Best Proxy Service in 2026: The Blunt Roundup
Decodo is the best proxy service for serious scraping because we have tested it in production, not just read its pricing page. When we ran hard Google review targets on datacenter proxies, success collapsed to roughly 22%. Moving those jobs to Decodo residential made the workload viable.
ProxyPeers may earn a commission if you buy through provider links in this article, but our Decodo verdict comes from first-hand production use and the other providers are clearly marked as researched.
The short version: use Decodo when the target fights back, Webshare when price matters, Bright Data or Oxylabs when procurement wants an enterprise stack, and IPRoyal when you need low-commitment residential traffic.
Best Proxy Service Rankings for May 2026
| Rank | Provider | Tested by us? | Best fit | Residential price, as of May 2026 | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Decodo | Yes | Hard scraping targets | $2.00/GB | 4.6 |
| 2 | Webshare | Researched | Cheapest usable entry | $1.40/GB | 4.1 |
| 3 | Bright Data | Researched | Enterprise teams | $4.00/GB promo | 4.4 |
| 4 | Oxylabs | Researched | Enterprise APIs | $2.50/GB at volume | 4.3 |
| 5 | IPRoyal | Researched | Bursty mid-market jobs | $1.75/GB | 4.0 |
We tested Decodo first-hand. We researched Bright Data, Oxylabs, Webshare, and IPRoyal from public pricing pages, product docs, and community reports. Their ratings are editorial assessments, not our measured benchmarks.
How We Judge a Proxy Service: 22% Datacenter Success Changed the Test
A proxy service is not “good” because the dashboard shows a big IP count. We care about completed records. On hard review pages, our datacenter setup fell to roughly 22% success. That number killed the cheap-proxy argument for that workload.
Residential IPs fixed only one layer. In our pipeline, the working stack is residential proxy plus Camoufox, a hardened Firefox build, under xvfb, plus consent-wall handling and token replay for deep pagination. Blocks are a system problem.
Geo-targeting is also data quality. We rotate IPs per outlet and use region-specific ports, including Mumbai for India and regional ports for the Gulf. Without that, the page you scrape is not the page a local user sees.
1. Decodo: Best Proxy Service Overall, Tested First-Hand
Decodo is our workhorse because it solved the exact failure mode we hit in production. Datacenter proxies gave us roughly 22% success on hard Google review pages. Decodo residential made the same class of jobs viable.
Decodo lists residential proxies from $2.00/GB as of May 2026. Its pool is 115M+ residential IPs across 195+ locations. The implication is clear: this is not the cheapest residential GB in the table, but it is the one we trust when a block costs more than bandwidth.
The strongest Decodo feature for our work is geo control. We use per-outlet rotation and region-specific ports so review, search, and commerce pages reflect the target market. For India, that means Mumbai ports. For Gulf jobs, that means regional ports instead of a generic “global” exit.
Decodo is now more than a proxy seller. It has residential, ISP, datacenter, mobile, Site Unblocker, and Web Scraping API products. Its Web Scraping API starts at $0.09 per 1,000 requests as of May 2026, which is the lowest scraping-API entry in this group.
Verdict: Decodo is the best proxy service for teams scraping protected public pages. We tested it. It works in the kind of pipeline where the browser, consent flow, session state, and proxy all have to line up.
2. Webshare: Cheapest Proxy Service Worth Shortlisting
Webshare wins on price. Its rotating residential product starts at $1.40/GB as of May 2026, and its datacenter proxies start at $0.018/IP. It also has a free tier with 10 proxies and up to 1GB per month.
That price changes the starting point. For easy targets, high-volume checks, QA, monitoring, and low-risk scraping, Webshare is the cheapest provider in this roundup. The implication is simple: test Webshare before paying enterprise rates for work that does not need enterprise infrastructure.
The tradeoff is the missing managed layer. Webshare does not give you a full scraping API or automated block-handling product in this lineup. You bring your own browser, retries, header discipline, CAPTCHA strategy, and parser recovery.
Verdict: Webshare is the best proxy service for budget-controlled scraping. It is not the first pick for the ugliest targets, but its $1.40/GB residential price and free tier make it hard to ignore.
3. Bright Data: Best Enterprise Proxy Stack, Researched
Bright Data is the enterprise heavyweight. It lists 400M+ residential IPs across 195 countries, with residential pricing from $4.00/GB on a 50% promo as of May 2026. The standard non-promo framing is higher, so the real implication is budget discipline: know which rate you are buying.
Bright Data’s value is not just the proxy pool. It sells proxy networks, SERP tooling, scraping APIs, browser products, and ready datasets. Its managed unblocking API pricing is listed on its pricing page, and the public docs describe request handling, CAPTCHA work, and browser rendering behavior.
The cost and onboarding fit larger teams. Compliance checks, KYC, procurement paperwork, and pricing complexity are acceptable when the buyer needs scale, auditability, and vendor depth. They are friction for a solo scraper trying to run a 20GB job.
Verdict: Bright Data is a strong enterprise choice. We have not benchmarked it first-hand in our pipeline, so we do not present success numbers. Buy it when pool size, compliance posture, and managed data products matter more than unit cost.
