Review Desk · 90-Day Benchmarks · Updated Monthly

Proxy, Scraping & Antidetect Reviews (2026)

Every review we publish, in one place. 12 proxy networks, 15 scraping and AI extraction tools, 14 antidetect browsers and 10 head-to-head guides — all bought with our own money, benchmarked in-house and re-scored every month.

12

Proxy networks

15

Scraping & AI tools

14

Antidetect browsers

10

Head-to-head guides

2

Long-form reviews

00 · Section

Editor's picks

The three highest-scoring proxy networks in the current benchmark cycle.

01 · Section

Proxy provider reviews

Residential, mobile, ISP, datacenter and SOCKS5 networks — filter by IP type, sort by rating, price or measured latency.

Type
Sort

Showing 12 of 12 providers

ProviderPoolFromSpeedRatingAction
Oxylabs SOCKS5 proxy provider logo
Oxylabs
100M+$8.00/GB620ms9.8Review →
Bright Data SOCKS5 proxy provider logo
Bright Data
150M+$8.40/GB680ms9.6Review →
Smartproxy SOCKS5 proxy provider logo
Smartproxy
65M+$7.00/GB810ms9.3Review →
NodeMaven SOCKS5 proxy provider logo
NodeMaven
30M+$3.99/GB700ms9.3Review →
SOAX SOCKS5 proxy provider logo
SOAX
191M+$6.60/GB890ms9.1Review →
IPFly SOCKS5 proxy provider logo
IPFly
90M+$0.80/GB620ms9.1Review →
IPRoyal SOCKS5 proxy provider logo
IPRoyal
8M+$1.75/GB1100ms8.8Review →
Rayobyte SOCKS5 proxy provider logo
Rayobyte
20M+$4.00/GB720ms8.7Review →
Decodo SOCKS5 proxy provider logo
Decodo
125M+$4.50/GB750ms8.6Review →
Proxy-Cheap SOCKS5 proxy provider logo
Proxy-Cheap
6M+$2.99/GB1200ms8.5Review →
GeoNode SOCKS5 proxy provider logo
GeoNode
2M+$9/thread1300ms8.2Review →
Proxy001 SOCKS5 proxy provider logo
Proxy001
100M+$1.00/GB680ms5.0Review →
Oxylabs SOCKS5 proxy provider logo

#1Oxylabs

9.8

Enterprise-grade SOCKS5 with the largest tested residential pool.

100M+ · $8.00/GB · 195 countries · 620ms

Read full review

Bright Data SOCKS5 proxy provider logo

#2Bright Data

9.6

The most feature-rich proxy network with granular targeting.

150M+ · $8.40/GB · 195 countries · 680ms

Read full review

Smartproxy SOCKS5 proxy provider logo

#3Smartproxy

9.3

Best value residential SOCKS5 for small to mid-size teams.

65M+ · $7.00/GB · 195 countries · 810ms

Read full review

NodeMaven SOCKS5 proxy provider logo

#4NodeMaven

9.3

Quality-filtered residential and mobile proxies with the cleanest IP scoring.

30M+ · $3.99/GB · 150 countries · 700ms

Read full review

SOAX SOCKS5 proxy provider logo

#5SOAX

9.1

Clean residential and mobile SOCKS5 with per-second billing.

191M+ · $6.60/GB · 195 countries · 890ms

Read full review

IPFly SOCKS5 proxy provider logo

#6IPFly

9.1

90M+ residential pool with static ISP and datacenter proxies at value pricing.

90M+ · $0.80/GB · 190 countries · 620ms

Read full review

IPRoyal SOCKS5 proxy provider logo

#7IPRoyal

8.8

Cheap, honest SOCKS5 with a strong pay-per-GB residential offer.

8M+ · $1.75/GB · 195 countries · 1100ms

Read full review

Rayobyte SOCKS5 proxy provider logo

#8Rayobyte

8.7

US-focused SOCKS5 with strong datacenter and ISP options.

