Side by side
| Site type | Rayobyte | Webshare |
|---|---|---|
| Small and Shopify stores | Rotating datacenter | Datacenter lists |
| Mid-size retailers | Rotating ISP | Static residential list |
| Marketplaces | Premium Residential | Rotating residential |
| Huge untargeted crawls | Scale Residential, about 1 cent/GB | Large residential plans |
| Hardest sites | Web Unblocker, Scraping API, rayobrowse | None |
At the time of writing. See Rayobyte for e-commerce scraping and Webshare for e-commerce scraping.
Where each fits
Webshare's lists make small-shop crawling almost free. Rayobyte is stronger for marketplaces at volume, massive catalog crawls through Scale Residential, and the few sites that need managed unblocking.
Reviews and pagination
Use a short sticky session per product's reviews on either provider.
A real-world example
A dropshipping research tool crawls 800 Shopify stores and 5 large marketplaces every week. The Shopify stores run on a Webshare datacenter list, where most product data is available as structured JSON. The marketplaces run on Rayobyte residential, with a sticky session per product's reviews. One marketplace that blocks heavily goes through Rayobyte's Web Unblocker. The crawl costs a fraction of what all-residential would.
Residential tip: A common split is Webshare for cheap per-IP lists and Rayobyte for residential traffic, mobile IPs or managed scraping. Our Rayobyte for e-commerce scraping covers each Rayobyte product.
Crawl steps
- Discover product URLs from sitemaps or collection pages.
- Fetch product pages or JSON endpoints with an HTTP client.
- Route protected sites to residential.
- Collect reviews in sticky sessions.
- Refresh on a schedule that matches each category.
Signs a store needs a higher tier
- Block rate above about 5 to 10% on datacenter IPs.
- Product pages returning challenge pages instead of data.
- Prices or stock missing from responses that used to include them.
When you see these, move only that store up a tier rather than the whole crawl, and re-test it on datacenter after a few weeks.
Pros and cons for e-commerce
Rayobyte
- Residential, rotating ISP and Scale Residential for big crawls.
- Managed tools for the hardest marketplaces.
Webshare
- Very cheap lists for small stores.
- Simple setup for structured-data crawls.
Budget tip: To test the Webshare side of this comparison, start with Webshare's free plan: 10 datacenter proxies and 1 GB a month with no card. See Webshare for e-commerce scraping.
Bottom line
Small stores on Webshare, marketplaces on Rayobyte.
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: If your residential usage goes up and down, compare Geonode: its per-GB residential bandwidth doesn't expire, so you only pay for what you use. See Geonode for price monitoring.
Key takeaways
- Webshare is cheapest for small and lenient shops.
- Rayobyte is stronger for marketplaces at volume and huge catalog crawls.
- Rayobyte adds managed tools for the hardest sites.
- Route each site to the cheapest option that works.
FAQ
Which is better for Shopify stores?
Webshare lists, on price.
Which is better for marketplaces?
Rayobyte at volume.
Can I crawl full catalogs cheaply?
With Rayobyte Scale Residential if you don't need targeting.
Do Shopify stores block proxies?
Most smaller Shopify stores don't at modest rates; large ones may use bot protection.
How often should I refresh a catalog?
Weekly for most stores, more often for fast-moving categories.
Can I scrape reviews with both?
Yes, using a sticky session per product's reviews.
Which is better for international storefronts?
Both target countries widely; test pool depth in each market.
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.
- Automated Threats to Web Applications (OWASP): OWASP's catalogue of automated threats, including scraping and scalping, as site owners see them.
- Quarterly Retail E-Commerce Sales (US Census Bureau): Official US e-commerce sales data, the market price monitoring watches.
- CAPTCHA (Wikipedia): The history of CAPTCHA challenges, from Carnegie Mellon to today.
- RFC 9309: Robots Exclusion Protocol (IETF / RFC Editor): The official standard for robots.txt, which polite scrapers and crawlers read first.
- Proxy servers and tunneling (MDN Web Docs (Mozilla)): Mozilla's developer explainer on forward proxies, reverse proxies and tunneling.
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.