Oxylabs charges $6/GB for residential proxies at the pay-as-you-go tier, going up to $15/GB for smaller volumes. Their datacenter proxies start at $180/month for 100 IPs. The infrastructure quality is high — 100M+ IPs, ISO certification, enterprise support — but for developers and startups, those prices are hard to justify.
Here are 8 Oxylabs alternatives that deliver comparable proxy quality at significantly lower cost.
Key Takeaways
- Oxylabs' residential proxies start at $6/GB — competitors go as low as $0.32/GB
- SOAX offers unified residential, mobile, and datacenter proxies from $0.32/GB
- Smartproxy (now Decodo) delivers 55M+ IPs starting at $2.20/GB
- Webshare has a free plan with 1GB bandwidth — perfect for testing
- SearchHive bundles proxy infrastructure with scraping APIs so you don't manage proxies at all
1. Bright Data
Bright Data is Oxylabs' biggest direct competitor — 72M+ residential IPs, a Web Unlocker that bypasses any anti-bot system, and pre-collected datasets. Their pay-as-you-go model is slightly cheaper than Oxylabs for residential proxies.
Pricing: Residential ~$4-8/GB. Datacenter ~$0.06-0.11/GB. Web Unlocker and Scraping APIs: per-request pricing.
Key features:
- 72M+ residential IPs — largest proxy network
- Web Unlocker API for Cloudflare, DataDome, PerimeterX
- Web Scraper APIs for 250+ websites
- Pre-collected Datasets and Web Archive (50PB+)
- Retail Intelligence analytics
2. Smartproxy (Decodo)
Smartproxy rebranded to Decodo and offers one of the best price-to-quality ratios in the proxy market. 55M+ residential IPs, a Web Unlocker, and scraping APIs at roughly one-third of Oxylabs' per-GB cost.
Pricing: Residential from ~$2.20/GB. Datacenter from $1.50/GB. Scraping APIs: per-request pricing.
Key features:
- 55M+ residential IPs
- Scraping Browser API
- SERP and E-Commerce Scraping APIs
- Web Unlocker for anti-bot bypass
- No-code scraper tools and browser extension
3. IPRoyal
IPRoyal targets the budget-conscious segment without sacrificing quality. Residential proxies start at $1.75/GB, and they offer precise geo-targeting including city-level and ISP-level.
Pricing: Residential from ~$1.75/GB. Datacenter from $0.07/IP/month.
Key features:
- Precise geo-targeting (country, city, ISP)
- ISP proxies (static residential)
- Datacenter proxies with zero bandwidth limits
- Mobile proxies on real devices
- Web Unblocker and Video Scraper API
4. SOAX
SOAX offers the lowest entry price on this list — $0.32/GB for residential proxies. They use a unified credit system across residential, mobile, ISP, and datacenter, which simplifies budgeting.
Pricing: Residential, mobile, and datacenter from $0.32/GB. Web Data API from $0.90/1K requests.
Key features:
- 155M+ real IPs
- Unified credits across all proxy types
- Web Data API (Universal Scraper)
- Geo-targeting at country, city, and ISP level
- Real-time usage dashboard
- 100+ country coverage
5. Webshare
Webshare is the best option for getting started — their free plan includes 1GB bandwidth and 10 IPs. For scale, their residential proxies are currently 50% off, making them competitive with any option here.
Pricing: Datacenter from $0.11/IP/month. Residential from ~$0.50/GB. Free plan: 1GB + 10 IPs.
Key features:
- Free plan with 1GB bandwidth and 10 IPs
- Static and rotating datacenter proxies
- Residential proxies (50% off at time of writing)
- 99.7% uptime guarantee
- Easy API integration
- Proxy management dashboard
6. SearchHive
SearchHive takes a different approach — instead of selling raw proxies, they provide scraping APIs that handle proxy rotation, anti-bot bypass, and data extraction internally. You never touch proxy configuration.
Pricing: Free tier available. Contact for scale pricing.
Key features:
- Proxy management handled internally — no configuration
- Web scraping, SERP scraping, and deep content extraction
- ScrapeForge for structured data, SwiftSearch for SERP
- DeepDive for AI-ready extraction
- Python SDK designed for developers
from searchhive import SearchHive
client = SearchHive(api_key="your_key")
# No proxy config needed — just scrape
results = client.scrape("https://example.com/products", render_js=True)
# SERP data with geo-targeting handled for you
serp = client.search("market research query", country="US")
7. ZenRows
ZenRows wraps proxy infrastructure in a scraping API with AI-powered anti-bot bypass. If you want WAF handling included rather than managing proxies yourself, this is a cleaner abstraction than raw proxy access.
Pricing: Starter from ~$49/month. Volume discounts at scale.
Key features:
- AI Web Unblocker for Cloudflare, DataDome, Akamai
- CAPTCHA bypass
- Residential proxies with geo-targeting
- Scraping Browser for headless tasks
- Pre-built solutions for e-commerce, SERP, real estate
8. ScraperAPI
ScraperAPI is the simplest abstraction over proxy infrastructure. Send a URL with parameters (country, render, premium proxies) — get back HTML. It handles the proxy rotation and retry logic.
Pricing: Entry $49/month (100K credits), Medium $149/month (1M credits), Advanced $299/month.
Key features:
- Automatic proxy rotation and CAPTCHA handling
- JavaScript rendering
- Geographic targeting
- LangChain integration
- DataPipeline for no-code automation
Comparison Table
| Provider | Residential Price | IP Pool Size | Free Tier | API Included | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bright Data | ~$4-8/GB | 72M+ | Trial | Yes | Enterprise scale |
| Smartproxy | ~$2.20/GB | 55M+ | Trial | Yes | Price/quality balance |
| IPRoyal | ~$1.75/GB | Large | No | Partial | Budget proxies |
| SOAX | $0.32/GB | 155M+ | No | Yes | Cheapest per GB |
| Webshare | ~$0.50/GB | Large | Yes (1GB) | Partial | Testing and small projects |
| SearchHive | Free tier | Managed | Yes | Yes | Developers who don't want to manage proxies |
| ZenRows | ~$49/mo | Large | No | Yes | WAF bypass |
| ScraperAPI | $49/mo | Large | 5K credits | Yes | Simplest API |
Recommendation
If you're currently paying Oxylabs $6+/GB for residential proxies, switching to SOAX at $0.32/GB or Smartproxy at $2.20/GB would cut your proxy costs by 60-95% for comparable quality.
If you'd rather not manage proxies at all, SearchHive handles proxy rotation, anti-bot bypass, and data extraction internally. One API call, structured data back. Start with the free tier and check the docs for Python integration examples.
For enterprises that need the largest possible IP pool with pre-built scraping tools, Bright Data at 72M+ IPs remains the gold standard — and still cheaper per GB than Oxylabs.
Compare with our detailed SearchHive vs Bright Data and SearchHive vs Oxylabs breakdowns.