20M+ · $4.00/GB · 55 countries · 720ms

Read full review

Decodo SOCKS5 proxy provider logo

#9Decodo

8.6

New-gen SOCKS5 with clean UI and honest per-GB pricing.

125M+ · $4.50/GB · 195 countries · 750ms

Read full review

Proxy-Cheap SOCKS5 proxy provider logo

#10Proxy-Cheap

8.5

Aggressively priced SOCKS5 across every proxy type.

6M+ · $2.99/GB · 127 countries · 1200ms

Read full review

GeoNode SOCKS5 proxy provider logo

#11GeoNode

8.2

Unlimited-bandwidth residential SOCKS5 (per-thread pricing).

2M+ · $9/thread · 140 countries · 1300ms

Read full review

Proxy001 SOCKS5 proxy provider logo

#12Proxy001

5.0

100M+ residential and datacenter proxies with simple, flat pricing.

100M+ · $1.00/GB · 200 countries · 680ms

Read full review

02 · Section

Long-form written reviews

Full editorial deep dives with pricing tables, trial details and measured success rates.

03 · Section

Scraping tool reviews

Frameworks, headless browsers, scraping APIs and unlockers — each with a full review, real pricing and proxy pairing notes.

Scrapy logo

Scrapy

9.1

Crawling framework · Zyte / open source

The mature asynchronous Python crawling framework — middlewares, pipelines, AutoThrottle and a proxy layer that scales to millions of pages.

Free · HTTP, HTTPS and SOCKS5 via downloader middleware; rotating gateways work out of the box

Read review

Playwright logo

Playwright

9.3

Headless browser · Microsoft

Headless Chromium, Firefox and WebKit with per-context proxies — the default engine for JavaScript-rendered scraping targets.

Free · Per-browser and per-context HTTP/SOCKS5 proxies with username auth

Read review

Puppeteer logo

Puppeteer

8.5

Headless browser · Chrome DevTools team

Chrome DevTools Protocol automation for Node, with the largest stealth-plugin ecosystem in scraping.

Free · Per-browser proxy via --proxy-server; per-request rotation via a proxy-chain bridge

Read review

Selenium logo

Selenium

7.8

Headless browser · Selenium project (SeleniumHQ)

The WebDriver standard — every language binding, every browser, and Grid for horizontal scale.

Free · Per-driver HTTP/SOCKS5 proxy via Options or a Selenium Wire interceptor

Read review

Crawlee logo

Crawlee

9.0

Crawling framework · Apify

Batteries-included crawler for Node and Python with automatic proxy rotation, session pooling and per-session ban tracking.

Free · First-class ProxyConfiguration with rotation, tiers and automatic retirement of banned sessions

Read review

Apify logo

Apify

8.7

Managed platform · Apify Technologies

Hosted actor platform with 5,000+ prebuilt scrapers, a managed proxy pool, scheduling and dataset storage.

$0 (free tier) · from $49/mo · Built-in datacenter and residential pools plus bring-your-own proxy URLs

Read review

Bright Data Web Unlocker logo

Bright Data Web Unlocker

8.9

Unlocker / scraping API · Bright Data

A single proxy endpoint that solves challenges, rotates fingerprints and retries until it returns clean HTML — billed per successful request.

≈ $1.50 / 1k successful requests · Is the proxy — 150M+ residential IPs behind an automated unlock layer

Read review

Zyte API logo

Zyte API

8.6

Unlocker / scraping API · Zyte (creators of Scrapy)

Rendering, ban handling and automatic extraction as one API from the team that maintains Scrapy.

from ≈ $0.20 / 1k requests · Managed proxy selection with automatic escalation from datacenter to residential

Read review

ScraperAPI logo

ScraperAPI

8.2

Unlocker / scraping API · ScraperAPI

Simple per-credit scraping API with proxy rotation, rendering and structured endpoints for Amazon, Google and Walmart.

