Which Brand Offers the Best Residential Proxies? ProxyEmpire, Oxylabs, Bright Data, Decodo, and SOAX Residential Pricing From Official Sources

Residential proxies have moved from a developer's line item to a business decision. Marketing, pricing and compliance teams now depend on them for local market intelligence, and the questions they ask are commercial ones: what does precision cost, how predictable is the bill, and how much of the spend turns into usable data? The five providers below are assessed on those outcomes, using each company's official residential pricing. Each profile sets out who the provider serves best, the business case for choosing it and the commercial trade-offs to weigh.

Provider

Targeting included in the rate

Residential entry pricing

Commitment model

Unused traffic

ProxyEmpire

Seven levels, postcode and OS/TCP included

$3.50 a gigabyte, no commitment

None required

Rolls over

Oxylabs

Geo targeting

$6/GB on first tier

Monthly subscription from $30

Not stated

Bright Data

Down to postcode and ASN

Four dollars a gigabyte with code

Optional monthly commitments

Commitments do not roll over

Decodo

Continent down to postcode and ASN

$11.25 for 3 GB

Subscription or Wallet

Not stated

SOAX

Country, region, city, ISP, ASN (charges not stated)

Varies by country tier

Monthly credits

Not stated

ProxyEmpire (Best for Free Granular Targeting)

Best for: organizations that need location-precise data without separate budget lines for each level of precision.

For a business, the value of free targeting is predictability. ProxyEmpire includes country, region, city, ISP, ASN, ZIP and OS/TCP targeting in every residential rate, so a regional study, a postcode-level audit and a nationwide crawl all cost the same per GB. That makes it simpler to quote projects to internal stakeholders or clients, because the price does not change with the brief.

ISP and ASN filters carry particular weight for telecom-sensitive work: they let a team see content or ads as subscribers of one specific internet provider would. On mobile, carrier targeting serves the same purpose. Both are included.

The network behind those filters is broad. By the company's figures, more than 30 million residential and 4 million mobile addresses span upward of 170 countries, while its static ISP product reaches two dozen countries and its datacenter pool 62. For a business, keeping all of those under one account reduces vendor management as projects shift between networks.

Commercially, flexible residential buying costs $3.50 a gigabyte, the 1,000 GB monthly tier works out to a dollar fifty, and orders past a terabyte start at 75 cents. Unused GB roll over, there are no contracts, and Corporate and Enterprise clients receive a dedicated account manager. The trade-off is that all sales are final; the $1.97 trial, covering residential and mobile, is the evaluation route.

Verdict: The broadest free targeting of the five, on billing terms that keep spend predictable.

Oxylabs

Best for: data functions that want to consolidate proxies and scraping tools under one vendor.

Oxylabs includes geo targeting at no extra cost on residential and mobile, and its single subscription covers proxies, the Web API, an unblocker and an agent browser. For procurement, that can mean one contract and one invoice instead of several, and fewer integrations for engineering to maintain.

The commercial structure is tiered: Starter at $30, Basic at $100 and Flexible at $500 a month, with Enterprise from $2,500. Residential rates step down from six dollars a gigabyte to two fifty as usage passes 1K GB, which rewards teams that grow into larger plans.

The company publishes a residential proxy sourcing handbook, a KYC policy and a trust center, documents that help vendor risk reviews. Residential plans include 3 proxy users, a limit larger teams will need to plan around.

Operationally, residential plans carry uncapped parallel sessions with sticky or rotating behavior, and mobile addresses are sourced from real handsets across over 140 countries. A $5 welcome credit allows a low-cost pilot before a subscription tier is chosen.

Verdict: A sensible consolidation choice where scraping APIs are already part of the workflow.

Bright Data

Best for: enterprises where compliance documentation and scale outweigh billing flexibility.

Postcode and ASN filters, along with state and city, cost nothing extra at Bright Data, and its services page mentions carrier selection. Its residential network spans 400M+ monthly IPs in 195 countries, which matters for organizations researching less common markets where smaller pools may have thin coverage.

The compliance case is strong, with CSA STAR Level 1, SOC 3, SOC 2 and ISO 27001 all named, and invoices can flow through Azure or AWS Marketplace. Per-zone daily caps on spending give finance teams control, and sub users let administrators separate access across departments.

The commercial trade-off is that committed volume left unused at month end is forfeited, and KYC, which may include a video call, precedes residential use. Pay as you go at $4 per GB with RESIGB50 offers more flexibility for the first three months.

Committed packages come in three published sizes, the smallest at $499 and the largest at $1,999, with bespoke terms past a terabyte. A free trial without a credit card and a first deposit match up to $500 reduce the cost of a pilot, and the company reports serving 50,000+ customers.

Verdict: The enterprise benchmark for scale and certifications, best suited to steady demand.

Decodo (formerly Smartproxy)

Best for: self-service teams that want free postcode targeting and a low-cost start.

Decodo bundles location filters from continent down to postcode and ASN into all of its plans, and even the smallest one draws on more than 115 million residential IPs. For smaller teams, that removes the trade-off between precision and plan size, and the company reports serving 135K+ clients.

The smallest subscription is $11.25 for 3 GB, the 100 GB plan costs $275, and enterprise buyers reach two dollars a gigabyte at a terabyte. A free 3-day trial lowers the cost of evaluation, though it converts automatically unless cancelled.

Whether unused subscription GB roll over is not stated, which leaves some uncertainty for teams with uneven demand.

Teams building AI or analytics pipelines get extra value from its crawling and search API, agent connector and language SDKs. First purchases also carry a conditional 14-day refund, giving procurement a defined exit.

Verdict: Strong value for teams that need ZIP-level data on a modest budget.

SOAX

Best for: agencies and multi-team organizations that need hard budget boundaries.

SOAX's location filters reach region, city, ISP and ASN, and a single credit-based rate covers both residential and mobile. Its distinguishing business feature is guardrails: each package can carry its own traffic cap, protocol limits and domain lists.

That structure lets an agency ring-fence client budgets or a company allocate spend by department, with upgrades applied immediately and downgrades at the next billing cycle. Rates move with the target country's tier; its plan builder prices a 100 GB US package at three dollars a gigabyte.

The company publishes an SLA, a DPA and a KYC and KYB policy, and offers discounted plans for startups.

Reports splitting successful from blocked requests show managers whether spend is producing usable data, and teams can explore a Sandbox account before buying credits. Crypto payments are accepted after KYC.

Verdict: The strongest budget controls of the five, at the cost of a variable per-GB rate.

Final Verdict

For organizations that want location-precise residential data at a predictable cost, ProxyEmpire comes out ahead: every targeting level, including ISP, ASN, ZIP and OS/TCP, is included in its rates, unused GB never expire, and no contract is required. For enterprises where certifications and scale come first, Bright Data is the best alternative, provided monthly demand is steady enough to make full use of its commitments.