Is your scraper getting blocked by CAPTCHAs? One of the best solutions to bypass most CAPTCHA challenges is proxies. However, not all proxies are equal in terms of costs, performance, and success rate.
To help you pick the best proxy provider on the market, we've compared the eight best services, highlighting their key features, pros, and cons:
Let's go!
How Do Proxies Help Avoid CAPTCHAs?
Protected web pages use CAPTCHAs to filter bots and only grant access to human users. CAPTCHAs may appear each time a user tries to access a web page or only when the server detects bot-like activities, such as multiple requests from a single IP within a short period. The latter method is the more popular approach followed by most anti-bot systems.
CAPTCHAs create a barrier between your scraper and the desired data. But you can sort it out with proxies!
Proxies are services that send HTTP requests on your behalf, making your request seem to be coming from a different machine. This way, they hide your IP address and help avoid IP bans due to rate-limiting or geo-restrictions during scraping.
When starting your project, you can choose between free or premium proxies. However, free proxies are only useful for testing your proxy integration since they're short-lived and unreliable.
Premium residential proxies are an excellent option for bypassing CAPTCHAs at scale because they rotate your proxies from a pool of high-quality addresses. This means your IP address changes per request, which prevents the CAPTCHA from appearing since the activity isn't recognized as suspicious. Some services also offer location-specific IPs, allowing you to mimic users from a region with access to a target website.
What Are the Best Proxy Types?
There are a few different proxy types, however, the most common proxies for scraping are datacenter and residential proxies.
Datacenter proxies are tied to cloud provider (data center) IP addresses. Because regular internet users don't use them, they're unnatural and vulnerable to anti-bot detection.
On the other hand, residential proxies are more natural and reliable because they come from IPs assigned to residential users by Internet Service Providers (ISPs). So, if you want to bypass CAPTCHAs comfortably, a residential proxy is the best option.
What to Consider Before Choosing a CAPTCHA Proxy Service Provider?
Let's look at a few essential factors you need to consider when choosing a CAPTCHA proxy provider.
Performance
A good CAPTCHA proxy provider should have consistent uptime and high page load speed. It should also support different renderings, such as JavaScript and AJAX, without compromising performance. As mentioned, free proxies tend to fail due to their short life span. However, residential proxies offer top-notch performance for scraping dynamic sites and static web pages.
Features
Your chosen proxy service should offer features suitable for large-scale web scraping, including residential proxies, proxy auto-rotation, and geo-targeting. These functionalities enhance your chances of mimicking human behavior and bypassing blocks.
Cost Per GB
Although pricing varies between CAPTCHA proxy services, most providers charge per GB of data transferred. So, the cost can accumulate quickly in large-scale web scraping, where you send multiple requests. Go with a proxy service with cost-management features. A cost-effective provider should only charge you for successful requests.
Check out our list of cheap residential proxies if you are on a budget.
Customer Support
One of the attributes to look out for when choosing a CAPTCHA proxy service is a responsive and customer-friendly help desk available via chat, phone, or email. This will help you avoid bottlenecks connected to unexpected bugs or insufficient tool knowledge. Another vital customer support feature to look out for is the availability of knowledge bases, such as blog posts, FAQs, forums, and documentation, to solve problems quickly.
Enhanced Services
Extracting data from heavily protected websites at scale may require more than proxies for guaranteed success. Some proxy services, such as ZenRows, offer additional features for bypassing CAPTCHAs and other anti-bot measures under the same price cap. In the long run, such providers are more cost-effective since you don't have to pay separately for extra solutions if you encounter a particularly heavily protected website.
Now that you've learned the essential qualities to look for in a proxy provider let's see the best ones in the next section.
8 Best CAPTCHA Proxy Providers
In this section, we'll compare the top 8 proxy market players to help you determine the best CAPTCHA proxy for your project.
