Guide to Finding The Best Proxies For Web Scraping?
This proxy comparison tool is designed to make it easier for you to compare and find the best proxy plans for your particular use case.
It allows you to compare the price, features, reviews of each proxy plan in one place before making your decision.
You can compare the 4 major types of proxies (datacenter, residential, ISP, and mobile proxies) along with other criteria like:
- Integration: What integration options do each proxy provider provide.
- Billing: Does the proxy provider only offer monthly subscriptions or do they offer pay-as-you-go plans.
- Advanced Functionality: Does the proxy provider offer more advanced functionality like in-built Javascript rendering, country geotargeting, sticky sessions, etc.
All of these can be important factors when making a decision about which proxy provider you would like to integrate with.
So to help you make the best decision, we will go through the most important factors you need to consider when choosing a proxy provider.
Types of Proxy Solutions
There are over 500 different proxy providers selling proxy solutions for web scraping, account automation, botting, etc. who offer various types of proxy solutions to meet different customer needs, so things can be a bit confusing.
However, broadly speaking proxy solutions can be grouped into 3 types:
- Proxy Lists
- Rotating Proxy Pools
- Smart Proxy Solutions
We will go through each of them in detail.
Proxy Lists
The oldest and purest type of proxy solution are proxy lists. Here proxy providers sell you a list of proxy IP addresses (normally datacenter IP addresses) that you can integrate into your web scrapers.
Typically, after you have subscribed to a proxy list plan, you can download a list of proxy IP addresses that will look something like this:
'proxy1.com:8000''proxy2.com:8031''proxy3.com:8032'Once you have this list, then you need to configure your web scraper or bot to rotate through these IP addresses and us a different one with each request.
This proxy solution works, however, it requires you to build a proxy rotation and management layer that will:
- Rotate through the proxies in the proxy list.
- Select a fresh one for each request.
- Log and remove a proxy from the list when a IP address has been banned/blocked by the website.
- Unblock any blocked requests by solving any CAPTHCA or anti-bot challenges that the website has triggered.
With this approach you will also need to manage your own request headers & user-agents to reduce the chances of your scraper being detected.
Depending on the website you are trying to scrape building a proxy management layer that gives your reliable results could be pretty straightforward for simple websites.
However, for more difficult websites like Google, Amazon, Instagram, etc. building a reliable proxy manangement layer can be a pain in the a**.
To plus side to this approach, is that it is often the cheapest option available. Most providers impose no usage limits on the proxies in your list so you can process large amounts of requests with them very cheaply.
Proxy Lists Summary
Pros: Cheapest proxy plans, cost efficient for very large scale web scraping.
Cons: Hardest to setup and maintain. Unless, the websites being scraped has very lax anti-scraping countermeasures you will have to spend large amounts of time tweaking & debugging bans.
Most Suitable For: Developers where cost is a massive concern, and want the cheapest possible solution. When scraping very easy websites or if scraping at very large volumes (over 100M pages per month).
Pricing: Typically, you pay per IP address.
Proxy Type: Datacenter IP addresses.
Examples Proxy Providers: WebShare
Rotating Proxy Pools
Once upon a time, all proxy providers gave you lists of proxy IPs when you purchased a plan with them.
However, today most of the big proxy providers don't sell individual proxy IPs anymore. Instead they give you access to a proxy endpoint that you send your requests to, and they handle proxy rotation & selection on their end.
zproxy.lum-superproxy.io:22225 # Bright Datapr.oxylabs.io:7777 # Oxylabsgw.ntnt.io:5959 # NetnutRotating proxies through a single endpoint are the most common proxy type when using residential & mobile proxies. However, a lot of proxy providers are now only offering the datacenter proxies through single endpoint rotating proxy pools as well.
This single proxy endpoint approach makes it much easier to integrate proxies into your web scrapers, as they proxy provider is in charge of rotating the proxy IPs, removing dead IP addresses, and unblocking banned IPs.
The downside to this approach from a user perspective is that proxy providers normally charge based on data bandwidth you send through the proxy pool.
Paying per GB consumed, typically works out more expensive than purchasing a list of proxy IP addresses for yourself.
Not only are you paying for retrieving the data from the page, you are also paying for retrieving any ban or anti-bot pages.
So when using a proxy solution where you are paying based on bandwidth used, you should also look at the proxy's success rate along with the price per GB.
