The 17 Best Proxy Sites to Help You Browse Anonymously (2024)

Going onlinewithout masking your IP addressmeans everyone from yourISP to hackers to governments will be able to track you using your IP. As such, you should consider using one of the best web proxy sites available to change your IP.

After testing dozens of services, we have curated this best proxy site list. We take a deep dive into both free and premium services to cater to different budgets and users.

However, if you want to browse the web anonymously and safeguard your sensitive information at a low price, it is better to opt for a good VPN provider like Surfshark.

The Best Proxy Sites

This proxy site list covers the best paid and free proxy services available online.

We first focus on the best premium services available before moving on to the free options. We thoroughly tested each service with various important criteria in mind, including speed, server network, and usability. We explain each testing criterion in detail later in the article.

In the table below, you’ll find a summary of the most important features of the paid proxy sites we tested.

Keep reading if you want to learn more about the specific features each paid proxy site offers.

1. Bright Data: The best proxy site overall

Bright Data is at the top of our best web proxy sites list. While testing Bright Data, we discovered that it offers various residential, mobile, and IP proxies at reasonable rates. It also offers web scraping solutions and APIs, which can be useful for online businesses.

Bright Data has an in-built proxy manager that helps coordinate and seamlessly manage all the different IPs you’re using, so it is an excellent choice to overcome strong and persistent geo-blocking.

Our tests showed that Bright Data has one of the most extensive networks for mobile proxies, which allowed us to target any country, city, or zip code and even autonomous system numbers (ASN).

Additionally, it supports all major protocols, including HTTP, HTTPS, and SOCKS5, and its application programming interface lets us create custom applications for easy proxy management.

However, we found the pay-as-you-go plan for residential proxies relatively expensive at $15/GB, and the pricing plans and mechanisms were somewhat difficult to understand.

Pricing

Bright Data offers several pricing plans depending on your needs as a user. The pay-as-you-go prices for its different proxy services are listed below:

• Residential proxies (IP addresses that belong to real individuals and are harder to detect): $8.40/GB
• Data center proxies (IP addresses assigned to datacenters or cloud pools, which are easier to detect): $0.110/GB+
• Mobile proxies (real IP addresses from mobile devices that are connected to the internet via mobile data): $24/GB

You can also try Bright Data’s features before purchasing it using the seven-day free trial.

2. Oxylabs: The proxy site with the largest pool of IP addresses

Oxylabs earns a place on our best proxy site list due to its extensive pool of IP addresses and advanced features, including the use of AI and ML (machine learning) to avoid mimicking real user patterns and detection.

While running our testing circuit, the massive pool of 100 million+ residential IPs ensured we never ran out of different IPs to unblock services or geo-target different locations. Moreover, Oxylabs is one of the few providers we tested that offers 5G mobile proxies. The service also has unlimited simultaneous connections and rotating addresses on residential IPs, which helped us bypass IP blocks online.

While Oxylabs offers a dashboard, we could not manage proxies while using it. We also discovered that the prices for all kinds of proxy servers are higher than the competitors.

Pricing

Oxylabs’ high prices are one of its significant drawbacks and prevent it from getting the number one spot on this web proxy site list. The pay-as-you-go pricing plans for Oxylabs are:

• Residential proxies: $10/GB
• Data center proxies (shared): $50/month
• Mobile proxies: $22/GB

If you want a more affordable choice to hide your IP and safeguard your data, try Surfshark. The VPN provider is currently offering great discounts on its subscription plans.

3. IPRoyal: The best site for affordable residential proxies

The third spot on our list of best proxy sites goes to IPRoyal, a low-cost service with a clean interface – making it an excellent option for individuals and small businesses.

One of the things we liked about IPRoyal is that it offers sneaker proxies, which helped us beat the queue for sneaker sales and concert tickets. Moreover, we found its interface easy to use regarding proxy management.

Another interesting feature we discovered while testing IPRoyal is that the provider offers a Pawns app that allows users to earn passive income by sharing their internet connection with other IPRoyal users.

However, the mobile proxy locations IPRoyal offers are limited to the US, UK, and Lithuania. Moreover, we noticed that it doesn’t offer customer support over the phone and that the service has a relatively small proxy pool, especially when compared with Oxylabs.

