Top proxies and scraping APIs compared

About Top proxies and scraping APIs compared

Proxy and scraping API buyers weigh two numbers: what a gigabyte costs and how much of the world the pool covers. This ranking covers 52 brands in the proxies category and sets them side by side on per gigabyte rates, country coverage, the proxy types on offer and the support channels behind them. The trade-off runs through the whole list. The cheapest rates tend to come from smaller pools or narrow type mixes, while the widest coverage usually sits higher in the rate band. Residential traffic dominates the category, carried by 100% of the brands, with datacenter routes next at 80%. A free trial is normal, offered by 86% of the brands here. Median listed rates sit at €0.88 per gigabyte and median coverage at 163 countries, so anything well under the median on price deserves a closer read of pool size and type mix. Every entry names the plan a rate belongs to, and limits are shown as published.

How we picked

Scores come from three weighted inputs. Cost carries 40%, offer carries 40% and trust carries 20%, so price and plan contents decide most of the order, with the weight of the company behind the service setting the rest. Cost reads the per gigabyte rate a brand lists rather than a headline monthly figure, and entry rates are read separately from the rates that follow, with the later rate carrying the most weight. Offer counts proxy types, country coverage, pool size and support channels. Trust uses the founding year, the named legal entity and the headquarters country where the brand states one. Every figure is taken from the brand's own material: pricing tables, product and about pages, contact and terms pages, help centres, and a published review where one exists. No value is carried across from a sibling brand, and a published range is shown as the brand published it. Partners that serve your country are listed first in this ranking, then the rest by score. Each blurb names the figures that put a brand at its position and the limit that holds back the brand ranked next to it.

Our top picks

1. 10. Soax

   Soax is in this ranking for a four type mix and wide coverage at a mid range price. The plan covers residential, mobile and isp and reaches from 195 countries from a pool of 191+ million IPs, run by the UK based SOAX LTD, founded 2020. Proxy fees run $0.35 to $5, with the lower end under the category median of €0.88 and the upper end well above it. The limits: a free trial is not offered, and support runs on email and help centre, so no live chat or phone line is listed. Honeygain, ranked next, lists a single flat rate instead, and residential proxies only.

   • Proxy types: Residential, Mobile, Isp, and 1 more
   • Price per GB: $0.35 to $5
   • Countries available: from 195

   Pros

   • Residential, mobile, ISP and datacenter all appear in residential, mobile and isp, a wider mix than Shifter at residential and isp or Scrapfly at residential and datacenter.
   • Country coverage of from 195 runs wider than the site median for countries served, 183.5.
   • The address pool is listed at 191+ million IPs, giving a broad base to rotate through across repeated requests.
   • Per GB cost of $0.35 to $5 keeps lighter jobs affordable, and the site entry price median is €5.83 for context.

   Cons

   • No free trial is offered, so the first purchase is committed money and the per GB rate of $0.35 to $5 cannot be sampled first.
   • Support runs on email and help centre only, with no live chat or phone line listed for incidents.
   • On price per GB, Soax sits at 6 of 25 providers listed, so the budget conversation is about volume, not unit rate.

What to look for

Per gigabyte rate

Cost is the first filter. The median listed rate across this category is €0.88, with the lower quartile at €0.31 and the upper quartile at €2.19. Read entry rates and the rates that follow separately, and hold each plan rate against those marks rather than against marketing copy.

Country coverage

Coverage decides where the pool can place requests. Median coverage is 163 countries, the lower quartile 72 and the upper quartile 195. A narrow pool can suit a single market and run thin everywhere else, so coverage is worth as much attention as rate.

Free trial

A trial lets a team size a pool before it commits. 86% of the brands in this category offer one. Weight it more heavily when the opening month of spend carries the risk, and less heavily when a steady long term pool is already the plan.

Support channels

Proxy failures are hard to explain over text, so support matters. Email is close to universal here at 93.9% of brands, with a help centre at 91.8%. A phone line is rare at 14.3% of the field, and a community board adds a second tier at 61.2%.

Proxy types on the plan

Residential is the base offering, present at 100% of the brands, with datacenter at 80%. Mobile sits at 48.6% and ISP at 48.6%, so the type mix decides how much of a scraping job one plan can absorb.

Frequently asked questions

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