Side by side
| Agency task | Rayobyte | Webshare |
|---|---|---|
| Client account IPs | Static ISP, $5/IP | Static residential, about $0.30/IP |
| National rank tracking | Static or rotating datacenter | Datacenter lists |
| Local SEO | ZIP targeting | ZIP targeting |
| App-first clients | Mobile proxies | None |
| Research | Premium Residential, pay as you go | Residential plans |
| Hard client targets | Web Unblocker, Scraping API | None |
At the time of writing.
Example for a 15-client agency
- 45 client account IPs: about $14 on Webshare, $225 on Rayobyte.
- National tracking: a few hundred Webshare datacenter IPs for a few dollars.
- Local SEO and research: residential on either; Rayobyte's pay-as-you-go suits spiky reporting cycles.
Keeping clients separate
One IP and one antidetect profile per client account, documented in a register. Never share account IPs across clients. See Rayobyte for social media management and Webshare for small teams.
A real-world example
A 25-client agency runs 75 client account IPs on Webshare static residential (about $23 a month), national rank tracking on a 400-IP Webshare datacenter list, and local SEO and ad checks on Rayobyte residential with ZIP and device OS targeting. Two clients with app-first audiences get a small Rayobyte mobile allowance. Proxy costs are tracked per client by tagging requests in logs and billed as part of each retainer.
Residential tip: Both sides of this comparison can be tested at no cost: Rayobyte has a free trial with no card, and Webshare has a permanent free plan with 10 datacenter proxies. See Rayobyte for social media management.
Client onboarding checklist
- Register accounts, markets and IPs.
- Assign one static IP per account.
- Set up national and local tracking.
- Plan ad checks by market.
- Allocate a research budget.
Client offboarding
When a client leaves, retire their account IPs and antidetect profiles, remove any allowlisted IPs tied to their work and archive the register entry. Reusing a departed client's IPs for a new client risks linking unrelated accounts.
Pros and cons for agencies
Rayobyte
- ZIP and device OS targeting for local SEO and ads.
- Mobile for app-first clients.
Webshare
- Very cheap client account IPs.
- Cheap national tracking lists.
Budget tip: If the job only needs a fixed list of IPs, Webshare sells datacenter and static residential proxies by the IP, often for less than a per-GB plan would cost. More in our complete Webshare guide.
Bottom line
Webshare covers most agency work cheaply; Rayobyte fills the precision and mobile gaps.
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.
Proxy tip: For a second opinion on hard targets, run the same test through Geonode residential proxies, which support sticky sessions up to 24 hours and ASN targeting. We compare the two in Rayobyte vs Geonode vs Webshare.
Key takeaways
- Webshare is far cheaper for client account IPs and tracking lists.
- Rayobyte adds mobile, managed tools and pay-as-you-go residential for spiky workloads.
- Both offer ZIP targeting for local SEO.
- Keep every client's identities separate.
FAQ
Which is better for a social media agency?
Webshare on cost; Rayobyte if clients need mobile IPs.
Which is better for an SEO agency?
Webshare for national tracking lists; either for local SEO.
Can agencies use both?
Yes, and many do.
How do agencies bill proxy costs?
Often as a fixed data fee in retainers, reviewed against actual usage.
Should each client have separate proxy users?
Where providers allow it, separate users make tracking and revocation easier.
How many IPs does an agency need?
One per client account plus a tracking list sized to your keyword volume.
Can clients see which provider we use?
Only if you tell them; proxies are invisible to the platforms beyond the IP itself.
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.
- Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB): The trade body for digital advertising.
- Web scraping (Wikipedia): Encyclopedia overview of web scraping techniques and legal history.
- AmIUnique (AmIUnique research project (Inria and University of Rennes)): A research project that measures how identifiable browser fingerprints are.
- Fingerprinting (glossary) (MDN Web Docs (Mozilla)): Mozilla's definition of browser fingerprinting.
- RFC 9110: HTTP Semantics (IETF / RFC Editor): The HTTP standard that defines how proxies, tunnels and the CONNECT method behave.
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.