Residential proxies route your traffic through real home internet connections, so websites see an ordinary visitor instead of a server. That is why they are the default choice for web scraping, price monitoring, ad verification, SEO tracking and managing accounts. To find the best residential proxies for 2026 we compared 14 providers on the numbers that decide the bill and the results: price per GB, targeting depth, what happens to unused traffic, and whether you can test before you pay. If you want to start straight away, see ProxyEmpire’s rotating residential proxies.
Quick answer
ProxyEmpire is the best residential proxy provider in 2026. It gives you 30M+ residential IPs in 170+ countries from $3.50/GB pay as you go down to $1.50/GB at 1 TB, with country, region, city, ZIP, ISP and ASN targeting included, bandwidth that rolls over, and a $1.97 trial. Oxylabs and Bright Data list bigger pools for enterprise budgets, and DataImpulse is cheaper if price per GB is all that matters.
Best residential proxies compared
All 14 providers at a glance| # | Provider | Targeting | Price per GB | Trial | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ProxyEmpire | Country, region, city, ZIP, ISP, ASN | $3.50 → $1.50 | $1.97 | Best overall |
| 2 | Oxylabs | Country, state, city, ZIP, ASN, coordinates | $6.00 → $2.50 | — | Enterprise scraping |
| 3 | Bright Data | Country, city, ZIP, ASN, carrier | $4.00 → $2.50 | Free (KYC) | Largest listed network |
| 4 | Byteful | Country, region, city, ISP | $3.25 → $1.95 | 1 GB free | Bandwidth that never expires |
| 5 | ResiProx | Country, region, city, ISP | $3.50 → $1.75 | $3.97 | Deep targeting on a small budget |
| 6 | Proxy-Seller | Country, city, ISP | $3.50 → $1.45 | $3.50 for 1 GB | Low price at 1 TB |
| 7 | NodeMaven | Country, region, city, ISP | $5.31 → $2.75 | $3.50 | Quality-filtered IPs |
| 8 | Decodo | Country, state, city, ZIP, ASN | $4.00 → $2.00 | Free, 3 days | Easy start |
| 9 | SOAX | Country, region, city, ISP, ASN | $5.00 → $1.50 | $1.99 | Flexible sessions |
| 10 | Webshare | Country, state, city, ZIP, ASN | $3.50 → $1.50 | — | Self-serve monthly plans |
| 11 | IPRoyal | Country, state, city | $7.00 → $3.36 | — | Long sticky sessions |
| 12 | DataImpulse | Country (more for a fee) | $1.00 flat | — | Lowest flat price |
| 13 | MarsProxies | Country, state, city | $4.99 → $2.10 | — | Non-expiring mid-size plans |
| 14 | Infatica | Country, city, ISP | $4.00 → $2.60 | $4.00, 7 days | Annual billing |
Price per GB shows each provider’s regular price on its smallest residential plan, then the lowest regular rate it publishes at 1 TB or less. Bright Data is shown at its current 50% discount; other promotions are mentioned in the reviews, not the table. — means no residential trial is listed. Prices and features were read from the providers’ own pages on 26–28 September 2026.
How we compared residential proxy providers
What actually changes your resultsEvery provider here sells rotating residential IPs, so we looked at what separates them in daily use: how precisely you can choose a location, what a gigabyte really costs at your volume, whether unused data is lost, and how easy it is to test first.
The 14 best residential proxies in 2026
Rotating residential proxy providers, reviewed
ProxyEmpire
Best overallProxyEmpire combines 30M+ residential IPs in 170+ countries with pay-as-you-go pricing from a single GB, deep targeting at no extra cost and bandwidth that rolls over on every plan.
- Country, region, city, ZIP, ISP, ASN and OS fingerprint targeting included, with rotating or sticky sessions
- 99.9% uptime and 24/7 support from real people, plus mobile, static residential and datacenter proxies on the same account
- Not the lowest sticker price: DataImpulse charges a flat $1/GB and Proxy-Seller reaches $1.45/GB at 1 TB
Oxylabs
Enterprise scrapingOxylabs lists 175M+ residential IPs in 195+ countries and targets down to coordinates, with a dedicated account manager on every plan.
