Best Proxies 2024: Free And Paid Proxy Services

The best proxies or proxy services allow you to access blocked information, ensure online privacy and security, or collect publicly available data.

Essentially, a proxy serves as a gateway between you and the Internet, so when you use a proxy server, information about the sites you visit and other history is stored on that server, not on your computer. This allows for a certain degree of anonymous browsing, with the caveat that proxy servers often store at least some data. This means that a full examination of server records may reveal your identity, but to do this, those who intend to reveal it must have access to these servers.

However, for most people, this is unlikely to be a problem, and the best proxy servers otherwise provide a reliable, albeit basic, way to avoid online snooping by advertisers and other invasions of privacy that are commonplace on the Internet today.

Note that many of the best proxy servers in 2024 will also provide paid VPN services because a VPN (virtual private network) can provide better security and privacy than a proxy server. In this case, it may be worth considering getting a free VPN or paying for an advanced plan with premium services.

In the meantime, we will tell you about the best proxy services, free and paid, which will overlap with some VPN services.

We compared these proxy services on various aspects, from their monetization models to the variety of services they offer. We also looked at encryption levels and server speed, among other aspects.

In Smartproxy, you can get both residential proxies and server proxies (data center proxies). Their pool of more than 40 million rotating residential IP addresses comes from desktop and mobile devices and is distributed among all users.

While this can be a disadvantage since you may end up with an IP that is already banned, the provider states that its fast rotation policy ensures that its proxies will not be banned. Smartproxy limits bandwidth plans but allows you to run an unlimited number of simultaneous streams.

You can select the proxy you want to use from the list of servers in your control panel. By default, Smartproxy displays all the different gateways for the countries and cities it supports. However, you can filter proxies based on a few necessary parameters, such as location and session type. Depending on them, the dashboard will show the corresponding proxy gateway that you can use in your applications and tools.

If you plan to use a proxy for web browsing, Smartproxy also has extensions for Chrome and Firefox. You can use the extension to select the location and type of proxy you need, as well as the authentication mechanism.

Pros of the service:

Unlimited traffic
Browser Extensions
Mobile IP included
Large IP pool

Disadvantages of the service:

Limited geotargeting

2. IPRoyal

IPRoyal is a low-cost and attractive proxy provider that offers a versatile selection of different proxies. These include top-notch residential proxies, data center proxies, and specialized proxies for purchasing limited-edition sneakers.

The service’s user interface is beginner-friendly and easy to learn, and the support team is exceptionally responsive. On the other hand, limited help documentation means you’ll have to contact IPRoyal support if you have questions or problems. Overall, IPRoyal is a great option to consider for a variety of application scenarios.

Overall, with a variety of subscription options to choose from, some of the most affordable pricing we’ve seen, and a responsive support team, IPRoyal stands out as a leading proxy service provider.

Pros of the service:
Great price
Versatility, different types of proxies
Mobile IP included
Large IP pool

Disadvantages of the service:
Limited Help Help
Not high speed

3. Bright Data

The first thing you notice about Bright Data (formerly Luminati) is its huge proxy pool of over 72 million IP addresses. The service offers all types of proxies. In addition to rotating IP addresses, the service also offers static IP addresses, which are a group of 6-100 addresses for exclusive use that have not previously been used with your target domain. Bright Data also offers mobile IP addresses, which are more expensive than regular residential IP addresses but are more resilient and suitable for particularly difficult cases.

If you have specific targeting requirements, you will appreciate ASN (Autonomous System Number) support, in addition to the usual targeting options, you can customize parameters such as country, state, region, and city.

To work with proxy servers, you can use Proxy Manager, an open-source tool that can be installed for free on top of Windows, macOS, and Linux. Proxy Manager can help you define rules for IP address rotation, blacklist IP addresses that perform poorly, optimize bandwidth usage by routing some requests over a regular connection without a proxy, and much more.

Bright Data residential proxies support all major protocols, including HTTP, HTTPS and SOCKS5. The service also has a comprehensive support infrastructure with many ways to help, including video tutorials and webinars.

However, all these features come at a price. Although the service advertises a basic rate for all types of proxies, specifying additional parameters, such as targeting, affects the final cost of the proxy. The service also offers several payment plans for different users. In addition to the standard monthly subscription, Bright Data also offers a pay-as-you-go plan. These plans are on average more expensive than many of their peers, but will seem reasonable, especially for users with a need to have a large proxy pool and those with very specific requirements.

Pros of the service:
Lots of options and settings
Mobile IP
Wide targeting options

Disadvantages of the service:
Complex pricing
High price

4. Oxylabs

Oxylabs has an extensive network of more than 70 million residential proxies that cover all countries and cities of the world. In addition to country and city, you can also target proxies using ASN. However, these residential IPs use gateway servers with a reverse connection, and you will have to manually change the address to add targeting options.

Oxylabs claims that its residential proxies also include mobile IPs, but the service does not allow you to select them separately to solve your needs. Residential proxies are rotated on every request to ensure that the target site can’t block you.

