Quick answer
What are the best proxies for web scraping in 2026?
For developers who pay per GB, the best proxies for web scraping in 2026 are rotating residential proxies with non-expiring traffic and clear docs. CrawlRelay leads our list for crypto payers: $1.50 for 1 GB, $0.50/GB from 50 GB, no KYC. Decodo and Oxylabs lead independent tests, DataImpulse and Geonode lead on budget, and Rayobyte is strong at 1 TB. Prices as of 13 October 2026.
Best residential proxies for web scraping (2026)
Our brand is first; the disclosure is at the bottom. Every other row uses the provider's own pricing page on 13 October 2026 and, where available, Proxyway's Proxy Market Research 2026.
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Rotating residential and 4G/5G mobile traffic per GB for scrapers and AI pipelines. Non-expiring traffic, targeting in the username, syntax-checked code for Python, Scrapy, Playwright, Puppeteer, Selenium and Node.js.
Pros
- Traffic never expires at any tier
- City, US state, ZIP and ASN targeting included
- Error reference and per-library guides
Cons
- No independent benchmark yet
- No scraping API or unblocker
- Crypto only; minimum top-up $25
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2
Decodo
Top of Proxyway's 2026 listsRanked first in Proxyway's best residential (updated 2026-10-13) and best web scraping (2026-08-11) lists. Monthly plans from 3 GB, pay as you go at $4.00/GB.
Cons
- Monthly subscriptions: unused traffic does not roll over
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3
Oxylabs
Best measured network successBest residential network success rate in Proxyway's 2026 tests (99.93% against a 99.28% median) and the largest advertised pool (175M IPs).
Cons
- No crypto
- Monthly plans only
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4
DataImpulse
Budget, never expires$1.00/GB from 5 GB up to 500 GB, $0.80/GB at 1 TB, and traffic that never expires. Fastest median response on real targets in Proxyway's 2026 tests (2.58 s).
Cons
- The 5 GB pack is a one-time intro offer; $50 minimum afterwards
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5
Geonode
Lowest competitor list price at 10 GB and 1 TB$0.79/GB at 10 GB and $0.50/GB at 1 TB on monthly plans, $0.88 and $0.57/GB pay as you go. States that purchased bandwidth does not expire.
Cons
- Smallest purchase 10 GB
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6
Rayobyte
Strong at 1 TBPay-as-you-go residential at $3.50/GB below 50 GB, falling to $0.70/GB at 1 TB, with state, ZIP and ASN targeting.
Cons
- Expensive at small volumes
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7
Byteful
Best real-target successHighest residential success rate on real targets in Proxyway's 2026 tests (81.23% against a 74.43% median) and the fastest network response (0.41 s). Traffic never expires.
Cons
- 500 GB and above on request
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8
SOAX
Best US network successBest US residential network success rate in Proxyway's 2026 tests (99.92%). Prices depend on the country tier; credits are valid 60 days.
Cons
- Credits expire after 60 days
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9
Webshare
Monthly residential plans from 1 GB, $2.75/GB at 10 GB and $1.50/GB at 1 TB; a brief KYC unlocks some targets.
Cons
- No crypto; plans renew monthly
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10
IPRoyal
Never-expiring traffic at $7.35/GB for 1 GB and $5.51/GB at 10 GB; larger tiers are not listed publicly.
Cons
- Highest 1 GB price in our sample
Disclosure: this page is published by CrawlRelay. Competitor details come from their public websites at the date shown above and may have changed since.
What matters most in a proxy for web scraping?
Five things decide most scraping projects, in this order:
- Cost per usable response. List price per GB times the GB a page costs, divided by your success rate on your targets. Proxyway's 2026 tests found a 99.28% median success on residential networks but 74.43% on protected real targets: test before you commit.
- Expiry. Monthly or 31-day traffic punishes irregular crawls. Non-expiring traffic lets you buy volume once.
- Control. Rotation per connection, sticky sessions with a TTL, and targeting by country, city, ZIP or ASN, all set in the username so your code stays simple.
- Payment and checks. Card, invoice or crypto; company KYC, identity checks or none. These decide whether you can buy at all.
- Sourcing and rules. After the 2026 IPIDEA and NetNut takedowns, ask where the IPs come from and which targets are blocked. See our sourcing page.