- Some of the most precise targeting available, including ZIP and coordinates
- Scraper APIs from the same vendor
- No pay as you go or residential trial: the smallest plan is 5 GB for $30 a month
Bright Data
Largest listed networkBright Data lists 400M+ monthly residential IPs in 195 countries and currently sells residential traffic at half its list price: $4.00/GB pay as you go, falling to $2.50/GB on the 798 GB plan ($1,999 a month).
- ZIP, ASN and carrier targeting on a very large network
- Scraping APIs and ready-made datasets alongside the proxies
- Strict KYC for new users, and monthly commitments do not roll over
Byteful
Bandwidth that never expiresByteful, formerly Ping Proxies, lists 35M+ residential IPs in 195+ countries, with bandwidth that never expires and sticky sessions of up to 24 hours.
- A free 1 GB residential trial
- Residential, mobile, static residential and datacenter from one provider
- The smallest plan is 10 GB
ResiProx
Deep targeting on a small budgetResiProx keeps residential pricing low while including country, region, city and ISP targeting on every plan.
- ISP-level targeting at no extra cost from the first gigabyte
- One trial covers both residential and mobile proxies
- Rotating proxies only — no static, ISP or datacenter IPs
Proxy-Seller
Low price at 1 TBProxy-Seller lists 47M+ residential IPs in 220+ locations, and its per-GB rate falls steadily from $3.50 to $1.45 at 1,000 GB.
- The lowest 1 TB rate among the providers with a full price ladder
- Rotation by time or request, or a sticky IP for the length of a task
- Traffic expires 30 days after purchase
NodeMaven
Quality-filtered IPsNodeMaven lists 30M+ residential IPs and screens each one for quality before assigning it. Its plans currently show 20% off, at $4.25 falling to $2.20/GB.
- Unused traffic rolls over to the next billing period
- Residential and mobile traffic share one plan
- No 1 GB plan, and no datacenter proxies
Decodo (formerly Smartproxy)
Easy startDecodo lists 115M+ residential IPs in 195+ locations and lets you try them free for three days, with a 14-day money-back guarantee on the first purchase.
- Targeting from continent down to ZIP and ASN
- 24/7 technical support and a polished dashboard
- Sticky sessions default to 10 minutes (up to 24 hours if you set it), and $2.00/GB needs an enterprise-size plan
SOAX
Flexible sessionsSOAX lists 155M+ residential IPs in 195+ locations, lets you set custom session lengths and falls to $1.50/GB on its $1,500 Scale plan.
- Region, city and ISP or ASN targeting
- A cheap three-day trial
- Plans are monthly spend tiers, and credits expire after 60 days
Webshare
Self-serve monthly plansWebshare lists 80M+ residential IPs in 195 countries on self-serve monthly plans from 1 GB at $3.50 to 1,000 GB at $1.50/GB.
- ZIP and ASN targeting on low-cost plans
- Static residential and datacenter proxies in the same dashboard
- Monthly bandwidth does not roll over
IPRoyal
Long sticky sessionsIPRoyal lists 64M+ residential IPs in 195+ countries, keeps sticky sessions for up to 7 days and never expires your traffic.
- Traffic you buy stays usable until you spend it
- Very long sessions for account work
- The highest entry price here, and targeting stops at city level
DataImpulse
Lowest flat priceDataImpulse lists 90M+ residential IPs and charges a flat $1/GB pay as you go, with traffic that never expires and $0.80/GB above 1 TB.
- The lowest per-GB price in this comparison at any volume
- No subscription and no expiry
- Only country targeting is free; city, state, ZIP and ASN cost extra
MarsProxies
Non-expiring mid-size plansMarsProxies sells non-expiring residential traffic from $4.99/GB, falling to $2.99 at 100 GB and $2.10 at 1,000 GB, across 190+ locations.
- Traffic does not expire
- Residential, ISP, datacenter and mobile in one account
- It lists 1M+ residential IPs, the smallest pool figure here, and offers no free trial
Infatica
Annual billingInfatica lists 45M+ residential IPs in 195+ countries, sells pay as you go from $4.00/GB and takes 20% off annual plans.
