Best Proxy Servers
Nowadays, Internet users seek privacy and data security like never before. Our internal network is never safe while you are surfing on the web as hacker attacks, intrusive ads and other threats are more common than ever. In this situation, proxy servers appear to be a real game-changer. A proxy server works as an intermediary between your device and the internet. Thus, it is often associated with a web filter or an additional protection layer that prevents all this excessive information from contaminating your internal network. Plus, proxy services positively impact your user experience and offer some great features for professional activities.
Top 3 Best Proxy Servers
There are a great many proxy services to choose from. To help you pick the most appropriate option, we have elaborated on the sophisticated assessment system based on the criteria that matter for users most.
When you visit a non-secure website without using a proxy, advertisers, government agencies, and hackers can easily track your internet activity, type of device, and even location. Regrettably, the number of such sites grows exponentially over time. As a result, it is possible to block you from viewing particular information or to bombard you with intrusive advertisements. For the majority of internet users, anonymity and online privacy are critical. As a result, employing proxies has become second nature to us.
However, it isn’t always obvious how to select the finest proxy server. As a result, we created this ranking of the best proxies in 2021. We considered the following criteria when deciding on the best options:
- Functionality;
- High anonymity;
- Affordability;
- Reliability;
- Minimal traffic allowance limitations;
- Types of IPs in the pool;
- Any specific features you can benefit from.
To come up with this list of the best proxy servers below, we have analyzed over 30 companies, providing these services. Apart from paid options, some platforms have free versions to let you try the product and its features before paying for it. So, let’s check them in more detail!
9 Best Proxy Servers Below
- Market Leader
- Highly Customizable
- Value for Money
BrightData is perfect for business purposes as well as for freelancers, ’cause it provides highly customizable pricing plans. You can try the Pay-As-You-Go feature, implying you will pay only for the proxies and bandwidth you have used, or create an individual pricing plan for your enterprise.
- No Traffic Limit
- Cheap Price
The solution is great for individual professionals who primarily use proxy servers at work such as marketers or SEO specialists. And if you seek only mobile IPs, RSocks is the best option as it has specific pricing plans for mobile proxies.
- Market Leader
- Flexible Price
- Value for Money
- Unlimited Traffic
The service is really helpful in ad verification, affiliate testing, avoiding blocks, cloaking, and conducting competitor research.
- Flexible Price
- Vast IP Pool
- Value for Money
Oxylabs is designed to help you with marketing research, business intelligence, ad verification, and brand protection
- No Traffic Limit
- Crypto Payment
- High Anonymity
- Cheap Price
The service is perfect for managing social media accounts on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.
- Cheap Price
- Best For Personal Use
A great solution for unblocking streaming platforms and websites.
- Free Trial
- Cheap Price
- High Anonymity
It is perfect for businesses that need residential proxies capable to ensure the highest degree of anonymity and smooth web performance.
- Best VPN Alternative
- Money-Back Guarantee
- Cheap Price
It is a good solution for individual users that seek various content-unblocking features at an affordable price.
- Unlimited Traffic
- Cheap Price
The service meets the needs of small-scale businesses and individual users.
There are two main advantages of paid proxy servers. First, they greatly contribute to anonymity while surfing on the internet. Secondly, they ensure the security of your private data. Proxy services offer a lot of features, crucial for businesses such as ad verification, tools for competitor research, brand protection, and SEO. Overall, the more advanced proxy you employ, the more expensive it will cost. Thus, if you need proxies only for personal use to access blocked content or bypass geo-restrictions, consider HideMy.name or SmartDNSproxy. They are cheaper and quite effective but unfortunately, they cannot offer many proxy options or ensure the highest level of anonymity.
What is a proxy?
As previously stated, a proxy serves as a connection point between your computer and the Internet. Any website you visit communicates with the proxy server, which adds an extra degree of protection. Proxies allow you to use many IP addresses, making it impossible to track you down. As a result, any website you visit will only see the IP address provided by a proxy server, rather than your true IP address. Herewith, the IPs of the proxies are changed on a regular basis.
Individuals and corporations alike use proxies to browse the web.
People employ proxy servers for a variety of reasons, including:
- Gaining access to blocked content;
- Optimizing web browsing and speeding up common requests;
- Improving security and privacy through data encryption;
- Gathering information about competitors (data on products, pricing, services, marketing trends, and so on);
- Providing email security (to avoid any suspicious links or malicious content).
Proxy servers can be extremely beneficial to businesses. They wouldn’t be able to collect and process data about competitors if this were not the case. The argument is that attempting to process a big volume of data from a competitor’s website is frequently flagged as suspicious activity. This website can then easily block your IP address. However, if you use a reliable proxy server with a proxy rotator that switches IPs over time (or rotating proxies), this will never happen.
There are various types of proxies – residential and data center, shared, semi-dedicated, and dedicated proxies.
What is the difference?
- Residential proxies: they provide authentic IPs that can be used to imitate user behavior;
- Datacenter proxies: they offer private IPs obtained from intermediary entities. Using this type of proxy server usually results in better anonymity and faster data request responses.
