Best Proxy Network Software

How Many Proxy Network Software Products Does G2 Track?

Total Products under this Category: 212

Category Stats (Nov 2026)

  • Average Rating: 4.65/5 The average rating of products in this category, based on all submitted ratings
  • Top Trending Product: Browserless (+9.81%) - Among all products in this category, Browserless recorded the largest rating increase compared to last month

Last updated: November 01, 2026

How Does G2 Rank Proxy Network Software Products?

Why You Can Trust G2's Software Rankings:

  • 30 Analysts and Data Experts
  • 5,400+ Authentic Reviews
  • 212+ Products
  • Unbiased Rankings

G2's software rankings are built on verified user reviews, rigorous moderation, and a consistent research methodology maintained by a team of analysts and data experts. Each product is measured using the same transparent criteria, with no paid placement or vendor influence. While reviews reflect real user experiences, which can be subjective, they offer valuable insight into how software performs in the hands of professionals. Together, these inputs power the G2 Score, a standardized way to compare tools within every category.

G2 Grid® for Proxy Network Software

G2 Grid® for Proxy Network Software plotting products by satisfaction and market presence

Highlighted products: Oxylabs, IPRoyal, Decodo (formerly Smartproxy), Proxy-Seller, NodeMaven, NetNut.io, Bright Data, and Apify.

Underlying data: [Grid® JSON](https://www.g2.com/categories/proxy-networks/grids.json?focus%5B%5D=oxylabs&focus%5B%5D=iproyal&focus%5B%5D=decodo-formerly-smartproxy&focus%5B%5D=proxy-seller&focus%5B%5D=nodemaven&focus%5B%5D=netnut-io&focus%5B%5D=bright-data&focus%5B%5D=apify)

Oxylabs

Oxylabs is a web intelligence collection platform trusted by 15,000+ partners worldwide, including dozens of Fortune Global 500 companies, academia, and researchers. Oxylabs offers products for web data collection at scale, including proxy services, scraping and data solutions for AI. With over 177 million IPs covering 195 countries, they have one of the most reliable proxy infrastructures in the market. Their products play a vital role in various industries, such as E-Commerce, AI development, Cybersecurity, Brand protection, Travel & Hospitality, and more. Oxylabs highlights a developer-friendly approach and provides ready-to-use code examples and integration guides, multiple programming language support, and active community platforms on Discord, YouTube, and GitHub. They provide extensive documentation, video content, lessons 'Scraping Experts', and additionally they host live webinars, and a yearly conference - OxyCon.

Average Rating: 4.5/5.0

Total Reviews: 421

How Do G2 Users Rate Oxylabs?

  • Has the product been a good partner in doing business?: 8.8/10 (Category avg: 9.2/10)
  • Proxy Routing: 9.0/10 (Category avg: 9.0/10)
  • Proxy Rotation: 9.0/10 (Category avg: 9.1/10)
  • Proxy Management: 8.9/10 (Category avg: 8.9/10)

Who Is the Company Behind Oxylabs?

  • Seller: Oxylabs
  • Company Website:
  • Year Founded: 2015
  • HQ Location: Vilnius, Lithuania
  • LinkedIn® Page: www.linkedin.com
    488 employees on LinkedIn®

Who Uses This Product?

  • Who Uses This: CEO, CTO
  • Top Industries: Computer Software, Information Technology and Services
  • Company Size: 59% Small, 12% Medium

What Do G2 Reviewers Say About Oxylabs?

AI-generated summary from verified user reviews

Pros
  • Users value the reliable global IP coverage of Oxylabs, facilitating accurate targeting for their proxy needs.
  • Users find the setup ease of Oxylabs remarkable, allowing for quick integration and functionality without hassle.
  • Users appreciate the ease of use of Oxylabs, noting its straightforward setup and user-friendly interface.
  • Users praise the high performance and reliability of Oxylabs, enjoying fast proxies with low latency.
  • Users value the responsive and knowledgeable customer support of Oxylabs, enhancing their setup and troubleshooting experience.
Cons
  • Users find pricing issues with Oxylabs, noting the costs can be high for smaller teams and limited access.
  • Users find the pricing and accessibility of Oxylabs challenging, particularly for smaller teams and light users.
  • Users experience proxy issues with Oxylabs, such as timing out, blocked IPs, and paywall restrictions for location changes.
  • Users find the complex setup of Oxylabs challenging, especially for those who are not technically inclined.
  • Users find the learning difficulty of Oxylabs can hinder the experience, particularly for those without technical expertise.

What Are Recent G2 Reviews of Oxylabs?

IPRoyal

IPRoyal is a proxy provider offering residential, ISP, datacenter, and mobile proxies to enterprises and SMBs. Its proxies integrate with common business tools and workflows, helping teams run data operations at scale. IPRoyal supports a wide range of business activities, including web scraping, brand monitoring and protection, ad verification, market research, social media management, SEO monitoring, SERP data gathering, eCommerce, and web testing. The residential proxy network covers 195+ locations with city-level targeting, rotating and sticky sessions, pay-as-you-go pricing, and non-expiring traffic. For companies with larger or ongoing data needs, IPRoyal offers custom volume plans with dedicated account management. Its support team is available 24/7 for both general and technical inquiries.

Average Rating: 4.7/5.0

Total Reviews: 1,118

How Do G2 Users Rate IPRoyal?

  • Has the product been a good partner in doing business?: 9.2/10 (Category avg: 9.2/10)
  • Proxy Routing: 9.2/10 (Category avg: 9.0/10)
  • Proxy Rotation: 9.1/10 (Category avg: 9.1/10)
  • Proxy Management: 9.3/10 (Category avg: 8.9/10)

Who Is the Company Behind IPRoyal?

  • Seller: IPRoyal
  • Company Website:
  • Year Founded: 2020
  • HQ Location: United Arab Emirates, AE
  • LinkedIn® Page: www.linkedin.com
    132 employees on LinkedIn®

Who Uses This Product?

  • Who Uses This: CEO, Software Engineer
  • Top Industries: Marketing and Advertising, Computer Software
  • Company Size: 79% Small, 4% Medium

What Do G2 Reviewers Say About IPRoyal?

AI-generated summary from verified user reviews

Pros
  • Users love the easy setup of IPRoyal, finding it user-friendly and ready to use immediately after purchase.
  • Users praise IPRoyal's outstanding customer support, noting its responsiveness and helpfulness in resolving issues.
  • Users appreciate the ease of use of IPRoyal, enjoying a simple setup and smooth implementation process.
  • Users appreciate the reliability of IPRoyal, enjoying consistent performance and minimal downtime for their freelancing needs.
  • Users value the affordable, high-quality proxies from IPRoyal, enhancing their freelancing with secure and stable connections.
Cons
  • Users find that the pricing for IPRoyal can be high, especially for individual developers and students needing flexibility.
  • Users face issues with proxy expiration, leading to challenges in renewing or extending their service on time.
  • Users desire a wider range of locations for static residential IPs, particularly in smaller countries.
  • Users experience slow speed inconsistencies with IPRoyal, causing delays and intermittent connection issues during usage.
  • Users find the dashboard challenging, suggesting improvements for user-friendliness and advanced analytics for better experience.

