Are unlimited bandwidth proxies lower quality?

I'm looking to change proxy providers. Question for the proxy pros.

Some proxy providers charge per IP address like $2 per IP address while others charge per GB like $8 per GB.

Are unlimited bandwidth proxies normally lower quality or what is the advantage of paying per GB when unlimited providers exist?

macdonjo3 said:

I'm looking to change proxy providers. Question for the proxy pros.

Some proxy providers charge per IP address like $2 per IP address while others charge per GB like $8 per GB.

Are unlimited bandwidth proxies normally lower quality or what is the advantage of paying per GB when unlimited providers exist?

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They are different business models. Not necessarily better or worse in quality.

Tl;Dr: paying per GB usually offers you more IPs and is good for things like social media automation. Paying per IP is good when you need lots of bandwidth and your task is not very sensitive to IP quality.

The "pay per GB" model is usually the case with floating IPs. Here you don't get a fixed IP, instead your requests frequently get routed through a *connection pool* with your IPs constantly changing. The only thing fixed is the region you are connecting from.

Such an arrangement is common with 4G/mobile proxy services.

The per-IP model makes sense for those providers whose infrastructure costs are low enough to offer you cheap data. This is usually the case with datacenter/colocation IPs where the provider gets dirt cheap bandwidth bundled with their server rental/rackspace.

Also, there's no such thing as "unlimited". Almost all of these providers have a large enough "soft limit" after which they will throttle your speeds.

Benefits of paying per GB:
- Transparency: There's no hidden limits.
- Advanced Features: Often you are going to get things like on-demand IP rotation, big IP pools, fine-grained access control etc.
- Better Infrastructure: the provider is charging you per GB consumed. If they are worth their salt, they are gonna put that money in getting more devices, have better uptime etc

Situations when paying per-IP makes sense:
- Your task doesn't demand a lot of IPs. Like if you are a scraping a single low traffic website or you need multiple IPs for testing some software

- You need heck ton of bandwidth: paying per GB definitely won't make sense in this case.

Thanks for the comprehensive reply.

Ashk881 said:

Paying per IP is good when you need lots of bandwidth and your task is not very sensitive to IP quality

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So if it is sensitive to IP quality, you recommend per GB.

But the problem with per GB is the uptime is low right? Sessions are not truly sticky which are also a complication when IP quality matters.

macdonjo3 said:

But the problem with per GB is the uptime is low right? Sessions are not truly sticky which are also a complication when IP quality matters

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This is usually the case ye but very dependent on the provider.

There are providers that do provide long-lived connections with a known or configured timeout value.

Also most proxy services that provide $/GB pricing are also using residential/mobile proxies. Websites know that residential ISPs frequently rotate the IPs of their customers, so if your IP changes while using such a proxy service. Websites just think you are a mobile user. (as intended)

The rotation just shouldn't be very frequent. Like it shouldn't happen every 10 minutes or so.

Hey everyone! If you’re looking to switch up your proxy game, think about what you really need. I totally understand this consideration; there are a lot of factors to consider. My best tip is to plan for a longer trial period. Many providers offer extended trial times, which allows you to really see if the proxy fits your intended use case. Happy proxy hunting!

The unlimited bandwidth ones are called "ISP proxies". The limited ones are called "residental proxies" and "mobile proxies". If you make clear why you need to use a proxy, someone can help you to figure out which one is better for you.

blackandcoolhat said:

The unlimited bandwidth ones are called "ISP proxies". The limited ones are called "residental proxies" and "mobile proxies".

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Both GridPanel and ProxyEmpire offer unlimited bandwidth mobile proxies. There's probably more but that's just two I pay for off the top of my head

You can get Unlimited bandwidth on all type of proxies:
Data center
Static Residential ISP proxies
Mobile

But it all depends on the vendor as well and to be honest nothing is true unlimited for sure.

However, GB based charges are on residential rotating ones usually.

I had the same question last week, so I Googled and checked some known providers.
Mostly, paying per GB is for rotating proxies, and paying per IP is for static proxies.
As for unlimited bandwidth rotating proxies, mostly not equal to unlimited traffic(I talked to customer service, but this is not directly shown on the webpage). Or there are other limitations, for example, the number of IPs.

I think you can try

iproyal.io
or
proxy-seller

turelink said:

I think you can try

iproyal.io
or
proxy-seller

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I'm not looking for recommendations in this thread - no need to spam low quality providers.

Also, the owner of IP Royal is banned here.

https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/iproyal-com-is-big-scam-dont-buy-from-this-website.1462232/

You see my post here about the low quality IP addresses from IP Royal? https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/ip-royal-static-residential-100-100-fraud-score.1654280/

I seriously question anyone who recommends them.

i wouldnt say lower quality nut more expensive

You can find very high quality ISP proxies with unlimited bandwidth

just look for sellers advertising 0 fraud scores and free replacements

macdonjo3 said:

I'm not looking for recommendations in this thread - no need to spam low quality providers.

Also, the owner of IP Royal is banned here.

https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/iproyal-com-is-big-scam-dont-buy-from-this-website.1462232/

You see my post here about the low quality IP addresses from IP Royal? https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/ip-royal-static-residential-100-100-fraud-score.1654280/

I seriously question anyone who recommends them.

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Hey there. So as of right now, which proxy providers can you suggest that work with Instagram, Facebook, X, etc.? Or have you found any?

UncleAdolf said:

Hey there. So as of right now, which proxy providers can you suggest that work with Instagram, Facebook, X, etc.? Or have you found any?

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I started my own mobile farm but if that wasn't an option, I'd look into ProxyEmpire. It's just pricey.

Most of the time, yes. The more expensive the product, the better it is. But the cheaper the product, the lower the quality.

Unlimited bandwidth proxies are not of lower quality, just that specific geographic locations can't be selected, can only be random.
Static residential proxies are usually charged a fixed fee for each IP.
Rotating residential proxies are usually billed per GB, and can also be billed per IP, but because they are dynamically rotated, they will also be consumed very quickly.

As far as I know, most residential proxies charge by GB bandwidth. Datacenter proxies charge by IP.

macdonjo3 said:

I'm looking to change proxy providers. Question for the proxy pros.

Some proxy providers charge per IP address like $2 per IP address while others charge per GB like $8 per GB.

Are unlimited bandwidth proxies normally lower quality or what is the advantage of paying per GB when unlimited providers exist?

Click to expand...

Unlimited bandwidth proxies can sometimes be of lower quality due to shared usage, which can lead to slower speeds and higher chances of detection if many users share the same IP. Providers that charge per GB often deliver higher-quality proxies, such as private or residential proxies, which offer better speed, reliability, and exclusivity.

If you need consistent performance and lower detection rates, paying per GB is advantageous, especially for tasks requiring high anonymity, like managing multiple accounts. Combining these with antidetect browser profiles to ensure unique browser fingerprints and makes your activities appear more natural, reducing the risk of bans or blocks.