The 7 Best Rotating Residential Proxy Services of 2024
Using proxies for web scraping or other high-volume tasks, but running into IP blocks or CAPTCHAs? Rotating proxies could be the solution. These proxies automatically switch IP addresses from a large pool, making it difficult for websites to detect and block your activity.
In this in-depth guide, we‘ll dive into rotating proxies – how they work, their benefits, and what to look for when choosing a provider. We‘ll then review the 7 best rotating residential proxy services, based on our extensive research and tests. Whether you‘re a business or an individual, by the end you‘ll have all the information to make the right choice for your needs.
What Are Rotating Proxies?
Rotating proxies are a special type of proxy setup where the IP address changes automatically, usually every few minutes or with each connection request. You get access to a large pool of IPs and the proxy rotates between them, so the target website sees requests coming from many different addresses instead of just one.
The main benefit of rotating proxies is that they greatly reduce the risk of getting blocked, even with very high request volumes. Since the IP is constantly changing, websites have a hard time detecting and blocking the proxy traffic.
This makes rotating proxies ideal for data-heavy tasks like web scraping, sneaker copping, social media management, and anything else that requires sending a lot of requests. Static proxies, on the other hand, are better suited for activities where you need a stable IP like managing social accounts or cop limited release items.
Types of Rotating Proxies
There are several different types of rotating proxies, each with their own characteristics:
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Rotating Datacenter Proxies
These proxies come from secondary corporations like data centers and cloud hosting providers. They‘re fast and cheap, but also very easy to detect and block. Good for lower-value targets. -
Rotating Residential Proxies
Residential proxies come from real home devices and are much harder to detect. They‘re the top choice for sneakers websites and other tough targets, but tend to be pricier and sometimes slower. -
Rotating Mobile Proxies
A subset of residential proxies that come from 3G/4G/5G mobile devices. Even more undetectable, but limited in supply and expensive. Mainly used to manage multiple social media accounts.
For most users, rotating residential proxies strike the best balance between anonymity and cost-effectiveness. In this guide, we‘ll focus on the top residential proxy services.
What to Look for in a Rotating Proxy Service
With so many rotating proxy services on the market, how do you choose the right one? Here are the key features to consider:
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IP Pool Size and Diversity
The larger and more diverse the proxy pool, the better. Having millions of IPs from many different locations and ISPs reduces proxy detection. It also helps with IP blocking – if one address fails, you‘ll quickly get another. -
Location Coverage and Targeting
For location-specific tasks, it‘s important the provider has good coverage in your target areas. The ability to select proxies from a particular country, city, or even Internet Service Provider (ISP) provides extra flexibility. -
Rotation Settings
Look for customizable rotation settings that fit your use case. Common options are rotating on every request, every 1-30 minutes, or maintaining "sticky sessions" as long as possible. For complex tasks that require multiple steps, longer sessions are preferable. -
Scalability and Pricing
Proxies are usually sold by bandwidth or by ports (threads). Bandwidth-based pricing is more flexible but can get expensive for large projects. Port-based plans have a fixed cost but scale less easily. Ultimately, the pricing model should match your needs and budget. -
Performance and Reliability
Proxies should maintain a high success rate (90%+) and not add too much latency. Reliable, 24/7 infrastructure ensures smooth operation and minimizes issues like IP blocks and network errors.
Now that we‘ve covered the key considerations, let‘s review the best rotating residential proxy services of 2024.
The Top 7 Rotating Residential Proxy Services
- Bright Data
Bright Data is the market leader and offers one of the largest proxy networks with over 70M residential IPs. Their coverage spans every country and city in the world.
Bright Data‘s residential proxies allow very customizable rotation settings. You can rotate IPs every request, use sticky sessions up to 30 mins, or set a custom time. You can also choose from several rotation methods like round robin or pseudo random for extra stealth.
Performance-wise, Bright data‘s proxies consistently show success rates over 99.5% and load times under 3 seconds even with high volumes. Their infrastructure is highly redundant with multiple fallback options.
While Bright Data‘s residential plans start at $15/GB ($12/GB for annual plans), they offer flexible pricing models like pay-as-you-go and monthly commitments. You also get access to their powerful Proxy Manager tool.
On the downside, Bright Data has a strict compliance process and not all use cases are allowed. The sheer number of options can also be overwhelming for beginners.
- IPRoyal
IPRoyal is a great option for rotating residential proxies on a budget. Their network covers over 190 countries, with city-level targeting in 8 locations.
A unique feature of IPRoyal is the highly customizable rotation – you can set any sticky session duration between 1 second and 24 hours. This makes IPRoyal very versatile for different use cases.
In our tests, IPRoyal proxies delivered a 97%+ success rate while maintaining good speeds of 3-5s per request. The performance was stable across different target websites.
IPRoyal sells bandwidth on a pay-as-you-go model starting from $7/GB for residential. The pricing is straightforward and you only pay for what you use.
One limitation is that IPRoyal‘s residential network is smaller than the top-tier providers (around 600,000 IPs). The cost can also add up quickly with high request volumes.
- Proxy-Seller
Proxy-Seller focuses on providing cheap, high-performing rotating residential proxies. Their residential network spans over 10M IPs in 190+ countries.
Proxy Seller‘s rotation settings allow both rotating on every request and sticky sessions up to 10 minutes. You can also select specific countries, cities and mobile carriers.
Performance is where Proxy-Seller really shines. Success rates consistently topped 99%, while speeds averaged an impressive 2-3s per request. We experienced very few network errors or IP blocks.
Residential plans start from just $35 for 10 GB ($3.5/GB), with discounts for high-volume users. You can use the traffic flexibly across all supported countries.
The main downside of Proxy-Seller is the lack of advanced features like ASN filtering or custom rotation. Documentation and support are also limited compared to major providers.