$49 / mo (100k credits) · 40M+ IP pool with automatic rotation; premium residential behind a credit multiplier

Read review

Oxylabs Web Scraper API logo

Oxylabs Web Scraper API

8.8

Unlocker / scraping API · Oxylabs

Enterprise scraper APIs with AI parsing over a 175M+ IP pool, returning structured JSON for SERP, e-commerce and real estate.

from $49 / mo · Managed 175M+ residential and datacenter pool with country/city targeting

Read review

Browserbase & Stagehand logo

Browserbase & Stagehand

8.3

Managed platform · Browserbase

Managed headless browser infrastructure with session replay, plus an AI agent layer that drives pages from natural language.

free tier · from $39 / mo · Built-in residential proxies per session, or bring your own

Read review

04 · Section

AI scraping & extraction reviews

LLM-native crawlers and structured-extraction APIs judged on schema accuracy, token cost and how they behave behind residential proxies.

05 · Section

Antidetect browser reviews

Fingerprint isolation, Pixelscan and CreepJS results, team features and proxy pairing for every major multi-accounting browser.

Multilogin logo

Multilogin

9.3

Enterprise & team browser · Multilogin Software OÜ (Estonia)

The enterprise standard for browser fingerprint isolation — Mimic (Chromium) and Stealthfox (Firefox) engines, granular team roles and a mature automation API.

€19 / mo · Windows · macOS (Intel + Apple silicon) · Linux

Read review

Octo Browser logo

Octo Browser

9.0

Enterprise & team browser · Octo Browser (Octo Ltd.)

Fast Chromium core with near-immediate version parity, frequent fingerprint updates and a clean automation API — the speed-first premium option.

€29 / mo · Windows · macOS · Linux

Read review

AdsPower logo

AdsPower

8.9

E-commerce & marketplace browser · AdsPower Technology

The e-commerce and ad-account workhorse — no-code RPA workflows, bulk profile import and a local API that pairs cleanly with Puppeteer.

$5.40 / mo · Windows · macOS · Linux

Read review

Kameleo logo

Kameleo

8.8

Developer & automation browser · Kameleo Kft. (Hungary)

Developer-first antidetect browser with genuine mobile profile emulation and a local REST API designed for automation rather than clicking.

€59 / mo · Windows · Android

Read review

GoLogin logo

GoLogin

8.7

Affordable / entry browser · GoLogin Inc.

Affordable cloud-profile antidetect browser with an Android app, free proxy allowance and one of the friendliest automation APIs in the category.

$24 / mo · Windows · macOS · Linux · Android · Web (cloud browser)

Read review

Dolphin{anty} logo

Dolphin{anty}

8.6

Media buying & affiliate browser · Dolphin Group

Built around the media buyer's day — Facebook and TikTok ad-account tooling, a cookie robot for warm-ups and team statistics on spend.

$89 / mo · Windows · macOS · Linux

Read review

Playwright logo

Playwright

8.4

Developer & automation browser · Microsoft (open source, Apache 2.0)

Microsoft's cross-engine browser automation framework — the free foundation most stealth stacks are built on, with per-context isolation, proxy-per-context and first-class Chromium, Firefox and WebKit support.

Free (open source) · Windows · macOS · Linux · Docker · CI runners

Read review

MoreLogin logo

MoreLogin

8.3

E-commerce & marketplace browser · MoreLogin Technology

Volume-oriented antidetect browser with generous profile allowances, synchroniser control of many windows at once and marketplace-focused tooling.

$9 / mo · Windows · macOS · Android

Read review

Incogniton logo

Incogniton

8.1

Affordable / entry browser · Incogniton B.V. (Netherlands)

Beginner-friendly antidetect browser with a permanent ten-profile free plan, simple Selenium hooks and a gentle learning curve.

$29.99 / mo · Windows · macOS

Read review

Undetectable logo

Undetectable

8.0

Affordable / entry browser · Undetectable LLC

Cost-efficient profile storage at high volume, with a marketplace of ready-made browser configurations and straightforward team access control.

$49 / mo · Windows · macOS

Read review

Puppeteer logo

Puppeteer

8.0

Developer & automation browser · Chrome DevTools team, Google (open source, Apache 2.0)

The original Chrome DevTools Protocol automation library — minimal, fast, Chrome-only, and the base for the puppeteer-extra stealth ecosystem.