Let's start with a quick comparison table.
| Tool | Success Rate | Average Response Time | Cost per GB | Social Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ZenRows | 99.93% | 0.35s | From $5.5 (only pay for successful requests) | 5/5 |
| Oxylabs | 99.82% | 0.6s | From $8 (pay-as-you-go available) | 4.5/5 |
| IPRoyal | 98.22% | 1.36s | From $7 (pay-as-you-go available) | 4.5/5 |
| Shifter | 99.5% | 0.3s | From $0.3 | 3.8/5 |
| Proxy-Seller | 97.85% | 1.34s | From $7 | 4.7/5 |
| Smartproxy | 99.68% | 0.54s | From $7 | 4.6/5 |
| BrightData | 98.96% | 1.12s | From $5.04 (pay-as-you-go available) | 4.6/5 |
| SOAX | 99.55% | 0.55s | From $6.6 | 4.9/5 |
Now, let's take a look at these providers in more detail.
1. ZenRows
ZenRows is a complete web scraping solution. It provides top-notch residential CAPTCHA proxies with over 55 million globally distributed premium IPs covering 185+ countries. It also supports proxy auto-rotation, giving your scraper all the stealth it needs to bypass any CAPTCHA at scale. You can also target specific countries to evade geo-targeted IP bans. ZenRows proxies are blazing fast, with a 0.35s response time and an impressive 99.93% success rate.
The same subscription price also gets you a dedicated scraper API with functionalities such as CAPTCHA and anti-bot auto-bypass, JavaScript rendering, and more. What's more, ZenRows only charges for successful requests, making it a perfect tool for scaling businesses.
👍 Pros
- Smart proxy auto-rotation.
- 0.35s response time.
- Proxy usage statistics.
- Well-distributed residential IP pool.
- Geo-targeting configurations for efficiently bypassing geo-restrictions.
- Has a simple learning curve.
- Only charges for successful requests.
- Enhanced features like CAPTCHA and anti-bot auto-bypass are available at no extra cost.
- User-friendly dashboard to build requests.
- Excellent 24/7 customer support (knowledge base, chat, email, and API documentation).
👎 Cons
- No proxy browser extensions.
💰 Pricing
Starts at $5.5/GB (monthly subscription starts at $69, only pay for successful requests; a free trial without a credit card is available).
👨💻 Use when
You're scraping websites protected by advanced anti-bot solutions, e.g., CAPTCHAs such asb application firewalls (WAFs) such as Cloudflare, Akamai, DataDome, and more at scale.
2. Oxylabs
Oxylabs is a data collection company that offers residential CAPTCHA proxies with 100 million+ IPs distributed over 195 countries. It supports proxy auto-rotation and IP geo-targeting to improve your scraper's CAPTCHA bypass capability. There's also a Chrome extension that allows you to set up proxies directly inside your browser.
Oxylabs responds in 0.6 seconds and has an average success rate of 99.82%. You can also implement a usage limit to stop requests once you hit a specific bandwidth. Although it offers other features like the web scraping API, each comes at an extra cost.
👍 Pros
- Proxy auto-rotation.
- Usage limit available.
- Proxy usage statistics.
- Support for geo-targeting.
- Well-distributed residential IPs.
- Extra functionalities like scraper API are available.
- Responsive customer support.
- Chrome extension available.
👎 Cons
- Steep learning curve.
- Adding more functionalities, such as the scraper API, increases the cost.
💰 Pricing
Starts from $8/GB (monthly subscription starts at $99, pay-as-you-go available).
👨💻 Use when
You need a no-code solution, such as an AI web unblocker or a Chrome extension, to bypass IP bans.
3. IPRoyal
IPRoyal is a dedicated proxy provider with a residential proxy pool distributed across 190+ countries. It boasts a 98.22% success rate and can send requests within 1.36 seconds. IPRoyal offers free browser extensions (Chrome and Firefox) that allow you to manage proxies from any provider.
It also offers auto-rotating proxies and lets you target specific locations to avoid geo-targeted IP blocks. While IPRoyal is strictly an IP provider, it features extra functionalities, such as a proxy tester, to check the efficiency of your proxy address against a target URL.
👍 Pros
- Offers auto-rotating proxies.
- Browser extensions are available.
- Well-distributed residential IPs.
- Extra features such as proxy tester.
👎 Cons
- No enhanced services tailored for web scraping.
- No free trial.
💰 Pricing
Subscription starts at $7/GB (no free trial).
