Are you facing IP bans or geo-restrictions while scraping? Using the same IP address for multiple requests can result in an IP ban. Don't worry, we've got you covered.
This article will explore the 10 best free web scraping proxies to access your desired data. Here's a quick overview of them:
- ZenRows: Rotating proxies with an anti-bot bypass toolkit.
- Free Proxy World: Extensive and easy-to-use proxy list.
- Free Proxy Lists: User-friendly proxy list for testing purposes.
- Spys.one: Database with proxies from 178 countries.
- Fresh Proxy List: Established proxy list with a friendly interface.
- Hidemyname: Medium-sized list of regularly updated proxy servers.
- Proxy-List: Proxy list with a built-in API and exporting options.
- ProxyScrape: Access the proxy list via a REST API.
- ProxyNova: Easy-to-use proxy list with IPs from diverse countries.
- SSL Proxy: Proxy list with HTTPS support.
Is a Free Proxy Right for You?
Free proxies are cost-effective but lack the stability, speed, and reliability of paid ones. They're better suited for simple, low-risk tasks like connection testing and not ideal for real-life projects requiring high uptime, anonymity, and consistent performance.
If your project is more demanding and involves heavy tasks like web scraping, paid proxies are a better choice. They're essential for bypassing anti-bot techniques and accessing geo-restricted content. Now, let's take a look at the 10 best proxies for web scraping.
1. ZenRows
ZenRows offers a proxy network of over 55 million residential IPs distributed across 185+ countries. It guarantees success with a 99.9% uptime and an average response time of 0.35 seconds.
ZenRows also offers proxy auto-rotation and flexible geo-location. These features help you avoid rate-limited IP bans and access localized and geo-restricted content at scale. Signing up with ZenRows gives you a free trial and access to advanced scraping toolkits to avoid anti-bot measures.
👍 Pros
- It offers a large, well-distributed, and reliable residential IP pool.
- You gain access to advanced scraping features to avoid blocks.
- It has an impressively high uptime and success rate.
- It features flexible geo-targeting and IP auto-rotation.
- 24/7 excellent customer support.
👎 Cons
- You'll need a paid subscription after the free trial period.
2. Free Proxy World
Free Proxy World lists 25,000 free proxies from over 100 countries. You can filter them by proxy type, anonymity, country, port, and speed. The list also provides the response speed of each server.
However, you won't find uptime statistics or the option to export the proxy list from the web page. That said, the vast choice of proxies is handy for basic web scraping operations.
👍 Pros
- It provides access to over 25,000 proxies from 100+ countries.
- Different filtering options are available to find the optimal proxy servers.
- The service provides sufficient information about the proxy server's performance.
👎 Cons
- It doesn't allow proxy list export.
- It has only a few HTTPS servers.
3. Free Proxy List
Free Proxy Lists is an easy-to-use platform to quickly grab free proxies for basic web scraping or connection testing. It lists mixed proxies from different countries supporting HTTPS and HTTP connections.
It also shows the last time each proxy was updated. While there's no active proxy export, you can quickly dump the proxy addresses into a plain list on the website and copy-paste them locally. To view freshly loaded proxies, you'll have to reload the website. However, it doesn't support sorting the proxies by country or type.
👍 Pros
- It has a user-friendly platform where you can grab free proxies for quick testing.
- It shows the last time a proxy server was updated.
- The servers have anonymity support.
- A quick in-page proxy list generation option is available.
👎 Cons
- It supports only a few countries.
- Proxies are limited to HTTP and HTTPS only.
4. Spys.one
Spys.one is a free proxy list for scraping that offers a selection of frequently updated IP addresses from 178 countries. Its proxies support various protocols, including HTTP, HTTPS, and SOCKS. You can also get Squid, a caching proxy for UNIX/Linux platforms.
Spys.one allows users to filter proxies by city, country, and type. It displays latency, speed, and uptime ratings for each proxy. However, there are no options to export or sort the list.
👍 Pros
- It provides access to a list of updated proxies from 178 countries.
- Spys.one supports many protocols, such as HTTP, HTTPS, and SOCKS.
- Many filtering options are available.
👎 Cons
- You can't download the proxy list.
5. Fresh Proxy List
Fresh Proxy List provides many free proxy servers. You can filter the proxies by country, protocol, or anonymity level. There are also options for category filtering, including port, region, and city.
The website lets you view your IP address information by pressing a button at the top. This feature can be handy for testing proxy servers. While it doesn't offer a proxy download option, you can dump the proxies as plain text and access them locally.
