The Best Proxy Providers of 2024

As cybersecurity and personal privacy have become increasingly important topics, choosing the right proxy service has been more and more crucial. Whether it's for bypassing geographical restrictions, accessing restricted content, or protecting your personal data from malicious third parties, a good proxy server is necessary. In this article, we'll introduce the best proxy providers in 2024, breaking down their features and benefits.

If you want a quick overview, here is a summary table of the best proxy providers:

Provider	Summary	Proxy Types	Network Size	Free trial	PAYG
Bright Data	The jack of all trades	Residential, datacenter, ISP, mobile	72+ million	✔️	✔️
Oxylabs	The best enterprise proxy provider on the market	Residential, datacenter, ISP, mobile	100+ million	For businesses	For residential and mobile proxies
Smartproxy	The best balance between features and price	Residential, datacenter, ISP, mobile	65+ million	For residential proxies, but 14-day money-back guarantee	For residential and mobile proxies
NetNut	Rotating proxies for high-volume use	Residential, datacenter, ISP, mobile	85+ million	✔️	❌
IPRoyal	Affordable pay-as-you-go residential proxies	Residential, datacenter, ISP, mobile	34+ million	❌	For residential proxies

What is a Proxy?

A proxy server acts as an intermediary between your device and the internet. It routes your requests through another server, masking your IP address and providing various benefits such as increased security, anonymity, and the ability to bypass geographic restrictions.

Types of Proxies

Before diving into the best proxies of 2024, it's important to understand the different main types:

• HTTP Proxies: Used primarily for web traffic, ideal for browsing and accessing websites.

• HTTPS Proxies: Secure version of HTTP proxies, encrypting your data for added security.

• SOCKS Proxies: Versatile and capable of handling various types of traffic, including web browsing and file sharing.

• Residential Proxies: Use IP addresses provided by Internet Service Providers (ISPs), making them less likely to be blocked.

• Datacenter Proxies: Generated from data centers, these proxies are faster but more likely to be detected and blocked. 

• ISP Proxies: Combine features of both datacenter and residential proxies, provided by ISPs themselves and hosted on servers at data centers, making them reliable and fast.

• Mobile Proxies: IPs from mobile networks, perfect for any activity requiring high trust and anonymity, extremely low but expensive.

Top Proxy Providers of 2024

Bright Data 

Bright Data is widely recognized as a top proxy service provider,  offering the broadest range of products and services, including proxy servers, web scraping tools, and ready-to-use datasets for data collection purposes. 

Features:

• Residential, datacenter, mobile, ISP proxies available.

• 72+ million IPs in 195+ countries, with city, ZIP code, carrier, and ASN geotargeting

• Variety of tools: a very extensive API, browser extension, and an open-source proxy manager.

Benefits:

• Excellent for web scraping and accessing geo-restricted content.

• High success rate with minimal detection.

Pricing:

For those seeking a powerful, feature-rich proxy service, Bright Data remains the go-to choice in 2024. However, the pricing may be higher, especially with additional features.

Oxylabs

Oxylabs is the largest and best-known provider around. It owns one of the largest proxy networks worldwide and covers any country you can think of and offers a diverse range of proxies, AI and ML-driven scraper APIs, and custom no-code datasets.

Features:

• Provide residential, mobile, datacenter, ISP, advanced proxy solution – Web Unblocker.

• 100+ million IPs in 195+ countries, with geotargeting.

• Extras: API, browser extension, extensive documentation.

Benefits:

• Large and diverse proxy network

• Reliable performance and advanced features

Pricing:

Oxylabs go toe to toe with every other provider on the list in terms of performance and features, but its prices are quite high and may not fit the budget of small companies or individual developers.

Smartproxy

Smartproxy is a famous proxy and web data-gathering solution provider that helps unlock publicly available data with ease. Since it was established, it has grown to a premium proxy service provider and aspiring data extraction platform.

Features:

• Offer residential, ISP, datacenter, dedicated datacenter, mobile proxies, Site Unblocker.

• Over 65 million IPs in 195+ countries, with geotargeting.

• A range of APIs include Social Media API, SERP and eCommerce APIs.

Benefits:

• Fast and reliable connection speeds.

• Provide excellent user experience and 24/7 support team.

Pricing:

If you’re looking for high-performance proxies with the bells and whistles mentioned above at a reasonable entry price, Smartproxy is a great option. The only fly in the ointment is that its dedicated addresses have limited features and location coverage. 

NetNut

NetNut is a popular proxy provider, offering proxy services for web data collection purposes, known for its stable connectivity, high speed, and ability to access geo-restricted content across 200 countries.

Features:

• Offer rotating residential, static residential, mobile, datacenter proxies;

• 85+ million IPs in 200+ countries, with geotargeting

• Extras: API (for resellers), mediocre documentation

Benefits:

• Stable connectivity and fast speeds.

• Large network of ISP proxies.

Pricing:

NetNut is a terrific choice for scraping, market research, even social media automation – especially if you use thousands of gigabytes of data. The problems are lack of value-added services and no PAYG option.

IPRoyal

IPRoyal is one of the cheaper residential proxy providers, but it also offers affordable private datacenter, ISP, and mobile addresses. The provider has medium-sized proxy pools and good location coverage.

Features:

• Residential, datacenter, ISP, mobile proxies available.

• 34+ million IPs in 195+ countries, with geotargeting

• Extras: proxy tester, extensive documentation, browser extension

Benefits:

• Affordable and flexible pricing options.

• Reliable proxy performance and simple integration.

Pricing:

IPRoyal is a great entry-level option with some of the cheapest prices around. Proxy plans can be configured directly on the site before purchase, but there is no free trial. What limits the provider considerably is its small complementary product offering, which is limited to the bare minimum.

Factors to Consider When Choosing a Proxy

When selecting a proxy, consider the following factors:

• Purpose: Determine what you need the proxy for—scraping, browsing, or accessing geo-restricted content.

• Speed: Look for proxies with high connection speeds to ensure seamless browsing.

• Reliability: Choose a provider with a solid reputation for uptime and customer support.

• Pricing: Assess the cost and see if it fits your budget while offering the features you need.

• Anonymity: Ensure that the proxy can mask your IP effectively to maintain your online privacy.

Conclusion

For the increasing demand for proxies, the number of proxy service providers is growing. Each proxy service has its own unique strengths and weaknesses, making it essential to choose one that best suits your needs. This article briefly overviewed the best proxy providers in 2024. We hope the information provided was helpful for you.