👨💻 Use when
You're looking for a simple proxy provider and you're operating on a strict budget.
4. Shifter
Shifter is an all-in-one scraping tool that provides residential proxies for CAPTCHA bypass. Its notable features include the scraping API and static and rotating proxies. Shifter supports geo-targeting but only for the highest subscription plans.
Shifter offers over 50 million IPs in 195 locations worldwide. It also has a dashboard to view your usage statistics and offers a CAPTCHA-solving service with support for scraping JavaScript-rendered websites. However, Shifter doesn't include a user interface for building URL-tailored scraping API requests. Plus, CAPTCHA bypass lacks extra features, such as anti-bot auto-bypass and request header management.
👍 Pros
- Good technical support (knowledge base, chat, and API documentation).
- View of proxy usage statistics.
- A scraping API.
- Residential (rotating & static) and datacenter proxies.
- Well-distributed IPs.
- Fast proxy services.
- Low fail rate (up to 99.9% uptime).
👎 Cons
- Geo-targeting is unavailable in low-tier plans.
- Less robust scraping API compared to other providers.
💰 Pricing
Starts at $0.3/GB (monthly subscription starts at $99, free trial available on request).
👨💻 Use when
You want a proxy service featuring an out-of-the-box dedicated CAPTCHA-bypass tool.
5. Proxy-Seller
Proxy-Seller offers datacenter, mobile, residential, IPv4, and IPv6 proxies, including private elite SOCKS5 and HTTPS proxies. These proxies are distributed over 52+ countries and optimized for use cases such as web scraping, sneaker bots, social media bots, and many more.
Proxy-Seller has a 24-hour refund policy and impressive customer support. Although it doesn't offer specific functionalities tailored for scraping, Proxy-Seller is enough to bypass basic CAPTCHAs and IP bans.
👍 Pros
- Cost-effective and fast proxy plans.
- Low failure rate and high uptime.
- Dedicated IP addresses (IPv4, IPv6, Mobile Proxy LTE).
- Residential proxies available in 50 countries across the globe.
- 24/7 Customer support.
- 24-hour refund policy.
👎 Cons
- Only suitable for expert proxy users.
- Requires extra integration and development time to use proxies for a specific use case, such as web scraping.
- Proxy rotation isn't automatic.
- The free trial requires a financial commitment.
💰 Pricing
Starts at $6/GB (Monthly subscription starts at $18, $7/GB pay-as-you-go available, a 3-day trial available at $1.99)
👨💻 Use when
You want dedicated private proxies to increase the speed, reliability, and security of your online activities without sharing IP addresses with other users.
6. Smartproxy
Smartproxy provides datacenter and residential proxies with web scraping APIs for scraping specific web domains, such as search engine result pages (SERPs), e-commerce stores, and social media. However, these APIs come at an extra cost. The proxies have an average response time of 0.54 seconds and 99.8% success rate.
Smatproxy gives access to over 55 million IPs globally and features residential IP auto-rotation. Its user dashboard also makes geo-targeting seamless. To cap it all, Smartproxy offers a free proxy-agnostic Chrome extension that lets you manage proxies from any provider.
👍 Pros
- Low fail rate (99.9% uptime).
- Residential and datacenter proxies.
- Vast rotating proxy pool for CAPTCHA bypass.
- Proxy browser extension for Chrome.
- Dedicated web scraping API.
👎 Cons
- Geo-targeting is limited to the US/EU for datacenter proxies.
- Average quality knowledge base and documentation.
- Scraping API comes at an extra cost.
💰 Pricing
Starts at $7/GB (monthly subscription starts at $12, offers a 3-day free trial limited to 100MB)
👨💻 Use when
You want an easy-to-use in-browser solution to set up any proxy service.
7. Bright Data
Bright Data is an enterprise-grade CAPTCHA proxy provider with an extensive proxy network. It has a robust web scraping API for converting websites into structured, ready-to-use datasets. While very comprehensive, BrightData is quite expensive compared to its alternatives. However, it offers a pay-as-you-go plan.
