Top 10 Best Proxy Service Providers in 2025

The market has 250+ proxy providers. More than 75% of these were established in the last 5 years. Finding the best proxy service provider among these is tougher than finding gold dust on a sand beach. How do you know which ones are efficient, reliable, trustworthy, and will be in the business 2 years from now? Tough. But proxies are integral to web scraping, ad verification, SERP tracking, accessing geo-restricted content, localized QA, and more.

Well, read this insight to choose the right proxy provider for your use case. We’ve done the heavy lifting for you by shortlisting the top 10 best proxy service providers of 2025. We’ve also highlighted the strengths, ideal use cases, and tradeoffs (if any).

What are the best proxies?

Proxies come in several forms and shapes. They're all unique and serve different purposes. Some excel in speed, some maintain anonymity, and some are cost-efficient. See for yourself, which type serves your needs the best.

Residential proxies

Residential proxies are IPs allocated to real households by Internet Service Providers (ISPs). Because they belong to real users, websites tend to trust them more, making them harder for websites to detect and block. Use these for establishing authenticity and legitimacy while carrying out automation projects where organic user behavior needs to be imitated. You can also rely on them for very granular city-level or neighborhood-level location targeting. However, latency for residential proxies can be a little higher compared to datacenter proxies, as can costs. Also, only choose a residential proxy service provider that guarantees that the IPs are ethically sourced; otherwise, it might lead to serious financial consequences.

Datacenter proxies

Datacenter proxies are IPs generated and hosted by third-party data centers rather than Internet Service Providers (ISPs). They are faster, scalable, and affordable compared to residential or mobile proxies. You may use them for high-volume tasks where speed and efficiency take precedence over authenticity, such as large-scale distributed web scraping from thousands of news websites or accessing publicly available information on websites that don't have sophisticated anti-scraping systems in place. You should avoid using datacenter proxies when working with sensitive or protected websites that have deployed anti-bot systems and require the appearance of organic user traffic. Because these IPs originate from known data centers, websites can detect and block them easily.

Mobile proxies

Mobile proxies are IPs assigned by mobile carriers to smartphones or mobile devices. Because they rotate through mobile networks, they appear as genuine mobile users, making them extremely trusted by websites and difficult to block. Mobile proxies are ideal for tasks that require high legitimacy and mobility, such as social media management, ad verification, and location-based testing. They are very effective at bypassing geo-restrictions and CAPTCHA because websites see traffic as coming from real mobile users. However, mobile proxies tend to be slower and more expensive than datacenter or even residential proxies.

Static residential (ISP) proxies

Static residential proxies are basically residential ones that don't change every time the connection resets. They remain the same over different sessions, hence the name. They carry the same high trust as residential proxies, but because of their configuration, they provide stability for long-term sessions. You may use them for tasks requiring consistent IP presence, such as social or eCommerce account management, as these may need steady geo-location. For example, cloud-based LinkedIn outreach automation tools use these proxies. Tradeoffs, like regular residential proxies, are higher costs and latency.

Additionally, some proxy providers might offer two generic types of proxies:

• Open proxies are publicly accessible and free to use but often lack security and reliability. They’re generally not recommended for sensitive tasks due to their high risk of being compromised.

• Free proxies, while providing cost-free access, typically come with speed, privacy, and performance limitations. They may be useful for occasional and non-critical tasks but aren’t suitable for professional or extensive use.

How do proxies differ from VPNs, TOR, and direct connections?

While proxies, VPNs, and TOR all help mask your identity online, they work differently and serve distinct purposes. Each approach offers unique tradeoffs in terms of speed, security, anonymity, and use cases. Understanding these differences will help you choose the right tool for your specific needs, from simple IP masking to comprehensive privacy protection.

Proxies vs VPNs

A VPN, or Virtual Private Network, builds an encrypted tunnel between your device and a remote server. Every single packet leaving your machine – browser, app, OS background services – gets encrypted and rerouted.

Key differences of proxies and VPNs:

• VPNs encrypt all your traffic through a secure tunnel. It’s applicable system-wide. Proxies only route what you tell them. Say, your browser or scraper.
• VPNs hide you, proxies hide your requests.
• VPNs slow things down with heavy encryption; proxies stay fast and modular.

Use VPNs for privacy, censorship bypass, or secure access. Use proxies for data scraping, automation, geo-testing, and IP rotation.

Proxies vs. TOR

Tor stands for The Onion Router. It routes your traffic through multiple volunteer-run random servers, a.k.a nodes. Each node peels off 1 layer of encryption to decode where to route next; none of the nodes get to know the ultimate destination or full route. Result? By the time your traffic reaches its destination, your original IP is buried under multiple layers of mystery.

