Is your scraper getting blocked while sending multiple requests? The solution is to change your IP through proxy providers, but not all IPs are equal when it comes to web scraping.
Residential proxies are the most reliable option because they channel your requests through IPs associated with real residential devices - like home computers and mobile phones. This makes them significantly harder to detect compared to datacenter proxies, as websites typically trust traffic coming from residential networks more than traffic from datacenters.
After extensively testing residential proxy providers and putting them through rigorous performance benchmarks, we've curated this list of 9 best residential proxies. Each provider has been given a rating based on reviews from G2 Reviews.
To help you make an informed decision quickly, here's a comprehensive summary of the top residential proxy providers:
Provider | Rating | Average Response Time | Average Success Rate | Geolocation | Price |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
ZenRows | 5/5 | 0.35s | 99.93% | ✅ | $5.5/GB |
BrightData | 4.7/5 | 1.12s | 98.96% | ✅ | $6.43/GB |
Oxylabs | 4.5/5 | 0.60s | 99.82% | ✅ | $7.75/GB |
Smartproxy | 4.6/5 | 0.54s | 99.68% | ✅ | $6/GB |
LunaProxy | 3.6/5 | 0.60s | 99.9% | ✅ | $2.4/GB |
SOAX | 4.8/5 | 0.55s | 99.55% | ✅ | $6.6/GB |
PrivateProxy | 3.9/5 | 0.55s | 99.2% | ✅ | $5 monthly/proxy |
IPRoyal | 4.6/5 | 1.36s | 98.22% | ✅ | $7/GB |
NetNut | 4.9/5 | 0.45s | 99.5% | ✅ | $17.5/GB |
Let's get started!
What Are Residential Proxies?
Residential proxies are IP addresses assigned by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to real residential devices like home computers, smartphones, and tablets.
Unlike datacenter proxies that originate from cloud providers and datacenters, residential proxies appear as genuine user traffic to websites because they come from actual household connections. This makes them particularly valuable for web scraping, as websites are less likely to flag and block traffic from residential IP addresses.
Why Use Residential Proxies?
Residential proxies offer several advantages that make them crucial for successful web scraping operations. Here's what makes them unique:
- Avoiding anti-scraping measures: Many websites implement IP address bans to protect their data. Residential proxies use real devices, and their providers usually offer auto-rotation, making it harder for IPs to block than datacenter proxies. Learn more about anti-scraping techniques in our detailed guide.
- Geolocation targeting: Residential proxy services provide IP addresses in different locations around the globe. That gives you access to region-specific data and allows you to avoid geo-restrictions imposed by your internet service provider (ISP) or country.
- Broad IP pool: Providers usually have a large residential proxy pool of rotating IP addresses. You can switch between them to scrape a site from many locations, devices, and ISPs.
- Increasing crawling success rate: Web scraping often involves sending multiple requests within a short time. Many websites implement rate-limiting to block IP addresses with massive traffic. Some even trigger security measures like CAPTCHAs to ban erring IPs. Since residential proxies are tied to real residential addresses, they are significantly harder to detect and ban, allowing you to distribute traffic across several IPs that appear as regular internet users.
All the above make residential proxy services effective and reliable for scraping web data. Learn more in our guide about the best web scraping proxies.
Best Residential Proxies
It's time to review the best residential proxy provider list. We'll see the features and plans of each service to help you choose the best solution.
1. ZenRows: Best Overall Residential Proxy Provider
ZenRows maintains a premium residential proxy network of over 55 million residential IPs spread across 185+ countries. It provides the best premium residential proxies on the market with 99.9% uptime and a 0.35s average response time.
ZenRows features rotating residential IPs and flexible geo-targeting, helping you avoid rate-limited and geo-restricted IP bans at scale. In addition to residential proxies, you can access extra scraping toolkits to bypass anti-bot security measures, all under a unified price cap. ZenRows offers a competitive price and only charges for successful requests, making it highly cost-effective.
👍 Pros
- Smart rotating residential proxies.
- Large residential proxy pool.
- Flexible geo-targeting.
- 99.9% uptime.
- Advanced anti-bot and anti-scraping bypass capabilities.
- Top-notch customer support and knowledge base.
- Complete analytics tool to monitor your requests.
- Rotating and sticky residential proxies.
- It only charges for successful requests.
- High success rate.
- Avoid geographical restrictions.
- Developer-friendly and suitable for any company size.
👎 Cons
- Only offers residential proxies.
- No free trial for residential proxy service.
💰 Pricing
Pricing starts at $69 at $5.5/GB, and the service only charges for successful requests.
2. BrightData
Bright Data boasts an extensive residential proxy network featuring over 72 million IPs across 195+ countries. It provides a wide range of data collection solutions, including proxy services. It also has a dataset marketplace for users who aren't developers, where you can purchase existing data covering e-commerce and real estate.
