Best Residential Proxy in 2026, Decided by Live Data
The best residential proxy in our continuous benchmark right now is DataImpulse with a composite score of 84/100, measured by automated probes every 15 minutes across session reliability, success rate, latency and hard-target reachability. That answer can change as the data changes, and that is the point: “best” is a measurement, not a marketing claim. This page gives you the live comparison and a decision framework, so you can pick for your workload instead of trusting a static top-10 list.
Key takeaways
- Rankings below come from live probes, recomputed daily over a 30-day window. No sponsored placements, no affiliate-driven ordering.
- The cheapest provider we test ($0.30/GB) currently scores highest. Price does not predict quality in this market.
- Sticky session survival ranges from 97.5% to 72.2% across providers. For login flows this single metric outweighs raw speed.
- Match the metric to your use case: stateless scraping cares about success rate and latency; anything behind a login cares about session reliability.
Live comparison: residential proxy providers we test
Every provider below runs through the identical probe schedule from EU and US vantage points. The composite score weights core network performance (35%), session reliability (30%), neutral reachability (15%) and high-defense target reachability (20%); the full formula and its changelog live on the methodology page.
| # | Provider | Composite score | Success rate (30d) | Median latency | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DataImpulse | 84.4 | 93.6% | 531ms | $1/GB |
| 2 | Proxyon | 83.7 | 93.6% | 668ms | $2.25/GB |
| 3 | Maskify | 79.5 | 89.6% | 634ms | $0.3/GB |
| 4 | FleetProxy | 78.3 | 92.2% | 826ms | $2.65/GB |
| 5 | Gsocks | 77.0 | 93.5% | 1084ms | $4/GB |
| 6 | MangoProxy | 76.4 | 88.5% | 1028ms | $3/GB |
| 7 | NodeMaven | 75.9 | 91.0% | 1329ms | $2.2/GB |
| 8 | KindProxy | 75.6 | 91.4% | 1683ms | $1.2/GB |
| 9 | Aceproxies | 71.0 | 84.8% | 764ms | $3/GB |
| 10 | ProxyEmpire | 64.4 | 91.8% | 723ms | $3.5/GB |
Data renders fresh from the benchmark on every page view. Charts, score history and per-dimension breakdowns are on the live dashboard.
What “best” actually means: five criteria
Most “best residential proxy” lists rank on pool size and price because those numbers are easy to copy from a pricing page. The criteria that predict whether your job succeeds need measurement:
- Session reliability. Does a sticky session keep the same exit IP from first request to last? Across our providers, survival runs from 97.5% to 72.2%, and unexpected mid-session rotation from 1.4% to 7.3%. For logins, carts and checkouts this is the number to compare first.
- Success rate. The share of requests that complete, measured per plane: controlled endpoints, neutral targets and high-defense targets. A provider can ace easy targets and fold against bot protection, so we score them separately.
- Latency. Median time to first byte through the proxy. We publish p50 and p95 from each vantage point; a fast median with a bad p95 still breaks time-sensitive scraping. To rank providers by speed alone, see the fastest residential proxy page.
- Geo accuracy. When you request a country, does the exit IP land there? We removed this dimension from the composite until our multi-country measurement meets our own bar, which is documented in the methodology changelog. Honest gaps beat fake precision.
- Cost per usable gigabyte. Sticker price divided by the share of traffic that actually does useful work. A cheap provider that breaks one session in four is more expensive than it looks; the current leaderboard shows the inverse can hold too.
Decision framework: pick by use case, not by rank
The headline ranking answers “who is best overall.” Your workload has its own weights. Building a scraper? See our guide to picking a proxy for web scraping. Otherwise, start from the use case and follow the ranked page for it:
| Use case | What dominates the pick | Ranked page |
|---|---|---|
| Google SERP analysis | Success rate vs hard targets | See ranking → |
| Amazon & e-commerce | Target reachability + sessions | See ranking → |
| Social media management | Session reliability first | See ranking → |
| Travel price aggregation | Latency + success rate | See ranking → |
| Real estate data | Success rate + IP uniqueness | See ranking → |
| Web crawling at scale | Throughput + cost per GB | See ranking → |
The providers, in current order
1. DataImpulse
DataImpulse holds first place with a composite score of 84/100 over the rolling 30-day window. It completed 93.6% of 41,820 probes in the last 30 days. Median response time sits at 531ms. At $1/GB it is the budget pick in the table, and the score shows that cheap does not mean weak here.
2. Proxyon
Proxyon holds second place with a composite score of 84/100 over the rolling 30-day window. It completed 93.6% of 99,240 probes in the last 30 days. Median response time sits at 668ms. Pricing of $2.25/GB puts it mid-range for residential traffic.
3. Maskify
Maskify holds third place with a composite score of 80/100 over the rolling 30-day window. It completed 89.6% of 113,277 probes in the last 30 days. Median response time sits at 634ms. At $0.3/GB it is the budget pick in the table, and the score shows that cheap does not mean weak here.
