The 6 Best Private Proxy Services of 2024
Private proxies are fast, reliable, and only yours to use. They’re also cheaper than residential IPs but easier to detect. As a result, many businesses use them for web scraping tasks, load testing, brand protection, and even buying sneakers from less protected stores.
We know how hard it can be to choose a proxy service. That’s why we tested and ranked six great private proxy providers to help you pick the best one for your needs.
Best Private Proxies of 2024:
1. Webshare – customizable private IPs with complete self-service.
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2. Bright Data – versatile private proxies with powerful management tools.
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3. Smartproxy – affordable private proxies in the US.
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4. Oxylabs – premium private proxies with the vastest network.
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5. Rayobyte – a strong choice for customers of all sizes.
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What Is a Private Proxy?
A private proxy, also called a dedicated proxy, is an intermediary IP address assigned to one user only – after purchase, you won’t have to share it with anyone else.
When you use private proxies, you have full control over which websites are being accessed and what kind of data is received. As a result, you can avoid the “bad neighbor” effect: your proxies won’t suddenly get banned because someone else has abused them. Private proxies are the most trustworthy choice for businesses and those with a specific goal – to have the least amount of blocks possible.
Private proxies are almost always datacenter IPs. That’s because most residential proxies belong to real devices which can’t be dedicated to one user.
Can There Be Private Residential Proxies?
Yes. Some companies have started registering their datacenter IPs under residential internet service providers. This gives the datacenter proxies a residential ASN, which websites identify as real users. Such proxies are called static residential proxies or ISP proxies.
If you’re looking for them instead of private datacenter IPs, visit our list of the best ISP proxies.
The Advantages and Disadvantages of Private Proxies
Advantages
- Security. You don’t have to share private proxies, meaning there is less chance your personal data will be compromised. You also won’t have to worry about others doing something illegal with the proxies that could get you into trouble.
- Speed. Private proxies are much faster than semi-dedicated or shared proxies because you don’t have to share bandwidth with anyone else. They hardly slow down your browsing speed at all.
- Smallest number of blocks. Once again: if no one else is using your proxies, you can be sure they won’t be blocked by websites like Google or Amazon. It’s also harder to get blocked when you start working with these IPs because you have full control over them.
Disadvantages
- Price. Because you’ll be using the IPs alone, there won’t be anyone else to shoulder the cost. As such, you can expect to always pay more for the privilege of having your proxies for yourself. You can find cheap private proxies, but they’ll still be more expensive than shared IPs.
When to Use Private Proxies
People use private proxies over shared proxies when they want more predictability and performance. Here you don’t buy access to a pool of proxies like with residential addresses; instead, you rent a set number of IPs, sometimes for a long term. So, it’s in your best interest to take care of them. This is hard to do when someone else uses the same IP address.
It frequently happens that people first try out shared proxies because they’re cheap. Once they find out that those proxies don’t work well enough, they migrate to private IPs. This is a natural progression. Or maybe they need a consistent identity, which shared rotating proxies couldn’t provide. A few years ago, private proxies were big for social media account management precisely for this reason; now, they’re being phased out by mobile IPs.
Private datacenter proxies get blocked more than residential or mobile addresses, so it’s hard to use them with tough websites: travel fare aggregators, social media networks, or sneaker stores. Still, they have more raw power and no traffic limits; if you know what you’re doing, you can scrape fast and keep blocks in check. Nowadays, popular use cases for datacenter IPs include brand protection, market research, SEO, and scraping some large e-commerce websites.
When using private proxies, it’s a good tactic to either get the whole subnet for yourself, or to go for as many subnets as possible. I suggest the former if you know what you’re doing, and the latter if you have less experience.
Why You Should Never Use a Free Private Proxy
A free dedicated proxy is, first of all, a scam. Not many things in life are actually free and when it comes to free online services, somebody somewhere is most likely making money from your data. Anyone who falls for a free dedicated proxy risks:
- Their private information getting leaked (think credit card info, passwords and other crucial data).
- Target websites getting injected with malicious ads (read more about it in our “free proxies are bad” blog post).
