Top 6 proxy providers in 2025

Developers and scrapers often struggle when trying to choose the best proxy provider in a crowded market. With so many options available, it can be difficult to know which service offers the best reliability, legitimacy, compliance and ethicality, speed, and proxy pool size.

If you choose the wrong proxy provider you may face downtime, slow data retrieval, and even legal issues. 

The good news is we’ve analyzed the best proxy server providers out there. Here are the six strongest options to pick from.

What is a proxy provider?

A proxy provider gives developers and businesses access to proxy servers—intermediary devices that route your requests through different IP addresses. 

This helps mask your identity, avoid geo-restrictions, and reduce the chances of being blocked or rate-limited when scraping websites or accessing APIs. Beyond simple IP access, proxy providers also offer management tools to rotate, monitor, and scale proxy usage across large operations.

Proprietary infrastructure vs. resellers

The best proxy providers invest heavily in building their own proprietary infrastructure. This means they own and manage the servers, control performance and uptime, and can offer more transparency and reliability. 

Other proxy IP providers operate as resellers, offering access to proxy pools sourced from third parties. These resellers may be cheaper, but they often have less control over quality, speed, and availability.

For developers running scraping projects at scale, this distinction matters. Proprietary infrastructure typically means better performance, support, and compliance, especially important when you're dealing with millions of requests and can’t afford disruptions.

Overall best proxy provider

Overall, SOAX is the best proxy provider. Here are a few reasons why:

Fastest proxies on the market

Thanks to SOAX's most recent upgrade, which reduced latency by up to 64%, SOAX is now the fastest proxy provider in key regions like North America. We've verified this claim with independent third parties who confirmed that SOAX now outperforms all other proxy providers for connections in North America.

Lower latency means that you'll benefit from fewer delays and partial responses which would otherwise lead to incomplete or fragmented datasets. This means your business can grow using high-quality, real-time data, while reducing the time your developers spend on cleaning and restructuring data.

Granular geotargeting

SOAX provides granular geotargeting that’s built for precision scraping. Whether you need to route requests through specific countries, cities, or even mobile carriers, SOAX gives you complete control. 

Being able to select down to the country, city, or ISP level means you can scrape hyper localized data or test geo-specific local content. Our platform’s flexible targeting ensures you’re not just accessing any IP—you’re accessing the right IP in the right location for your use case.

Dynamic IP rotation and session management

Another major strength is SOAX’s dynamic IP rotation and session management. SOAX can automatically rotate to a new IP on each new request (or at regular intervals), or you can configure sticky sessions when you need to maintain stateful connections. This gives you the flexibility to fine-tune how proxies behave per task or endpoint.

99.99% uptime and real-time monitoring

SOAX’s infrastructure is designed with reliability in mind. With 99.99% uptime and real-time monitoring, you can trust that your scraping jobs won't get interrupted halfway through. For large-scale operations running thousands of requests per minute, this level of stability means fewer retries, less overhead, and faster completion times—ultimately saving time and compute resources.

Developer-first tooling

Finally, SOAX offers developer-first tooling. From detailed API documentation to intuitive dashboards and usage analytics, it’s easy to integrate SOAX into your stack. Whether you're building custom scraping scripts in Python or running distributed jobs in the cloud, SOAX adapts to your workflow. 

Six best proxy providers in 2025

Here's a look at the six best proxy providers in 2025, with a deeper dive into what makes SOAX the clear leader for developers, scrapers, and data teams.

#1 Proxy provider: SOAX

Compliant and ethical

What sets SOAX apart from other top proxy providers is that we only source residential and mobile IPs with full user consent through transparent opt-in models. This means you're not just scraping at scale—you’re doing it responsibly, with complete peace of mind. 

Proprietary infrastructure and unique proxy pool

One of SOAX’s biggest differentiators is our proprietary infrastructure and exclusive supplier agreements with ISPs. This isn’t a recycled pool from a third-party reseller—it’s a fully managed, first-party network that offers higher performance, better stability, and lower block rates. 

Here’s a chart that shows how unique our IP pool is: 

And here’s a chart that shows our unique IPs per second:

Because we own and control our infrastructure, SOAX can deliver consistent speeds, maintain better session quality, and offer unmatched transparency into how and where traffic is routed.