4. FleetProxy
FleetProxy holds fourth place with a composite score of 78/100 over the rolling 30-day window. It completed 92.2% of 111,954 probes in the last 30 days. Median response time sits at 826ms. Pricing of $2.65/GB puts it mid-range for residential traffic.
5. Gsocks
Gsocks holds fifth place with a composite score of 77/100 over the rolling 30-day window. It completed 93.5% of 41,478 probes in the last 30 days. Median response time sits at 1084ms. Pricing of $4/GB puts it mid-range for residential traffic.
6. MangoProxy
MangoProxy holds #6 place with a composite score of 76/100 over the rolling 30-day window. It completed 88.5% of 44,988 probes in the last 30 days. Median response time sits at 1028ms. Pricing of $3/GB puts it mid-range for residential traffic.
7. NodeMaven
NodeMaven holds #7 place with a composite score of 76/100 over the rolling 30-day window. It completed 91.0% of 41,732 probes in the last 30 days. Median response time sits at 1329ms. Pricing of $2.2/GB puts it mid-range for residential traffic.
8. KindProxy
KindProxy holds #8 place with a composite score of 76/100 over the rolling 30-day window. It completed 91.4% of 111,964 probes in the last 30 days. Median response time sits at 1683ms. Pricing of $1.2/GB puts it mid-range for residential traffic.
9. Aceproxies
Aceproxies holds #9 place with a composite score of 71/100 over the rolling 30-day window. It completed 84.8% of 55,835 probes in the last 30 days. Median response time sits at 764ms. Pricing of $3/GB puts it mid-range for residential traffic.
10. ProxyEmpire
ProxyEmpire holds #10 place with a composite score of 64/100 over the rolling 30-day window. It completed 91.8% of 46,995 probes in the last 30 days. Median response time sits at 723ms. Pricing of $3.5/GB puts it mid-range for residential traffic.
Three pitfalls that ruin a good pick
- Session TTL shorter than your workflow. A 60-second sticky TTL expires in the middle of a 60-second login flow and looks like a random failure. Set the TTL above your longest stateful sequence; we test with a 10-minute window for exactly this reason.
- Comparing sticker price instead of cost per usable GB. Failed sessions, retries and CAPTCHA-solving are paid in your time and your traffic. Divide price by the success rate before calling anything cheap.
- Trusting a one-time review. Proxy pools churn and detection systems update weekly. A provider that tested well in January can degrade by March, which is why every number on this page comes from probes that ran today, with the trend visible in the score history.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best residential proxy right now?
The current leader on our live benchmark holds the top composite score across session reliability, success rate, latency and target reachability. Rankings update as probes run every 15 minutes, so check the comparison table above or the live dashboard for the score as of today rather than trusting a static list.
What is the best residential proxy for web scraping?
For stateless scraping, weight success rate and latency most heavily. For scraping behind logins or session cookies, sticky session survival is the deciding metric: across the providers we test it ranges from 97.5% down to 72.2%, a gap that decides whether multi-step jobs complete. Our per-use-case pages rank providers with weights tuned for each workload.
What is the best cheap residential proxy?
In our benchmark the cheapest provider at $0.30/GB currently scores highest overall, so price and quality are not the trade-off most lists assume. Compare cost per usable gigabyte: a $6/GB provider that breaks one session in four costs more in failed jobs than its sticker price suggests.
What is the best residential proxy for sticky sessions?
The provider with the highest sticky session survival rate and the lowest unexpected mid-session rotation. We measure both continuously: a sticky session that silently rotates your IP breaks logins, carts and checkouts. Pick the provider that holds one IP for the whole session window, and set the session TTL longer than your longest workflow.
Are these rankings affected by affiliate commissions?
No. Scores come from automated probes run on identical schedules against every provider, and the scoring formula is published with a changelog on the methodology page. No provider pays for placement, and ranking position never depends on any commercial relationship.
How often is this comparison updated?
Probes run every 15 minutes from two vantage points (EU and US), composite scores recompute daily over a rolling 30-day window, and this page renders from that live data on every visit. The numbers you see reflect current measured performance, not a review written months ago.
Related guides
- Best 922 Proxy alternatives — benchmarked replacements, ranked on live data
- Best NetNut alternatives — benchmarked replacements, ranked on live data
- Best 9Proxy alternatives — benchmarked replacements, ranked on live data
- Best proxy providers — per-provider reviews generated from live benchmark data
- Proxy for web scraping — what works and how to pick one
- Fastest residential proxy — picking on real latency data
See the numbers behind every claim on this page
Latency trends, success rates, score history and per-dimension breakdowns, updated every 15 minutes.
Open the live benchmark →ProxyStats is an independent benchmark. We currently run no affiliate links; if that changes, commercial relationships will be disclosed here and will never affect ranking. Methodology, limitations and the scoring changelog: proxystats.io/methodology.