Pair like with like
| Test | Rayobyte | Webshare |
|---|---|---|
| Datacenter | Rotating datacenter or static datacenter | Datacenter list (free plan or paid) |
| ISP | Static ISP (via sales) or rotating ISP | Static residential |
| Residential | Premium Residential (free trial) | Rotating residential (small plan) |
See testing Rayobyte proxies and testing Webshare proxies.
Free starting points
Webshare's free plan covers datacenter tests indefinitely; Rayobyte's no-card trial covers rotating datacenter, rotating ISP and residential. For static ISP, ask Rayobyte sales for test IPs and buy Webshare's smallest static residential plan.
Metrics
- Success rate on correct content.
- Median and 95th percentile latency.
- Session stability on sticky sessions.
- Exit location accuracy.
- Bandwidth per success.
- Cost per 1,000 successes.
Running the test
- Choose your hardest and most typical targets.
- Use identical code and concurrency.
- Run 200 requests per product per target, twice, at different times.
- Log to CSV and compare.
See how to test proxies before buying and proxy speed test.
Residential tip: A common split is Webshare for cheap per-IP lists and Rayobyte for residential traffic, mobile IPs or managed scraping. Our testing Rayobyte proxies covers each Rayobyte product.
Turning results into routing
For each target, pick the cheapest product that meets your success threshold. Often Webshare datacenter wins easy targets and Rayobyte residential or managed tools win hard ones. See using Rayobyte and Webshare together.
A real-world example
A team compares the two on four targets. On two lenient sites, Webshare's datacenter list returns 99% success at a fraction of the cost of anything else, so it wins outright. On a protected retailer, Webshare datacenter manages 20% success while residential on both providers reaches the mid 90s; at the team's 200 GB volume, Rayobyte's tier is cheaper, so it wins that target. On one OTA, only Rayobyte's Web Unblocker clears 90%. The final routing uses both providers.
Sample results template
| Product | Target | Success | Median latency | Cost per 1,000 successes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Webshare datacenter | ||||
| Webshare residential | ||||
| Rayobyte rotating datacenter | ||||
| Rayobyte Premium Residential |
Pros and cons on performance
Rayobyte
- Rotating ISP and datacenter tiers for speed.
- A Web Unblocker for the hardest targets.
Webshare
- Fast, cheap datacenter lists for lenient sites.
- Static residential IPs advertised at up to 1 Gbps.
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 our complete Webshare guide.
Bottom line
Expect Webshare to win lenient targets on cost and Rayobyte to win the hardest ones; measure the middle ground yourself.
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 Rayobyte vs Geonode vs Webshare.
Key takeaways
- Compare equivalent products with identical code.
- Both providers have free ways to test.
- Measure success, latency, stability, location and cost per success.
- Route each target to the cheapest product that works.
FAQ
Which is faster?
It depends on targets and locations. Test both.
Can I test Webshare residential for free?
The free plan is datacenter only; buy a small residential plan to test.
Can I test Rayobyte static ISP for free?
Ask sales for test IPs.
Does time of day affect results?
Yes; test at peak and off-peak hours for your targets.
Which is more reliable?
Both run large, established networks; reliability on your targets is what matters, so test.
Do static IPs perform better than rotating ones?
For speed and stability often yes; for avoiding blocks across many requests, rotation usually wins.
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.
- Autonomous system (Internet) (Wikipedia): What an autonomous system (ASN) is, the network label sites use to tell datacenter IPs from home ones.
- RFC 9293: Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) (IETF / RFC Editor): The current TCP specification, the transport under HTTP and SOCKS proxies.
- RFC 6265: HTTP State Management Mechanism (Cookies) (IETF / RFC Editor): The cookie standard, which ties a session together regardless of IP.
- curl man page (curl project): The full curl manual, including the --proxy and --proxy-user options.
- The birth of the web (CERN): CERN's history of the World Wide Web, where the first web proxy was built.
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.