4. Oxylabs: Premium Enterprise Alternative With Strong API Coverage
Oxylabs is the closest Bright Data rival in this roundup. It lists 175M+ residential IPs across 195+ countries, with residential pricing from $2.50/GB at a 1TB commit as of May 2026. At lower volume, the provided market data puts residential closer to $5 to $6/GB.
The best Oxylabs case is API-heavy scraping. Its Web Scraper API starts at $0.25 per 1,000 results as of May 2026, and the lineup includes scraper APIs, Web Unblocker, and newer search-oriented products.
The price curve matters. Oxylabs becomes more attractive at scale because the headline $2.50/GB floor needs a 1TB commitment. Small teams paying low-volume rates should compare against Decodo, Webshare, and IPRoyal before signing.
Verdict: Oxylabs is a credible premium pick for teams that want enterprise support and a polished API layer. We have researched it, not tested it first-hand in our production scraper.
5. IPRoyal: Flexible Mid-Market Proxy Service
IPRoyal’s strongest point is flexibility. Residential starts at $1.75/GB as of May 2026, and the traffic is positioned as non-expiring pay-as-you-go. That works well for bursty jobs where a monthly commit wastes budget.
The product range is now broader than basic residential. IPRoyal sells residential, ISP, datacenter, mobile, Web Unblocker, and video-scraper products. Its Web Unblocker is listed from $1.00 per 1,000 requests as of May 2026.
The weak point is depth against the hardest targets. The pool and tooling do not match Bright Data or Oxylabs, and we have not run IPRoyal through our production benchmark. Treat it as a value pick, not a proven replacement for our Decodo workload.
Verdict: IPRoyal is a sensible mid-market option for teams that want residential traffic without a large commit. It is not our first pick for hard Google review, search, or commerce scraping.
Residential vs Datacenter: The Best Proxy Service Depends on Target Difficulty
Datacenter proxies are still useful. Decodo lists datacenter from $0.02/IP, Webshare lists datacenter from $0.018/IP, and IPRoyal lists datacenter from $1.39/IP, all as of May 2026 from their pricing pages.
The mistake is using datacenter proxies on targets that classify hosting IPs aggressively. We measured roughly 22% success on hard review pages with datacenter proxies. That number turns cheap IPs into expensive failed requests.
Residential proxies cost more per GB because they buy trust signals that datacenter IPs lack. They also add latency. For our workloads, the cost trade is acceptable when the alternative is a queue full of blocked pages.
Use datacenter for easy targets, monitoring, non-sensitive fetches, and high-speed jobs. Use residential for review pages, localized search, e-commerce, ticketing, marketplaces, and targets that penalize hosting ASNs.
Price Comparison: Cheapest Is Not Always Cheapest Per Record
| Provider | Residential | Datacenter | API entry | Pricing source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Decodo | $2.00/GB | $0.02/IP | $0.09/1K req | Decodo pricing |
| Webshare | $1.40/GB | $0.018/IP | None listed | Webshare pricing |
| Bright Data | $4.00/GB promo | Not listed here | $1.50/1K results class | Bright Data pricing |
| Oxylabs | $2.50/GB at 1TB | $0.70/IP | $0.25/1K results | Oxylabs pricing |
| IPRoyal | $1.75/GB | $1.39/IP | $1.00/1K req | IPRoyal pricing |
The right metric is cost per accepted record. A $0.018 datacenter IP is cheap until the target blocks 78% of requests. A $2.00/GB residential plan wins when it turns a failed workload into completed rows.
Final Verdict: Best Proxy Service by Use Case
Choose Decodo if you scrape hard targets and want the provider we have actually used at scale. Its $2.00/GB residential entry, 115M+ IP pool, and $0.09/1K request scraping API make it the strongest all-around pick.
Choose Webshare if the job is price-sensitive and you control the anti-block stack. Its $1.40/GB residential price is the cheapest here.
Choose Bright Data if procurement, compliance, datasets, and the 400M+ residential pool matter more than cost.
Choose Oxylabs if you want a premium enterprise scraper-API stack and can justify the 1TB pricing tier.
Choose IPRoyal if you want flexible residential traffic at $1.75/GB without a heavy monthly commit.
FAQ: 5 Questions About the Best Proxy Service
What is the best proxy service overall?
Decodo is our pick because we tested it first-hand. On hard review pages, datacenter proxies fell to roughly 22% success, and Decodo residential made the job viable.
What is the cheapest proxy service in this roundup?
Webshare is cheapest on residential at $1.40/GB and datacenter at $0.018/IP as of May 2026. That makes it the best starting point for easy targets and budget-heavy scraping.
Are residential proxies always better than datacenter proxies?
No. Datacenter proxies are better for speed and price on easy targets. Residential proxies are better when the target blocks hosting IPs, which is what we saw when datacenter success dropped to roughly 22%.
Which providers did ProxyPeers test first-hand?
We tested Decodo first-hand at scale. Bright Data, Oxylabs, Webshare, and IPRoyal are researched from public pricing pages, docs, and community reports, not benchmarked in our production pipeline yet.
What matters more: IP pool size or scraper design?
Scraper design matters more once the pool is good enough. In our pipeline, residential IPs work with Camoufox under xvfb, consent-wall handling, per-outlet rotation, local ports, and token replay for pagination. The proxy is one part of the system.