What Are Recent G2 Reviews of IPRoyal?

Decodo (formerly Smartproxy)

Decodo (formerly Smartproxy) is the most efficient way to test, launch, and scale your web data projects. Recognized as the Best Value Provider for 4 years in a row for offering premium quality products, a user-friendly experience, and affordable prices, Smartproxy has served over 130K users, including Fortune 500 companies, solopreneurs, data scientists, developers, performance marketers, and other specialists. Decodo's (formerly Smartproxy) infrastructure features 5 proxy types, scraping API, and 4 free tools. With global coverage spanning 195+ locations, Smartproxy offers a pool of more than 125 million residential, datacenter, mobile, and static residential proxy IPs. Diverse proxy options, comprehensive scraping solutions, round-the-clock tech support, flexible payment methods, a public API, integration guides, and an easy-to-use dashboard are among the main reasons why Smartproxy is a leading provider in the proxy and web data collection industry. Key Decodo (formerly Smartproxy) offerings include: • 115M+ ethically sourced residential proxy IPs with #1 IP quality in the market. • Residential proxies with one of the fastest response times (<0.6s) and one of the highest success rates (99.86%) in the market. • 10M+ mobile proxy IPs with the fastest response time in the market (<0.5s). • 500K+ shared and dedicated datacenter proxy IPs with a rapid response time (<0.3s). • Shared and dedicated static residential proxies from premium ASNs. • Site Unblocker – a proxy-like solution to extract web data without restrictions. • A Universal Scraping solution for search engine result pages, eCommerce platforms, and other websites. • Several free tools such as AI Parser with any plan subscription. • Global coverage with 195+ locations, including countries, cities, and US states. • HTTP(S) & SOCKS5 support. • Rotating or sticky sessions of 1, 10, 30, or 60 minutes or a custom value of up to 24 hours. • Award-winning 24/7 tech support. • Intuitive dashboard, detailed documentation, and an informative blog. • 99.99% uptime. • Flexible pricing with cost-effective rates per IP or GB. • Pay As You Go option – $3.5/GB for residential proxies & $4/GB for mobile proxies. • 3-day free trial for proxies & 7-day free trial for Scraping API. • 14-day money-back option.

Average Rating: 4.6/5.0

Total Reviews: 778

How Do G2 Users Rate Decodo (formerly Smartproxy)?

  • Has the product been a good partner in doing business?: 9.1/10 (Category avg: 9.2/10)
  • Proxy Routing: 8.8/10 (Category avg: 9.0/10)
  • Proxy Rotation: 8.9/10 (Category avg: 9.1/10)
  • Proxy Management: 9.0/10 (Category avg: 8.9/10)

Who Is the Company Behind Decodo (formerly Smartproxy)?

Who Uses This Product?

  • Who Uses This: CEO, Founder
  • Top Industries: Marketing and Advertising, Computer Software
  • Company Size: 96% Small, 4% Medium

What Do G2 Reviewers Say About Decodo (formerly Smartproxy)?

AI-generated summary from verified user reviews

Pros
  • Users praise Decodo for their highly responsive customer support, quickly resolving issues and ensuring satisfaction.
  • Users find Decodo to be easy to use, with a user-friendly interface and straightforward setup for seamless integration.
  • Users appreciate the reliable proxies of Decodo, finding them easy to integrate and excellent for social media management.
  • Users value the reliable IPs of Decodo, ensuring stable connections and minimal verification issues across multiple accounts.
  • Users commend Decodo for its exceptional support and documentation, making it simple to get started and resolve issues.
Cons
  • Users face proxy issues like a cumbersome application process and occasional crashes affecting their connectivity.
  • Users find the pay-as-you-go pricing of Decodo not competitive, lacking flexibility and yearly discount options.
  • Users find Decodo's pricing expensive, particularly the pay-as-you-go option which lacks competitive discounts.
  • Users face a limited range of available ports, which is common among proxy providers, but manageable with support.
  • Users express frustration with IP limitations, as purchasing needs require package deals instead of single IP options.

What Are Recent G2 Reviews of Decodo (formerly Smartproxy)?

What Are G2 Users Discussing About Decodo (formerly Smartproxy)?

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Proxy-Seller

Proxy-Seller is a proxy infrastructure partner for public web data collection. Since 2014, 185,000+ customers have used it for web scraping, SERP tracking, price intelligence, ad verification, cybersecurity research, and AI data collection. Proxy types and starting prices • Residential: 47M+ IPs per month in 220+ locations; rotation per request, on a timer, or sticky up to 24 hours; from $3.50/GB, down to ~$0.30/GB at volume • Mobile: real 5G/4G/LTE carrier IPs, dedicated or shared; from $10 • ISP: static residential IPs at datacenter speed; from $0.98/IP • IPv4: private dedicated datacenter IPs; from $0.49/IP • IPv6 and datacenter: bulk IPs; from $0.02/IP Performance • 99.7% uptime, 99.5% success rate, ~0.35 s average response time • 600+ Class C and 200+ Class B subnets for IP diversity • Unlimited bandwidth on IPv4, IPv6, and ISP over a 1 Gbps channel Built for business buyers • ISO/IEC 27001:2022 and ISO 9001:2015 certified; GDPR, CCPA and ePrivacy compliant; DPA and SCC ready; IP provenance documentation on request • Same-day sandbox, free POC for larger projects, PO and Net-15/Net-30 terms • No monthly lock-ins Integration and support • HTTP, HTTPS, SOCKS5; REST API, SDK, IP allowlisting or username/password • Works with Scrapy, Playwright, Puppeteer, Selenium, and anti-detect browsers • 24/7 human support, median live-chat reply under 60 seconds; named account manager from $500 MRR

Average Rating: 4.8/5.0

Total Reviews: 168

How Do G2 Users Rate Proxy-Seller?

  • Has the product been a good partner in doing business?: 9.3/10 (Category avg: 9.2/10)
  • Proxy Routing: 9.1/10 (Category avg: 9.0/10)
  • Proxy Rotation: 9.3/10 (Category avg: 9.1/10)
  • Proxy Management: 9.0/10 (Category avg: 8.9/10)

Who Is the Company Behind Proxy-Seller?

  • Seller: Proxy-Seller
  • Company Website:
  • Year Founded: 2015
  • HQ Location: Larnaca, CY
  • LinkedIn® Page: www.linkedin.com
    85 employees on LinkedIn®

Who Uses This Product?

  • Top Industries: Marketing and Advertising, Information Technology and Services
  • Company Size: 57% Small, 34% Medium

What Do G2 Reviewers Say About Proxy-Seller?

