7 Best Residential Proxy Provider in 2026

Quick Comparison on All Residential Proxies

Proxying

Best for: affordable residential proxies with no bandwidth expiration

Proxying launched in 2023. Two features stand out on this list: the lowest entry price and non-expiring bandwidth. IPRoyal also offers non-expiring bandwidth – no other provider on this list does.

Pool size is listed as 10M+ IPs. Country-level targeting is available. City-level targeting is listed as coming soon on their residential proxies page.

The residential proxies page lists a 99%+ success rate and under 1s response time, both self-reported.

Pricing:

• $1.50/GB promotional rate at time of research (regular price listed as $5/GB; some pages show $3/GB)

• Custom pricing available for 1TB+/month

• Pay-as-you-go; no subscription required

• Free trial available – amount varies, confirm with their team

What stood out:

• HTTP(S), SOCKS5, and UDP support

• Rotating and sticky session modes. Rotation per request or configurable time to live (TTL) for sticky IPs

• Network is opt-in, built through SDK partners under their integration guidelines

Where it falls short:

• No independent benchmark data yet

• Launched in 2023 – shorter track record than established providers on this list

• No standalone documentation portal – integration guides are on product pages

• No scraping API or browser automation tools

• City-level targeting is not yet available

Best use cases: Web scraping on a budget, price monitoring, and search engine results page (SERP) tracking.

Bright Data

Best for: enterprise-scale data collection with the largest pool on this list

Bright Data launched in 2014 as Luminati Networks and rebranded in 2021. Their site claims the largest residential proxy pool on this list at 400M+ IPs across 195 countries. Their site reports over 20,000 customers including Fortune 500 companies. They also offer a Web Scraper API, Browser API with built-in CAPTCHA solving, and a Proxy Manager for routing and failover configuration.

Proxyway's 2024 benchmarks measured a 98.96% success rate across tested locations. Bright Data participated in Proxyway's 2025 research but withdrew before testing completed – 2024 data is used as reference. Their own site claims a 99.99% success rate.

Pricing:

At time of research, the pricing page showed a 50% promotional discount (code RESIGB50) for 3 months – verify current offers on their site. Standard prices and promo rates from that time are listed below:

• Pay-as-you-go: $8.00/GB standard ($4.00/GB with promo)

• Starter (141GB): $7.00/GB standard ($3.50/GB with promo, $499/month)

• Professional (332GB): $6.00/GB standard ($3.00/GB with promo, $999/month)

• Enterprise (798GB): $5.00/GB standard ($2.50/GB with promo, $1,999/month)

• Custom pricing for 1TB+ (contact sales)

• Deposit match: they match your first deposit dollar-for-dollar up to $500

• Free trial available - check current offer on signup, trial traffic does not count toward your bill

What stood out:

• 400M+ residential IPs per their site – largest pool on this list

• Geo-targeting down to country, city, state, ZIP code, and ASN level – included free on all plans

• Full protocol support: HTTP(S), SOCKS5, and QUIC (HTTP/3)

• IP whitelisting available through the Proxy Manager

• ISO 27001, SOC 2, SOC 3, and CSA STAR certifications

• 99.99% uptime service-level agreement (SLA) with 24/7 engineer support and 15-minute priority support response per their site

• Proxy Manager for advanced routing logic, waterfall rotations, and failover rules

• Opt-in network – participants explicitly consent per their current policy

Where it falls short:

• The Zones configuration system involves more initial setup than most providers on this list

• Standard entry price of $8.00/GB ($4.00/GB with promo) is the highest on this list

• Know Your Customer (KYC) verification is required before you can start using residential or mobile proxies

• Proxyway noted performance has remained largely flat over recent years while some competitors have improved

Best use cases: Large-scale enterprise data collection, price intelligence platforms, ad verification at scale, and operations where compliance certifications are a procurement requirement.

Oxylabs

Best for: highest independent success rate and advanced proxy filtering

Proxyway measured Oxylabs at 99.82% success rate with 0.41-second response times in 2025. 

