The Best Residential Proxies in 2026

What "best" means for residential proxies

Residential proxies are the most-compared proxy product on the market, and the one where differences between providers matter most. Every provider sells "millions of real home IPs" with "99% success rates". Once you start testing, the differences show up quickly: some pools are thin in the countries you need, some are slow at peak hours, some are already burned on the sites you care about, and some charge for targeting features others include for free.

The best residential proxies for you are the ones that deliver the highest success rate at the lowest cost per successful request on your targets, in your countries, with the session control your workflow needs. This guide explains how to judge that, then gives a shortlist of providers worth testing, grouped by the kind of buyer they suit. For the broader picture across all proxy types, see our guide to the best proxies.

The six things that separate good residential pools from bad ones

1. Real availability in your locations

Headline pool sizes count every IP seen over a month or more. What you need is the number of IPs online right now in your target country, and at the time of day you run. A provider can be excellent in the US and thin in Australia, Brazil or Japan. Test in the specific countries you need. See proxy pool size.

2. Cleanliness on your targets

A residential IP that has already been used to hammer the retailer you're scraping is no better than a datacenter IP there. Providers with heavier customer traffic on popular targets can have more burned IPs on those targets. Only testing reveals this.

3. Session stability

If you rely on sticky sessions for browser automation or logged-in flows, measure how long sessions actually hold before the IP changes or the connection drops. Advertised maximums (10 minutes, 30 minutes, 24 hours) are best-case values. See sticky vs rotating sessions.

4. Speed and consistency

Residential proxies will never match datacenter speed, but the difference between a median response time of 0.8 seconds and 2.5 seconds is the difference between a scraper that finishes overnight and one that doesn't. Look at the 95th percentile too: long tails cause timeouts. See proxy speed test.

5. Targeting options you'll actually use

Country targeting is universal. State, city, ZIP and ASN targeting vary. Some providers include city targeting on every plan; others charge more. Only pay for what your use case requires. See geo-targeted proxies.

6. Pricing structure

Look beyond the per-GB price at: minimum commitment, whether traffic expires, overage rates, and whether premium features cost extra. For low or occasional volumes, non-expiring traffic can matter more than the headline rate. See proxy pricing guide.

Residential providers worth shortlisting

These are well-known names in the residential proxy market. No provider paid to be on this list (we do earn affiliate commission on Geonode links, which we disclose on every page), and features and prices change frequently, so treat this as a starting list for your own tests.

For a deeper comparison with more names, see residential proxy providers compared. Budget buyers should also read best cheap residential proxies.

Best residential proxies by buyer type

For enterprises

You need compliance documentation, KYC, invoices, account management, SLAs and possibly a dedicated pool. Shortlist the large full-stack providers and ask each for a trial on your targets, with a named technical contact. See enterprise proxy providers.

For growing data teams

You need reliable performance and reasonable pricing at tens to hundreds of GB per month. Mid-market providers are often the sweet spot. Negotiate once you know your volume.

For freelancers and small projects

You need low entry cost and no waste. Look for pay-as-you-go plans and non-expiring traffic. See pay-as-you-go proxies.

For browser automation

You need long, stable sticky sessions and decent speed. Test session hold times specifically, and consider ISP proxies as a per-IP alternative if bandwidth costs are high. See Puppeteer proxies.

For sneaker raffles

You need lots of unique IPs in the right region and fast account creation. Sneaker-focused resellers often package residential traffic for this. See residential proxies for sneakers.

A fair way to test residential providers

Run the same test on every shortlisted provider, at the same time of day, against the same targets:

1. Pick 3 to 5 real target URLs, including your hardest.
2. Send 500 to 1,000 requests per provider per target, rotating per request.
3. Record status code, whether the content was correct (not a block page), response time and bytes transferred.
4. Repeat with sticky sessions if your workflow needs them, and record how long sessions hold.
5. Calculate success rate, median and p95 latency, and cost per 1,000 successful requests.

import time, requests, statistics

def run(proxy_url, url, n=300, marker="product-title"):
    ok, times, size = 0, [], 0
    proxies = {"http": proxy_url, "https": proxy_url}
    for _ in range(n):
        t = time.time()
        try:
            r = requests.get(url, proxies=proxies, timeout=30)
            if r.status_code == 200 and marker in r.text:
                ok += 1
            size += len(r.content)
        except requests.RequestException:
            pass
        times.append(time.time() - t)
    return ok / n, statistics.median(times), sorted(times)[int(n * 0.95)], size / 1e9

Our full methodology is in how to test proxies before buying.

Red flags when choosing residential proxies

• No information at all about how IPs are sourced. See ethically sourced proxies.
• No KYC whatsoever for residential access.
• Pool sizes far beyond what established players claim, from an unknown brand.
• No trial, no refund window and long minimum commitments.
• Many repeated IPs or subnets in a small test.

More in proxy provider red flags.

Choosing a plan size you won't regret

Residential plans usually get cheaper per GB as commitments grow, which tempts buyers to over-commit. A safer approach:

• Measure first. Run on pay-as-you-go or the smallest plan for a month and record daily usage.
• Size to a typical month, not your peak. Commit to roughly what you use in an ordinary month, and cover spikes with top-ups.
• Check what happens to unused traffic. Some plans roll over and some expire monthly. Expiring traffic on an oversized plan is pure waste.
• Read the overage price. If you go over, is extra traffic charged at your plan rate or a higher one?
• Prefer monthly terms until you're sure. Annual prepayment discounts only help if your usage and the provider's quality both hold up for a year.
• Revisit after three months. Usage settles by then, and it's the right moment to negotiate a better tier.

A worked example: monthly usage of 180, 220 and 400 GB, where the last month included a one-off campaign. Committing to around 200 GB a month and buying the campaign traffic separately beats a 400 GB plan that sits half-used in ordinary months.

For more on the trade-offs, see pay-as-you-go proxies and the proxy pricing guide. If price is the main constraint, best cheap residential proxies covers budget options.

FAQ

Which residential proxy provider is the best overall?

There's no universal winner. Large providers tend to lead on features and compliance; mid-market and budget providers often win on cost per successful request for typical targets. Test two or three on your own targets.

How much should I pay for residential proxies?

At the time of writing, roughly $3 to $8 per GB on small plans and $1 to $3 per GB at volume are typical market ranges. See proxy pricing guide.

Are cheap residential proxies worth it?

Often, yes, for moderate targets and smaller volumes. Measure success rate before scaling. See best cheap residential proxies.

Do I need city targeting?

Only for local SEO, ad verification and location-specific pricing. For most scraping, country-level targeting is enough.