AI-generated summary from verified user reviews

Pros
  • Users value the geographic accuracy of Proxy-Seller's residential proxies, enhancing their data scrapers and market research significantly.
  • Users commend the responsive customer support of Proxy-Seller, highlighting quick assistance and effective issue resolution.
  • Users praise the easy setup process of Proxy-Seller, enabling quick and efficient data pipeline deployment.
  • Users highly value the geographic accuracy of Proxy-Seller's residential proxies, crucial for effective market research.
  • Users value the strong connection reliability of Proxy-Seller, consistently benefiting from well-maintained proxy quality.
Cons
  • Users find the pricing issues of Proxy-Seller challenging, noting high costs and lack of value for unused traffic.
  • Users experience proxy functionality issues, often needing to replace or navigate to find new ones.
  • Users feel that the UX improvement is needed as the interface feels outdated and navigation is cumbersome.
  • Users find the limited geolocation options frustrating, lacking city-level choices and more diverse country proxies.
  • Users find the poor documentation of Proxy-Seller frustrating, often needing support for dashboard understanding and other issues.

What Are Recent G2 Reviews of Proxy-Seller?

NodeMaven

NodeMaven: Highest Quality Residential Proxy Provider NodeMaven is a leading residential proxy provider specializing in clean high-quality residential and mobile proxies. NodeMaven provides anonymity, stability, and scalability for various online activities, including multi-accounting, web scraping, and affiliate marketing. Recognized for outstanding IP performance, flexible pricing, and deep integration with tools used by account managers, scrapers, and automators, NodeMaven is your go-to residential proxy provider. NodeMaven’s product stack and features include: - Clean high quality proxies: Residential and mobile - IP Quality Filter: Proprietary filtering system ensuring only high-trust IPs that are validated by third-party tools like PixelScan and ProxyWay. - Sticky sessions up to 24 hours: Maintain persistent sessions for account farming, scraping, arbitrage, and login stability. - Combined Residential + Mobile Pool: No extra cost to switch between mobile and residential IPs. - Traffic Rollover: Keep unused GBs for the next billing period. - Packages as low as $2.22/GB: With generous discounts at higher volumes. - Real-time Fingerprint Randomization: Anti-detect ready with browser and automation tool integrations. - Global IP Coverage: 190+ countries, precise targeting by city, ASN, and ISP. - Anti-detection Tool Compatibility: Seamless use with Multilogin, GoLogin, Puppeteer, Selenium, Dolphin Anty, and more. - Built-in CAPTCHA Handling: Add-ons for high-scale web scraping workflows. - High-performance metrics: >99.99% uptime, <0.5s response times, 99.6%+ success rates. - 24/7 Expert Support via Live Chat, Email, Slack, Telegram, Zoom, and WhatsApp.

Average Rating: 4.7/5.0

Total Reviews: 198

How Do G2 Users Rate NodeMaven?

  • Has the product been a good partner in doing business?: 9.3/10 (Category avg: 9.2/10)
  • Proxy Routing: 9.5/10 (Category avg: 9.0/10)
  • Proxy Rotation: 9.3/10 (Category avg: 9.1/10)
  • Proxy Management: 9.6/10 (Category avg: 8.9/10)

Who Is the Company Behind NodeMaven?

Who Uses This Product?

  • Who Uses This: Founder
  • Top Industries: Computer Software, Information Technology and Services
  • Company Size: 63% Small, 4% Medium

What Do G2 Reviewers Say About NodeMaven?

AI-generated summary from verified user reviews

Pros
  • Users find NodeMaven's setup ease impressive, allowing for a straightforward start to projects with minimal hassle.
  • Users find NodeMaven's ease of use exceptional, enabling quick setups and smooth project management without hassle.
  • Users value the reliable proxy solutions of NodeMaven for seamless web data collection and browsing from various locations.
  • Users appreciate the reliable and fast proxy solutions from NodeMaven for seamless web data collection and testing.
  • Users value the high-quality and reliable proxies of NodeMaven, enhancing their web data collection and testing tasks.
Cons
  • Users find the pricing issues for NodeMaven potentially high, suggesting lower prices for better affordability.
  • Users find NodeMaven's pricing too expensive, noting that lower costs would improve accessibility for smaller users.
  • Users experience proxy issues with NodeMaven, citing limited options, instability, and a need for more proxies.
  • Users suggest enhancing speed for better performance and to address proxy issues with NodeMaven.
  • Users suggest that NodeMaven would benefit from improved geolocation options to enhance targeting capabilities and user satisfaction.

What Are Recent G2 Reviews of NodeMaven?

NetNut.io

NetNut is a full stack web data provider helping companies and businesses effectively manage their online activities while maintaining anonymity and security. With over 85 million residential IP addresses sourced directly from Internet Service Providers (ISPs), NetNut provides a robust platform for users looking to bypass geo-restrictions, conduct web scraping, and gather data without the risk of being banned. The target audience for NetNut primarily includes businesses engaged in market research, SEO tracking, and data harvesting. These users require reliable and fast access to a wide range of online resources, often facing challenges with traditional proxy services that can lead to slow speeds or high failure rates. By leveraging a network of residential IPs, NetNut ensures that users can navigate the web seamlessly, accessing content that may otherwise be restricted based on geographic location. Key features of NetNut include its extensive pool of residential IPs, which allows for worldwide targeting and specific US city-state selection. The network is designed for speed, offering one-hop connectivity to ISPs that results in faster proxy speeds and virtually zero fail rates. This is particularly beneficial for businesses that rely on real-time data collection and analysis. Additionally, NetNut provides both static and rotating residential IPs, ensuring that users can choose the configuration that best suits their needs. NetNut stands out in the market due to its hybrid P2P network, which enhances scalability and performance. This unique architecture allows for dedicated proxy pools, ensuring that users have consistent access to the resources they need. The service also includes a dedicated account manager to assist users in optimizing their proxy usage, along with easy integration options such as API access and a Chrome extension. These features collectively enhance the user experience, making it easier for businesses to implement and manage their proxy solutions effectively. Overall, NetNut offers a comprehensive residential proxy service that caters to the specific needs of businesses looking to enhance their online operations. With competitive pricing plans and a commitment to customer support, it provides a valuable resource for organizations aiming to navigate the complexities of the digital landscape without compromising on speed or reliability.

Average Rating: 4.9/5.0

Total Reviews: 382

How Do G2 Users Rate NetNut.io?

  • Has the product been a good partner in doing business?: 9.6/10 (Category avg: 9.2/10)
  • Proxy Routing: 9.7/10 (Category avg: 9.0/10)
  • Proxy Rotation: 9.7/10 (Category avg: 9.1/10)
  • Proxy Management: 9.6/10 (Category avg: 8.9/10)

Who Is the Company Behind NetNut.io?

  • Seller: NetNut
  • Company Website:
  • Year Founded: 2017
  • HQ Location: Tel Aviv, Israel
  • LinkedIn® Page: www.linkedin.com
    105 employees on LinkedIn®

Who Uses This Product?

  • Who Uses This: Sales Development Representative, Virtual Assistant
  • Top Industries: Information Technology and Services, Marketing and Advertising
  • Company Size: 64% Small, 30% Medium

What Do G2 Reviewers Say About NetNut.io?