As if the proxy's success rate is low, then you will end up paying for a lot of bad data.
Another thing to consider with these rotating proxy pools when using a headless browser is that you are paying to download a lot of extra files, images and files you probably don't need.
So if you need a proxy solution for your Selenium, Puppeteer, or Playwright scraper then you should configure it to only download the content you actually need, and ideally use a proxy that doesn't charge based on bandwidth used.
Rotating Proxy Pools Summary
Pros: Easier to integrate and manage than proxy lists, and able to access residential & mobile proxy pools.
Cons: Oftentimes more expensive than buying proxy lists as you pay for data usage. Need to manage your own headers and user agents.
Most Suitable For: Developers who are scraping more difficult websites with residential and mobile proxies, or who want very scalable proxy infrastructures.
Pricing: Pay per GB of bandwidth consumed.
Proxy Type: Datacenter, residential & mobile IP addresses.
Examples Proxy Providers: Bright Data, Oxylabs, Smartproxy, IPRoyal and NetNut.
Smart Proxy Solutions
The newest type of proxy solution on the market are smart proxies that aim to manage your entire proxy infrastructure for you.
Here, you simply send them the URL you want to scrape and they will handle everything for you:
- Proxy rotation & selection
- Header selection & optimization
- Ban page & CAPTCHA detection
- Automatic retries
So you can focus on parsing the data from the HTML response, and using the scraped data in your applications.
A lot of smart proxy providers even offer advanced functionality that you can enable by simply adding a flag to the request, including:
- Javascript Rendering: Using headless browsers to render Javascript.
- Geotargeting: Country level IP geotargeting to bypass geogated content.
- Residential & Mobile Proxies: Using residential or mobile proxies if you are scraping more difficult websites.
- Sticky Sessions: Sticky sessions so you can use the same IP address for multiple requests.
These smart proxies have made scraping difficult websites like Google, Amazon, and Walmart, much easier for developers who don't have the time or desire to build their own proxy & header management systems.
In terms of pricing they are positioned in the middle of the market.
With smart proxy solutions, you typically pay per successful request. So you only pay when the proxy provider is able to successfully get the page you want.
Using a smart proxy API will be more expensive that using proxy lists, and maybe more expensive than using rotating datacenter proxy pools (depending on the proxy provider), however, they are generally work out much cheaper than using residential or mobile proxies.
Typically, you can get residential & mobile proxy level performance at a fraction of the cost with Smart Proxy Solutions.
Smart Proxies Summary
Pros: Very easy to integrate and use versus proxy lists and rotating proxy pools. Get very good performance at a fraction of the cost as residential or mobile proxies. Only pay for successful responses.
Cons: More expensive than buying proxy lists. Can get expensive at very large scales.
Most Suitable For: Developers who want a very easy to use proxy solution, or who are scraping difficult websites and want a cheaper option than using residential and mobile proxies.
Pricing: Only pay per successful request.
Proxy Type: Datacenter, residential & mobile IP addresses.
Examples Proxy Providers: ScrapeOps, ScraperAPI, or Scrapingbee.
FAQs
What is the difference between residential proxy and datacenter proxy? ›
The source of the IP address is the main difference between residential and datacenter proxies. Residential proxy IPs are assigned by ISPs that belong to real people. (e.g., someone's phone or computer), whereas datacenter proxies use cloud servers and data center's IP pools.
What proxy to use for web scraping? ›| Proxy Type | Starting Price | |
|---|---|---|
| ZenRows | Smart Rotating, option for Residential | $49/month |
| Shifter | Basic & Special Rotating, Residential | $74.99/month |
| Oxylabs | Residential, Mobile, Datacenter | $300/month |
| NetNut | Rotating Residential, Mobile, Datacenter | $100/month |
Mobile 4G proxies are a type of proxy server that uses IP addresses assigned from real mobile devices connected to a 4G network. Residential proxies, on the other hand, use IP addresses assigned to physical residential addresses.
Do I need a proxy for web scraping? ›There are a number of reasons why proxies are important for data web scraping: Using a proxy (especially a pool of proxies - more on this later) allows you to crawl a website much more reliably. Significantly reducing the chances that your spider will get banned or blocked.