Key differences of proxies and TOR are:

• TOR is very private but significantly slower than proxies, as every extra hop/node adds latency.
• Tor is for whistleblowers, activists, and privacy purists who’d trade speed for invisibility. Proxies are for engineers, growing businesses, and enterprises that need data at scale or have projects where geo-restrictions, IP bans, or CAPTCHAs are an issue.
• You should consider Tor when staying hidden is life-or-death. In all other scenarios, you may rely on proxies if all you need is to get the data – fast and clean.

Proxies vs. direct connections

A direct connection is the normal way of connecting with target systems using the IP address assigned to your device by your ISP or mobile carrier. However, there are a few differences:

• There’s no middleman involved when you access servers using direct connections. No rerouting is done. There won’t be any masking of your real IP or location. Hence, your activities are highly traceable, and you’re easily identifiable.
• With a direct connection, if you engage in volume-based internet activity involving a specific target server, you may not be able to glide past geo-blocks, CAPTCHA, or IP bans.
• You should use a direct connection when you’re casually browsing the web or performing privacy-sensitive activities like bank transactions or private conversations.

Why do you need a proxy server?

A proxy server is essential for users looking to scale their projects without facing CAPTCHAs, geo-restrictions, or IP bans. There are a range of use cases where proxies come in handy:

• Data collection is one of the most popular use cases for proxies as they enable efficient web scraping while eliminating the risk of being banned for using automation tools. They allow users to gather large volumes of real-time data from various websites, depending on the proxy type, even those well-equipped with advanced anti-bot software.

• Multi-accounting is another popular use case for managing multiple accounts on various eCommerce platforms and other websites. By assigning different IP addresses to each account, proxies help avoid detection, account suspension, and CAPTCHAs while interacting with diverse audiences or running organic marketing campaigns.

• Ad verification tasks ensure that paid marketing campaigns are displayed correctly across different regions and prevent fraudulent clicks by verifying the ad's placement and performance. Proxies allow users to see how their ads are shown to users in various countries and make budget-saving adjustments.

• SEO managers equip proxies to improve their search engine rankings monitoring game and polish their competitor strategies without being blacklisted by the search engines. Additionally, businesses can identify how their website and content appear to users in specific locations and evaluate local search rankings to ensure localized efforts are accurately reflected.

• Price monitoring with a proxy server allows businesses to track and compare prices across different websites and regions, ensuring competitive pricing strategies. Companies can also identify best-selling products in various platforms, seasonal demand related to their niche, and tweak their offerings to stay competitive.

How to choose the best proxy provider

Proxy providers may flex about their pool of "unlimited IPs." But it’s not just about the size of the IP pool. It is also about who delivers stability, diversity, and ethically-sourced IPs. A massive IP pool matters only if it’s truly global and clean. Besides, a good proxy provider supports multiple protocols, like HTTP(S) and SOCKS5. Here’s your checklist to select the right proxy provider–

1. IP pool size & diversity

A proxy network lives or dies by its IP pool. The bigger and more diverse, the better your odds of staying under the radar when you need to avoid anti-bot systems. A large pool means fewer repeated IPs and fewer bans. Diversity matters too. Being able to choose IPs based on country, city, and maybe pincode helps with plenty of use cases. For instance, if your proxy service provider gives access to millions of IPs across regions, you can test or scrape data without triggering alarms. Small or clustered pools burn fast. With a limited pool, you’ll hit CAPTCHAs, get thwarted with rate limits, or be outright banned in no time.

2. Proxy types & protocols

Every proxy type serves a different purpose. As we've talked earlier:

• Residential proxies help in mimicking real users.
• Datacenter proxies are ideal for bulk tasks, but are easily detectable.
• Mobile proxies offer IPs from real carriers. They are the gold standard for evading bans/blocks, but pricey.
• Static residential proxies are fast, legit-looking, and sticky.
• HTTP and HTTP(S) protocols are ideal for web traffic, and SOCKS5 for any traffic (even torrents or apps).

If your provider doesn’t cover all, your proxy-dependent workflows might be at the cusp of failure.

3. Performance

In the world of proxies, speed is oxygen. Without uptime above 99%, you’re gasping. Test latency to key regions. Milliseconds matter when scaling your proxy use cases. Watch for packet loss, DNS resolution time, and connection drops. Any proxy can look good at first, but real performance shows under load. If you’re doing scraping, automation, or SEO audits, a few milliseconds compound fast.

