Best Proxy Providers 2026: Residential, Datacenter Comparison Across 7 Leading Brands

The line between residential and datacenter providers has mostly disappeared. Vendors that once sold a single network now offer several, and your real choice is less about picking residential or datacenter than about finding an account where you can use each one for the job it suits: datacenter IPs for fast, inexpensive bulk work and residential IPs for targets that only trust household connections. The seven providers below are compared on how well they cover both, what each costs and the trade-offs you should know before you buy.

#1 ProxyEmpire

If you want every proxy type under one login, ProxyEmpire gives you the widest menu here. You can buy rotating residential at $3.50 per GB, rotating mobile at $4.50 per GB, static ISP from $3.50 for a single IP (down to $2.20 per IP from 1,000 IPs), datacenter from 40 GB for $25 a month, unlimited residential from $200 a day and dedicated US 5G mobile from $20 a day. That lets you start on datacenter, move tougher targets to residential and keep mobile ready for the hardest ones, without opening new accounts.

On datacenter, you're billed by bandwidth across 197,000+ IPs in 62 countries, scaling to $0.35 per GB at 5,000 GB. On residential, the company reports 30M+ IPs in 170+ countries, and you can target down to city, ZIP, ISP and ASN for free. Unused GB on GB plans roll over and never expire.

Day to day, you can control sessions by time, by session or per request, run unlimited concurrent sessions for approved use cases, and manage everything through a public API, a Chrome extension or an Android app. Support is available 24/7 by live chat and email.

Before you buy, know that all sales are final and refund requests are reviewed case by case. The $1.97 trial covers residential and mobile, not datacenter, so use it to test the networks you'll escalate to.

Pros:

• Residential, mobile, ISP, datacenter and unlimited plans on one account
• Free targeting down to ZIP and ASN
• Bandwidth that rolls over

Cons:

• No money-back guarantee
• Static ISP available in 24 countries

#2 DataImpulse

DataImpulse is the provider to look at if residential cost per GB is your main concern. You pay $50 for 50 GB on the Basic plan or $800 for 1 TB on Advanced, with no subscription, and your traffic never expires.

It also sells premium residential, mobile and datacenter proxies, although datacenter pricing isn't listed on the pages covered here. Mobile is priced at $2 per GB in its official blog. SOCKS5 and HTTP(S) are supported, and you can create user accounts and use an API.

Watch the targeting costs: only country targeting is free, so city or ZIP work raises your effective rate. A 7-day refund policy gives you a window to change your mind.

Support runs 24/7 by chat, email and a Telegram channel, and the site says first replies usually arrive in under 3 minutes. Integration guides cover Scrapy, Playwright, Puppeteer, Selenium and antidetect browsers such as Multilogin, so you can drop it into an existing setup.

Pros:

• Low prepaid residential rates
• Traffic never expires
• 24/7 human support

Cons:

• Paid targeting below country level
• Datacenter pricing not published in the details reviewed

#3 NodeMaven

NodeMaven doesn't sell datacenter proxies, but it offers ISP proxies with unlimited traffic, which you can use for many of the same stable, high-volume tasks. ISP pricing starts from $2.33 per IP for 30 days, and those proxies support SOCKS5 and UDP.

For residential, you get a shared residential and mobile balance from $2.20 per GB on monthly plans, with unused bandwidth rolling forward and up to 10% cashback on used traffic. The IP Quality Filter screens each address before you receive it.

If you manage many accounts, sticky sessions of up to 24 hours help keep logins stable. Targeting covers country, city and ISP.

You can start with a $3.50 trial for 750 MB across residential and mobile, and the smallest monthly plan is 2 GB for $8.50. NodeMaven also includes a Scraping Browser at no extra charge, so you only pay for proxy traffic when you automate collection.

Pros:

• Filtered residential IPs
• ISP proxies with unlimited traffic
• Traffic rollover

Cons:

• No datacenter proxies listed
• No ZIP or ASN targeting listed

#4 Bright Data

Bright Data covers both networks at enterprise scale. Datacenter runs from 10 IPs for $14 a month to 1,000 IPs for $900, drawing on 1.3M+ datacenter IPs, while residential starts at $4 per GB on pay as you go with the RESIGB50 code.

Residential coverage spans 400M+ monthly IPs in 195 countries, with free targeting down to ZIP and ASN. You also get shared or dedicated IPs, daily spend limits per zone and payment through AWS Marketplace or Azure.

Expect a KYC check, sometimes including a video call, before residential use. Unused monthly commitments don't roll over.

On the plus side, you get a free trial with no credit card, a first deposit match up to $500, an open-source Proxy Manager and 24/7 support with dedicated account managers. The company lists ISO 27001, SOC 2, SOC 3 and CSA STAR Level 1, which helps if your employer runs vendor reviews.