Free (open source) · Windows · macOS · Linux · Docker

Read review

VMLogin logo

VMLogin

7.9

Developer & automation browser · VMLogin Ltd.

Virtual browser environments with per-profile isolation, an established API and a lifetime-style licensing option for long-horizon operators.

$99 / mo · Windows

Read review

ixBrowser logo

ixBrowser

7.8

Affordable / entry browser · IXSPY Technology

Free-to-start antidetect browser with unlimited profiles on paid tiers and integrated proxy purchasing for operators who want one invoice.

$0 (free) · paid from $9 / mo · Windows · macOS

Read review

Hidemyacc logo

Hidemyacc

7.7

Media buying & affiliate browser · Hidemyacc

Lightweight antidetect browser with automation templates, low resource use and pricing aimed at solo affiliates and small buying teams.

$5.90 / mo · Windows · macOS

Read review

06 · Section

Head-to-head comparisons

Two networks, one workload, one verdict — pricing, success rate and targeting compared side by side.

Versus

Bright Data vs Oxylabs: SOCKS5 Head-to-Head (2026)

Oxylabs wins on raw success rate and simplicity. Bright Data wins on targeting granularity and unlocker tools. For most enterprises: Oxylabs. For agencies needing surgical geo targeting or the Web Unlocker: Bright Data.

Read the comparison

Versus

Smartproxy vs SOAX: Which Mid-Tier SOCKS5 Wins?

Smartproxy wins on speed, price, and general-purpose reliability. SOAX wins on IP freshness and mobile — pick SOAX for Instagram/TikTok and ad verification.

Read the comparison

Versus

IPRoyal vs Proxy-Cheap: Cheapest SOCKS5 Compared

IPRoyal wins on residential pool quality and 24-hour sticky sessions. Proxy-Cheap wins on cross-tier pricing (ISP + mobile). Both are great for hobby projects; neither for enterprise.

Read the comparison

Versus

IPFly vs Bright Data: Best Value vs Enterprise Scale

IPFly wins on price and static ISP options (from $0.80/GB). Bright Data wins on scale, tooling, and geo-precision. If cost per GB is your top KPI, choose IPFly. Otherwise, Bright Data.

Read the comparison

Versus

Rayobyte vs Oxylabs: SOCKS5 Compared

Oxylabs wins on residential pool size, geo-coverage, and enterprise support. Rayobyte wins on US-specific workloads and dedicated datacenter SOCKS5 pricing.

Read the comparison

Versus

Best Bright Data Alternatives for SOCKS5 (2026)

Best all-round Bright Data alternative: Oxylabs. Best cheaper alternative: Smartproxy. Best for mobile: SOAX. Best for speed: IPFly. Best budget alternative: IPRoyal.

Read the comparison

Versus

Best Oxylabs Alternatives for SOCKS5 (2026)

Best all-round alternative: Bright Data. Best cheaper alternative: Smartproxy. Best fastest alternative: IPFly. Best for mobile: SOAX. Best for datacenter: Rayobyte.

Read the comparison

Versus

Proxy001 vs IPRoyal: Cheap Residential SOCKS5 Compared (2026)

Proxy001 wins on scale and speed — 100M+ IPs at $1.00/GB and 680ms average versus IPRoyal's 8M+ pool at $1.75/GB and 1,100ms. IPRoyal still wins if you want non-expiring bandwidth credits and a longer public track record for small, occasional jobs.

Read the comparison

Versus

Proxy001 vs Bright Data: Value Scale vs Enterprise Tooling (2026)

Bright Data wins on targeting depth, compliance paperwork and tooling (Web Unlocker, Scraping Browser, SERP API). Proxy001 wins on cost — roughly eight times cheaper per gigabyte at comparable pool scale. Choose Bright Data for regulated enterprise work, Proxy001 for volume scraping on a budget.