4. Pricing & free trials

Proxy pricing depends on type, volume, and quality. Some providers oversell their IPs. It results in a higher ban rate. Look for proxy providers who also provide pay-as-you-go or flexible plans. This is important because then you can discontinue if there is a gap between the service promise and the actual reality. Free trials, test endpoints, or money-back guarantees reveal confidence and command trust in the offerings. If a provider hides behind "no refunds," that’s a red flag.

5. Customer support

When proxies break, your workflows break. Often, you’d need real engineers who can help you troubleshoot routing, authentication, or proxy issues. Not canned responses. 24/7 support is a necessity when your campaigns are global and time-sensitive.

Best proxy service providers in 2025

Whether you're choosing proxies for a specific use case or need an affordable yet reliable service, we've gathered all the best providers into one list. As residential proxies are the most popular, we’ll focus on each provider's performance metrics in that proxy category, but will also briefly cover other proxy types. Backed by Proxyway Market Research 2025 data, here are the best proxy service providers in 2025.

#1. Decodo

Awarded for 4 years in a row as the Best Value Provider, Decodo holds its title as a reliable, affordable, and innovative proxy service provider. With residential, static residential (ISP), mobile, shared, and dedicated datacenter proxies in its lineup, Decodo caters to a diverse range of users’ needs.

According to Proxyway, Decodo’s residential proxies demonstrated a near-perfect response time of 0.63s with a success rate of 99.86%. From the performance tests, mobile proxies demonstrated the best-in-market 0.57s average response time in the global pool and an impressive 99.94% success rate. The research also showcased that Decodo’s IP quality score is the highest among all the competitors.

Here’s an overview of all features:

• Proxy types: residential ($1.5/GB), static residential (ISP) ($0.27/IP), mobile ($2.25/GB), shared ($0.02/IP), and dedicated datacenter proxies ($1.35/IP)

• IP pool size: 125M+

• Available locations: 195+ locations

• Support: 24/7 tech support through LiveChat and dedicated account manager

• Free trial: 3-day free trial for residential proxies and 14-day money-back option for other proxy types

• Other handy features: Site Unblocker, All-In-One Web Scraping API, free proxy tools, quick start guide, and integration guides

#2. Oxylabs

Awarded as a leading Premium Proxy Provider by Proxyway, Oxylabs is known for its reliable, high-performance, and innovative proxy solutions for various use cases. With residential, mobile, ISP, and datacenter proxies, enterprise businesses can scale their operations with 1 of the largest pools with 177M+ worldwide IPs.

In the recent benchmarks, Oxylabs' residential proxies achieved a 99.9% success rate and an average response time of 0.65s, highlighting their reliability and speed.

A quick overview of Oxylabs:

• Proxy types: residential ($3.87/GB), mobile ($5.4/GB), ISP ($1.6/IP), shared datacenter ($1.2/IP), and dedicated datacenter proxies ($2.25/IP)

• IP pool size: 177M+

• Available locations: 195 countries

• Support: 24/7 via LiveChat, dedicated account manager

• Free trial: 7-day free trial available for enterprise users of premium residential and datacenter proxies, with a 3-day money-back guarantee

• Other handy features: Web Unblocker, Scraper API, and SDK

#3. Webshare

Recognized for its budget-friendly entry prices and easy interface, Webshare is loved by users for its high-performing proxy services catering to diverse use cases. Users can choose from residential, static residential (ISP), and datacenter proxy options.

Webshare's proxies demonstrated a 99.58% average success rate in 2025, with a slight improvement compared to last year. Their average response time also improved since then from 1.67s to 1.49s.

Here's a quick recap of the Webshare proxy service provider:

• Proxy types: residential ($3.5/GB), ISP ($0.3/IP), and datacenter proxies ($0.03/IP)

• IP pool size: 80M+

• Available locations: 190 countries

• Support: email and LiveChat (6AM–6PM PST)

• Free trial: free tier available with 10 datacenter proxies and up to 1GB of data per month

• Other handy features: documentation, API, verified proxies

#4. NetNut

NetNut excels at offering high-speed residential, ISP, mobile proxies, and shared datacenter proxies. With over 85M+ IPs around the world, users can efficiently overcome CAPTCHA while scraping various targets or managing multiple accounts.

During performance tests, residential proxies showed a 98.7% success rate and an average response time of 0.99s.