- Shared proxies: they provide IP addresses that can be shared by numerous users at the same time. They are less expensive than private proxies, but they are nonetheless effective in gaining access to restricted content and circumventing other limitations.
- Semi-dedicated proxies: they are comparable to shared proxies, but with a limited number of IP users. A single IP address can only be used by three individuals at the same time. If you use this type of proxy to access social media platforms, your account may be blocked due to the suspicious behavior of other users.
- Dedicated proxies: These are private proxies, which means your IP address is not shared with anyone else. This type of proxy can provide the highest level of protection. Businesses are the most common users.
All in all, there are paid and free proxy services that offer various functionality and IP types.
Free Proxy Servers
Free proxy servers can offer the same benefits as paid solutions. However, complete security and anonymity are barely assured. There can’t be that many different types of proxies to pick on the free platforms. And they almost never deal with dedicated proxies. While utilizing these services, you may encounter technical issues, which are frequent among free options. If you find a reliable free proxy server, keep in mind that it may eventually become a paid one.
In terms of reliability, free proxy services may abruptly exit the market, forcing you to seek alternative solutions. Furthermore, there are no clear guarantees that your data will be completely secure if you utilize a free proxy server. All in all, it is much easier to lose a trustworthy free platform than to find one. Plus, they typically do not imply customer support, trials, or a large pool of IPs.
Quote
On a final note, we should address the question – Why is using proxy servers essential nowadays? I’d like to answer with a quote:
“As we’ve come to realize, the idea that security starts and ends with the purchase of a prepackaged firewall is simply misguided.”
Art Wittmann
Frequently Asked Questions
A proxy is a gateway between your computer and the Internet. The proxy server provides an additional security layer that interacts with any website you visit. Proxies allow using different IP addresses that make it impossible to identify you. Thus, any website you are visiting cannot see your real IP address, but only the IP address provided by the proxy server. Herewith proxies IPs are regularly changed.
There are numerous reasons why people use proxies. First, they provide anonymous online surfing, better speed, the security of your personal data, and so on. Second, proxies allow bypassing restrictions and getting access to any content at any time. Third, some people use proxy servers for business purposes. For example, they allow doing research on competitors, checking the correctness of ad placement, and improving brand protection.
Every Internet user has an IP (Internet protocol) that makes it possible to identify you as a user and get some of your personal details such as location. Websites you visit can get access to this information as well. That makes any internet user vulnerable to hacker attacks, obtrusive advertising, or even identity theft. It happens because we leave a lot of personal information all around the web. However, if you use a proxy server, you create a gateway between you and the Internet. When you visit any website it cannot see your real IP as the proxy server connects it instead of you and then redirect all necessary information. In this case, nobody can get your personal data and track your online activity. Thus, you can browse any website even if it is banned in your country.
There are four main types of proxies – residential and data center, shared proxies, semi-dedicated, and dedicated.
– Residential proxies: they provide genuine IPs that allow imitating user’s behavior;
– Data center proxies: they provide private IPs coming from intermediary organizations. This type of proxy server usually guarantees better anonymity and accelerated data request responses.
– Shared proxies: they provide IPs used by multiple users at the same time. They are cheaper than private proxies but still suitable for getting access to banned content and avoiding other particular restrictions.
– Semi-dedicated proxies: they are similar to shared proxies but the number of IP users is limited. Only 3 users can benefit from one IP simultaneously. If you use this type of proxy surfing on social media websites, your account can be blocked because of other users’ suspicious activities.
– Dedicated proxies: these are private proxies implying you do not share your IP with anyone else. Proxies of this type can guarantee the highest level of security. They are usually used by businesses.
Stepper
To not get lost in the world of proxies, here is a brief guide on how to choose one:
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Investigate the features and test the functionality when possible
Many companies provide access to a free trial or let you try their solutions for free. Do not neglect this opportunity.
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Pay close attention to anonymity issues
If you want to reach the maximum level of anonymity, prioritize platforms, allowing you to pay with Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency.
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Check the traffic allowance
There are still platforms that impose bandwidth restrictions. In contrast, others do not have such constraints. Choose the one that best fits your needs.
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Good proxy service is a reliable proxy service
Before entrusting your cybersecurity to any company, find out whether it was involved in any data leaks.
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Look through the types of IPs in the pool
Residential, dedicated, semi-dedicated, data center, mobile proxies – if you are interested in one particular type, check whether the platform provides it.
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Browse affordable alternatives
The niche is full of companies that have to stay competitive. Thus, it is not that difficult to find a functional and affordable solution.
Proxy VS VPN – What Is the Difference?
Both proxy servers and VPN services alter your IP, allowing you to access blocked websites. They also encrypt your web traffic when surfing on the web. Thus, in both cases, any website on the internet cannot get real information about you. These two technologies work in accordance with similar algorithms but there is one fundamental difference between them.
When connecting to a VPN (a virtual private network), you do not know in advance which server you will be using. Most often the service connects you to the best available server but sometimes using VPN is not enough for specific business purposes and tasks such as competitor profile analysis or brand protection. On the other hand, the proxy allows connecting to a specific server and employing an additional layer of protection that acts as an intermediary between you and the entire Internet.