Who Belongs Among the Best Proxy Providers for 2026? ProxyEmpire, Oxylabs, Bright Data, Decodo, SOAX, and IPRoyal

If your scraping budget swings wildly from one month to the next, which of these six well-known providers will actually treat you fairly? The answer depends less on headline prices than on three things you'll find in the small print: whether you're locked into a commitment, whether unused traffic survives, and how cheaply you can test before you buy. This guide walks you through all six with that in mind, starting with practical budgeting tips and a short checklist, then a closer look at each provider and a comparison table.

How to Get the Most from an Uneven Budget

Buy in your busy months and coast in quiet ones. That only works if your provider lets leftover traffic carry over and doesn't force you to renew every month, so check both before you buy.

Separate testing from production. Use a trial or a small purchase to find out which network your targets accept before you spend the bulk of your budget.

Keep an eye on usage. A weekly glance at your dashboard tells you whether you're on track or whether a job is quietly eating more traffic than you planned.

Use the cheapest network that works. Residential handles most targets; save mobile for the ones that block residential IPs.

Plan around your average month, not your peak. If your provider keeps unused traffic, you can buy a little ahead in a busy period; if it doesn't, buy closer to what you'll actually use.

How to Choose the Right Provider

Start by asking whether you'll use proxies every week or in bursts. If it's bursts, rule out models that forfeit unused commitments, and favor providers whose traffic doesn't expire.

Next, decide whether you need mobile as well as residential. If you do, a single account covering both saves you a second contract, a second dashboard and a second budget to track.

Then compare entry costs honestly: the smallest real purchase, not the lowest rate on a volume tier you'll never reach.

Finally, check refunds. Where they're limited, a trial is your only protection. Decodo offers a conditional 14-day refund on a first purchase, while ProxyEmpire's sales are final, so the trial matters more there.

1. ProxyEmpire

ProxyEmpire lets you skip months without penalty. Because there's no contract, you can buy a monthly residential tier in a busy month, anything from the 7 GB tier at $20 up to the 1,000 GB tier at $1,500, and simply not renew the next month. Whatever you didn't use stays in your account, because GB on GB plans never expire. Over a year, that can turn several half-used months into fully used ones.

On days when you just need a little, you can buy residential at three fifty a gigabyte or mobile at four fifty, no commitment. Targeting down to ZIP, ASN and carrier is included, and the same account covers ISP, datacenter and dedicated mobile. Support runs 24/7 by live chat and email, and the company reports 30M+ residential and 4M+ mobile IPs.

Key features:

Pricing: Residential from $3.50/GB; mobile from $4.50/GB; monthly residential from 7 GB for $20. All sales are final.

2. Oxylabs

Oxylabs bills a monthly subscription, from $30, that you can spend on proxies or its scraping tools. That's convenient for steady teams but less so for irregular ones, since there's no pay-as-you-go tier and you'll pay the subscription even in a quiet month.

A $5 credit lets you test, and residential rates fall as monthly usage grows. Whether unused subscription value carries over isn't stated, so plan your tier around your average month rather than your busiest.

Key features:

Pricing: Subscriptions from $30/month; residential $6/GB down to $2.50/GB.

3. Bright Data

Bright Data offers flexible residential at four dollars a gigabyte with its code for three months, plus a free trial and a first deposit match up to $500. After the promotion, the listed flexible rate is eight dollars.

Its monthly commitments, though, don't roll over, so they suit steady demand better than bursts. If your usage is uneven, stick with the coded flexible rate. You'll also pass a KYC check, which may include a video call, before residential use.

Key features:

Pricing: Residential $4/GB with code; monthly from $499.

4. Decodo (formerly Smartproxy)

Decodo gives you two ways to pay: monthly subscriptions or a Wallet that sells single gigabytes at four dollars. The Wallet suits bursty use, but you can't run it alongside a subscription, so you'll need to pick the model that fits your year rather than switching month to month.

Its free 3-day trial is a low-risk way to start, though it becomes a paid plan unless you cancel, and rollover of subscription gigabytes isn't stated. Every plan does reach the full 115M+ residential pool.

Key features:

Pricing: Residential from $3.75/GB (3 GB plan); Wallet $4/GB; mobile from $2.25/GB.

5. SOAX

SOAX handles uneven demand by letting you change plans quickly: upgrades apply immediately, and downgrades take effect at the next billing cycle. You can also cap traffic on each package, which keeps a busy project from overspending.

Residential and mobile share one credit-based price that depends on the country you target, so a project in a pricier market costs more per gigabyte. A free Sandbox account lets you explore first, though you'll need credits before traffic flows, and crypto payments require KYC.

Key features:

Pricing: Monthly credits, 1 credit = $1; US example of $3.00/GB on 100 GB.

6. IPRoyal

IPRoyal is the other provider here whose residential traffic never expires, and it has no monthly minimum. That makes it friendly to bursty work, especially if you need sticky sessions lasting up to 7 days for account logins that must stay stable.

The drawback is the entry price: a single gigabyte costs $7 on subscription or $7.35 without one, and the rate only drops to $1.75 at 10 TB. Mobile is sold by the day, which suits short projects but can add up over longer ones.

Key features:

Pricing: Residential from $7/GB; mobile from $10.11/day; ISP from $1.80.

How They Handle Uneven Budgets

Provider

Commitment required

Unused traffic

Smallest purchase

Way to test

ProxyEmpire

None

Kept indefinitely

1 GB at $3.50

$1.97 trial

IPRoyal

None

Kept indefinitely

1 GB at $7

Not stated

Decodo

Subscription or Wallet

Not stated

1 GB at $4 via Wallet

Free 3-day trial

SOAX

Monthly credits

Not stated

Varies by tier

Free Sandbox

Bright Data

Optional

Commitments forfeited

1 GB at $4 with code

Free trial

Oxylabs

Monthly subscription

Not stated

$30 Starter plan

$5 credit

Final Verdict

For bursty scraping budgets, ProxyEmpire belongs at the top: no contracts, so you can skip quiet months, gigabytes that never expire, and residential and mobile on one account, with a $1.97 trial to start. If you only need residential traffic that never expires and long sticky sessions, IPRoyal is the strongest alternative.