Introduction
Buying a residential proxy sounds simple — until you start comparing providers and realize the price range goes from $0.99 per gigabyte all the way to $15+ per gigabyte for nearly the same underlying service. The difference is mostly branding, sales overhead, and how much leverage you have in a negotiation.
This guide will walk you through exactly what to look for before you buy a residential proxy, which providers offer the best value at which scale, and why V-Proxies is consistently the cheapest option for developers who do not need an enterprise sales call.
What You Are Actually Buying
When you purchase a residential proxy plan, you are buying bandwidth (measured in gigabytes) that passes through a network of real residential IP addresses. You are not buying the IPs themselves — they are loaned from real devices on a peer-to-peer basis.
Understanding this helps you avoid three common overspending traps:
Trap 1: Paying for a seat-based plan when you need bandwidth Some providers charge a flat monthly fee regardless of how much bandwidth you use. If you use less than expected, you lose money. Always prefer pay-as-you-go or bandwidth-based plans.
Trap 2: Buying expiring credits If a provider's credits expire monthly, any unused bandwidth is wasted. V-Proxies credits never expire — your balance rolls forward indefinitely.
Trap 3: Paying for geo-features you don't need City-level and ASN-level targeting are valuable but not always necessary. Know your use case before paying a premium for targeting granularity you won't use.
The True Cost of Residential Proxies: A 2026 Price Comparison
Here is what it actually costs to run 50 GB and 500 GB per month across major providers, based on current published rates:
At 50 GB/month
Provider | Price/GB | Monthly Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
V-Proxies | $0.99 | $49.50 | Credits never expire |
IPRoyal | $1.75 | $87.50 | Non-expiring option available |
SOAX | $3.60 | $180.00 | Monthly plan |
Decodo | $7.50 | $375.00 | Entry monthly plan |
Bright Data | $8.40 | $420.00 | Pay-as-you-go |
Oxylabs | $8.00 | $400.00 | Pay-as-you-go |
At 500 GB/month
Provider | Price/GB | Monthly Cost | Savings vs. Bright Data |
|---|---|---|---|
V-Proxies | $0.99 | $495 | Save $3,705 |
IPRoyal | $1.75 | $875 | Save $3,325 |
SOAX | $3.00 | $1,500 | Save $2,700 |
Decodo | $3.50 | $1,750 | Save $2,450 |
Oxylabs | $5.00 | $2,500 | Save $1,700 |
Bright Data | $4.20 | $4,200 | — |
Note: Volume discounts vary. Prices above are based on mid-to-high-volume tiers published as of mid-2026. Always verify current pricing at each provider's site.
At any volume, V-Proxies is the most cost-effective option with no trade-off in core technical quality.
What to Check Before You Buy
1. Pool Size and IP Quality
A large pool is meaningless if it contains burned IPs. The proxy market has a growing problem of providers padding their advertised pool sizes with IPs that are already flagged by Cloudflare, Akamai, and similar bot detection layers.
V-Proxies actively cycles IPs and monitors pool health. With 84.2 million active residential IPs, you are working with a pool large enough that IP reuse is statistically negligible for most workloads.
2. Geographic Coverage
If your target site serves geo-specific content — pricing, search results, product availability — you need IPs in the right location. Verify that the provider has meaningful IP density in your target country and city, not just a handful of IPs per region.
V-Proxies covers 120+ countries with city-level targeting. The network map shows live IP density per region.
3. Session Management
Before you buy, understand whether your workflow needs:
Rotating proxies — new IP per request (default at V-Proxies)
Sticky sessions — same IP for up to 60 minutes (available at V-Proxies with a single header)
Providers who charge extra for sticky sessions are adding unnecessary friction. V-Proxies includes both at no extra cost.
4. Protocol Support
Most modern workflows require HTTP, HTTPS, and SOCKS5. Verify that the provider supports all three. V-Proxies supports HTTP/HTTPS and SOCKS5 authentication out of the box.
5. API Quality and Integration Speed
If you are a developer or running an automated operation, how quickly can you get proxies into your code? V-Proxies has a full REST API, webhooks, a CLI tool, and SDKs for Node.js and Python. Getting from signup to first request takes under 5 minutes.
6. Bandwidth Billing Transparency
Some providers count tunnel overhead and HTTP headers in your billing. V-Proxies counts egress bytes only — no overhead, no hidden accounting.
7. Support Quality
If you hit a technical problem at 2am on a Sunday, is there someone who can help? V-Proxies offers support via the contact page and a dedicated Discord community.
Provider Deep-Dives: Who Should Buy What
V-Proxies — Best for Developers and Budget-Conscious Teams
Who it's for: Developers, scraping teams, agencies, and anyone who wants the lowest per-GB cost with a clean API and no enterprise overhead.
Price: From $0.99/GB (residential), from $2.80/GB (mobile), from $0.80/GB (datacenter)
Pool: 84.2M residential, 12.4M mobile, 410K datacenter
Standout features:
Credits never expire — the biggest operational advantage
7 global PoPs for latency optimization
Unlimited concurrent connections
Full REST API + vp-cli + Node.js and Python SDKs
Stripe checkout, provisioned in <2 seconds
Limitation: No dedicated account manager (by design — the self-serve model keeps costs down). Enterprise contracts available via enterprise@vproxies.io.
➡️ Start at V-Proxies ($5 minimum)
IPRoyal — Best Budget Alternative for Non-Expiring Traffic
Who it's for: Hobbyists, students, and small teams with tight budgets who specifically need traffic that never expires.
