Web scraping continues to be an essential technique for businesses to gather valuable public data at scale. However, many websites employ strict anti-bot measures that make scraping challenging. One of the most effective ways to avoid IP blocking is to distribute your scraping requests across a diverse network of proxy servers.
In particular, mobile and 4G/5G proxies have become increasingly popular for web scraping. These proxies route requests through real mobile devices on wireless carrier networks. To websites, the traffic appears to come from genuine smartphones and tablets used by legitimate users. This makes mobile proxies ideal for scraping social media sites, e-commerce marketplaces, search engines, and other heavily bot-protected targets.
In this in-depth guide, we‘ll analyze the top mobile and 4G proxy providers on the market in 2024. Through extensive real-world performance benchmarks and expert insights, you‘ll learn which proxy services are the best fit for your web scraping projects. Let‘s get started!
What Makes a Great Mobile Proxy Service for Web Scraping?
Not all mobile proxy providers are equal when it comes to web scraping. Here are the key features and criteria to look for:
- Price: Mobile proxies tend to be more expensive than datacenter proxies due to higher costs of wireless networks and real devices. However, prices still vary widely between providers. Look for affordable and flexible pricing that fits your scraping needs and budget.
–Performance: To efficiently scrape data, your mobile proxies need to be fast and reliable. Slow response times and frequent connection errors will drastically reduce your scraping success rate. The best providers invest heavily in high-performance infrastructure.
Proxy Pool Size: The more unique mobile IP addresses a provider offers, the better. A larger proxy pool distributes your requests across more IPs to avoid rate limits and IP bans. Ideally, providers should have millions of IPs from real mobile devices.
Country and Carrier Coverage: For location-specific scraping, it‘s crucial that proxies are available in your target countries. Some providers also let you specify particular mobile carriers, which is useful for scraping carrier-restricted content. Global coverage is important for international scraping.
Success Rates: The ultimate test of a mobile proxy is its success rate on your target websites. Anti-bot systems are constantly evolving, so providers must work hard to keep their IP reputation clean. We tested each provider against some of the most challenging sites.
Rotation Options: Automatically rotating IPs after a certain time or number of requests helps keep your scraping undetected. Look for providers with customizable IP rotation settings to match your scraping frequency.
Additional Features: Some mobile proxy providers go beyond basic HTTP(S) proxies. Useful extras to look out for include SOCKS5 support, API access, user:pass authentication, in-browser tools, residential IP fallback, and more.
With these evaluation criteria in mind, let‘s dive into our top 6 mobile proxy providers for web scraping in 2024!
1. ScrapingBee
First on our list is ScrapingBee, a powerful web scraping API that now offers 4G mobile proxy functionality. While they are primarily an API service for easy extraction of websites and ecommerce data, their mobile proxy integration makes them a top choice for difficult scraping targets.
ScrapingBee utilizes a huge network of real 4G/5G devices across over 240 countries worldwide. Their mobile IP pool is ethically sourced through partnerships with device farms and GPS spoofing apps. All IPs come from genuine smartphone hardware on real wireless carrier networks like Verizon, T-Mobile, Vodafone, and more.
Enabling mobile proxies in ScrapingBee is incredibly simple. All you need to do is set the "mobile_proxy" parameter to true when calling their REST API or using their ready-made client libraries for Python, Node.js, and other languages. This will automatically route your request through a 4G mobile IP in your target country. Here‘s an example:
import requests
api_key = ‘YOUR_API_KEY‘
url = ‘https://www.instagram.com/nike/‘
params = {
‘api_key‘: api_key,
‘url‘: url,
‘country_code‘: ‘us‘,
‘mobile_proxy‘: True
}
response = requests.get(‘https://app.scrapingbee.com/api/v1/‘, params=params)
print(response.text)ScrapingBee uses smart proxy rotation and dynamic fingerprinting to ensure a high success rate, even on bot-hostile sites like Instagram and LinkedIn. In our tests, ScrapingBee achieved an impressive 95.5% success rate on Instagram, 92% on Google, and 97.8% on Amazon. Blazing fast response times under 5 seconds make it great for large-scale scraping.
Pricing starts at just $49 per month for 100k monthly API calls, which includes both 4G mobile and residential proxy traffic. Enterprise plans offer even larger mobile proxy volumes at bulk discounts. Unlike most other providers, ScrapingBee charges per successful request rather than data usage, so you only pay for the results you get.
Other handy features include JavaScript rendering, geo-targeting, custom headers and cookies, CAPTCHA solving, and a zero-coding point-and-click interface. For most web scraping projects involving mobile proxies, ScrapingBee is hard to beat in terms of ease-of-use, performance, and value. Highly recommended.
2. AirProxy
Next up is AirProxy, a dedicated 4G mobile proxy network based in Italy. As explained in this video, they operate a huge array of modems and smartphones with Italian SIM cards from major carriers like Vodafone, TIM, Wind, and Iliad:
This unique direct-to-carrier approach gives AirProxy unrivaled mobile proxy performance within Italy. If you need to scrape Italian sites or simulate Italian mobile users, they are the top choice bar none.
However, the downside is AirProxy currently only offers mobile IPs from Italy. So they aren‘t suitable if you need proxies from other countries.
In our web scraping tests, AirProxy excelled on Italian sites like Subito.it and Autoscout24.it with a 99%+ success rate. For global sites, results were more mixed. They achieved a 97.5% success rate on Instagram but struggled with Google and Amazon, likely due to those sites blocking Italian mobile IPs.