Here’s what you should know about NetNut:

• Proxy types: residential ($3/GB), static residential (ISP) ($12/GB), mobile ($6.24/GB), and datacenter proxies ($0.9/GB)

• IP pool size: 85M+

• Available locations: 200+ countries

• Support: 24/7 through email, live chat, phone, and Skype

• Free trial: available only to registered companies that pass verification

• Other handy features: SERP Scraping API, Website Unblocker, documentation

#5. SOAX

Another popular proxy service choice for various use cases is SOAX. This provider offers residential, mobile, ISP (US-based), and datacenter proxies. According to SOAX, they offer a massive 191M+ IP pool in global locations, and guarantee that all IP addresses are ethically-sourced.

In the 2025 benchmarks, SOAX residential proxies reached a 99.73% average success rate with a 1.24% improvement compared to last year, and a 0.9s response time, which is a massive improvement of 1.21s compared to last year’s tests.

A quick overview of the SOAX proxy service provider:

• Proxy types: residential ($3.6/GB), US ISP ($3.0/GB), mobile ($3.6/GB), and datacenter proxies ($0.62/GB)

• IP pool size: 191M+

• Available locations: 195+ locations

• Support: 24/7 through live chat and tickets

• Free trial: a paid 3-day trial for $1.99 is available that provides 400MB of data, with full access to all proxy types and targeting features

• Other handy features: Scraper API, AI scraper, Web Unblocker

#6. Bright Data

Bright Data operates in the proxy market with a residential, mobile, ISP, and datacenter proxy offerings. The platform provides access to 159M+ IPs distributed across global locations for bypassing geo-blocks and executing web scraping operations.

In recent benchmarks, Bright Data's residential proxies achieved a 98.96% success rate with an average response time of 1.12s.

Here’s what you should know about Bright Data:

• Proxy types: residential ($4/GB), mobile ($8/GB), ISP ($9/GB), and datacenter proxies ($1.8/IP)

• IP pool size: 159M+

• Available locations: 195 countries

• Support: 24/7 through live chat, tickets, and dedicated account manager

• Free trial: a 7-day free trial is available for companies, while individuals can prompt for a pay-as-you-go plan to try the service out

• Other handy features: Web Scraper API, Web Unlocker, Scraping Browser

#7. IPRoyal

Among cheaper proxy services, we have IPRoyal. With 34M+ ethically-sourced IPs in worldwide locations, the provider offers residential, mobile, ISP, and datacenter proxies.

According to Proxyway’s market research 2025, IPRoyal residential proxies achieved an average success rate of 99.56% and a response time of 1.06s – a 25% performance improvement over last year.

Here’s a recap on IPRoyal:

• Proxy types: residential ($3.68/GB), ISP ($2/proxy), mobile ($10.11/day), and datacenter proxies ($1.57/proxy)

• IP pool size: 34M+

• Available locations: 195+ countries

• Support: 24/7 through LiveChat

• Free trial: available upon request for companies

• Other handy features: proxy checker, browser extensions, documentation

#8. Infatica

Focusing on the enterprise segment and offering competitive pricing for large plans, Infatica is a proxy service provider valued for its easy-to-navigate dashboard and reliable IP pool. Infatica offers residential, mobile, ISP, and datacenter proxies.

In recent benchmarks, Infatica’s residential proxies saw a drop in year-on-year success rate and averaged 95.17% in 2025. Ranking last among the leading proxy providers. However, Infatica’s pool of IPs saw a 10% increase in response time and brought it down to 0.89s from 0.99s.

What you should know about Infatica:

• Proxy types: residential ($0.3/GB), ISP ($5), mobile ($1/GB), and datacenter proxies ($15)

• IP pool size: 25M+

• Available locations: 195+ countries

• Support: 24/7 support through live chat, tickets, and email

• Free trial: a paid 7-day trial for $4 is available that provides a small amount of data and access to test their residential and other proxy services

#9. RayoByte

While RayoByte is best known for its datacenter proxies, the provider also offers a complete proxy line. Users can choose from static and rotating datacenter, residential, mobile, and ISP proxies.

During the test, RayoByte’s residential proxies achieved a 99.47% average success rate and 2.09s response time – the slowest among all the tested proxy service providers.

Overview of RayoByte's offering:

• Proxy types: residential ($3.50/GB), ISP ($5/IP), mobile ($25/GB), and datacenter proxies ($0.30/GB)

• IP pool size: 40M+

• Available locations: 163+ countries

• Support: 24/7 support

• Free trial: available for residential proxies by signing up for an account, and available upon request for datacenter and ISP proxies

• Other handy features: documentation, Web Unblocker, Web Scraping API

#10. DataImpulse

Last on our list of the best proxy service providers is DataImpulse. This provider is a new entrant to the list, but a promising one. In the span of 3 years, the platform acquired 90M+ proxies across 194 locations worldwide. DataImpulse is run by a Ukrainian dev agency with a strong foothold in SEO-focused web scraping.

