Finding a fast proxy provider can open up many possibilities, from securely accessing public WiFi to viewing content blocked in your country. But with so many proxy services on the market, how do you identify the fastest ones?
This comprehensive guide will cover everything you need to know about the fastest proxy services available today, including datacenter, residential, mobile, and free web proxy servers. We‘ll look at the top providers in each category based on speed tests and highlight the key factors that impact proxy performance.
Whether you need blazing fast speeds for web scraping, sneaker copping, or just secure general browsing, read on to find your perfect fast proxy service!
Before jumping into the top services, let‘s first understand what contributes to proxy speed. The main factors are:
Where a proxy‘s IP addresses come from largely determines its speed. There are three main types:
Proxies either keep a static IP address or rotate to new ones frequently:
More users sharing an IP address degrades performance:
With this context, let‘s jump into the fastest options in various proxy categories!
Dedicated private proxies are among the fastest since your IP isn‘t shared. Here are top providers of blazing fast dedicated proxies:
ProxyEmpire is the winner for affordable dedicated private proxies with strong performance up to 58 Mbps. Their proxies work right away after purchase and come with unlimited bandwidth.
While Proxy-Seller is a bit pricier, their proxies scored very well in testing up to 64 Mbps. They also offer full refunds if proxies don‘t work as advertised.
MyPrivateProxy is on the expensive end but justifies it with blazing speeds up to 92 Mbps. Blazing Proxies and BeeProxy also performed well while keeping costs low.
Rotating datacenter proxies swap out IP addresses rapidly while still using datacenter sources. Here are top providers:
Bright Data takes first place with high speeds up to 34 Mbps and a pay-as-you-go model costing just $0.10 per IP. Their datacenter network is one of the world‘s largest.
Smartproxy scored very well in testing with 37 Mbps speeds. Their datacenter proxies give unlimited bandwidth for a flat monthly fee instead of per IP pricing.
For budget options, WebShare and Proxyrack have some of the lowest costs. But Stormproxies has strong performance at 28 Mbps for only $39/month.
Residential proxies offer good speeds while mimicking home IP addresses. Here are top providers:
Oxylabs claims first place with spectacular speeds up to 99 Mbps. Their residential proxies rotate frequently and offer unlimited sessions.
Bright Data also performed very well, with tested speeds up to 32 Mbps. Their residential IPs come from real ISP networks worldwide.
Smartproxy wasn‘t far behind at 43 Mbps. Soax and Shifter offer more affordable options, both scoring around 19 Mbps in testing.
Here are top providers of speedy mobile proxies by routing through 4G networks:
Soax dominates with mobile proxy speeds up to 7.87 Mbps. They have a massive pool of mobile IPs spanning over 195 locations.
Airproxy focuses specifically on preventing Instagram bans, with dedicated proxy servers and SIM cards for each user.
For budget mobile proxies, Proxy-Cheap has plans starting at €50/month with tested speeds around 4 Mbps.
Free web proxies can help you access blocked sites anonymously. However, speeds are very slow due to limited resources and tons of random users. Paid proxies are highly recommended for any effective use case requiring speed.
But in a pinch, these free proxies can get the job done:
Just don‘t expect much more than 1-2 Mbps speeds!
When deciding which fast proxy service to use, consider your specific use case and requirements around:
Prioritize the factors most important for your needs. Web scraping and ad verification require maximum speeds, while social media automation relies heavily on residential IP anonymity.
Proxy speed refers to how quickly the proxy server can relay requests and return responses on your behalf. It‘s measured in milliseconds (ms), with lower values indicating faster speeds.
Use online speed test tools like Speedtest.net and Fast.com to test your speeds with and without a proxy. This gives you a baseline to compare against. Testing with proxies from different providers helps identify the fastest options.
Proxies can mildly improve your overall internet speeds by handling the workload of retrieving websites for you. But the speed increase likely won‘t be significant, and slow proxies can hinder performance.
The main reason proxies slow down is too many users overloading the servers with simultaneous requests. This particularly affects free public proxies. Low-quality infrastructure and network issues can also degrade proxy speeds.
Bright Data, Proxyrack, and Smartproxy came out on top in our datacenter proxy speed tests. Oxylabs also offers blazing-fast datacenter proxies among its mix of residential and datacenter options.
Oxylabs and Bright Data have two of the fastest residential proxy networks available today based on our testing. Smartproxy and MyPrivateProxy also offer speedy residential proxy services.
Soax is the clear winner when it comes to fast mobile proxies, with tested speeds up to 7.87 Mbps. Airproxy and Proxy-Cheap also performed well in the mobile proxy speed tests.