AI and machine learning for optimization

Here at SOAX, we use AI and machine learning to optimize proxy usage. Our smart proxy rotation automatically selects the most efficient IP based on your target domain, request history, and success rate. This removes guesswork on your part and reduces failed requests. 

Our system adapts in real time, learning from previous traffic patterns to route your requests through the best-performing proxies. This makes it ideal for developers who need to scale scraping jobs without micromanaging proxy logic.

Reliability

Most importantly, SOAX boasts of a 99.9% success rate.

Pros

• Known for ethical sourcing and compliance

• Ultra-low latency proxies which make us the fastest proxy provider on the market

• Clean and fresh residential IP pool with excellent quality control

• Precise geo-targeting down to city, state, and ASN

• Access to 2.6+ million fast and stable ISP proxies in the USA

• Intuitive dashboard with strong session control features

• Very reliable uptime and low ban rates

• Optional shared or dedicated datacenter proxies

Con

• May not be ideal for large-scale scraping if you have a very tight budget

#2 Proxy provider: Oxylabs

Oxylabs earns its spot as one of the top proxy providers in 2025 thanks to its premium proxy networks, enterprise-grade tools, and consistent reliability. 

Proxy pool

Oxylabs offers access to an extensive pool of residential and datacenter proxies—over 100 million IPs worldwide. Their residential proxies come from ethically sourced devices, and the datacenter proxies are built for speed and scalability. 

Tools

Oxylabs provides good API documentation and SDKs in multiple languages, which makes it easier for developers to get started and scale fast. 

They also offer real-time proxy management, advanced analytics dashboards, and dedicated account support, tailored to enterprise needs. For teams that need premium tooling and white-glove service, Oxylabs delivers.

Pros

• One of the largest residential and datacenter IP pools (100M+)

• Good for enterprise-scale scraping

• Strong support and API documentation

• High reliability and speed

Cons

• Expensive and enterprise-focused

• Complex pricing and onboarding for small users

• May require contracts for some services

#3 Proxy provider: Bright Data

Bright Data (formerly Luminati) is one of the most established names in the proxy industry. 

Tools

Bright Data is more than just a proxy provider—it’s a fully-fledged data collection platform. Alongside its proxies, it offers tools like the Web Unlocker (for automated anti-bot bypass), SERP API (for search engine scraping), and Data Collector (a no-code scraping tool).

Proxy pool

Bright Data maintains one of the largest proxy networks in the world, with over 72 million residential IPs, 7 million datacenter IPs, and 700,000 mobile IPs. 

Pricing

Bright Data’s pricing is transparent but leans toward the premium end of the market. 

Residential and mobile proxies are billed based on bandwidth, while datacenter proxies and static residential IPs follow different models. 

This makes it easy to scale costs with usage, but also means it might not be the most budget-friendly option for smaller teams or solo developers.

Pros:

• Massive IP pool (residential, mobile, datacenter, ISP)

• Powerful tools (proxy manager, API, unlocker)

• Precise targeting and control

• Strong scraping performance

Cons:

• Very expensive – charges by GB with high minimums

• Complicated dashboard for beginners

• Requires mor

e configuration than plug-and-play providers

#4 Proxy provider: Decodo / Smartproxy

Decodo (formerly Smartproxy) supports both rotating and sticky sessions, enabling fine-grained control for scraping dynamic sites or managing accounts.

Proxy pool

Decodo maintains a large residential proxy pool with over 125 million IPs from more than 195 locations worldwide.

They also provide mobile IPs and dedicated datacenter proxies, broadening their coverage across use cases like ad verification, price aggregation, sneaker botting, and market research.

Decodo’s pool quality is solid, with relatively low ban rates and decent speeds. While it doesn’t quite match the exclusive infrastructure of SOAX or Oxylabs, it delivers consistent performance for most applications at a much lower price point.

Pricing

Decodo’s pricing is one of its biggest draws, especially for small to midsize teams. Residential proxies start at around $1.50 per GB with flexible plans that scale with your usage. Their shared and dedicated datacenter proxies are even more budget-friendly, ideal for high-volume tasks where anonymity is less of a concern.

Tools

Decodo’s dashboard is clean, intuitive, and developer-centric. It provides detailed usage analytics, easy proxy list generation, and integration guides for tools like Puppeteer, Selenium, and Scrapy. They also offer an API that lets you manage and rotate proxies programmatically, giving dev teams more control over automation workflows.