According to Proxyway, DataImpulse’s residential proxies boast a 1.01s response time and has reached a 99.66% average success rate, improving year-on-year by 0.97%.

Here’s all you need to know about DataImpulse:

• Proxy types: residential proxies ($1/GB), datacenter proxies ($0.5/GB), mobile proxies ($2/GB)

• IP pool size: 90M+

• Available locations: 190+ countries

• Free trial: available upon request, but otherwise testing relies on 7-day refund policy

• Other handy features: documentation, SDK, Reseller API

Best proxy server software in 2025

Great, you’ve chosen a proxy server provider that best matches your needs! And in case you’re in for a real proxying game, we’ve reviewed the best proxy server software out there. Here’s the list–

#1 Nginx

Type: reverse proxy, load balancer

Pros:

• High performance and scalability

• Efficient load balancing

• Wide adoption and extensive community support

• Good for handling concurrent connections

Cons:

• Complex configuration for beginners

• Limited native caching capabilities

Best for: high-traffic websites, web serving, load balancing

#2 Squid

Type: caching and forwarding HTTP web proxy

Pros:

• Excellent caching capabilities

• Reduces bandwidth usage

• Extensive access control features

• Supports HTTP(S), FTP protocols

Cons:

• Can be resource-intensive

• Configuration complexity

Best for: content caching, improving web performance, reducing bandwidth costs

#3 HAProxy

Type: TCP/HTTP load balancer, proxy server

Pros:

• High performance and reliability

• Robust load balancing features

• Extensive logging and monitoring capabilities

• SSL termination

Cons:

• Limited to layer 4 and layer 7 proxying

• No native support for caching

Best for: load balancing, improving availability and reliability of web applications

#4 Apache Traffic Server

Type: caching proxy server, reverse proxy

Pros:

• High-performance caching

• Handles large amounts of traffic

• Flexible and extensible

• Good for reducing latency and load on web servers

Cons:

• Steeper learning curve

• Less popular than some alternatives

Best for: high-traffic websites, content delivery networks (CDNs)

#5 Varnish Cache

Type: web application accelerator (reverse proxy)

Pros:

• Excellent caching capabilities

• Speeds up content delivery significantly

• Flexible configuration with VCL (Varnish Configuration Language)

• High performance

Cons:

• Primarily focuses on HTTP

• Complex for beginners

Best for: accelerating web applications, content-heavy websites

#6 Privoxy

Type: non-caching web proxy with advanced filtering capabilities

Pros:

• Excellent privacy and filtering features

• Removes ads and web trackers

• Highly configurable

Cons:

• No caching capabilities

• Configuration can be complex

Best for: enhancing privacy, ad-blocking, and content filtering

#7 3Proxy

Type: lightweight multi-protocol proxy server

Pros:

• Lightweight and fast

• Supports multiple protocols (HTTP, HTTPS, SOCKS, FTP)

• Highly configurable

Cons:

• Basic features compared to other proxies

Best for: small-scale proxying needs, educational purposes

#8 Tinyproxy

Type: lightweight HTTP proxy

Pros:

• Very lightweight and fast

• Easy to configure and manage

• Minimal resource usage

Cons:

• Limited features

• No caching capabilities

Best for: small-scale HTTP proxying, embedded systems

#9 Shadowsocks

Type: encrypted proxy, SOCKS5 proxy

Pros:

• Strong encryption

• Bypasses internet censorship

• Lightweight and fast

• Open source

Cons:

• Requires technical knowledge to set up

• Primarily designed for individual use

Best for: circumventing internet restrictions, secure and private browsing

#10 Jigsaw's Outline

Type: VPN and proxy server

Pros:

• Easy to set up and use

• Strong focus on security

• Open source

• Good for bypassing censorship

Cons:

• Limited advanced features

• Performance can vary based on the host server

Best for: bypassing censorship, secure proxy/VPN use

Bottom line

Selecting the right proxy service provider in 2025 can be challenging, but our comprehensive guide highlights the top 10 options, tailored for various use cases, including web scraping, multi-accounting, SEO analysis, or AdTech. From Decodo's exceptional value to Oxylabs' enterprise-grade solutions, we covered all the most important features every user should know about their new proxy provider.

Want to learn more about the proxy market? Explore our resources on the best web proxies, best residential proxies, and best ISP proxies. Additionally, check out our review of the best Bright Data alternatives if you're looking for other options.