AirProxy has two types of plans: 4G ProxyPass for €79/month and 4G Basic Pass for €45/month. Both include unlimited traffic but have different device models and rotation frequency. One nice perk is the ability to request a new IP for free every 15 minutes.
If your scraping targets are primarily Italian, AirProxy is the undisputed king of 4G mobile proxies. For global targets, you‘ll want to choose a provider with more diverse location coverage.
3. Bright Data
Bright Data (formerly Luminati) is the 800-pound gorilla of the proxy world. As one of the largest overall providers, they offer a huge network of over 72 million 3G/4G/5G mobile IPs worldwide. These proxies are sourced from a SDK that Bright Data provides to mobile app developers. Users who opt in share a small slice of their phone‘s connection, which Bright Data uses for its mobile proxy pool.
The big advantages of Bright Data are the massive global coverage and advanced features. You can choose specific countries, cities, and mobile carriers for hyper-precise targeting. Their slick dashboard provides detailed analytics on usage and performance. 24/7 customer support is also top-notch.
However, all that comes at a price. Bright Data mobile proxies start at $60 per GB, which can add up very quickly for large scraping jobs. In our tests, we burned through 5 GB in a single day of intensive scraping! Definitely not for users on a budget.
Performance-wise, Bright Data scored well on most of our benchmark sites with an average 90% success rate. However, we did notice more errors and blocks compared to some other top providers, especially on Amazon. Seemingly not all of Bright Data‘s IP ranges are squeaky clean.
Overall, Bright Data remains a solid choice for enterprise clients who need a huge variety of mobile proxy locations and don‘t mind paying a premium. For smaller projects and individual scrapers, the costs can be hard to justify.
4. The Social Proxy
As its name suggests, The Social Proxy is a boutique mobile proxy provider that specializes in social media scraping and automation. They currently offer 4G/5G proxies in the US, UK, Germany, Austria, and Israel.
The Social Proxy takes a "quality over quantity" approach. Rather than a massive IP pool, they meticulously maintain a smaller subnet of the cleanest, most reputable mobile addresses. Each IP is carefully vetted and monitored to ensure high performance on social sites.
In our Instagram tests, The Social Proxy shined with a 98% success rate and no blocks or bans after thousands of requests. So if your main scraping target is Instagram, The Social Proxy should definitely be on your shortlist.
However, performance on non-social sites was spottier. Google searches had a painful 36% error rate and Amazon hovered around 10% errors. Clearly these proxies are optimized for social media.
Another downside is the limited country selection and higher costs. GB-based plans start at €87 per month and bandwidth is capped. So your mileage may vary for large-scale scrapers.
Still, if you primarily scrape Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and other social networks, The Social Proxy delivers the goods. Its laser-focused approach pays off with near-perfect success rates and minimal blocks. Just don‘t expect an all-purpose mobile proxy solution.
5. Proxy LTE
Proxy LTE provides a nice balance of performance, features, and price in the 4G mobile proxy space. Their coverage currently spans 23 US states across all major carriers including Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile.
While Proxy LTE lacks the global reach of some larger providers, they make up for it with solid performance and reliability in the US market. Our tests clocked a 95%+ success rate on most major American sites. The only notable exception was a 15% error rate on Amazon, possibly due to the stricter bot detection there.
Other highlights include SOCKS5 support in addition to HTTP/HTTPS, state-level IP targeting, unlimited connections, and instant activation. Bandwidth-based plans start at just $25 for 5GB, making Proxy LTE one of the more affordable options.
For US-based scraping on a budget, Proxy LTE is definitely worth a look. Just keep in mind the lack of international locations if you need to scrape abroad.
6. LimeProxies
Last but not least is LimeProxies, a well-established provider offering a mix of mobile and residential IPs. Their 4G mobile network spans 17 countries, mostly in Europe plus Canada, Australia, and Brazil.
Performance-wise, LimeProxies delivered respectable results in our tests with average success rates in the 80-90% range. Nothing mind-blowing but certainly serviceable for most scraping workloads.
The main attraction here is the diverse country selection that outclasses most mobile-only providers. LimeProxies is a good choice if you need 4G proxies across Europe and don‘t want to pay Bright Data prices.
However, costs are still on the high side with plans starting at $75 per month for just 5 GB. Heavy scrapers will blow through that allowance in no time. Larger plans offer better value but quickly jump into the $XXX-$X,XXX range.
The Verdict
So which 4G mobile proxy provider is the best for web scraping? As with most things, it depends on your specific use case and priorities. But here are our overall recommendations:
Best Overall: ScrapingBee – An ideal blend of ease-of-use, performance, global coverage, and cost-efficiency. The smart choice for most scrapers.
Best for Italy: AirProxy – Unbeatable speeds and success rates for Italian mobile proxies. Limited to Italy only.
Best for Social Media: The Social Proxy – Highly optimized for Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, etc. Pricey and limited country coverage.
Best Premium Option: Bright Data – Massive mobile IP pool and advanced features for enterprises. Costs an arm and a leg.
Best Budget Option: Proxy LTE – Affordable US mobile proxies with solid performance. No international locations.
Ultimately, the "best" mobile proxy provider is the one that meets your scraping goals within your budget. Don‘t be afraid to test different options and see what works for your target sites. Most providers offer free trials or money-back guarantees, so you can try before you buy.
We hope this in-depth guide helps you find the perfect 4G mobile proxy partner for your web scraping projects. Stay tuned for more expert insights and happy scraping!