- Being redirected to a website full of ads, so someone could make some money from you. Not the most dangerous scenario, but it can get super annoying (just imagine copping sneakers with such proxies).
There’s another important point to make. If your dedicated proxy is supposedly free – you probably got it from one of the free proxy lists. And, well, that makes it a shared proxy because it’s nearly impossible that you will be the only one using it.
How to Choose the Best Private Proxy Provider
Research all of them. Analyze their websites, see how they position themselves. Usually, there are two ways of presentation:
- Proxies for business. Proxy providers for business will usually state their use cases as market research, SEO, brand protection, price monitoring, e-commerce, and so on.
- Proxies for personal use. Proxy providers for personal use will usually talk about geo-blocks, website unblocking, sneaker copping (which is a business, but somehow it usually goes along with personal use), Pokemon Go, Netflix, Craigslist proxies, and so on.
I recommend contacting the provider before purchasing their product, to ensure that there are no hidden fees. They will also usually ask you about your target websites and the goals you would like your proxies to achieve. Tell them as much as you can – they can help you by optimizing the proxies specifically for your needs.
Also, don’t forget to read reviews. While it goes hand in hand with research, it’s worth mentioning separately. Proxyway is a review site, so if you’re here – you are already on the right path to choosing the best provider!
The Best Private Proxy Providers of 2024
Here’s a comprehensive list of the best private proxy providers. Download speeds were tested in 2023, so current performance benchmarks might be slightly different.
1. Webshare
Customizable private IPs with complete self-service.
Pool size:
Unknown
Locations:
40 countries
Avg. download speed:
80.80 Mbps
- Protocols: HTTP, SOCKS5
- Extras: 500 threads or unlimited (paid), unlimited bandwidth, on-demand IP refresh and replacement (paid), proxy rotator
- Support: email and chat (11PM-11AM PST)
- Free trial: free trial with 10 proxies available
- Pricing starts from $2.99 for 100 IPs ($0.089/IP). Final price is customizable and depends on add-ons.
Webshare runs dedicated proxies in over 40 countries in 6 continents. These addresses aren’t pool-based, but you can specify how many IPs you want from each location, and rotate your proxies by generating an endpoint via a dashboard. Otherwise, you can refresh your proxies anywhere between several minutes and a month at an additional charge. For example, you can buy 20 IPs and replace them every 10 minutes. This way, you’ll get to use a larger pool over time. The dashboard is easy-to-use and navigable, so it’s a good choice for first-time users.
The subscription is also very customizable – you can choose how much bandwidth you need, threads, number of IPs, or add a high priority network. But this versatility plays into pricing.
Read the Webshare review for more information and performance tests.
2. Bright Data
Versatile private proxies with powerful management tools.
Pool size:
Very large
Locations:
98 countries
Avg. download speed:
123.44 Mbps
- Protocols: HTTP(S), SOCKS5
- Extras: Proxy Manager, unlimited threads, bandwidth (paid), and domains (paid)
- Support: 24/7 support via chat, email, tickets
- Free trial: 7-day trial for businesses, 3-day refund for individuals; up to 15 datacenter IPs and 2 GB/month trial available
- Pricing starts from $0.11/GB + $0.8/IP
Bright Data mainly targets businesses. It has a large collection of private IPs throughout 3,000+ subnets. You can control the proxies using robust management tools: an API and Bright Data’s proxy manager. The latter lets you rotate and otherwise manipulate the addresses. There’s also a feature for 100% uptime, which replaces an IP with a similar one if it fails. The provider has an excellent download speed, so it’s a good choice for traffic-intensive tasks.
While Bright Data doesn’t require buying many proxies, it makes financial sense to do so. The pricing is further complicated by all the upsells which other providers offer free of charge. Enabling features like city targeting, multiple domains, and even unlimited traffic palpably adds to the price.
For more information and performance tests, read our Bright Data review.
3. Smartproxy
Affordable private proxies in the US.