Pricing:

• Starter: $6/GB (5GB, $30/month)

• Basic: $5/GB (20GB, $100/month)

• Advanced: $4/GB (125GB, $500/month)

• Corporate: $2.50/GB (1TB, $2,500/month)

• No promotional pricing detected at time of research – verify current rates on their site

• Free trial available once per account – requires contacting their team

What stood out:

• Proxy filtering by latency, bandwidth, and IP scraping history

• OS/platform filtering and IPv4/IPv6 selection available on all plans (enabling may require KYC verification)

• Sticky sessions with configurable TTL up to 30 minutes

• IP whitelisting – 10 IPs included on all plans

• ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certified. SOC 2 Type 2 certified for select products – see their Trust Center for full scope

• Ethical Web Data Collection Initiative (EWDCI) founding member and accredited

• 175M+ residential IPs across 195 countries

Where it falls short:

• $6/GB for a 5GB starter plan is among the higher entry prices on this list

• Monthly commitment required on all plans per the public pricing page – no self-service pay-as-you-go option visible

• Free trial requires contacting their team - no instant self-service trial

Best use cases: Operations where the highest possible success rate matters (real-time pricing, inventory monitoring), competitive intelligence platforms, and SERP monitoring at scale.

Decodo (formerly Smartproxy)

Best for: fastest response time with strong value

Smartproxy rebranded to Decodo in April 2025. The company was founded in 2018. Proxyway measured a 99.86% success rate with 0.63-second response times in 2025.

G2 recognized them for ease of use and onboarding experience – per their site. Proxyway named them Best Value Provider for the fourth consecutive year.

Pricing:

• Subscription plans at time of research: $3.00/GB (5GB), scaling to $1.50/GB (1TB) – verify current rates on their site as pricing changes frequently

• Pay-as-you-go available - price varies across their own pages ($3.50/GB, $4/GB, and $8.50/GB appear on different official sources). Confirm the current rate before committing

• Enterprise plans with custom pricing and dedicated account manager

• 3-day free trial with 100MB

• 14-day money-back guarantee on first purchase (conditions apply)

What stood out:

• 99.86% success rate in Proxyway's 2025 independent testing

• 0.63s average response time in Proxyway's 2025 benchmarks

• 115M+ residential IPs across 195+ locations

• Targeting by continent, country, city, state, ZIP code, and ASN – city/state/ZIP and ASN cannot be used simultaneously per their documentation

• ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certified. Founding member of EWDCI

Where it falls short:

• Pay-as-you-go price is inconsistent across their own official sources – verify before using for budget planning

• 14-day money-back guarantee has conditions – usage must stay under 20% (10% for enterprise), first purchase only, does not apply to free trial conversions

Best use cases: Mid-scale scraping operations, SEO agencies, eCommerce price monitoring, and any project where response time is a priority alongside cost.

IPRoyal

Best for: irregular usage patterns and very long sticky sessions

IPRoyal (founded 2020) targets users whose proxy usage does not follow a monthly pattern. Two differentiators: bandwidth that never expires and sticky sessions with a TTL of up to 7 days – the longest on this list.

Proxyway tested IPRoyal in their 2025 benchmark and measured a 99.56% global success rate with a 1.06-second response time.

Pricing:

• Starts at $7.00/GB (subscription, includes 5% discount) and $7.35/GB (pay-as-you-go) at the lowest volume

• Bulk pricing goes as low as $1.75/GB – exact volume threshold not publicly listed

• No monthly commitment

• Bandwidth never expires

• Promotional pricing may be available – check their site for current offers

• No money-back guarantee. Pay-as-you-go fees are non-refundable except for a narrow 24-hour technical fault window per their Terms of Service and refund policy FAQ

What stood out:

• 7-day sticky session TTL – the longest on this list

• Rotation configurable per request or at 1, 10, or 30-minute intervals

• 32M+ residential IPs across 195+ countries per their product pages.

Where it falls short:

• $7.00/GB entry price is among the higher entry prices on this list

• Proxyway describes the pool as small relative to competitors and "seriously abused" – meaning a higher share of flagged or already-blocked IPs from shared usage

• Proxyway's 2025 benchmark showed IPRoyal struggled with popular targets (Amazon, Google, Instagram) despite a 99.56% global infrastructure success rate

• The ~0.5s response time on their site does not match Proxyway's independently measured 1.06s

• Without KYC verification, users access only 40% of the pool per Proxyway's review

• ISO certifications not yet completed – their site states they are "always working towards official ISO certifications"

Best use cases: Project-based scraping with irregular schedules, freelancers and agencies who cannot predict monthly usage, and operations that need sessions up to 7 days. Less suited for heavily protected targets given the gap between infrastructure and real-world benchmark performance.

SOAX

Best for: ASN-level geo-targeting precision

SOAX scored 99.73% success rate with 0.90-second response times in Proxyway's April 2025 testing. Proxyway named them "Contender of the Year" in 2025. Their own site claims 99.95% success rate and 0.5s response time - both self-reported.

The standout feature is ASN-level targeting - you can select proxies from specific ISP networks, not just countries or cities. Bright Data and Oxylabs also offer ASN targeting, but at higher entry prices.