What are the three types of proxies? ›By Protocol
The proxy protocol defines how you connect to websites or services on the internet. There are currently three main proxy types: HTTP proxies, HTTPS (SSL) proxies, and SOCKS proxies. HTTP Proxies are the most frequent proxy type. Such proxies use the HTTP protocol which is compatible with websites.
There are two types of proxies: forward proxies (or tunnel, or gateway) and reverse proxies (used to control and protect access to a server for load-balancing, authentication, decryption or caching).
Is a VPN or proxy better for scraping? ›A proxy does act like a gateway similar to a VPN, however it is best used in scraping projects (when bought in large quantities). Do you need a proxy if you have a VPN? It depends on what your goal is. If it's surfing the web to stay anonymous, then a VPN is enough.
How do I use proxy while scraping? ›- Import the requests module.
- Set up a proxy IP address and port.
- Initialize a URL.
- Send a GET request to the URL and pass in the proxy.
- Return the proxy server address of the current request or show a connection error if not successful.
Cost: Proxies can be free or low-cost, while VPNs can be a bit more expensive. This makes proxies a better option for tasks like web scraping where you might want to source thousands or millions of different IPs for making automated requests.
Can you use residential proxy on mobile? ›A mobile residential proxy is a proxy service that allows you to use a mobile phone number to create a unique online identity. This is perfect for people who want to keep their personal information private, or for businesses that want to protect their brand.
Why do people use residential proxies? ›
Residential proxies allow you to choose a specific location (country, city, or mobile carrier) and surf the web as a real user in that area. Proxies can be defined as intermediaries that protect users from general web traffic. They act as buffers while also concealing your IP address.
What type of proxies are residential? ›Residential proxies can be described as a vast, web-like network of real IP addresses given by internet service providers (ISPs). A residential proxy network allows you to use its IP address and protect yourself on the web.
Can I use VPN for web scraping? ›Where proxies provide a layer of protection by masking the IP address of your web scraper, a VPN also masks the data that flows between your scraper and the target site through an encrypted tunnel. This will make the content that you are scraping invisible to ISPs and anyone else with access to your network.
Can you get IP banned for web scraping? ›Website owners can detect and block your web scrapers by checking the IP address in their server log files. Often there are automated rules, for example if you make over 100 requests per 1 hour your IP will be blocked.
Can a website stop you from scraping? ›Captcha Solving Services
Many websites use ReCaptcha from Google which lets you pass a test. If the test goes successful within a certain time frame then it considers that you are not a bot but a real human being. f you are scraping a website on a large scale, the website will eventually block you.
Web Proxy service Provides caching, cache routing (CARP), support for chains, and reverse proxying.
What is the best proxy type? ›Residential proxies are by-far the best proxies for most uses, because they are IP addresses of real, physical devices. They appear as average users to all servers, and are almost impossible to detect (unless the proxy user abuses it). Using a residential proxy makes gaining access to data easy.
What are 3 types of proxies to help prevent web threats? ›Three Kinds of Proxies
There are many different kinds of proxy servers–forward proxies, transparent proxies, data center proxies–the list goes on. But these can generally be divided into three categories: Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), web proxies, and content delivery networks (CDNs).
a proxy is an intermediary whose intermediary nature is known to the client; a gateway (also known as reverse proxy) is an intermediary whose intermediary nature is not known to the client.
What is the difference between DNS and proxy? ›A DNS client considers the DNS proxy as the DNS server, and sends a DNS request to the DNS proxy. The destination address of the request is the IP address of the DNS proxy. The DNS proxy searches the local static domain name resolution table and dynamic domain name resolution table after receiving the request.
What is the difference between proxy and virtual proxy? ›
A Proxy is a web server. It accepts the requests to use the product (1). A virtual proxy is a method of authentication. It determines how users should identify themselves so users can be properly allocated access to resources.
Why is API better than scraping? ›While web scraping offers the flexibility to extract data from any website using web scraping tools, APIs provide direct access to specific data. The availability of data through web scraping is limited to what is publicly available on a website, whereas API access may be limited or costly.
What is web scraping best uses? ›- Monitoring e-commerce prices.
- Finding opportunities for investment.
- Analyzing social media web data.
- Applying machine learning techniques.
- Gathering web data automatically.
- Researching new concepts in a field.
- Extracting contact information.
- Python. If you asked developers focused on web scraping what their language of choice is, most would likely answer Python, and for a good reason. ...