Pros

• Affordable and beginner-friendly

• Good residential IP pool size (~40M+)

• Easy-to-use dashboard and API

• Good geo-targeting for the price

• Offers browser extensions and scraping tools

Cons

• May not perform as well against sophisticated anti-bot systems

• Lower success rate on heavily protected targets

• Fewer enterprise-level features

#5 Proxy provider: NetNut

NetNut has carved out a niche in the proxy space by offering high-speed, low-latency proxies powered by a unique hybrid infrastructure. 

Unlike traditional residential proxy networks that rely on peer-to-peer architecture, NetNut uses a direct ISP connectivity model. This means requests are routed through real devices connected via ISPs, but without relying on end users to stay online. 

Proxy pool

NetNut offers stable connections across a global network of residential and datacenter IPs. The infrastructure is built for enterprise-grade reliability, supporting high request volumes with minimal failures. 

Its proxies are known for their exceptional speed.

NetNut also stands out for its low ban rate. Because of the quality and stability of the IP pool, developers experience fewer CAPTCHA challenges and fewer interrupted sessions, making it a trusted option for long-running crawlers and bots.

Pricing

NetNut has tiered pricing plans, starting at 28GB for $3/GB and going up to 2TB at $1.59/GB.

Pros

• Static residential proxies via direct ISP connections (unique model)

• High speed and low latency

• No peer-to-peer IPs — more stable and reliable

• Good for tasks needing sticky sessions

Cons

• Smaller IP pool 

• Less flexible targeting than others

• Dashboard and user tools are not as polished

• Lower overall success rate 

#6 Proxy provider: IPRoyal

IPRoyal offers a range of proxy types and is especially popular with solo developers, small teams, and businesses looking for cost-effective scraping solutions without compromising too much on performance. It also provides personalized customer support for users.

Proxy pool

While IPRoyal doesn’t have the largest proxy pool on the market, it maintains solid IP quality with low ban rates and 99% success rate. The infrastructure supports sticky sessions, automatic rotation, and location targeting (including city-level for some proxies).

Performance is generally consistent across use cases, and the platform handles moderate-scale scraping without major connection drops or throttling issues.

Pricing

One of IPRoyal’s strongest selling points is its pricing. It’s highly competitive—residential proxies start at around $7 per GB, with no monthly commitments. Datacenter proxies can go as low as $1.39 per IP, and static residential proxies are priced around $2.40 per IP.

This flexibility makes IPRoyal a smart choice for budget-conscious developers or teams who want to test and iterate before scaling up.

Pros:

• Very affordable pricing – great for smaller budgets

• Offers residential, mobile, datacenter, sneaker proxies

• Decent performance for basic scraping

• Easy onboarding and setup

Cons:

• Smaller IP pool and limited targeting options

• Lower reliability and higher ban rate

• Lacks the enterprise tools and APIs of bigger players

• Not ideal for complex scraping projects

Conclusion

Each of the providers we’ve explored offers a unique value proposition of proxy pools, tools, and pricing.

As web scraping becomes more regulated and sophisticated, it’s not just about IP volume or price—it's about working with providers who prioritize transparency, maintain their own infrastructure, and offer smart tooling to help you scale securely and efficiently.

If you're looking for a partner that balances power with integrity, SOAX stands out as the best overall choice in 2025. Start exploring SOAX today—and give your data stack the edge it deserves.

Frequently asked questions

Which one is the best among the top proxy providers?

SOAX leads among the top proxy providers due to robust offerings, clean IPs, and an almost 100% success rate.

Which provider has the best user dashboard?

SOAX is frequently highlighted for its intuitive dashboard, making it easy to manage sessions, rotate IPs, and apply geo-targeting. While Bright Data has more complex tools, its learning curve can be steep for new users.

Who offers the most ethical IP sourcing?

Transparency and ethical practices matter, especially for businesses. SOAX and Oxylabs are known for strict compliance and clean IP acquisition, with SOAX often being praised for its rigorous sourcing standards.

How important is geo-targeting, and who handles it best?

Geotargeting is essential for localized scraping. SOAX, Bright Data, and Oxylabs offer precise geo-targeting, but SOAX’s simplicity and accuracy in applying these filters often makes it a favorite among users who need consistent location control without hassle.