Their pool is listed as 155M+ IPs per their site – larger than Decodo (115M+) and IPRoyal (32M+), but behind Oxylabs (175M+) and Bright Data (400M+).

Pricing:

• Pay-as-you-go: $4.00/GB (no commitment)

• Starter: $3.60/GB ($90/month, 25GB)

• Advanced: $3.40/GB ($170/month, 50GB)

• Professional: $2.46/GB ($740/month, 300GB) – marked as "Most Popular"

• Business: $2.00/GB ($1,600/month, 800GB)

• Enterprise: custom pricing from $0.32/GB at high volumes (contact sales)

• $1.99 trial for 400MB over 3 days

• Eligible startups can receive 50% off an Enterprise plan for one year

What stood out:

• ASN-level targeting as a core feature, combined with country, region, city, and state-level geo-targeting

• 99.73% success rate, 0.90s response time (Proxyway Global gateway benchmark)

• 155M+ residential IPs across 195+ locations per their site

• HTTP(S), SOCKS5, UDP, and QUIC protocol support

• Flexible session management: rotating, sticky (up to 60 minutes), and custom duration

Where it falls short:

• Higher latency in Asia-Pacific. Proxyway measured 2.14s in India and 2.30s in Australia, versus 0.55s in the US and 0.48s in the UK

• Throughput drops on larger payloads – Proxyway noted performance on 2MB content landed in the middle of the pack despite strong standard page results

• No proxy support in Texas due to what SOAX describes as "the intricate regulatory landscape concerning IP address usage and anonymity in Texas"

• SOC 2 and ISO 27001 certifications are in process, not yet completed

Best use cases: Ad verification requiring ISP-level precision, regional market research, and high-volume operations where enterprise pricing drops to $0.32/GB at volume.

NetNut

Best for: static residential proxies with ISP-grade connection stability

NetNut (operational since 2017, headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel) is a subsidiary of Alarum Technologies Ltd (NASDAQ: ALAR).

Proxyway tested NetNut in April 2025 and measured a 98.40% global success rate with a 1.22-second response time – both lower than most other providers on this list. NetNut's own site claims a 99% success rate.

Their architecture uses a hybrid model: rotating residential proxies combine ISP and peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, while their static residential proxies use direct ISP connectivity with one-hop routing. No end-user device dependency on the static side. They operate across over 200 ISPs and internet exchange points worldwide.

Their static residential proxy pool includes over 1 million always-on IPs available 24/7. Rated #1 Web Data Provider on G2 in 2025 per their site.

Pricing (monthly billing):

• Starter: $99/month (28GB, $3.53/GB)

• Plans scale to 2TB/month at the highest tier

• Annual billing available – enterprise tier drops to $1.59/GB at the highest volume

• Monthly commitment required on all plans, no pay-as-you-go option

• No formal money-back guarantee – contact sales for refund eligibility

• 7-day trial available – contact sales to activate

What stood out:

• 1M+ static residential IPs available 24/7

• 85M+ rotating residential IPs per their FAQ and product pages. Their about page lists a lower figure – the discrepancy is not explained on their site

• ISO 27001 certified

• Additional products: Website Unblocker, SERP Scraper API, B2B Data Scraper API

• Fortune 500 clients including Lenovo and Sterling Check per their site

Where it falls short:

• 98.40% global success rate and 1.22s response time trail Decodo (99.86%, 0.63s) and Oxylabs (99.90%, 0.65s) on both metrics in Proxyway's 2025 testing

• Proxyway's 2025 residential benchmark noted NetNut still has catching up to do on popular targets, with the market now broadly exceeding 99% global success rates

• Monthly commitment required – no pay-as-you-go option

Best use cases: Operations that need always-on static residential IPs and US-focused data collection where connection stability matters more than raw success rate.

What makes a residential proxy "the best" in 2026?

The answer depends on your use case. But these are the criteria that separate providers that perform from providers that just market well.

IP cleanliness and reputation

Pool size does not tell you how many IPs are clean right now. Before committing, run a sample through a fraud score API, check rDNS resolution (residential IPs resolve to ISP hostnames, not hosting providers), and confirm geolocation is stable. Ask the provider about subnet diversity and IP sharing — these matter more than headline numbers.

Success rate on protected targets

Provider-claimed success rates are self-reported. Use Proxyway's independent benchmarks as the reference point. The differences are meaningful — at 10 million requests, 98.40% means 160,000 failures versus 14,000 at 99.86%. Test against your actual target sites during the trial, not just generic benchmarks.