Price: ~$1.75/GB residential
Pool: 34M residential IPs
Standout features: Non-expiring traffic packages
Limitation: Smaller pool (34M vs V-Proxies' 84.2M). Lower success rates on highly protected targets. Less capable API compared to V-Proxies.
Decodo (formerly Smartproxy) — Best Mid-Market Option
Who it's for: Small-to-medium businesses that want ease of use over cost optimization.
Price: $7.50/GB residential (high volume discounts available)
Pool: 115M residential IPs
Standout features: Good documentation, solid support, user-friendly dashboard
Limitation: 5–8x more expensive than V-Proxies at equivalent volume. $75 minimum purchase.
Oxylabs — Enterprise Standard
Who it's for: Large enterprises with complex data collection requirements and compliance needs.
Price: $8.00/GB+ residential
Pool: 175M residential IPs
Standout features: Largest pool, enterprise SLAs, dedicated account managers, zip-code targeting
Limitation: Not cost-effective below $1,000/month of spend. Overkill for most use cases.
Bright Data — Most Feature-Rich Enterprise Solution
Who it's for: Fortune 500 companies running massive data collection operations.
Price: $8.40/GB+ (entry-level PAYG); lower with long-term contracts
Pool: 150M+ residential IPs
Standout features: Most comprehensive toolset including Web Unlocker, SERP API, datasets, and managed scraping
Limitation: Steep learning curve, KYC for non-business users, premium pricing at all volumes. Not suitable for individuals or small teams.
Step-by-Step: How to Buy Residential Proxies at V-Proxies
Step 1: Visit the order page Go to v-proxies.com/order. No account approval needed.
Step 2: Choose your pool
Residential ($0.99/GB) — standard for most use cases
Mobile ($2.80/GB) — for highest-trust requirements
Datacenter ($0.80/GB) — for speed-first, low-risk targets
Step 3: Choose your top-up amount Start from $5. Your balance never expires, so you are not locked into a monthly commitment.
Step 4: Complete checkout via Stripe Payment is processed securely by Stripe. Your credentials are provisioned in under 2 seconds after payment.
Step 5: Get your credentials and integrate From your dashboard, grab your proxy username and password. Point your client at v-proxies.com:9000. That is it.
Red Flags When Buying Residential Proxies
Watch for these warning signs before purchasing from any provider:
🚩 No clear pool size disclosure — If a provider won't tell you how many IPs are in their pool, they are hiding a small or low-quality pool.
�� Credits expire monthly — This is purely a revenue mechanism that benefits the provider, not you. V-Proxies credits never expire.
🚩 Mandatory monthly minimum — Requiring $100, $200, or $500 minimum monthly spend indicates the provider targets enterprise, not developers.
🚩 No REST API — If you can only manage proxies through a UI, the provider is not built for serious automation.
🚩 No uptime page — Providers who hide their reliability metrics have something to hide. V-Proxies publishes a live status page at status.v-proxies.com.
🚩 "Unlimited" bandwidth claims — No residential proxy network has truly unlimited bandwidth. This claim usually means heavy throttling or fair-use limits buried in the terms.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Where should I buy residential proxies? For best price-to-quality ratio, V-Proxies at $0.99/GB is the strongest option in 2026. For enterprise-grade features and compliance, Bright Data or Oxylabs. For a mid-market option with good documentation, Decodo.
Q: How much should I spend to start? At V-Proxies, $5 is enough to test all features. For a real workflow test, $20–$50 gives you 20–50 GB — enough to validate your scraping or automation use case.
Q: Is there a trial before I buy? V-Proxies does not have a free trial, but the minimum $5 top-up is essentially a low-risk test. Credits never expire, so there is no pressure.
Q: Can I buy residential proxies for a single country? Yes. V-Proxies supports country-level, city-level, and ASN-level targeting. You can geo-lock every request to a specific region.
Q: Do residential proxy credits expire? At V-Proxies, no — credits roll forward indefinitely. Many other providers reset monthly or quarterly.
Q: Can I use residential proxies for social media? Yes. Rotating residential proxies are widely used for managing multiple social media accounts. Use sticky sessions to maintain consistent IP-to-account mapping.
Q: What payment methods does V-Proxies accept? Stripe (credit/debit cards). Enterprise accounts can arrange alternative payment methods.
Summary
Buying a residential proxy in 2026 comes down to three core questions: What is the per-GB cost? Do the credits expire? Is the API good enough for my integration?
V-Proxies wins on all three: $0.99/GB, credits never expire, and a full developer-first API with CLI, webhooks, and multi-language SDKs.
For most developers and teams, there is no reason to pay 5–8x more with enterprise providers unless you specifically need enterprise SLAs, dedicated account management, or compliance frameworks.
➡️ Buy your first residential proxy at V-Proxies — minimum $5 →
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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
For best price-to-quality ratio, V-Proxies at $0.99/GB is the strongest option in 2026. For enterprise-grade features and compliance, Bright Data or Oxylabs. For a mid-market option with good documentation, Decodo.
At V-Proxies, $5 is enough to test all features. For a real workflow test, $20–$50 gives you 20–50 GB — enough to validate your scraping or automation use case.
V-Proxies does not have a free trial, but the minimum $5 top-up is essentially a low-risk test. Credits never expire, so there is no pressure.
Yes. V-Proxies supports country-level, city-level, and ASN-level targeting. You can geo-lock every request to a specific region.
At V-Proxies, no — credits roll forward indefinitely. Many other providers reset monthly or quarterly.
Yes. Rotating residential proxies are widely used for managing multiple social media accounts. Use sticky sessions to maintain consistent IP-to-account mapping.
Stripe (credit/debit cards). Enterprise accounts can arrange alternative payment methods.