Bright Data also has a Chrome extension for setting up residential proxies with your browser. Its rotating residential proxies offer a high success rate and an average response time of ~1s. However, Bright Data primarily targets large companies and is unsuitable for small-scale businesses or individuals.
👍 Pros
- Flexible geo-targeting.
- Free proxy browser extension.
- It offers multiple proxy types, including residential, mobile, and datacenter.
- 72+ million residential IP addresses across 195+ countries.
- Support for HTTP, HTTPS, and SOCKS5 protocols.
- 99.9% uptime.
- A browser extension to enable proxies while navigating the web.
- Separate scraping solutions are available on demand.
- Proxy auto-rotation.
👎 Cons
- Expensive and unsuitable for startups and individuals.
- The platform has a steep learning curve for new users.
💰 Pricing
Pricing starts at $499/month at $6.43/GB. It also offers a pay-as-you-go option at $8.4/GB.
3. Oxylabs
Oxylabs has access to one of the biggest residential proxy pools in the market. It controls over 100 million IP addresses, covering almost all countries and cities. It's mainly focused on proxies but also provides other web scraping services, such as SERP, e-commerce, and web scraping APIs.
Like Bright Data, you can also buy datasets from Oxylabs' marketplace and use its Chrome extension to manage proxies within the browser. Oxylabs' residential proxies have an average 99.95% success rate and a 0.6s response time. You must undergo an ID verification process before using any of its services, even on a free trial.
👍 Pros
- Large proxy pool.
- Flexible geo-targeting.
- A free trial is available.
- Web scraping solutions are available on demand.
- Proxy usage statistics.
- Customer support available.
- Support for HTTP, HTTPS, and SOCKS5 protocols.
- 99.9% uptime.
- A browser extension is available.
- Proxy auto-rotation.
👎 Cons
- Steep learning curve.
- Higher price point may not suit smaller operations.
- Extra functionalities come at different costs.
💰 Pricing
Pricing starts at $99/month at $7.75/GB. An $8/GB pay-as-you-go is also available with a 7-day free trial.
4. Smartproxy
Smartproxy gives you access to a proxy network of over 55 million residential IPs covering over 190 countries and all 50 US states. It also provides tailored scraping APIs for extracting data from e-commerce, social media, and SERPs.
Smartproxy also offers Chrome and Firefox extensions for proxy management and provides a proxy checker to test connections. On average, its residential proxies have a 99.68% success rate and respond in less than 0.54 seconds. It enforces ID verification if you use its proxy servers to engage in fraudulent activity.
👍 Pros
- 99% uptime guarantee.
- Customer support available.
- A free trial is available.
- 55+ million IP addresses covering 190+ countries.
- Geo-targeting.
- Rotating and sticky IPs.
- Proxy browser extensions for Chrome and Firefox.
- Free proxy connection tester.
- HTTP, HTTPS, and SOCKS5 support.
👎 Cons
- The geo-targeting feature is limited to specific locations.
- Advanced scraping tools attract extra cost.
💰 Pricing
Pricing starts at $12/month at $6/GB, with a $7 pay-as-you-go plan and a 3-day free trial available.
5. LunaProxy
LunaProxy offers one of the cheapest residential proxy services on the market. It controls up to 200 million IP addresses worldwide, including 3+ million US residential IPs, and promises a 99.99% success rate.
LunaProxy's services are available through an API protected by simple username and password authentication. It also provides a Chrome extension for browser-based proxy management.
👍 Pros
- A free trial is available.
- Unlimited threads and connections are available for all plans.
- Free Chrome extension.
- High success rate.
- Offers a large residential proxy pool.
- Geo-targeting.
- Sticky and rotating IP addresses.
- Free IP address lookup tool.
- HTTP, HTTPS, and SOCKS5 support.
👎 Cons
- No advanced scraping solutions like APIs.
- Slow customer support.
- Documentation could be more comprehensive.
💰 Pricing
Pricing starts from $108/month at $2.40/GB, with a $3.3 pay-as-you-go option available.
6. SOAX
SOAX is a pure proxy provider offering several proxy types, including residential, mobile, ISP, and datacenter. In addition to proxies, it has other products, including scraping APIs, a no-code AI scraper, and a web unblocker.
Its proxies guarantee an average response time of around 0.55 seconds and a 99.55% success rate. SOAX targets businesses and considers customer support one of the most critical aspects of its offer.
👍 Pros
- Excellent customer support.
- Unlimited concurrency for all plans.
- Rotating and static residential proxies.
- Flexible geo-targeting.
- Advanced scraping tools.
- Large no. of residential IP addresses.
- A free trial is available for all plans.
- Support for HTTP, HTTPS, and SOCKS5 protocols.
- 99.9% uptime.
- No code AI scraper
👎 Cons
- Free trial requires an initial financial commitment.
- Premium support features are reflected in higher pricing tiers.
💰 Pricing
Pricing starts from $99/month at $6.6/GB. Each plan offers a $1.99 free trial.
