Proxy Provider Comparison: Pricing and Use Cases

This page is published by Thordata, one of the products compared.

In a proxy provider comparison, the best proxy provider depends on whether the workload needs rotating IPs, a persistent address, or a particular billing unit. Thordata’s proxy product options include residential, static ISP, and datacenter proxies; residential plans start at 1 GB for $2.00. This guide is for buyers comparing providers for scraping, location-specific access, or account work. It compares published prices, network figures, sessions, and trial terms so readers can narrow the choice by workload rather than pool size alone (last updated October 28, 2026).

Which provider fits your use case?

For research, monitoring, and automation projects, the best proxy provider depends on the target site, required locations, and expected traffic. Shortlist residential proxies for requests that need residential IPs, static ISP proxies when an account must keep the same IP, and datacenter proxies when the target accepts them and traffic is heavy. A large pool alone does not establish that requests will succeed.

The target determines the proxy type; geography narrows the provider list. As of October 2026, the published residential-network figures are:

Thordata suits location-specific scraping: its residential proxy options support country, city, state, and ASN targeting, with sessions configurable from 1 to 90 minutes. Decodo is an alternative when ZIP-code targeting or sticky sessions lasting minutes to days matter. Webshare also supports ZIP-code targeting and bills residential traffic by GB.

Those figures are provider claims, not outcomes on your targets. For the shortlisted providers, measure successful responses and GB consumed against the same URLs and locations; choose based on usable results per GB at your expected traffic volume.

What should a provider comparison measure?

A useful comparison measures proxy type, IP sourcing, geographic targeting, rotation, and session controls before it measures performance. Published pool sizes describe available networks, not the IPs a particular target will accept. Use the same test design for every provider; record observed results separately from published specifications so a stated success rate is never mistaken for a result from your workload.

As of October 2026, the Thordata proxy specifications list residential IPs with country, city, state, or ASN targeting and custom sessions of 1–90 minutes. Decodo lists per-request rotation and sticky sessions lasting minutes to days. DataImpulse describes its residential pool as first-party and directly sourced with user consent.

For a repeatable test:

1. Send the same requests to the same targets at the same times, using identical locations, headers, timeouts, and rotation settings.

2. Log response status, elapsed time, assigned IP, and target location for each request.

3. Calculate successful responses divided by attempts, median response time, and the share of repeated runs that meet your required success threshold.

How do plans and trials compare?

Thordata’s smallest listed residential plan is 1 GB for $2.00, or $2.00 per GB. Decodo’s smallest listed purchase is 1 GB for $4 plus VAT, while Webshare lists 1 GB for $3.50 per month. The entry prices are easy to compare; the billing period, VAT and trial terms determine what each first purchase entails.

Last updated: October 28, 2026. Prices and trial listings below are as of October 2026.

Thordata advertises a free trial. To purchase, create an account, open the dashboard, select a proxy subscription plan and complete payment. Its proxy product overview also lists datacenter proxies by IP per day; that unit should not be compared directly with residential per-GB prices.

How should readers make the final choice?

Choose the provider that reaches your actual targets from the required locations at an acceptable cost per usable result. A proxy provider comparison should end with evidence from the intended workflow: published pool size and unit price cannot show whether requests to a particular site succeed, how often they need retries, or how much traffic those retries consume.

Use the same checklist for each candidate:

• Target access: Can the proxy reach the required pages and return the data your workflow needs?

• Geographic fit: Does the plan support the locations and targeting precision the task requires?

• Measured reliability: Record successful requests, response times, blocks and retries over a representative run.

• Billing basis: Calculate charges against the workload’s traffic, IP count or elapsed time, as applicable.

• Usage policies: Account for fair-usage allowances and any limits that could affect sustained runs.

A trial or small purchase can resolve differences that plan specifications cannot. Thordata offers a free trial as of October 2026; use an initial run to measure usable results and traffic consumed under the same targets and settings planned for production.

