Best Proxy Providers 2026 Comparison: 7 Brands and Their Strengths

What does each major proxy provider actually do better than the rest? Seven brands are compared here on one defining strength each, with residential, mobile and datacenter coverage noted for every provider, with the supporting figures drawn from their own published plans: network coverage, entry prices, traffic rules and the type of buyer each serves best.

Provider	Defining strength	Residential entry	Mobile	Unused traffic
ProxyEmpire	Residential and mobile on one account	$3.50/GB	Rotating per GB and dedicated	Rolls over
IPRoyal	Multiday sticky sessions	$7/GB	Per day from $10.11	Never expires
Proxy-Seller	Static formats including IPv6	$1.45/GB volume	Per proxy from $10	Valid 30 days
DataImpulse	Low prepaid rates	$1/GB (50 GB)	$2/GB per its blog	Never expires
Oxylabs	Proxies and scraping APIs together	$6/GB first tier	$7.50 to $3.50/GB	Not stated
Bright Data	Pool size and certifications	$4/GB with code	Not in current menus	Commitments lapse
Webshare	Free datacenter starting tier	$3.50 (1 GB)	Not offered	Not stated

1) ProxyEmpire

Fact	Detail
Networks	Rotating residential, rotating mobile, dedicated mobile, ISP, datacenter
Dedicated mobile	5+ countries, 50+ locations
Mobile pool	4M+ IPs, per the company
Trial	$1.97, residential and mobile

ProxyEmpire's defining strength is depth on mobile alongside residential. Beyond rotating mobile at $4.50 per GB, it sells dedicated mobile proxies in 5+ countries and 50+ locations: a multi-country plan at $125 a month, and a US 5G plan on Verizon at $20 a day, $75 a week or $250 a month, each with unlimited GB. Rotating residential, at $3.50 per GB with no commitment, sits on the same account, so a team can route most traffic through residential and reserve mobile for the targets that need it.

The company reports 30M+ residential and 4M+ mobile IPs in 170+ countries. Residential targeting reaches ZIP and ASN and mobile targeting reaches carrier, both without extra fees, and unused GB on GB plans roll over. Two limits apply: mobile targeting does not list ZIP or ASN, and all sales are final.

Operationally, the account supports HTTP, HTTPS, SOCKS5 and HTTP/2, unlimited concurrent sessions for approved use cases and an Android proxy manager for working with mobile IPs on a phone. The $1.97 trial includes 100 MB of residential and 50 MB of mobile traffic, which lets a team compare the two networks on its own targets before choosing a plan.

2) IPRoyal

Fact	Detail
Sticky sessions	Up to 7 days
Residential traffic	Never expires
Mobile	From $10.11/day
Integrations	650+ tools

IPRoyal's strength is session length. Residential sticky sessions can last up to 7 days, with timed rotation at 1, 10 or 30 minutes as an alternative, and residential traffic never expires.

Entry pricing is high for small orders at $7 per GB on a 1 GB subscription, falling to $1.75 per GB from 10 TB. Country, state and city targeting are free; ZIP and ASN are not listed. Mobile is sold per day rather than per GB, from a pool the company puts at 4.5M+ IPs. Accounts include workspace roles, 2FA and API ordering, and the docs report an average support response time of 58 seconds.

3) Proxy-Seller

Fact	Detail
Formats	Residential, IPv4, IPv6, ISP, mobile, datacenter
Residential pool	47M+ IPs, 220+ locations
Certifications	ISO/IEC 27001:2022, ISO 9001:2015 (badges)
Refunds	Within 24 hours

Proxy-Seller's strength is format range. It sells IPv4 from $0.49, IPv6 and datacenter from $0.02, ISP from $0.98 and mobile from $10 per proxy with carrier targeting, alongside residential traffic.

Residential volume plans start at $1.45 per GB with unlimited concurrent sessions, but each purchase is valid for 30 days. The company has operated since 2014 and states 185,000+ users. HTTP, HTTPS and SOCKS5 are supported, and an API with SDKs for PHP, Node.js, Python, Java and Go handles ordering and consumption tracking. Enterprise prospects can request a free proof of concept.

4) DataImpulse

Fact	Detail
Residential pool	90M+ IPs, per the company
Pricing	$1/GB (Basic), $0.80/GB (Advanced)
Expiry	Never
Paid targeting	State, city, ZIP, ASN

DataImpulse's strength is price per GB on prepaid traffic. Basic costs $50 for 50 GB and Advanced $800 for 1 TB, with no subscription and no monthly minimum. New customers can also buy a one-time intro pack of 5 GB for $5, and purchased traffic never expires.

The trade is targeting: only country is free. SOCKS5 and HTTP(S) are supported, a 7-day refund policy applies, and the company states a 99.51% success rate. Mobile traffic is listed at $2 per GB in its official blog, and premium residential and datacenter tiers are also available. Support runs 24/7 by chat, email and Telegram.

