
Rotation: Every request, sticky sessions (customizable with extra app)
Other features: IP protocol, OS selection, dedicated IPs
Starts from: $4 for 1 GB. Pay as you go available

General info

Protocols: HTTP, HTTPS, SOCKS5, QUIC over UDP
Authorization: Credentials, IP whitelist
Extras: Management API, sub-users, browser extension, Proxy Manager app
Support: 24/7 via live chat, tickets, dedicated account manager
Trial: No-card free trial available

Bright Data is one of the largest premium proxy suppliers today. You can get residential, datacenter, and ISP proxies. Unfortunately for mobile, the provider sunset the service in 2026.

The provider controls the largest residential proxy network in the world and has one of the largest ISP pools. The geographical coverage is also impressive. What’s more, you can expect an almost perfect success rate, good response time, and stability. In addition to that, Bright Data has a very extensive API, a browser extension, and an open-source proxy manager. The latter allows you to manipulate the IPs to a great extent.

However, Bright Data is very much not for beginners. If there’s an enterprise proxy provider out there, this is it.

For more information and performance tests, read our Bright Data review.

Different Types of Proxies

The most common proxy types are datacenter and residential proxies. The former come from cloud hosting companies, while the latter are sourced from real users.

Proxies can be private, which means that the IP belongs to one user or a particular domain. In contrast, shared proxies are available to a handful of different users. There are also rotating proxies that automatically fetch you IPs from a pool of addresses.

Lastly, for those who need diversity, SOCKS5 proxies can handle almost any protocol, program, or type of traffic.

Proxy Types by Use Case

Proxies can be categorized by specific use cases, such as ad verification, SEO tracking, web scraping, social media management, and more. Here are the main proxy types by use case:

Ad verification proxies can help track misplaced ads, check their redirection paths, and check whether they appear in the right location.
SEO proxies are commonly used to track ranks, research keywords, analyze competitors, and perform site audits. Since search engines are difficult to scrape, there are specialized proxies to tackle the task, such as Google scraping proxies.
Web scraping proxies make sure you won’t get blocked when you scrape various targets. They are fast, anonymous, and hard to detect. If you’re using a bot, make sure to get ScrapeBox proxies to go with it. These proxies are used to increase your scraping success rates.
Sneaker proxies help to overcome strict anti-botting measures imposed by various popular sneaker stores.
Social media proxies differ according to each popular platform. For example:
- Instagram proxies are usually mobile or at least residential, and they will protect you from getting banned when you’re working with multiple accounts.
- Facebook proxies enable you to unblock, manage multiple accounts, and scrape Facebook.
- Pinterest proxies are verified to work with Pinterest platform, so you will scrape or pin without getting blocked.
- Youtube proxies allow you to access geo-restricted content, automate and scrape YouTube.
Another popular use case is e-commerce:
- Amazon proxies offer a fast and reliable way to scrape reviews and product listings, perform market research and boost your e-commerce business.
- Craigslist proxies let you scrape its postings or post multiple ads yourself to various locations and without blocks.

Frequently Asked Questions About Best Proxy Providers

What Is the Best Proxy Server Provider?

The best proxy server provider depends on your needs. Each proxy provider comes with different pricing methods, different products, geographical availability, filtering options, and so on. Once you decide on what feature(s) is important for your case, go over our list above to find what you need.

Which Proxy Type Should I Choose?

Your proxy type should be chosen based on your goal. If what you need more than anything is for proxies to go undetected, go for residential or mobile proxies. If speed and stability matter more, use datacenter or ISP proxies.

How Much Do Proxy Servers Cost?

Proxy costs depend on the type: mobile are usually the most expensive while datacenter are the cheapest. Here are some average prices, with the caveats that many providers don’t sell single GBs or IPs, and that they get cheaper if you buy in bulk.

Residential proxies: $3.5/GB.
Datacenter: $0.6/GB or $1/IP
ISP: $3/GB or $2/IP
Mobile: $4 GB

Are Residential Proxies Worth the Extra Cost?

Residential proxies are worth the extra cost for unlocking popular, well-defended targets. It doesn’t matter that datacenter proxies are cheaper, faster, and more stable if they can’t unblock the target in the first place. Since residential proxies are a lot less likely to be detected, they’re much more useful and thus expensive.

5 Responses

T. says:

May 25, 2021 at 12:38 pm

Hey! What is the cheapest proxy provider that offers decent quality? I want to try scraping couple of websites, and since I’m not a tech guy, I don’t want to spend a fortune on a thing that might not even work out (the scraping part) .

1. Chris Becker says:
  
  May 26, 2021 at 6:49 am
  
  It depends on the website and how much data you’re going to scrape. If the website doesn’t have sophisticated bot protection, and you need a moderate amount of data, you can try Smartproxy’s datacenter proxies. Alternatively, you can try Storm Proxies.
  
Surano says:

August 2, 2021 at 6:33 am

thanks for the article! smartproxy might offer the best cheap proxies in terms of quality, speed and IP pool size but they are not the cheapest… i still don’t get how packetstream is able to offer $1/GB

Maryam says:

January 7, 2023 at 6:37 pm

Thank you

Folayan Samuel says:

December 11, 2025 at 4:01 am

Good

The Best Proxy Server Providers of 2026

The Best Proxy Server Providers of 2026:

Why You Shouldn’t Use Free Proxy Servers

How We Selected the Best Proxy Servers

Unique IPs

Residential Proxy Network Connection Success Rate and Response Time

The Best Proxy Server Providers of 2026

1. Decodo (ex Smartproxy)

2. Oxylabs

3. SOAX

4. Byteful (ex Ping Proxies)

5. Webshare

6. DataImpulse

7. Evomi

8. IPRoyal

9. Infatica

10. Rayobyte

Providers We Haven't Tested Recently

12. Bright Data

Different Types of Proxies

Proxy Types by Use Case

Frequently Asked Questions About Best Proxy Providers