Bright Data offers highly reliable proxies with high success rates, flexible proxy plans, and a fully compliant enterprise-friendly infrastructure. Its dedicated IDE allows you to create and host scrapers on the fly. Its use cases include e-commerce, travel, ad tech, social media marketing, SEO and SERP, and website testing.
👍 Pros
- Low fail rate (99.9% uptime).
- Many web scraping and data collection features.
- Datacenter, residential, ISP, and mobile proxies.
- Vast rotating proxy pool of up to 72+ million IP addresses.
- Web scraper IDE to build and host scrapers faster.
👎 Cons
- Steep learning curve.
- Relatively expensive.
💰 Pricing
Starts at $5.04/GB (monthly subscription starts at $10, a $8.4/GB pay-as-you-go option is available).
👨💻 Use when
You want an enterprise-based solution to develop and host your scraper faster without worrying about infrastructural management.
8. SOAX
SOAX is a residential and mobile proxy provider that offers over 155 million IP addresses from 195+ countries. It features IP auto-rotation with flexible geo-targeting and a user dashboard for configuring proxies and viewing traffic usage statistics.
SOAX provides dedicated scraper APIs. However, they attract extra charges and can be expensive.
👍 Pros
- Easy-to-use GUI-based anti-CAPTCHA proxy.
- Residential and mobile proxies.
- Fast proxy services.
- Flexible and detailed geo-targeting features.
- Proxy auto-rotation.
- Vast rotating proxy pool for bypassing CAPTCHA blocks easily.
- Good customer support.
- Scraper API and AI scraper.
👎 Cons
- Insufficient knowledge base.
- The free trial requires a financial commitment.
💰 Pricing
Starts at $6.6/GB (monthly subscription starts at $99, 3-day free trial is available for $1.99).
👨💻 Use when
You want a flexible geo-targeting down to the ISP level.
Conclusion
You've just gone through the eight best proxies for bypassing CAPTCHAs, exploring their key features, pros, and cons. Once you narrow down your list of potential candidates, take advantage of the free trials the tools offer to ensure they fit your needs before you commit.
Try ZenRows web-scraping API with a free trial. It's a fully-fledged web scraping solution that charges only for successful requests and suits all scraping needs, from CAPTCHA and WAF bypass to headless browsing.
Frequent Questions
How Do CAPTCHA Proxies Deal With Detection?
Websites that block web scraping bots implement several bot detection methods. Here are some techniques useful with CAPTCHA proxies:
Fingerprinting Bypass
HTTP fingerprinting is often used as a bot detection technique. It uses HTTP information like User-Agents and other request headers to identify a client.
Anti-CAPTCHA proxies bypass fingerprinting by providing users with different proxies at time intervals. You can manually rotate your User-Agents to make it look like requests from different users.
Rotating IP Address
When websites track IP addresses for bot detection, they track the number of requests coming from an IP address and the speed of the requests. An unusual number of requests within a short time alerts the anti-bot systems.
CAPTCHA proxies can bypass this by giving you a pool of proxies to rotate your IPs. That makes your requests look like they're from different users and doesn't look suspicious.
Solving CAPTCHAs
That is a popular bot detection technique used by Google. Before Google presents a user with reCAPTCHA, it checks if the user sessions are logged into a trustworthy Google account.
If it detects automation in account creation and the lack of signs of human-like activities, Google flags and blocks the IP address.
A CAPTCHA proxy solver creates trustworthy accounts to bypass Google's detection systems. The IP addresses must be able to access Google and YouTube to mimic human-like account activities on the generated Google accounts.
That will trick Google into thinking real users manage each account. This way, proxies generate the one-click CAPTCHAs that web scraping bots can easily solve.
Is It Legal to Use a CAPTCHA Proxy?
It's completely legal to use a proxy CAPTCHA considering that your web scraping intent is safe and you plan on using the scraped data ethically.
Although there are some criteria to watch out for when using one: does it harm or slow the website? If not, then you can go ahead and use a proxy.
Can You Use CAPTCHA Proxies for Business Purposes?
Yes, you can use CAPTCHA proxies to access and collect data from public websites such as Amazon for price monitoring purposes.
Most proxy CAPTCHA providers have their proxies optimized for handling use cases like SEO, market research, etc.