Exploring the Best Proxy Providers: ProxyEmpire, Oxylabs, Bright Data, and Decodo Residential Proxies Through Official Specifications

Not long ago, comparing residential proxy providers meant comparing pool sizes and little else. That has changed. Providers now publish detailed specifications on their own sites: how many IPs they hold and where, which targeting levels are included, how sessions behave, what each gigabyte costs at different volumes, and what happens to traffic you don't use.

Those details are especially useful if your scraping budget changes from month to month, because the specifications that matter most to you are often the least advertised ones. This guide explains, in plain terms, what four well-known providers publish about their residential proxies and what those numbers mean for a team with uneven demand. You'll find a specifications table first, a short primer on what proxy providers do, tips for stretching your budget and then a closer look at each provider.

Specification	ProxyEmpire	Oxylabs	Bright Data	Decodo
Residential IPs	30M+	Not stated	400M+ a month	115M+
Locations	170+ countries	Not stated for residential	195 countries	195+ locations
Unused traffic	Kept indefinitely	Not stated	Commitments forfeited	Not stated
Commitment needed	None	Monthly subscription	Optional	Subscription or Wallet
Way to test	$1.97 trial	$5 credit	Free trial	Free 3-day trial

The Job a Proxy Provider Does

A proxy provider runs a large collection of IP addresses and lets you send your internet traffic through them. The websites you visit see the provider's address, and its location, rather than your own.

Residential proxies are addresses that internet providers have assigned to real homes. Because they look like ordinary visitors, they're useful for checking prices, search results and ads in different places, or for collecting public data without being blocked as quickly as server traffic.

On top of the addresses, a provider gives you controls. Targeting lets you choose where your IP appears to be. Sessions decide whether your IP changes with every request or stays the same for a while. Dashboards, APIs and browser extensions make it all usable. And the billing rules, especially around unused traffic, decide how much of your budget turns into actual data.

Making Your Proxy Budget Last

Buy for the month you're in, unless your provider keeps leftover traffic. Where unused gigabytes are lost at the end of a period, a plan sized for your busiest month wastes money in quiet ones.

Use rotating sessions for collecting lots of pages and sticky sessions only where you need to stay logged in. Sticky sessions on bulk jobs can slow things down without adding value.

Only pay for the precision you need. If country-level results are enough, there's no reason to narrow to a city, though at all four providers here, finer targeting is included in the price anyway.

Check your usage weekly. It's the easiest way to spot a job that's burning more traffic than expected before it eats the month's budget. And test before you commit: a trial on your real targets shows whether residential IPs are enough or whether you'll need mobile too.

Specifications, Provider by Provider

1) ProxyEmpire

Specification	Detail
Residential and mobile IPs	30M+ and 4M+, per the company
Coverage	170+ countries
Targeting	Country, region, city, ISP, ASN, OS/TCP, ZIP
Leftover GB	Carried forward, no expiry

For a team whose scraping comes and goes, the most important line in ProxyEmpire's specifications is the one about leftover traffic: gigabytes bought on its GB plans never expire, and there's no contract. Whatever you don't use this month waits for you next month.

The other numbers support that flexibility. The company reports 30 million residential and 4 million mobile IPs across more than 170 countries, shows a live IP availability counter on its homepage, and includes every targeting level in the price. Rotating residential starts at three dollars fifty a gigabyte without commitment, and monthly plans begin at 7 GB for $20.

Sessions can be held for a set time, kept for a whole session or changed on every request, and concurrent sessions are unlimited for approved use cases. If your needs grow, static ISP, datacenter and dedicated mobile proxies are on the same account.

Because all sales are final, the $1.97 trial is the place to start. It includes a little residential and a little mobile traffic, so you can test both networks.

2) Oxylabs

Specification	Detail
Billing	One monthly subscription across products
Plans	$30, $100, $500; Enterprise from $2,500
Residential rate	Six dollars a gigabyte falling to $2.50
Sessions	Unlimited concurrent, sticky or rotating

Oxylabs bills differently from the others. You choose a monthly subscription, and that budget can be spent on proxies, its scraping API, an unblocker or an agent browser.

For residential, you get unlimited concurrent sessions, free geo targeting, 3 proxy users and 10 whitelisted IPs. Its specifications don't say whether unused subscription value carries over, and there's no pay-as-you-go option, so it suits steady monthly use better than irregular bursts.

Its other specifications are strong. Mobile IPs come from real devices in more than 140 countries, with sessions that can hold for 24 hours. Protocols include HTTP(S), HTTP3 and SOCKS5, and a $5 welcome credit lets you try any product before choosing a tier. Residential rates fall in four steps as your monthly usage grows.

3) Bright Data

Specification	Detail
Residential IPs	400M+ a month, 195 countries
Targeting	Country, state, city, ZIP, ASN, all free
Committed plans	From $499 a month
KYC	Required before residential use

Bright Data publishes the largest residential figure here and includes postcode and ASN targeting at no charge, with carrier targeting listed on its proxy services page. It also lists certifications such as ISO 27001 and SOC 2, which matter to larger organizations.

Its specifications are clear that unused monthly commitments don't roll over. If your usage is uneven, its coded flexible rate of four dollars a gigabyte for the first three months is the safer starting point, and a free trial needs no credit card.

For teams that do commit, the published monthly packages are 141 GB for $499, 332 GB for $999 and 798 GB for $1,999. You also get daily spend limits per zone, sub users and an open-source Proxy Manager. Before residential use, you'll pass a KYC check that may include a video call.

4) Decodo (formerly Smartproxy)

Specification	Detail
Residential IPs	115M+ on every plan
Targeting	Continent to ZIP and ASN, free
Sticky sessions	Up to 30 minutes, per its FAQ
Billing paths	Subscription or Wallet, not both

Decodo publishes a small entry plan, 3 GB for $11.25, and every plan reaches its full residential pool with free targeting down to postcode and ASN.

Its specifications don't say whether unused subscription gigabytes carry over. The Wallet, at four dollars a gigabyte, lets you buy only what you need, but it can't run alongside a subscription. A free 3-day trial turns into a paid plan unless you cancel.

Other specifications worth knowing: mobile proxies cover 160+ locations from $2.25 a gigabyte, the Web Data API offers scraping and crawling endpoints, and Chrome and Firefox extensions make it easy to change location while browsing. First purchases can be refunded within 14 days under set conditions.

Which Provider Should You Choose?

Choose ProxyEmpire if your scraping budget changes month to month and you want every gigabyte you buy to stay usable, with no contract.

Choose Oxylabs if your spending is steady and you'll use its scraping tools.

Choose Bright Data if you need the largest published pool and can work with monthly commitments.

Choose Decodo if you want a small first plan, a free trial and strong developer tools for data pipelines.