Pricing

IPRoyal’s pricing plans are very affordable, especially compared to the other top web proxy sites on this list. The pay-as-you-go plans for their proxies are:

• Residential proxies: $2.45/GB (when using 5000 GB/month)
• Datacenter proxies: $1.39 per proxy/month
• Mobile proxies: $81/month

4. Smartproxy: Proxy service with helpful management tools and apps

Smartproxy is a relatively new proxy website, having started only in 2018. However, it has quickly gained popularity due to its simple interface and widespread proxy network and gets a spot on our best proxies list.

During our testing, we observed that the provider offers a feature-rich service with several add-on tools that helped us get the best performance out of our proxies. Moreover, it has a large pool of 40 million+ rotating proxies with a strong presence in important cities like New York, Berlin, and London.

We could also run unlimited simultaneous connections with minimal risk of getting geo-blocked, a feature offered by the best VPN providers.

However, Smartproxy’s customer support via live chat was not prompt for us during our testing circuit, which means that even basic issues can take a while to resolve. Additionally, the service doesn’t offer a free trial.

Surfshark VPN has a 30-day money-back guarantee where you can try all of its premium features for free, and if you decide not to purchase the software, you can get a full refund.

Pricing

The price plans for Smartproxy are:

• Residential proxies: $8.50/IP
• Data center proxies: $7.50/month
• Mobile proxies: $20/month

5. Nimble: The best proxy site for web scraping and data gathering

Nimble is a fast-growing proxy website that has garnered a name for itself due to its AI and ML-based data-gathering features, so it was definitely worth a mention in our best web proxy site list.

The service has a robust pool of rotating residential IPs that we found perfect for scalable data scraping and gathering, especially on the open web. It is also one of the fastest and most dependable proxy networks that we’ve tested and uses military-grade AES 256-bit encryption that safeguards your data. It also features a comprehensive dashboard for enterprise-level management of proxies.

However, Nimble does not provide information about the number of IP addresses in its pool. In addition, we found that the credit-based pricing system was not easy to understand.

Pricing

Unlike its competitors, Nimble adopts a credit-based pricing model. Each plan has a defined number of credits, which can be allocated to different functions, including its web scraping APIs.

If you get Nimble’s most complete plan, you’ll spend $3,600 a month on 3,600 credits. This comes down to a cost of $4.8 per GB of proxy data.

6. ASocks: Web proxy site with a large IP pool in Asia

ASocks is a secure and affordable proxy service with a large pool of proxies from Asian countries, such as India, Vietnam, and Thailand.

The service provider runs and manages its own IP network, so we were far less likely to get banned IP addresses. While we were testing ASocks, we found it one of the easiest and most convenient proxy websites that we’ve used.

ASocks doesn’t offer data center proxies, which can be problematic if you’re looking for proxies in bulk. Moreover, the service does not appear to provide dedicated IP addresses. This means users will be assigned a new IP every time they use the app. Additionally, speeds varied significantly across ASocks servers during our testing circuit.

Pricing

ASocks’s pricing plans are unique as it only offers a pay-as-you-go option. However, this option is very affordable, with 1 GB of data costing just $3 for both residential and mobile proxies.

7. GeoSurf: Proxy service with a VPN included

GeoSurf is one of the most well-established web proxy sites in the world, having been around since 2009. While the quality of its services has dipped compared to others on this best proxy sites list, it remains a reliable option for most user cases.

One thing we liked during my testing of GeoSurf is that it offered us residential proxies in virtually all countries across the globe. Moreover, it includes a desktop VPN for added protection, a feature most other premium proxy services do not offer. We also noticed that the service places a strong emphasis on user privacy by signing a binding agreement not to share user data.

However, the provider does not offer dedicated datacenter proxies. Another issue was that the speeds were unstable and slow while testing the service, as the SOCKS5 protocol wasn’t supported. We also noticed that GeoSurf lacks advanced features, such as AI and ML-based data scraping.

Pricing

We found GeoSurf’s pricing options to be on the higher side. It also doesn’t offer pay-as-you-go plans, which means users have to commit to pretty hefty monthly subscriptions.

• Residential proxies: $480/month (69 GB)
• Mobile proxies: $20/GB

For more affordable online protection, consider using Surfshark. The VPN provider offers enhanced protection for your online activities, reliable servers, and excellent speeds at great prices!