AI-generated summary from verified user reviews

Pros
  • Users highlight the exceptional reliability of NetNut.io, enjoying consistent uptime and dependable performance over the years.
  • Users appreciate the fast and stable performance of NetNut.io, making it ideal for scraping and automation tasks.
  • Users admire the fast and stable proxy connections, making web scraping and automation seamless and efficient.
  • Users value the stable and fast IP connections provided by NetNut.io, enhancing their scraping and automation tasks.
  • Users appreciate the high-speed connections of NetNut.io, enhancing the overall user experience with stability and performance.
Cons
  • Users find the difficulties with the dashboard and connectivity issues hinder their experience with NetNut.io.
  • Users experience minor UI bugs and a dated dashboard, impacting ease of use and consistency, especially on smartphones.
  • Users find the dashboard lacking detail and suggest improvements for a better user experience.
  • Users suggest that pricing issues hinder accessibility, especially for newcomers and those with limited budgets.
  • Users face a learning difficulty initially, needing time to adapt and understand the platform's features effectively.

What Are Recent G2 Reviews of NetNut.io?

Bright Data

Bright Data is the leading web data infrastructure company, trusted by 50,000+ organizations worldwide including 14 of the top 20 global AI labs to access, collect, and deliver public web data at scale. Teams use Bright Data to turn the public web into structured, actionable intelligence: training and grounding AI models, monitoring markets, enriching BI systems, tracking search results, analyzing eCommerce and travel data, supporting financial research, and automating competitive intelligence. The platform is built for production-scale operations, with 400M+ IPs across 195 countries and 99.99% uptime. What Bright Data offers: - Web Access APIs: Reliable, compliant access to any public website at scale - Scraper APIs & Scraper Studio: AI-powered workspace for building, testing, and deploying extraction workflows using natural language prompts - Ready-to-use datasets & real-time data feeds: Structured, AI-ready data with zero infrastructure overhead - MCP Server: Connects AI agents and assistants to live web data for search, browsing, extraction, and LLM grounding, no pipelines required - Browser API & SERP API: Automate browser interactions and search data collection - CLI & developer APIs: Build and manage workflows from existing development environments Who uses Bright Data: AI teams, data engineers, developers, analysts, business intelligence teams, researchers, and enterprise data operations across AI/ML, finance, eCommerce, travel, marketing, and more. Key use cases: AI training and grounding - LLM data pipelines - agentic web access - market intelligence - price monitoring - eCommerce analytics · SERP tracking - brand protection - ad verification - financial data collection - academic research - competitive intelligence Bright Data aligns with GDPR, CCPA, SOC 2 Type II, and ISO 27001, and is a founding member of the Alliance for Responsible Data Collection (ARDC).

Average Rating: 4.7/5.0

Total Reviews: 350

How Do G2 Users Rate Bright Data?

  • Has the product been a good partner in doing business?: 9.1/10 (Category avg: 9.2/10)
  • Proxy Routing: 8.9/10 (Category avg: 9.0/10)
  • Proxy Rotation: 8.9/10 (Category avg: 9.1/10)
  • Proxy Management: 9.1/10 (Category avg: 8.9/10)

Who Is the Company Behind Bright Data?

  • Seller: bright data
  • Company Website:
  • Year Founded: 2014
  • HQ Location: Greater Tel Aviv, IL
  • LinkedIn® Page: www.linkedin.com
    402 employees on LinkedIn®

Who Uses This Product?

  • Who Uses This: CEO, Founder
  • Top Industries: Information Technology and Services, Research
  • Company Size: 59% Small, 20% Medium

What Do G2 Reviewers Say About Bright Data?

AI-generated summary from verified user reviews

Pros
  • Users commend the excellent customer support of Bright Data, ensuring prompt and helpful assistance throughout their experience.
  • Users appreciate Bright Data's user-friendly interface, making web scraping easier and more accessible for everyone.
  • Users find Bright Data user-friendly with a clean interface, offering diverse tools and excellent customer support.
  • Users value the ease of use and rich data availability of Bright Data, enhancing their data collection effortlessly.
  • Users appreciate the quick response time of Bright Data's customer support, which enhances their overall experience.
Cons
  • Users find tool selection overwhelming and face issues with slow snapshot downloads and limited datasets in Bright Data.
  • Users find Bright Data to be expensive, particularly for small businesses, with unclear pricing and limited tier options.
  • Users find a learning difficulty with Bright Data due to its technical requirements and unclear tool selection guidance.
  • Users express frustration over unclear pricing issues and high costs, particularly for small businesses and individual users.
  • Users find the difficult learning curve of Bright Data challenging, especially for its advanced features and configurations.

What Are Recent G2 Reviews of Bright Data?

What Are G2 Users Discussing About Bright Data?

Apify

Apify is the largest marketplace of tools for AI. At its core is Apify Store, a marketplace where builders create, publish, and monetize tools called Actors. Actors are serverless cloud programs that get web data and automate tasks on the web. Builders create them with JavaScript or Python. Build an Actor once and publish it to Apify Store. Thousands of builders already have. Earn when others use it - Apify handles all the infrastructure, billing, and monthly payouts. For everyone else, Apify means never building from scratch. Apify Store has thousands of ready-to-run Actors for extracting Amazon product data, scraping Google Maps listings, monitoring competitor prices, pulling social media content, generating leads, and hundreds of other jobs on the web. Pick the Actor you need, run it, and get your data. Behind the scenes, Actors handle proxy rotation, CAPTCHA solving, JavaScript rendering, headless browsers, scaling, storage, and scheduling. The Apify platform runs with 99.95% uptime. It's SOC 2 Type II, GDPR, and CCPA compliant, and trusted by companies and organizations such as Intercom, Groupon, and the European Commission. Run Actors through Apify Console, integrate them with Zapier and Make, or connect them to AI frameworks like LangChain and Hugging Face to feed LLMs and vector databases. Apify's MCP server lets AIs like Claude discover and use Actors as tools dynamically, so an agent can ask "find the top 10 Indian restaurants in San Francisco" and automatically use the right Actor to get that data. Use cases span competitive intelligence, lead generation, market research, SEO monitoring, and crawling websites for AI context. If there's data on the web, there's probably an Actor for it. Apify has residential and datacenter proxies, browser automation with Puppeteer and Playwright, automatic retries, error handling, monitoring dashboards, and APIs. Schedule runs to keep data fresh and export to JSON, CSV, Excel, Google Sheets, databases, or push straight into your workflows. Beyond Apify Store, the Professional Services team builds and maintains custom solutions with dedicated data experts and long-term project maintenance. Start free with $5 in prepaid monthly platform usage; paid plans scale with compute, storage, and proxy usage (see https://apify.com/pricing).

Average Rating: 4.7/5.0

Total Reviews: 685

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How Do G2 Users Rate Apify?

  • Has the product been a good partner in doing business?: 9.2/10 (Category avg: 9.2/10)
  • Proxy Routing: 9.0/10 (Category avg: 9.0/10)
  • Proxy Rotation: 8.9/10 (Category avg: 9.1/10)
  • Proxy Management: 9.4/10 (Category avg: 8.9/10)

Who Is the Company Behind Apify?