- JavaScript. JavaScript, without Node. ...
- Ruby. Speaking of simplicity, it'd be difficult to ignore Ruby. ...
- PHP. ...
- C++ ...
- Java.
It works by accessing the internet on behalf of the user while hiding their identity and computer information. A anonymous proxy is best suited for users who want to have full anonymity while accessing the internet.
How do I use my IP as a proxy? ›Select the Start button, then select Settings > Network & Internet > Proxy. Under Manual proxy setup, turn on Use a proxy server. Do the following: In the Address and Port boxes, enter the proxy server name or IP address and port (optional) in the respective boxes.
How to bypass web proxy? ›To bypass servers, use an asterisk ("*") as a wildcard to replace actual characters in the exceptions area of the Proxy Settings dialog box. Enter a wildcard at the beginning of an Internet address, IP address, or domain name that has a common ending. For example, use *. example.com to bypass any entries that end in .
What is the best proxy for ScrapeBox? ›Two great providers of fast exclusive proxies are MyPrivateProxy.net and IPFreelyProxies.net. These providers all support ScrapeBox and are highly recommend.
Why use proxy instead of VPN? ›VPN capabilities, the difference is that proxies strictly act as a gateway between the internet and users. On the other hand, VPN traffic runs through an encrypted tunnel and the user's device, making VPNs an effective solution for ensuring network security.
What is the difference between VPN and proxy and Tor? ›The main difference between a proxy and a VPN (or Tor), is that proxies don't usually encrypt your internet traffic. That means that if you're on an unsecured Wi-Fi network, anyone else connected to the same network could eavesdrop on your online activity.
Can my IP be tracked if I use a proxy? ›
Therefore, a proxy server does change your IP address, but it does not provide full anonymity. Your activities can still be monitored and tracked by your ISP (Internet Service Provider) and the proxy server itself.
Who uses mobile proxies? ›Mobile proxies can be used by tech-minded fraudsters to evade detection and falsify their location when they are attempting any type of fraud at all, from card testing and arbitrage to auction fraud and beyond.
Can residential proxy be detected? ›Residential Proxy Detection
Because residential proxies use residential IP addresses, they are difficult to detect and have a very small online footprint; however, IPQS' Proxy Detection service performs multiple tests to determine if an IP address is acting as a residential proxy or is active within a botnet.
Ad placements and ad network testing
Advertisers can use residential proxies and mobile IPs to perform ad tracking, media monitoring, and content compliance. Meanwhile, companies that sell ad spaces can use residential proxies to verify the ads they place on their websites and block suspicious ones.
Because of how difficult it is to collect residential IPs that can be used as proxy connections, fewer providers offer them, and getting a monthly subscription to access a pool of them is usually extraordinarily expensive – though for some users, the monthly subscription can sometimes be cheaper than a large monthly ...
Are proxies illegal? ›Using a proxy server in and of itself is not illegal. However, the legality of using a proxy depends on how it is being used and in which jurisdiction. In some countries, using a proxy to bypass internet censorship or access restricted websites may be illegal.
How do you test residential proxies? ›One of the simplest ways to test the location of your proxies is to check your IP address. It would show the location along with other IP information. While there are many websites to check your IP address, in this scenario, we will use whatismyipaddress.com. It would reveal your IP information.
Do proxies hide your IP? ›The main reason people use proxy servers is to hide an IP address. All your internet activity is routed through the proxy server, keeping your own IP address hidden from prying eyes. Using a proxy server also improves security since it adds an extra layer of protection against hackers.
Do proxies have IP addresses? ›Every web proxy has its own IP address as well. That means that when you're routing internet traffic via a web proxy server, you are effectively using that proxy's IP address, not your device's.
Which API is used for web scraping? ›There are two main types of web scraping APIs: For general purposes, where services work with any web data; Niche-specific focuses on specific types or types of data or sources and is better suited for particular sites, webpages, applications, and other services, for example, Google SERP API or Google Maps API.
Do you need API for web scraping? ›
API: You May Need to Use Both Tools. Depending on your current level of skill, your target websites, and your goals, you may need to use both APIs and web scraping tools. If a website doesn't have a dedicated API, using a web scraper is your only option.