Pros:

• Large residential and datacenter pools
• Security certifications listed
• Free trial with no credit card

Cons:

• KYC required for residential
• No rollover on commitments

#5 Decodo (formerly Smartproxy)

Decodo gives you a low-cost datacenter start at $0.02 per IP and up, with 500K+ datacenter IPs, alongside a residential pool of 115M+ IPs that every plan can reach.

Residential plans start at $3.75 per GB on 3 GB and fall to $2.75 per GB at 100 GB. Targeting down to ZIP and ASN is free, and a 3-day residential trial with 100 MB costs nothing.

Remember that the trial converts to a paid plan unless you cancel, and crypto can't be used for ISP or datacenter per-IP plans.

You also get 24/7 live chat, Chrome and Firefox extensions, and a Web Data API with SDKs if you plan to build data pipelines. First purchases can be refunded within 14 days if you've used under 20% of the traffic and skipped the trial.

Pros:

• Low per-IP datacenter entry
• Free residential trial
• Free ZIP and ASN targeting

Cons:

• Trial auto converts
• Wallet and subscription can't run together

#6 IPRoyal

IPRoyal sells both networks with simple pricing: datacenter from $1.39 per proxy across 60+ locations and residential from $7 per GB on a 1 GB subscription. Residential traffic never expires, and there's no monthly minimum.

You can keep sticky residential sessions for up to 7 days, and your account supports workspace roles, 2FA and API ordering. SOCKS5 works on both.

The residential entry rate is high for small purchases; the $1.75 per GB rate only applies from 10 TB.

In return, you get 24/7 support that the docs say answers in 58 seconds on average, 650+ supported tool integrations and ISP proxies from $1.80 if you need static addresses. Signing up doesn't require a credit card.

Pros:

• Non-expiring residential traffic
• Long sticky sessions
• No credit card needed to sign up

Cons:

• High residential entry rate
• ZIP and ASN targeting not listed

#7 Webshare

Webshare is the easiest place to start for free: you get 10 datacenter proxies permanently, then paid datacenter from $2.99 a month for 100 proxies. Rotating residential starts at $3.50 for 1 GB, falling to $1.40 per GB from 250 GB.

You can customize plans by proxy count, bandwidth and location, and static residential IPs start at $6.00 a month for 20 IPs.

Webshare doesn't sell mobile proxies, so you'd need another provider for mobile traffic.

You do get 24/7 support, dedicated account managers, a full API and a rotating endpoint that cycles through the IPs in your account. Refunds are possible within 2 days of payment if the stated conditions are met, so test early.

Pros:

• Permanent free datacenter plan
• Low-cost datacenter packs
• Customizable plans

Cons:

• No mobile proxies
• Residential trial not mentioned

Residential and Datacenter at a Glance

Provider	Residential entry	Datacenter entry	Mobile	Unused residential traffic
ProxyEmpire	$3.50/GB	40 GB for $25/mo	Yes, per GB and dedicated	Rolls over
DataImpulse	$1/GB (50 GB)	Not listed	$2/GB per its blog	Never expires
NodeMaven	$2.20/GB monthly	Not offered (ISP from $2.33/IP)	Shared balance	Rolls over
Bright Data	$4/GB with code	10 IPs for $14/mo	Not listed in current menus	No rollover on commitments
Decodo	$3.75/GB	$0.02/IP	From $2.25/GB	Not listed
IPRoyal	$7/GB	$1.39/proxy	From $10.11/day	Never expires
Webshare	$3.50 (1 GB)	100 proxies for $2.99/mo	Not offered	Not listed

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between residential and datacenter proxies?

Residential proxies use IPs assigned to home internet connections, so they look like ordinary visitors. Datacenter proxies use IPs from hosting providers, which makes them faster and cheaper but easier for some sites to spot.

Can I buy residential and datacenter proxies from one provider?

Yes. ProxyEmpire, Bright Data, Decodo, IPRoyal and Webshare all sell both, and DataImpulse lists datacenter alongside residential.

Which is cheaper, residential or datacenter?

Datacenter is usually cheaper to start. Here, datacenter entry prices begin at $0.02 per IP at Decodo, $1.39 per proxy at IPRoyal and $2.99 a month for 100 proxies at Webshare, while residential starts at $1 per GB at DataImpulse. Billing units differ, so compare the plan you'd actually buy.

When should I switch from datacenter to residential?

Switch when your target starts blocking datacenter IPs or showing different content to them. Keeping both on one account, as ProxyEmpire allows, makes that switch quick. Many teams run most pages through datacenter and route only the protected ones through residential, which keeps overall costs down.