Read the comparison

Versus

Proxy001 vs SOAX: Scraping Scale vs Clean Mobile IPs (2026)

SOAX is the better pick for mobile-first, account-sensitive work — carrier-grade IPs, per-second billing and aggressive pool filtering. Proxy001 is the better pick for bulk data collection where cost per gigabyte and raw throughput decide the budget.

Read the comparison

07 · Section

How we review

The same scoring frame applies to proxies, scraping tools and antidetect browsers.

Buy first, test second

Every plan on this page was paid for out of pocket. No vendor sees a review before it is published and no ranking position is for sale.

90 days, 10 regions

Proxy networks run a rolling 90-day benchmark across the US, UK, DE, FR, JP, SG, BR, IN, AU and CA, scored on success rate against tier-1 targets, latency and pool freshness.

Workload-realistic tests

Scraping tools are measured on a fixed crawl of protected and unprotected targets; antidetect browsers are graded on Pixelscan, CreepJS, IPHey and BrowserLeaks consistency.

Verified pricing

Prices come from live checkout, not marketing pages, and are re-checked monthly. Where a free trial exists we state the exact allowance.

Weighted scoring

Success rate and value carry the most weight, then latency, targeting granularity, protocol coverage, dashboard quality and support responsiveness.

Transparent affiliates

Some links earn a commission. They never move a product up the ranking — see the affiliate disclosure for the full policy.

How to read these reviews in 2026

Not every "best proxy" list is measuring the same thing. Our ranking prioritises success rate on tier-1 targets (Google, Amazon, Instagram, Cloudflare) over raw pool size, because a 200M-IP pool with a 70% success rate costs more per useful request than a 30M-IP pool at 99%. We then weight latency, pricing transparency, protocol coverage (HTTP, HTTPS and SOCKS5, including UDP), targeting granularity (country, state, city, ASN, carrier) and dashboard quality.

For large-scale web scraping, ad verification, brand protection or price aggregation on hardened targets, choose an enterprise residential gateway. For consumer platform work on Instagram, TikTok or sneaker sites, add mobile proxies and an antidetect browser. For public APIs, internal tools and staging targets, datacenter is dramatically cheaper. The tooling reviews matter just as much: a managed scraping API can be cheaper end-to-end than raw proxies plus engineering time, and an antidetect browser is mandatory the moment accounts, not pages, are the asset you are protecting.

Use the filters above to narrow by IP type, then use the free testing tools to verify any provider before you commit.

Test any provider in-browser

All tools →

Proxy & tooling reviews — FAQ

How does 5Proxy test and rank providers?+

We buy every plan out of pocket, run a 90-day benchmark across 10 regions (US, UK, DE, FR, JP, SG, BR, IN, AU, CA), and score each provider on success rate, latency, pool freshness, targeting granularity, dashboard quality, and value. Rankings are recomputed monthly.

What is the best SOCKS5 proxy provider in 2026?+

Oxylabs holds our top spot for the fourth year in a row on the strength of a 99.95% success rate on tier-1 targets, 100M+ residential IPs and city-level targeting. Bright Data, Smartproxy and Decodo are strong runners-up depending on budget and workload.

Which SOCKS5 provider is the cheapest?+

IPRoyal starts at $1.75/GB residential and Proxy-Cheap starts around $2.99/GB — both are the entry-level picks. GeoNode's per-thread model can also come out cheaper for very high-volume scrapers who exceed 100 GB/month.

Which SOCKS5 provider is the fastest?+

IPFly's ISP-backed pool measures ~450 ms end-to-end in our latency lab, the fastest we've tested on real residential SOCKS5. Oxylabs is second at ~620 ms, Bright Data third at ~680 ms.

Do all providers listed support UDP over SOCKS5?+

Every provider in this directory exposes SOCKS5 with username/password authentication, and all of the top-rated residential gateways support UDP passthrough. Datacenter SOCKS5 UDP support varies — check the individual review.

Are these reviews independent?+

Yes. We pay for every plan and disclose every affiliate relationship. Commissions are earned when you buy through a referral link, but they do not change the ranking — see our Affiliate Disclosure for details.

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