  • Seller: Apify
  • Company Website:
  • Year Founded: 2015
  • HQ Location: Praha, CZ
  • LinkedIn® Page: www.linkedin.com
    272 employees on LinkedIn®

Who Uses This Product?

  • Who Uses This: Founder, CEO
  • Top Industries: Computer Software, Marketing and Advertising
  • Company Size: 84% Small, 8% Medium

What Do G2 Reviewers Say About Apify?

AI-generated summary from verified user reviews

Pros
  • Users value the ease of use of Apify, enabling quick setup and efficient data scraping without coding.
  • Users appreciate the easy setup and robust features of Apify, streamlining their web scraping and automation tasks.
  • Users commend Apify for its scraping efficiency, quickly handling thousands of records with ease and reliability.
  • Users value the flexibility and reliability of Apify for web scraping and automation, enhancing productivity significantly.
  • Users value the easy integrations of Apify, enabling seamless connectivity with various solutions and tools.
Cons
  • Users find the pricing issues of Apify challenging, especially for intensive tasks and small teams.
  • Users find Apify expensive, especially when running large-scale scraping jobs or using many actors in parallel.
  • Users face a steep learning curve in mastering Apify, making initial adoption and usage challenging for beginners.
  • Users find the steep learning curve challenging, especially for non-technical members and complex configurations.
  • Users experience a steep learning curve when using Apify, particularly for beginners and non-technical team members.

What Are Recent G2 Reviews of Apify?

What Are G2 Users Discussing About Apify?

ASocks

ASocks is one of the fastest-rising names in the world of proxy service providers. We offer unlimited fast residential proxies for our users. The list of over 150 countries and the cheapest tariff across board without a dump down on quality or compromise in security. We are honest and the user will, in fact, pay only for the amount of traffic consumed. Unlike competitors, users don’t have to make payment for services which they didn’t use.

Average Rating: 4.9/5.0

Total Reviews: 132

How Do G2 Users Rate ASocks?

  • Has the product been a good partner in doing business?: 9.6/10 (Category avg: 9.2/10)
  • Proxy Routing: 9.5/10 (Category avg: 9.0/10)
  • Proxy Rotation: 9.5/10 (Category avg: 9.1/10)
  • Proxy Management: 9.6/10 (Category avg: 8.9/10)

Who Is the Company Behind ASocks?

  • Seller: ASocks
  • HQ Location: San Francisco, California
  • LinkedIn® Page: www.linkedin.com
    1 employees on LinkedIn®

Who Uses This Product?

  • Top Industries: Accounting, Marketing and Advertising
  • Company Size: 94% Small, 3% Medium

What Do G2 Reviewers Say About ASocks?

AI-generated summary from verified user reviews

Pros
  • Users value the variety of proxy types and locations, tailored to meet their specific browsing needs.
  • Users love the high success rate of ASocks due to diverse proxy options and useful free trials.
  • Users enjoy the variety of proxy types and locations available with ASocks, enhancing their browsing flexibility.
Cons
  • Users report connection issues with ASocks, experiencing intermittent losses that hinder their overall satisfaction.
  • Users mention that the pricing issues make ASocks feel somewhat expensive compared to other options available.

What Are Recent G2 Reviews of ASocks?

DataImpulse

DataImpulse offers high-quality residential, mobile, and datacenter proxies for businesses and developers seeking secure and reliable connections. Whether you're engaging in web scraping, ad verification, market research, or other data-driven tasks, our proxies enable you to access the internet without restrictions while maintaining your privacy. We provide flexible pricing, global coverage, and advanced targeting options to ensure you achieve the best performance for your requirements. With DataImpulse, you can concentrate on your work while we manage the fast, stable, and secure connection.

Average Rating: 4.7/5.0

Total Reviews: 28

How Do G2 Users Rate DataImpulse?

  • Has the product been a good partner in doing business?: 9.8/10 (Category avg: 9.2/10)
  • Proxy Routing: 9.4/10 (Category avg: 9.0/10)
  • Proxy Rotation: 9.5/10 (Category avg: 9.1/10)
  • Proxy Management: 9.4/10 (Category avg: 8.9/10)

Who Is the Company Behind DataImpulse?

Who Uses This Product?

  • Company Size: 71% Small, 11% Medium

What Do G2 Reviewers Say About DataImpulse?

AI-generated summary from verified user reviews

Pros
  • Users value the immediate and knowledgeable customer support from DataImpulse, enhancing their overall experience with the service.
  • Users value the affordable pricing of DataImpulse, finding it easy to manage and sell to management.
  • Users value the high reliability of DataImpulse, experiencing consistent performance and exceptional support throughout their usage.
  • Users appreciate the affordable pricing of DataImpulse, praising its value and straightforward plans without recurring fees.
  • Users appreciate the ease of use of DataImpulse, enjoying its user-friendly interface and seamless integration.
Cons
  • Users wish for a bigger IP pool in DataImpulse, as the current options are limited for casual use.
  • Users find the dashboard issues challenging, especially with analytics complexity and limited templates for specific industries.
  • Users desire more billing flexibility for enterprise accounts and believe pricing could be more competitive.
  • Users find the limited features of DataImpulse restraining, particularly lacking in pre-built templates for niche industries.
  • Users notice a discrepancy in geolocation with DNS servers, impacting their overall experience with DataImpulse.

What Are Recent G2 Reviews of DataImpulse?

ProxyWing

ProxyWing is an online service providing rental of IPv4 proxy servers, including Residential, ISP, Mobile and Datacenter proxies with a pool of over 70,000,000 IP addresses. Clients can choose from a wide selection of proxies available in 190 countries. The service supports major protocols: HTTP and SOCKS5. Key advantages of ProxyWing: - Fast delivery of orders of any volume, taking just a few seconds - Automatic address verification excludes non-functional proxies from the pool - 24/7 technical support ready to quickly resolve any issues - Free proxy replacement option - Flexible rental terms from 2 weeks to 1 year - Regular promotions with discount codes on social media - ProxyWing’s servers are suitable for various tasks: from SEO and SMM work, traffic arbitrage, marketing, and crypto investments to personal use. With ProxyWing proxies, you can: - Scrape queries and keywords - Mass-register accounts with minimal risk of being blocked - Promote your products and services - Analyze competitor websites - Grow your audience and increase engagement on social media - Browse the web anonymously - Access foreign websites, streaming services, and gaming platforms.

Average Rating: 4.8/5.0

Total Reviews: 63

How Do G2 Users Rate ProxyWing?

  • Has the product been a good partner in doing business?: 9.7/10 (Category avg: 9.2/10)
  • Proxy Routing: 9.2/10 (Category avg: 9.0/10)
  • Proxy Rotation: 9.5/10 (Category avg: 9.1/10)
  • Proxy Management: 8.6/10 (Category avg: 8.9/10)

Who Is the Company Behind ProxyWing?

  • Seller: ProxyWing
  • Year Founded: 2023
  • HQ Location: Middletown, US
  • LinkedIn® Page: www.linkedin.com
    6 employees on LinkedIn®

Who Uses This Product?

