How each works
| Rayobyte | Webshare | |
|---|---|---|
| Residential rotation | Per request, or sticky for 1 to 120 minutes | Rotate suffix on the backbone username |
| Residential sticky | Session ID and duration in credentials | Session suffix on the backbone username; keep sessions short |
| Other sticky options | Rotating ISP and datacenter monthly plans; mobile | Backbone sessions across your proxy list |
| Fixed identity | Static ISP and datacenter IPs | Static residential and datacenter IPs |
At the time of writing. See Rayobyte sticky sessions and Webshare sticky sessions.
Same physics on both
Residential IPs belong to real devices that go offline. On either provider, sessions can end before you expect, and short sessions are far more reliable than long ones. Webshare advises against holding residential sessions for hours; Rayobyte caps them at 120 minutes and says to retry with a new session on drops.
Session design that works on both
- One session per task (a listing, a search, a checkout), not per worker.
- Keep sessions to minutes.
- Retry the current step with a new session on drops.
- Make tasks resumable.
- For identities that must last weeks, use static IPs.
See sticky vs rotating sessions.
When to use static instead
For accounts and long-running identities, use static ISP IPs on either provider. Webshare's are much cheaper per IP; Rayobyte's are unmetered and dedicated. See ISP proxies compared.
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 sticky sessions.
Which to choose
For sessions specifically, the two are close. Rayobyte documents an explicit duration range; Webshare's backbone suffix is simple. Choose based on residential price, targeting and the other factors in Rayobyte vs Webshare. With Geonode's 24-hour sessions too: sticky sessions across all three.
A real-world example
A job board aggregator paginates through search results on 25 career sites, 5 to 20 pages per search. On Rayobyte, it creates one sticky session per search with a 10-minute duration; on Webshare, one session suffix per search on the backbone gateway. Both work, and both occasionally lose the IP mid-search when a residential device goes offline. The fix is the same on each: the scraper stores the last page fetched, starts a new session and resumes. After that change, completed searches rise from about 92% to over 99% on both providers.
Session settings by task
| Task | Session |
|---|---|
| Single page fetches | Rotate per request |
| Paginated results | One session per search, a few minutes |
| Checkout or form flows | One session per flow, 5 to 15 minutes |
| Accounts | No residential session: use a static IP |
Pros and cons for sessions
Rayobyte
- A documented 1 to 120 minute range.
- Sticky options on rotating ISP and datacenter monthly plans.
Webshare
- Simple session suffix on the backbone.
- Cheap static residential IPs for long stickiness.
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 Webshare sticky sessions.
Bottom line
Sessions rarely decide between these two; design resumable tasks and use static IPs for long-lived identities.
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.
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
- Rayobyte offers residential sticky sessions of 1 to 120 minutes; Webshare uses a backbone session suffix.
- Residential sessions end early on any provider; keep them short.
- Use static IPs for long-lived identities.
- Sessions alone rarely decide between these two.
FAQ
How long can a Webshare residential session last?
Webshare recommends short sessions and static residential IPs for long stickiness; check its docs for current limits.
How long can a Rayobyte session last?
Up to 120 minutes on Premium Residential.
Why did my session change IP?
The device behind it went offline. Retry with a new session.
Can I extend a session that's about to expire?
Start a new session and resume the task; designing for resumption is more reliable than chasing longer sessions.
What's a good default session length?
A few minutes for most scraping flows; longer sessions drop more often.
Do datacenter lists need sticky sessions?
Static IPs never change, so each IP is already sticky.
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.
- RFC 6265: HTTP State Management Mechanism (Cookies) (IETF / RFC Editor): The cookie standard, which ties a session together regardless of IP.
- Retry-After header (MDN Web Docs (Mozilla)): The header that tells clients how long to wait before retrying.
- Credential stuffing (OWASP): Why sites watch logins from proxy IPs so closely.
- Proxy server (Wikipedia): A broad encyclopedia overview of proxy servers and their history.
- RFC 1929: Username/Password Authentication for SOCKS V5 (IETF / RFC Editor): How SOCKS5 proxies check a username and password.
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.