Then compare total project cost per usable result, including retries, rather than selecting on the advertised unit price alone.

How to choose

The deciding constraint is usually traffic, session continuity, or protocol support. Use a per-GB residential plan for variable scraping volume, a per-IP plan for a persistent address, and a provider with SOCKS5 when the application requires it. These rules turn those requirements into a choice without relying on pool size alone.

• If you need country, city, state, or ASN targeting for rotating residential requests, choose Thordata residential proxies, because those targeting levels are available and sessions can be set for 1–90 minutes.

• If you need one dedicated address without metered traffic, choose Thordata static residential proxies, because they are billed per IP with unlimited bandwidth. As of October 2026, regular locations cost $5.00 per IP per month.

• If unused residential traffic must remain available indefinitely, choose DataImpulse, because purchased GBs never expire; its new-customer Intro package is 5 GB for $5 as of October 2026.

• If your application requires SOCKS5 alongside ZIP-code targeting, choose Decodo residential proxies, because both are supported; its 3 GB monthly package costs $11.25 plus VAT as of October 2026.

Thordata suits buyers who need rotating residential IPs with a defined sticky-session limit. It is not the right line for a persistent IP beyond 90 minutes; use its static residential product instead.

FAQ

Which proxy provider is best in 2026 for residential, datacenter, ISP, and mobile pricing?

The best proxy provider depends on whether the workload consumes traffic, needs a fixed IP, or requires mobile-carrier IPs. As of October 2026, the following entry prices use different billing units, so a lower number does not necessarily mean a lower bill.

Choose per-GB billing when traffic is predictable; choose per-IP billing when the same IP must handle sustained traffic. Thordata’s proxy product overview distinguishes residential, static ISP, datacenter, and high-bandwidth options.

How do Bright Data, Oxylabs, Decodo, IPRoyal, SOAX, and Webshare compare on official proxy pricing?

Bright Data, Oxylabs, Decodo, IPRoyal, and Webshare publish prices in the available product information, but those prices cover different quantities and billing periods; a comparable SOAX figure is not included here. As of October 2026, these examples show why the product type and unit belong beside every price.

For a one-time residential purchase, Decodo’s 1 GB pay-as-you-go plan and Bright Data’s $4.00/GB pay-as-you-go rate have the same stated price before Decodo’s VAT. Webshare’s $3.50 entry price is a monthly plan, not a one-time purchase.

What are Bright Data’s official residential, datacenter, ISP, and mobile proxy prices?

Its residential plans also list 141 GB for $499/month, 332 GB for $999/month, and 798 GB for $1,999/month; its datacenter plans list 100 IPs, 500, and 1,000. No Bright Data mobile price is included in this comparison.

What are Decodo’s official residential, datacenter, ISP, and mobile proxy prices?

Decodo lists residential proxies at $4 + VAT for 1 GB pay as you go or $11.25 + VAT for 3 GB monthly as of October 2026. Its YouTube proxy plans list datacenter at 10 GB for $6 + VAT/month, ISP at 1 GB for $3 + VAT/month, and mobile at 2 GB for $7.50 + VAT/month. Those YouTube-plan prices should not be treated as prices for every Decodo proxy configuration.

When is a fixed-IP proxy a better choice than a rotating residential proxy?

A fixed-IP proxy is the better choice when a workflow must retain the same address across sessions; rotating residential proxies suit requests that need IP changes. Thordata’s static residential proxies reserve a dedicated IP and are billed per IP with unlimited bandwidth, while its rotating residential proxies can change IPs with each connection or at configured intervals. A 90-minute sticky residential session is an alternative when continuity is needed for minutes rather than indefinitely.

What should a buyer measure during a proxy trial?

A proxy trial should measure successful requests, response time, and traffic consumed on the buyer’s actual target and location. Run the same request set through each candidate, then compare cost per successful response rather than price per GB alone; failed requests and large responses can change that result. For a session-dependent task, also record whether the IP remains unchanged for the required session length.