The Best Shared Proxy Providers of 2024
Sometimes, there’s no need to get expensive dedicated or residential IPs. If you’re accessing unprotected websites, shared datacenter proxies can perform just as well for a fraction of the cost. Some providers further simplify things by automatically rotating the addresses for you. If you’re looking to buy cheap shared proxies, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve picked out a number of great providers to ensure you’ll get the best experience for the price. Here are our top picks.
Best Shared Proxy Providers – Quick Summary:
1. Webshare – performant proxies with flexible subscription options.
2. Smartproxy – 100,000 rotating proxies with unlimited threads.
3. Bright Data – shared IPs with the most customization options.
4. Oxylabs – shared rotating proxy pools for web scraping.
5. Rayobyte – proxies with flexible pricing.
Key Points about Shared Proxies
- Shared proxies are middlemen IPs that multiple people use at the same time.
- Though any proxy type can be shared, the name mostly refers to datacenter IPs.
- They’re the cheapest option available: an IP costs 2-3 times less compared to dedicated proxies. When priced by traffic, you’ll pay 5-20 times less compared to residential addresses.
- Shared proxy servers are simple to block if a website tries. Still, they’re a fine choice for hiding your IP, unblocking geo-restricted content, and scraping unprotected websites.
- Shared proxies also provide an affordable testing ground for beginners who want to try out proxies for their use case.
You can learn more in our guide on shared proxies.
The Best Cheap Shared Proxy Providers
1. Webshare
Performant proxies with high customizability.
Proxy formats:
IP lists
Locations:
40+ countries
Protocols:
HTTP(S), SOCKS5
- Proxy pool: 55 million
- Support: award-winning 24/7 support
- Extras: API, browser extension, anti-detect browser, extensive documentation
- Pricing: Starts from $7 for 1 GB. Free trial available. Pay as you go available.
Webshare has a robust infrastructure of shared datacenter proxies. The service comes with all the necessary features, flexible pricing, and reliable infrastructure performance. The IPs come in the form of a list, and you can customize them to a great extent. For example, you can choose how much traffic you need, select IPs from multiple countries, and even enable network priority. While there’s no custom rotation, Webshare allows you to keep for as long as they are available.
There’s one downside – with each new feature, Webshare becomes more expensive, and it’s easy to spend more than you initially intended.
Read the Webshare review for more information and performance tests.
2. Smartproxy
100,000 rotating proxies with unlimited threads.
Proxy formats:
shared IP list, rotating proxy pool
Locations:
worldwide
Protocols:
HTTP(S)
- Support: award winning 24/7 support via chat, email
- Extras: API, browser extension, anti-detect browser, extensive documentation
- Free trial: 14-day money-back guarantee
- Pricing starts from:
– Pay per GB: $30 for 50 GB ($0.6/GB)
– Pay per IP: $10 for 100 IPs ($0.1/IP)
Smartproxy is known for its residential proxies, but it sells other types as well, shared datacenter IPs included. The provider gives its customers two choices: you can either buy a plan and pay for a certain number of IPs and bandwidth, or only for traffic. You can get 100,000 IPs worldwide. All plans give access to the full IP pool, and these proxies automatically rotate, so they’re great for web scraping. Smartproxy is a user-friendly provider, with plenty of integration instructions and amazing customer support, so you won’t be left on your own.
For the drawbacks, the 30-minute sticky sessions might not be long enough for everyone.
Read the Smartproxy review for more information and performance tests.
3. Bright Data
Rotating and static shared IPs with the most customization options.