8. RapidSeedbox: Excellent proxy for IPv4 and IPv6 IP addresses

RapidSeedbox is a handy proxy choice, especially if you want IPv6 proxies. Currently, it offers IPv6 proxies in the Netherlands, the United States, and the United Kingdom. In our tests, we found RapidSeedbox’s proxies to be super-fast and stable.

In addition, RapidSeedbox is customer-centric. It provides 24/7 customer support. While testing the proxy service, we contacted the customer support agents several times, and we always received a prompt and useful response. We found the live support particularly helpful.

Pricing

• IPv4 addresses start at $1 per proxy.
• IPv6 addresses start at $15/month per 100 IPs.

9. MarsProxies: Fast and easy-to-use proxies

MarsProxies is another useful choice if you’re looking for an easy-to-use proxy. You can choose from over one million IPs, giving you multiple options. MarsProxies offers sneaker proxies, which help you avoid cancellations and bans online.

It also has shopping proxies, which help you shop online easily and avoid geo-restrictions. We also loved the fact that MarsProxies was a breeze to set up.

Pricing

• Ultra Residential Proxies: €3.00 ($3.20) per GB
• Mars ISP Proxies (Residential): €2.00 ($2.14) per proxy
• Mars Obsidian Proxies (Datacenter): €0.80/€1.40 ($0.85/$1.50) per proxy

10. Infatica: An excellent proxy service for large projects

Infatica is an interesting player in the proxy landscape that’s great for power users. One testament to this is the unlimited data it offers on all datacenter proxies. Moreover, it provides a great residential proxy plan for very large companies: 10,000 GB at $20,000.

When testing Infatica’s proxies, we were impressed with the speed of the connections offered. We managed to watch complete YouTube videos without much buffering at all, and our Spotify playlist sounded in the background without any interruptions. Even among paid proxy providers, such speed and stability aren’t guaranteed, so this was some good news.

Infatica also offers mobile proxies. These are great for companies that want to do market research into how mobile users in different countries perceive their website, app, and search results in Google, for instance.

The only things we can fault Infatica for are its pretty complicated setup process and the fact it only offers datacenter proxies in the US.

Infatica also provides a lot of useful but lengthy documentation on how to use their proxies and recommends a pretty complex plugin. In our experience, it’s much easier to use IP whitelisting for the authorization process, as opposed to login credentials, and connect to the proxy servers manually.

Pricing:

• Residential proxies: $96/month for 8 GB (the more GBs you purchase, the cheaper every GB)
• Data center proxies: 15$/month for 5 IPs with unlimited traffic
• Mobile proxies: $45/month for 3 GB

The Best Free Proxy Sites

The paid proxy services in the previous section primarily cater to commercial use cases. Users who want to change their IP address to access geo-blocked content are better off using free proxy sites, even though they lack some advanced features, such as dedicated IP addresses and large IP address pools.

Given the lack of advanced features, we focus on slightly different parameters when judging free proxy sites. While server location still remains essential, we pay more attention to their ability to encrypt URLs and unblock websites. Add-on features, like cookies and ad blocking, are also considered.

However, remember that free proxy sites simply change your IP address and do not encrypt your internet activity, which means your privacy remains at risk. Conversely, a VPN encrypts your internet connection while also changing your IP address.

Based on our research and testing, we provide a summary of the best free proxy sites in the table below.

1. hide.me: The most reliable free proxy site

hide.me is another reliable VPN provider operating a free proxy service. It did a good job of hiding our IP address and unblocking streaming websites. Unblocking content in the US, UK, or other popular countries will require hide.me’s VPN, which you can learn more about in our in-depth hide.me review.

We found the service a reliable option for hiding our IP address and preventing data leaks when browsing online. Also, we were pleased to see a beginner-friendly and simple webpage-based interface.

Moreover, hide.me’s proxy servers had minimal impact on our browsing speeds, making it a good option for streaming shows on Prime Video and other websites. Because of these features, we have placed it first on our best proxy site list of free proxies.

Unfortunately, we noticed lots of pop-up ads while we were using the proxy website. We also discovered that the provider did not have free proxy servers in the US, which limits the kinds of content that we could unblock.

If you want to access content in the US, check out Surfshark. The VPN service has 3200+ servers worldwide and 600 US servers in 25 cities, allowing you to unblock all the content you want from US websites and streaming platforms.