Which websites allow web scraping? ›eBay. E-commerce websites are always the most popular websites for web scraping and eBay is definitely one of them. We have many users running their own businesses on eBay and getting data from eBay is an important way to keep track of their competitors and follow the market trend.
How to bypass website IP ban? ›Adjust your IP address through VPN or Proxies
Another good solution for bypassing an IP ban is simply getting a fresh IP address. One way of doing this is by using a trustworthy proxy or VPN service, which can change your IP address and your apparent internet service provider (ISP).
Web scraping is completely legal if you scrape data publicly available on the internet. But some kinds of data are protected by international regulations, so be careful scraping personal data, intellectual property, or confidential data.
Does Google ban scraping? ›IP blocks. When you scrape data with a bot, the Google site will block your IP address from any further scraping. This is because when you send multiple requests from the same IP address, the target website will recognize your activity and ban you.
How do I completely scrape a website? ›- Inspect the website HTML that you want to crawl.
- Access URL of the website using code and download all the HTML contents on the page.
- Format the downloaded content into a readable format.
- Extract out useful information and save it into a structured format.
It's possible to scrape all kinds of web data. From search engines and RSS feeds to government information, most websites make their data publicly available to scrapers, crawlers, and other forms of automated data gathering. Here are some common examples. However, that doesn't mean this data is always available.
Is automated web scraping legal? ›Even though it's completely legal to scrape publicly available data, there are two types of information that you should be cautious about. These are: Copyrighted data. Personal information.
What is a residential proxy? ›Residential proxies can be described as a vast, web-like network of real IP addresses given by internet service providers (ISPs). A residential proxy network allows you to use its IP address and protect yourself on the web.
What is the difference between residential VPN and residential proxy? ›VPN capabilities, the difference is that proxies strictly act as a gateway between the internet and users. On the other hand, VPN traffic runs through an encrypted tunnel and the user's device, making VPNs an effective solution for ensuring network security.
What is the difference between Resi and DC proxies? ›
When a datacenter proxy is used, it works instead of your ISP, and you connect to the proxy server instead of your ISP network. On the other hand, residential proxies use residential locations where different devices are located and have their IP addresses assigned to them.
Are mobile proxies residential? ›A mobile proxy is a gateway that assigns a device mobile IP address rather than a residential IP or a VPN. In other words, mobile proxies make it look like their user is connected to the internet via a mobile data network, masking their real address.
What is a datacenter proxy? ›What are Datacenter Proxies? Datacenter Proxies are proxies that are not affiliated with an Internet Service Provider (ISP). They come from a secondary corporation and provide you with completely private IP authentication and anonymity.
Why use a residential proxy? ›Pros of residential proxies
They're less likely to be blocked by websites and allow users to access geo-restricted content. They enable precise location targeting with unique IP addresses while protecting sensitive data.
Cost: Proxies can be free or low-cost, while VPNs can be a bit more expensive. This makes proxies a better option for tasks like web scraping where you might want to source thousands or millions of different IPs for making automated requests.
Which is stronger proxy or VPN? ›Is VPN better than a proxy? Yes, a VPN is better as it provides privacy and security by routing your traffic through a secure VPN server and encrypting your traffic. A proxy simply passes your traffic through a mediating server but doesn't necessarily offer any extra protection.
How many proxies do hackers use? ›So while hacking, it's advised to use at least 5 foreign proxies in a chain. One of the main factors that is needed to be taken in consideration when using proxy chaining is the connection speed.
What is the difference between SOCKS5 and residential proxy? ›A SOCKS5 proxy is more secure than an HTTP proxy because it supports multiple authentication methods to prevent unauthorized clients from connecting to the server. Unlike SOCKS proxies, HTTPS proxies only use the HTTP protocol.
What are the best proxies to use? ›- Private Internet Access VPN - Best Proxy and VPN Combo.
- IPVanish - Best SOCKS5 Proxy Server.
- Oxylabs - Best Proxy Service for Data Scrapers.
- Smartproxy - Best Proxy Service for Sneaker Bots.
- Blazing Proxy - Best Proxy Server for Gamers.
- HMA VPN - Best Free Proxy Server.
Residential proxies are by-far the best proxies for most uses, because they are IP addresses of real, physical devices. They appear as average users to all servers, and are almost impossible to detect (unless the proxy user abuses it). Using a residential proxy makes gaining access to data easy.