7. PrivateProxy
PrivateProxy has been selling residential proxies since 2010. It provides a limited number of IP addresses, ensuring each is reliable and assigned to only one customer at a time. Each plan has a dedicated number of residential IPs; the lower your plan, the fewer the IPs you get.
One major caveat of that system is that lower plans can result in a ban since they offer one to a few residential IPs. However, if your dedicated proxy is banned, you can ask for a free swap per month. PrivateProxy promises an excellent response time and success rate but keeps numbers private.
👍 Pros
- Free monthly IP address swap.
- Proxy auto-rotation and geo-targeting.
- Its network covers all continents.
- 24/7 live support.
- Almost 100% uptime.
- Unmetered bandwidth.
- Unlimited concurrency.
- An intuitive proxy web dashboard to browse through IPs.
- Support for HTTP, HTTPS, and SOCKS5 protocols.
- Dedicated residential IP address.
👎 Cons
- Lower plans offer a few IPs and can result in a potential IP address ban.
- No scraping API.
- Advanced functionalities like geo-targeting and proxy rotation are only available for higher plans.
💰 Pricing
Pricing starts from $5/month per proxy. Every plan offers unlimited connections with a 7-day free trial.
8. IPRoyal
IPRoyal sells many types of proxies, from residential to datacenter, mobile, and ISP. It hosts 34 million residential IP addresses across 190+ countries. You can use its Firefox or Chrome extension to set IPRoyal proxies or external ones and visit pages anonymously within the browser. Otherwise, you can use its proxies in your scraping scripts.
Buying its services doesn't involve contracts; instead, you pay as you go and stop whenever you want. It also provides a proxy tester app to import a proxy list, check if they're working, and export them as a list.
👍 Pros
- Flexible pay-as-you-go plan.
- Browser extensions are available.
- Instant IP change from its dashboard with a single click.
- Flexible geo-targeting.
- Multiple proxy types.
- Free proxy tester.
- Residential, datacenter, mobile, and ISP proxies.
- Support for HTTP and HTTPS with SOCKS5.
- 99.9% uptime.
- Dedicated IPs on static residential proxy offer.
- 24/7 technical support.
- Proxy checker.
👎 Cons
- No advanced scraping solutions.
- Slow customer support.
- No free trial.
💰 Pricing
Pricing is highly flexible and only available on a pay-as-you-go basis. Residential proxy purchases start at $7/GB. The proxies don't have an expiration date.
9. NetNut
NetNut offers a sizeable pool of rotating and static residential proxies and boasts 85+ million IPs across 195+ countries. When selecting proxy servers in US states, it gives ISP proxies instead of residential because its infrastructure combines ISP and residential options for optimal service.
NetNut sells some of the market's most reliable residential proxy IPs with a 99% uptime and low fail rate. It also includes SERP scraper API with a web unblocker to bypass anti-bots. If you want pre-existing data, browse NetNut's dataset marketplace.
👍 Pros
- Customer support through a dedicated account manager.
- Advanced scraping solutions are available.
- Large no. of residential IP addresses.
- Support for multiple protocols.
- A free trial is available.
- Auto-rotating IP addresses.
- Flexible geo-location.
- Combined residential and ISP proxies.
- 85+ million IPs in over 195 countries.
- 99% uptime.
- Web unblocker.
- Support for HTTP, HTTPS, and SOCKS5 protocols.
👎 Cons
- Extra scraping solutions fall under different price plans.
- It can be expensive.
💰 Pricing
Pricing starts from $350/month at $17.5/GB with a free trial available.
Conclusion
Choosing the best residential proxy provider is crucial for successful web scraping operations. Your choice should depend on factors like your required location coverage, rotation needs, and budget constraints.
Ready to start with residential proxies? Consider trying ZenRows's Residential Proxies. With its extensive pool of ethically sourced IPs, intelligent rotation system, and straightforward pricing, it provides a reliable foundation for your web scraping projects.
Frequent Questions
Are Residential Proxies Legal?
Yes, residential proxies are legal in most countries. Consider your country's legislation before picking a provider. In most cases, proxies are safe to use as long as you don't violate a site's privacy policies and terms of service.
How Much Does a Residential Proxy Cost?
The cost of a residential proxy varies based on the provider and the specific plan chosen. The pricing also changes depending on the number of IPs included, bandwidth usage, and subscription duration. Prices usually go from a few dollars per GB to a few hundred dollars monthly for more complete plans.
Which is the Best Residential Proxy?
The "best" residential proxy depends on your specific needs, but ZenRows consistently delivers reliable performance across various use cases. Its combination of ethical IP sourcing, intelligent rotation, and competitive pricing makes it a strong choice for most users.
Which is the Fastest Residential Proxy?
While several providers claim to have the fastest proxies, real-world performance depends on many factors, including target location and proxy server load. In our testing, ZenRows showed consistently fast response times, averaging 0.35 seconds, though providers like NetNut and SOAX also perform well in this aspect. The best approach is to use the free trials offered by different providers to test performance with your specific use case.