👍 Pros
- It offers thousands of proxy servers from different countries.
- There are proxy sorting and filtering options.
- A proxy export option is available.
- It has a feature that allows you to check your IP address.
- Uptime, speed, and response information are available.
👎 Cons
- The proxy list isn't frequently updated.
6. Hidemyname
Hidemyname provides over 5,000 frequently updated free web scraping proxies from 59 countries. It supports protocols like HTTP, HTTPS, and SOCKS5 and provides speed metrics. One downside is that there isn't information about proxy uptimes.
You can also sort the proxy list by proxy type and anonymity level or use the search feature to filter it by speed, country, protocol, and anonymity. The website allows you to export the proxy list for local accessibility, but this feature isn't free.
👍 Pros
- The platform offers thousands of free proxies from different countries.
- It offers extensive filtering options.
- It shows uptime and update history.
👎 Cons
- The proxy export feature is only available in the paid version.
- It doesn't provide uptime information.
7. Proxy-List
Proxy-List offers many servers from around the world. While there isn't a built-in sorting option, a unique feature is the ability to export the proxy list as JSON, TXT, CSV, or PDF. Although the proxies are generally slow, you can search them based on the supported protocol, including HTTPS, SOCKS4, and SOCKS5.
The platform also provides a RESTful API for extracting free proxies in preparation for web scraping. The API has filtering options for country, anonymity level, and protocols.
👍 Pros
- It offers different export options to fit your needs.
- You can view proxies based on the supported protocol.
- It offers a REST API with flexible filtering options.
👎 Cons
- There is no information about the proxy servers' availability and average uptime.
- The proxy servers can be slow.
8. ProxyScrape
ProxyScrape has hundreds of servers routinely tested every minute for uptime. You can download the proxy list as TXT, CSV, or JSON. Additionally, you can filter the servers by protocol, country, anonymity, or timeout level.
ProxyScrape offers HTTP, SOCKS4, and SOCKS5 proxies with limited SOCKS filtering options. The REST API allows you to obtain the proxies with GET requests. The platform also offers an online and desktop proxy checker. You can use this tool to test the connectivity of your chosen proxy server.
👍 Pros
- It offers different export options, including CSV, JSON, and TXT.
- ProxyScrape supports HTTP, SOCKS4, and SOCKS5 proxies.
- It offers a REST API to obtain and filter the free proxies.
- A proxy checker desktop app is available.
- Latency and last updated information is available.
👎 Cons
- The proxy list doesn't provide uptime information.
9. ProxyNova
ProxyNova provides a frequently updated list of free web scraping proxies, including speed, uptime, and location information. The filtering options are limited to countries and anonymity levels.
The uptime of the available proxies is generally low, but it's decent enough to preserve anonymity. The service also offers a desktop app for switching and configuring proxies locally.
👍 Pros
- It provides limited filtering options.
- The platform offers a desktop app for setting up local proxies.
- You can view proxies' uptime and speed information.
👎 Cons
- There are no proxy export options.
- The proxy uptime is generally low.
10. SSL Proxy
SSL provides free HTTPS-based proxies but shares a similar interface with the Free Proxy List website. The free proxies are limited in availability but are from various countries. There's no direct proxy export option, but you can quickly generate a raw list within the user interface.
The sorting options include only country and anonymity level. A field labeled Google specifies whether the proxy can connect to Google. However, some proxies listed as Google-supported couldn't connect when tested, proving this indicator unreliable.
👍 Pros
- You can generate a proxy list quickly within the platform.
- All proxies support SSL (HTTPS).
- It provides information about the last updated time.
👎 Cons
- No filtering is available.
- There is no performance indicator for the proxy servers.
Premium Proxies: A Safer and Faster Alternative
Although premium proxies are paid, they offer better anonymity, stability, and performance than free ones. Paid proxies also have higher bandwidth, offering low latency and high uptime.
That said, among the paid services, residential proxies come on top for improved anonymity, as they use IP addresses assigned to real users by network providers. So, opt for residential proxies if your project needs to bypass strict geo-restrictions or IP bans without being flagged.
Conclusion
You've explored the best free proxies for web scraping, including their pros and cons. While there are many options, you should select the proxy that best suits your project.
Remember that free proxies are generally unreliable for real-life, large-scale web scraping. We recommend using a premium proxy service like ZenRows to avoid IP bans, geo-restrictions, and other anti-bot measures while scraping at any scale.