The provider also offers static, non-rotating proxies obtained directly from providers. Oxylabs claims that these proxies give you the best of both data center and residential proxies in terms of speed and resiliency. In addition, these static proxies support the SOCKS5 protocol, unlike standard rotating proxies, which do not have such support.

A pool of more than 2 million data center IP addresses, which are not allocated but allocated for exclusive use, also supports the SOCKS5 protocol. They also offer a proxy rotator add-on for automatically rotating data center IP addresses.

Oxylabs’ unique offering is a new generation of residential proxies that use machine learning and artificial intelligence to more successfully imitate the behavior of a regular user in the browser and bypass blocks and captchas.

The service offers multi-level tariff plans that become more and more economical as the volume of proxy purchases increases.

Pros of the service:
Large pool of proxy servers
SOCKS5 support, although limited

Disadvantages of the service:
No separate mobile IPs

5. Storm Proxies

Storm Proxies are suitable for personal and short-term use purposes for users who will happily trade the extensive features provided by some heavyweights for affordable pricing plans.

The provider offers rotating residential proxies, private dedicated proxies that offer data center IP addresses, and rotating proxies that have a mix of data center IP addresses and residential proxies.

The best thing about Storm Proxies is that all proxies come with unlimited traffic. Instead, the service has restrictions on the number of IPs and the number of simultaneous connections for private dedicated proxies, and rotating residential proxies have restrictions on the number of ports. Each port is capable of providing up to 50 simultaneous connections.

Rotated proxies come from a pool of 70,000 IP addresses and only allow you to choose from three broadly defined regions: the US, EU, and worldwide. These are backhaul proxies that are served through different gateways, each with a separate rotation time.

Residential proxies with a 5-minute rotation come from an even smaller pool of about 40,000 IP addresses. They only cover the US and EU and don’t allow you to choose which countries or cities you want to target.

There are several pricing plans for each of the different proxy types, but rest assured, they are cheaper than most other proxy services.

Pros of the service:
Cheap compared to competitors
There are no bandwidth restrictions

Disadvantages of the service:
Limited geotargeting
No SOCKS5

The best free proxy servers

1. Hide.me

Hide.Me position themselves as the fastest free proxy server because they do not log to speed up the service.

Regardless of whether this title is deserved or not, it is still a decent free proxy server that is worth using. You can use it directly on the site, or use extensions for Firefox or Chrome browsers. The service has proxies only in Europe, namely in the Netherlands, Germany and Finland. Additionally, while the service provides various privacy-enhancing options, such as the ability to encrypt URLs and pages, you don’t get these options while visiting sites.

Unlike some other free services, Hide.me displays annoying pop-up ads for its paid VPN service. If you can live with that, then you’ll probably like Hide.Me.

Pros of the service:
Fast proxy speed
Browser extensions

Disadvantages of the service:
Popup Ads

2. Hide My Ass

Hide My Ass offers a free online proxy service that comes in handy when you want to browse privately but don’t have the time or permission to download additional software or browser extensions. There are limitations—premium access offers faster speeds, stronger encryption, and active malware protection—but for quick browsing, it’s a good option.

Free proxy Hide My Ass masks your identity and IP address. This is one of the few services that allows you to select specific cities, not just countries, through which your requests will be routed. The free service supports servers in New York, Seattle, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, London, and Prague.

The Hide My Ass online proxy service collects logs that include your IP address, the URLs you visit, what pages and files you viewed, and when. It stores this data for 30 days, a policy that knocked it off our preference list.

Pros of the service:
Servers for a specific city
Ability to encrypt URLs

Disadvantages of the service:
Not suitable when privacy is required

3. KProxy

KProxy offers an online service in the browser, an extension for Chrome or Firefox, and also a portable version of Firefox with the extension already installed – a nice touch that allows you to use the proxy on computers, for example, at school, university, or work.

Setting up a proxy is as easy as pie – after installing the extension, select a remote server, the free version offers several options in Montreal and Munich, and click the “Connect” button. Secure HTTPS connections are supported.

The service has some limitations: you can only browse freely for three hours or until you reach your 300MB data limit. Once you exceed this limit, you may see a tab asking you to purchase a premium account, but this is not necessary; you can reconnect for free after a break of 30 minutes.

When it comes to privacy, KProxy notes: “You also understand that, despite our best efforts, this service cannot provide a 100% guarantee of privacy and anonymity. By our privacy policy, KProxy reserves the right to disclose the IP addresses of users who abuse our system either to the appropriate legal authorities or to those against whom the violation was committed.”

Pros of the service:
Easy to set up
Offers a portable version of Firefox

Disadvantages of the service:
Limitation of one-time work: 3 hours or 300 MB
Not suitable when privacy is required

4. Hidester

If you want to bypass geo-blocking, access blocked content, and avoid surveillance, you can use the Hidester proxy service to browse websites anonymously.

Hidester does not require registration or installation of any software. Simply visit the site from a desktop computer or mobile device and enter the desired site in the special form. By default, it routes your request through US servers, but you have the option to switch to European servers.