- SOAX
SOAX offers premium residential and mobile proxies with flexible rotation options. Their residential network covers over 10M IPs in 200+ locations.
With SOAX, you can not only choose rotation times between 1-60 mins, but also set a custom duration via API. Sticky sessions last up to 60 minutes. You can target specific countries, cities and even carriers.
In terms of performance, SOAX proxies achieved a 99% success rate and 3-4s speed in our tests. We found their US and EU locations especially reliable.
SOAX uses a port-based pricing model with residential plans from $360/month for 10 ports ($36/port). Each port includes 8GB of traffic, with overages charged $5/GB.
While more expensive than others, SOAX‘s clean IPs and advanced features can be worth it for demanding use cases. Just watch out for the traffic limits on lower plans.
- Smartproxy
Smartproxy is known for its large residential network (over 20M IPs) and user-friendly experience. They cover 190+ countries with city targeting in 8 locations.
Rotation settings on Smartproxy are straightforward – every request, 1 min or 10 mins. Longer sticky sessions are not available. However, you do get country, city and even ISP-level targeting.
Smartproxy‘s residential proxies performed well in our tests, with a 98% success rate and 4-5s page load speeds. The proxies worked smoothly for common targets like search engines.
Residential plans start from $165 for 20GB ($8.25/GB), which is on the higher side but includes unlimited threads. The pricing is fully traffic-based.
While Smartproxy covers all the essentials, advanced features are lacking compared to premium providers. We also occasionally encountered slow IPs in less popular locations.
- Proxy-Cheap
As the name suggests, Proxy-Cheap aims to provide quality proxies at budget prices. Their residential network has over 8M IPs in 190 countries.
Proxy-Cheap supports both rotating and sticky sessions (up to 10 mins) for residential proxies. Rotation is IP-based rather than time-based like other providers. You can select specific countries and cities.
Performance-wise, Proxy-Cheap delivered solid results – 97% success rate and 3-5s load times. We did encounter minor issues like network timeouts, but these were rare.
Residential plans range from $49 for 20GB ($2.45/GB) to $249 for 200 GB ($1.25/GB). You‘re essentially buying a traffic balance to be used across the network.
Proxy-Cheap has a no-frills approach and lacks some advanced options of the more expensive providers. However, it‘s a cost-effective choice for simpler use cases.
- HydraProxy
HydraProxy specializes in back connect residential proxies optimized for web scraping. Their IP pool covers 200+ countries through a P2P network model.
Like other providers, HydraProxy rotates IPs automatically on each request. Sticky sessions up to 10 minutes are also available. Country, state and city-level targeting is supported.
HydraProxy advertises 99.99% network uptime, and our tests reflected that reliability. Success rates were 98-99%+ with 2-4s response times, even for tricky targets.
Pricing uses a hybrid model – each plan includes a set number of ports, traffic and threads. Plans start from $45/month for 2 ports and 5 GB. Unused data rolls over to the next month.
The main limitation is HydraProxy‘s smaller network size compared to major vendors. Documentation is also sparse, although support is very responsive.
Which Rotating Residential Proxy Service is Right for You?
With many strong contenders, the right provider depends on your specific needs and priorities. Here are some general recommendations:
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For the most demanding, high-volume tasks, premium providers like Bright Data and SOAX are top choices. They have the largest networks, most advanced features, and proven reliability.
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If you need flexible rotation settings for specific use cases, IPRoyal stands out with its custom times. SOAX also allows this via API.
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For simpler scraping jobs on a budget, Proxy-Cheap and HydraProxy offer great value residential proxies that work well.
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If ease of use is a priority, Smartproxy provides a user-friendly experience while still having a large network. Proxy-Seller is also very simple to use.
Whichever provider you choose, we recommend starting small and thoroughly testing the proxies with your target sites before committing to a large plan.
Conclusion
Rotating residential proxies are a powerful tool for bypassing IP blocking and CAPTCHAs when web scraping or using other bots. By automatically changing IP addresses, they allow you to make huge numbers of requests with low ban rates.
In this guide, we reviewed the 7 best rotating residential proxy services of 2024. While each has its strengths, they all provide large, diverse IP pools and customizable rotation settings for different use cases. Leading providers like Bright Data and SOAX offer the most advanced features and reliability, while options like Proxy-Cheap cater to budget users.
Ultimately, the right provider depends on your scale, targets, and priorities. We recommend starting with a small plan and testing extensively before scaling up. With the right rotating proxies, you‘ll be able to scrape or automate with minimal IP blocks.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are rotating residential proxies legal?
Using residential proxies is legal, as long as you‘re not violating laws or a website‘s terms of service. Providers prohibit using their proxies for illegal activities like hacking, spam, or fraud. Always check the allowed use cases before buying.
Can websites detect rotating residential proxies?
While residential proxies are harder to detect than datacenter IPs, websites can still identify proxy traffic based on usage patterns like inhuman request volumes. Using slow rotation settings, randomizing request timing, and spoofing browser headers helps reduce detection risk.
How do I set up rotating residential proxies?
Most providers give you access to a proxy gateway that automatically rotates the IPs. You simply enter the gateway address into your software along with authentication details. For browser-based tools, you can configure the proxies in your OS or browser network settings.
Why are residential proxies more expensive than datacenter proxies?
Residential proxies come from real user devices, making them scarcer and harder to acquire than datacenter IPs. Proxy providers have to incentivize users to share their bandwidth, such as through VPN apps. This limited supply makes residential proxies pricier.
Can I make my own rotating residential proxies?
While it‘s technically possible to create a residential proxy network using real devices, it‘s very resource-intensive. You need to build the infrastructure, acquire many IPs, and maintain the network. Using a proxy service is far easier and more cost-effective for most users.