2. ProxySite: The most user-friendly free proxy site

If you haven’t used a free web proxy service before, then ProxySite is an ideal option. It features a barebones but effective interface that allowed us to connect to a free proxy server in the US and EU. This is one of the reasons we included it on this best web proxy sites list.

ProxySite provides a simple, no-fuss interface that can be used by beginners and geeks alike. The service also offers a wide selection of presets that allow you to mimic different devices, such as a Blackberry or iPhone. Moreover, we were happy to see that it did not leak our IP address or DNS information.

Unfortunately, the provider has no servers outside the US and EU, and there is no option to encrypt URLs, which can affect user safety and privacy.

3. CroxyProxy: Free proxy site with advanced security features

Another intuitive free web proxy, CroxyProxy, is one of the most secure free web proxies I’ve tested. While we found it lacked advanced features, such as removing objects from pages, its simplicity and SSL encryption get it a spot on this best proxy site list.

The provider offers enhanced security with permanent SSL encryption, even for web pages that do not have SSL/TSL certificates. In addition, it was a great option for us to unblock some of the best streaming services, as it supports HTML5 video and audio playback.

CroxyProxy also provided us with quick links to popular sites like Facebook and Reddit, which we found super useful.

Unfortunately, while testing CroxyProxy, we saw that there was no option for me to select a server location using the free version. We were also disappointed with the many annoying pop-up ads while browsing websites.

4. 4everproxy: The best free proxy site for streaming

For a free proxy server provider, 4everproxy offers a great server pool. It has servers in 22 locations, which makes it our best free proxy site for unblocking content online. It also offered us a full-fledged paid VPN service with even more locations and unlimited bandwidth.

The wide choice of city-specific servers in 22 locations made it a great option for us to stream sports and other online content. We liked the fact that it forces HTTPs encryption even for non-secure HTTP web pages.

4everproxy offers customization options, including removing page titles and scripts, further bolstering the security and privacy that 4everproxy provides.

Unfortunately, some third-party advertisers could use cookies or beacons to track us while we were using the free proxy service.

If you want complete online anonymity and to prevent third parties from accessing your data, try Surfshark. The VPN provider offers a CleanWeb feature that effectively prevents trackers from gathering your data.

5. Who*r: Free proxy browsing and numerous browser extensions

Who*r is another VPN service that offers a free proxy website. However, unlike the other free proxies we’ve reviewed, Who*r is only available as a proxy browser extension. We thoroughly tested Who*r VPN, and it offered us a more extensive selection of servers and better speeds.

During our testing, we were impressed with the number of additional privacy-friendly features, such as a DNS leak test, IP address detection, and a port scanner. Also, we liked that the service is available on a range of web browsers, including privacy-friendly browsers like Brave and Vivaldi. Who*r is definitely a worthy contender in this list of the best proxy sites that are free.

However, the provider is only available as a browser extension. Unlike other free proxy websites, you can’t use Who*r’s proxy service directly from its web page.

We also had to create an account to access Who*r’s proxy service, which was a bit time-consuming. We were also disappointed to see that the free version offered us only one server located in the Netherlands.

6. VPNBook: Web proxy site with free VPN service

VPNBook is a very clean and simple proxy site that offers 256-bit SSL encryption, a unique feature for a free service. It also provided me with a completely free VPN service, though I found it rather slow.

We were happy to see that VPNBook protects users’ browsing activity with 256-bit SSL encryption. With this level of encryption, you can bypass government censorship and geo-blocks imposed by some streaming websites. Moreover, during our testing, we found its interface easy to use and ideal for first-time proxy users.

Despite its benefits though, the service struggled to unblock BBC iPlayer and YouTube during testing. We were also disappointed to see a limited server selection, with only three servers based in the UK, US, and Canada and no options available to remove scripts and disable cookies.

7. Privoxy: The best free proxy for blocking ads

While Privoxy is by no means the best free proxy service on the market, it offers additional tools for ad blocking and cookie management, which made online browsing a more pleasant experience while we were testing the service. Hence, we have included it in our list of the best proxy sites that are free.

A Privoxy feature we especially liked was its add-ons for ad blocking and cookie management tools. These features help improve user privacy and anonymity.

Another interesting fact we discovered about Privoxy was that it is operated by a non-profit organization, which is likely to have reduced incentives for collecting and sharing user data.

