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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 five great private proxy providers to help you pick the best one for your needs.

The Best Private Proxy Services of 2024 – Quick Summary:

  1. Bright Data – versatile private proxies with powerful management tools.
  2. Oxylabs – premium private proxies with the vastest network.
  3. Rayobyte – a strong choice for customers of all sizes.
  4. Webshare – customizable private IPs with complete self-service.
  5. IPRoyal – cheap dedicated proxies from 30 countries.
  6. Smartproxy – affordable private proxies in the US.

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

Bright Data logo

1. Bright Data

Versatile private proxies with powerful management tools.

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 impeccable download speed, so 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.

  • Features: unlimited threads, bandwidth (extra fee), and domains (extra fee), 100% uptime
  • Protocols: HTTP(S) & SOCKS5 
  • Locations: 98 countries 
  • Avg. download speed: 123.44 Mbps
  • Price: starts from $1.90/IP. 7-day trial for businesses, 3-day refund for individuals.
Bright Data Coupon
Mention Proxyway when you add $250 to your account and get $250 extra.
Coupon

Read the Bright Data review for more information and performance tests.

Oxylabs logo

2. Oxylabs

Premium private proxies with the vastest network.

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. While there’s no self-service, the provider hand-picks proxies for you and even lets you choose as many subnets as you need. 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, even the smallest plan starts at 100 IPs, which prices out many small clients.

  • Features: Unlimited threads, bandwidth, and domains, proxy rotator 
  • Protocols: HTTP(S) & SOCKS5 
  • Locations: 188 countries 
  • Avg. download speed: 53.20 Mbps
  • Price: From $180/100 IPs ($1.8/IP) in the US or $300/100 IPs ($3/IP) elsewhere. 7-day trial for businesses, 3-day refund.
Oxylabs Coupon
Use the code proxyway35 to get a 35% off.
Coupon

Read the Oxylabs review for more information and performance tests.

rayobyte logo

3. Rayobyte

A strong choice for customers of all sizes.

Rayobyte is a well-known datacenter proxy provider. It controls over 300,000 proxies, many of which 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. They’re very broad, though: both 100 and 950 proxies will cost the same per IP address. So, the price can range from decent to expensive, depending where on the range you end up.

  • Features: Unlimited threads, traffic, and domains, monthly refresh 
  • Protocols: HTTP(S) & SOCKS5 
  • Locations: 26 countries 
  • Avg. download speed: 62.96 Mbps
  • Price: Starts from $12.50 for 5 IPs ($2.50/IP). 2-day free trial available.
Rayobyte Coupon
Use the code proxyway to get 5% off.
Coupon
Read the Rayobyte review for more information and performance tests.
Webshare

4. Webshare

Customizable private IPs with complete self-service.

Webshare runs dedicated proxies in 30 countries around the world. 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. The dashboard is easy-to-use and navigate, so it’s a good choice for first-time users.

The subscription is 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.

  • Features: 500 – 3,000 threads, unlimited bandwidth, IP refreshes and replacements 
  • Protocols: HTTP(S), SOCKS5 
  • Locations: Over 30 countries
  • Avg. download speed: 80.80 Mbps
  • Price: Very customizable and depends on the add-ons. The most basic configuration starts from $26.60 for 20 IPs ($1.33/IP). Offers a free plan with 10 proxies.

Read the Webshare review for more information and performance tests.

iproyal-logo

5. IPRoyal

Cheap dedicated proxies from 30 countries.

IPRoyal offers cheap datacenter proxies from over 30 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.

IPRoyal also offers dedicated sneaker proxies. They come from a private proxy pool with IPs that aren’t blocked (allegedly) on shoe websites. 

  • Features: Unlimited traffic, threads, domains, and monthly refresh
  • Protocols: HTTP(S), SOCKS5
  • Locations: Over 30 countries
  • Avg. download speed: 43.28 Mbps
  • Price: Starting from $9 for 5 IPs ($1.80/IP).
IPRoyal Coupon
Use the code PROXYWAY30 to get 30% off on residential proxies.
Coupon
Read the IPRoyal review for more information and performance tests.
smartproxy-logo

6. Smartproxy

Affordable private proxies in the US.

If you’re not picky about features or fancy proxy management tools, Smartproxy might be what you need. Here, it’s 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. 

In exchange for variety, you’ll get a polished user experience, award-winning customer support, and attractive prices. The plans start small but can scale up to 1,000 proxies if needed. So both hustlers and enterprises will find something for them if the product’s features can meet their needs.

  • Features: Unlimited threads, bandwidth, domains, API 
  • Protocols: HTTP(S), SOCKS5 
  • Locations: US 
  • Avg. download speed: 32.88 Mbps
  • Price: From $7.5 for 3 IPs ($2.50/IP). 14-day money-back option.
Smartproxy Coupon
Try Smartproxy Residential Proxies for free.
Coupon
Read the Smartproxy review for more information and performance tests.
proxy servers as houses

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.

Adam Dubois
Adam Dubois
Proxy geek and developer.