There are some Internet marketing projects that datacenter proxies and residential proxies are not a good fit. If you are faced with such a project, you will be looking out for mobile proxy providers to buy proxies from. But how well do you know mobile proxies?
If you do not know much about mobile proxies, then I will advise you to read this article. The article will be used to recommend the best mobile proxies in the market. However, you are also going to be learning about mobile proxies and why they are preferred – and why they might not be the best for your project.
Mobile proxies are just like any other types of proxies (datacenter and residential proxies). When you configure them on your computer, your web requests go through them before reaching the target websites. As they route the requests to their target websites, the IP address bundled with the request changes to their own IP address, thereby masking the IP address of the computer that initiated the request. However, they are different from other types of proxies and enjoy a higher level of trust and do not easily get blocked.
What is a Mobile Proxy?
Mobile proxy routes clients’ web requests through mobile IPs assigned by Internet Service Providers (ISPs). Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) are the ISPs of mobile devices that connect to the Internet via cellular networks. A mobile proxy needs 4 things for them to be set up – 4G LTE device (mobile phone or LTE dongle), 4G LTE sim card, 4G LTE coverage area, and a proxy server. While the most preferred network is 4G, some providers can make do of 3G in the absence of 4G.
Aside from the source of their IP addresses, the other major differences between mobile proxies, otherwise known as 4G proxies, is the level of trust they enjoy. This is not unconnected to the way MNOs assign IP addresses to mobile devices, which makes it difficult for web services to block them.
Best Proxy Service Providers in the Market
There are many mobile proxy providers in the market. Some are quite new and operate a very small pool. Others are large and have millions of mobile IPs. Some are new in the business, while others have been around for a while now.
These differences can make things difficult for a newbie when making a choice. Because of this, we have done our research, and below are our findings on the best mobile proxy providers in the market.
1. Rainproxy
Rainproxy is one of the best proxy providers out there. They have been in business for a long time, and their proxies are one of the most reliable and fastest. Rainproxy is a one-stop shop for obtaining the quickest, most reliable, and most cost-effective proxies. Their customers can pick from a vast pool of IPs for the most efficient site crawling and data collection.
Rainproxy has an intelligent IP rotation management layer. Every request is sent to one of their load balancing servers or super proxies, which returns the IP address most likely to be accessible in the requested location.
MobileHop employees have worked relentlessly to provide clients with high-quality products and services. Their team is constantly searching for new methods to improve and develop what is feasible in this industry.
2. MobileHop
MobileHop provides proxy and VPN services. They use Verizon Wireless and AT&T enterprise-grade 5G modems to give real mobile IP addresses with the fastest and most dependable proxy speeds. With over 47 different places to pick from, you’ll have access to millions of mobile IPs from all over the United States.
MobileHop strives for 99.9% uptime for 4G & 5G proxies since they understand how essential your jobs are and want to provide you with the finest service possible.
3. ProxyGuys
ProxyGuys have a lot of mobile IPs in its pool. The number of IPs they have is put at over 50 million mobile IPs, making them the largest mobile proxy provider in the market. Proxies from this provider are regarded as some of the best in the market. They utilize 4G modems from Verizon and AT&T to provide the IPs in their pool.
They have got 25 locations from which you can get IP, and they provide detail of IP availability for each of the supported locations. Their pricing is flexible as they have got support for daily, weekly, and monthly proxies. You can also choose to go for a single location plan or their multiple location plans.
ProxyGuys does have support for only the United States. For the US, you have an option of over 50 cities to surf the Internet. The proxies offered by this provider are quite fast and you can change IP addresses easily.
The service has got support forAT&T and Verizon. As a user, you can use the user dashboard to manage your proxies. Also important is the fact that the service has got support for an API that is fully documented.
The service also comes with a browser extension for Chrome and Firefox, which makes it easy for you to use on a PC. Starting price is $20 for ProxyGuys. The service also does have residential proxies.
4. Bright Data
Bright Data was the first company on the market to offer mobile proxies and continues to be one of the most popular providers of its kind to this day. The provider earned a very good reputation over the years thanks to its ethical business practices. As a result, this has led it to become the mobile proxy provider of choice not just for regular users but also for a high number of Fortune 500 companies. Bright Data currently has the largest network of mobile proxies out there, which consists of over 7.5 million IPs spread across almost every country in the world.
Bans or blocks on Bright Data IPs are few and far between thanks to the company’s extensive network. Users are given the option of picking between regular shared IPs and exclusive IPs, which are groups of addresses that can be used to exclusively target a specific domain. Bright Data allows users to pick between a nearly unlimited number of geo locations and send an infinite amount of concurrent requests. Moreover, Bright Data is extremely convenient to work with as users can connect to their mobile IPs via the proxy manager interface or a Chrome extension.
Bright Data’s prices are fairly expensive but the service is well worth it for those who can afford it. The starter package comes with 17 GB of traffic ($30 per GB) included and has a monthly commitment of $500. The company offers several more packages, which are primarily aimed at big enterprises, including one that includes a whopping 2 TB of traffic. Bright Data doesn’t have a refund policy, however, the company does offer a free trial to those who want to test the service.
5. Proxy-Cheap
Proxy-Cheap provides a good balance between quality and affordability. Thanks in no small part to its low prices, the company has become one of the most sought-after providers of mobile proxy services in recent years. Proxy-Cheap works exclusively with EU and US-based proxies, which makes this service a bit more limited compared to some of the others on this list. However, if you do want to target these regions, you’re in very good hands here because Proxy-Cheap has some of the lowest ban rates on the market and its uptime is around 99% on average.
The provider offers instant setup, unlimited bandwidth, and dedicated ports with all mobile proxies packages. All IPs come from popular US and EU mobile carriers, such as Verizon, T-Mobile, Vodafone or AT&T. The service seems to have been designed specifically with social media automation in mind and works perfectly fine with all types of networks and platforms. That said, Proxy-Cheap can be used just as effectively for web scraping, SEO research, or any number of other online activities.
True to its name, Proxy-Cheap offers very affordable prices for its packages. There are three plans to choose from – €50 per month US mobile, €65 per month EU mobile, and €500 per month enterprise. The first two are aimed at individuals while the third targets businesses. All plans come with the same features but the enterprise tier’s price is for 10 proxies instead of just one. Proxy-Cheap doesn’t have a refund policy but there is a free trial.
6. Smartproxy
Smartproxy is a premium proxy service that offers servers at a low cost. It’s a secure and dependable proxy service that provides a money-back guarantee if you don’t like it. They have over 40 million IPs in more than 195 locations.
All proxies in the network are anonymous, and their servers use complex rotation, which means you’ll obtain a live and tested proxy after each rotation. It’s your choice if it should be completely random or from a specific country. This is one of the simplest residential proxy networks to deploy, and it eliminates the need for proxy maintenance.
The Micro plan is a good option if you’re in the experimentation phase of your project. It costs 75 dollars and provides you with 5GB of bandwidth, with the possibility of going over the limit for $15 per GB.
Conclusion
As you can see from the list above, there are numerous mobile proxies available on the market. When you look at the characteristics of most of these services, you’ll notice that they share a lot of them.
As a result, you’re better suited to making a decision based on the competitive edge each has to select which one you’ll pick at the end of the day. Before making a financial commitment, do your homework and make sure your pick is the greatest fit for you.