  • Top Industries: Marketing and Advertising, Information Technology and Services
  • Company Size: 76% Medium, 19% Small

What Do G2 Reviewers Say About ProxyWing?

AI-generated summary from verified user reviews

Pros
  • Users value the reliable worldwide IP availability of ProxyWing, enabling seamless audits and brand protection across regions.
  • Users value ProxyWing's geo-targeting capabilities, enabling precise local audits and ad verification across numerous countries.
  • Users value the worldwide availability and clean IP reputation of ProxyWing, enhancing brand protection and audit efficiency.
  • Users highlight the setup ease of ProxyWing, appreciating its quick, straightforward integration for seamless proxy use.
  • Users value the ease of use of ProxyWing, enhancing efficiency in their sales and media operations.
Cons
  • Users find pricing issues problematic, especially with high traffic and mobile proxy costs impacting overall budget management.
  • Users frequently report dashboard issues, craving enhanced management tools and better visual reporting capabilities for efficiency.
  • Users find ProxyWing has limited features for user management and reporting, affecting operational efficiency.
  • Users find the learning difficulty of ProxyWing challenging, especially for non-technical team members requiring better onboarding materials.
  • Users find the poor documentation of ProxyWing hampers quick onboarding and efficient troubleshooting for their teams.

What Are Recent G2 Reviews of ProxyWing?

Infatica Global Proxy Network

Infatica is a leading provider of proxy and data collection solutions, catering to companies of all sizes. Whether you're managing small-scale tasks or large-scale projects, Infatica's robust and scalable services are designed to support your needs efficiently and effectively. Infatica’s product suite includes residential, mobile, and data center proxies, as well as advanced data collection tools. These products are used across various industries for: • Price comparison – comparing prices from different user perspectives, often for travel and niche products. • Ad verification – ensuring website ads are properly targeted to their intended audience, that ad links function properly, and that the ad environment is secure and/or in regulatory compliance. • Data collection – gathering data from websites to generate new data sets for internal use or sale. • Fraud protection – identifying and/or detecting known proxies to prevent nefarious proxy use against companies. • Application performance – testing web application loading and responsiveness across regions. • Brand protection – preventing IP theft by disguising corporate networks when doing competitive analysis. • Talent sourcing – researching job market needs and staffing requirements. • Cyber security – adding an extra layer of protection between the Internet and corporate networks. • Account management – creating and modifying accounts across social media and account-based websites. Choosing Infatica means benefiting from high-speed performance, vast IP pool diversity, and reliable uptime. Infatica’s solutions enhance operational efficiency, provide valuable insights, and ensure secure and ethical data collection, helping your business stay ahead in a competitive market.

Average Rating: 4.8/5.0

Total Reviews: 34

How Do G2 Users Rate Infatica Global Proxy Network?

  • Has the product been a good partner in doing business?: 10.0/10 (Category avg: 9.2/10)
  • Proxy Routing: 9.9/10 (Category avg: 9.0/10)
  • Proxy Rotation: 9.8/10 (Category avg: 9.1/10)
  • Proxy Management: 9.8/10 (Category avg: 8.9/10)

Who Is the Company Behind Infatica Global Proxy Network?

  • Seller: Infatica.io
  • Year Founded: 2019
  • HQ Location: Central Business District, Singapore
  • LinkedIn® Page: www.linkedin.com
    32 employees on LinkedIn®

Who Uses This Product?

  • Top Industries: Marketing and Advertising
  • Company Size: 59% Small, 35% Medium

What Do G2 Reviewers Say About Infatica Global Proxy Network?

AI-generated summary from verified user reviews

Pros
  • Users value the responsive customer support from Infatica, appreciating the timely assistance available around the clock.
  • Users value the dependable performance of Infatica's proxies, especially under high demand for email analytics.
  • Users value the high-quality service of Infatica, enjoying reliable performance and excellent technical support.
  • Users appreciate the helpful documentation provided by Infatica, facilitating better understanding of their proxy usage.
  • Users find Infatica's proxies easy to use, with helpful support enhancing the overall experience.
Cons
  • Users find the learning difficulty high, lacking an app that simplifies service usage for non-technical skills.
  • Users note the need for a more flexible pricing tier, which could enhance accessibility for diverse data needs.
  • Users face occasional slow speed issues during peak times, though they are usually resolved quickly.

What Are Recent G2 Reviews of Infatica Global Proxy Network?

anyIP

anyIP is a comprehensive proxy service offering affordable and reliable mobile and residential proxies across over 38 countries. Designed to cater to various needs, from web scraping to managing multiple accounts, anyIP provides users with high-quality, real-device IPs to ensure seamless and anonymous internet access. Key Features and Functionality: - Global Coverage: Access to mobile and residential proxies in more than 38 countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, India, and many others. - Flexible Proxy Types: Offers both mobile and residential proxies at the same price, allowing users to choose based on their specific requirements. - Unlimited IP Rotation: Users can rotate IPs without limit or maintain the same IP for extended durations, providing flexibility for various applications. - High Performance: With an average response time of approximately 0.6 seconds, anyIP ensures fast and reliable connections. - Unlimited Concurrent Requests: Supports unlimited concurrent requests, enabling users to scale their operations efficiently. - 24/7 Live Chat Support: Dedicated customer support is available around the clock to assist with any inquiries or issues. - Money-Back Guarantee: Offers a 14-day money-back guarantee for all unused data on plans purchased via credit card, ensuring customer satisfaction. Primary Value and Solutions: anyIP addresses the challenges of accessing diverse and authentic IP addresses for tasks such as data scraping, account management, and online privacy. By providing a vast network of real-device IPs, it reduces the risk of being blocked or flagged by websites, ensuring uninterrupted and anonymous internet activities. The service's competitive pricing and robust features make it an ideal solution for businesses and individuals seeking reliable proxy services without compromising on quality or performance.

Average Rating: 4.8/5.0

Total Reviews: 33

How Do G2 Users Rate anyIP?

  • Has the product been a good partner in doing business?: 9.4/10 (Category avg: 9.2/10)
  • Proxy Routing: 9.2/10 (Category avg: 9.0/10)
  • Proxy Rotation: 8.9/10 (Category avg: 9.1/10)
  • Proxy Management: 9.0/10 (Category avg: 8.9/10)

Who Is the Company Behind anyIP?

  • Seller: anyIP
  • Year Founded: 2019
  • HQ Location: N/A
  • LinkedIn® Page: www.linkedin.com
    8 employees on LinkedIn®

Who Uses This Product?

  • Top Industries: Marketing and Advertising, Information Technology and Services
  • Company Size: 77% Small, 6% Medium

What Do G2 Reviewers Say About anyIP?

