Rayobyte vs Geonode for Puppeteer: Headless Chrome Through Each Provider

Setup is the same

Puppeteer passes the proxy server in launch args and credentials through page.authenticate(). That works identically with Rayobyte and Geonode; only the host, port and username format change:

const browser = await puppeteer.launch({
  args: [`--proxy-server=http://${process.env.PROXY_HOST}:${process.env.PROXY_PORT}`],
});
const page = await browser.newPage();
await page.authenticate({ username: process.env.PROXY_USER, password: process.env.PROXY_PASS });

See Rayobyte with Puppeteer, Geonode with Puppeteer and our Puppeteer proxies guide.

Where they differ for browser work

Bandwidth is the big cost

Browsers are bandwidth-hungry: 1 to 5 MB per page is common. At those sizes, per-GB price dominates, and Geonode's lower small-volume residential price matters. Block images, fonts and media on either provider to cut usage dramatically.

Sessions per browser

One browser tends to hold one exit IP. Use one sticky session per browser and relaunch to change IP. Geonode's longer sessions help for long-lived browsers; Rayobyte's 120 minutes is plenty for task-based browsers.

Stealth and realism

Rayobyte's HTTP/3 support lets Chrome use QUIC through the proxy on supporting sites, removing one fingerprint difference. Use a stealth plugin on either. See Puppeteer stealth proxies.

Not running browsers at all

Rayobyte's rayobrowse hosts stealth browsers for you; Geonode's Scraper API renders JavaScript and returns the page. If you only need rendered HTML, an API is simpler than Puppeteer.

Which to choose

With Webshare too: Puppeteer across all three.

A real-world example

A team runs 100 Puppeteer workers that render JavaScript-heavy product pages. With images, fonts and media blocked, each page uses about 800 KB, roughly 80 GB a month. On Geonode residential, that's the cheaper option at list prices. For 15 workers that need to look as close as possible to real Chrome users on one heavily protected site, the team uses Rayobyte residential with QUIC left enabled, so HTTP/3 is used through the proxy.

Pros and cons for Puppeteer

Rayobyte

• HTTP/3 support on residential.
• Hosted stealth browsers with rayobrowse.
• Higher per-GB price at modest volume.

Geonode

• Lower per-GB price for bandwidth-heavy browsers.
• 24-hour sessions for long-lived browsers.
• No hosted browsers.

For the bigger picture beyond our three partners, read our best proxies buyer's guide, and see cheap proxies for ways to cut cost per successful request. To understand the IP type behind this, read our residential proxies guide.

Key takeaways

• Puppeteer setup is identical; only credentials differ.
• Geonode's lower small-volume residential price matters for bandwidth-heavy browsers.
• Rayobyte adds HTTP/3 and hosted stealth browsers.
• Block heavy resources on either provider.

FAQ

Do both work with page.authenticate?

Yes.

Which is cheaper for Puppeteer?

At small and medium residential volumes, Geonode at list prices. Blocking resources matters more than provider choice.

Can I use SOCKS5 with Puppeteer on either?

Chrome can't send SOCKS5 credentials, so use HTTP or whitelist your IP on either provider.

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.

• Glossary: Proxy Server (NIST CSRC): NIST's formal definition of a proxy server.
• RFC 9114: HTTP/3 (IETF / RFC Editor): The HTTP/3 standard, which runs over QUIC and UDP.
• Bandwidth (computing) (Wikipedia): What bandwidth means, the unit most residential proxies are priced by.
• RFC 1929: Username/Password Authentication for SOCKS V5 (IETF / RFC Editor): How SOCKS5 proxies check a username and password.
• RFC 7617: The Basic HTTP Authentication Scheme (IETF / RFC Editor): The scheme most proxy providers use for username and password authentication.