Proxy formats:
shared IP list, rotating proxy pool (custom rotation)
Locations:
100+ locations
Protocols:
HTTP(S), SOCKS5
- Support: 24/7 support via live chat, email
- Extras: Proxy Manager
- Free trial: 7-day free trial for businesses, 3-day refund for individuals; up to 15 datacenter proxies and 2 GB/month trial available
- Pricing starts from: $0.11/GB + $0.80/IP
Bright Data gives you two options for shared proxies: a list of IPs or access to a regular pool of 20,000 addresses. The second option randomly picks IPs from Bright Data’s supported 90+ locations. You can set up rotation, filter the proxies, and otherwise control them with Bright Data’s powerful Proxy Manager. The pricing plans are monthly, but you can also pay as you go. In short, Bright Data offers an elaborate and technically demanding service for professionals. If you’re one, you’ll find it very powerful; otherwise, you might find Bright Data too complex.
Read the Bright Data review for more information and performance tests.
4. Oxylabs
Shared rotating proxy pools for web scraping.
Proxy formats:
rotating proxy pool
Locations:
8 locations
Protocols:
HTTP
- Rotation: every request, sticky sessions for as long as available
- Support: 24/7 support via live chat, email
- Extras: API, extensive documentation
- Free trial: 7-day free trial for businesses, 3-day refund for individuals
- Pricing starts from: $50 for 77 GB ($0.65/GB)
Oxylabs offers shared proxies in 15 locations including the US, some European and Asian countries. The proxies come in a pool of 22,00 addresses; they can rotate with every connection request, or you can establish sticky sessions. There’s no time limit for keeping the same IP address, as long as you use the same session ID. You can start using the service quickly, and the dashboard has convenient graphs to track traffic expenditure.
Overall, it’s a powerful option for web scraping – good targeting options, though a steeper starting price.
Read the Oxylabs review for more information and performance tests.
5. Rayobyte
Proxies with flexible pricing.
Proxy formats:
IP list, rotating proxy pool
Locations:
20+ (semi-dedicated); 4 (rotating) countries
Protocols:
HTTP (rotating); HTTP(S), SOCKS5 (IP pool)
- Protocols: HTTP (rotating); HTTP(S) & SOCKS5 (semi-dedicated)
- Rotation: every request, sticky sessions for up to 2 hours
- Support: 24/7 support via email
- Extras: extensive documentation
- Free trial: 50 MB free trial available
- Pricing starts from:
– Semi-dedicated: $1 for 1 IP
– Rotating: $0.60 for 1 GB
Rayobyte is known for its robust datacenter proxy infrastructure. The provider sells semi-dedicated datacenter IP lists in the US and several European countries. Since you only share the IP with up to three people at a time, you can expect stable connections. Rayobyte also has pool-based rotating datacenter IPs in 4 countries (with an option to request other countries) that you can rotate with every request or create sticky sessions for up to 120 minutes.
Rayobyte’s pricing allows you to customize the length of your subscription, necessary locations, and the amount of proxies you need. And the more IPs you buy, the better the price gets. However, performance-wise they’re stable, but slow.
Read the Rayobyte review for more information and performance tests.
6. NetNut
Rotating proxies with a large proxy pool but limited filtering options.
Proxy formats:
gateway address
Locations:
worldwide
Protocols:
HTTP(S), SOCKS5
- Protocols: HTTP(S), SOCKS5
- Support: 24/7 support via email, dedicated account manager
- Extras: API, average documentation
- Free trial: 7-day free trial available
- Pricing starts from: $100 for 100 GB ($1/GB)
NetNut comes with over 150,000 monthly IPs worldwide, giving you full access to the proxy network. The IPs rotate with every request; there’s no custom duration, but you can choose to hold indefinite sessions for as long as the IP is available.
However, the performance wasn’t ideal – while the provider’s infrastructure appears to be good, its download speed was significantly slower compared to the alternatives on this list.
Read the NetNut review for more information and performance tests.
Frequently Asked Questions About Shared Proxies
A shared proxy is an IP address that multiple people use at the same time.
Yes. Providers like Smartproxy and Luminati give access to backconnect proxy servers. They automatically rotate your IP after some time.
They’ll likely be slow and overused. A free shared proxy can also serve you fake ads or even steal your personal data. Be especially careful with HTTP proxies because they send all data in plain text.