AI-generated summary from verified user reviews

Pros
  • Users praise the stability of anyIP's service, allowing them to focus without worrying about technical issues.
  • Users appreciate the reliable proxy service of anyIP, allowing focus on business needs with confidence and efficiency.
  • Users praise the easy setup of anyIP, appreciating how smooth and straightforward the initial experience is.
  • Users commend the high quality and reliability of anyIP's proxies, enhancing their workflow and overall efficiency.
  • Users highlight the high-quality proxies of anyIP, noting excellent connection speed and reliability for seamless operations.
Cons
  • Users find the pricing issues of anyIP to be a drawback, especially compared to more affordable alternatives.
  • Users experience connection issues occasionally, such as proxy renewal problems, but find them manageable and minor overall.
  • Users find the limited geolocation feature of anyIP restrictive, wishing for more available countries and locations.
  • Users find that UX improvement is needed due to glitches, confusing interfaces, and slower speeds during peak hours.
  • Users note IP limitations occasionally cause downtime, highlighting a need for more flexible package options.

What Are Recent G2 Reviews of anyIP?

911Proxy

911proxy provides Best Residential Proxies with more than 90M IP pools with high anonymity and covers 195 countries worldwide. Residential Proxy: Avoid getting blocked when scraping and gather data effortlessly with 911Proxy Residential Proxies. Unlimited Residential Proxy: Unlimited use of graded residential proxies, randomly assigned countries. Static Residential Proxy: There is no traffic limit, helping enterprises to better expand their business and gain more profits.

Average Rating: 5.0/5.0

Total Reviews: 19

How Do G2 Users Rate 911Proxy?

  • Has the product been a good partner in doing business?: 10.0/10 (Category avg: 9.2/10)
  • Proxy Routing: 10.0/10 (Category avg: 9.0/10)
  • Proxy Rotation: 9.3/10 (Category avg: 9.1/10)
  • Proxy Management: 8.9/10 (Category avg: 8.9/10)

Who Is the Company Behind 911Proxy?

Who Uses This Product?

  • Top Industries: Computer Software
  • Company Size: 74% Small, 32% Medium

What Do G2 Reviewers Say About 911Proxy?

AI-generated summary from verified user reviews

Pros
  • Users value the unmatched precision of residential IP targeting from 911Proxy for accurate competitor pricing insights.
  • Users value the reliable geo-targeting of 911Proxy, providing accurate localized data essential for market intelligence.
  • Users value the unmatched stability of 911Proxy, enabling reliable and accurate monitoring of market pricing and competition.
  • Users value the reliable IP rotation of 911Proxy, allowing accurate market research and seamless competitor monitoring.
  • Users value the reliable residential IP pool of 911Proxy, enabling seamless regional insights without interruptions.
Cons
  • Users express the need for a more advanced dashboard experience with customized reporting and better mobile functionality.
  • Users desire more advanced features in 911Proxy, particularly for usage analytics and session management enhancements.
  • Users find the documentation lacking, especially for non-technical tasks, complicating setup and user experience.
  • Users find the dashboard lacks customization and the mobile app needs improvement for a better overall experience.
  • Users find the complex setup process challenging, necessitating deeper technical skills than expected for implementation.

What Are Recent G2 Reviews of 911Proxy?

Massive

Massive is a web access and proxy infrastructure platform built for AI agents, data teams, and enterprise-scale data collection. The platform provides residential proxy routing, ISP proxies, web rendering, and search APIs designed to support reliable access to public web data at scale. Massive operates a global network of opt-in residential devices across 195+ countries and emphasizes consent-based sourcing and compliance-first infrastructure. The company maintains SOC 2 certification, AppEsteem certification, AMTSO membership, and GDPR/CCPA compliance. Use cases include AI agent web access, LLM training data collection, web scraping, e-commerce price monitoring, SERP tracking, ad verification, market research, travel aggregation, and brand protection. Core products and services include: * Web Access API for residential proxy routing with country and city-level targeting, rotating or sticky sessions, and scalable web access * Web Render API for JavaScript rendering and antibot handling * Web Search API for structured search engine results data * ISP Proxies optimized for high-speed, stable connections * SDK for consent-based bandwidth monetization for app publishers Massive supports direct API integrations and compatibility with common browser automation, scraping, and multi-account management workflows. The platform is designed for developers, AI companies, data infrastructure teams, and enterprises requiring scalable, compliant access to web data.

Average Rating: 4.9/5.0

Total Reviews: 14

How Do G2 Users Rate Massive?

  • Has the product been a good partner in doing business?: 10.0/10 (Category avg: 9.2/10)
  • Proxy Routing: 10.0/10 (Category avg: 9.0/10)
  • Proxy Rotation: 10.0/10 (Category avg: 9.1/10)
  • Proxy Management: 10.0/10 (Category avg: 8.9/10)

Who Is the Company Behind Massive?

  • Seller: Massive
  • Year Founded: 2018
  • HQ Location: Claymont, US
  • LinkedIn® Page: www.linkedin.com
    55 employees on LinkedIn®

Who Uses This Product?

  • Company Size: 71% Small, 14% Medium

What Do G2 Reviewers Say About Massive?

AI-generated summary from verified user reviews

Pros
  • Users appreciate the responsive customer support from Massive, enhancing their overall experience and assisting in business growth.
  • Users find easy integrations with Massive that enhance workflows and ensure compliance without hassle.
  • Users value the genuine residential IPs from Massive, enhancing performance and bypassing anti-bot systems effectively.
  • Users praise the exceptional reliability of Massive Proxies, highlighting consistent performance and excellent customer support.
  • Users appreciate the easy setup of Massive, enabling quick integration and immediate functionality from the start.
Cons
  • Users find the pricing issues somewhat restrictive, especially for smaller teams or low-traffic projects.
  • Users find the dashboard too technical for non-coders and notice issues with the pricing plans.
  • Users express concern over limited geolocation, highlighting a need for broader coverage beyond US-based IPs.

What Are Recent G2 Reviews of Massive?

Brandon Summers-Miller
BS
Researched and written by Brandon Summers-Miller
Updated January 20, 2025

Proxy Networks Topics

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Learn More About Proxy Network Software

What is Proxy Network Software?

Proxy network software acts as an intermediary between an endpoint device and a source from which the user is requesting a service. These intermediary servers then retrieve data from the source on behalf of the user.

Since proxy server software changes public IP addresses, it can be used to change the perceived location of a device connected to the internet or a server. This feature is beneficial to access internet resources that are blocked for certain geographical locations of IP addresses.

These servers can be either software or hardware. The products you see on G2.com are software products, and they are commonly referred to as web proxy servers or, simply, proxies.

Along with enhancing cybersecurity by anonymizing internal IP addresses and more, organizations can utilize proxy network solutions for performance reasons. For instance, web proxy servers are beneficial for caching content to reduce bandwidth usage and increase transfer speeds.

What Types of Proxy Network Software Exist?

Different types of proxy server solutions are available to meet various use cases. The following are some of the common types.

Forward proxy software

It is the most common type of proxy server and is an intermediary that sits between endpoint devices and the internet. Instead of directly sending a client request to a server, a forward proxy evaluates the request, takes any action, if needed, and then forwards it to the target server on the client’s behalf.

Reverse proxy software

These servers are the opposite of a forward proxy. It again sits between endpoint devices and the internet, forwarding requests from the internet to the users in an internal network. It is typically implemented to increase security and performance.