However, what we did not like about Privoxy was that we had to download a software client on our device, and we had to consult the user manual to operate it. Moreover, another downside to Privoxy is that it does not encrypt user data, which can compromise user safety and privacy.

Factors We Considered While Selecting the Best Proxy Websites

We considered a range of factors when curating this best proxy sites list, including speed, server network, usability, and ability to unblock popular streaming platforms. Specifically for the paid services, we also looked at the pricing plans and additional features, such as the availability of dedicated IP addresses. These factors are explained in detail below:

• Speed: If you’re using a proxy to access geo-restricted content, such as streams, speed is of the utmost importance. A slow and unreliable connection can hamper the content consumption experience due to repeated buffering breaks.
• Server network: A vast and extensive server network is important for several reasons. It opens up more content libraries for you and ensures that servers are not congested.
• Encryption protocols: Your online safety is determined by the encryption protocols the proxy service uses. Free proxy services that use SSL encryption can generally be considered secure. For paid ones, you should check whether the proxy service supports the SOCKS5 protocol.
• Unblocking abilities: A significant advantage of a good proxy service is its ability to bypass online censorship and geo-restrictions. This refers to its capacity to access content that is blocked in your region, such as certain streaming services or websites.
• Pricing plans: The cost of a proxy service can vary greatly, and it’s essential to find a plan that fits your budget while still offering the features you need. Many services offer different tiers, with higher-priced plans providing more features such as faster speeds, more server locations, or better security.

If you don’t want to use any of our picks above, you can use these criteria to do your own research.

What Are Proxy Sites?

Proxy sites are intermediaries between your device and the internet. They forward your requests for webpages to servers on the internet and vice versa. This helps maintain your privacy by hiding your IP address and allowing you to access content that might be geographically restricted.

When you use a proxy site to access a webpage, your device communicates with the proxy server instead of communicating directly with the webpage’s server. The proxy server then sends the request to the webpage server on your behalf.

When the webpage server responds, it sends the information to the proxy server, which forwards it to you. The webpage only sees the IP address of the proxy server.

While web proxy sites help bolster online privacy, they are not without their set of concerns. Indeed, your real IP address remains visible to the proxy service, which can sell it to advertisers or disclose it to the government if required.

Why We Recommend VPNs Over Proxy Services

There are apparent differences between a free proxy and a VPN. Virtual private networks require a paid subscription, but they also pack a stronger punch. They offer strong encryption, have more features, and the best VPNs don’t keep any logs. Above all, you get faster speeds.

There are some VPNs that also offer proxy servers, but they lack the required security features. So, our recommendation is always to use a VPN instead of a proxy. Here’s why:

1. Enhanced privacy features: VPNs don’t keep logs of your activity. Most of them also have extra security features, like a kill switch that shuts down your connection if the VPN stops working.
2. User-friendly interface: Proxies can also be easy to use. But many proxies have clunkier navigation and UX, while VPNs are usually extremely beginner-friendly.
3. Fast speeds: The best VPNs are fast, resulting in a minimal loss in speed.
4. Extra security features: Most VPNs have extra tools to help you stream online content, protect your connection, or even enhance your privacy. However, don’t expect private emailing with a proxy. For that, you can choose one of the top secure email providers.

Surfshark is our No.1 choice when it comes to affordable VPN providers that can do anything that the best web proxy sites can – but better.

Are the Best Proxy Sites a Good Choice for Anonymous Browsing?

Proxy sites help browse the internet anonymously and unblock content online. Paid proxy services are also valuable for scraping and gathering data without detection by ISPs. This is mainly useful as a marketing tool for businesses.

After testing several proxy services to create our list of the best proxy sites, our team identified Bright Data and hide.me as the best-paid and free proxies, respectively. However, while both are great web proxy sites, neither guarantees privacy and anonymity online.

Surfshark, one of our highest-rated VPNs, ensures online privacy without compromising on speed and performance.

Learn more about browsing the internet anonymously by checking out these articles:

• How to Be Safe Online: Cyber Hygiene Tips to Keep You Safe
• Best Browsers With Built-In VPN: The Ultimate Guide

Theodor PorutiuAuthor

Senior Journalist

Theodor is a content writer passionate about the newest tech developments and content marketing strategies. He likes privacy-friendly software, SEO tools, and when he’s not writing, he’s trying to convince people they should uninstall TikTok.

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