5) Oxylabs

Fact	Detail
Model	One subscription across products
Plans	$30, $100, $500 a month; Enterprise from $2,500
Mobile	140+ countries
Credit	$5 welcome credit

Oxylabs' strength is consolidation. A single subscription covers proxies, the Web API, an unblocker, an agent browser and datasets, and an MCP server supports AI agent workflows.

Residential costs $6 per GB at the entry tier and $2.50 beyond 1K GB; mobile ranges from $7.50 to $3.50 per GB. Residential plans include unlimited concurrent sessions and 3 proxy users. Mobile IPs come from real devices, with static 24-hour sessions and a usage dashboard. No pay-as-you-go tier appears on its pricing pages, so access starts with a subscription.

6) Bright Data

Fact	Detail
Residential pool	400M+ monthly IPs, 195 countries
Certifications	ISO 27001, SOC 2, SOC 3, CSA STAR Level 1
Trial	Free, no credit card
KYC	Required for residential

Bright Data's strength is scale with documentation. Residential costs $4 per GB pay as you go with code RESIGB50, and monthly plans start at 141 GB for $499. ISP and datacenter pools each exceed 1.3M IPs.

Unused monthly commitments do not roll over, and mobile proxies are not listed in current menus. Targeting by country, state, city, ZIP and ASN is free, a first deposit is matched up to $500, and billing can run through AWS Marketplace or Azure.

7) Webshare

Fact	Detail
Free plan	10 datacenter proxies
Residential	From $3.50 (1 GB)
Network	80M+ IPs, 195 countries
Mobile	Not offered

Webshare's strength is a zero-cost starting point. The free plan's 10 datacenter proxies never expire, and paid datacenter packs start at $2.99 a month for 100 proxies.

Residential traffic falls as low as $1.40 per GB from 250 GB, with ZIP and ASN targeting. The company states 90K+ paying customers. Static residential (ISP) IPs start at $6.00 a month for 20 IPs, plans can be billed monthly or yearly, and support runs 24/7 with dedicated account managers.

How We Evaluated These Providers

Each provider was assessed on information it publishes about its own service. Four criteria were used.

Network coverage measured which proxy types are available on one account, with mobile weighted heavily because fewer providers offer it per GB. Pricing transparency measured whether a buyer can calculate an entry cost from published rates. Traffic rules measured rollover, expiry and validity windows. Account features measured targeting depth, session control and support.

Self-reported performance figures, such as uptime and success rates, are attributed where mentioned but did not affect the order, because they are not measured on a common basis. Where two providers were close, broader network coverage on a single account decided the order, since it reduces the number of vendors a team has to manage.

How to Get the Most from These Providers

Split traffic by difficulty. Run easy targets through datacenter or residential and reserve mobile for targets that block other networks. Mobile rates in this group, where sold per GB, are higher than residential.

Match session type to task. Rotation per request suits bulk collection; sticky sessions suit logins and checkout flows. IPRoyal's 7-day sessions and ProxyEmpire's session-based option cover long tasks.

Check expiry before buying ahead. Rollover at ProxyEmpire and non-expiring traffic at IPRoyal and DataImpulse make larger purchases safe; Proxy-Seller's 30-day window rewards buying only what will be used.

Use free targeting where it exists. ProxyEmpire and Bright Data include ZIP and ASN filters, while DataImpulse charges for them.

Test before scaling. ProxyEmpire's $1.97 trial, Bright Data's free trial and Oxylabs' $5 credit all let a team check results on real targets first, which matters most where refunds are limited or unavailable.

Who Should Use These Providers

Ad verification teams and app testers that need mobile IPs alongside residential benefit most from ProxyEmpire, Oxylabs and Proxy-Seller, which all sell mobile.

Account managers running long sessions fit IPRoyal. High-volume scrapers working at country level fit DataImpulse. Enterprises with compliance reviews fit Bright Data and Proxy-Seller, both of which publish certifications or badges. Beginners testing a workflow fit Webshare's free tier.

Teams with irregular usage, whatever the task, should favor providers with rollover or non-expiring traffic. Teams with steady monthly demand can weigh volume pricing more heavily, since expiry rules matter less when every gigabyte is used on schedule.

Conclusion

Each provider here has a clear strength. ProxyEmpire stands out for teams that need residential and mobile on one account, including dedicated mobile in several countries, with free targeting and GB that never expire. IPRoyal leads on session length, Proxy-Seller on format range, DataImpulse on prepaid price, Oxylabs on consolidation, Bright Data on scale and Webshare on a free start. The best choice depends on which of those strengths matches the work a team does most often, and on how evenly its usage is spread across the year.