Transparent proxy software

Also known as an inline proxy, it is essentially a server that intercepts the connection between an endpoint device and the internet. It does not conceal any identifying information about the user but instead sends the requests to the target server by showing it as coming from the user without any modification. This also means transparent proxies pass a user’s IP address to the target server.

Anonymous proxy software

This type of proxy software is used to maintain anonymity while browsing the internet. It’s also known as an anonymizer and tries to make a user’s activity on the internet untraceable. Although the target website administrator can identify an anonymous proxy, it doesn’t pass along the original IP address of the user.

Distorting proxy software

This proxy tool can be viewed as an advanced version of the anonymous variety. Instead of not passing along the original IP address of the user, it passes along a false IP address to the target website. This will give out the impression to the target website admin that the user is from a different geographical location.

Highly anonymous proxy software

This type of system offers the highest level of privacy to users. Along with concealing the user’s IP address from the target website’s admins, it also provides encryption and periodically changes the outgoing IP address.

Datacenter proxy software

This type of proxy software replaces the access point’s IP address with an address temporarily borrowed from a physical data center. This ensures a higher degree of anonymity and lower latency.

DNS proxy software

Domain name system (DNS) proxy software takes requests in the form of DNS queries and then forwards them to domain servers. It stores client queries in the device, which is essentially caching and is useful to increase the speed of data transfers.

Residential proxy software

This type of network proxy provides real IP addresses offered by internet service providers (ISPs). These IP addresses are usually attached to a physical location at a country or city level.

What are the Common Features of Proxy Network Software?

The following are some core features of network proxy solutions.

Content filters: Proxy servers can act as content filters by blocking undesirable outgoing traffic. This feature will benefit organizations that aspire to prevent employees from accessing certain websites or apps at work.

Translation: Companies can use proxy servers to customize their source site for local users by excluding or substituting content with local content. This helps to route traffic from global users to another web server that hosts the web page’s translated content.

Cache data: Caching is the process of temporarily storing frequently accessed data, which can help improve the performance of a website or application. Proxy servers can cache data of websites or applications so that they will load faster for users.

Bypass content filters: Web proxy servers can also be used to bypass certain content filters by helping to change the IP address. However, this wouldn’t work if access to these web proxies is already blocked.

Tunnel traffic: This feature is associated with a type of proxy server called SOCKS proxy. Traffic tunneling enables users to tunnel web traffic to a different server, either to access another network or to avoid filtering.

What are the Benefits of Proxy Network Software?

Network proxy software can enhance security and network performance for organizations. However, the benefits depend highly on the proxy network’s type and configuration. The following are some of the advantages of using proxy network platforms.

Traffic restriction: Proxy network tools can restrict the traffic between a private network and the internet. In other words, these servers can help IT administrators to isolate private networks from the internet. This can reduce the number of public addresses required.

Resource restriction: Similar to restricting traffic, IT administrators can use proxy server tools to limit access of internal network users to internet resources. Simultaneously, they can restrict internet users' access to private network resources.

Security: Proxy network products can help anonymize internal or private network users. For an outsider or a hacker, for that matter, the users of a network are technically hidden behind the proxy server’s IP address. Hackers will also have difficulty accessing specific devices on the internal network.

Privacy: Both individuals and organizations will find proxy servers beneficial to browse the internet more privately. Since proxy networks typically change the users' IP addresses and other identifying information, the target server wouldn’t know who made the web request. This can help keep the browsing habits of users more private.

Data collection: Proxy networks are useful for web scraping, which is the process of extracting large amounts of data from websites. Proxy networks can avoid bot detection and mask repeated visitors by supplying new IP addresses.

Who Uses Proxy Network Software?

IT administrators: IT admins can use proxy services to restrict workplace internet access. They can also limit access to private network resources and improve network performance by data caching.

Data analysts: Analysts and marketers can use residential proxy pools to perform bulk web scraping with a higher success rate.

What are the Alternatives to Proxy Network Software?

Alternatives to proxy server software that can replace this type of software, either partially or completely:

Virtual private network (VPN) software: VPNs enable users to connect to private networks securely. Corporate VPNs prevent unauthorized access to private networks and can also encrypt data by inspecting network traffic at the packet level. While proxy servers work only on a single service or application, VPN can secure the entire internet traffic of the user and encrypt it.

Challenges with Proxy Network Software

Proxy network software products can do basic website blocking or unblocking. They are not as secure as VPNs. The following are some of the challenges that these services experience.

Lack of encryption: Most proxy server products don’t encrypt traffic. This means that it isn’t the best solution for users who aspire to prevent entities like internet service providers from eavesdropping on their internet activities.

Performance issues: Proxy servers, especially free or public, will have noticeable speed fluctuations with the increase in users and requests.

Data tracking: Caching information is basically data collection. If there’s a malicious actor within the organization, they can easily download all stored data and compromise sensitive information. A workaround is to find a proxy server that offers protection against such downloads.

How to Buy Proxy Network Software

Requirements Gathering (RFI/RFP) for Proxy Network Software

Requirements gathering is the process of understanding what an organization aspires to accomplish using a software product. Along with requirements gathering, buyers should also have a fair understanding of the software purchasing budget.

Since proxy network solutions can be employed for several use cases, buyers should look closer into the problems the company is trying to solve. If they use proxy servers for web scraping, only a certain number of products will fit the criteria. Similarly, if content filtering is the intention, there are other products specifically for this.

Compare Proxy Network Software Products

Create a long list

Buyers should then create a long list of potential proxy network tools. This initial list can include any product that meets the basic criteria. At this point, instead of trying to find the best proxy tool, buyers should aim to eliminate just the products that don’t offer critical functionality.

Create a short list

Buyers can create a short list from the initial list by eliminating the products that don’t offer the must-have features. It’s also logical to remove products that don’t fit the budget. Some proxy server solutions may also offer advanced features like firewalls, load balancing, authentication, TLS or SSL encryption, and audit logs. If such features are necessary, removing products that don’t offer those features also makes sense at this stage.

Buyers can compare the remaining products based on their functionality, pricing, vendor support, and more. Ideally, this short list should contain five to seven products.

Conduct demos

Attending product demos will help buyers compare the remaining product on the short list. It’s helpful to check whether the product is user-friendly and compare its functionality with other products on the list. Buyers should also utilize product demos to understand the product's user experience, ask questions about the product's functionality, and check whether the product works as advertised.

Selection of Proxy Network Software

Choose a selection team

To ensure the right software purchase decision is made, the buyer should assemble a selection team, including IT administrators, IT managers, security professionals, and other relevant stakeholders. This team must consist of professionals who can use the proxy software and check whether it meets the requirements.

Negotiation

After choosing the most suitable proxy server product, buyers should negotiate with the software vendor regarding pricing and discuss other terms and conditions. Buyers can request to lower the price per seat by removing certain optional features. Vendors may also be keen to offer discounts for multi-year contracts.

Final decision

It’s always important to test the network proxy tool on a small scale before proceeding with the purchase. Buyers can ask for free, short-term product trials and make an informed decision. If the selection team is satisfied with the software product, buyers can proceed with the purchasing or contracting process. If not, buyers can return to the short list and re-evaluate their options.