Latency and throughput

Proxyway measured response times ranging from 0.63s (Decodo) to over 1.2s (NetNut) in 2025. At high request volumes, 200-300ms of extra latency per request compounds into hours of difference in total crawl time. Test under concurrent load — some providers look fast on isolated requests but degrade under scale.

Pricing model and bandwidth metering

Almost all residential proxies bill per GB of data transferred — both request and response. The real metric is cost per successful request, not price per GB. Failed requests still consume metered bandwidth. Formula: (price per GB) ÷ (success rate) = effective cost per GB.

The extraction method also matters. For targets that don't require JavaScript rendering, a direct HTTP request uses a fraction of the bandwidth of a headless browser. Optimizing this can save more than switching providers.

Pool size vs pool quality

Pool size figures often count every device that has ever connected to a P2P network, including inactive ones. Proxyway's 2025 testing found providers where claimed pool size vastly exceeded unique IPs encountered in actual testing. Ask about IP isolation, rotation logic, and how often flagged IPs are removed.

Geo coverage

"195+ countries" means very little without knowing the depth. A provider might have strong US and Western Europe pools but a handful of IPs in Southeast Asia or Africa. Verify actual IP availability for your target locations before buying.

Uptime and reliability

Production workloads need at least 99.9% uptime backed by an SLA. Check how the provider handles traffic spikes — some throttle throughput or increase timeouts under load. If you plan to scale, test under realistic concurrency during your trial.

Ethical sourcing and IP origin

Providers sourcing through P2P SDK bundles can face IP reputation problems when other apps using the same SDK engage in abusive behaviour — an IP can get flagged through no fault of your usage. Providers sourcing directly from ISPs have more control over IP reputation, but typically smaller pools. Ask any provider to explain their sourcing model.

Types of residential proxies

Rotating residential proxies route each request through a different IP from a backconnect gateway. Billed per GB. Good for high-volume scraping and SERP monitoring where IP diversity matters more than session continuity. Detection risk is low per request, but at very high concurrency, the rotation pattern itself can become detectable.

Static residential proxies (ISP proxies) assign a single dedicated IP that stays the same for as long as you need it. Typically billed per IP. Good for account management, checkout flows, and any workload where a consistent IP identity matters. Latency is lower because the exit node is datacenter-hosted. The tradeoff: a fixed IP builds history over time, which can work for or against you depending on the target.

Quick checklist before buying

• Watch for data expiration policies. Some providers reset unused bandwidth monthly. Proxying and IPRoyal offer non-expiring bandwidth

• Match proxy type to workload: rotating residential for high-volume scraping (per-GB), static ISP for account management and sessions (per-IP, often high bandwidth allowances), datacenter for low-sensitivity targets where detection risk is lower

• Calculate cost per successful request, not just price per GB. Failed requests still consume metered bandwidth

• Verify IP quality independently before committing. Run fraud score, rDNS, and geolocation checks using any fraud detection API or proxy checker tool before purchasing

Which residential proxy provider should you choose?

It depends on your volume, budget, target sites, and whether you need rotating or static IPs.

Decision framework:

• Lowest cost, light usage: Proxying at $1.50/GB (promotional rate at time of research) with non-expiring bandwidth. No independent benchmarks yet.

• Enterprise scale, compliance required: Bright Data at $8/GB standard ($4/GB promo). Largest pool (400M+), ISO 27001, SOC 2, SOC 3, CSA STAR. Withdrew from 2025 testing.

• Highest success rate: Oxylabs at $6/GB. 99.90% success, 0.65s response in Proxyway 2025. Advanced proxy filtering on all plans.

• Fastest and best value: Decodo from $3/GB (subscription). 99.86% success, 0.63s response (fastest tested). Proxyway Best Value four consecutive years.

• Irregular usage, long sessions: IPRoyal at $7/GB with non-expiring bandwidth and 7-day sticky sessions.

• ASN-level targeting: SOAX at $3.60/GB (Starter). Enterprise pricing drops to $0.32/GB at volume.

• Static residential IPs: NetNut with 1M+ always-on IPs. Strong US performance per Proxyway's 2025 data. Proxyway notes room to improve on popular targets.

For session-based workloads - account management, checkouts, long-running monitoring - static ISP proxies with per-IP pricing are worth evaluating alongside the rotating residential options above.

You can audit any proxy setup with the HypeProxies proxy checker: fraud score, DNS leaks, WebRTC exposure, and speed. No login needed.

We recently also written the best ISP proxy providers, that you can check if that is where your use case lies.