The Best Web Unblockers (Proxy APIs) for 2024
Web unblockers are like a supercharged version of proxies. They not only give you multiple IPs – an unblocker also applies the right fingerprint configuration and even renders JavaScript. The aim is to provide uninterrupted access to your target – no matter what fancy protection or dynamic framework it uses.
In this page, you’ll find a curated list of the best web unblockers for your web scraping project. We tested each with a selection of bot-protection systems to make sure they’re worth the money. Here are our top picks.
The Best Web Unblockers in 2024 – Quick Summary:
- Bright Data – the fastest web unblocker.
- Crawlbase – affordable web unblocker.
- Oxylabs – web unblocker that scales well.
- Smartproxy – easy to use web unblocker.
What Is a Web Unblocker?
A web unblocker is a remote web scraper that integrates as a proxy server. It’s one of the newer types of web scraping services that falls under the category of proxy APIs. In essence, it has the properties of a proxy, but in the backend the API takes care of website unblocking mechanisms.
Why Use a Website Unblocker for Scraping?
First and foremost, web unblockers simplify the process of extracting the web page’s HTML. They automatically select the appropriate type of proxy (whether residential or datacenter), request headers, and other fingerprint parameters. As a result, you don’t need to write or maintain the unblocking logic yourself.
Second, most web unblockers can render JavaScript, letting you avoid managing expensive headless browsers.
Third, if you’re already using proxies, web unblockers are simple to integrate. They use a single endpoint in the shape of hostname:port which you can drop into your code. Providers that offer proxy APIs include features available to regular proxy networks like location targeting or ability to establish sessions.
Finally, unlike some web scraping APIs, web unblockers aren’t limited to a certain category of web pages. If you want, you can scrape e-commerce, social media, and other websites without paying for a new subscription.
How We Made the List?
To choose the best web unblocker, we tested providers that offer proxy based APIs and presented the results in our research on proxy APIs.
We compared their features, pricing models, as well as ability to overcome major bot protection systems. Our benchmarks targeted seven websites: Google, Amazon, photo-focused social media platform, Kohls (Akamai), Nordstrom (Shape), Petco (DataDome, Cloudflare), and Walmart (ThreatMetrix, PerimeterX).
| Bright Data | Crawlbase | Oxylabs | Smartproxy | |
| Average success rate | 94.65% | 90.00% | 93.37% | 93.79% |
| Average response time | 15.05 s | 16.21 s | 20.43 s | 20.05 s |
The Best Web Unblockers in 2024
1. Bright Data’s Web Unlocker
The fastest web unblocker.
Bright Data is one of the largest companies in the industry. It has a robust proxy and data collection infrastructure.
Like most companies on this list, Bright Data is a proxy provider, so its Web Unlocker comes with granular location settings – country, city, and ASN-level targeting. The tool even renders JavaScript automatically, so it’s very easy to use. However, it offers few options to customize the request.
Together with Bright Data’s Web Unlocker, we also tested its SERP API – a search engine unblocker that you can use without getting a new subscription. The specialized scraper offers more custom parameters for request building, like search query, pagination, and location. Additionally, the tool is capable of parsing different Google properties.
During our tests, Bright Data was the fastest with targets that required JavaScript and had a high success rate overall.
In terms of pricing, the provider charges for successful requests, which is an upside in the context of web unblockers. However, Bright Data is an expensive provider, and its pricing depends on modifiers like city, ASN filtering, as well as domains that the company considers premium.
Features:
- Locations: Countries (all), states, cities, ASNs
- Sessions: Yes
- Proxy selection: Automated
- JavaScript: Automatic
- Request modifiers: Custom parameters for search engines
- Page interactions: None
Price:
Starts at $3/CPM or $6/CPM if you enable premium features (+$4 for premium targets). 7-day free trial for businesses, 3-day refund for individuals.
Read the Bright Data review for more information and performance tests.
2. Crawlbase
Affordable web unblocker.
Crawlbase is a well-known provider of web scraping tools. We tested its Crawling API – a web scraping API with a proxy mode. The provider also offers a proxy API – Smart Proxy – with all the same parameters. It’s cheaper but locks important features behind pricing tiers.
Both tools come with JS rendering, together with an option to return the page’s screenshot. They also offer various custom parameters. You can send POST requests, interact with the page by waiting for it to load or scrolling down. Additionally, you can extract particular CSS elements from any website. However, Crawlbase covers only 26 countries, and you won’t be able to target cities.
Crawlbase was quite fast, but it failed more requests than the other options on this list. It struggled even with easier targets like Google.
The provider uses a pricing system where it charges for successful requests. It’s the most affordable option on this list, but you’ll have to pay double if you need to enable JS rendering.
Features:
- Locations: Countries (26)
- Sessions: Yes
- Proxy selection: Automated, with an option to route via TOR
- JavaScript: Different API token, option to return page screenshot
- Request modifiers: Custom headers, cookies
- Page interactions: POST requests, wait for load, scroll
Price:
Starts at 0.3¢/request (regular websites); 0.6¢/request (Javascript websites).
3. Oxylabs’ Web Unblocker
Web unblocker that scales well.
Oxylabs is among the best proxy service providers with an arsenal of web scraping tools.
Oxylabs’ Web Unblocker comes with location settings that reach co-ordinate level. You can render JS by passing a header in your request and get either the HTML source of the pages screenshot. The tool accepts custom headers and cookies, and you can send POST requests to your target endpoint.
Oxylabs prioritizes success rate over speed – it aced the tests with most anti-bot systems, except Shape. It did especially well with Google, Petco, and Amazon. And let’s not forget the benefits of 24/7 customer service to help you with any query and quality documentation.
Unlike the first two options, Oxylabs bases pricing on traffic use, so it might not be very efficient for large pages. On the bright side, Oxylabs doesn’t charge extra for JS rendering. You can get a free week-long trial that includes 1 GB of traffic.
Features:
- Locations: Countries (all), states, cities, co-ordinates
- Sessions: Yes
- Proxy selection: Automated
- JavaScript: Options to render JS, return page screenshot
- Request modifiers: Custom headers, cookies
- Page interactions: POST requests
Price:
Starts at $75 for 5GBs ($15/GB). Free trial with 1GB available.
4. Smartproxy’s Site Unblocker
Easy to use web unblocker.
Smartproxy’s tool focuses on ease of use and accessibility. It’s easy to pick up, making it a suitable choice for beginners. The customer support is available around the clock and responds to requests in under 2 minutes.
In terms of features, you get flexible location filtering, ability to send custom cookies and request headers. There’s also an option to send POST requests with form or other data and receive a screenshot instead of HTML.
Site Unlocker showed almost perfect performance with most websites we tested it on. However, it was one of the slower options once JavaScript was involved.
The provider uses traffic-based pricing that charges the same amount for all features. Once again, it’s efficient for websites with small pages or API endpoints, not so much for targets like Amazon. The entry price is low, with a generous refund policy.
Features:
- Locations: Countries (all), states, cities, co-ordinates
- Sessions: Yes
- Proxy selection: Automated
- JavaScript: Options to render JS, return page screenshot
- Request modifiers: Custom headers, cookies
- Page interactions: POST requests
Price:
Starts at $28 for 2 GBs ($14/GB). 14-day refund available.