Pool size:
Large
Locations:
the US
Avg. download speed:
32.88 Mbps
- Protocols: HTTP(S), SOCKS5
- Extras: unlimited threads, bandwidth, domains, API
- Support: 24/7 via live chat, email
- Free trial: 14-day money-back guarantee
- Pricing starts from $7.5 for 3 IPs ($2.50/IP)
Smartproxy makes it as straightforward as it gets: register, pick a plan, and download your American IPs from the dashboard. You can refresh the list after renewing the subscription or keep the same proxies for as long as you like. Like most providers on this list, Smartproxy comes with unlimited traffic, targets, and threads, as well as a free monthly IP refresh.
You’ll get a polished user experience, award-winning customer support, and attractive prices. The plans start small but can scale up if needed. So both hustlers and enterprises will find something for them if the product’s features can meet their needs.
4. Oxylabs
Premium private proxies with the vastest network.
Pool size:
Very large
Locations:
8 countries (self-service); 188 (enterprise)
Avg. download speed:
53.20 Mbps
- Protocols: HTTP(S), SOCKS5
- Extras: unlimited threads (enterprise), bandwidth, and domains, proxy rotator
- Support: 24/7 support via chat, email, tickets
- Free trial: 7-day trial for businesses, 3-day trial for individuals
- Pricing starts from $8.25 for 3 IPs ($2.75/IP)
Oxylabs has the vastest network of private datacenter proxies on the market. With over 2 million IPs, it can sustain even the largest web scraping operations. Depending on your needs, you can get Oxylabs’s enterprise plans or opt for self-service, but this service lacks customizability. In addition, Oxylabs offers a powerful API, an optional add-on that rotates the proxies, and a team of web scraping experts to help you.
Oxylabs targets companies with large e-commerce scraping, brand protection, and other needs, so enterprise plans have a dedicated account manager, more locations, and better geo-location targeting compared to smaller plans. Nevertheless, if self-service features meet your needs, it’s a good choice with reasonable prices.
Read the Oxylabs review for more information and performance tests.
5. Rayobyte
A strong choice for customers of all sizes.
Pool size:
Large
Locations:
29 countries
Avg. download speed:
62.96 Mbps
- Protocols: HTTP(S), SOCKS5
- Extras: unlimited threads, traffic, and domains, monthly refresh
- Support: 24/7 support via chat, email, tickets
- Free trial: 2-day free trial available
- Pricing starts from $12.50 for 5 IPs ($2.50/IP)
Rayobyte is a well-known datacenter proxy provider. It controls a large proxy network, and many proxies are hosted on in-house infrastructure. Rayobyte’s system automatically issues IPs to optimize them for diversity. If you’re unhappy with what you get, the provider lets you adjust the addresses until they work as needed. You can otherwise accomplish most tasks yourself using the provided dashboard.
Rayobyte supports fewer locations than Oxylabs or Bright Data, but its plans suit all kinds of users. Pricing changes depending on the amount of proxies you need and the country you choose. They’re very broad, so the price can range from cheap to expensive.
6. IPRoyal
Cheap dedicated proxies from 50 countries.
Pool size:
Large
Locations:
50 countries
Avg. download speed:
43.28 Mbps
- Protocols: HTTP(S), SOCKS5
- Extras: unlimited traffic, threads, domains, and monthly refresh
- Support: 24/7 via live chat
- Free trial: none
- Pricing starts from $1.75/IP per month
IPRoyal offers cheap datacenter proxies from over 50 countries. The service comes with an API and a proxy manager, and you can refresh your proxies once per month free of charge. However, there’s no option to rotate your proxies. IPRoyal’s country targeting is rather limited – you get one country per plan. Additionally, the provider doesn’t give access to the whole IP pool.
Frequently Asked Questions About Private Proxies
Both terms refer to the same thing – IP addresses only you can use. Sometimes, dedicated proxies also mean IPs dedicated for a specific task, such as social media or SEO.
It depends on the IP location, provider, and how much you buy. A few IPs will cost you $1.5-3 each, and the price will decrease the more you buy.
Yes. They’re also called static residential or simply ISP proxies. We feature them in our list of the best residential proxies.
Yes. Nowadays, many providers offer private SOCKS5 proxies, so you’ll have no trouble finding where to buy them.