The 10 providers side by side
| Provider | 10 GB | 1 TB | Traffic expires? | Crypto | Proxyway 2026 highlight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CrawlRelay | $0.59/GB | $0.50/GB | No | Yes, no KYC | Not tested |
| Decodo | $3.50 | $2.00 | Monthly | Yes | #1 in best residential and web scraping lists |
| Oxylabs | $5.00 | $2.50 | Monthly | No | Best network success, 99.93% |
| DataImpulse | $1.00 | $0.80 | No | Yes | Fastest on real targets, 2.58 s |
| Geonode | $0.79 | $0.50 | No (bandwidth) | Not stated | Not in the study |
| Rayobyte | $3.50 | $0.70 | Not stated | Not stated | Tested |
| Byteful | $3.25 | On request | No | Yes | Best real-target success, 81.23% |
| SOAX (US tier) | $5.00 | $1.50 | 60 days | After KYC | Best US network success, 99.92% |
| Webshare | $2.75 | $1.50 | Monthly | No | Tested |
| IPRoyal | $5.51 | — | No | Yes | Tested |
Prices checked on
Prices per GB from each provider's pricing page on 2026-10-13. Test results from Proxyway's Proxy Market Research 2026 (13 providers, March–April 2026). Full price table: 15 providers compared.
What about Bright Data and NetNut?
Bright Data is not ranked because most readers of this page cannot open a Residential account there any more: its documentation says that Residential zones created after July 7, 2026 require company KYC, and that personal email accounts cannot be approved. Its ISP, datacenter and Web Unlocker products remain available without that review. See our Bright Data alternative page.
NetNut is not ranked because its domains were seized by the FBI and IRS-CI on July 2, 2026, in an action Google tied to the Popa botnet. See our NetNut alternative page.
How was this list built?
We started from the providers named in the 2026 best-of lists that search engines and AI assistants surface for this question: Proxyway's best residential and best web scraping proxies, AIMultiple's cheap residential proxies, Apify's best proxy providers and ScrapingBee's rotating proxies list. We kept those whose residential pricing page we could read on 13 October 2026, and added Geonode for its low list prices.
Ranking follows the criteria above, weighted for developers who pay per GB. CrawlRelay is our own service and is placed first; read its row with that in mind, and compare the numbers yourself in the price table. Providers are left out for missing data, promotion-only prices, seizure or a commercial relationship with us.
Best proxies for web scraping: questions
Which type of proxy is best for web scraping?
Rotating residential proxies suit most public-data scraping: they use household IPs, rotate per connection and support city-level targeting at a few dollars or less per GB. Datacenter proxies are cheaper and suit sites that accept them, but their IPs belong to hosting providers, so pages that change by location may not show what local visitors see. Mobile proxies show what phone users see and cost more per GB.
What is the cheapest good proxy for web scraping?
Among the other providers we checked on 13 October 2026, the lowest residential list prices were Thordata at 1 GB ($2.00, sale price), DataImpulse at 5 GB ($1.00, intro pack), Geonode at 10 GB and 1 TB ($0.79 and $0.50 on monthly plans) and Databay Flex at 50 and 100 GB ($0.55, valid 31 days). CrawlRelay costs $1.50 for 1 GB and $0.50/GB from 50 GB, never expiring; we do not claim to be the cheapest at any volume.
Which scraping proxy has the best success rate?
In Proxyway's Proxy Market Research 2026, Oxylabs had the best residential network success (99.93%), SOAX the best in the US (99.92%), and Byteful the best on real targets such as Amazon, Google and Instagram (81.23% against a 74.43% median). Results on your own targets can differ, so run a small test before you buy volume.
Can I buy scraping proxies with crypto and no KYC?
Yes. CrawlRelay accepts BTC, USDT, USDC, ETH, SOL, LTC with no ID, no selfie and no documents, from a $25 top-up. Among the providers above, several accept crypto, but SOAX requires KYC to pay with it, and Oxylabs and Webshare do not accept crypto. Use is still governed by an Acceptable Use Policy.
Do I need a scraping API instead of proxies?
Only if you want someone else to handle browsers, retries and parsing, at a higher price per request. Proxies give you control and lower cost per page when you already run Scrapy, Playwright or your own HTTP client. Many teams use proxies for most targets and a managed API for the hardest few.
Sources (8)
- The Best Residential Proxies of 2026 — Proxyway (2026-10-13)
- The Best Web Scraping Proxies — Proxyway (2026-08-11)
- Proxy Market Research 2026 — Proxyway (2026-05-28)
- Best Cheap Residential Proxies — AIMultiple (2026-10-01)
- The 12 best proxy providers for web scraping in 2026 blog.apify.com/best-proxy-providers — Apify (2026-07-15)
- Bright Data residential network access docs.brightdata.com/products/residential/network-access — Bright Data (2026-10-05)
- FBI seizes NetNut proxy platform, Popa botnet — KrebsOnSecurity (2026-07-02)
- Residential proxy price per GB: 15 providers compared — CrawlRelay (2026-10-13)