- Annual billing brings 1 TB down to $2.08/GB
- Adjustable rotation time
- At $2.60/GB, its monthly 1 TB rate is among the higher ones here
What are residential proxies?
Real home IPs, rented by the gigabyteA residential proxy is an IP address that an internet service provider assigned to a home connection. When your request passes through it, the website sees a normal household visitor from that city and ISP, not a datacenter. That is why residential IPs are blocked far less often than datacenter IPs, and why providers charge for them by the gigabyte.
Most residential proxies rotate: each request, or each sticky session you set, gets a different IP from a large pool. That lets you spread thousands of requests across many locations, or hold one IP long enough to log in and finish a task.
Rotating vs static residential proxies
Pick the model before the provider| Rotating residential | Static residential (ISP) | |
|---|---|---|
| Priced by | Gigabyte | IP, per month |
| IP | New IP per request or sticky session | The same IP for as long as you rent it |
| Locations | City, ZIP and ISP in most countries | A smaller list of countries |
| Best for | Scraping, price monitoring, SEO and ad checks | Long-lived accounts and allow-listed logins |
Rotating residential suits most jobs because you pay only for the traffic you use. If you need one address that never changes, ProxyEmpire’s static residential proxies start at $3.50 per IP a month, falling to $2.00. We compare those providers separately in our guide to the best ISP proxies.
How to choose a residential proxy provider
Five questions that settle it- How precisely do you need to target? Country is enough for many jobs, but local search results, ads and prices often need city, ZIP or ISP targeting. Check whether it is included or charged extra.
- What will a gigabyte cost at your volume? Compare the rate at the plan size you will actually buy, not the headline figure that needs several terabytes.
- What happens to unused data? Rollover or non-expiring traffic protects you in quiet months; monthly allowances that reset do not.
- How long do sessions need to last? Scraping works with rotation per request; logins and checkouts need sticky sessions.
- Can you test first? A small paid trial on your own targets tells you more than any pool size. ProxyEmpire’s costs $1.97.
Why avoid free residential proxies?
Someone else pays for that home connectionReal residential bandwidth costs money, so free residential proxies are usually datacenter IPs with the wrong label or devices used without their owners’ consent. They are slow, often already blocked, and can log or alter your traffic. A low-cost trial from a provider that sources its IPs ethically is the safer test.
Residential proxy FAQ
Short answersWhat is the best residential proxy provider?
ProxyEmpire, in our 2026 comparison: 30M+ residential IPs in 170+ countries, $3.50/GB down to $1.50/GB, ZIP, ISP and ASN targeting included, rollover bandwidth and a $1.97 trial.
How much do residential proxies cost?
Among these 14 providers, regular prices run from about $3 to $7 per GB on the smallest plans and fall to roughly $1.45–$3.36 per GB at 1 TB. DataImpulse is the exception at a flat $1/GB.
Which provider has the largest residential pool?
Bright Data lists 400M+ monthly residential IPs, Oxylabs 175M+ and SOAX 155M+. Pool size alone rarely decides results: targeting, IP quality and price matter as much.
Should I buy rotating or static residential proxies?
Rotating for scraping and anything that needs many locations; static residential when an account or allow-list needs the same IP for weeks.
Does unused residential bandwidth expire?
It depends on the provider. ProxyEmpire and NodeMaven roll it over, IPRoyal, Byteful and DataImpulse never expire it, and Proxy-Seller’s traffic lasts 30 days.
Can I try residential proxies before buying?
Yes. ProxyEmpire offers a $1.97 trial, Decodo a free three-day trial, Byteful 1 GB free and SOAX $1.99 for 400 MB.
Are residential proxies legal?
Yes, using residential proxies is legal in most countries. What matters is what you do with them, so follow the laws and the sites’ terms that apply to your use.
What is the difference between residential and mobile proxies?
Residential IPs come from home broadband and mobile IPs from 4G and 5G carriers. Mobile IPs are trusted even more but cost more per GB; see our guide to the best mobile proxies.
30M+ residential IPs, ready in minutes
Pay as you go from $3.50/GB, down to $1.50/GB at 1 TB, with city, ZIP, ISP and ASN targeting included, bandwidth that rolls over and 24/7 support from real people. Try ProxyEmpire for $1.97.
