Best Rotating Residential Proxies (2026): 8 Providers Compared Beyond Price per GB
Price per GB is only the start. We compare 8 rotating residential proxy providers on traffic expiry, sticky sessions, targeting, sourcing statements, refunds and payment, then pick one per use case.
Our cheapest proxies comparison answers one question: who charges the least. But when you actually run a rotating residential proxy for a few months, the things that decide whether it was a good buy are mostly in the fine print. Does unused traffic expire at the end of the month? How long can a sticky session hold the same IP? Can you target a city? What does the provider say about where its IPs come from? And if it doesn't work for you, can you get your money back?
This guide compares the eight rotating residential providers we list on exactly those points. Everything comes from each provider's official pages, as listed on 2026-10-05. Promotional prices change often, so check the linked provider pages for current numbers. Pool sizes are the providers' own claims; we can't independently verify them.
Start with the job
Rotating residential proxies route your traffic through IPs assigned to home broadband connections and switch IPs per request or per session. They fit three kinds of work:
- Public data collection and price monitoring. You need lots of distinct IPs and a steady success rate. Price per GB and traffic expiry matter most.
- Ad verification and localized page checks. You need accurate country and city targeting.
- Short session-based tasks. You need sticky sessions that keep one IP for a set period.
If what you actually need is one IP that stays the same for months, for a storefront or a brand account, rotating residential is the wrong product. Look at Best Static ISP Proxies instead. For the differences between proxy types, see Residential vs ISP vs Mobile vs Datacenter Proxies.
Six criteria beyond price per GB
1. Traffic expiry. Subscription plans usually reset monthly, so unused gigabytes vanish. Pay-as-you-go traffic may never expire. If your usage is spiky, this can matter more than a few cents per GB.
2. Session length. How long a sticky session can hold one IP. Short sessions are fine for scraping; longer ones matter for multi-step flows.
3. Targeting depth. Country, city, ASN or carrier, and whether finer targeting costs extra.
4. Sourcing. How the provider says it obtains residential IPs. This stopped being a theoretical concern in 2026: Google moved against the IPIDEA network in January and, with the FBI and partners, against NetNut in July, and both cases centered on how IPs were sourced. Background: IPIDEA-linked proxy brands and what the NetNut takedown means.
5. Refunds. Window length and how much usage still qualifies.
6. Payment. Cards, PayPal, crypto, Alipay or WeChat Pay.
The comparison table
| Provider | Entry / sale price | Traffic expiry | Sessions / targeting (as stated) | Sourcing (provider's statement) | Refund (as stated) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DataImpulse | $1/GB | Never expires | — | First-party, ethically sourced; ISO 27001 | First intro purchase, 7 days |
| Thordata | $0.65/GB sale (regular $1.05) | — | Rotating and sticky sessions | — | 7 days, if ≤30% and ≤2 GB used |
| Novada | 25 GB for $50/mo; $1.3/GB at 1 TB | 30 days | Free city-level targeting | — | 24h, if unused |
| Webshare | From $3.50/mo; down to $1.40/GB | — | — | Ethically sourced (claim) | 2 days, if usage is low |
| ProxyWing | $2.50/GB; $1/GB at 10,000+ GB | — | Sticky up to 1,000 min (7 days on Premium) | — | 14 days, technical failure only |
| IPFoxy | $1.99/GB | — | — | — | Not clearly stated |
| Proxy-Seller | From $0.3/GB | — | — | Peers consent and are compensated | 72h, non-working proxies |
| PrivateProxy | $2/GB; $1/GB at 1,000 GB | Trial pack valid 30 days | — | — | 24h after first purchase, if barely used |
A dash means the official pages we checked don't state it. It doesn't mean the feature is missing; ask support before you buy if it matters to you.
Provider notes
DataImpulse. $1/GB with traffic that never expires, a claimed 90M+ first-party pool, and ISO 27001 certification. A $5 intro plan buys 5 GB of residential traffic, which makes it the easiest low-risk test here. Refunds only apply to the first intro purchase, and crypto payments aren't refundable. Accepts Alipay.
Thordata. $0.65/GB is a low headline rate, but it's a sale price against a regular $1.05. It claims 100M+ residential IPs in 190+ countries with rotating or sticky sessions, and also sells SERP and scraping APIs. The refund terms are clear but tight: within 7 days, with no more than 30% and 2 GB used. Accepts Alipay and PayPal.
Novada. Monthly subscriptions (25 GB for $50, falling to $1.3/GB on the 1 TB tier), traffic valid for 30 days, and plans that auto-renew on cards. City-level targeting is free. New users can buy 10 GB for $10. Best for teams with steady monthly volume.
Webshare. A simple dashboard and a low entry point, from $3.50/month, dropping to $1.40/GB at volume. Claims an 80M+ pool across 195 countries and ethical sourcing. Its pricing page lists card payments only, and the refund window is two days with low usage.
ProxyWing. The longest published sticky sessions in this comparison: up to 1,000 minutes, or 7 days on Premium. $2.50/GB scales down to $1/GB at 10,000+ GB. Accepts WeChat Pay and 100+ cryptocurrencies. No free trial, and refunds cover technical failures only.
IPFoxy. $1.99/GB from a claimed 70M pool, with Alipay and WeChat Pay accepted. Its flagship product is actually dedicated static residential; rotating residential is a secondary line. The refund policy isn't clearly stated, so confirm it with support before a large order.
Proxy-Seller. From $0.3/GB with a claimed 47M+ pool across 220+ locations. It is the most specific about sourcing among the eight, stating that residential peers consent and are compensated. No standard trial; refunds cover non-working proxies within 72 hours.
PrivateProxy. $2/GB (10 GB for $20/month), down to $1/GB at 1,000 GB, with a one-off 10 GB for $10 trial pack valid for 30 days. Its terms ban CAPTCHA bypassing and fake-account management, which is worth knowing whichever provider you pick.
Picks by scenario
- Irregular usage, hate losing unused traffic: DataImpulse.
- High-volume scraping at the lowest unit price: Thordata while the sale lasts, or Proxy-Seller; at very high volume, check ProxyWing's tiers.
- Ad verification that needs city targeting: Novada, since city-level targeting is free.
- Long sticky sessions: ProxyWing.
- Paying with Alipay or WeChat Pay: DataImpulse, Thordata and IPFoxy take Alipay; ProxyWing and IPFoxy take WeChat Pay.
- Sourcing transparency is a priority: Proxy-Seller, DataImpulse and Webshare say the most.
Test small, then scale
The most common waste with residential proxies is buying a big package before knowing whether it works for your targets. A safer sequence:
- Start with an intro or trial pack. DataImpulse's $5 plan, Novada's $10 new-user offer or PrivateProxy's $10 trial pack all keep the first test cheap.
- Test against your real targets. Measure success rate on the sites you'll actually collect from, and check IP type, location and blocklist status. How to Check if a Proxy IP Is Clean walks through it.
- Decide inside the refund window. Windows range from 24 hours to 14 days, and most require low usage.
A note on acceptable use
Every provider here has an acceptable use policy. Rotating residential proxies are appropriate for public data collection, price monitoring and ad verification. Don't use them to create fake accounts, run ticket or sneaker bots, or break a target site's terms.
To filter on more criteria, open the proxy comparison table or browse residential proxies.
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