Hidester also has several privacy options. By default, it encrypts URLs and removes scripts. By default, the service allows cookies, but you have the opportunity to disable this option. You can clear cookies when closing a proxy session using the Hidester panel at the top of the page. You can even change your browser’s referrer string from the preset drop-down list in the top bar.

The service claims that it does not keep any logs of your visits and assures that it fully controls its servers without the participation of third-party IP proxies.

Pros of the service:
Doesn’t keep logs of visits
Privacy control

Disadvantages of the service:
No extension for Firefox

What is a proxy?

A proxy is an intermediary between the user and the Internet, which is an intermediate gateway that adds layer when connecting to any site. Proxies have their IP addresses, so the site the user visits will only see the proxy’s IP address.

From a source perspective, there are two types of proxies: data center and residential (sometimes called residential proxies):

A data center proxy is a private proxy that is not affiliated with an ISP because it comes from a secondary company and provides private IP authentication, high-level anonymity, and fast response time to data requests. Typically, data center proxies are used for infrastructure such as servers and hosting.

Residential proxies are intermediaries that uses an IP address associated with a physical location provided by the Internet service provider (ISP) to the homeowner. This is a real IP address that can be used to simulate user behavior.

What are proxies used for?

As mentioned, individuals and companies widely use proxies. Let’s look at in what cases and why they are needed.

For personal use, the proxy will be tied to a specific location. This may open up access to geo-sensitive content. For example, users can browse and purchase goods and services from places (countries, cities) offering better prices.

Secondly, proxy servers can hide user activity and increase security by encrypting requests.

Use in business. In most cases, companies use proxies to gain an advantage over competitors by collecting important information. A proxy gives them the ability to extract and process large volumes of publicly available data, such as competitor prices, promotions, services, reviews, and even market trends, which can speed up business decision-making, shape marketing strategy, pricing, etc.

Such information would be impossible to obtain without the use of a proxy due to periodic blocking. The difficulty arises when these requests come from the same IP address, as sites consider such activity to be suspicious and block the IP address for security reasons. Proxy servers prevent this because IP addresses can constantly change if rotating (changing with a new request) proxies are used. In this way, data collection can continue anonymously and efficiently.

In addition to data collection, many companies use proxies for email security because there are a huge number of emails containing malware attachments or suspicious URLs. Proxy servers help scan every incoming email and filter out malicious content.

Another common use case is brand protection, as proxies are used to scan the Internet for stolen content or counterfeit goods.

What is the difference between paid and free proxies?

With a free proxy you can access almost any site, which is great until something goes wrong. Using such services means that no one is held responsible for technical problems, which often happens in this case.

Finding a free proxy with a long service life is not easy, as they quickly become outdated, and providers usually turn into paid ones or disappear over time. In addition, using free proxies can pose a serious threat, since you never know whether your data is protected or not, It could easily be stolen.

Paid proxies are responsible for their services and have contracts and agreements to protect the user. Businesses have no choice but to pay for the services of a specialized proxy server and avoid any potential security issues. If you choose a reliable proxy provider, you won’t have to worry about servers crashing or disappearing for no reason.

A reliable proxy provider will also have proxies from ethical sources. Choosing a proxy provider is not an easy task as there are many criteria, but we have highlighted a few key points:

Reliability: 24/7 customer support and account managers, service testing, and a money-back guarantee are prerequisites for a reliable proxy provider. Also, pay attention to customer reviews.
IP pool size and locations: IP pool size and location diversity are critical for those who will be collecting large volumes of data from different countries.
Operational stability and speed: the operational stability (time without failures) of a reliable proxy network should be at least 90%, and the best providers guarantee 95% or higher.
Integration and support: Proxy providers should provide clear and understandable documentation, including instructions for integrating the service into the client’s infrastructure.

The future of proxies

Enterprises mainly use proxies for large-scale data collection and extraction, but it is not a simple process. It involves many complex challenges, especially as anti-data collection efforts become more sophisticated and make it more difficult to collect publicly available information. Innovations in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are gradually being applied to solve this problem. Ultimately, proxies are an extremely valuable solution for both individuals and businesses that need to make accurate, data-driven decisions. For individuals, proxy servers help to gain access to a blocked geo and increase the level of security. For businesses, they not only provide an additional layer of security but also become an indispensable tool when collecting publicly available information.

How to choose the best proxy?

When choosing the best proxy for yourself, choose tools that have features useful to you, such as bypassing geo-restrictions, browser extensions, unlimited bandwidth, and a large IP pool.

If speed is a priority, check the speed and location of the servers, and if security is a priority, pay attention to the service’s encryption level. Finally, evaluate whether the proxy server plans are suitable for your needs.

If you’re searching for a top-notch 4G Proxy, look no further than Gridpanel.net.

Best proxy server: How we assessed

To select the best proxy services, we assessed their speed, server stability, security level, encryption, proxy pool size, and whether they support the SOCKS5 protocol. We also noted whether the proxy has additional features such as native browsers, automatic removal of weblogs, ad blocking, etc.