Why expiry matters
A cheap GB you never use isn't cheap. If your plan's bandwidth expires at the end of the month and you use only half, you've paid double per GB. For irregular workloads (seasonal research, one-off projects, bursty scraping), expiry can matter more than list price. See pay-as-you-go proxies and proxy bandwidth pricing explained.
What each provider does
| Product | Rayobyte | Geonode |
|---|---|---|
| Residential (pay as you go) | Not stated on the pricing page; earlier reviews reported non-expiring traffic | Purchased GB doesn't expire |
| Mobile | Plan bandwidth expires after 30 days | Check current terms |
| High-volume residential | Scale Residential monthly plans | Unlimited plans by port speed |
| Rotating ISP and datacenter, monthly | Monthly plans | Rotating datacenter per GB |
| Static ISP and datacenter | Per IP per month, unmetered | ISP per IP per month, unmetered |
At the time of writing. If expiry matters to you, confirm current terms with Rayobyte support before a large purchase.
Geonode's clear advantage
Geonode states plainly that purchased residential bandwidth doesn't expire. You can buy 100 GB, use 10 this month and the rest over the year. For uneven workloads this is the safest model on the market.
Rayobyte's situation
Rayobyte's Premium Residential is sold pay as you go, and its pricing page doesn't mention expiry. Past reporting described Rayobyte's pay-as-you-go traffic as non-expiring, but we'd rather you confirm than rely on that. Its mobile plans do expire after 30 days, and its monthly plans (Scale Residential, rotating ISP and datacenter) are by definition monthly allowances.
Residential tip: The simplest way to settle this comparison is to test both: Rayobyte has a free trial with no card, and Geonode sells a low-cost residential trial. Run the same targets through each. See Rayobyte pricing explained.
How to buy to avoid waste
- Irregular residential use: buy from a provider with documented non-expiring bandwidth, or buy smaller amounts more often.
- Steady use: monthly plans are fine if your usage is predictable; size to 80 to 90% of your typical month.
- Mobile: size Rayobyte plans to a single month of real use.
- Tier thresholds: with Rayobyte, buying 50 GB ($100) costs less than 40 GB ($140), so if you'll use 50 GB eventually and it doesn't expire, buy at the threshold.
Which to choose
| Your pattern | Better fit |
|---|---|
| Seasonal or bursty residential | Geonode |
| Steady, predictable residential | Either; compare per-GB prices |
| Huge steady untargeted volume | Rayobyte Scale Residential |
| Mobile, small and irregular | Geonode per GB |
| Mobile, large and steady | Rayobyte monthly plan |
Adding Webshare
Webshare's residential plans are monthly and reported to reset each billing cycle. See bandwidth expiry across all three.
A real-world example
An events company collects ticket prices intensively for three months a year and barely at all otherwise: around 120 GB in busy months and 5 GB in quiet ones. On Geonode, it buys a large residential block once at a lower tier and draws it down across the year with no waste. On Rayobyte, it would buy 250 GB at $1.50 before the busy season, after confirming how long a pay-as-you-go balance lasts. A monthly plan that resets would have wasted most of nine months of allowance.
Proxy tip: If your residential usage comes in bursts, Geonode is worth a look: purchased GB doesn't expire and sticky sessions can last up to 24 hours. More in our complete Geonode guide.
Pros and cons on expiry
Rayobyte
- Pay-as-you-go residential tiers.
- Unmetered static IPs.
- Mobile bandwidth expires after 30 days; confirm PAYG residential terms.
Geonode
- Residential bandwidth never expires.
- Unmetered ISP IPs.
- Unlimited plans are monthly by nature.
Before you commit to any provider, it helps to see the wider market: our guide to the best proxies in 2026 compares proxy types by job, and cheap proxies explains how to keep costs down without buying IPs that get blocked. To understand the IP type behind this, read our residential proxies guide.
Budget tip: For jobs where a fixed IP list is enough, Webshare is one of the cheapest options: shared datacenter proxies are sold by the IP, and static residential (ISP) proxies cost well under a dollar per IP per month at the time of writing. More in Rayobyte vs Geonode vs Webshare.
Key takeaways
- Geonode's purchased residential bandwidth doesn't expire.
- Rayobyte's mobile bandwidth expires after 30 days; confirm pay-as-you-go residential terms before large buys.
- Expiry can matter more than list price for irregular workloads.
- Size monthly plans to real usage and use tier thresholds wisely.
FAQ
Does Geonode bandwidth expire?
Purchased residential GB doesn't expire at the time of writing.
Does Rayobyte bandwidth expire?
Mobile plan bandwidth expires after 30 days. Rayobyte's pricing page doesn't state an expiry for pay-as-you-go residential; ask support.
What's the best option for seasonal projects?
A provider with non-expiring pay-as-you-go bandwidth, such as Geonode.
Sources and further reading
Independent references that back up the points above, from standards bodies, governments, universities and non-profits. They open in a new tab.
- Bandwidth (computing) (Wikipedia): What bandwidth means, the unit most residential proxies are priced by.
- Glossary: Proxy Server (NIST CSRC): NIST's formal definition of a proxy server.
- IPv4 Depletion and Transfers (ARIN): Background on IPv4 run-out, which is why IPv4 proxies cost more than IPv6.
- Glossary: Proxy (NIST CSRC): NIST's definition of a proxy as an intermediary acting on behalf of a client.
- RFC 9309: Robots Exclusion Protocol (IETF / RFC Editor): The official standard for robots.txt, which polite scrapers and crawlers read first.
Editorial note: Proxy providers change their pools, features and prices often, so treat any figures here as typical ranges at the time of writing and confirm current terms with the provider before you buy.